#where was Connie during this scene again

[cosmicjoke]

when comforting someone who's crying, do u think levi would be the type to be like "hey what, no, stop, dont cry" or would he just let them cry their hearts out

Mmm, well, I think people have a tendency to grossly mischaracterize Levi when it comes to this sort of thing, which really confuses me, because if you pay even he most minimal attention to his character, that shouldn't happen. I often see people assume that Levi would shut someone down who's crying and tell them to toughen up or stop acting like a baby, but Levi actually almost always does the opposite. He's incredibly compassionate and understanding toward people having emotional breakdowns.

Take the soldier during the Female Titan arc who endangered their whole unit by going back for Ivan's body, for example. Instead of scolding him and getting angry at him for endangering them, Levi instead gave him Petra's badge and told him it was Ivan's. He saw how much emotional distress that kid was in, and he showed him incredible compassion and tried to help him in any way he could, and at his own expense.

He does the same for Eren multiple times throughout the story. When Eren first joins Levi's squad, and he has that incident where he manifests a Titan arm, and his squad reacts with hostility, in the aftermath, Levi does his best to comfort Eren by explaining his squad's reaction and letting him know it isn't Eren's fault or anything to do with him personally, but more so a result of his squad's learned experience from surviving so many dangerous situations. Levi again comforts Eren after the disastrous encounter with the Female Titan. He sees how upset Eren is, how much he's beating himself up over what happened to Levi's squad, and instead on blaming Eren like Levi could, he instead cracks a joke about Erwin being late, trying to make Eren laugh. And again, during the Uprising arc, when the cavern they're all in is about to come down on their heads, while everyone else is screaming at Eren and chastising him for crying, and telling him to man up, Levi apologizes to Eren for having to ask for his help again. He doesn't yell at Eren for crying, or put him down for being emotional. He understands completely why Eren is upset and he extends him a great show of sympathy and kindness. And afterward, he makes sure to thank Eren for saving them and also gives him the credit for them being able to finally take a step forward in the fight for humanity. And finally we all know of the moment when Hange pushes Eren too hard during the Titan experiments, and it's Levi who notices Eren isn't doing well physically and tells Hange they need to give him a break. The same, again, after the RtS arc, when Eren is losing his cool while locked up in the cell, and Hange is basically harassing him over it, and Levi tells her to just give Eren a break.

Or Levi being the only person to thank Connie for helping them confirm that Titan's are in fact human beings. Levi was aware of how hard that was for Connie, given the way they confirmed it was through him having to identify his mother, and he wanted to make sure Connie was aware that his courage and dedication went noticed and appreciated. Again, Levi was the only one who noticed and took the time to thank him. We see this with Levi multiple times throughout, like when he thanks Nifa for riding all night to deliver Erwin's message to him and his squad, or when he takes the time to apologize to Hange over her squad getting killed during the encounter with Kenny. Or when he understands Mikasa's emotional outburst at him during the Female Titan arc. Mikasa is downright unkind and incredibly disrespectful toward Levi during that scene, but Levi understands she's upset because Eren has been taken and might be dead. He doesn't yell at her or try to defend himself, he just tells her how they're going to try and get Eren back, and helps her. This after Levi has just had to observe the dead bodies of his own squad. And yet another example is when Hange is laying into Shadis for his admission about his own weakness and his failure to live up to his role as Commander of the SC, and again, it's Levi who tells Hange to give him a break, showing compassion toward Shadis for his struggles. Of course there's the pivotal moment of Levi's great compassion during the RtS arc with Erwin, and allowing Erwin to rest and showing him incredible respect and forgiveness for Erwin's very human foibles and weakness.

If Levi sees that someone's emotional distress is real and warranted, he's always going to show compassion and understanding. That's something so many people miss about his character, all because he has a gruff manner and way of speaking, and it's such a shame people make this mistake with him, because it's really what defines Levi. He's such a good person. He isn't mean or cruel or dismissive of people's feelings. He's literally the opposite. He's more aware and empathetic toward people's feelings than anyone.

So, to answer your question, Levi is definitely the sort of person that will allow someone to cry their heart out if he really believes they're in pain or otherwise distressed in some way. I don't even think that's up for debate. There's so many examples of just that in the story itself.

[quiveringdeer]

Yeeeeeeah. There is so much in this series that I've seen people get upset over and it almost always comes down to they either weren't paying attention, or don't understand how to read nuance and subtext.

Which granted some people just aren't great at seein all that, sure. But the way folks get up in arms and come at others' throats over actions of these FICTIONAL characters, is draining. And I've only been in this fandom since September 2022. 😒

I'm rewatching season 4 of AoT right now because I'm so tired from work. But like.

I remember people bitching about Eren laughing during Sasha's death. And I can't help but wonder... "Are people blind?" to those who were angry at him for that. It makes me wonder just how much Eren was bearing all by himself... Because I feel that Eren only laughed because of how remembers Sasha. As the girl who was spunky enough to steal meat from the higher ups, being so carefree about how they can always just raise more cattle for more meat once they are free of titans. I just wish they don't forget the fact that Eren looked so angry at the realization that Sasha's died. That he was gritting his teeth, as if he was trying to hold in all the anger. Letting the rest just hear his laugh while he has his head down during the time he was sucking in his breath as he seethes.

Well, that's just me at least. Because at the end of the day, Eren's someone who values his friends above all else. So much that he's willing to make himself the bad guy. Eren's not the type to truly laugh at the death of a comrade. At least, I don't think he is.

[tcustodisart]

What are some cute moments that occur throughout the different acts that aren’t necessarily in the game but live in your head rent free?

Oh, this one is going to be a long answer, because there's a lot of squatters in my head and there's a lot to be unleashed. Let's start with this doodle with the boys playing lanceboard at camp and continue under the cut. Lots of cringe and brainrot incoming, so brace yourself.

Act 1:

Connie is constantly bickering with Astarion over him stealing his journal. Gale suggest to cast arcane lock on it, but Connie knows it won't stop that gremlin from reading it so why bother.

This sad pile of rugs is where I imagine Connie sleeps in Act 1. Additional Astarion line: "Damn darling, you live like this?"

During the first romance scene Connie tells Shart about his family, about how he and his brother know the city inside and out, about his parents and the tavern they run, about the trap incident. It's the most he talked to someone who wasn't his family or his crow in years. He wishes that night would never end.

Connie sends letters to his family via Faust, he stops after entering Underdark.

Act 2:

I mentioned it before that Connie is not taking the Shadow Curse very well. He misses the sun, misses the grass, he's unable to contact his family, Shart has distanced herself from him. Karlach notices it and tries to cheer him up. They end up having long talks almost every night. That's the moment their friendship evolves from just friends to besties.

When Connie finds the second warding bond ring, he wishes he could give the other one to Shadowheart, but finds the moment inappropriate. He ends up giving her the ring at the beginning of Act 3.

Act 3:

I have a lot of stuff for this act.

This is inspired by one of Jaheira's lines: "'The Cub and the Crow'- sounds like a cautionary tale. As it probably should." Connie draws her a mock up cover for a kids book. Jaheira sticks it to the traveling chest (I mostly store food there, so to me traveling chest = fridge).

Connie goes through a serious breakdown at the start of this act (after a companion is abducted), he ends up crying and saying that for the first time he doesn't believe they're going to make it, that he'll never hug his mom, never hear his brother sing again, won't be able to tell his step dad that he saw Darkmaw the Wicked. He's being comforted first by Jaheira and then by the rest of his party.

His favorite armor gets damaged one time, he's very upset about it. But the next morning he finds it magically repaired (Astarion fixed it, from the start of Act 3 they become besties).

This wip that I'm very slowly working on happens during act 3. Connie makes some flower crowns and talks about how his mom taught him to do that. I'm not going to say more, because I really want to finish that comic.

Connie has a deal with Popper that he'll pay him double for every night orchid he finds (I actually did that in game, I bantered him more money for the flower than he asked for, I love that little guy so much).

This one is more funny than cute but when Connecticut Tav was younger and still lived in Baldur's Gate he used to visit Sharess's Caress pretty regularly because it was the best way to practice drawing people. He really enjoyed talking with the workers there, he eventually convinced them that maybe creating an union isn't such a bad idea. He ended up being banned from entering the brothel because of that. So when the party approaches it to meet Voss, he's very nervous that the owner will remember him (she does). There's a dialogue in my head but it would work better with some visuals, so maybe one time I'm going to draw it.

In my head, the cottage they end up living in is Connie's old hunting hut. So after the conversation with Shadowheart about her plans for after defeating the brain, he suggest that it would be the perfect place to go. He then draws the house to show her how it looks like, tells her that it's surrounded by a forest, there's a lake nearby, a small stable that can be turned into a barn if needed, and that he's not sure about the quality of the soil, but he did grow some herbs there, so maybe it's going to be good enough to grow flowers.

At the end of the game Connie decides to stay in Baldur's Gate for a while to help his family fix their tavern (which was heavily damaged). He tells Shart to go the house I mentioned before, because he wants her to start her new life as soon as possible + because it would be better for her parents. He stealthily puts his journal in her stuff with a note attached to it saying that he finished it this morning and she can read it if she wants to. He also gives her Faust so she can write him letters whenever she wants to. After 2 tendays he arrives at the cottage with some gifts (night orchid bulbs and a pamphlet about how to take care of them, there was supposed to be another gift, but he wasn't able to find it just yet, but that's for another story).

Epilogue party (because I'm that insane):

It's been sitting in my wips for more than two months, so I don't know if I'll be able to finish it. But during the party Connie and Shadowheart take 10 minute brake to visit the place from the first romance scene. They have a very similar conversation like before, but their roles are reversed now - It's Connie asking questions about Shart's current life. "Tell me something about yourself, but no tadpoles, weird artifacts, petty goddesses. Something about you."

[aruanimess]

On Erwin, Armin and... Annie

Okay, so I've given up on writing this meta in a concise manner so I'm just gonna say it: Erwin is meant to be a parallel character to Annie as well as Armin.

These three characters exist in a triangular conversation with each other, especially during the Female Titan arc. Now, the commonalities between Armin and Erwin have been discussed quite exhaustively in various metas and in canon itself, so I’m going to focus more on the Annie-Erwin side of the argument.

