maskormenace | EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

"In our first news item this evening, America's ministry of imPort affairs has confirmed that it has suffered a serious data breach, claiming its networks were intercepted by a mysterious hacker.

The ministry has provided little detail on the incident, saying it applied to "the internet-based network where open information and data of the lowest classification level are handled."

Data with higher security classification is still secure, the ministry has said. Intelligence and security services are currently investigating the breach, and invite any citizen or imPort who might have information to come forward. The--"

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a message from our sponsor of this particular news segment.

Citizens. ImPorts. The government is not as all-seeing or all-powerful as they would have you believe. Stand up and demand government transparency. Demand answers. Do not be complacent.

They know nothing about the Porter. They do not have control. Its origins lead to the Atlantic Ocean where it was pulled near the coast in 1985. They have no idea how it works. It is a mystery to both the government and their scientists. They have no control over it whatsoever. Any control you might think they have is an illusion. I have seen their files. They know no more than us.

Their main priority is trying to find ways to control the Porter so that way they can send back imPorts who have no interest in this world. Why have we not been told this?

Additionally, it is currently unknown why people suddenly go home. It is not the government's doing. They believe it is the fault of Lachesis. Additionally, it's been confirmed that the Porter has its own automated defenses that prevents anyone from prying too much information out of it-- even those already gifted with extreme powers it brings in from other worlds. Lachesis is

[The message suddenly cuts out, and you return to a confused-looking news anchor, who apologises for the break in programming and hurries on to the next segment, some boring item about a vacuumer cleaner scam.]

((This kicks off the mini-event I spoke of two days ago! I will not be running this post, though Skye will be around later! Please use this post to react, treat each top level comment like it's a new post in the community, for characters to gossip about and share their reactions, or maybe actionspam your character's realtime reaction as they watch at home or perhaps in the street. Jump each other, have fun!))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eh?

[ what? Why? ]

No. There is so much, I can't read it all-

There is a lot, and it's not all written. I suggest you go back to around the fourth of August, this year. Have you learned how to search by a person's identification number on network?

[ It's a very calm question. ]

No. [ No. He hasn't.

Why are they even talking about that now?

Kaneki reaches for his communicator ] Annie-san, what does have to do with your world?

More than you probably want to know.

[ she says, frankly. ]

I can show you how to do the search, if you'd like.

[ it's going to be on her name. ]

[ . . .

Kaneki hands her his communicator, but not before he looks at her with a serious expression ] Show me the entry you want me to see. [ because there is obviously something.

He supposes it's harder to talk about it, so he doesn't mind see an old communication entry ]

[ She turns it toward him regardless, tapping once to bring up the general interface for reading, then again on a link that points toward "IDs." Her own is on there, reading "Annie Leonhart." Another tap, and she's flicking her finger up, causing the screen to scroll downward. It's a video file - it sits there, the triangle pointing to the right, ready to play.

She hands his device back, expression remote, eyes a little tired. ]

It's a video transmission. There's a lot after it, in responses, but...

[ she has never actually seen anyone listen to this in person. Annie's not really sure she can take it. She remembers how it plays out, she's listened to it, watched it, gone over the responses like one might pick at a scab to never quite let it heal - but it is what it is. Her scabs aren't the easy ones to see. ]

[ Kaneki takes the device once again and watches the video in silence. He quite can't make everything out of it; titans who eat humans, mindless beings, titan-shifters...

Just what the hell.

Why him? Why Kaneki?! No, seriously, why. Why did it all go crazy ever since the day he looked at Rize? And now he is in a different world and there is this person whom he sort of gets along with ~~(probably the only one because Kaneki is an awkward idiot)~~ and she happens to be able to turn into a Titan! Oh and by the way, Titans are human-like creatures and they eat humans. Just how much crazier do you want his life to get? Just how much weirder can it become? How scary, how terrifying, how disgusting--!!!

