A/N: Life became one big disruptive fuck off after another last few months so my progress in all ways has been set back and I'm not happy about it. Public released content ie chapters in addition to things regarding my notes are all infuriatingly set back and screwed with. Being slower than usual. But I'm here.

Chapter 40: Eyes On You, On Me

The homes in Liberio were largely designed and built with the same basic template. There were almost no structural differences between the Yeager's residence and Karina's that Priss could take note of. Her own home had a bit more going for it, such as the backyard – meager as it was, it was still more than most homes she saw. If she had to take a guess as to why that was, Priss would put her money on the fact that her housing is explicitly connected to the military. But why keep her mind so fixed on something like how the houses were constructed? Focusing on such an irrelevant subject felt a little strange, but Priss needed to keep herself distracted from the gaze of Mr. Yeager who sat across from her at the kitchen table; she forced herself to focus on anything else that she could, and it came down to the construction of her surroundings at that point. While Mrs. Yeager was kind and open, he was very closed off. He hadn't said a word to the white haired girl yet and his posture was unwelcoming, plus there was a subtle, unpleasant expression in his eyes that was too subdued to completely identify, but Priss could at least guess he wasn't thrilled by her presence.

Thinking about architecture only got her so far and the more she tried to ignore Mr. Yeager's gaze, the more she felt it boring into her. She reasoned that tapping her fingers, feet or otherwise fidgeting, as much as she felt the nervous need to do it, would be impolite in front of these people she barely knew, so she forced her body to remain frozen in place, even down to her jaw tightening up. For a while, she was able to keep her eyes on Mrs. Yeager who was darting around preparing the tea but eventually it came back to Mr. Yeager. Once she was out of distractions and could no longer escape it, she rested her eyes on him and decided to just tank through that fucker's stare and counter it with her own. Although hers was more of a blank, apathetic stare and not one of contempt; she was trying to conjure up an air of 'you're not gonna get under my skin.'

Fortunately before a real stare-down could commence, Mrs. Yeager had broken up some of the tension by placing two cups of tea on the table. She then hurried back to the counter top next to the stove, brought her own cup over and sat down next to her husband.

"Oh, I forgot to ask if you like milk and sugar..." Mrs. Yeager said, "I'm so used to just making what my husband and I prefer that I didn't think..."

Priss laughed lightly, "Don't worry about it," Looking down at the steaming liquid in her cup, she noticed it was as black as the day is long, "I'm not picky about my tea. It's not something I drink all that often anyway. Last time I had it, it was some special blend and putting milk and sugar in didn't feel right, kinda ruined the taste when I tried... But ah whatever, what do I know? Doesn't matter much how I like my tea, I'm just so grateful for your kindness."

"Nonsense," Mrs. Yeager said, taking a sip. Priss was impressed at the woman diving right in with how hot the tea still was, "Zeke never had many friends, so I thought it was lovely he found someone he seemed to get attached to who wasn't part of his unit."

"Ah... Haha, yeah, attached. That's what you'd call it I guess..." Priss said awkwardly. No longer did she care about how hot her drink was, she quickly took a gulp and darted her eyes away, "Wasn't always that way though. We uh... butted heads a lot at first."

"Really?" Mrs. Yeager asked, "From the way he was acting I could have sworn he was in love, but he assured us that wasn't the case. It's such a shame though, our poor boy's never had a girlfriend, he was always too consumed in his studies and his duties as a cadet, and then later as a Warrior. His drive to become Warchief and make an impact might have gotten him disinterested in romance."

Priss placed an elbow on the table, resting her face on her hand and muttering into her palm, "Yeah I'm sure that's the reason why."

"Hm? Did you say something?" Mrs. Yeager asked.

"Oh no, don't mind me!" Priss insisted, returning to her previous posture. She had to stifle her laughter before she continued, "There's someone out there for everyone, he'll score a girl if he wants to."

Despite her best attempt to feign optimism, such an idea made Priss' stomach turn. God help the woman that was foolish enough to involve herself with Zeke Yeager.

"That's True..." Mrs. Yeager's expression dropped, "He doesn't have much time left though. Especially with the war and all, god only knows how long it'll go on for. And if we're being realistic... there's always the chance he won't make it back."