The thought first occurred to me while reading Opening the Gate, the chapter with the gear inspection scene. When asked for advice on which military branch to choose Annie responds with a question: would you be willing to die on command? Connie, the one who was asking for advice, doesn’t understand why he’s being asked that. Armin, however, does; this is what’s at stake if one joins the Survey Corps, you don’t get a choice anymore, your life is tied to the cause. 

Later, this line is repeated by none other than Erwin himself. 

Both characters say this line independently, but they both use it to describe the same concept. This is meant to showcase their inherent pragmatism, and also their dedication to their mission. We don’t know it when we first encounter this in the story, but Annie’s choice of the Military Police is not motivated by self-interest at all. Much like Erwin, much like Armin later in this chapter, she’s committed to something larger than herself. 

Then we have the Titan Forest chapter, where Armin delivers his famous speech, “A person who cannot sacrifice anything, cannot change anything.”

This quote refers specifically to the ability to abandon your humanity when the situation calls for it. This speech is about Erwin yes, but it is also about Annie. The panel even cuts to her face as the final lines are being spoken:

At first, I thought this was meant to say that Annie was one of those people unable to make a difference. She couldn’t leave her home behind, so she wasn’t willing to make a sacrifice, therefore she couldn’t enact change.

But no! Because later we get this:

Annie was willing to sacrifice her life again and again and again. Even in the end of this arc, she chooses to trap herself in a prison of her own creation to protect her mission and keep her titan away from the Paradisians’ reach (we all know what happened to Bertolt). She’s making this move in order to protect her comrades, choosing not to betray their identities, and to give them a chance to escape. 

In Midnight Sun, Armin and Erwin giving up their lives for the cause is obviously paralleled. I’d argue that Annie’s fate complements and foreshadows their own, highlighting the extreme lengths all three are willing to go to achieve their goals. 

Annie is the third vertex in this triangle of sacrifice, pragmatism and inhumanity. 

[aemiron-main]

The Vanishing of Argyle (Byers?): Where Is Argyle?

So, I know Eduardo said that he hasn’t gotten a call for Argyle for ST5. And while I won’t be surprised if they call him in later, esp with how ST tends to be bizarrely secretive towards their cast (see: not even telling Raphael Luce that he was playing 001, and at least one of the girls who were cast as Alice in TFS didn’t get told they were cast until like a month before the previews’ opening night iirc), this has made me realize just how weird the last time we see Argyle in the show is.

So, this is the last time we see Argyle:

He never shows up again after that shot of him in the forest.

But they DID keep showing us his pizza van- right in front of Stinson’s car, as you can see in that last screenshot.

But that’s not the first time we see Stinson’s car during this scene. The first time we see Stinson’s car is when it rolls up behind Argyle’s van:

Is it just me, or does anyone else find it weird as fuck that we literally never see Argyle again right after a government vehicle rolls up to drop Hopper and Joyce off???

And again, it’s so weird how they repeatedly go out of their way to show Argyle’s pizza van in the same shot as Stinson’s car:

Its suspicious. I don’t fully know what’s going on here, but for Argyle to disappear into the woods (see: s1 Will getting “lost in the woods” & argyle’s alice in wonderland imagery vs alice disappearing into wonderland) after a government agent shows up?? Stinson seems nice enough, but I sure as hell don’t fully trust her, especially not with her Connie Frazier vibes/parallels. There’s just something weird about the whole thing.

[moonspirit]

Armin is basically your guide to leaving the forest. He is what Humanity needs to retain its Humanity.

Armin is hated on so much after S4 for being "useless" and "not living up to Erwin" but people forget, Erwin was so good because he had YEARS of experience. When Erwin died, he was what, 40-ish? At 15-19, Erwin was much the same as any ordinary cadet, you can see in the flashbacks in S3 Part2, a very young Erwin crying with a wounded/dead soldier and trying to fend off a Titan.

Armin is the embodiment of what the survey corps stands for - "Understanding". He is a pacifist and optimist but not naive, he knows that he has to kill when push comes to shove. He doesn't like violence but agrees that it is necessary sometimes. There is nothing wrong with that. He's a very relatable character. Don't forget that Erwin recognised his potential. He literally looked shocked when Armin theorised Reiner to be hiding inside the walls in RTS arc. Armin is the first character in the whole show to internalize his enemies thoughts and actions and try to understand it from their pov. He always tries to talk first and when that doesn't work, he pulls the trigger. You can tell me "his talking doesn't work!" but that doesn't mean you don't try. He's convinced and manipulated people plenty of times. If your only option is always to kill first before anything else, then you're not in your right mind.

A character is not weak simply for wanting peace. Armin doesn't run from his conflicts, he always faces them head on whether he likes it or not. His yearning to choose the method with the least bloodshed is actually admirable - it's easier to just pull the trigger in a world like SnK where people hate you, no? Why go through all the effort of trying to make people understand? He's a very strong character because he stands by his convictions.

It's unfair to burden him with Erwin's legacy at this age. He's also selfless to a fault. While Erwin did care for his soldiers, he never hesitated to use them as bait. Armin lacks that trait - being ruthless. Instead he has shown time and time again that he'd rather sacrifice himself so others can go unharmed. Despite the lack of experience, he still came up with some of the best plans, strategies and deductions in the show, some of them conjured up within seconds, and all that when he was even younger than he is now. Reiner was sweating and shitting his pants when Armin figured out the Female Titan's intentions in under 30 sec. At 15, Armin secured the collosal Titan for the scouts with just 1 casualty - himself. Just a few examples. He lacks Erwin's experience and deals with a severe lack of confidence, but for his age, possesses a lethal brain and outstanding intellect.

One of his most forgotten contributions is during the Scouts vs Kenny's squad. It was his analysis of the anti-personnel ODM gear, and following strategy, that allowed the scouts to exploit the weaknesses of their opponents' weapons. They wouldn't have won those fights with such success otherwise. He's extremely perceptive. Notice that when he fucked with Bert's mind back in S2, it was bec apart from Reiner (who knew from long ago), only he had noticed Bertie boi had a thing for Annie. He pays attention to his surroundings. He picks up on every little detail. He knows where to hit where it hurts. His 'Annie' strategy with Bert in S3P2 fails because he didn't realize Bert was a different person, someone who had stopped Annie from being his weakness. That was a crucial lesson Armin had to learn, but he learned it. He's very good with his words. People don't want him to open his mouth and change their minds (eg, Connie with Falco, Daz & Samuel). He's a genius strategist and war tactician in the making, give him a few years and see what he becomes.

One of my most favourite moments is during the table scene with Eren before getting beaten up, the only psychological attack Eren fired at Armin ("You're only visiting Annie cuz of Bert"), did not sting Armin at all, it only shocked him that Eren would try to bullshit him into that false logic when clearly Armin knew better. So Eren chose to beat him up, but Armin still had the final word. "You're the slave Eren" absolutely got under Eren's skin.

He isn't dumbed down post S4, it's just that the stakes are infinitely higher.

There's a lot of blame on him for "not doing anything in those 4 years despite having a genius brain" etc etc. Armin wasn't commander. They were dealing with a hostile world which they were desperately trying to understand for the first time in a 100-year history of being isolated inside the walls. It is one thing to understand people inside the walls and fuck them up (like Erwin did multiple times) but another entirely to deal with several countries in a world you discovered overnight. Politics and diplomacy is hard af. I doubt Armin would have been able come up with some 20/20 vision plan at that point to end the whole conflict anyway. Pixis didnt. Hange also didn't. Nobody did! The island had other intelligent people too!

Regarding Erwin, the whole point of his death was to show that he was put to rest from his suffering. It is the end of Erwin's story.

I dare say that if Armin had become Erwin 2.0, the haters would have said "Oh, he's just a copy of Erwin, he's not his own person!" So, conclusion: he's not supposed to be Erwin. He's his own person with his own methods and he's 19, leave him alone and please compare people with comparable experience.

Dude also went through a ton of issues as a young kid and has a severe inferiority complex, guilt at being revived instead of Erwin and the constant pressure of living in Erwin's shadow. Add to that his best friend of 19 years disappears, forces him to nuke a port and kill people against his desires, then pushes him away, doesn't explain shit, snaps and goes on a mass murder spree - you have a guy under extreme duress and he's still thinking of the big picture on Paradis, that genocide is wrong even though it's his best friend doing it. He has already subconsciously realised that they cannot stop Eren without joining hands with the same enemies they tried to kill a while ago. So despite having a mental breakdown, he still goes to get Falco back, because as a person, he values humanity and understanding above everything and can't watch another one of his comrades lose his shit and feed a lil kid to a Titan.

I also believe that Armin knew Falco was a decent kid, considering what he was taught in Marley, and choosing to save him was symbolic in that Armin wants to save the one kid who sees through the fucked up hate. In this moment he was the closest he'd ever been to Erwin (since Erwin's death) with that calculated risk, but also very true to being *himself* , very Armin, because he jumped to his death, aka, selfless. Rescuing Falco was a v good call, not only because the kid is a shifter and therefore necessary to form the alliance, but also cuz if you are a manga reader, well, you know why. He slapped sense into Connie, rescued Falco, showed a young Gabi what compassion meant and won her trust , and laid down the foundation for the Alliance before even knowing Hange and Levi were alive. He always sees the bigger picture.

And don't even start with the whole AruAni hate, they had a thing going on right from S1 during training years. If anything, Bert's memories of Marley only reinforced his already existing feelings for Annie and he "understood" her. He didn't forgive her. He "understood" her. See what I'm getting at? AruAni only further supports the fact that children of war are just children in the end, and love can permeate even that imaginary barrier of being on "opposite sides". It's a beautiful ship and I'm fucking glad it's canon. Something to smile about in this depressing show T_T

Kenny's ideology of "everyone being a slave to something" applies to nearly everyone on the show. But not Armin. From his birth, he has only been motivated by one thing - curiosity to see, curiosity to understand, curiosity to experience. There is nothing that ties him down so much that he can't die and give up. He is arguably the most "free" character in the whole of SnK.

Eren sets out to achieve freedom at the cost of freedom itself. But for Armin, freedom is simply the beauty of simple, little things. They are the two sides of the same coin.

I'm not being aggressive in any way, my comment is only to throw some light on Armin's character. I respect everybody's opinions at the end of the day and I'm not engaging in any wars.

