starshower1215

[starshower1215]

I've been wanting an All the Young Dudes level fic for so long. I want to write one myself so badly, but, as was the legendary MsKingBean lol, you have to be a jack of all trades to do so, and you also have to have killer outlining skills, because AoT is not a story to truly read without attention to detail. I have too much to work on in terms of writing skills and knowledge, as well as picking apart AoT itself, before I even think to endeavor such a fic, but god, I've never wanted to commit so badly. There's just so much justice to be done. It's a challenge I've never wanted to take on so much.

All the Young Dudes is such a treasure to the Marauders fandom by the way. I've immense respect for its author; she did Wolfstar right.

hello, i have a humble request: can someone please help a gal out and recommend the absolute GOAT aot fics?

i'm talking the classics, the pillars, the building blocks of the fandom - fics that rewired your brain chemistry, fics that you consider basically cannon, fics that fleshed out characters and told deep and nuanced stories

i don't mind what pairing if there's a romantic element to the fic (except the adult characters with the child characters, please god no) or what rating - open to anything with a great story and writing!! character x oc also fine!!

i have over 10 years of fan generated content to catch up on!!!! pls feed me!! there are so many talented writers i've already discovered and i am greedy for more <3

like, is there an All The Young Dudes level story out there in the fandom that's passed me by?

tbh i have mostly read jean, reiner & levi centric smut because i'm a huge slut but i'm really keen to branch out because i love all of the characters dearly and have the overwhelming urge to consume as much aot content as humanly possible

sorry for clogging up the tags btw i just want to reach as many aot fans as possible for the widest range of recommendations!! and if you're reading this, have a lovely weekend 💕

[starshower1215]

Helloo, I'm here for three WIP game! I was immediately curious about this one haha: "The Back-alley Cat" - will someone adopt a cat? Will someone befriend a cat? Will someone be a cat? Please tell me more 😁

Hi, Tori! You scored 2/3 on your guesses. Someone does adopt and befriend a cat. Sadly, there are no transformations, lol.

@satsuki-tsuki was also quite curious about this, so if she'd like to fuel her cat lady tendencies, I fully invite her, haha. But "The Back-Alley Cat" is the second one-shot spin-off from my Circles Around the Sun universe, in which Levi and Hange are both children. In short, Levi finds a sick cat who he nurses back to health with Hange.

Here's a small part of what I had written.

//

Levi loves the cat.

He carries it to work every day, cradling it in his arms like some big baby even after it’s healthy enough to do all sorts of cat things. Hange’s mother has to scold him, reminding him to feed himself, too, not just the cat. Levi keeps nodding absentmindedly and petting the cat, praising its every blink and breath. Hange thinks the cat has made him silly, and when they tell their mother, she just laughs and pats their head, too.

'I’m gonna’ buy her a blanket when I get the money,’ Levi announces when they’re done with the flowers. He’s flushed pink from exertion and happiness, and he’s petting the cat again. Hange is just glad his skin isn’t so sallow anymore.

They reach over to pat it, too, but Levi snatches her back. ‘Oi! Did you wash your hands?’

Hange whines. ‘It doesn’t matter! I found the kitty, too, so I get to pet it!’

'Not until you wash!’

‘Leviiiii!’ Hange pouts, pulling on his sleeve.

He doesn’t respond, just scratching the cat behind the ear instead.‘She needs to stay clean,’ Levi explains, lifting the kitty up to the sunlight. She meows, and a small, toothy smile breaks over Levi’s face. He hugs it to his cheek, nuzzling it like a cat himself. ‘She’s been livin’ in filth for too long. She deserves the world.’

//

In retrospect, "all sorts of cat things" is probably not the most descriptive phrase, lol, but whatever.

Anyway, thank you for playing with me! 🍮

[starshower1215]

Hey! About the wip ask game, I'd like to know about "now and laters". It sounds melancholic and angsty

Hi! Thanks for your curiosity. I'm really excited to post that one when I finish it. It is Levi and Hange, predictably, and it is quite melancholic as you predicted, lol, but it's balanced between sadness and happiness. It's a modern AU, too. But here's a small piece of what I've written.

-----------🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑-----------

A phone number. 321 - 215 - 1215. 

It’s been two years. 

Their fingers shake as they clutch it, groping for their phone with the free hand. Hange fumbles with it for a second as they find the power button, swipe from the left corner, and punch the number into the keypad. 

It rings. 

