afterliving | 01. [Action]

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01. [Action]

[When he comes to, it's with a persistent tension refusing to settle in his gut.

Perhaps the feeling is residual, from the situation Armin could swear he had been right in the middle of before he found himself.. here. Outside, as the sky grows dark, beneath the treeline of a forest he immediately identifies as unfamiliar from any forest he recognized in the area. Or perhaps it's due to the obvious, jarring factor that nags over every other one of his thoughts: that right now, his surroundings are entirely, peaceably silent.

This is wrong. The details of what occurred just before he awoke are unusually, extremely hazy for him, but he remembers the titans.. his friends and himself, along with all the other squads, in such a frenzy, and then...

What happened to him..? Or any of the others? Had he somehow been left behind?

..Importantly, what happened to Eren? With him no longer anywhere in any feasible view, his stomach twists in anxiousness.

Armin scrambles to his feet, glancing widely at his surroundings. At this time of day, there really doesn't appear to be anyone in sight, though he catches sight of a large building situated not far from the treeline, odd in appearance and unusually intact. It was as he stood that he also became immediately aware of his change of clothing- and lack of maneuver gear. To him, in addition to being more than strange, this is highly problematic. Despite dozens of unanswered questions working his gears, he knows that standing around outside unarmed and defenseless is a death wish, and taking care of that is priority. He hurries himself along to the building in front of him. Once he's properly armed, or at the very least more prepared, he would find someone, anyone, and try to make more sense of this as fast as possible.

He needs to know that his friends are okay. Sooner, rather than later.]

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* Still hoping to find out just what this place is, Christa wanders around while staring at every little thing like it's a brand new treasure. The festivals, the lights, everything is so different from the way of life they had as soldiers back in their world.

Wandering along, she notices a familiar shade of blonde hair. She's more used to identifying those marks rather than things like height given everyone's as tall as a tree around her.

Stopping for a moment Christa watches carefully before concluding that it is indeed, Armin. *

Armin...?

[Though not particularly loud, Armin's aware enough that he immediately picks up on his name being called. Turning in the direction of that familiar voice, his expression molds slowly from one of surprise to something much more relieved, though his hesitant mannerisms as he approaches closer suggest that he's definitely more lost than anything.]

Christa..! [He hesitates at the name, after the fact. But there are so many pressing matters, finding her here of all people, oddly alone, that he finds it difficult to keep from asking everything at once.

First thing's first.] Are you alright? How did- ..you aren't hurt, are you?

* Unable to help herself, she seems to get so emotional when she sees friends again. It's a mix of the possibility of being dead that hurts her but seeing them again in a world that seems void of the dangers that possibly killed them.

Much like with Marco, she tears up a bit and hurries over to him before locking him in a hug. At least he's not towering over her like many of the others, but still tall enough to faceplant his chest as she hugs tight. *

I was going to ask you the same thing! Are you okay, Armin? You're not hurt yourself, are you?

[A little caught off guard by her sudden reaction, he freezes a moment before returning the hug so very carefully. He can relate to that worried sentiment. Despite still being wholly perturbed about his current situation, he's really glad to have found one familiar face.]

No, I'm fine.. At least, I think so. [He hadn't taken the time to check himself over since he awoke, but he honestly feels perfectly fine. ..Better than fine, even.

He pulls back to glance around their immediate area.] ..Do you know where we are?

* A wave of relief washes over her hearing that.

Releases her hold on him and looks around as well to make sure nothing too confusing or shattering is around them. *

This place is apparently the Afterlife. But it's not like any afterlife I've heard of or read about...

Others are here as well. I've met Hange and Jean, Marco, many other nice people from- as close as I can put it- other worlds, I believe someone said Eren was here, too and...* Pauses for a moment with a small worried knit of her eyebrows. * Bertholdt is here, too.

[He listens, and for a moment he simply looks at her, almost expressionless as he tries to make any sort of sense of the huge conglomeration of information she's thrown at him. But there are so many glaring conflicts in what she's said to rule any of it as making sense. Notably, she called this place the 'afterlife,' which would insinuate that he's..

dead, wouldn't it?

He shakes his head slightly.] Hold on.. You aren't suggesting..?

[And while being told that she's seen some of the others around is (for the most part) a welcome relief, a few mentioned persons in particular don't add up with what he can remember.. Marco, for one. He was.. long passed. ..Which would make sense, being in the afterlife.

No, it was almost ridiculous. He exhales in an almost airy, nervous chuckle.] I don't understand.. That's silly. I mean- look at us! By all accounts, I'd say we're alive..

W-WATCH OUT!!!

[ A high pitched screech comes from one of the upper floors of the building he's come toward! From a window, a bowl of cake batter comes flying out... better get out of the way Armin! ]

[That shout in the midst of all this silence honestly startles him. He looks up just in time to see something hurtling towards him, and he stumbles back just quickly enough to be narrowly missed, nearly losing his footing.

He stares at the bowl and its splattered contents on the ground for a moment, before looking back up. He hadn't expected any person to actually be here.]

...Hello?

Sorryyy!