[sadiecoocoo]

Attack on Titan Fanfiction - The Sorrows We Drown Chp. 1

Summary - Two years after the Rumbling, the alliance has been going back and forth between Paradis and the rest of the world. On a week off, disaster strikes. People start getting sick, rumored to have caught a plague from the dead bodies still yet to be cleaned on the edges of the Rumbling's reach.

a few days later, titans destroy the new city of Liberio.

Relationships - Reiner Braun/Jean Kirstein, Reiner Braun & Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein & Connie Springer, Reiner Braun & Jean Kirstein & Connie Springer, Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart

Tags - Whump, Hurt/Comfort, Psychological Horror, Horror, Blood and Injury, Blood and Gore, Reiner Braun Needs a Hug, Reiner Braun Has Issues, sad Reiner Braun, Protective Jean Kirstein, Soft Jean Kirstein, Connie Springer is a Little Shit, could be reiner/connie/jean, still debating that, Roadtrip, but the violent running from the law kind, Post-Rumbling (Shingeki no Kyojin), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon, Minor Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart

Word Count - 2,583

Read on AO3

Notes: This could be seen as Connie/Reiner/Jean but I haven't explicitly tagged that and so far haven't written any intimate scenes between all three of them. honestly Connie is just an oblivious third-wheel during the apocalypse. the title is from the song, Writing on the Wall, by Will Stetson. it's meant to symbolize how Reiner gives himself up to protect others as a way to try and atone, and if you've listened to the Alhaitham version of the song, how Jean wants to help him. this is gonna have a bit of gore, but this chp. is mainly build up, and I do have a few chapters written already so they'll be a few weekly uploads before I catch up to where I've left off (if I don't finish it by then lol) anyways, please enjoy!

Armin hummed along to the slow, yet upbeat tune coming from the radio as he helped make dinner. It wasn’t anything fancy. Really, he hadn’t had much better than the rations from his scout days, even after the world started to heal from the Rumbling.

It had been about two years since then. In that time, Armin and the rest of the Alliance had been going back and forth between Paradis and the rest of the world for peace negotiations.

 Overall, Eldians were being treated better too. There was still some resentment, bigotry didn’t go away that easily, but it was fading as time went on.

Armin and Annie had moved in together recently too. Though both of them had their own duties to take care of, they still spent plenty of time together. Sometimes he was still amazed that he and Annie, of all people, were able to work out a healthy relationship. He cherished it greatly.

The others were all doing well too. Connie, Jean, and Reiner were all living together. They visited often when there weren’t any politics to worry about. Pieck had stayed with her father, but still went with them all on diplomatic missions when needed. 

Levi was healing well, though he was still bound to a wheelchair. The former captain had been staying with Gabi and Falco’s families in another town. He sent the bare minimum of letters, but they all knew he cared.

Mikasa was the only one Armin wasn’t entirely sure about how she was doing. Last time they saw each other, she had grown out her hair again, and seemed to have permanently given up being a soldier. She still had a gloomy aura around, and he doubted that would go away any time soon.

As Armin was cutting up some potatoes, there was a loud crash outside. He jumped, and accidentally cut his finger in the process. The knife clattered to the floor in his moment of panic.

“Shit,” he muttered, grabbing a cloth and placing it on his bleeding finger. He leant over to pick up the knife, then placed it in the sink to wash later.

Armin went over to the window after the crash was followed by yelling. He let out a sigh, hoping it was just another incident of road rage. There hadn’t been cars that survived the rumbling, and the roads were mangled still, but some people managed to afford one of the vehicles left.

Peering out the window, he discovered that it was indeed a small car accident. He couldn’t tell if anyone was hurt from his view, and debated for a moment going outside to check on things. He lived on the second-story of an apartment complex, so he at least got a decent bird's-eye-view.

There was muffled yelling as one man got out of his car and started towards the other. Armin was starting to get the feeling that he might be needed to break up a fight, given how the man seemed to stalk towards the car with his arms waving wildly.

He stepped away and headed towards the door. Armin left the bloodied cloth on the counter, first checking to see if his finger had stopped bleeding. It wasn’t hurting and had already scabbed over, so he figured it would be fine. He guessed he hadn’t cut too deep, despite the amount of blood at first.

Grabbing his coat, he swung it around his shoulders and walked briskly through the halls. It was a dingy place, really, with stains on the walls and wet patches on the carpet from leaking pipes. A majority of the rooms were the same story, though Armin and Annie had managed to get fairly lucky.

After rushing down the steps and heading through the small lobby, Armin opened the front door to the outside world. For a moment the change in lighting made him squint, but he quickly adjusted. It was a nice day, despite the small car crash currently in front of his apartment building.

“Hey, is everyone okay?” He yelled over to the man.

Armin jogged over to the other vehicle. The first man was standing in front of the open door, his shoulders strangely slumped. Armin stopped behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Sir, are you alright-” He stopped as soon as he saw what was happening in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Armin urgently pushed the first man out the way, and he backed up obediently. The driver, another man, looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties, was sat convulsing. His mouth was agape; a line of drool went down to his chin, and his eyes were rolled so far back Armin wondered if perhaps he could see his own brain.

“Get a doctor!” Armin yelled urgently, turning towards the bystanders in the streets. “Someone go get a doctor now!” He repeated.

Someone was crying in the backseat, though he hadn’t noticed it before. He rushed to the back of the car and started to pry the door open.

In the backseat there was a little girl bawling her eyes out. Armin tried to shush her gently, to reassure her that everything would be okay. He reached towards her with as calming a smile as he could muster, and she quickly leapt into his embrace. This girl couldn’t have been older than seven.

“Shh, it’ll be okay. We’ll get your Daddy some help, sweetie.” He said, rubbing her back gently. He pulled her out of the vehicle and set her on the ground, where, thankfully, a kind lady knelt down to help look after her.

As he extracted the girl from his arm, his eyes landed on his cut finger. The scab was completely gone. It had only been a few minutes since he had even been cut in the first place. If he really looked close, he thought he could see wisps of something rising from his finger.

Steam.

Doctors are not certain of the cause of the strange new affliction, but hospitals are full of its victims! It is unsure if the sickness is contagious or not, but it is recommended that people stay in their own homes for the time being. If you are experiencing symptoms of great fatigue, chills, nausea, dizziness, or seizures, do not wait to get help!

Jean put down the paper. It landed on the table with a light slap, causing Reiner and Connie to both lift their heads up expectantly. 

They were just trying to have dinner. A nice meal of Butternut Squash Pasta, something only recently shown to Jean and Connie. Sometimes he wondered how Reiner could stand the transition to such shitty food, then he remembered that to Reiner this was probably a meal saved for holidays.

“Something the matter?” Reiner asked with an arched brow. The blonde had recently shaved his beard, having decided after too much teasing from both Connie and Jean that it really did make him look too old for his age.

Without answering, Jean slid the paper over to Reiner. Connie leaned over to read it as well. Jean could only put his head in his hands as he waited for their own reactions.

“There had been a few cases of plague where the cleanup wasn’t as thorough.” Reiner muttered after a moment, almost as though he were speaking to himself.

“Are seizures really symptoms for a plague, though?” Connie asked, his nose scrunched worriedly. Reiner only shrugged.

“How could this have popped up so suddenly? And so quickly?” Jean asked, though he knew none of them would have the answer. Reiner looked at him as if he were sorry he wasn’t all knowing, and Jean suppressed an eye roll. 

He was so tired of Reiner looking sorry all the time. At least now the brute smiled more often.

Jean was starting to feel like he had truly gotten to know Reiner, not the Scout Reiner, or Warrior Reiner, or Titan Reiner, just Reiner. It was honestly refreshing.

 He was a lot more sheepish than anyone would have guessed back in training. When he wasn’t moping around feeling guilty, he was surprisingly sweet too, and most of the time it looked like he didn’t even put any effort into it.

Jean was glad that the three of them had decided to move in together. There was no way he’d be able to survive Connie’s annoying dumbass without someone to suffer through it with, and he would prefer to not live alone.

“Either way,” Reiner started, heaving out a sigh, “There isn’t much we can do about it other than try not to catch it.” He said. The blonde had started pushing his food around on his fork mindlessly.

“Right,” Connie agreed uneasily. Jean felt bad just brushing it off like that, but they all knew, logically, plagues weren’t something that veteran soldiers and peace ambassadors could fix.

The rest of their dinner went on in relative silence. Eventually Connie started to talk about what all he saw at the ever-growing market. It seemed like every day a new part of Liberio was being rebuilt. It felt like it was in such little time too.

Once they’re all done eating, Jean takes it upon himself to clean up the kitchen. They had all fallen into a strange routine, somehow wordlessly. Connie would go to the market and get whatever they needed; sometimes they’d talk about it beforehand and sometimes the numbskull would just grab whatever for them to experiment with. Reiner would cook most often, he had a strange talent for it, despite his lack of experience. Finally, Jean would clean everything up. Of course, none of this was set in stone, it just happened naturally half the time.

Once, Reiner had gotten sick with a light fever. Both Connie and Jean were paranoid that they’d catch it, so they decided to try making something simple. It may or may not have ended with small fire, and them being banned from the kitchen unless they were preparing war rations.

Either way, they all helped around. It was a fair solution, and still gave them all plenty of time to do their own thing later, even if they had gotten a ton of paperwork to do.

Jean had picked up art again in his free time. Connie really just did whatever he was in the mood for, which was usually either annoying one of them or getting them to play some card game. He had noticed that Reiner read a lot, and occasionally saw him writing down a few things in a small journal.

Once, Jean had peeked over the blonde’s shoulder. The journal had been filled with neat cursive handwriting in what he assumed to be the Marleyan written language. He could only make out every few words, the written language was still a pain to memorize.

“Do you think we should check on Peick?” Jean asked over his shoulder as he worked on scrubbing up an annoying piece of gunk off one of the plates. “Y’know since her dad is already sick?” he added.

“Nah, don’t wanna risk giving it to them.” Reiner answered. “I’ll send a quick letter, though.” he decided. 

Jean hummed to himself and went back to work.

Several hours later, long past midnight, Jean had woken up in the night with a parched throat that he couldn’t ignore. He dragged himself out of bed and slunk through the short hallway and into the kitchen again.

He poured himself a small glass of water and chugged it. He finished with a soft sigh. Jena filled the cup again and took it with him back to his bedroom.