The sound echoes throughout the empty house. There’s two rings, then three, then four. 

Beeeeep. 

A cold, automated female voice. “The person you are trying to reach at 321 - 215 -1215 is not available, please leave a me—” Beep. 

Hange sets the phone down, wiping their eyes and chuckling at themself. They shake their head. 

That’s right. No one ever stays by your side forever. 

[starshower1215]

I love the new look of your profile! I like the restless sea and the melancholy that comes with it

Haha, thank you so much, Sun. I thought the colour scheme really fit what you've just described.

[starshower1215]

"You sure you don’t just wanna’ get your rocks off, watching him fight?” Wild line right there. Erwin definitely knows Levi wouldn't get hurt, but I don't doubt he takes the same pleasure in watching Levi fight as Hange did, when they first saw him. It's always interesting to get a front row seat to an expert in their field.

Ao3 link here.

I loved this.

Breakneck

None of them had seen the man. 

Not even Mike, with his nose, had picked up on him.  Not in the midst of the busy streets, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of pressing bodies, the smell of the food vendors nearby, the stink of horse shit and filth. 

None but Levi.

Of course.  Of course Levi had known.  Had probably known blocks before.

Erwin had wondered why he was lagging behind their group, trailing several meters at their backs.

Hange had called to him, teasing, wondering if Levi’s short legs made it difficult for him to keep their pace.

But it was because Levi had clocked the man. 

The assassin, Erwin thinks. 

It was the only reason one or all of them weren’t now dead.

The man had stepped forward, had drawn his pistol, had shouted out Erwin’s name to make him turn, aimed the barrel straight for Erwin’s face.

But he hadn’t had a chance to even cock the hammer before Levi was on him, tackling him to the ground in a flurry of violent motion.

Erwin doesn’t know who’s sent him, though he intends to find out. 

Right now, though, he can only watch with the same, awestruck fascination he feels each time he watches his Captain work.

It’s rare, though, to see him work against another man.

The man is no amateur, either, Erwin realizes, as he watches him move.

He knows how to fight.  Possesses skill at fighting in close quarters, his stance like that of a professional boxer.

Somehow, he’d managed to scramble back to his feet, and now he and Levi were facing off against one another, several feet between them.

The gun had spun away across the cobblestones when Levi had tackled the man to the ground.  Erwin can’t spot it with the rush of bodies, people scurrying to get away from the impending explosion of violence.

Mike steps forward, like he’s going to join the fight, but Erwin halts him, a palm against his chest.

“Don’t.  Let Levi handle it.”

“The guy had a gun,” Mike starts to protest, and Erwin shakes his head.

“Levi can handle it.”

There’s a thrill of excitement through Erwin’s gut, his eyes fixed and vibrating in his skull as he watches the man circle ‘round Levi’s still form, as if looking for an opening.

Levi doesn’t shift, eyes only following.

“… Erwin’s little guard dog,” he spits, mouth twisting into a grin, “That’s what they call you, isn’t it Captain?”

Levi doesn’t say anything, finally shifting as the man steps around to his back.

“Shouldn’t we…” Hange tries, and again Erwin shakes his head.

“We’d only get in the way.”

Levi turns in a single, fluid motion to face the man fully, and Erwin sees the refraction of light off the blade as the man pulls a wickedly curved knife from inside his coat. 

“I hear you’re pretty good at taking down Titans,” the man goes on, voice taunting.

Levi’s eyes are like a wild cat’s, locked onto something the rest of them can’t see, wide and unblinking.

“But I doubt that skill applies to fighting another man.  Aren’t you soldiers known for shirking hand-to-hand combat?  Not much use against a Titan, after all.”

The man flips the blade in his hand, skilled and practiced.  A professional.

Levi cocks his head, face impassive as ever, no emotion to be read in his fine features.

“… Nothing to say?” The man continues circling, “Are you nervous?”

“Your technique sucks,” Levi finally speaks, and Erwin sees the man’s expression faulter, if only for a moment.

“Oh?  You’ve got experience handling a blade?” He recovers, smug, and Erwin smirks to himself.

The fool has no idea.

Levi doesn’t reply, shifting his weight onto the balls of his feet.

The man notices, gaze flicking down a moment before shifting back up to Levi’s face.

“Guess the rumors are true.  You don’t talk much, do you?  Well, what can you expect from an Underground thug?  Not much going on up here,” the man jabs a finger against his temple.