[ She looks really panicked for a moment, leaning out of the window. ]

I'll be down in a second!

[ And with that, Ichigo disappears into the window and hurries out as fast as her slow legs can carry her without her falling over ~~again~~. When she gets out of the building, she bows deeply in front of Armin. ]

I'm really sorry!

[He blinks, politely figuring that he should wait for her to come down to him. He'd really like to speak with someone, anyway.

When she does show up, he looks a little surprised by her exasperated gesture.]

Ah, it's okay, really.. No harm done. [He looks back down idly to the bowl on the ground, curious.]

Were you.. baking?

[ She gets down to start picking up the bowl, smiling up at him sheepishly. ]

I was, but when I was carrying the bowl to the pans I ended up tripping and... ahaha, well..

[ The result of that was obvious. ]

[It doesn't matter what time of day it is, there is always time for training. Which is why Kotarou is out and about now, heading back to his room after spending another few hours out in the dojo. He's adsent-mindedly sipping on some sort of sports drink when he notices a blur of blond hair when someone runs by. Huh.

Before Armin gets too far away, Kotarou will call out to him and wave a hand in the air to grab his attention.]

Oi, what's the rush? Something happen?

[He halts suddenly when he hears Kotarou call out, turning back to notice the kid waving in his direction. He's honestly surprised by such a question, not to mention the other's casual existence in wherever this place he's found himself is. For civilians to be here, with no knowledge of what's been happening..

Where did he end up?]

Um, yeah.. I need to find-[His voice trails off in the moment he finally notices the other's quite obvious dog ears. With a whole slew of new questions, he feels an immediate need to address them, but he quickly picks back up on what's far more important to him right now.] I'm.. looking for a lot of people that I need to find. Soldiers.

[He gives Armin an odd look when he seems to stop talking mid-sentence, though Kotarou doesn't seem to catch on as to why.]

Soldiers? Dunno anyone who's a soldier around here... Don't think so anyway. [Helpful.] What kinda soldiers are we talkin', the ones that run around in armor with swords and junk?

[Come to think of it, if a soldier like that did show up here they would just end up stuck in the same uniform as everyone else anyway. Huh. Ah well, getting clarification on what kind of soldier is still good all the same.]

[He takes Kotarou's answer with a grain of salt. No one noticable, then..]

Huh? No, not quite, they're.. [It was almost impossible to imagine anyone being unfamiliar with the soldier's uniform. It'd be much easier to explain if he was actually wearing his uniform, himself.. and if anyone was around, what if they'd been stripped of theirs, too?] They're around my age. I guess.. 'swords' is almost right. We carry two of them, with extra blades in the holsters [He gestures to his sides, where they would typically be kept.]

and.. [He trails off again, unsure of how to explain further, given the possibility of his friends not being as recognizable as he'd hoped.]

Eeh, s'not ringing any bells for me. Not many people have weapons around here anyway, or they don't parade 'em around all the time if they do. [As far as he knows anyway.]

There's plenty of people around here your age though, not counting all the NPCs. [He's not the best judge of age, but Armin seems to have a few years on him at any rate.] 'And'... Anything else?

[After all the crazy events that happened just days ago, Eren figured it would be best to get to know the area better. It was a little difficult to navigate and lead the way when he had to for Mikasa, so... being more prepared and familiar with the afterlife's layout would be a smart idea.

As he's venturing around, he does spot a certain familiar face though. Or rather, he notices the boy's hair -- and after some more staring in confusion, his face.

On one hand, Eren's happy to see his friend again. On the other... this is the afterlife. For yet another friend to be here, that's... that's just... Okay, no, he can't start freaking out just yet. First...]

--Armin?!

[He knows that voice immediately, and when he turns to spot his friend standing there, he looks so completely bewildered.]

Eren?!

[Without another thought, he hurries over to him, a subtle sense if relief slowly replacing his features] Are you alright?!

[While Armin may be experiencing a sense of relief, Eren isn't. At all. His expression remains to be one of bewilderment, concern, and potentially rising anger as his friend approaches him. Regardless though, he nods -- albeit slowly and roughly.]

A-Armin... Y-yeah, I'm fine. But... Why... Why are you here?!

[Mikasa being here was bad enough. But Armin too now?]

[Dinner coming late today, having spent far too long training in the schools small gym. The lack of exercise made what little Erwin made up for himself take hours till his body was used to the amount of stain it was normally put under. Even in the afterlife the aches and pains still mentally haunt you even if you feel no physical.. it was his mind going stir crazy surely.

A newspaper would be nice, daily updated flayer of some sort to read while he relaxed and enjoyed the last meal the kitchen would be serving today. Having only that 'phone' to read of all the messages Levi had sent him throughout the day, he'd been making him practice his spelling and grammar seeing they had no real agenda.

It's strange.. so many important individuals form his world had been showing as of late.. some even disappearing. The workings of this world still needed further exploration.]

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01. [Action]

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wow, sorry for the late response!

It's okay! I tagged late in the first place.

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sorry for the late response!

No worries, its all good!

Aaaand now I can tag you! Sorry for the wait!

Noot a problem!

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this is really late wow forgive me.