[It's all very dramatic when he puts it that way, huh. He hadn't phrased it like that to fish for sympathy, or pity. (He wouldn't want it. He never had.) And Eren is absolutely not the type to complain about hard work, or pain, or giving of himself for his cause.
It's just the most accurate description he can muster. And being an earnest sort by nature, he gives it without thinking about what it might sound like. But it's hardly difficult to guess that shifting is not an easy thing. (Making a monster of yourself. He comes out dazed and barely conscious, blood in his mouth and dripping down from his nose. Strange fading marks around his eyes, and that's just when they're lucky enough not to have to lop a limb off in the process, leave him recovering for days.)
That is not to say he's in a rush to insist on talking about it. He lets Guy drop the subject if he wants to, after remembering to square up and insist—]
I can handle it fine.
[He doesn't have a choice. He wouldn't choose differently if he could. (He'd do it again if he had to. Hange isn't far away. He is not weak, and he is not alone, and he will not let himself fail again.)
It's a little too defensive teenager to be properly reassuring. But it comes more firmly and more forcefully than anything he's said so far. As if he's willing himself back to his feet to make it true. ]
[It's perhaps one of Guy's bigger failings: he's always quick to pity and to worry, especially when it comes to teenagers around Eren's age. They remind him a little too much of his own friends, when all's said and done. He remembers what Annie said, how she bristled at being treated like anything but an adult.
It's hard to remember that distinction, sometimes.
He takes Eren's defensiveness in stride. Lets it slide off him as easy as anything.]
I believe you. [And he does.] Sasha-- she told me a bit about your world.
[His shoulders slack a little, the kneejerk reaction fading as quickly as it flared up, though he still manages to look troubled. (Sasha. Who has come and gone (and lived, and died, and lived) here, more than once.)]
Most people don't really ask.
[Or, they do. But when they find out what they're asking, they find it unpalatable. Horrible, or pitiable. Ino once reacted with surprise that he wanted to go home at all. (Why wouldn't he? He won't argue that there is a lot that's fucked up in their world. That doesn't mean he's ready to give it up.)]
[Asking about what the Survey Corps did led to questions about just what they did, and that in turn spawned more questions about the titans. He still remembers what Sasha told him, about meat being rare. Still remembers the troubled look on her face as she talked about how titans preyed upon human beings.]
I can get why you guys wouldn't want to talk about it, though.
Just because you don't talk about something doesn't mean it's not there.
[Honestly, Eren's probably one of those most likely to mind talking about home, and the titans, and the terrible things that they face. He's gone through too much not to have some terrible memories to dredge up if he wanders the wrong territory. He refuses to pretend they didn't happen.]
Pretending things are fine because you don't want to think about them won't fix them, anyway. It's just fooling yourself.
[And that's more dangerous than anything. That's how you get complacent, or get caught unprepared.]
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no subject
Don't worry about it. You must be tired after all that. I'll stop grilling you.
[Eren looks a little better now. More like himself, less out of it. Guy nods at him.]
Just... take care, okay?
no subject
It's just the most accurate description he can muster. And being an earnest sort by nature, he gives it without thinking about what it might sound like. But it's hardly difficult to guess that shifting is not an easy thing. (Making a monster of yourself. He comes out dazed and barely conscious, blood in his mouth and dripping down from his nose. Strange fading marks around his eyes, and that's just when they're lucky enough not to have to lop a limb off in the process, leave him recovering for days.)
That is not to say he's in a rush to insist on talking about it. He lets Guy drop the subject if he wants to, after remembering to square up and insist—]
I can handle it fine.
[He doesn't have a choice. He wouldn't choose differently if he could. (He'd do it again if he had to. Hange isn't far away. He is not weak, and he is not alone, and he will not let himself fail again.)
It's a little too defensive teenager to be properly reassuring. But it comes more firmly and more forcefully than anything he's said so far. As if he's willing himself back to his feet to make it true. ]
We made it through worse than this before.
no subject
It's hard to remember that distinction, sometimes.
He takes Eren's defensiveness in stride. Lets it slide off him as easy as anything.]
I believe you. [And he does.] Sasha-- she told me a bit about your world.
no subject
Most people don't really ask.
[Or, they do. But when they find out what they're asking, they find it unpalatable. Horrible, or pitiable. Ino once reacted with surprise that he wanted to go home at all. (Why wouldn't he? He won't argue that there is a lot that's fucked up in their world. That doesn't mean he's ready to give it up.)]
no subject
[Asking about what the Survey Corps did led to questions about just what they did, and that in turn spawned more questions about the titans. He still remembers what Sasha told him, about meat being rare. Still remembers the troubled look on her face as she talked about how titans preyed upon human beings.]
I can get why you guys wouldn't want to talk about it, though.
no subject
Just because you don't talk about something doesn't mean it's not there.
[Honestly, Eren's probably one of those most likely to mind talking about home, and the titans, and the terrible things that they face. He's gone through too much not to have some terrible memories to dredge up if he wanders the wrong territory. He refuses to pretend they didn't happen.]
Pretending things are fine because you don't want to think about them won't fix them, anyway. It's just fooling yourself.
[And that's more dangerous than anything. That's how you get complacent, or get caught unprepared.]