Kaneki reaches to cover his mouth with his free hand, still looking at the video as he hits replay once again; he ignores the answers to the video, mostly because there are so many and he doesn't even know where to begin. That hand moves across his face, pulling his hair back as he lets go of a frustrated sound before he finally speaks ]

... what am I supposed to say? I don't... [ know. He doesn't know! You killed people, Annie, you know that, and then what?! What? He doesn't know what to say or even think, or why is he being shown this.

There is also the issue that he cares for Annie. And maybe he is simple minded, maybe he is unfair to those who died, but he doesn't know those people and he didn't see any of it happening - but let's be honest, nothing in Kaneki's life has been fair, can't he just be a bit unfair about it, too? Being the one that hurts, instead of the one hurting, do you know the lengths he goes for this, Annie? To blame the girl for all of this, hurt her with words? He can't do that, even if it means go easy on her after she murdered so many.

Kaneki turns to look at her with a worried frown. ]

... do you regret it? [ no, wait, nevermind. he looks to the side again, avoiding her face. ] I'm sorry, that's an unfair question.

Edited (wow engrish) 2014-10-02 11:26 (UTC)

[ she can't see it as an unfair question. many voices had echoed it, past crying out this wasn't the case, was she lying, did someone put her up to this. annie only realizes how tense she's gotten in the last fifteen minutes when she turns to look his way, not quite at him... more over his shoulder. ]

Not so unfair. You'd want to know.

[ and she breathes in, resisting the urge to cross an arm over her chest and hold on to herself. it's defensive posturing. defending against what?

everything, really. ]

I regret. I regret taking actions that made it easier to kill when I did than to avoid the confrontation. It was a chance to change...

[ no. how does she even say this? though annie finally looks at his face, and his one, good, uncovered eye. ]

I regret the unnecessary loss of military life, and the collateral loss of civilian lives when the military attempted and succeeded in subduing me.

[ starting to sound detached again. it's so difficult in coping - remembering looking down when eren had thrown her through the church to see the dead splayed out beneath her, looking up with sightless eyes. blood splatters, the rubble, the ones who'd lived looking up in voiceless terror.

she was an efficient killer. she didn't shy away from that. when it'd been annie putting herself out there to try and achieve an altered objective, to avoid the farce continuing into the future as she moved through the military police, she'd known the cost. kill or be killed.

she's very good at killing. even if she isn't a driving force behind the loss of a quarter of humanity, not directly, the people behind all of them had issued those orders, trained them all, sent them out as children to do what they couldn't.

and the king and his council had issued the order to make innocents march to their deaths, for the sake of the survival of the rest. and they hadn't even had the decency to call it anything of the sort.

corruption runs deep in so many parts of society... ]

I don't regret having my jest of playing soldier ended sooner than it would have been if I'd been the kind of warrior I was trained to be.

What the hell… [ he breathes out and he barely even hears what he just said. Because there is just so much he can’t make out of it, and there is still the issue he is disconnected from it in a way because he hasn’t lived it. He is disconnected, yet the idea still feels like a punch in the gut because this person right in front of him has killed many people.

Well.

Most people he has dealt with last few months have. In fact, they have lived their lives doing just that, apart from Hinami-chan. And they detach themselves from it as well, just like manager said “In order to walk atop the empty husks, ghouls strengthen their heart and kill their emotions. In order to live a ghoul will forget the value of life”. They are not right to do so, Kaneki does not agree, but he has seen Touka-chan and the way she sees herself as a murderer, as well as the way she faces the life of another.

That’s why it’s unfair to ask if Annie regretted it and unfair to demand an emotional response from her. ]

… Why did you tell everyone? You mentioned circumstances, but this- [ she basically waved a big red flag for furious bulls to attack ]

[ Better to know it's coming than to wonder when it'll hit. Annie pauses - she has to consider what she wants to say, and it's not an off the cuff sort of conversation. ]

Would you like the political reasons first, or the more personal ones?

[ They're both there, and not precisely independent of each other. It's also - it's politics. She brings that up because the whole of her views on the world is understanding the politics of people and a society that isn't the one she was born into. Trying to understand the one she was born into as well.

