psl/meme catch-all (2025)

[pantheraliam]

muses

code

aot art•omori art•bsd art

Comments

[wintolive]

[Eren's eyes seem to focus for the first time, the pupils pulsing into place.

[What is there to figure out...?]

Message.

[Now, he's actually trying to guess.]

limboverse x2 combo

[surveillingscion]

Pattern. [‘Identify. End—’ The words are mouthed but soundless. Her mouth snaps shut. What…?]

we're so back

[wintolive]

[She can't speak...?

[They...can't speak...]

Break.

Re: we're so back

[surveillingscion]

[Slowly, glaring past the man, Caitlyn reaches for her neck—but there’s nothing. She can breathe (which has long stopped being light and casual, but the tightness of her throat is nothing new), and there’s nothing in sight…

[This was a mistake.]

Release. [An order. Not directed to the man, who her eyes dart back to between scans of the area. He’s surprised, too, isn’t he…?]

[wintolive]

[It had really only felt like a dream up until now, but...surely, enough, these two aren't anywhere they're meant to be. There could be a thousand reasons why. All he can think about is that place - that brief, fleeting glimpse...]

Trap.

[surveillingscion]

[She wants her goddamn gun. (Why isn’t its familiar weight on her back?)

[Forget the game. Where is this. A place seems to—appear, doesn’t, glimmering like an oasis. Caitlyn scans the ground (is that… sand?) and, spying no traps or tripwires, steps out.]

Illusion.... [Or is it “delusion”? It’s half-muttered.]

[wintolive]

[Sand. White, endless sand - he's seen it before...

[Eren stares, silent, at an empty horizon. It should be full of stars...]

That...power...

[surveillingscion]

[The sudden clarity of a horizon (and the realization it was not previously visible) is jarring. It can’t be her work; she wouldn’t let them stand. But all trails drag back to—

[“Power,” he says, and Caitlyn is so… distracted, by whatever this has become, it hardly occurs to her he’s used two words. She follows his eyes instead.]

You know this?

[wintolive]

[There's a delay, like a cannon stalling; Eren's eyes roll to Caitlyn. He could lie. He's...not sure if that would benefit either of them right now. Truthfully, he's not very good at it yet.]

I don't think it's the same...

[surveillingscion]

[But he’s familiar somehow. Immediately:] What’s the difference? [Probing, not dismissing.]

[wintolive]

I've only seen it once. Just for a second...

There are stars there.

[Here, the "sky" is...just...

[Blank.]

That tree...

[It's not here either. Eren shakes his head.]

No. It isn't the same...

[surveillingscion]

[A tree. Noted, but irrelevant for the time being. Even they couldn’t see the stars.]

You spoke of power. Whose?

[wintolive]

The royal family's.

[It's not entirely a lie.]

Unless you're one of them, it doesn't add up. And you're not...

[surveillingscion]

[Well…
[It doesn’t add up. No family she knows (yet!) could warp people into some indistinct hellpit.

[Caitlyn shakes her head, and pulls her eyes back to him.] How do they do it?

HM.

[wintolive]

[Eren's expression becomes just a bit stubborn, the way he looks away from her, once again fiddling with his ear. Why should she get to ask all the questions...?]

It's in their blood. I don't know much about it.

[surveillingscion]

Are they mages?

[wintolive]

Eh? What's that?

[surveillingscion]

[She shakes her head. That’s an answer.]

Magic-users. We shouldn’t find them here. [In other words, if you don’t know, it’s not a concern.

[Still.... That lead a dead end, Caitlyn starts walking—frustratingly directionless, but wanting to move. Does this sand go on forever…?]

They wouldn’t trap us without cause.

[wintolive]

[Eren isn't walking yet. She is - away, but...]

Whoever trapped us probably does have cause, though...

[surveillingscion]

[The he doesn’t see the eyeroll.]

First we played a word game. Then… sand, and darkness—

[She stops, looking back over her shoulder.] Where were you before this?

[wintolive]

You aren't in control, here.

Do you realize that?

[surveillingscion]

[ … ]

Do you think you are.

[wintolive]

[It's possible.]

I'm just getting a little tired of the demands. How do you know if we're even on the same side?

[surveillingscion]

[Sneering. Quickly:] You and I both have more important things to do than argue in a desert.

[But she does not take one step more.]

[wintolive]

I'm not arguing with you.

I'm saying I can't trust you. And you can't trust me either.

In fact, I don't even know your name.