ＶＩＤＥＯ ⁄ ＮＥＷ ＢＡＲＫ ＴＯＷＮ。

[throatwash]

( route's newest arrival isn't pleased, but for all the plethora of reactions one can experience in a new world... armin arlert is rather calm. he crouches at a water's edge, arm folded over his knees. his hair is wet, appearing longer than usual, and his chin is scraped raw. if someone mistakes him for a girl... well, it wouldn't be the first time. he sighs. )

How would you train a weak, ah, Pokémon? ( foreign, the question in the word itself. ) I understand they learn through battle, but can they learn through... Mm, exercises? ( the answer seems obvious, to be honest, but armin won't assume in the given circumstances. he doesn't want to waste the time, either, and this is an important step to integrating himself into this world. ) I think it would be more beneficial than risking serious injury or worse...

( — a splash of water, raining droplets over the screen. armin lowers the gear, revealing an upside picture of... a fucking magikarp. he smiles, though no one can see. softer, ) Don't worry. I use to be weak, too.

Comments

lmao, i almost asked but knew it was you anyways :3

[goestoextremes]

Yeah. Even if you could die here, the world would just heal you and you'd be back again. Explains why we might see people, who are dead back home, they get healed before they wake up.

But dying here? They say that it's completely, literally, impossible and doesn't happen here. I haven't tried personally, so I can't talk from experience here.

[It's a very real thing back in her world too, even if she's part of a 10 000 year old reincarnation cycle and been able to talk to her past lives, but... that's just spiritual stuff and everyone else literally dies.]

buries self

[throatwash]

That healing system, do you know more about it?

( the likeliest place to begin but he feels distant, now. tired. do people age? is that impossible, too? does this world need something fresh? is that the reason...? )

/patpat u r adorable

[goestoextremes]

No one really knows much about it? This place has too many unanswered questions. I'd like to know more about that though, it's so much better and faster than my own healing powers back home.

[Korra... Korra, please don't be jealous of some weird healing system. But people age here!!]

no... i am fearsome and scary... i am beast titan

[throatwash]

( — that wakes him. )

Powers? Do you regenerate?

nonsense! ... or wait, am i the helpless victim here?

[goestoextremes]

No, I don't ... regenerate, was it? It's more like I can breathe and kick fire, and do stuff with water, earth and air too.

u will be if u don't acknowledge i am the opposite of adorable

[throatwash]

...okay.

( "that sounds insane, but this place is insane, so alright" in a single word. amazing. he feels tired again. )

but ilu so do i love the opposite of adorable things then?

[goestoextremes]

[It is totally insane, but every world has their insane stuff.]

Okay, but I can't do any of it here because this world takes all of our special powers and whatever away before we wake up.

So there's just ... pokemon, who do kind of similar stuff, yup.

[Korra is the master of all explanations, as you can see.]

yah sorry 4 ur taste

[throatwash]

( a long, long moment of silence. armin doesn't speak. he doesn't attempt to speak. in fact, he doesn't seem interested in the act. his brain is buzzing, alert and raw, skipping between traitors and soldiers. the dead and the knowledge his world is, in itself, unnatural. worlds, worlds. worlds, what a strange thing, and his world, the word is blurring and tasting strange on his tongue, terrifies others. and this world is strange, too. but it is perfect and peaceful, and armin hates that he hates it. he wishes for eren and mikasa beside him but not in this world, and he knows he shouldn't because he. feels. so. tired. how must the corporal feel? )

— sorry. ( he realizes that must have been awkward. ) Um, my name is Armin Arlert.

i kind of love my taste tho

[goestoextremes]

[ ... ARE YOU OKAY, KID? Korra, that is not a kid.]

It's okay, as long as you're okay? Everything here takes a lot to get used to, and then there's also the thing to get used to, that you're not in your home world anymore. [is that good or bad, who even knows.]

I'll call you Armin, yeah? I'm Korra.

smh

[throatwash]

( ignoring that he is not okay... )

Thank you. For... I asked a lot of questions, didn't I. But you were really helpful.

i should play girls like annie and mikasa, who speak a lot less than these 2 route girls

[goestoextremes]

[She was born to be helpful, Armin. ...And apparently she was born to be a worrier too since by just avoiding that question? You Definitely get her to worry about you a lot.]

You're welcome. Glad to help, and you really didn't ask that much. I kind of live with some hyperactive little kids back home, it's -- like they want to know everything about, well, everything. I'm kind of used to a lot more questions.

[Seriously, Ikki and her questions combined with her siblings. But Korra loves them, so it's okay!!]

Oh, but speaking of those, there's a thing called voicemail in these devices. You can call me at literally any time of the day if you ever have any questions or just want someone to talk to.

[So it's like "hey do you have any friends here? No? Well, even if you do, I'd like to be a friend too." because wow, please please be okay. It's not like Korra herself is very okay either, but she's good at trying to forget stuff from home.]

even combined they wouldn't talk as much

[throatwash]

( armin is smiling, at least. korra is a talkative person, and he can't think too much if he continues the conversation. a little distraction is good. )

Voicemail? Hm, that's clever. Do you have technology like this where you're from? I haven't seen anything like it before... But it's easy to learn.

ikr, omg i disappeared bc i was playing w/ my SNKs in Finnish what is my liiiiiiife

[goestoextremes]

[good, smiling is very good! she can keep talking forever, honestly.]

Yeah, it's great - you can even send videos like this there! We have a thing called radio? Voice and music come from a box, and people can make city wide announcements with it. And it also works for audio calls if there's a good signal in the area.

shhh shhh

[throatwash]

Is that what that music is? ( he finds it isn't too difficult to tune out, but it is constant. ) A radio?

[goestoextremes]

I think the background music is -- something else. [game mechanics, but let's not get to that because she's not from a world with video games either.] -- but you have a radio in this device with a lot of stations for different music, so you don't have to listen to the constant music all the time.

[throatwash]

( but something must be constant, then. unless a "silent" station exists, how counterintuitive... that's a little irritating, but oh, well. silence isn't as blissful as some might claim. )

Stations? Is that like the different conversations we can have on this thing?