The reasons her father wanted her to harden her heart had very little to do with a necessity of nature, and very much to do with a necessity of nurture. She wouldn't be able to see in the same way the things she does compared to a people whose literal survival depends on a diet of human flesh.

It's less perverse than what the Titans do, in a sense. ]

I don't know. Anything, whatever.

[ Kaneki looks at her. Killed humans, she said, responsible for the death of 1/3 of mankind, right? Missions, Titan-shifters. Honestly, what is this person thinking, because Kaneki has no idea ]

It's weird, to admit such thing to others like that, isn't it? Even if there are people from your world here, the ones that captured you, is it wise to openly state such thing? Everyone else will- [ be angry, shun her, push her away.

He cuts himself off again and he finally decides. ]

Personal ones first.

[ Yet all those things, the ones she can add in to where he cuts himself off, are easier to handle. Easier because of what it doesn't require out of Annie. She's been isolated before. She grew up that way, made herself isolated among her peers, and uses it as her own defense against the world.

It's okay. She can handle things like this. So having people be angry (as they should), shun her (what does it matter), push her away (save yourselves the trouble)... that's expected. It's a sought response. Even if the whole world hates you... ]

People were starting to call me a friend. Something like that... I can't allow it to be true without knowing the things that will be used against me. I didn't make friends where I'm from. I wouldn't allow myself to there, so why here?

[ Annie brushes her hair back off her face, looking away from Kaneki again. It's easier to talk this way. ]

I was tired of lying. I've lived like that before. And... for those people who thought they were something like a friend... to feel betrayed by someone you've only known for a short time is easier to bear than someone you've known for longer. I wanted to spare them that, if I could. Spare myself, too.

[ Not to relive the way things happened back home. She's honest enough in what she says now, even if a little consciously self-unaware. ]

Personal reasons tie in with the political. People from back home can hold things like that against us, use it to undermine anything we do or attempt to achieve here, simply being in control of that information. We couldn't allow them that control. Of course, we could have left our confession with the military alone... that carried its own temptation. But it wasn't right. Not for how we want to live. For the animosity it's earned us, for the hate it's created, and for the things that are harder to define, we all felt our way forward was in telling everyone what we were, and what we've done, before worrying over who it is we are anymore. It's not the same here as it is back home.

[ though she almost smiles when she says that: ]

If we're dealing with obvious statements.

[ Kaneki still replays the video again and again, even if muted, and along the way he also watches the replies (also muted). Specifically, he wants to see people's faces. Their hurt expressions, their angry faces, because of betrayal and because they felt like they were lied to. Kaneki understands their feelings, he does, but it crosses his mind about Annie's feelings too - and the other two guys' feelings as well.

And something like this, public exposure like this, is it REALLY the way to go about it? if she explained to her friends - the people who were starting to see her as a friend - privately, what happened, how it happened, why it happened, she might have been able to keep some of those people from becoming angry, from throwing stones at her. Right? ~~kaneki, forever the optimist, even when there is a gun pointed at his head~~

He finally turns off his communications device. It's enough of that. His eye turns to Annie once again, watching her for a moment to let her finish explaining ]

The way you live now, after this, is it the way you wanted to live? And the people you have lost to it? [ if there was anyone who even refused to deal with her anymore, Kaneki doesn't know ]

...

Isn't it lonely? [ asks the loneliest person of them all ]

[ She wouldn't have been able to handle this one at a time. Easier to cut once with a sword, aim for the center, carve it out, than cut several times over, hoping each guided movement of the blade is avoiding what you don't want severed. Besides, eventually, it'd be about telling the rest... and what is "want" in a case like this? ]

Why should loneliness be a deterrent?

[ She says, and it's a calm thing to ask, calm in tone, calm in the expression she wears. No denial - it is lonely - but "is this the way you wanted to live?" It's better than it's been. Loss is loss. People are lost all the time.

She never really had them in the first place. ]

[ why indeed. Because the moment when you find out what it feels like when you are not lonely, it's the moment you realize loneliness is the worst thing you can feel in your life. Kaneki has felt it, and now in this world he is feeling it yet again, and it's so... terrifying. ]

Then what is that you wish for?