He’s trying to rile Levi up, Erwin knows.  Trying to piss him off, thinking that will force him into some kind of mistake.

Levi didn’t make mistakes with this sort of thing.

“He’s got another gun,” Mike whispers to him, “I can smell the powder on him.”

“Levi can handle it,” Erwin says again, and hears Mike’s huff of frustration.

“You sure you don’t just wanna’ get your rocks off, watching him fight?”

Erwin glances at him, frowning, and Mike looks back, unremorseful.

“He could get hurt,” he says, and Erwin shakes his head hard.

“He won’t be,” he assures.

Erwin wasn’t a fool. 

He wouldn’t endanger the Corps greatest asset if he believed there was truly any chance of Levi losing this thing.

“You gonna’ make a move?” Levi finally asks, “Or you just gonna’ keep strokin’ your own cock?”

The man laughs, flipping the knife again.

“Why don’t you make a move first?”

“… Okay,” Levi says, and Erwin sees it, the moment the man realizes he’s made a mistake.

Levi launches at him, moving quicker than the naked eye can really see.

The man stumbles back, trying to put distance between them, trying to counter.  Levi doges the first blow, the man’s blade whizzing past his face by mere inches.

The thrill in Erwin’s gut grows hotter.

The man doesn’t know… but he should have realized…

The moment Levi got close to him, it was already over.

He’d only been delaying the inevitable.

Levi’s hand is around the man’s wrist, catching his downward swing, an attempt to bury the blade in his skull.

Erwin hears the sharp crack of bone snapping, and the air splits a moment later with the man’s fractured scream. 

The blade clatters to the ground, and the heel of Levi’s boot sinks into the man’s gut, sending him flying back several feet.

He lands in a broken heap along the pavement, and Levi bends to take up the fallen blade.

Erwin’s eyes flit to the man, watching as he struggles to his knees, eyes wide, face covered in a thick and sudden sweat as he watches Levi twirl the knife between his fingers, fluid and fast in a way far beyond the man’s own skill.

The man’s hand shakes as he begins reaching inside his coat.

“He’s going for his gun!” Hange cries, lurching forward, and Erwin shoots his arm out, forcing them back.

“No!” He spits, and watches as Levi flips the knife, the blade spinning through the air above him, the sun reflecting off it blinding for a moment in Erwin’s eyes. 

Levi catches it by the hilt as it comes down, just at the tips of his fingers, and then he’s flinging it with the power and precision one might expect from an arrow launched from a bow.

It spins through the air, nothing but a whirl of blurred motion and color.

Erwin hears the man’s choked cry before he even sees what’s happened.

The blade is buried, nearly to the hilt, through the man’s left shoulder.

He collapses to the ground, his cry sliding into a broken, keening whimper, and Levi closes the distance between them, reaching down and into the man’s coat, pulling the pistol he’d been going for.  He searches the man’s other pockets, finding nothing.

“… Who sent you?” Levi asks, emptying the gun’s bullets to the pavement.

The man writes on the ground, his hand curled over his shoulder, blood soaking, deep and dark, through the material of his coat.

“F-fuck you!” He spits, and Levi shakes his head.

“That won’t help,” he says, bending again and wrapping his fingers ‘round the blades hilt.  He pulls it free in a single motion, and the man screams, louder than before.

“Who sent you?” Levi asks again, and this time the man remains mute but for the ragged pull of his labored breathing.

“Mike, Hange, see if you can locate the first pistol,” Erwin orders, finally stepping forward, “Levi, I’ll handle the questioning.  Besides, the MP’s should be here soon…”

Levi pauses, blinking down at the man, before finally he looks up at Erwin.

He doesn’t say anything, and Erwin smiles tightly at him.

“Thank you, Levi,” he says, “You saved our lives.”

Levi looks away, then, staring back at the man, before at last he turns, beginning to move away.

“Get some cuffs on him,” he calls back, “he knows how to fight.”

Erwin watches him join back with Hange and Mike, a simmering pride in his chest.

He thinks he doesn’t have anything to truly worry over, as he finally returns his attention to the man, crumpled to his side on the ground.

Any danger he may have presented, Levi had acted as their shield against, just as he always did.

Just as he always would.

[starshower1215]

So I found that pic of Debbie Reynolds with Sinatra and I can't think of anything but drawing them T_T *my Eruhan heart*

[starshower1215]

I want him.

