Natsuki Arts! 🎨

His southern drawl barely reaches her ears; all of her attention is magnified on the bowl full of beans, sauce and other vegetables. Sasha Braus doesn’t reach the table before taking the first spoonful and swallow it whole. A single tear nearly seeps through just from the flavour alone. From then on does she devour the rest at a snail pace to really savour every drop of the meal she dearly missed, it almost feels not enough.

About halfway done and her keen-as-ever nose picks up on a new smell approaching, one more like it’s freshly baked, and Sasha knew that it will go well with her stew. She opens her eyes and reaches for the loaf being handed to her… only for her eyes to follow who exactly that hand and arm belong to.

One look nearly has her choking on her mouthful.

Two teens with blissful smiles attempt to hold in their laughter as Sasha’s realisation kicks her in the stuffed face, the younger brunette letting a snicker through in the end.

“Now you see us, huh?”

One good and harmless gulp later and Sasha launches out of her seat with an even more enthusiastic beam. “Gabi?! Falco?!” Her reaction is a mixture of delight and confusion. “What are ya doing here?!”

“To see you of course; what other reason would there be after hearing you came back?” Gabi answers.

The blonde teen Falco watches on as the two brunettes embrace each other tightly. “Uh, we were originally going to wait until noon to come here, but Gabi insisted to surprise you like this.”

“Well, this is far better.” Sasha replies with her arms still wrapped around the younger girl.

Gabi winks over at her boyfriend after being free as a way to tell him ‘told ya so’. A brief little bit of catching up occurs between the trio as Sasha’s family either watches or contribute to certain topics; despite them only meeting their visitors once about three years ago, they treat them like they’re really family. One sentence later mentions something about how the ocean has been getting cleaner recently, flipping the reminder switch in Mrs. Braus’ head and so she fetches a basket from beside the kitchen cupboards.

“Speakin' of water, aah need ya to go down to the riv-ah 'n fetch some fresh fish fer meh, dear; they-yur are plenty of 'em down they-yur these days.” She kindly informs her daughter, handing over said basket.

“Uh… really, Ma? Now?” Sasha wonders.

“It’ll help ya to spend more free time with yer friends he-yah.” Her mother adds.

Looking back at the two teens - with Gabi displaying obvious excitement upon her face - Sasha smiles back at them and nods her head in agreement. “That’s fair.”

They cannot run off into the forest just yet, however, for Sasha needs her main necessities. She quickly retreats to her bedroom and searches through the closet, there she finds old hunting boots her dad use to wear and a wooden, sturdy bow alongside a quiver with arrows left in it. She glances at every small scar within the wood, caressing her fingers over it as memories of her trainee days flood back to her bittersweetly. How time seems to keep flying by.

A few more minutes fly while Sasha puts up her hair in a short ponytail and takes a good proud look in the mirror - maybe or maybe not winking at her own style. Now she goes rocketing back down the steps and swinging open the front door but allows the visitors to exit first.

“Have a good time out they-yur, kiddos.” Mr. Braus grins before they step out.

“Not a kid anymore, Dad, but thank ya.”

“Wait- does this mean I get to use that this time?”

Sasha harmlessly hushes Gabi as the latter gestures towards the bow in her hands. Doing as she was silently told, all three make their way out of the house and off down the pathway through the farm. The rest of the family stay behind and say farewells for now.

—

When was the last time she ever saw such a calming, nostalgic atmosphere? She doesn’t know but it already feels like yesterday.

Sasha spends the next few minutes soaking up every sense of the scenery like a sponge; the sounds of the morning birds, the sight of colorful wildflowers scattered across the grass, the feel of the whispering wind upon her cheeks along with the rocky dirt under her feet - the forest hums with life all around her.

As for the two teens, they simply stay and follow behind the engrossed Sasha in silence, like fawns following the doe, because why would either of them know the route like the back of their hands? But they are enjoying the little stroll; it still beats dreaded, blood-covered trenches any day.

Whilst getting minorly distracted by the sunlight breaking through the leaves above, they almost get so caught off guard to not notice Sasha suddenly sprinting a few more metres ahead - good thing they’re on a rocky pathway in that case.

“H-Hey! Sasha! Where are you going?!” A concerned Falco yells out to her.

“Duh!” Gabi bumps his shoulder. “It’s obvious she’s found some game up ahead! Let’s go!”

Before the boy knows it, he’s being pulled along the path by his girlfriend in order to catch up, feeling like his arm’s gonna be ripped off, but secretly admires her enthusiasm anyway. Because of the girl’s energy, it doesn’t take too long for them to catch up with the older brunette, who’s now kneeled down staring at something. Water sounds confirm it to be the river.

“Ah, so here we are.” Falco sighs, rubbing his shoulder to ease the pain in it.

“Yes! I bet ya smelled a rare fish from a mile away, right?!” Gabi guesses enthusiastically.

Sasha doesn’t respond to her surprise. They cannot see it from their angle, but the older brunette is even more engrossed than before; her eyes are closed, her nose is held high and is keeping two keen ears out for something. It’s starting to grow a little awkward for the teens behind her, but before muttering anything, Sasha slowly standing back up grabs their attention.

The next minute is used of Sasha bringing up her bow in one hand and taking out an arrow with the other. Carefully positioning them together, watching the water like a hawk, she pulls back the arrow and launches it right in the river. Falco and Gabi gaze in amusement as Sasha walks over to the stuck arrow, picks it up, and presents them with about two fish perfectly skewered.