Priss felt like she got punched in the gut – not over Zeke, but the fact that the same fate could befall her beloved Reiner. She believed with all her heart he would come back, but when confronted with the very real possibility that she wasn't guaranteed to get what she wants, it cut her deep. She largely rejected the harsh reality of this war she didn't have to witness; she held onto the idea that Reiner would obliterate anyone who dared try to go toe to toe with him – that he was stronger than even the most powerful foes out there.

"Braun..." Mrs. Yeager's voice trailed off, "The one who holds the Armored Titan and the second in command of the Warriors, you two are married, yes?"

"That's right," Priss nodded.

Mrs. Yeager's saddened expression lifted a bit, but there was still an element of morose in her face, "And you chose to marry him even though..."

A silence fell over the room. Both the women raised their cups to their lips to drink as a way to pause before continuing on such a sensitive subject. While Mrs. Yeager took smaller sips, Priss started to go a bit overboard with her gulps and sent herself into a mild but brief coughing fit; It was a wonder she managed to carefully set the cup back down on the table as opposed to dropping it. All the while, though, Mr. Yeager remained silent. Hadn't even taken a drink of his own tea yet.

"Yeah..." Priss spoke as her coughs subsided and she pat her chest a bit, "I don't even know if you can call it a choice, really. It's one of those things that was meant to be... And I won't lie, it's gonna suck when Reiner is gone. I won't know what to do with myself. Just grow old and be a lonely spinster until I die."

"O-Oh," Mrs. Yeager stammered, "I'm sorry I brought it up. It was inconsiderate of me."

Priss shook her head, "It is what is is, ma'am, I knew what I was getting into when I said that I'd marry him. I'll always have the memories we shared together over the years, and the time we'll still get to spend together makes it all worth it in the end," She then looked up with a grin, "I can promise you that I'd be much worse off if I didn't have Reiner. We were just kids when we met, but even then... I knew. We both knew. There was never gonna be anyone else for either of us."

Mrs. Yeager smiled broadly at Priscilla's loving words, "Ah... Young love."

"Just kids..."

Mr. Yeager had finally spoken up, drawing all attention to him. His facial expression was still hard to fully decipher, it definitely wasn't a happy one; he wasn't moved by the idea of a fantastical romance like his wife was. His focus on how the lovebirds met when they were 'just kids' being what caught his attention was worrying, as Priscilla had a good guess about what he was going to say.

The weary man turned to his wife, "Haven't you thought about it? Or are you just ignoring it because she's a friend of Zeke's?" He began. His voice was ragged, like aging had hit him harder than his wife. Mrs. Yeager's smile faded and she looked down, staring at her reflection in her remaining tea as she tensed up – she knew what was on his mind, and so he went on, "She and the Vice Chief met as children... The Paradis Island Operation. Some of the Warriors were barely older than 10... and they stayed there for years."

Mrs. Yeager looked over to her husband, "Dear, don't... It's not necessar-"

"There's only one answer," He continued, "She's from the Island. If she and the Vice Chief met in Marley as children, and then were separated for so many years, I don't think they'd be as in love as she claims they are."

Priscilla's eyes narrowed, "Claims?" she repeated, trying her best to conceal a bitter tone.

Perplexingly, when he faced forward again, the emotion on Mr. Yeager's face wasn't as disdainful as Priss expected, instead he was starting to look almost mournful as he went on, "You left your home. You left it all behind. You abandoned... your family."

"Eh?" In the blink of an eye the mood of the room changed dramatically, "Aren't you going to call me an evil island demon?"

"Miss..." He said as his face was being taken over by an overwhelming sorrow, "I'm nearing the end of my life. There's much more important things for me to worry about than where a friend of Zeke's came from. They say the Eldians spread across the world are 'better' than the island dwellers but... I've come to accept it. Just because we submit to Marley, doesn't make us any better. We're all Eldians in the end. We've all lived our lives as devils and we will all die as devils, every last one of us regardless of where we are. I'm... I have too many... Regrets..."

Silence blanketed the room once more, but this time it was far more eerie than uncomfortable. Mr. Yeager started to noticeably shake while his wife's eyes filled with more and more concern, but what she was anticipating was something she'd seen enough times before.

"All I want now," Mr. Yeager went on, voice shaking as he was on the verge of losing his composure, "Is for my grandson to be happy with the time he has left..."

