HE  UNDERSTANDS  HER  GRIEVANCES.     just because levi unquestioningly follows erwin’s command doesn’t mean that he  can’t  think  for  himself,   that he doesn’t have his own  OPINIONS.     he huffs a shock of black hair away from his eyes before canting his head in her direction,  stormy gaze guarded as usual.

“  erwin takes that into account when he makes his judgments,  ”     the captain replies coolly.     “  you think he doesn’t have the  heart  to think about that?     how it makes other people feel?     i know you’ve got a decent stake in what’s going on out there,  but you’ve gotta put your trust in the people in charge to make the decision that’s best.  ”

ugh.     the words taste like  SHIT  coming out of his mouth,  & levi has to turn away sharply as he grits his teeth.     how  polished  of  you,   o’  captain.     god,  since when has he become such a military wretch?     when did he find himself standing in the same boot tracks that erwin had once occupied on the day that levi’s entire life had been ripped away from him?

if he keeps looking at her,  levi’s afraid that he’ll see  HIMSELF.

“  … it’s shitty,  i know.     but we won’t let you down.     someone  has to keep you shits safe & in line.  ”

     For someone who wanted to enjoy their second chance at life to the fullest, Ymir has made some odd choices. She could’ve spent the remaining decade or so of her life running about the inner city, dashing from wall to wall, or even roaming the underground. Yet here she is, all because she wanted to know the secrets about the golden haired girl. But now it’s a bit more than her curiosity that has kept her firmly rooted among the Survery Corp, now there was emotions she hadn’t felt before forcing her to stay. 

     Might as well make her time protecting the walls interesting. 

     ❝ And what should happen when we get out of line Captain? Are we brought back to the deepest ring of the wall and forced to stand before the king? ❞ False royalty, much like herself, put on a pedestal as a sign of hope for the people. ❝ Are we expected to always blindly follow orders even if something deep down tells us those orders are wrong? We travel outside these walls for what? For the townsfolk to say we’re wasting our time and taxpayers money to go on adventures that only end in misery? ❞ 

HE’S  NOT  JUST  GOOD  AT  SLAYING  TITANS :    levi can read a room with  aplomb,   something that he’s been used to since a young age thanks to kenny’s tutelage & that innate sense that he’s never been able to explain.     her anger simmers beneath the surface,  but the captain is unconcerned by it.     these kids … they’ll learn someday,  just like all of the others he’s trained.

“  … it’s not my decision to make,  either,  ”     he grumbles,  clearly frustrated   (  but is it with  HER  or the  situation?  )   as he’s turning away from ymir with a toss of his raven hair.     “  it’s  ERWIN’S.     don’t like it?     take it up with  him.     we’ll get this shit sorted one way or another,  so don’t piss yourself over it.  ”

     If there is something she’s good at, it’s wearing a mask, hiding away who she truly is. She knows if she showed who ( what ) she was, Ymir would be subjected to constant experimentation by the hands of Hange, much like her comrade. But unlike Eren, she was going to be selfish with her abilities, keeping them to herself until it became her last line of defense. Underneath her selfishness, there is fear, she had seen how those around her grew to be when becoming aware of what Eren could do, they too would fear her and keep her at bay, on watch at any given moment just to make sure she doesn’t use this curse against them.

@gerichteter​ said:  ❝ Still think you’re the only monster? ❞

     After learning​ of his true idenity, along with Reiner’s and Annie’s, she realized that compared to the three of them, she’s far from a monster. Back home ( no, not home, home is where the heart is, and her true home sat upon a throne with a heavy crown on her golden head ) she too was a devil child because of what she was, Eldian, but on Paradis she could duck and weave through crowds without being spotted, and she didn’t need to wear an armband that showed what her rights were. She used to wonder if things had changed there, she had been gone for so long, yet when she had heard the brief stories that spilled from Bethodlt’s cracked lips, she realizes that things there had turned for the worst. She doesn’t want to return, but deep down she knows it’s right.