As he was passing the bathroom, however, he heard the telltale sound of someone dry heaving. He groaned internally at the obstacle between him and going back to sleep, but knocked lightly on the door anyway.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked through the door. His voice sounded a bit deeper from sleep.

There was a sputtering cough behind the door, and Jean fought the urge to just barge in. at the lack of whinging, Jean guessed Reiner was the unfortunate soul to be getting sick.

“‘M fine!” the blonde finally answered. Though, by the way his voice shook, and the declaration was quickly followed by more coughing and dry heaving, Jean sincerely doubted that he was fine.

“You decent?” Jean asked. He was soon answered by a very pathetic sounding affirmation.

Jean quietly opened the door to see the sad sight of Reiner leaning over the toilet and fighting to not throw up. Jean shut the door behind him as he moved to the sink and turned on the water. He threw a washcloth in the sink as it ran.

After the water felt somewhat warm, he wrung out the washcloth. Jean moved to kneel down next to Riener.

He placed the warm washcloth on Reiner’s nape, trying to soothe the nausea. He rubbed Reiner’s back as well, tracing calming circles and smoothing out wrinkles in the fabric.

“Food bad, or are you getting sick?” He asked after a minute or two of relative silence.

“‘M hoping it’s the food.” Reiner answered, turning his head up ever so slightly to look at Jean. The bags under his eyes seemed impossibly darker, and Jean felt a pang of worry tighten in his chest.

His still sleep-addled mind finally remembered the damn paper. If Reiner had somehow caught the plague going around, they were all screwed. The blonde had explained that his titan would mostly keep him from being sick along with healing injuries, so his immune system was shot. Jean didn’t want to know what this new plague looked like on someone who could barely handle more than a cold.

“Yeah,” Jean mumbled in response. He continued to rub Reiner’s back, and at some point the brute had leaned into his half embrace. His head was resting on Jean’s shoulder now.

“Think you can go back to bed?” Jean asked softly. Reiner hummed a quiet affirmative in response.

It wasn’t long before Jean had helped Reiner up and gotten him to his room. Reiner staggered over to his bed and plopped face first into his pillow. He let out a groan as he reached his hand back and flung the blanket over himself haphazardly.

Jean could help the breathy laugh that escaped him. Reiner never complained about anything until he got sick, then the entire world had to know of his suffering.

Jean moved to readjust the blanket, pulling it over Reiner’s shoulders. The younger man then sat down on the edge of the bed and patted Reiner’s head playfully. The blonde leaned ever so slightly into the touch.

“If you still feel bad in the morning we should get you to a doctor.” Jean suggested softly. He knew Reiner wasn’t particularly fond of hospitals, but if there was the possibility of him having caught the plague, he would have to ignore his discomfort.

“Whatever.” Reiner mumbled into his pillow, almost quiet enough for Jean to not hear it. He lifted his hand and gave the smallest of waves, “see you in the morning.”

Jean let out another soft laugh as he patted Reiner’s head again and got up. He closed the door to Reiner’s room softly before heading back to his own room.

As he laid down on his bed, he couldn’t ignore the knot of worry worming itself in his gut.

End Notes: yay I set up some exposition!!! and gave you guys a soft moment between Reiner and Jean and also showed them living a nice and happy life… it'll TOTALLY last anyways, gore in the next chapter <3

lmk if anyone would like to be tagged in the next chapter, I'd be happy to do it!

Chp. 2

[stinkysam]

Reiner Braun - Collateral damage

Warning : s2-3 spoilers, slight gore (Marco, reiner)

Genre : angst

Synopsis : the scouts get to forest to recapture Eren and Ymir from Reiner and Bertholdt where the 104th chase after them and MR tries to confront Bertholdt and especially Reiner + during season 3 of the retaking of Shiganshina where the 104th are fighting him and Reiner is trying his best to not hurt MR but ends up hurting him anyway by accident. After the 104th take down Reiner MR tries his best to get him to talk but Reiner can’t manage to say anything.

Reader : male (you/yours)

A/N : a lot of rewritten scenes (Marco’s death, shiganshina’s fight) // 2,321 words

The moment plays in your head over and over, clearly.

Mikasa had stopped walking, turning around to keep an eye on Eren. He was talking with Reiner and Bertholdt about something she couldn’t quite hear. You had stopped, too, like the rest of the group. Suddenly, the tension breaks. Mikasa throws herself on Reiner and Bertholdt, attacking them both and pushing Eren away.

“Eren, run !” Yelled Armin as light emanated from both Reiner and Bertholdt as they turned into their titan form. Wind pushing you violently, unable to do anything but watch in shock as the armored titan grabbed Eren, and the colossal, Ymir.

A tough fight between the armored titan and Eren erupted, issuing in Reiner and Bertholdt taking Eren and Ymir with them, leaving you and the rest of the group behind either burnt up or concussed.

-

If only your horse could go faster. You could see Mikasa was thinking the same thing as you, barely noticing when she got told to slow down by Hannes. But it was no use, as fast as your horses were, it was too late when you reached the forest, making you use your ODM gear. Deep in the forest, you found Ymir in her titan form, but before you could understand what she was doing, she grabbed Christa, no, Historia and ran away too fast for the group to catch up. You could see the armored titan run with Ymir, Bertholdt, and Eren on his back. Fuck, missed again.

As fast as you left it, you were back on your horse, running closely with the others.

"No hesitation this time, I'll kill them both. And Ymir, too, is she gets in our way. Nothing will stop them from killing them," announced Mikasa, determination on her face.

You understood her but at the same time you wanted to stop her from doing such things. You didn't want to kill them, you just wanted to talk to know why they did all of this.

Mikasa was one of the first to land on Reiner, menacing Ymir and Historia to let her get Eren back. You were on the titan’s head, trying to talk to him.

You tried to get him to talk or at least get a reaction out of him but nothing, no matter what you said, Reiner would not answer.

Oh he wanted to. He wanted to tell you all the things there were outside these walls, the seas and oceans with all those different types of fishes, all those beautiful countries and cities to visit. All the places he wanted to show you. But he said nothing. He couldn’t, as a warrior, reveal those things to you. 

You could hear Jean and Connie talk to Bertholdt, reminiscing their time together. You tried to do the same on your side, anything to get a reaction out of Reiner. But apparently, Bertholdt was the one to break first.

"You really think… we wanted to kill all those people ?!" He cries out "you really imagine we kill by pleasure ?!"

"Then why ? Why do all of this !?" You asked.

"I understand perfectly you blame us to death, what we did is irreparable. But the weight of our crime was too heavy to assume. Acting like soldiers helped us carry it." He paused. "It wasn't a lie, Connie, Jean ! Yes we fooled you but it wasn't all lies ! You really were friends ! I know no matter what we do, we're unforgivable."

"Bertholdt, give us Eren" Mikasa said, impassive.

"No, I can't. Someone… someone has to get their hands dirty !"

Before you could try to get him to talk again, Hannes called for you to get down as Erwin was arriving with a horde of titans. They threw themselves on the armored titan, forcing him to move his hands to fight back.

This gave an opening to Mikasa to get Eren back successfully, thanks to the help of Erwin. Yet you still found yourselves cornered, titans everywhere as the armored was throwing them on the group until they suddenly stopped attacking to throw themselves on one titan, ripping it apart and eating it before attacking Reiner and Bertholdt, leaving you an opening for a withdrawal.

-

Three months have passed since you last saw them. Yet, you still weren’t ready to fight him. You still wanted to talk.

All Reiner had to do was to kill the horses and run away but after seeing Eren’s titan, he decided against it and to follow him instead. Soon a fight began between the two titans and despite being cornered by Eren, Reiner never let him have the upper hand for too long. Until the soldiers came with their new weapon, exploding his eyes and the back of his neck.

“One more time !” Ordered Hange, “Fire the thunder spears and finish him off !”

Everyone froze. “Kill… Reiner…?” They thought. They had forgotten it was what they fought for.

“Guys ! We prepared for that, no ?!” Reminded Jean ��So let’s go !”

And with that they went again, sending their thunder spears once again by his neck.

Trapped, Reiner remembered the day Eren closed the hole in Trost’s wall.

“That plan to reseal the hole, this is crazy…” said Bertholdt, “Eren might end up eaten and we won’t learn anything."

“Effectively, if it goes bad I’ll have to intervene with my titan.” Reiner answered.

“But, if it goes well, we will have smashed the wall for nothing !”

“Nevermind that. We finally have a lead for what we searched for 5 years.”

“Guys… what are you talking about… ?” Interrupted Marco, dumbfounded. “Did you say “my titan”, Reiner ? And you Bertholdt, that you smashed the wall ?”

“Marco… it was… a joke.” Reiner said, trying to sound believable. Marco yelled at them to not say such things when people were fighting titans right next to them and flew away. They had no other choice but to go after him, throwing him to the roof of some house.

“He heard us talk, we can’t let him live.” Announced Reiner to Annie before or donning her to take Marco’s ODM gear. She refused, asking why she had to do it.

“You put yourself in danger to save Connie, earlier. Why take such a risk ? You take sides for those demons, maybe ? If I’m wrong, prove it now ! Prove me that you and your father who awaits your return are not like them. Come on, do it !”

“Reiner, the titan is here !” Bertholdt warned, scared.

“Annie !”

Marco screamed as Annie took his ODM gear, yelling his name in pleas.

“Annie, tell me why ?! Annie ! Annie !”

“Here’s the spirit of a true warrior, Annie. I’m proud of you.” Reiner said before flying away with Bertholdt and Annie, leaving Marco alone to his sad destiny.

“Why are you leaving like this ? We still haven’t tried to talk calmly !” He yelled before the titan caught him, eating him alive.

“Why... Marco… is being eaten.” Said Reiner with horror, watching the scene next to his two accomplices.

“We got him !” “We exploded his face !” “We took down the armored titan !” The soldiers cheered as the armored titan had fallen, Reiner was visible out of the titan’s neck. Face cut in half horizontally.

“You were a real pain to deal with but look at you now you evil bastard !” Jean said before seeing you Connie and Sasha crouched down, crying in horror at your actions. It was your friend you just exploded.

“What the hell are you three crying for ?!” He yelled, grabbing the three of you one by one, “c’mon get up, we’re not done yet ! All we’ve done is kill Reiner ! Don’t cry, we’re the one who killed him !”

If it was to cheer you up, it had failed. All it did was make you cry harder.

