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Don't get distracted. Don't get distracted. Hange's eye squints up.

"... That is extremely strange, have you thought about that?"

At which point he does think about it.

"...well. Actually that'd be a yibao in high language, and a few centimeters short of a rit in Spharoi, which still held onto some low measurements. I didn't speak English before I came here, it just sort of - makes sense automatically? And I suppose lengths of approximately that size are useful for human activity."

Later, if they ever confirm that a yibao and a meter are exactly the same length, it will continue to be weird.

"You know what a centimeter is! That's very strange too! I know what a centimeter is!"

Hange holds her fingers apart. It's a centimeter, or thereabouts.

"Well - sibibao, but that's just a hundredth of the bigger thing to, so -" Yeah. He's nodding. Yeah. That much.

"I want to find someone from another world and ask them if they know what a meter is," Hange says, and then shakes her head. Right. Back on track. Back on track.

"Anyway, there's a good chance I'd wind up about five times my height to twelve times my height now, and I'll pursue humans and try to eat them, so you have to be prepared to deal with that. Severing the Achilles tendon causes titans to fall, and severing the tendon of supraspinatus and the surrounding rotator cuff tendons will hinder using my arms, but you have to keep in mind those will regenerate quickly... I actually recommend controlled use of explosives at the nape."

"I'm going to kill you with a sword," Jedao announces, sounding absolutely delighted.

"Speed? And you mentioned the low density - will that effect your strength, or only momentum?"

"You are not taking this seriously," Hange says, leveling a finger at his face. "And you better! Do you know how many humans titans have killed, Jedao? Going on foot against a titan is pretty much pure insanity! Use guns and explosives!"

"Probably fewer humans than I have," he points out. "And I am taking it seriously!" he insists. "Oh - not a terrible Earth sword. A calendrical sword. And anyway if it happens on the ship, sufficient explosives would probably risk too much collateral."

He leans forward, booping his nose against her chiding finger.

"I promise to use some guns. How do they react when blinded?"

"Maybe so, but -" She boops his nose. She rolls with the boop. "But they're probably more directly dangerous than your scrap of a flesh body. The scale, you see - decreased density won't have discernible impact on my strength - anyway titans do use sight to hunt humans at close range, so blinding will help, but the eyes will regenerate too. Your average titan can regrow its head in about two minutes and keep on trucking so be careful. What's a calendrical sword?"

"I'll show you. Talk to me about speed," he says again, because that's where the real tactical edge comes in, maneuvering and out-maneuvering.

He pulls what looks like an empty hilt from his belt, a beautiful swept basket hilt, with scrollwork engraving on the grip and pommel. He angles it carefully away from both of them, and then ignites the blade, a vivid sweep of orange light, tiny numbers flowing in the center of the beam.

"Don't touch, it slices through living tissue like it's nothing, but it won't damage the barge itself. And -" he flicks it into lance mode: the beam leaps forward, trebling in length until it his the wall and stops, a silent gleaming barrier across the room.

“Speed is hard to describe because it can be so variable.”

Hange studies the blade of light with deep interest - it reminds her of Luke’s lightsaber, and lets out a low, impressed whistle at the lance length.

“Does it weigh anything?” Ah, made of pure light, it must be so nice to handle. She wouldn’t want Jedao’s world’s problems, but the weaponry, wow!

“I think our best option, in this case, might be to try you out in the enclosure against a titan or two. If we’re really lucky, I’d transform with arms and legs so spindly I wouldn’t be able to move at all.” A deformity she’s familiar with. “But we can’t count on that. I might wind up an aberrant type, as well. An aberrant type titan displays unusual behavior, the most dangerous being more intelligence than usual. Your big advantage is that when transformed, I’ll probably be about as dumb as a brick, and incapable of planning or strategizing whatsoever. Aberrant types can be speedier than usual, demonstrate more endurance, be smarter, active during night when usually they need sunlight to move... it varies.”

"Weight no, but there's a small amount of inertia."

Jedao drums his fingers. on the table.

"One of my strengths," he tells her, contemplatively, "Is a slightly uncanny ability to predict my opponents. But I don't know how well it would hold for creatures so far from human. Start with dumb ones and work my way up?"

“Let’s start dumb and small. I think smaller might be more dangerous in the confines of the barge - not that titans have any compunction against smashing down walls and crushing in doors, but my mobility would be at least somewhat hindered if I changed into a big titan while on board. A smaller titan would be able to traverse the halls easily.”

Plus, there’s the intimidation factor of battling a creature that’s thirty to forty-five feet tall. Jedao seems very confident, but Hange isn’t, so much - she’s definitely seen soldiers crack in direct combat with titans. A small one will give him some idea of what the behavior is like, without being so alarming in terms of height.

"Fine," Jedao huffs, a little exasperated, a little indulgent; he sounds like a kid agreeing to wear a sweater on cold day. Fine, mom.

Very expressively, Hange rolls her eye.

“Good. I’ll pencil you in.”

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