     ❝ It’s funny to think that the three of you could’ve came clean with everything, things could’ve been different, if I had come clean... things could’ve been different. ❞ Or was it that they had family back there waiting for them to return driving them to hide who they were like rats in the walls watching as a woman runs about the house with a broom in hand. 

@onyxium​ said:   ❝ That’s not up to you. ❞

     Once again, her life is in another’s hands. Yet this time around, she had made the choice to be here. She wasn’t found by some man on the street and dragged before those who were ready to kneel before a false god, this time she only joined to pursue something she had no reason to. If she had left the idea alone, the girl with the golden hair wouldn’t have the power to pull her heart strings with such ease. The pitter, the patter, the feeling of butterflies that came once she had entered her sight, but it was something she hid ( or tried her best to, someone had seen it ). 

     But now she stands before her leader, eyeing him down as if he’s a ( weaker ) animal ( he’s far from it, just because he’s small doesn’t mean he isn’t capable, his achievements proved this, yet is it really an achievement if those he cared for were lost? ). Arms are behind his back as he speaks to her, teeth grit as she holds back unnecessary aggression. 

@decimater said: ❝ Didn’t see that one coming? ❞

     For a moment, she’s hesitant to speak to him. Her final hours are coming quickly, and she seems at ease with it. Ymir has made up her mind, she made her bed and now it was time for her to lay in it. She didn’t expect him to speak to her, yet even though she doesn’t know him she’s grateful for the converstation, but that’s not something she was going to admit. She ponders her reply for a moment, ❝ I knew things were going to change that night in the tower. ❞ She responds.

@regibusanuinis​​​​ (plotted)

———- There is something animalistic in Sasha Braus; a girl who bears the wilderness of her native home under her skin, echoes from the forest and the life of survival and tradition she has lived there until he father drove her out. It shows constantly, try as she might to hide it; protrudes like a birthmark she tries to hide while not realising she is exposing it all the more in doing so. Proud as she is of her heritage and the hunting traditions of Dauper, never missing an opportunity to share her craft with her comrades, there remains a core, full of edges and claws and fangs, that she tries to hide under more acceptable polish. A core she doesn’t want anyone to bear witness to; she would rather be called an eccentric than a savage. Words have power; she, for one, doesn’t like them much. Finds that they cut and carve and seldom soothe or heal. 

And no one knows how to wield their destructive power more than the girl Sasha now stares at, on the other side of the room; frozen in place, a horrified spark in her eyes, now that Ymir stands before her. “Ymir?!” There is something animalistic in Sasha Braus, something of the scared fox or cat as she recoils and stands up too straight, nearly knocking her chair over. Defensive. Apprehensive. Of all the people to catch her in this instant - on the table lay a bowl of water, a few grains of wheat, and a small flask of oil, alongside a small bundle of dried herbs. Meaningful ritual for her - no doubt another bizarre eccentricity for others. But Ymir can be worse than the others; Sasha has experienced her bluntness and sarcasm enough to know. “… were you, uh… looking for something?” Instincts go into overdrive; immediately she forces the roughness of her accent out, bends it into what she deems more acceptable shape. Strategy of survival, attempt to blend into the rest of the pack. Too bad Ymir might be the one person within the walls with whom this strategy always seems to have the exact opposite effect.

     Before her stands a girl who hides who she truly is behind false modesty. An accent hidden behind an articial tone of a city dweller. Here in the training camps no one really cared where you were from or who you were as long as you were ready to lay your life on the line when the call for action came. It’s not like Sasha was from a place far beyond the walls where the common dialect was spoken so differently and those with the same ethnic blood running through their veins were treated as diseased stained cattle, worthless, demon spawn, and undeserving of life. The girl with a stomach similar to a bottomless pit had no reason to hide who she was from those around her, yet she still did. For what? Acceptance? Why force diplomacy that wasn’t taught to you, it’s not like Sasha was burdened to wear the mask of fallen royalty.