The man then wailed loudly and fell into a fit of hysterics, shocking Priss. Mrs. Yeager quietly rose to her feet and helped her husband out of his chair, grabbing his cane as she guided him out of the kitchen and to their room upstairs. Priscilla sat there, absolutely stunned by the man's outburst. She came prepared to be discriminated against like she was with Karina, so seeing the conversation take such a turn caught her off guard. Even though he had been taken to the second floor of their home, his wailing could still be heard, but over time began to grow quieter. The girl sipped on her tea again, feeling awkward even though nobody was there with her, until Mrs. Yeager returned once she had finished tending to her husband's episode.

"Please excuse my husband," The older woman said. She sat down again with a heavy sigh, "He carries immense guilt over what happened to our son and his wife."

Priss was confused about why the older woman would be so forthcoming, but she just rolled with it, "Oh, Zeke's parents?"

Mrs. Yeager nodded, "That's right, but... also our daughter too. Her name was Faye and... she was killed by Marleyan soldiers when she was just a little girl, and he cruelly blamed our son. Then later in life Zeke's parents were sent to Paradis for their crimes against Marley for being Eldian Restorationists. We warned them... And we told them Zeke needed them... But they didn't listen, they left him here with us every night. Poor Zeke never got the love he needed from his parents."

"But he had you two, right?"

"It's not the same, miss," Mrs. Yeager said with a sad smile, "He wanted so badly to have a relationship with them. He became a Warrior because they wanted him to, but in the end... He was the one who ended up accusing them of their crimes and getting them sent off to the island. And now my husband dwells on the idea that if he wasn't so hard on our son, maybe our family wouldn't have been as torn apart as it was."

Maybe that's why he brought up how I left my family behind, Priss thought. If he had such a fixation on family, it'd make sense, but the man had no context of her 'family' situation.

Priss chewed on her lip and looked down into her tea, which at this point was almost gone thanks to her prior overzealous sipping. For someone who supposedly wanted a relationship with his parents, it seemed strange for Zeke to be the one to get his own sent away. As she considered this, something started gnawing at the back of her mind, but she quickly grew bored of trying to analyze Zeke's parent issues and dismissed it.

"But I'm just like my husband," Mrs. Yeager said, drawing Priscilla's attention back up, "I want my grandson to have a happy life. I know he's fond of you so maybe you-"

"Listen, if hanging around me gives him some kind of joy then he's welcome to I guess," An irate Priss interrupted, her irritation being very suddenly brought on by his grandmother's questionable insinuation, "But I'm not here to fix a broken man who has some kind of childhood trauma. I'm not gonna be his mother..."

Her peridot eyes glazed over and that bothersome, grim mental gnawing returned to her – like there was an itch she couldn't scratch but was desperately in need of being relieved, yet remained forever out of her reach. Mrs. Yeager watched the girl sit in silence, her long white hair falling across her face while her head tilted off to the side as she was lost in thought. Priscilla's comments were blunt, and Grandmother Yeager knew the young lady was right, but she also didn't expect her to fulfill that role in Zeke's life either and she didn't mean for her words to be interpreted in such a way. The older woman's poorly thought out comment left her feeling uncomfortable, but she soon was taken by a brief sparkle from the light hitting Priscilla's drifting hair just right.

"Your hair," Mrs. Yeager said, but Priss didn't respond. Mrs. Yeager furrowed her brow, confused, and spoke up louder, "Miss, your hair."

Priscilla straightened back out, "Ah? Oh, yeah..." She muttered quietly as she brushed it back out of her face. The girl held onto a few strands of her silken hair and stroked it anxiously before she continued to speak, avoiding eye contact with Mrs. Yeager, "I'm sorry about that, I really am. I probably didn't need to say what I said just now."

"To be fair, it was out of line for me too. You've got your own life to live, Miss. But now I just wanted to ask you one more thing," Mrs. Yeager paused to give Priss a chance to respond. The white haired girl, still stroking her smooth locks looked up to the older woman and nodded, "Your hair must be terribly inconvenient, if it were okay with you, I wouldn't mind giving it a trim."

Priss tensed up, the grip she had on her hair tightening up as well, which didn't go unnoticed by the older woman.

"I know, young ladies are attached to their long hair aren't they?" Mrs. Yeager spoke as she once again stood up and made her way around the table to Priss, where she placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder, "I understand, it's very beautiful. It'll do it good to get the dead ends cut off though, and it'll grow back before you know it."