Jealous

[starshower1215]

Not sure if I reblogged this yet, but I'm so glad someone else sees the vision. Same haircut, same build. Both are attractive yet somehow severe losers when it comes to women.

Jean & Eugene

[starshower1215]

The chubby one in the top left is so cute. 10/10 would hug.

Omg jean 🤯

[starshower1215]

AOT memes pt. 9

[starshower1215]

I can’t get over the fact that seeking out physical mementos of his dead loved ones is something Levi has been doing since he was a young child. He sought out his mom’s tea set because it was the last tangible symbol of the life she lived and the impression he had of her—never wanting to forget her. Levi keeps inside of him the memories of every person he has ever lost.

Levi does the same thing again when he loses his squad in the “Female Titan” arc, and he cuts out Petra’s Scout badge from her uniform. He wanted a physical reminder that they had lived. These physical reminders are signs of who they were when they were still alive. To Levi, everyone deserves to be remembered as such. There’s such tragic selflessness in Levi, though, that he willingly gives up that last memento of Petra to help alleviate the grief of Dieter, who had just finished accusing Levi of being “devoid of humanity” and then endangered all of them in an attempt to retrieve the body of his dead comrade. Levi consistently forgoes his own needs to help others.

That same tragic selflessness is present in Levi in “Bad Boy” because Levi was ready to die in order to preserve that last impression he had of his mom, the one good thing he ever had. Let that sink in. Levi didn’t even fully remember his mom, but the mere impression of her was the one good thing he had. That says volumes about the suffering Levi must have experienced in his short life up until that moment. He truly does not see any worth in himself or in his own life. He actively endangered himself in “Bad Boy” because of this. He was suicidal.

And yet, Levi values the lives of others beyond anyone else. He seeks to give their deaths meaning. All this, despite seeing no greater value in himself beyond his ability to help people. Levi sees others’ lives as inherently valuable, but not his own.

It is significant to note that Levi’s powers awakened from a desire to protect. It wasn’t until the men attacking him in “Bad Boy” spoke horrific things about his mother that Levi fought back with the intention to protect his mom’s image. It was that moment in which he awakened.

The trauma of going into a situation fully expecting to die and then coming out of it having murdered multiple men is immeasurable. Levi never wanted this life of violence, as evidenced by the fact Levi peacefully asked multiple times for these men to give him an item that was rightfully his in the first place. Then, this bastard with the glasses later attempts to carve into Levi the idea that Levi’s own mother would be disappointed in him and hate him for having defended himself—when the only reason Levi even fought back was to protect her image. The tea cup breaking at the end acted as a metaphor that Levi had sullied his own image in the eyes of his mother, reinforced by the likely fact that it was his newly awakened strength that broke the handle—Levi views himself as the problem. The title “Bad Boy” is in reference to Levi’s perception of himself as a bad boy.

It is clear to me that the only thing that motivated Levi to live after all this was the idea that he could possibly do something good with his newfound strength—even though he viewed it as a monstrosity within him, being the cause of him destroying the last memory of his mother and resulting in him killing multiple men (likely for the first time). His newfound strength was also associated with leading directly to Kenny abandoning him. As such, there is no other reason Levi would have wanted to keep living otherwise. All of this speaks to an innate goodness in Levi. His selflessness is both his greatest flaw and his greatest strength.

[starshower1215]

Thanks for the tag, @mlelmsworld! I can relate. I'm just going to give the fics that have significant-enough progress in them, or the ones I'm most invested in.

Circles Around the Sun

The Back-alley Cat (Asked)

Now and Laters (Asked)

Mikasa (Asked)

Long is the Night (Asked)

Come join in if you like, @storiesofaot, @sunflowersunite, @quillsandblades, @darkskywishes, @violetscanfly, @satsuki-tsuki, @momoisgrey, @alexdswfan, @this-is-krikkit, and @dont-f-with-moogles.

WIP ASK GAME

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. tag as many people as you have wips. people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Thank you @novaae for tagging me! 💜

And here's an incomplete list of my wips (excluding the ones already posted to any degree):

Of Necessity and Love

Obedient, Blue Eyes

King and Lionheart

Dragobete au

Yet another summer love au

No pressure tags: @annawayne @oniricdiary @moonspirit @distortedclouds @aruanimess

[starshower1215]

Thank you for your additions here! It actually made me step back for a moment to re-evaluate my assessment of Connie and Sasha's reactions, and you're right. It is quite realistic, and it makes sense to have it depicted that way. Connie and Sasha are kind, caring people, but that doesn't exclude them from being prone to ignorance, the way all people are. Despite the harmful nature of it, their reactions aren't malicious, just uninformed, as you said. And like you also stated, they're teenagers, only about 15 years old here, so their reactions might not carry the same maturity as those of another older person's. After all, they haven't had the time to really rebut the things they've been taught, including anything misleading regarding sexual assault. So, thank you for bringing attention to that.

