Ask Rivetra

She glances up and smiles at you. "Hi, come on in." She brings out a new form. "I'll have to talk as I work. We've got a lot of new recruits lately, a lot more than we anticipated so the paperwork is enormous."

Pausing, she places a hand on her baby bump. "I'm sorry that it's been a while but for a long time I really didn't feel up for visitors. The pregnancy's been rough. I've gotten really unlucky with the morning sickness and it's a wriggly little thing most of the time so sleep isn't the best right now," she says with a small smile. "But the baby's healthy," she adds. "And there's only a few months to go. The doctor reckons we're looking at a late January or early February birth."

The door to the office opens and Levi steps in with a tea tray and some sandwiches on a plate. He approaches the desk and sets everything down on a free space on the desk.

"You need to eat. I'll take over," he urges her, dragging a chair next to her and nudging her chair so that she moves herself along. Once settled, he begins to work on the forms.

It means Petra is not going to participate in the next expeditions, right?

"Thank you!" Petra beams at the anon.

Petra beams at everyone. "So Levi and I are very excited," she eyes her husband with a chuckle "-well Levi is excited on the inside -" she teases, "to tell you all that we are expecting a baby." She wipes away a couple of happy tears. "So I'll be taking up more of an office role but I'll be around more for questions and such."

Levi stares down at the picture, his body growing very still before he snaps out of it and folds the picture and puts it away in his pocket. "You know, you claim you "found" this," he remarks, leaning an elbow on the door frame, "but this looks an awful lot like your artistic style doesn't it?"

His gaze then shifts to the bottom of the door. "And if this is not yours then why would you peek at something clearly not meant for you? Are you a child? Although I'm pretty sure this is yours since the drawing is of Petra and you seem to have some infatuation with her. Am I wrong?"

If so, who told him?

Petra's lips purse angrily at the reminder. "I'm so glad that this still seems to amuse everybody," she grumbles and scrubs at the dirty window. "It was my first expedition and I'm pretty sure that I nearly died twice, you know. It's humiliating to think about," she finishes with a pout. She scrubs away some more for a while, working up the willingness to answer the main point of the question.

"I don't-" she begins.

"Yes, I know," Levi answers as he walks into his office. "There was no missing the stench when we arrived back in Trost." Petra's cheeks turn crimson. "I-I couldn't help-!" she splutters. "It was an accident. I'm not exactly proud of it!" Levi looks up at her as he sits at his desk and gets some paperwork out. "Did I say you needed to be ashamed? I'm just answering the shitty question."

Can you sing? Can Levi sing?

Petra waves at the anon from where she sits under a tree, resting between training exercises. "Hi there!" She leans her head back against the tree and smiles at the question. "I can sing but I don't sing very loudly and... at best I can hold a tune. I'm not sure I'm that great."

If you remember at the 57th time, you and Oluo, Gunther, Eld were unaware of plan to capture the Female Titan. What do you think about Levi not telling you and the others about this plan? Did you suspect that he didn't trust you?

"Hello anon, I'm very well," Petra answers as she tidies some paperwork away for the captain. At the mention of the 57th, she becomes still and lifts her gaze to the wall as if it's suddenly become fascinating to her.

"I do remember that. It's not an expedition I particularly want to remember, although I can say that about a lot of them." She reached up to rub at her temple with the back of her finger. "I didn't like to think that the captain didn't trust us and I won't pretend that we didn't consider that when the squad spoke about it at the time. But," she pauses and thinks about her next words, "I do understand the need for secrecy. If too many people know, it risks the plan falling apart and essentially makes it useless."

"Even so," she acknowledges as she carries the paperwork to a folder and slips it into it, "it did hurt especially since we spend so much time together as a squad. Worse was the thought that any of us could be suspected, you know?"

You don't seem like someone who's dealt with this but I could use some advice from someone stronger.

TW: toxic friendship, bullying, gaslighting and manipulation

"Hi there, anon!" Petra greets them with a kind smile. "Thank you for reaching out and... you should know that you're pretty awesome for speaking out about this." She pours a cup of tea and pushed it gently across the wooden table towards the anon.

"You're right in that I've never experienced anything like that. I'm pretty lucky in that way. But I've witnessed my share of really toxic behaviour and it makes me furious that your squadmates are treating you like that. It takes guts to come and talk about it the way you did. This will probably sound like obvious advice but I really recommend that you speak to your squad leader about it. They are there for you to talk to. Please don't worry about it "not being relevant to the mission" or anything because this sort of thing is very relevant."

"As Scouts, we rely on team work to kill titans and save lives. It's essential for us to trust each other and work as a unit, to have faith in each other's ability. Without those things, we'll just lose more lives. What your teammates are doing - and I use that term very loosely here - is putting other people at risk. So your squad leader needs to know that these people are slacking on multiple fronts."

She smiles and tucks some hair aside. "That's my practical advice. I would also say that you need to get into the practice of saying no to them more, of putting yourself first. They can bitch about it but if they complain to your squad leader, that just gives you an opening to have the conversation with them about your squadmates' behaviour."