"Yeah," Priss breathed, dropping her hands that landed heavily in her lap and thus releasing her hair, then took a deep, shuddering breath before saying, "Give it a chop."

"You can keep your eyes on the prize you know," She assured him in a sensual, husky voice.

"Yeah, I know," Reiner replied, his loving gaze not breaking away from her own, "I am."

Priss briefly brought her hand to her face where she playfully bit her finger while she giggled. It even seemed like her face got even redder, but not specifically because her arousal continued to build, but she was so charmed by what her beloved prince had said in the middle of an erotic moment – and she knew just how much he meant it. Having been caught up in her emotions for a moment, she was happily brought back by the sensation of Reiner's hands on her chest. Once more her arm went above her head again and she arched her back a bit to push her tits further out, not that she needed to, but it was fun to exaggerate. Reiner exhaled heavily, taking so much joy in feeling up Priss and that extra titillation from her pushing forward, and his breathing only grew increasingly heavier as he watched her body subtly react to his touch. Her back arching, her fingers curling, all the expressions her face was cycling through – subtle or otherwise.

"Ohh~ Ahh.~"

Despite them being alone, Priss kept her moans of pleasure on the quieter side. Reiner was having a great time massaging those glorious fat tits of hers. She would do her best to keep her eyes open to look at him, even if his eyes were on her chest and not her face – but as before, he could just tell when she'd look to him and he would happily reciprocate when he sensed her gaze on him. The same went the other way, if she suddenly felt his golden eyes move up to her face, her shimmering green ones would open back up. Despite the absolute overt sexual nature of what was going on, they couldn't help but blush and turn their faces away for just a second after making eye contact a few times, but the break never lasted long. They may have gone all the way twice already, and have had plenty of moments that were undeniably erotic in nature prior to that without being 'official' and straight up fucking, but there was an element of bashfulness that would creep up on them still. Perhaps it was connected to the ongoing disbelief that they had reached this point. They were finally together. It wasn't a dream, it was no longer a mere fantasy – they were dating. Although, 'dating' seemed like it was not really the right word for it, like it wasn't a strong enough term to describe their connection.

"Don't these..." Reiner unexpectedly started to speak, "Don't they get in the way?"

Priss raised her head up, "Well... ahh nnh... yeah... big juicy titties can be an inconv- ahnnnhh... inconvenience, but I think they look pretty good, don't you?" Priss replied, doing her best to speak despite the stimulation making her stop to moan between words. Soon enough she rested her head back down again on the hard stone surface of the wall.

"Hell yeah they do," Reiner agreed enthusiastically. The comment that sparked a sudden over eagerness lead to Reiner squeezing a bit too hard, indicated by a tiny wince and yelp from his partner. Immediately Reiner backed off, removing his hands from her completely as worry surged through him, "Shit! Did I hurt you?"

"No no, you just startled me is all... Wasn't expecting that out of nowhere," She assured him about his spike in intensity, "But why don't we shift gears a bit and get you taken care of?"

"How do you mean?" Reiner asked, as he slowly sat back after having been hovering over her while feeling her up.

Priss pointed to his dick, which was visible as an outline through his trousers since he was plenty hard already, and instructed playfully, "Take it out."

Simple enough. Reiner was more than happy to fulfill her request of him and hastily undid his pants. Soon enough, his trousers and underwear were tugged down enough for the beast to be free from it's prison. All the while, the white haired nymph on her back had taken to fondling herself, taking great joy in pleasuring herself in front of him. Reiner didn't spend very long just watching her play with her tits before he instinctively took hold of his cock and began to stroke it.

"I'd like these," She said, pushing them together dramatically, arching her back again to add to the effect, "A whole lot less if you weren't around to appreciate 'em though."

Reiner's face twitched, right along with his balls, the man had already been pent up from his own time giving her tits a good rubbing and that comment just urged him further forward. While his dominant hand remained firmly gripping his cock, he leaned forward and rested his other on the cool stone ground next to Priscilla's body – he wanted to be back in a position of 'hovering' over her and based on the look in her eyes as he made the move, he was right where she wanted him to be too. The view from above her, and being closer, naturally made the experience even better for them both. Priss briefly removed her hands from her chest and raised them to her mouth, and Reiner's eyes followed. He watched as she tantalizingly sucked on a few fingers on each hand, leaving her full lips pursed after she pulled them out to return attention to her own tits – however, she switched to specifically playing with her nipples now. Reiner's breathing was growing heavy again as he started to jerk himself at an increasingly more rapid pace and Priss was alternating between the nipple play and overall fondling motions.

