#zoegraphy

guuurei-sama | zoegraphy

( meme. )

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

I think that both versions of Reiner have pretty level heads when it comes to stress. They’re clever ( I think in some ways the warrior is more so than the soldier, since the soldier is sort of made to be oblivious to his ability to shift— ), and so they always try to think of the best way to handle a situation.

The soldier, of course, is far more willing to put himself in danger over someone else. We see this with the panels where he saves Connie from a titan by shoving it away with his hands. He handled it without any kind of panic; he knew what he had to do, and he didn’t care if it meant killing himself to save the others.

character solidifying meme

1. How does your character think of their father? What do they hate and love about him? What influence - literal or imagined - did the father have?

As a child, his father was everything—the one person he looked up to. Erwin only knew his father when he was young and his father was a good man, he could not see any negatives whatsoever from biased and young eyes. As a grown man, Erwin only has his heartfelt respect for the man who raised him, but there is a haunting sense of guilt that accompanies at every thought.

He was a large influence on Erwin, the most positive one he had. Having a father for a teacher and a thirst for knowledge leads me to believe Erwin was learning from a very young age, and in turn, aspired to be as knowledgeable and overall respectable as his father. He was the man that helped Erwin open his eyes to see that life was not just something average, typical, boring. His father, even after his death, was the only person to really encourage Erwin to expand his mind and pursue knowledge, everything else was limited and stifled him.

Throughout the remnants of his childhood and adolescence, Erwin molded himself based on what he remembered of his father’s teachings and influence.

19. What were your character’s deepest disillusions? In life? What are they now?

Humanity—the way it acts, mostly. He fights for it, yet concepts boil his blood at times. Such as how for every person that holds passion for their fellow man and will take up a sword to defend them to the grave, there appears to be ten that would rather hide in their cowardly hole while lives are snuffed out. He learned quickly in childhood that people were not always kind or honest and that personal interest often was put before even another human’s life. He was disgusted by the concept of selfishness and tried to avoid that as much as possible in his own beliefs and workings.

It’s really the only disillusion he’s had, it has all been related to other people. It’s been a constant disappointment or frustration for him, this pattern happening several times throughout his life yet he has repeatedly given chances with his concept of a balance between hope and despair and has been patient. In some cases, he has been rewarded (such as the addition of Levi on his team) but most times it has ended for the worse (Reeves being murdered and it being pinned on him; CMP and govt vs. SL; Zacklay taking charge and becoming mad with power). Finally, after attempting to deal with all his frustrations, he has become hardened, cynical—the type of man he is now forced to be.  

He can no longer afford the pain and frustration he feels with each turn and he has to accept that even if it’s killing him—humanity will never band together to fight the real threats at hand, as greed and personal interest will always stand in the way. He is not exempt, and looks down on himself even more for that.

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

He is capable of forgiveness and forgiving to those that have wronged him personally—he does not bear an aggressive grudge against the CMP for what happened to his father (he believes he should be held responsible just as much as they are), he is not angered by the fact Nile chose to abandon a trainee promise for the sake of his own happiness and he does not hold anything against Levi for attempting to murder him—to name a few. Depending on the scale—he may not forgive others, but it really depends. To himself, it is a different story entirely, and that is where he holds onto something.

HC Prompts

Xenization: How do they feel about interacting with strangers?

[In earnest, I’d like to assume that Levi is always highly conscious of his surroundings and especially the people within them. He doesn’t necessarily like interacting with strangers (who seem suspicious), however he trusts his own physical capabilities and mental awareness enough to be comfortable with engaging in conversation and working through what he gets his hands dirty with. The assumption that Levi is entirely calm, cool, and collected does not resonate well with me. Considering his time in the underground, that’s almost impossible, right? He is just very good at appearing unphased.] 

Dactylion: What are their views on swearing and profanity? 

[Levi has heard swears throughout his entire life since his very youth, and it has turned into commonplace vernacular he often utilizes for both public and private conversation. He later understands that the use of profanity is considered more a cultural ‘taboo,’ though by the time he’s hit early adulthood, I suppose he’s grown calloused to thinking it something sensitive and holds back little when talking with those he deems old enough to tolerate his more crass speech. Levi will not use expletives around small children, at least, though his tone could definitely use some work. He has great difficulty articulating exactly what it is he wishes to deliver, however he’s gotten much better after living just beyond half a decade above the underground. He more or less has a sort of ‘switch’ he turns on and off whenever necessary while he speaks.] 

Gorgonize: What distracts them when they’re trying to get things done?

unusual headcanon prompts.

Gorgonize -- what distracts them when they're trying to get things done?

Other people, mostly. Particularly Hange for the sake that Erwin is fairly meticulous with his work and does not like to multitask, rather focusing on things in set chunks. He also prefers to work in dead silence, her company usually creates some sort of conversation which is quick to slice into his time.

He tends to make it a big rule not to disturb him and attempts to set up a system of contacting him when necessary with minimal distraction, but it doesn't work particularly well. 

Hamartia -- what is their worst character flaw that they themselves don't recognize?

Hm . . . Erwin has a very skewed impression of himself and tends to be harsh in his self-analysis to the point he's even made his positive traits negative, there's not much that passes him. But, I think even he at times doesn't realise just how detached he can be. It's prevented him from understanding others, he's been misunderstood himself thanks to his inability to handle emotion and he seems to believe his loved ones should easily accept he is not always going to be there and that they should be prepared for it.

Welter: What subject will they never fully understand?

Anything beyond basic mathematics is too difficult for him: so complicated algebra, geometry, calculus, physics, and so on. 

Also: his writing skill is fairly poor. He’s definitely literate, but he prints in all-CAPS, he’s a bit of a slow/stumbly reader, and he can’t spell worth a damn.

It’s not that he’s stupid, but both in AUs and in the canon…he didn’t try very hard with regards to his own education and at his current age (~32) has actually convinced himself that he’s not very smart. It’s kind of a subconscious attempt on his part to feel better about messing up his life. Like, "Yeah, I messed up, but I’m not very bright anyway…so it doesn’t matter too much."