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[sunspotted]

INBOX (UN: MARCO.BOTT) text / audio / video / action / nsfw Uh - this is Marco - Marco Bott! I'll get back in touch as soon as I can! code credit

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[rollcharisma]

Well, thank you. You don't miss the bowl cut?

That's a tricky one, Marco. I'd like to hear you try.

text > brief video

[sunspotted]

Your new haircut is an improvement on the previous one. This frames your face better.

[ Very diplomatic, this one. Anyway, when he asks to hear Marco try, he gets sent a video clip. Marco's in the kitchen of his and Galliard's flat; he looks to have been working on some kind of dough, and is leaning over the countertop. ]

I wouldn’t meddle with a soldier who was wearing a metal medal, awarded for a display of mettle.

[ And then he sticks his tongue out before the video ends. ]

There!

2/2 i forgot so it's funny

[sunspotted]

[ A second text: ]

- Marco

[rollcharisma]

You had to have practiced that!

- Armin

[sunspotted]

Okay, in all truth: Rowana, that's my second youngest sister, had a really bad stutter when she first started to talk. So mother put together a list of words that sounded the same so she would have to practice them. I would practice with her too so she wasn't doing it alone.

- Marco

[rollcharisma]

[Alright, well. That's the sweetest thing he's ever heard. Marco continues to be the reigning champion of Great Guys.]

That's so sweet, Marco. She must have felt really grateful for that. I'm not sure that all big brothers would do the same.

all my headcanons be like: oooh aren't you sad this guy's dead oooh

[sunspotted]

I'm sure I'm not the only one, though! Anyway - we were always busy, so I tried to help out where I could. Sometimes that meant helping her while mom and Lucia handled the adult stuff.

AND I AM. I AM SAD.

[rollcharisma]

That makes sense. I've never had any siblings, so I can't exactly relate. I did try to help my grandfather as much as I could when I was a kid, though.

[A little ache at that...]

CRY ABOUT IT

[sunspotted]

Hm... but isn't Mikasa like a sister to you? You, she and Eren were always so close together, I assumed it was familial.

[ He'd say Eren, too, but they both know that's not how that was. ]

Also, for your picture idea - someone's going to take a picture of you too, right?

[rollcharisma]

Well, Mikasa and I are certainly very close, but I'm not sure I've ever thought of her as a sister outright. She'd be the closest thing though, you're right.

I hadn't really thought about having a photo of myself done, actually. Is that silly of me?

i realized i forgot to keep signing his texts so #yolo he dropped it for now

[sunspotted]

I guess I was wrong on that! I can't be right all the time, that'd be silly haha.

Mmm, a little bit. But also the kind of person you are - you want to preserve precious things, but didn't think of yourself as something precious.

So! I am officially requesting a picture of you. Whether it's a self portrait or something you ask someone else to take.

[rollcharisma]

[Wow, Marco. You're really just gonna lay that one right out on the table, aren't you? Armin feels a bit like he's been punched.]

That's awfully insightful of you, Marco...

I'll make sure there's a photo of myself in the collection - and a copy for you too. Okay?

[sunspotted]

I have been told that before. Just don't tell Jean, he already calls it me pretending to be a know-it-all.

I'd love that, thank you. Do you need any assistance with anything? I doubt I'm any good with a camera, but maybe looking for locations, or props...?

[rollcharisma]

I hadn't even considered props. Do you have any ideas in mind? That could definitely make things more interesting.

[sunspotted]

Hmm, flowers are always a good choice, for people to be holding? But some people might object - oh! Jean has a lot of weapons at his place, you could always have people pose with those.

[rollcharisma]

[He likes the idea of flowers more than the idea of weapons, really, but Marco is probably right in assuming that the others would favor the latter. It's just what they're used to.]

I wonder if a combination of both could be interesting...

[Getting a bit artsy here.]

[sunspotted]

Ooh, it could be. You could also pin corsages or something so people don't necessarily have to hold them if you're combining them.

Given we all were given flower charms when we arrived too... that would give you a lot of ideas to work with.

[rollcharisma]

You're right, it would.

Forgive me for going a bit poetic on you, but something about the juxtaposition between weapons and flowers just seems...somewhat profound, somehow. Don't you think?

[He feels a bit embarrassed saying so, but he trusts Marco. Maybe Armin was meant to be an artist all along with a mind like that. He wouldn't necessarily say so, though. He doesn't feel he's quite earned that yet.]

[sunspotted]

No need for forgiveness, I agree. I'm not much of an eye for art, but I think it suits many of our friends. We fight because we must, of course. Seeing people like Jean and Mikasa, when they're happy at home... it makes it clear that we weren't always meant for such things, though.

[rollcharisma]

I don't think any of us were meant for what we were put through, no.

If you ask me, people are meant to dream and laugh - tell stories, break bread, coexist.

At least, in an idealistic world, it would be that way. We just weren't given much opportunity to consider it back home. That's all.

[sunspotted]

Do you ever think about it? What you would have done if you hadn't joined the Scouts? Or rather - what you would have done in that idealistic world, where we didn't have to fight.

[rollcharisma]

You know, I've been asked that question a couple of times now, actually...

Back when I was still a kid, I probably did think about that sort of stuff. But it's been so long now, that I really hadn't in a long time...

After I got here though, suddenly I had time for hobbies and interests - a job that wasn't being a soldier. It was strange...It still is.

That's why I picked up photography in the first place. I needed at least one thing I could do that would just be mine, you know? Something simple. Something that doesn't hurt anyone.

[sunspotted]

[ Marco reads over the text with a fond but sad expression. He supposes that makes sense, not thinking about a mythical ideal future, but it's still heartbreaking to some degree to hear about. ]

Then I suppose we'll just have to keep encouraging that photography interest!

I know it sounds quaint, but I think it's a good thing, here, that we get a chance to dream of better possibilities. I realize I'm just repeating myself a bit but - well, it's nice.

There were things I didn't realize were so bad, back home, that I'm starting to realize now, I suppose.

[rollcharisma]

I know what you mean. It's not as though nothing bad ever happens here, but it's so tame in comparison. I think any one of us would be crazy to want to leave.

Still, it's hard to believe that it's all real. Honestly, it keeps me awake at night sometimes.

If I'm honest with you, Marco, the idea of having to go back home one day...Well, the longer I'm here, the scarier that gets.

[Maybe not something he'd admit to anyone, but he trusts Marco to keep it between them.]

[sunspotted]

It feels like a dream, sometimes. Then it's hard not to wonder when you'll wake up, and how cruel it will feel to have dreamed of a place like this at all.

[ He's been there, Armin. The other boy is also right; Marco won't mention this to anyone else. ]

When I first arrived here... I knew I wouldn't be able to go back. I was already dead. But I thought, surely my friends that are here will go back eventually. I told Jean I was proud of what he'd done in the Survey Corps.

The more I learn about what happens in our future though, and the more I learn here... I don't want any of you to return, selfishly. It sounds cruel and painful, more than I ever thought it would be. I suppose that's cowardly of me to admit but it's the truth.

Other things, too. Did you know in most other worlds, they don't let people become soldiers until they are at least eighteen?

I didn't even make it to eighteen, Armin.