Priss raised her head up again, this time to watch Reiner's action – she was already hungry for that titan cock, but watching him masturbate just fueled that flame even further. Her head fell back gracelessly, not landing as softly this time but she didn't care about bumping her head, and she let out a lusty, longing whine. She did her best to bury her undying need to get fucked right then and there – she didn't want to suddenly go back on what she'd said about not going all the way and rather just stick with what they had going on, but would Reiner object? Probably not. At this point, both of them were too far gone in their lascivious behavior to turn down sex if either of them suggested it. However, while Priss had spent time an excessive amount of time mulling over whether or not to proposition fucking while she toyed with her tits, Reiner had worked himself into a frenzy – ready to burst any moment, evident not only in the pace of his masturbation, but his facial expression as well; his tightly shut eyes and clenched jaw were further clear indicators that the man wanted to cum.

"Here, Reiner!" Priss shouted aggressively, not thinking about controlling her volume as she pushed her voluptuous breasts together tightly and arching her back again, "Cum on my tits! I know you want to! And they're just waiting to be covered in your-"

Not that Reiner needed any encouragement, but it was undeniably hot having Priss just begging for his cum regardless. The blonde threw his head back as he climaxed and let his load loose all over, not just her tits, but some also naturally got on her abdomen due to the sheer amount of it all – some of it even managed to shoot up to her face and land on and around her lips, prompting her immediate response of licking as much as she could reach with her tongue before using her hands to wipe up what couldn't be reached with it and then sucking the remaining cum off her fingers. Reiner was panting from his explosive ejaculation as he came down from his sexual rush; when he focused himself again, all he saw was his ecstatic lover rubbing her fingers over the globs of cum he decorated her breasts with and then licking it from them. The sheer joy she took in it was adorable, he could even tell she was lightly kicking her feet in glee even though he couldn't see – a bit of a juvenile act of pride for being so good at what she does and getting a sweet reward for it.

God that's hot, he thought as he observed her dedication to licking his cum from her fingers.

But even though she was obviously delighted, Reiner was a man of honor and he had a strict moral code to uphold, "So..." He began as he leaned closer to her, "What are we gonna do about you?"

Just as his princess was about to open her mouth to brainstorm a bit, the two were interrupted by the unmistakable noise of ODM gear, and suddenly they weren't as alone as they fooled themselves into thinking they were. Before either of them could move, a blonde with bleary eyes and rosy cheeks appeared; he may have been a little drunk, but he wasn't blind to what he just stumbled into.

"What? What the hell is this?!" He exclaimed.

Reiner immediately backed off and turned around to get himself decent again, Priss however, she remained laid out on her back, tits out for the world to see as her sudden rage kept her immobilized. Her eyes were shut tight and she grit her teeth, balling her hands into fists as she raised them up and pounded them against the stone.

"HANNES!" She growled, "You're ruining it! We're having a thing! Mind your business!"

"That's Mister Hannes to you, Ziegler..." The man grumbled bitterly as he shook his head, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a discrete metal flask and started to unscrew it, "Trainees from the 104th openly acting like shameless deviants... Honestly, now..."

Before Priss could get in a word of protest or start to get herself together, Hannes splashed the contents of the flask – which was surprisingly just water – onto the girl's face, treating her as if she were a dog being punished for misbehaving and sending her into even more of a childish, flailing fit. Reiner had finished packing himself away back into his pants and stepped between Hannes and Priss where he raised his closed fist to his chest in the standard salute-style.

"I apologize Mr. Hannes, this was all my idea!" Reiner proclaimed with conviction, "I was extremely... uh, eager and convinced her to-"

"...Braun, I'm not gonna punish either of you. But I'll offer the suggestion that you try to keep your..." Hannes glanced down at the white haired girl who was slowly calming herself and getting up on her feet while getting on with covering up, "...'Love life' more on the private side." Hannes added as he looked back to Reiner.

"Yes sir," Reiner nodded as he dropped his arm firmly at his side.