But when you least expected it, his titan moved again before screaming loudly only to fall down again. You all watched around waiting for anything to happen. Hange ordained to throw more thunder spears, when something went flying down the sky. A barrel most likely containing Bertholdt ready to transform.

“Bertholdt, let’s try to discuss !” Yelled Armin after telling Hange it was their last chance to negotiate.

“If we talk, will you agree to die ?!” You all stopped as Bertholdt spoke, listening “we only have two demands, we want you to give us Eren, and we want all of humanity inside the walls to be wiped out ! That’s just how reality is, Armin, everything has already been decided !”

“By who ?! Who decided that ?!”

“I did ! I decided your lives are coming to an end right here !!”

Armin brought up Annie. How her screams were still echoing down the wall of her prison. But this time it didn’t work as planned. 

“Why did you agree to talk then ?” Asked Armin

“I wanted to make sure…” Bertholdt began, remembering Marco’s crying face. “I thought that when I showed up you might start whining and begging for mercy again. But… It looks like you’re fine now. You’re all cherished friends, and you’re all really trying to kill us.”

Mikasa had to step in, cutting Bertholdt one ear before stopping Armin from following him. She was right to do so as he then transformed himself into the colossal, burning and destroying the area. Armin couldn’t tell what to do now, he had misjudged Bertholdt and had no idea how to fight the giant titan, preferring to leave the lead to Jean for now.

After trying to fight an unfair fight against the colossal, the armored titan was back up. And you couldn’t help but to feel relieved at the sight.

“We let Armin and Eren take care of Bertholdt. And we keep Reiner busy and far from them.” Jean announced “harass him without letting yourself get caught!”

“Understood !”

But Reiner ran past the five of you with ease. Mikasa was the first one to react, throwing herself after him. You were quick behind. She threw a spear in the back of his left leg, sending him falling to the ground, destroying houses on his way down.

“Since the diversion didn’t work, we’ll have to eliminate him for good !” She said, “we have to cover Eren and Armin !”

“But we only have three spears left !” Told Connie.

“No choice left ! Anyways, without a fight there’s no victory !” Sasha reminded

Reiner had no idea what he was doing here. He remembers saying goodbye to Bertholdt and jumping down his side of the wall but that was it. How did they explode his leg ? What happened ? He was lost and low on energy.

He looked over to Bertholdt who walked toward a passed out Eren. At least the plan was going accordingly. And soon they would be back home. All he had to do was to get rid of-

Shit.

You were here too. He had to fight against you. That’s the latest thing he wanted. Fucking hell…

Jean was the first to attack him, jumping on his back to get his attention while Connie and you went in with the thunder spears. But to avoid them he accidentally got hit by one on Connie’s side and touched you, slapping you with his giant hand against the roof of the house to his side.

No !

He tried to check on you but found himself cornered instead by Hange’s arrival with a new thunder spear, sending it right to the right side of his jaw making it hang wide open for Mikasa to send hers inside his hanging mouth, throwing Reiner out of his titan’s form with a big explosion.

You could barely hear what was happening, lying on your back with Connie and Sasha to your sides, your ears were ringing and it was painful to breathe, your lungs and ribs hurting you. You coughed up blood, it left a sour taste in your mouth but somehow it unplugged your ears a little bit. You heard Jean talk.

"It doesn't look like you, Hange. If we let the unknown paralyze us, how can we hope to overcome the titans ?"

Then you heard Reiner cough. So he was still alive. Relief washed over you.

"When will we be able to unlock the secrets of the enemy ?"

You manage to sit down, not without coughing up more blood.

"Reiner, you really won't say anything ?" You asked. "Even after everything we went through together, you still can't let us know anything ?"

But Reiner remained silent.

Hange ordered Mikasa to check on Eren and Armin while you stayed there with Reiner.

"If all our discussions meant anything, why suddenly not discuss anymore ? We're understanding, why are you doing all this ? What is outside these walls ?"

"[Name], you should rest. It's no use." Said Hange.

Reiner's jaw was tightly shut. He couldn't say anything. Fuck. He wanted. You had so many things to know about the other world. So many things to discover. He wanted to see your face once you found out about photography. Cars. All those recipes you're missing out on… ice-cream.

He wanted to take you on a date to do all those things. And discover the fair they held each year with those machines and roller coasters. He wanted to offer you one of those cliché plushies you could win. Making you meet Gabi who must've grown out quite a bit. And his mom. God he wanted to say "my boyfriend" when talking about you.

But he didn't have the time to try to even think about saying anything as the four-legged titan came, taking him from Hange's grasp.

[my-mt-heart]

So from the sides (that were removed) and the way Daryl and Isabel were looking at each other last season it appears they were setting them up. Now they have them planning to go back to America together 🙄🙄 Why add these things if caryl are getting together. It’s Connie all over again!!

Well, Nicotero hates Caryl from what I know and he talked about how much he loved the "glances" between Daryl and Isabelle at NYCC last year, so my guess is he's the one pushing that "romance" the hardest even if AMC would never approve of that being canon and probably pushing a platonic friendship between Caryl the hardest too. He was the one in charge of production during the WGA strike, so what that did to the story in S2, I'm not sure.

Zabel comes from broadcast TV where the formula is always to tease everything and deliver nothing. Obviously from these sides and some of the scenes in S1, he set up the possibility of something between Daryl and Isabelle while at the same time hinting at something existing between Daryl and Carol (the pigeon scene, the parallels to the kid in 105 wanting to get back to his "girl"). It ties into the idea of Daryl being "torn" between two families, which to me, makes it obvious Zabel doesn't understand who Daryl is.

Melissa has a much different understanding of Carol's and Daryl's story than those two, which I thought was pretty apparent over the weekend. I think it's a matter of how the contrasting visions manage to come together in the show, so that's scary. The trailer was definitely not Melissa/Carol/Caryl friendly....

(I'll give my thoughts on the trailer later)

[seeingivy]

my lovely ronnie, have you watched Bridgerton and if so, what are your fancasts in the show?

i love you and i can’t wait for the next method acting chapter 💘💘

my LOVELY nonnie,

I rambled again so read break

have I watched bridgerton?? OH IVE WATCHED BRIDGERTON. that being said, thank you for all the love on the story (spoiler alert: you will not have to wait too long for the next chapter...hehe)

bridgerton season one

the duke and daphne, oh the icons that you are

they give me more of a classic, romatic love story vibes so i'm going to give this one to jeankasa

mikasa is slaying the house down as the diamond of the season, esp that one scene where she drops the fan and makes the prince pick it up

jean is too good at playing an angsty little emo boy, esp in that one scene where he gets to pretend to duel with anthony

bridgerton season two

kate sharma and anthony bridgerton, oh the superstars that YOU are

this one is going straight to our beloveds, sukuna and y/n

sukuna is TOO good at playing anthony as an asshole in season one, and far better at playing him as the sensitive sweet soul that he is in season two

half of the banter between them is literally not even in the script, they're actually just fighting with each other in period clothes

eren's eyes are closed during the sex scenes and he is infinitely thankful that you and sukuna were NOT the duke and daphne bc lord have mercy that one wildest dreams scene was SO OUT OF POCKET JFDKLJF

bridgerton season three

colin and pen? you mean...sasha and sweet baby boy nico

(this will make more sense after the chapter, trust)

but I feel like sasha and nico can relate to that dynamic so hard of being best friends first, sasha feeling inadequate because maybe she's not treated the same as other girls but nico always loves her (maybe if he isn't ENTIRELY aware of it)

sasha would so be lady whistledown too + connie is her accomplice that helps her!!!

bridgerton prequel

queen charlotte and george!!!

obviously going to the loves of our lives, sweet levihan. yup.

notable mentions

connie is benedict. I take no further criticism actually that one scene of him being high at that dinner is connie coded (no shade to connie, our pookie is sober now but I just mean that he's a very unserious king like benedict)

gabi hyacinth then what??? then what??

[darklcy]

𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 : 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑 | 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐲

𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 | 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : armin arlert x reader 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 : 2.3k words 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐬: slow burn, bad language, reader experiences low self esteem, negative habits, skipping meals, lack of sleep. 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: soldier life is catching up, but almost drowns you in the process. fortunately, you don't have to face it alone. 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 | 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭

Keith Shadis stood at the forest entrance patiently, waiting for the ambush of cadets to line up and commence maneuver gear training. On his mark, he released the trainees free to the skies and into the towers of trees, trailing behind on his own set of gear to inspect, like a hawk tracking its prey. 

Today was dedicated solely to drills and Titan-target practices, as well as a test of endurance and stamina. Lectures upon lectures on maneuver gear safety always repeated themselves before take off, as rules must be obeyed to prevent any measly accidents. 

But all to be focused on right now was losing your sense of reality to the wind and the trees. The satisfactory sensation of feeling weightless to the wires that pulled your body from trunk to trunk. So light and fresh like a leaf floating down to the forest floor. Funny, this machine taught you to kill, and yet it worked so beautifully. You’d never get tired from this.

In the distant right, Sasha’s cackles echoed along the branches, meshing together with Connie’s and Jean’s hollers. Up ahead, the infamous Shiganshina trio grouped together like a pack of wolves. Somewhere far off you could pick up the occasional yell of a stray trainee who’d crash landed. It was during these trying times where trainees who weren’t capable fell out and returned to their homes. 

As you sharply swung along a corner, your sights locked on the familiar wooden cut-out of a fifteen-meter Titan, the nape of the neck clean of wounds. You readied your swords from their sheaths with a pump of gas, boosting acceleration. Arms raised in the air, you prepared yourself. 

A shout escaped your throat as the swords sliced down on the neck, carving a precise cut on the makeshift Titan. The wood tumbled to the dirt below. A perfect kill..!

You almost laughed as you abandoned the Titan to pursue the hunt. Not too far away from the cutout, a zip of wires grew louder from behind. A certain roommate beamed at you as she neared.

“Hey [Y/N]! Mind if I tag along?”

You cocked your head. 

“You just want to latch onto my kills!”

Mina dramatically gasped.

“Can’t we just hangout like the friends we are?”

You pressed on the gas trigger and propelled forward.

“Nope, I don’t trust you.”

Mina huffed at the playful tone in your voice, soon gliding away to resume her hunt elsewhere. 

A little while after the brief encounter, another Titan stood in the distance. The size was a bit shorter this time, standing at around ten-meters, and once again, unscathed nape. 