"But I can imagine that must seem intimidating since you haven't raised this with them yet. If you'd like, I could accompany you to speak to your squad leader. You've already told me everything so if you get a bit nervous, I can help explain. You're not on your own in this and I'm happy to support you if you'd like. You did the right thing in reaching out."

Petra waves to everyone. "Hi all, I'm sorry I've been gone for so long but the sickness lasted longer than expected. I wasn't really myself for a while even after it passed." She trots into the room and plonks herself down on the sofa where she crosses her legs.

"Levi has been making sure that I rested myself... because I may or may not have tried to get back to training already," she admits with a grin, biting down on her lower lip to stifle a laugh. "You should have seen his face when I showed up at training. Of course Eld and Gunther pretty much protested as well. Oluo showed he cares in his own way - challenging me on how well I was actually feeling. I love my boys but it was disappointing to have to sit out for longer."

She claps her hands together. "And I missed answering you guys' questions too. How are you all? Also," she glances towards the door then smiles mischievously, "the captain has told me not to rush things but I feel more than ready to come back fully so... just to remind you guys that I'm gonna be running like an advice column thing now as well. Not that you have to use it, I'm just putting it out there that I'm not sick anymore so if anyone was holding back because of that... well you don't have to."

"I'd love to know what you guys have been up to. I hear Nataniel was worrying about me. We need to have a tea time session, I think. He's such a sweetheart."

"I see it didn't take you long," Levi observes by the door. Although he wears a mostly neutral expression, his lips have tugged into a smirk especially when Petra jumps and scowls at him.

"Do you have to be so quiet?" she complains although her scowl is quickly fading.

"Yes," Levi answers. He carries two cups of tea and hands one over to her before joining her on the sofa. "Reacquainting yourself with these miscreants then?"

Petra scoffs. "Pretty sure you qualify as a miscreant," she teases her husband who rolls his eyes as he puts his arm around her.

Our hearts were ringin'

In the key that our souls were singin'

As we danced in the night, remember

How the stars stole the night away, oh, yeah

(I grab a towel and clean the tables)

Hey, hey, hey

Ba-dee-ya, say, do you remember?

Ba-dee-ya, dancin' in September

Ba-dee-ya, never was a cloudy day

(I go and grab a new towel to clean the windows)

Ba-du-da, ba-du-da, ba-du-da, ba-AAH! C-Captain Levi! I... uh... I was cleaning! See?

Levi is en route to his office when he hears the singing. He rubs the bridge of his nose and blinks his tired eyes before altering his course and pursuing the noise. The singing doesn't sound terrible but it echoes along the stone hallway outside the room. His tired scowl deepens as he approaches the room. He places a hand on the door handle, his lips pursed in preparation for a biting comment.

However when he opens the door and looks inside at the cleaning in progress - actually reasonably acceptable cleaning - he stops still, watching the show in front of him. He says nothing, caught between confusion and curiosity as to how long it'll be before Xeno notices him. He folds his arms and leans against the door.

It takes Xeno longer than Levi would have preferred to notice him. He lifts one eyebrow and tilts his head. "Your awareness skills need work," he announces before his gaze moves over the room, "but your cleaning is adequate. Are you always so loud while cleaning?"

A pair of footsteps sounds down the hall and Levi turns his head as Petra appears by his side, still pale but a lot better than she's been looking for weeks.

Levi is folding his clean uniforms and putting them into piles. He seems less tense than usual and one corner of his mouth rises at the question. He looks up briefly. "She is improving very well. She will be returning soon enough." He returns to his work for a minute or two before he stops again.

"Things have been quiet on this questions and answer front because there has been something of an epidemic of this infection that Petra had. She was one of the first to get it. A lot of Scouts came down with it too. Erwin's had to postpone our next expedition."

Man, this year is filled with quite many exciting movies coming out. Are you thinking about watching any? If so, which one?

[Modern AU]

Petra stretches out on the couch with a reflective expression. "I'm not familiar with a lot of films that are coming out. I've been reading more than I've streamed but I am looking forward to that Hunger Games prequel. I enjoyed the others." She rubs the side of her head with her finger as a frown decorates her face. "That Haunted Mansion looks good too although I don't see why there have to be remakes and revamps of older films instead of doing new ones though." She waves a hand. "I know it's supposed to have a different plot and all but even so we're still getting live actions of the Disney classics."

Levi shrugs while sitting from his tea. "Other than watching that Hunger Games prequel with Petra, I'll probably watch that new Marvel film - Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite how ridiculous some of their escapades are... they're not bad to watch."

"You have your eye on that Kraven the Hunter as well, right?" Petra recalls as her feet rest on Levi's lap.

[nsfw mention]

Levi sighs from behind his office desk. "I did tell you guys that I would still be taking questions but Petra is still in the hospital," he mutters irritably but less so than might be expected given the circumstances. "I'm pretty sure her experience is the same as mine since we both had the misfortune of coming across this idiot together."