"It WAS private 'til you showed up, Hannes!" Priss spat, really adding venom on his name, working on buttoning up her shirt, but in her haste she was making a sloppy job of it and mismatching them. Her logic about their privacy wasn't very sound, though, but Priscilla's bullheadedness couldn't be stopped even by an authority figure, "And I'll offer the suggestion that you not use your ODM while you're piss drunk! But hey, you always are, aren'tcha?!"

"Hey!" Hannes shouted, angrily throwing more water in her face and being met with a shrill shriek in return from her, "I'm just a little tipsy is all, just a couple drinks at the... That's not the point! Get out of here, go to bed or something, or else I'll find a reason to reprimand you."

Priss wiped her damp face on her sleeves, the wetness turning the wine red fabric even darker, before she re-equipped her own ODM gear that she and Reiner had earlier removed to lay down and stargaze. Reiner too started to gear up so they could get on their way, but suddenly he felt the arm of Hannes around him, escorting him a bit away from Priss – who had started to depart, thinking Reiner was right behind her.

Reiner was perplexed to say the least, "Mr. Hannes?"

"Reiner..." Hannes murmured, then looked over his shoulder to make sure the girl was out of earshot, "Don't repeat this to anyone but... Congrats on becoming a man."

Reiner stood there in silence staring at Hannes with a look of sheer disbelief while he tried not to give away exactly how horrified by the older man's very forward 'guy talk' with him was; It was still exceptionally weird though. Reiner wanted to chalk it up to Hannes having admitted to doing a bit of drinking, but he couldn't be entirely sure that was the sole reason this uncomfortable chat was happening. In Reiner's silence, Hannes happily went on.

"A guy like you though, I hear great things about you from the Scout regiment officers. Strong, extremely talented, honorable, respectable... top of the class even!" Hannes continued as enthusiastically in his lowered voice as he could, but his tone shifted away from admiration for the top cadet as he continued, "So why is it that you..."

Hannes looked over to Priscilla with a judgmental expression, with Reiner's gaze following. She had quickly realized Reiner wasn't with her and had stopped with her hands on her hips with an appropriately annoyed expression to match.

"Why are you holding him hostage?!" She shouted over to them.

"Oh calm down, we just have some private things to discuss here between men," Hannes called back to her, dismissively waving at her in a way to try and get her to buzz off, but when it was clear she was going no further without Reiner, Hannes turned back to him to try and quickly finish up, "So why is it that a stand up guy like you is messing around with... that one? Surely you could get any girl you want, so it's not like you'd be desperate so... what's the deal?"

Again, Reiner was stunned and had no idea where to begin with the needless disrespect towards Priss coming from Hannes. His instincts told him to throw a punch, but Reiner's impulse control held him back from assaulting a longstanding Garrison officer – as much as he really wanted to give Hannes a taste of his right hook, he knew it'd be better for everyone that he not lose his cool and end up doing something foolish. Instead, Reiner merely shrugged Hannes' arm off him. There were so many things he wanted to spitefully say, but Reiner ended up on something much more neutral.

"Because she is the one I want," The blonde spoke with unshaken conviction as he finished up adjusting his gear and looked over towards Priss, who was caught between still fumbling with her haphazardly buttoned shirt and giving Hannes the stink eye. Reiner couldn't help but grin as he watched her just being so unmistakably her. He looked over his shoulder back at Hannes and added, "There is no-one else for me."

"...Well, guess I just don't get it then," Hannes replied. Reiner's face flinched as he turned away – the undercurrent of their whole chat was that Hannes was blatantly implying that Priss was beneath him, which couldn't be farther from the truth. The more the infamous drunk spoke, the more trouble Reiner had resisting the urge to show him exactly why he was the best in the 104th, so instead he just moved on forward.

Left awkwardly alone after the strange conversation, Hannes watched as the two departed with their ODM gear. The intimate activity was a painfully uncomfortable thing to walk into, and he knew Reiner was covering for the girl by saying it was his idea, but when disconnecting what he ended up seeing them doing, there was something nice about the idea of love blooming in a world as dismal as theirs. Before the Garrison officer went on about his late night business, something caught his eye. Down where Priscilla had been laying, specifically where her fists hit the ground in her initial frustrated outcry when he stumbled upon them, he noticed something peculiar. No, not just peculiar, but bizarre to the point that it was unbelievable:

There were cracks, sprawling from minor impact dents in the stone that the Wall was composed of, right where Ziegler had slammed her fists down. The man stared down at the damage, minor as it was, not believing his eyes for a few moments before he shook his head.