Seems like luck was at your beckoning today. Gripping onto the swords, you launched your hook grabbles and braced yourself to make the cut. 

SHIIING

…Only for the kill to be stolen.

“Hahaha sorry [Y/N]! Couldn’t resist!”

The hooks released from the cutout and into the tree trunk beside you, allowing you to softly swing as you watched Mina fly away, a trail of steam dissipating behind her. A scoff of disbelief was all you could muster.

What the fuck? 

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅──╮

End results noted a total of seven Titan kills. 

A comparable score, considering the hunting was done solo. 

“We managed to get ten kills! Not to mention, when we’d split up, we covered more ground. A success, I’d say.”

Connie bragged while Sasha enthusiastically ate her porridge, lifting a spoon to emphasize his point. Jean made a scene to stick his nose into the conversation.

“Allow me to add that I got a higher score on technique, so if you need any maneuver gear lessons, I’m your guy.”

Connie swatted at his chest.

“Shut up, you wish.”

You heard Mina giggle beside you. Her elbow gently nudged your side.

“Did you hear how much Mikasa got? Thirteen.”

Thirteen..?

“Holy shit, really?”

Connie barged in from across the table.

“Yes! She’s amazing.”

Sasha planted her palms onto the wood to lean in. 

“I saw her in action! She flies so fast, it’s like you can barely see her coming.”

Jean’s face warmed noticeably. “She’s incredible.”

The group unanimously agreed. Mikasa denied the laws of nature and succeeded in winning at any obstacle thrown at her. Some theorized she wasn’t human. 

You threw a glance her way. Such straight posture, no hint of life beside the occasional blink, calmly eating her meal like she was at the King’s tea time. Where every cadet appeared exhausted, her skin radiated without any bruises, sweat, and dirt. Maybe she was non-human. 

A frown weighs the corners of your mouth when you turn back to your dinner.

 Seven gets lost in thirteen.

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅──╮

WHAM

Your spine smacked the rough clay as you tumbled ridiculously, legs falling over your head when it came to a stop. Annie was a ferocious partner, not breaking a single worry in this pitiful battle you were putting up. Throwing a leg over your waist, pinning you to the Earth, she jabs the wooden knife into your chest.

“I win.”

You blinked a few times. All you could respond with was a weak groan. 

The girl doesn’t hold out a hand to help you get up. Instead, she saunters off to find a new opponent, one more worthy of a fight, you presumed. Rolling to your stomach, the tension in your thighs feel like it could snap. You shakily stand back up.

“She’s a tough one.”

Reiner towers over your shoulder with hands on his hips. You notice him watching the said girl with an unreadable expression. He claps a palm on your shoulder. It almost knocks you over.

“You okay?”

You nod. “..M’ fine.”

“Don’t be too harsh on yourself. I can see it happening already.”

He points with his chin towards Annie again. 

“She wins against everyone. She’s just strong like that.”

Strong.

“Huh..”

You feel him give your back two heavy pats. 

“You got this.”

He stomps away after that. Watching him leave, that same frown comes back. 

..

“[Y/N], did you see what happened today? I was training with Connie, and we came up with this new fighting technique! I swear it’s like we can read each other’s minds or something.”

All you could hear was noise, loud, blatant noise. Sasha plopped your bread in her mouth. You didn’t even notice.

“Also, last night I had the strangest dream. I was back home in the forest, and I was hunting game with my father like the ol’ days, but then this huge bear came out of nowhere…and then…”

The Dauper girl’s story faded through your ears into the files of your brain. Dinner had gone cold by now, your silverware limp in your hold. The bowl of vegetable stew encaptured your gaze in a trance, and if you looked away you were sure to be cursed.

“Hey, you alright?”

Mina gently caressed your shoulder, breaking you free from hypnosis.

“Yeah, yeah..I’m fine.”

Your words dripped with uncertainty. Both tablemates frowned, but nonetheless carried on with their meal. Spooning up a bit of soup, you grimaced when you swallowed. Cold..

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅──╮

Seven knocks down to two or three in the passing weeks. The downturn of lips becomes more permanent than temporary. More bruises and wounds make home underneath your uniform. And somehow at the end of the day, the exhaustion feels more intense than the day before. 

A cadet’s routine was never advertised as glamorous, but everywhere you looked, no one else appeared to be drowning. The break in the water was close, just an arm’s length away if you stretched hard enough. The waves swarmed your body with a strong turbulence, but you kept pushing and pushing, fingertips raised above to graze the surface.

 And for a moment you can breathe, a deep inhale relieving your lungs from the strain of water…but it’s in that bliss when the water controls you again, pulling you deeper into an abyss.

Shadis imprinted the hairs on your neck to forever remain stiff, on edge and paranoid for more lecturing and criticism. In the midst of your drowning, did the man see the effort? Was this war amongst yourself just in your head, an illusion, or did he perceive the strength you were desperately wanting? Craving?

The mystery is frustrating. 

….

The empty room draws a deep frown. The bunks usually covered in strewn blankets, harness straps and roommates gossiping were vacant and darkened with the night. Your eyebrows furrow, a puff of air flowing out your nose. The room felt wrong without the presence of comrades. Stepping out of the cabin, the door closes with a creak. 

The wooden steps became the next best solace as you perched yourself at the top, arms wrapping around pulled up knees, chin resting on top. The mess hall served as a beacon of light compared to the isolated bubble you resided in. Through the warm toned windows you could see the cadets enjoying themselves with the same vegetable stew and loaf of bread that was prepared each night. 

…Maybe this time alone was a blessing in disguise. Perhaps that’s what you needed. A break from all the noise. 

Raising your hands to rest on your head, your eyelids drooped until they closed, weariness grabbing the reins. A distant cry of crickets join you in the dark, their chorus bellowing beyond the pitch black forest. Behind shut doors, the moon glistens her rays on your skin like a comforting embrace, welcoming you to raise your head and let her caress your face. 

It’s tempting. Her touch is soft and gentle, approaching you carefully as if not to spook you. 

“...[Y/N]..?”

It threatens the emotion in your chest. Her spotlight paints the reminder of your solidarity on the wooden steps. And yet she’s pushing you, cheering you on from her place in the sky. With that, she briefly leaves, the clouds swooping in to conceal her light.

Your face rolls over on your knees, cheek now smushed against sleeves. 

“[Y/N]?”

…?

Has she come back?

Your eyes meet blue as you lift your head. 

…The blonde stood uncomfortably a few feet away from the porch. His fingers pulled at his sleeves before his arms decided to cross behind his back. His eyes, so large and worried, blinked at you in rhythms; twice, once, twice, once.

You blinked back.

“...Hey, Armin.”

He glances to the beacon of light.

“Aren’t you heading to dinner..?”

Your hand falls to dangle by your shoe.

“..Not tonight. I’m not hungry.”

He pops his knuckles at his sides. 

“You sure? Skipping meals isn’t good for you..”

“I’m sure.”

His frown deepens. 

You’ve nestled back into your home already, staring upon the shadows filtering throughout the camp. 

..His footsteps trudge over to the steps, and you face him when he sits beside you, body position matching yours. Armin lost his stare into the forest, fingers tapping sporadically from where they laid over his biceps. He doesn’t mind that you observe him. 

You followed him into the trees and rested there, the wind and crickets harmonizing in a beautiful symphony. 

Armin was a calm in the storm type of person. His best friend seemed to speak for three, never afraid to holler his frustrations, but on the other side of the spectrum lay this boy, the polite boy who loved to read. He’d apologize for existing, apologize for taking up space, before he ever sat down to introduce himself. 

“You’re easy to watch.”

It took everything in you to not choke. Armin instantly panicked.

“I-In training, I mean..! When we’re doing drills? Combat drills?”

His words puddled out in a hurry, the skin of his cheeks blaring bright red. 

"Pfft.."

“I just mean, you’re impressive! Or, inspiring? I uh, I’m not good at that stuff, so-,”

Your sudden boisterous laughter made him freeze. Armin couldn’t see your face anymore now that it was ducked over your thighs, shoulders trembling with cackles. Your arms caressed your aching stomach as if it could cease the attack, but it just kept advancing. 

“Uh…”

Finally rising off your thighs, you swooped in deep breaths to calm your heartbeat, a couple giggles escaping here and there.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you laugh..”

You waved him off with a hand. 

“No, no, don’t be. I liked it.”

His face was a never ending tomato. Now it looked like he was sweating a bit. 

“But, what you were saying…you watch me?”

Armin smacked both palms to his face. “I was trying to compliment your skills, but I apologize that it came off as stalkerish.”

Another wave of laughs pass through your smile. “It didn’t, it just caught me really off guard.”

He reveals his blue eyes to you again. “That’s good, I guess..”

Your expression slightly dims when you turn away from him.

“Well, thank you.”

Armin’s lips part, but then close.

Wafting through the crevices, the moon rejoins you on the steps, this time encasing Armin in her light. By now, the mess hall was dismissed, sending cadets off to bed to end the day and rest for tomorrow. 

“Guess dinner’s over..”

His comment reawakes your reality, that tomorrow brings new hardships and restless nights. It makes you wince.  

“I’m gonna..head off to bed.”

He twists to you while you stand. He’s caught in perplexity, you can see it clearly, but his mouth doesn’t move.

“...Goodnight, Armin.”

Armin perks up.

“For sure..! See you tomorrow.”

He rises to his feet and moves down the steps in a swift motion, his blonde hair vanishing the further he walks away.

His departure has you glued to the entrance door, hand wrapped around the handle but still staring off the direction Armin went. Your brows worry themselves on your forehead, unsure to be confused, sad, or drowsy.

Hauling the door open, you decide the latter. 

[weaslby926]

Another neat thing on perception in media is kaiju-esque creatures so I’m about to ramble again. I’m gonna use Steven Universe bc it has both great and bad examples (screenshots from Youtube).

Behold (to me) the biggest gems in the series:

Malachite

Sugilite

Alexandrite

And also the diamonds and the cluster.

Notice how each of the shots these guys are in show off their incredible size. Sugilite can fit on screen beside Pearl and Steven, so we have a direct comparison for size. The others seem even bigger bc the camera angle is looking up at them, sometimes they’re face/body is shadowed to show how they block out light. Most times the camera shakes and there’s a lot of rumbling. The cluster is so large its base is behind the hills in the background, showing how large it is when its so far away. But most important is that they are BY FAR the biggest thing on screen when they are revealed. Even Alexandrite’s introduction was during the dinner scene with Connie’s family, and there she towers over even the building.

