[closed] This blood on my teeth is far beyond dry

[warrioreidlos]

Characters: Reiner Braun and Armin Arlert; Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover and Annie Leonheart.
Date: Throughout the latter part of January
Location: Various
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: Spoilers for the AoT manga

[ooc: Just a catch all post for several scenarios. No open starters at this time, but if you'd like to plot something, you can always contact me.]

Comments

[wreckingbert]

[Bertolt looks over at Annie as she enters the kitchen, and his eyes roam up and down her form. It's not perverse, not a lecherously gaze; more like he can't believe she's actually here, whole and safe and unfrozen.]

[He jumps a little when Reiner puts an arm around him, jostling and dropping a spoon on the table. Then Reiner tells him how much he stinks, and Bertolt flushes, looking down at the table in shame.]

As soon as I'm done eating.

[isnotokay]

[ Briefly, Annie meets Bertolt's eyes before turning her attention towards the glass she'd come in there to get. Appropriate emotional responses to people are challenging sometimes. ]

[warrioreidlos]

[When Reiner notes the little downcast, shamed look, he sighs, settling for ruffling Bertolt's hair.]

Ah, nevermind that.

[Still, now that they are all three together here, there's probably a few things they should discuss. Which is why he is turning his attention to Annie.]

Hey, don't go anywhere. There's some stuff we should talk about.

[wreckingbert]

[Bertolt's hair is sticking up in wild tufts now, but he doesn't bother to smooth it down. Annie has seen him looking worse over the years, after all.]

[He goes back to quietly eating his breakfast, but he takes an apple and sets it across from him, near the only empty chair at the table.]

[isnotokay]

[ Reiner has a point, Annie realizes. Any two of them here didn't require much coordination, but all three would require some sort of baseline to work from. She pulls herself up to sit on the edge of the kitchen counter, settling in.

It's not like she was going to sit with them like a perfectly normal person at the table, after all. ]

We need a new plan?

[warrioreidlos]

[Annie, get some manners, you beast.

Scooping up the apple Bertolt had set aside for Annie, he tosses it at her in a lazy arc, shifting in his seat until he could easily see both her and Bertolt.]

We need to figure out what story we are going with. Get our details straight.

[He turns his head and now he is looking straight at Annie.]

We're not separating this time. Sorry, you'll have to be a team player for a while.

[Because he already punched Eren for you and he'd do it again.]

[wreckingbert]

[Dammit, Reiner, that apple was bait! It was going to lure her to the table like a civilized person! Now she has no reason to not stay on the counter!]

[Bertolt thinks about kicking him under the table, but decides it's not worth it. Reiner would probably just jump and then ask why he kicked him, which would ruin the whole effect. Bertolt turns back to his breakfast; he's starting to get rid of some of the vast emptiness, but he's not sure fruit is going to fill him up. He wonders if they have any eggs.]

[isnotokay]

[ Annie catches it, directing her gaze down at it instead of her two comrades. Her expression, if anything, suggests that she's entirely aware that he's not actually sorry about putting her in a position where she had to operate as part of the team.

Or maybe the very existence of the the apple-like (but not quite, not exactly as nothing in this world was ever the same as theirs) fruit offended her. It's always hard to tell with Annie. ]

Three people will draw too much attention. There's no reason not to fragment.

[ Which doesn't mean that she wants to separate. ]

[warrioreidlos]

[There is every reason not to separate, but Reiner also knows that most of his reasoning is emotional rather than tactical. Which are exactly the sort of arguments that won't win over Annie.]

If we play it safe and stick to our cover stories, there is no reason why we'd draw too much attention.

[He crosses his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair a bit.]

We have Armin and Eren to consider too. If we separate, there is the chance they might be able to corner one of us. They won't attack if the three of us stick together.

[wreckingbert]

We look military.

[For all intents and purposes, Bertolt might as well be talking to his breakfast.]

One soldier draws more attention than a group.

[And really, they've had three years of practice pretending to be soldiers.]

[isnotokay]

[ That Bertolt immediately thinks to back Reiner isn't entirely unexpected, though that he actually said something is. A muscle in her jaw jumps slightly as she clenches it, and she shakes her head. ]

It's not enough.

[ They didn't even like each other. If normal humans had the opportunity, wouldn't they drift? Thinking of the squad she'd been a part of in Stohess, she's reasonably sure that's the case. ]

[warrioreidlos]

We were brought here without our input. They'll take us sticking together as common sense rather than anything to be suspicious about.

[It's true that they don't like each other. Rather, Reiner and Annie don't like each other much. From Reiner's point of view, Annie and Bertolt get along okay enough, both prone to those same kind of silences. But they don't have to like each other to be comrades, and that was something they couldn't help but be.]

[wreckingbert]

You two look like siblings.

[Bertolt readies his kidneys and ball sack for the inevitable onslaught that comment is going to get him, but it's true and needs to be said. He can't say that about either of them, he's too dark to look related, but with their blond hair and pale skin, no one would question it if Reiner and Annie said they were related.]

Siblings stick together.

[warrioreidlos]

I look nothing like this shrimp.

[Reiner jerks his thumb at Annie, inevitably rescuing Bertolt's kidneys by presenting his own as a far more viable target.]

[isnotokay]

[ Do you want to die, Reiner?

Annie is wondering, and she isn't shy about looking like she's considering helping him along in that regard. ]

I couldn't be related to someone so incompetent in hand-to-hand.

[ Lucky him that it's too early in the day to kick his ass. ]

[warrioreidlos]

Still beat you in the rankings, didn't I?

[Through his magical skills of being able to interact with people.]

[isnotokay]

[ Clearly Reiner needed nailed in the head with a piece of fruit.

And now Annie is helpfully obliging. ]

[warrioreidlos]

[Thank god he's got a thick skull.

Rubbing the back of his head, he glowers at her.]

What the hell, Annie?

[Totally siblings.]

[wreckingbert]

[Idiots. Idiots, both of them.]

[But they're his idiots, and Bertolt sighs quietly.]

No one would question a brother and sister staying close to each other.

[isnotokay]

You're that desperate, aren't you?

[ Yes, she's just ignoring Reiner as she slips off the counter to go fetch her apple. ]

It's too complicated.

[wreckingbert]

[Thus chastised, Bertolt looks back down at his plate, ducking his head to make his hair fall over his eyes.]

It wouldn't benefit me at all. Just the two of you.

[Okay, he's done, no more talking this morning, only eating.]

[isnotokay]

Same hometown?

[ There's no shift in her tone when she says it. ]

The three of us.

[warrioreidlos]

Lets go with that.

[he agrees, resting his hand across Bertolt's for a moment, brushing over his knuckles in silent support.

Without moving his hand, he glances over at Annie, grinning.]

I guess we could be cousins. I can share my good looks with you to that degree.

[isnotokay]

[ She has the apple in hand again, Reiner. Stop that.

She squeezes the bruised fruit briefly as if she were tempted to pitch it again before wiping it off on her shirt. Making an aggravated, quiet sound, she sits heavily in the chair across the table from her comrades. ]

Distant.

[warrioreidlos]

Twice removed. At least.

[With a last squeeze to Bertolt's hand, he goes for his apple again, not really sparing the core. What sort of idiot would throw away perfectly fine food?]