“Wow! Impressive, Sasha.” Falco compliments.

“Thanks.” She responds, placing the two fish inside the basket. “I… honestly thought I wouldn’t be able to pull it off like I used to.”

“Well I’m glad you do.”

“Yes, yes that was great.” Gabi buts in. “Now when can I do it?!”

Falco can’t help but roll his eyes at her, but he keeps up his smile politely. Sasha on the other hand just laughs it off and kindly stands beside her and positioning the bow in Gabi’s hands.

“As a friendly reminder, you don’t use a bow the same way as using a rifle.” Sasha explains.

“Pffft, I know that by now.” Gabi retorts.

“Think you can learn fast enough to catch more fish than I can?”

“Maybe or maybe not; we shall see.”

An arrow is already prepared, the younger brunette attempts her best to listen carefully as Sasha did minutes prior - closed eyes and everything. Sasha herself keeps her hold on her and smiles away, happy to teach her like an older sister would with their younger one. In fact, she gets a little too intrigued in Gabi’s desperation that she can’t help but request a friendly competition.

“Once ya get the hang of this, wanna bet who’ll hunt the most for our visits later?”

The last little part nearly catches Gabi off guard; she questions her without looking away. “W-What?”

“Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya. Since we’re out here, I wanna take some fish over Eren and Mikasa’s and then to Mrs Springer at the care home.”

Instantly and unexpectedly does Gabi let go of the arrow with eyes full of shock. Thankfully it never landed on another animal or any other person, just striking a tree on the other side.

Out of curiosity, Sasha looks over to see the brunette’s reaction; she meets a nearly pale face as if she saw a ghost. Her bow shakes within rhythm of her hands and meets Sasha’s glance with her own anxious eyes. Funny how seconds ago - and every minute since they reunited - she expressed the most excitement she had ever shown in her life, and now it’s all been flushed out of her in an instant. Falco already starts getting noxious so he runs towards her side and gently replaces the bow with his own hand.

“Gabi… a-are you okay?” He asks with a stutter.

She worriedly doesn’t answer; instead she waits for her own mind to come together again and for Sasha’s eyebrows to droop in worry to gain enough composure to speak again.

“D-D-Did you just said… Mrs Springer?”

“Y-Yes. I did.” Sasha responds, almost hesitantly due to Gabi’s own stuttering.

“And you said we are going to visit her?… together?”

A pause occurs. Gabi spends this brief time looking down at her fidgeting fingers; this doesn’t help with Sasha’s or Falco’s anxiety. it doesn’t take long for both of them to put all the pieces into place for what’s causing her stress.

“Gabi…” Falco speaks up first. “I’m sure it’ll be okay-”

“N-No! It won’t be.” She interrupts.

Instead of just standing these shocked, the blonde teen keeps ahold on her hand and uses his other one to rub her shoulder gently. Gabi embraces it, giving into his gesture to calm her at least a little bit.

“Because… doesn’t she know already?”

There was a harsh pin inside Sasha’s heart, a familiar one she used to feel anytime a certain memory flows back to her; it’s not as strong as it used to be but it still stings, like a tiny splinter. Braus droops her head slightly with a nose sigh before answering.

“I’m… honestly not sure. This will be my first time visiting her after being human again. My folks did say that they were the first ones to find her and got her to the care home in the first place; that’s how I learned.”

“O-Oh…”

“And they also told me she’s been having the best treatment she can get to help her through such rough times, which is why I must cooperate as well.”

“And you want to bring me there too?” Gabi asks, her voice slightly breaking.

Sasha sighs a second time. “Yes. At first I thought nothing of it except a simple trip with friends, but now… I think it might help you more than her.”

The younger brunette shakes her head in disagreement, small tears breaking through the corner of her eyes and has the need to step away from her comforting boyfriend, whom can read her inner turmoil without any of these things.

“I-I can’t!” Gabi quavers. “She’s clearly broken-hearted because her home and family are gone. You brought us there three years ago so we could talk about it… right in front of her. What if despite being a titan, she heard all of that? What if she could recognise my face and look back at how I yelled at you and called her family devils? What if she heard you saying I was responsible for shooting her-”

She suddenly goes quiet; all of them do.

———————————————————————————

Jean - It’s obvious that he was lying about being super popular at his old school, instead he was constantly bullied by both humans and titans (makes his freak out over a titan gf more believable)

Marco - Before becoming student council president, he insisted on joining the Wall Cleanup Club just like Jean but all the slots were full. Instead he signed up for a crochet club.

Connie - Ever since the dreaded day of losing his Mom’s fried chicken, he became determined to open up his own chicken buffet one day; no titans will be allowed of course.

Sasha - Jean may call her ‘potato girl’ but everyone else has come to know her as ‘melon girl’ due to her constantly asking Eren to pay her back for smashing a watermelon… it still hasn’t happened.

Christa? - She remembers having an older sister who tragically died, but it’s been so long so she kinda forgot what she looked like; she never figured out that her ghost visited her.

Ymir - It wasn’t until her last year of grade school when she first met ‘Christa’ and has been head over heels ever since. There’s a feeling deep down that she met her before but doesn’t know why.

Annie - As the Female, she tends to use said form to sprint whenever she’s accidentally late for school or cram school. She also may or may not have accidentally attracted titans with her agility.

Reiner - He didn’t use to be a very buff kid at all, until his armoured instincts started taking over that is. With his new build, he uses going to the gym as an excuse to hide his secret.