But what about Obsidian? Supposedly one of the biggest fusions on the show? The grand finale? The temple gem herself?

She was...not that impressive to me. Which is weird bc we had the recipe:

A ball of light so big the others had to run away from it. A shaking, rising camera showing multiple arms. A giant foot coming down beside Connie. Going great so far. But then we get this:

Firstly, the angle is just...off. The camera angle and direction of their heads make it that Lapis and Peridot aren’t looking up, they’re looking straight ahead. Obsidian is tilted backwards, I get that she’s leaning back to roar, but the shot makes her look way smaller. We also saw Obsidian stomp right beside Connie, but now she’s further back, so the sense of distance is also a bit muddled. Then, we get this:

And all sense of size we did get is immediately destroyed. Obsidian was only the biggest thing on screen for a few seconds. Now she’s mouse-sized in comparison. Her whole battle is scaling a giant humanoid spaceship. The whole fight she is comparatively way smaller than the opponent.

Audiences can only grasp a sense of size through comparisons. It’s why people compare whales to how many buses long they are.

There is one scene in the fight that does convey Obsidian’s size to me, however, and it’s here:

Not only is Connie tiny in her hand, but that hand is extended out from her. Making her body and face in the bground shadowed would’ve accentuated this distance even more. But again, this is for one second, then back to the main battle where she is tiny. It’s a shame bc I know SU got cut early and they had to rush everything at the end, and Obsidian suffered for it.

I say this bc of the Malachite and Alexandrite fight:

Now these two are the same size. Even though the island and the watermelon people are smaller, a lot of the shots of the fight are just them. BUT THIS WORKS. And it only works bc this is not the first time we’ve seen these fusions. We already have a sense of their size from their first, individual appearances. Add the camera shakes and the occasional comparison shots to the watermelon people as a reminder and you have two massive gems fighting each other in an awesome showdown.

I think if Obsidian’s first appearance had of been earlier, in a situation where she was the largest thing on screen, where there was time for multiple shots looking upwards at her, then she would’ve seemed far more impressive. Unfortunately we didn’t get an Obsidian-dedicated episode, and there was no time to show her size off properly. Still, it’s interesting to think of what could’ve been.

So, what I’ve learnt is that, when making gigantic things, it’s more than just making it big. It’s camera angles, shadows, rumblings, but more than that. It’s being conscious of how everything else in the shot also contributes. It’s about creating senses of distance and size through what you already have on screen. And I think it’s really neat how all of it comes together to create a perspective of size for the audience.

[onigiri-dorkk]

It's very interesting that it's 2023 and there are still people who say that Mikasa hates Levi/vice versa.

They based that on the few scenes in the first few episodes where Mikasa is angry at Levi beating up Eren in the courthouse.

One, Levi has never once hated Mikasa. He had many opportunities to be angry with her as a captain, but he has never done that. He could have punished her easily just for how she looked at him in the courthouse -- much more for her insubordination multiple times when she was a young soldier.

But then what happens?

When Levi gets injured due to Mikasa not trusting him, acting on her own and not listening to his orders during battle, and him having to save her life, the Scouts lose their captain and best soldier in a crucial time. Mikasa feels the huge weight of that on her shoulders -- she is very aware of how important Levi is to the Scouts and she makes a conscious decision in Season 2 to step up to fill his shoes, to make up for her mistake while he recovers. She now realizes that her selfish actions to protect/be with Eren come with consequences, and it takes her out of her tunnel vision for Eren. She's at this point where she realizes she should have trusted Levi more.

In the Uprising Arc is where we really see Mikasa's perspective to Levi/leadership really change, which also reflects her inward growth. She's placed in Levi Squad. When ordered to fight and kill Kenny and team, all the Levi Squad doubt Levi's orders and think he's cruel. Who's the first one who steps up and listens to Levi's orders immediately? Mikasa. She's the first one to say yes, and she doesn't even question it -- she goes in for the kill.

When they gather and reflect about their first kills, Jean, Sasha, Connie and even Armin are still apprehensive about what they were ordered to do. It is Mikasa who tells them that they need to make the choice to trust Captain Levi, and that they should trust him.

In the same arc, Levi is shown many times as being able to calm Mikasa down and stop her from acting impulsively, and she listens more. In battle, she is his literal right-hand soldier and enters the battlefield/crystal caverns with him first and by his side. Mikasa is to Levi what Caven is to Kenny. They are each others' most trusted and skilled and respected soldiers -- Levi can rely on Mikasa to live and carry out everything, and vice versa.

At this point, clearly they don't hate each other. If anything, they've gotten so much closer with a quiet respect and bond, and this happened in the absence of Eren.

Ackerbrawl sounds violent but they both held back from hurting each other -- even though they both had reasons to fight for that serum, they didn't actually. And it's easy to conclude it's because even just as comrades, they are important to each other. She served some time behind bars with Eren, but it was only because that was a formality -- Levi had mentioned when they were up on the walls that he was fine. Again, he had reason to be pissed at her, but he never took that route. He's very gracious with Mikasa.

Fast forward. Marley shit. That's four more years of Mikasa being Levi's right-hand. Do y'all REALLY think she would still hate him at this point? Really? Mikasa is now a high-ranking military soldier and has now been Levi's right-hand for more than five years. Then Eren disappears and leaves them. Mikasa never stopped being Levi's right-hand -- she must've been devastated when Eren disappeared, and in my opinion the only ones who can keep her in check while she deals with her emotions are Levi and Armin. 100% they got even closer.

They battle in Liberio together; Levi entrusts Mikasa to battle with Eren, and when things go awry with the Jaw, Levi swoops in and saves everything -- he was keeping watch on things. When they get back on the airship, Levi kicks Eren and reprimands him again -- Mikasa doesn't do anything because she trusts Levi more than she feels the need to protect Eren at that moment.

I don't even have to describe the rest. They go into battle of heaven and earth -- Levi and Mikasa are the final ones left. They save each other. They support each other. They aide each other. And they successfully killed Eren and saved what was left of the world together. Mikasa goes from distrusting Levi and his leadership, to trusting him the most. Levi goes from distrusting Mikasa's decisions, to trusting her to make the right decisions on her own now for him to support.

AND they survived together. AND they're shown to reunite again after war.

Now how in the flying fuck do people, in 2023, still say that Levi and Mikasa hate each other? Because I am not seeing it. The only reason people say that is to try to discredit shippers but the reality is there is sooooo much depth there.

Those are some fucking good crumbs, I gotta say!!

Long live Rivamika, bitches

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

TSITP 2x08 - "Love Triangle" : Review

First let me tell you it was a JELLY FEST episode. I didn't know we could have even a better kiss than last week episode. Jeremiah was right, once he has kissed Belly, he really cannot stop.

They are a perfect couple. This is what a healthy, genuine and happy relationship should be! Apart they are miserable, but together they shine. I know I should stay realistic knowing the books' ending, but I cannot kill the little hope that I have in me after seeing so many clues for their endgame (which I'm going to do on another post), even the songs were synch. And I think at this point, we had more kisses between Belly and Jeremiah in the show than in the books (1-2)? Also, let's not forget that Belly made out first with Jeremiah then Conrad, then Jeremiah again, as in the book it's first Conrad then Jeremiah, then Conrad. Does it mean something? Who knows? But for all the Jelly ship, this episode was a little victory, because let's face it, this could have been the last episode of the series and I wouldn't mind (and the contrary).

As for the rest : - I didn't where Steven and Connie's sudden friendship came from? (Apparently the actors shared a commun room this time together). - The scene in the car was weird as fuck and the complet opposite of episode 7 where everyone was smiling and laughing. - Conrad was a dangerous jackass in the car, trying to disturb someone who was literally driving, especially on a motorway. - As a "first date" Taylor and Steven were so damn bad to each other, but their conversation about team Jelly and team Bonrad was so good especially Taylor argument, "as her brother how can you vouch for someone whom has literally broken your little sister's heart?" - Just not believable that Jeremiah, her best friend do not know Belly's favourite snack! Come one! - Was expecting Jeremiah to join Belly either under the shower or next to her in bed at some point. - Didn't like that we had to see the three letters with each of their name on it (Belly, Jeremiah and Conrad), as a foreshadowing of the books. - I was expecting to see Cleveland once more before the end, what happened? - I'm definitively a Team Staylor's shipper, but I didn't understand why Steven hasn't stayed for her girlfriend camp. - I just learned that this entire season took place during one week only and the fourth of July is almost there. - I'm pretty sure that Belly was confident about her choice the moment she has put the "Flinch" sweater, then brushing her teeth. - Did you notice that she was wearing a tote bag with a whale as a reference to Cam Cameroun (going on the boat)?

ps: Is Taylor Swift realising a new album soon that's why the show is doing such a promotion for her songs? Otherwise, I really don't see it. Let's not forget that she is train wrack

[arcadianambivalence]

World on Fire Season 2, Episode 1

Well folks, it’s finally back. After the first season aired in Britain in 2019 and in the U.S. in early 2020, the world has been…going through things. Between lockdowns, travel restrictions, scheduling conflicts, and all the behind-the-scenes difficulty related to these things, World on Fire finally returns for season 2, albeit somewhat different from creator Peter Bowker’s original plans released shortly after season 1. While the cast and crew have worked tirelessly to smooth over the gaps of characters whose actors are not returning, their absences are as obvious as the gaping hole in the Bennett home.

And yet, while you can see where new members of the cast are stepping into the footprints of those who are not returning for the season, the first episode of season 2 breathes a fresh sense of urgency and humanity to the plot. More importantly, it brings new opportunities to the remaining characters while raising the stakes.

The first go is the most obvious: Sean Bean. In true Sean Bean fashion, the Bennett father does not make it to season 2, leaving his children (and granddaughter) to maneuver their new daily perils without him. All jokes about our premature relief that he survived last season aside, the reminder that Douglas would have died reliving his worst experiences from the First World War is particularly distressing. 

When his son Tom arrives back in Manchester, having made it out of Occupied France by way of Fascist Spain, he comes home to a crater where the Bennett home once stood. He learns of Douglas’s death from Lois, who is now staying with Connie and baby Vera. The two begin arguing to cover up their grief, just as they frequently did last season. Anger and blame are more familiar companions than remorse.