On the contrary, I actually have an appreciation for the scene with the man saying Armin 'turned' or 'made' him gay in the manga, because it turns the attention away from female sexual assault and towards male sexual assault. Without that accusation against Armin, while it's still him, a guy, being the victim of the assault, the intention of the man was still to rape a girl. Changing that portion doesn't change the intention, but it does impact the scenario by saying that this could, or would, have happened whether or not Armin was a girl. Sure, it's really disturbing to view, seeing as he's literally drooling over Armin and still visibly aroused in his restraints, but the way it alters the message is imperative, as reactions like Sasha's and Connie's could have been more sympathetic had it been Historia who was the victim, or had Armin really been a girl, since that's simply the way that we are taught to view sexual assault. It makes you remember that, regardless of sex, we should treat survivors with the same level of empathy and respect, and that it isn't a problem exclusive to women.

I agree with you, though. Especially with some of the way the AoT fandom already interprets Isayama's work, for example, claiming that his depictions of fascism are proof of his support of the concept, it could be more beneficial to turn attention away from something which validates their perspectives if it isn't countered in a way that can be perceived.

Commentary on Reactions to Armin's Sexual Assault

We don't talk enough about the various reactions to Armin's sexual assault, and as I was rereading, I took more notice of the panels than usual. The one person most sensitive to his assault is Jean, with Sasha, Connie, and Historia being completely insensitive towards what happened to him.

(Figure 1, 2, Chapter 54, "Location of the Counterattack")

We can see in both panels that Jean is reacts compassionately towards his pain, stepping in to complete the task of fixing the man's gag when he starts to address Armin so that Armin doesn't have to be in his proximity or listen to his words, and later, comforting him as he's in tears over the incident, his distress over being pretty clear in the second panel. However, we can also see that Sasha and Connie are stifling laughter over the incident, which is frankly very disturbing; it's what made me step back and look at everyone else's reactions as well. But I was shocked by Sasha and Connie, laughing while Armin is plainly in tears.

There's also Historia, sitting at the same table as him, likely having already found out what had happened, and not appearing to react at all. Even before this scene, she shows no sympathy for his position.

(Figure 3, 4, Chapter 54, "Location of the Counterattack")

Eren himself is shocked by her blunt honesty. Even without knowing what had happened to Armin, he was still put in danger in her place, and she exhibited no sense of gratitude or sympathy for him, instead turning the attention back onto herself. While her honesty is arguably respectable—that's what her development from Krista to Historia was all about, after all—it doesn't detract from the ultimate selfishness of her reaction to Eren's statement.

As for Levi, he was completely oblivious to this situation altogether. Not only does Mikasa not mention the sexual assault taking place to him when he asks, but when he instructs Armin to 'hurry up' in fixing his perpetrator's gag (Figure 1), he is clearly out of earshot, as he precedes it with 'What are you doing?' He has no clue that the man is accusing Armin of 'turning' him homosexual, practically still lusting after Armin even in restraints. However, with Levi's mother's past and the place of his birth, I doubt Levi would have reacted insensitively had he known. That's even more obvious in the way he comforts Armin in his distress in the aftermath his first murder; he wouldn't have left Armin alone.

Mikasa's reaction addressed the situation at hand, but didn't provide much. The response towards his assault—when she sees it happening herself through the window of the building—is more focused on the mission at hand than on his violation.