[ Live a good life? Alone? Nobody can live a good life completely alone. He has tried, he has! And he says he can live alone, and oho, look at him, in heropa for few weeks and hanging in there.

but deep inside it's terrible and he hates it. It's not something he wishes for.

It's silly to assume everyone feels the same, but Annie doesn't look like a person who hates being around others, even if she is a bit stoic (like Touka-chan) ]

[ she doesn't like being alone. annie can't really stand it, not when there's a choice to live otherwise, but she knows what loss here can mean, has watched reiner with bertholdt going back, has witnessed the ways people react to those not from their homes departing when the bonds have had some degree of strength.

loneliness is what she's been resigned to all her life. and it does hurt, getting close to people. it hurt having them pull away already, but it was almost a welcome pain, a reminder of the expectations she has to keep in mind. like the pain of muscles tearing, those microtears that happen as one exercises and strengthens what one has. the legs, the arms, the abdomen - the heart. ]

I don't know, exactly. I suppose I wish for a chance to figure out what I wish for. This whole... living for one's own sake, that's different. No assigned mission, a flow of events and people that don't move in the same direction, ideals and ideas and beliefs to struggle with... I don't know what I wish for, other than a chance to keep finding the things I couldn't allow myself back home.

[ what she probably never will allow herself, even if she wakes up, if she survives, if she what, escapes? to loneliness, if she is allowed to survive in that mountain haunt with the memories of her ghosts for company. ]

For whatever that's worth.

[ Living for one's own sake.

Kaneki has to wonder about that. He does the same, he lives for his own sake in a way, but he finds such cowardice in it at times ~~thanks mommy issues~~. It's not that he is judging Annie, but he realizes he can't understand her at all. What it means to be that kind of person, a soldier that obeys orders and does missions and didn't have the chance to decide for themselves.

The ghoul doesn't find it bad. if she has the chance to do it now, then she should. Even if she exposed herself, either because she didn't want to hurt and hurt others, or because she didn't want her enemies to go around exposing her secret like that - if she believes she can live in a way she is pleased with, then isn't it worth it? ]

I think that's worth it, then.

[ he puts the communicator back, before he scratches the back of his head ]

I just hope you will be alright. I would be sad, to see you getting hurt.

[ ~~cross parental issues!!!~~ If he expects anything other than surprise out of Annie at that statement, he'll be disappointed - surprise, because such things aren't what she's used to hearing, and aside from adults who seem to have a better understanding of the fact these things can happen (who probably better understand the concept of child soldiers than Annie does on an emotional level, for all she can see it on a logical one), who may even guess at the psychological molding that happened to her over time to make her who and what she is today, and also define what she won't choose to be, when choice is more of an option...

People don't say it'd bother them if she's hurt. Let alone being sad over it; she knows it would bother some of those she knows, and she does know that Kay, Minako, Reiner, Aracely, even Will care... as would others, but they haven't said so.

It's just one of those things no one says. Not to her. So looking surprised, not able to hide it, she replies with: ]

It's almost guaranteed at some point. ... I'm sorry.

[ Lunatic being after any murderer, Levi waiting in the wings, a military that may well decide a use for her that relies on the abilities she doesn't talk about, regeneration from grievous injury - who sees the future? ANd she makes it purely physical in her mind.

Emotional injury is part and parcel of her life, and who the hell cares about that other than Annie? (Maybe the ones who apologize. Maybe Wally, and Houka, maybe Will who watches and makes the quiet suggestions that are both invasive and unobtrusive. Who's to say? Who's looking for such things in the first place?) ]

I know. It's wishful thinking. [ he says softly because it's true, he knows.

And right now, though he cares for Annie, it's still not that strong need he feels over Hinami-chan, Touka, over Hide... it's there, it'll grow into more because we are talking about Kaneki, the person who fights for those he cares ~~and will eventually grow to get really messed up in the head about it~~, but there is still much to learn about who Annie is.

he does care, though, and that's why he would be sad. He can't claim he will protect her, however, because what does he know, for real?