Also arriving after an offscreen escape from Occupied Poland are Kasia and Harry, emotionally picking up where we left them last season. Still the romantic, Harry wants to reunite Kasia with her brothers and give her a place to stay at Robina’s. Although he will have to leave soon to a posting in Egypt, he wants to ensure Kasia’s safety (and love) before being separated once again. 

Meanwhile, Kasia is showing signs of Complex PTSD after nearly a year of one traumatic event after another. Between her mother being murdered by a German soldier, her friend and fellow Resistance fighter Thomasz being arrested and killed, her vengeful and soul-crushing routine of luring German soldiers to their deaths, and her own near-brushes with death are taking their toll. 

When introduced to any established character, she reacts with distance and resignation. Her mother-in-law is rude, off putting, and xenophobic? Okay. Her little brother Jan acts more like a young British gentleman than a Polish boy? Sure. Her husband had an affair with a local girl who has given birth to a baby? That’s a thing that happened. But one thing she cannot resign herself to is the blatant hatred some of the local Brits have for “The Other.” Meeting Grzegorz and Jan in a teashop, Kasia gets into a scuffle with a local man after he makes several xenophobic comments towards the siblings. The potential legal action, Kasia’s nightmares, attempts to speak Polish with Jan, and mere existence has bristled Robina’s feathers. It seems Robina has suffered a backslide in the months between the end of season 1 and the beginning of season 2.

Speaking of backslides, Lois is also not doing well. Not only has she lost her father during an air raid, but her pilot fiance has perished as well. While Connie tries to get Lois to talk about it during their work in the ARP, as an air warden and ambulance driver respectively, Lois has returned to her knee-jerk reaction: deflect, say something sharp, and engage in risky behavior. This time, she puts more than her own health at risk, though. As an ambulance driver, it is her duty to take injured survivors from bomb attacks to a hospital or medical station. While she does this, Lois takes unnecessary risks, driving fast and recklessly through rubble-strewn streets or beside collapsing buildings. Seeing Harry for the first time since her last conversation, where Harry made plans to have Lois inherit some of his money if he were to die parachuting into Poland, Lois is unfortunately still into him, if the sweeping camera zoom on her glowing face is any indication. 

The two secretly meet in a canteen, where Lois urges Harry to make things right with Kasia, something she never could with Douglas. While this would sound like a helpful piece of hard-won wisdom, Lois’s desire to know that Harry will be okay, coupled with the risks taken on the job and the danger of her line of work…sounds like Lois is resigning herself to dying in an air raid. Indeed, when responding to a bombed flat one night, Lois helps the last survivor (a grandfather) out then runs back into the building to grab the man’s prosthetic teeth. Eyes drawn to a massive hole in the burning ceiling and a dogfight in the skies overhead, she steadies herself and lets the house collapse around her.

But this is World on Fire, where she’s one of the main characters (and based off Peter Bowker’s grandmother) so of course she’s going to live!

Less certain, though, are the lives of two new characters, the pilots David and someone with the callsign “Shortbread,” whose name I cannot remember. David is a brash, womanizing, and jovial pilot taking the place of Randy or Vernon with such confidence and presence, you’d think he’d been here all along. Grzegorz, working as a crew member at the local base (not sure what his specific job is yet), is a friend. While I’d love to see a subplot with these two bonding over their shared interests and feelings of being outsiders (with Grzegorz as a refugee and David as a Jewish man surrounded by Gentiles who aren’t so gentle), the preview for season 2 seems to imply a different path for these guys. (A shame, as I want to see Grzegorz happy after all he’s been through! Can’t somebody be happy?)

But having Grzegorz on the air base, representing the significant role that Polish pilots and crew members had on the defense of Britain during the Blitz is what I wanted most for this character, so Bowker, I thank you for this.

. . .

One aspect of history I did not expect this show (or any show) to actually cover is another disturbing aspect of Nazi Germany’s eugenics programs, the Lebensborn program. A new character, Marga, is proud to be chosen for her “duty” to the nation as a young and healthy woman meeting the beauty standards of the day. This means more than pageantry and propaganda, though, she’s already gotten plenty of that in school and as a member of the League of German Girls. No, what it really means (and what everyone else seems to understand but not explicitly tell her) is that she is going to be forced to have a child with a complete stranger who has also been chosen for his apparent health and attractiveness. Or, to quote her concerned teacher, the government will rape this teenaged girl.

Yes, you read that correctly. Yes, this did happen. There were also many children taken from occupied countries and made to live in Germany with German families, and not as an act of kindness for poor abandoned orphan refugees.

So…this is going to be a rough storyline. It makes the flimsy Mancurian love triangle look even more out of place with the tone and content of this show.

(Can you tell I’m not a fan? Can you tell I think Lois and Harry are at their least interesting together? Can you tell I think that a show called World on Fire should focus on bringing together different characters of different backgrounds and different countries?)

. . .

Speaking of bringing together characters from different backgrounds and different countries, there is one more storyline introduced this season that will have plenty of hair-raising action scenes. The North African front, or more specifically, the battlefields along the border of Egypt and Libya. We follow a familiar character, Stan (Harry’s sergeant), and a new one, Rajib, head of a Sapper unit for the British Indian Army. The Sapper unit is responsible for locating, defusing, and removing landmines left by the retreating German army.

Keeping with the show’s focus on overlooked points of view and experiences during the Second World War, the character of Rajib brings the viewer to a world of the unfamiliar and terrifying. From the (green screen) sandstorms to hidden explosives to recognition of the importance of the Commonwealth forces, Rajib is another welcome addition. A brilliant engineer who leads by example and looks at everything as if it may be the last thing he sees (and in this line of work, honestly could be), Rajib and his storyline are a reminder of the unacknowledged risks and sacrifices made to get the Allied forces one step closer to the Axis powers in the North African campaign. 

Even Stan, who let’s remember casually spouted off some racist and ableist language last season, seems moved by the bravery of the Sapper unit and the total lack of protection given to them by their (white) British commanders. Is this a character arc I see before me? I guess we’ll just have to keep watching…

. . .

There are two other conspicuously absent storylines: the American journalist Nancy and the band of French medical workers in Occupied France. While the episode 2 preview promises an answer for questions about one, it's still unclear what will be revealed about the other.

[aemiron-main]

alice creel isn’t karen wheeler- but she might be somebody else: an analysis of alice creel and connie frazier and jefferson airplane’s white rabbit

So, I think there’s a solid chance that “Connie Frazier,” might be Alice Creel.

Alice was 15 in 1959, and therefore was born in 1944, which would make her 39 in 1983.

Connie’s age isn’t confirmed anywhere, unfortunately, but the actress who plays her, Catherine Dyer, was 58 as of 2016, when S1 was filmed. Admittedly, this is a fairly large gap between what Alice’s age should be vs what Catherine Dyer’s age is, however, Mike Wheeler is also supposed to be fourteen, so I think that the ages of the actors vs the characters in ST has a bit of wiggle room.

I’m not just basing this off of looks, though- the name “Alice,” literally plays in a scene where Connie’s face is on screen/it’s focused on Connie.

The lyric “go ask Alice,” plays during this scene, and even cuts to Connie RIGHT as the name “Alice,” is sung, having focused on Benny for the “go ask,” part of the line.

And prior to this scene at the door, we also have the “call Alice,” lyric that plays, which, right as it plays Benny says “Whoever it is, I’ll tell them to go away real quick.” The fact that the name “Alice,” plays right after Benny talks about going to see who is at the door is suspicious, almost like it’s Alice at the door.

As well, the full line for the “call alice,” part goes “call alice- when she was just small.” And Alice Creel was small/15 years old the first/last time we saw her (1959) but now is not small anymore/is grown up.

That’s two instances of Connie being referred to while the name “Alice,” plays in the show. The first time, it literally cuts to Connie’s face as the name “Alice,” is sung, and the second time, Benny talks about seeing who is at the door (Connie) while we hear Connie knocking and the name “Alice,” is sung once again.

It’s also interesting that Benny literally called Connie/called social services and Connie/the lab seem to have been listening in on the call and interfered. And if Connie is Alice, then Benny literally called Alice.

Also, it almost seems like Connie’s has her mind wiped- she’s extremely focused on her mission, seems to have little personality or interests outside of it, and kills Benny in cold blood with basically zero hesitation.

And look at how Connie lays on the ground, bleeding from her eyes, compared to how Alice laid on the ground, supposedly bleeding from her eyes.

It’s also interesting to me that they chose to revisit Connie’s death in S4, the same season where we’re introduced to Alice Creel for the first time. Sullivan hands Owens a picture of Connie’s death when talking about El- almost like ST production is giving us a subtle reminder of what Connie’s death looked like and how eerily similar it was to Alice’s “death.”

I’m not 100% sure if Connie is Alice yet, but the parallels are definitely interesting, and if Brenner picked up Henry from the Creel house that night (which he did), then I don’t think it’s a stretch for him to have grabbed Alice too. What if Henry is part of what happens when MKultra brainwashing fails, but Connie/Alice is what happens when it succeeds? Not the powers part of it persay but simply the *brainwashing* part and destruction and rebuilding of the mind that was involved in the real mkultra. (The two main steps for mind control were thought to be to wipe then mind snd then rebuild it, which likely would’ve been what happened to Alice). And even though Alice seems dead at the Creel house, there’s so much weirdness with all of those scenes and the position of her body changes throughout various retellings and she seems like her eyes may not even be bleeding in some of them- she may also have regenerative healing like Henry (and likely like Virginia) which would explain her survival.

And then we also get this scene- look at the curtains. We have the orange curtain behind Connie and the orange curtain behind Virginia, and we have both Connie and Virginia wearing orange plaid and they both have similar hairstyles, and the blanket behind Connie is the same sort of orange and white colours as Virginia’s shirt and the framing with the OTS shot of Victor in Virginia’s screenshot vs the OTS shot of Scott in Connie’s screenshot- if Connie is Alice, then it would make sense to parallel grown-up Alice to her mother (Virginia).

It’s also interesting to me that they chose scott for this scene- scott, who would’ve been at school at the same time as Henry and likely would’ve met Alice at some point, but wouldn’t recognize her anymore, especially because she’s supposed to be dead.