"...Nah..." He dismissed what he saw and walked away, "Ehh maybe I did have too much to drink..."

Priscilla made her way home after her eventful visit with the elder Yeagers. The thought of Mr. Yeager's sudden breakdown was a memory that was easily slipping away, she hoped she would never have to witness such a thing again if she ever spent more time with them for whatever reason. Instead, her thoughts lingered on her hair; Mrs. Yeager had given Priss fair warning that she was not a professional at all, but the girl didn't care and just accepted the unknown quality of the outcome. Upon arriving back at her house, Priss took her head scarf off and let it drop to the ground, revealing significantly shorter hair – but not only was it shorter, it was a little unorthodox. Priss hadn't paid much attention to what Mrs. Yeager was doing, she was kind of just zoning out through the whole thing, possibly even absentmindedly moving her head slightly. What resulted was a cut that was slightly asymmetrical, with the right side of her hair – the same side her bangs hung towards – was slightly longer than the left, flowing over her shoulder and resting atop the curve of her chest. Meanwhile, the left side was just able to graze her shoulder. Then naturally, the ends were blunt too from the unprofessional cut, but after plenty of apologizing for the uneven job, the distressed Mrs. Yeager assured her that the ends wouldn't stay blunt for long and would regain the natural taper in no time.

Priscilla's then made her way upstairs, lazily leaving her scarf down on the kitchen floor, and into her bathroom where she took a look at herself. She initially felt a sore spot in her chest actually seeing her long hair gone, but she tried to direct her attention elsewhere rather than get caught up mourning what was bangs were getting awfully long but she didn't want Mrs. Yeager messing with a more 'sensitive' area in terms of hair; Priss figured she could experiment with different ways of parting the front or get some hair pins and headbands to deal with the issue until she decided to get a real trim. She didn't want to just go to the shop solely for a touch up on her bangs, and she didn't want to lose any more length to even out the rest, so she resolved to live with what her once intensely long mane had become for now. Despite how non-traditional she was looking in terms of her hair style, the more unique nature of it was growing on her – she even played with pushing the shorter side behind her ear to give the illusion of a more dramatic difference in length. She smiled at herself, just a tiny one though, feeling more at peace with the impromptu and unprofessional chop job she received.

And of course, she knew it would grow back and she could have it just the way she was accustomed to having it, as tough as it at first. Mrs. Yeager wasn't wrong about how young women can be attached to their locks; She had the same hair for as long as she could remember, so a bold change, even if brief before she returned to the norm, was an unexpectedly welcome feeling.

"Ehehe..." She quietly cackled with a darkly smug grin, "I bet big bro would just hate this."

As she briefly reveled in the thought of Anteros losing his mind over his sweet sister getting a dramatic hair cut without his permission, she played with it more by shaking the short side out from how she positioned it behind her ear and went on to brush the longer side behind her opposite ear to see how that would look too; once more she was pretty satisfied, it did further highlight just how long her bangs were though, and she felt so astonished at how fast they seemed to grow sometimes. Priss made an attempt to stroke the longest pieces of her bangs out of her face and behind her ear too, but not even the strands at their lengthiest would reliably stay put.

"It'll all take some getting used to..." She said to herself as she stepped back out into her bedroom. Her day had been long and all she wanted to do was go to sleep, even though she had missed out on eating. Looking at her bed, though, filled her with unease; a place that should be a haven of rest and comfort had only been bringing her anxiety and visions of her grievous loss. The longer Priss lingered, the further from unease into panic she would descend, and she didn't want to be that far gone. She'd end up just staying up all night at that point, and how long could she keep that up anyway? The pale girl made her way to her bed where she changed her clothes and got in and under the covers swiftly. The anxiety that she might have yet another terrible nightmare was embedded deep in her now, but there was that tiny glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't dream at all – or better yet, have a good dream.

"He would fight off anything that frightens me there," She whispered as she closed her eyes, but her tone grew uncertain as she went on, as if she didn't truly believe in her own pep talk, "I... I just have to dream of him."