(Figure 5, Chapter 53, "Smoke Signal")

Really, the only trace of sympathy she shows for him here is in a bleak, offhanded comment, which she adds to fortify the recommendation that they hurry—not primarily because he's being groped, but because said assault is going to quicken the rate at which takes it the captors to discover his true sex and foil their plan. On that level, she reacts logically, with the plan in mind. It's also likely that she's masking her worry in order to carry out orders. Mikasa isn't, after all, always as outwardly emotional as she feels internally, like Levi. Still, that this is the only incident in which she addresses what happened to him is really sad. What irks me a bit about this reaction, too, is that, at this stage in her development as a character and her still-potent attachment to Eren, I feel like she would have had more of an incentive to compromise the plan had Eren been in Armin's place. She has disobeyed orders in order to protect Eren before, such as when she goes to save him from the Female Titan and goes for the kill, against Levi's orders (Chapter 30, "Losers"), and causes him to injure his ankle. Though that's when Eren is in life-threatening danger, she has disobeyed on a smaller scale for him, such as in Chapter 53, "Smoke Signal," when Hange and Levi are performing investigations on Eren's hardening ability, and she rides forward on her horse to meet him when he becomes unresponsive, against Levi's orders once again. Still, there's a reason for that; due to her trauma, she is more deeply attached to Eren than to Armin, but it vexes me all the same that her intervention came off so mildly.

It's been said a couple times that a scene six chapters later is in reference to his assault, where he is crying, vomiting in the grass outside of where the Levi Squad is staying, rather than in reference to his recent murder for the first time, done to protect Jean. He asks Mikasa, "Did this happen to you, too?"

(Figure 6, 7, Chapter 59, "Soul of the Heretic")

In that sense, this scene has been taken two ways. The pain Mikasa is experiencing on his behalf is apparent to anyone, but what is her empathy directed towards? Did Mikasa feel as horrible as he currently does for killing another human, or did Mikasa feel the way he does when she was a child and her captors were talking about selling her to a sex trafficking circle? Either way, Armin is referencing the same scene: where Eren kills Mikasa's first two captors, and she finishes off the third. However, since we're assuming Armin knows all about how Mikasa met Eren, he might also have been able to differentiate between his own sexual assault, and Mikasa's incident, which is more akin to sexual harassment, especially given that her captors showed no personal interest. They were trying to make a sale to the "rich perverts" in the Underground market. There's also the context of the situation; addressing his assault a couple chapters later, right after he killed someone for the first time, obviously doesn't line up, especially with the other scenes surrounding this one. Unfortunately, it confronts Armin's act of murder, not his sexual assault.

But overall, I just found this quite saddening. It's Jean who shows the most empathy towards his situation, who watches out for him in the aftermath, and it's not because he was there to watch it firsthand.

[starshower1215]

All AOT Characters are Pretty But…

Eren is pretty like a windy field

Armin is pretty like the ocean

Mikasa is pretty like a flower field at dawn

Jean is pretty like a rushing river

Connie is pretty like the full moon

Sasha is pretty like the sunrise

Levi is pretty like the dark forest

Erwin is pretty like a game of chess

Hange is pretty like reading by candlelight

Annie is pretty like a storm

Bertholdt is pretty like the mountains

Reiner is pretty like a rainy morning

Historia is pretty like a glowing chandelier

And Ymir is pretty like a starry sky

[starshower1215]

Bonus Levi on the nail, lol.

We deserve more smiling Levi 🥹

☆

[starshower1215]

You might be frustrated by the library never having a complete manga collection on its shelves at any given time, but the 12 year old checking out 14 volumes of One Piece at once is vital to the library ecosystem. He's like the sea otter keeping the kelp forest from being devastated by an excess of sea urchins.

[starshower1215]

Ahh, this is amazing as ever. Again, I'm always so impressed by the way you light your art pieces using sort of shapes and sizes. I really strangely interpret this in the context of his first mission, since you mentioned something in your reblog of how he's surprised because he's never felt rain before. At least the way I'm looking at it, with the transition from his bloodied face and dirty clothes to him standing clean in the rain shower, I'm thinking of the change from right after losing Isabel and Furlan in ACWNR (manga version), and how he blames himself profusely for their deaths, to after hearing Erwin's speech and finally adopting his mindset of 'No regrets, as no one knows the outcome.' Rain is usually symbolic of cleansing, renewal, and purification, so to take that knowledge in stride, Erwin's speech (which, theoretically, happened between your first art piece and your second) relieved Levi of the burden of his self blame, 'cleansing' his hands of his friends' deaths as he realises they were never his fault, never within his control. And that's why the sun is shining a little more in the second one, lol. It's a sun shower, in contrast to the heavy downpour he'd lost his friends in.

Anyway, lol, absolutely beautiful piece. It really made me think back to ACWNR, and I especially love the second one, the way he's lit and the way the raindrops look like comets.

After killing some titans (portrait) & Rain in the forest of Giant Trees 🌧🌳🌲 - (for background was used edited 3D render of forest from Freepik)