Kaneki scratches the back of his head before his finger feels the elastic strong from his eyepatch. he remembers what Annie said about Titans, but he knows it's not the same. Ghouls aren't mindless; they are very well aware of what they are doing. Kaneki is, too.

But he is curious - ] How... did you become a Titan-shifter? [ organ transplant? ]

It was a decision my father made for me.

[ ~~as far as we know right now, but canon does seem to indicate this is true blah blah blah~~ there's no hesitation in saying as much, even if it doesn't sound like much of an answer. she does add... ]

If you mean in specific... I don't remember much about that time.

[ willingly or otherwise. ]

I remember my childhood. My father's still living. It's... different for Reiner and Bertholdt.

[ ~~hey, if selective memory loss worked for eren, it can work for her too~~

So she wasn't born one. Though because Annie doesn't remember, maybe she was really young? Maybe it's something too difficult to do and involved prolonged anesthesia ~~like organ transplant~~.

Kaneki sighs softly. This whole thing is a lot to take in and a lot to accept. And to think about. It's so complicated. The boy (man? he is technically 18, though he looks 15) bites his lower lip as he thinks about what else to ask. he has many questions, but they don't all line up in a logical order ]

Do you like... it? [ is this something to be asked????? ] I mean, your titan-shifting, does it bother you?

[ ~~imitating eren is never a bad plan, right?~~

She looks a little surprised at his question. Does it bother her? No one's asked that. She has to consider the question, and her own feelings. It's... ]

No. That is... yes, it bothers me. I don't like what I can do. I'm good at it, but it's not a skill I've used more than twice in the last five years. Three times... including more recent events in this world.

[ she remembers fighting mini-Godzilla. that was... a very unpleasant, slightly cathartic end to a miserable, terrifying three days of horror.

~~and who knows how things were before entering the Walls because goodness I don't at all~~ ]

[ Kaneki nods softly, like the answer was plenty for him ]

And can you control it? Completely?

[ this would be an important question in every way. Though Annie speaks in a way it sounds like she has plenty of control over that power, after she told him Titans were mindless, to what extent she stood "human" when she shifted, anyway? ]

[ it's another complicated question, but one the military had asked when they'd all come forward with a detailed confession. it isn't stated on network. until someone asks, she had no plans to lay out the minutia of how titan shifting works... or doesn't work.

but now that she's been asked, what to say? ]

There's always the chance, if you stay in shift too long, if you get too tired... you might get trapped. Once you have control of your shift, it's not as likely, but it's never impossible. As for me... I have control. I can't be forced to shift. I'm fully aware of myself when in Titan form.

[ she controls her actions, but nothing more or less. not the actions or responses of others. not the collateral damage for being thrown into a church; Annie is a careful mover. she's not careless in the things she does, for the most part. her tone is getting more removed again, like she's reciting a report she's been asked for. ]

[ he doesn't like it all when she detaches herself like that, but it's not his place to argue. it's not his place to complain and it's not his place to demand emotions from her. It doesn't work like that, and Kaneki - right now - is just lucky that Annie is willing to continue answering his questions.

In the video she said she had no plans on doing such thing again. She placed herself in a dangerous position, too, and now is telling Kaneki she just wants to find out what she can do without being on a mission.

Honestly, Kaneki can't bring himself to even argue about what Annie did. He didn't think badly of Uta-san when he learned he raised hell, killed Doves and humans and ghouls for no other reason besides wanting blood and guts; he changed, he is gentle and kind now ~~(you should think badly of him, Kaneki, you really fucking should)~~. The way he looks at Annie's point of view is probably the same, though Kaneki realizes what she did was a mission and not because she was craving mayhem. He doesn't agree with it, but Kaneki can't bring himself to judge her, be angry or push her away. ]

I'm sorry for all these questions, Annie. [ he finally says.

He needs a coffee. ]

EVENING NEWS BULLETIN

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

icon just because

wraps up this thread with a pretty bow on top c: