[ REC o ]
It's not that Ymir feels uncomfortable in her room on the upper floor because she's the only girl. God, no.
It's more like Ymir feels uncomfortable in her room on the upper floor due to her general lack of male genitalia.
The tall brunette glares at the camera with arms crossed over her chest in annoyance as she straightens up on the chair of the confessional booth. "I'm dead serious: one night, they all—yeah, even Jean—disappeared into Springer's room and I'm pretty sure they were comparing dick sizes." An expression of pure disgust illuminates her features as she shakes her head, "I don't mind being surrounded by only guys. I'm just pretty sure they're all secretly gay for Eren—don't even get me started on that sexual tension between Jaeger and Kirstein—and I'm kind of left out? I mean, I don't swing that way, but they don't know that, so I just figured I'd get some attention."
She pauses in mortification. "N-Not that that's what I want. It's just that the only guy who gives me the time of day up here is Braun and that's…."
Ymir cringes before turning her attention directly to the camera and almost looks pleading. "Please keep me away from that guy, Jesus Christ."
-—episode two: all the doo dah day—-
"—But, like, do you see that hot bod? Man, if Armin looked at me that way, I don't think I'd be able to hold myself back!"
"Hey, watch it," Annie starts, eyes already shooting daggers at the troublesome redhead that she simply can't seem to get rid of. She hadn't really expected herself to get a spot on the top floor of the estate, but she had also allowed herself to forget about the annoyance that the other girl proved to be.
Not shocking in the slightest is the fact that Sasha is stuck trying to make the best of her horrid situation and all of her fellow roommates aren't sure whether or not her smile is forced or genuine. She had recently called the room at the very end of the hall—claiming that it was the shabbiest but insisting that she was willing to take the fall so her newfound "friends" wouldn't have to—and is now causing a ruckus as she attempts to move her seemingly infinite number of bags to her room.
Bertholdt sighs as he observes the spectacle silently, knowing that it wouldn't be long until Annie truly snapped in agitation, while Marco stands beside him absentmindedly picking at his nails.
Sitting precariously on the edge of the floor's only window, Krista stares at the scene before her in thought. Mikasa stands a few feet away, looking as though she wants to approach but lacks the guts to do so.
"Sorry, sorry," Sasha responds, clearly not apologetic at all. She's snagged some extra pillows from "a supply closet she found" and is barely able to carry them while she attempts to roll her suitcase past the others.
"Do you need help?" Bertholdt offers, eyes again sliding over to observe Annie.
The blonde seems to have had enough of the scene and slyly extends her leg, causing the redhead to trip before she can even respond. With a loud squeak, Sasha crashes to the floor in utter confusion. She looks around the room, dazed, to find that it is only Bertholdt who is able to meet her eye.
Annie smirks, mildly amused by the scene before flippantly stating, "This is boring. I'll be in my room. Don't bother me."
A door slams shut and, realizing what's happened, Sasha begins to tear up. Now feeling alone in the hall after losing the presence of the only person she could probably call comrade, Mikasa begins to debate whether or not she should follow Annie's example and scurry into isolation or continue trying to socialize (and fail). Bertholdt looks guilty as he stares at the fallen girl, unable to find words, while there's an odd spark that's been lit in Krista's eyes that makes Mikasa feel all the more uncomfortable.
It's eventually Marco that makes the first move as he extends a hand to the redhead, alarming the perplexed girl as he forces a convincing smile. "I'm sorry about Annie—I know that she hasn't been the kindest to you. I don't think she's all that bad though, I'm almost sure of it. Come on, I'll help you with your stuff. It was so nice of you to agree to take the room in the worst shape!"
Sasha still appears incredibly shocked as she stares up at the freckled individual. There's a pause until she raises a grin of her own and takes his hand. As she dusts herself off, Bertholdt joins Marco in helping to pick things up from the floor, mumbling some sort of incomprehensible apology as he does so.
It's only Mikasa and Krista that have yet to move, and it's mostly because the former has found herself paralyzed by the slow smile that's becoming apparent on the blonde's features and the ever-mysterious spark that flickers black within her blue eyes.
"There ya are, Ymir!" Reiner booms as he throws an arm around the newly arrived individual, completely oblivious of the way she suddenly tenses within his embrace. "Where have you been?"
Gritting her teeth, the woman fights the growing urge to sock him in the eye. "I was filming in the confession booth. Don't get your panties in a twist."
He throws back his head in thunderous laughter and Ymir wants to bang her's against the nearest wall.
Hearing the commotion, Connie emerges from his bedroom clad in only a bath towel wrapped around his waist. "Oh, it's just you two. Say, do you know where my pillows went? I hopped into the shower and as soon as I came out, they were missing…"
When Ymir shrugs (succeeding in getting Reiner's arm off her shoulders) and the blond only frowns in confusion, Connie allows a defeated sigh. "Oh well. Hey, Ymir, we missed you last night at the get-together in my room. Why didn't you show up?"
She parts her lips with a snarl, biting retort at the ready, but after her eyes drift to two emerging figures behind the short, bald man, she finds herself absolutely speechless.
"Ugh, Jaeger, you took all of the fucking hot water!"
"Jean, it's your fault for not showering in your own bathroom!"
"Like you're one to talk! You used Connie's too!"
"So? I told you that if it was that big of a deal you could just get in with me, but you threw such a hissy fit!"
The slightly taller man immediately turns red at the words while his new roommate (if they could even be called that) hides his look of amusement by turning the other way. "W-We can't shower together! I don't want to see your dick!"
"Only because it'll make you feel embarrassed about your own," Eren singsongs as he begins to approach the group gathered outside of Connie's door. "Oh, morning, guys. Ymir, we missed you last night!"
Jean, clearly not wanting to be outdone by his newfound rival, stomps forward as well with a lame, "Yeah, well, I bet that I take better care of my pubes than you do!"
Eren looks at him with mixed confusion and repulsion while Ymir doesn't even bother to hide her annoyance as a vein visibly begins to pulse within her forehead. She throws her hands up in pure agitation muttering something about vaginas as she slams the door to her room shut.
Reiner lets out a low whistle. "Wow, what's her problem?"
It's silent as the four men attempt to ponder this question—to ultimately no avail. "Oh well," Connie answers plainly with a shrug. "Maybe she's just shy or something. She'll warm up to us eventually."
"Yeah, if she doesn't castrate us all when we're sleeping," Jean mutters under his breath.
It is in that exact moment that Ymir realizes just how thin the walls of their bedrooms are. She's thankful too, because Kirstein's just given her a lovely idea.
After another hour or so, the twelve teengers are lured to the second floor by the smell of golden waffles, freshly squeezed orange juice, and burnt bacon.
Levi is incredibly unapologetic about burning the bacon because the stupid brats deserve it since they can't build a freaking tent to save their lives (apparently) and Hange and Erwin don't know how to share space. That being said, he's gotten absolutely no sleep whatsoever and is fully prepared to pass out in his younger cousin's room—he'll even clean the damn thing himself if that's what it'll take.
"Good morning, everyone," Petra chirrups. She's clad in a white sundress adorned with yellow flowers and a simple apron tied around her waist. Krista looks at her and vaguely wonders how she managed to look so perfect when it was only nine in the morning and they probably didn't even have proper make-up artists to fix her up. She then proceeds to look down at her cotton shorts and old tank top, absentmindedly feels the knotted gold tied into a haphazard bun on the top of her head, and feels instantaneous embarrassment for not keeping up her appearance. "I hope that you all slept well!"
Krista hides her agitation by closing her eyes with a faint sigh. Easily spotting her, Armin shoots Connie a parting smile before jogging over to her side. "Someone doesn't look too hot. Couldn't handle the awful living conditions last night?"
Angry blue eyes dart open as she scowls at her new "friend" (though, in all honesty, she wasn't sure what exactly it was that they were—after all, in order to be friends with someone, you have to trust them, right?). The young woman is slowly coming to the conclusion that everyone was able to look drop dead gorgeous first thing in the morning except for her. His hair is pulled back into a stub-like bun atop his head (she's silently fuming at the fact that his bun is nicer than her's) and he's wearing a blue and gray striped sweater, along with a pair of torn jean cutoffs. His eyes are hidden behind a pair of simple black aviators, but Krista can tell from his lips alone that his eyes are sparkling with mischievousness and instantly knows that she's in for a storm.
"Nine in the morning and you're already a total dick," she spits angrily. "You're even dressed for the part now, so wow, kudos to you."
"Someone's definitely not a morning person," he chuckles, easily brushing past her to grab for a plate and continue his way to the breakfast buffet. "Let's talk by the bar outside or something."
Pink lips part to angrily state that if whatever this is between them was going to work, he'd have to treat her like an equal instead of someone he could boss around—but he's gone before she has the chance, which only makes her angrier.
To be fair though, she usually doesn't have to be functional until around one in the afternoon unless her father has something scheduled for her during the day. As that typically isn't the case, Krista's used to living a leisurely life and what she's experiencing now is anything but leisurely.
If she has to wake up at eight every morning for the next two months, she is definitely going to kill somebody.
"You alright, Kris?" comes a familiar tenor, and the young woman easily slides her glare over in order to meet his smile. "Sorry I couldn't bring you on the third floor with the rest of us, but you understand, don't you?"
Frankly Krista's too tired to understand shit.
Seeing her expression, Eren throws his head back with a light laugh before taking the snapback off from the top of his head and placing it atop her blonde disarray of hair. He throws an arm around her shoulders as he carts her towards the buffet, "C'mon, eat up! We have a big day ahead of us, I think! And even if we don't, just being able to explore the island will be a lot of fun—it's just so beautiful!"
Krista has to force herself to stop glaring at Eren's designer tank top and boardshorts and settles instead for glaring at the charred bacon that's set out before her. She's so focused on glaring that she doesn't realize how much of the atrocity the taller boy has shoveled onto her plate until it's too late.
Behind the pair Mikasa is worriedly glancing at the apparel of essentially everyone who had the pleasure of staying on the third floor, realizing that they're all dressed like models while most of her lot had yet to even shower. Catching her stares, Annie responds with a simple, "I think that the staff and hired help moved in most of their stuff for them, so they had a lot more free time than we did this morning."
Wow, and my thoughtful cousin couldn't even find it in himself to help me out? Rude.
Rather than saying that, however, Mikasa opts for a vague hum in response. "You were pretty harsh to that Braus girl this morning."
Annie simply shrugs. "I think she's annoying as fuck. Why, got a problem?"
"Not at all," the brunette hurriedly responds. "Just an observation. Couldn't she be useful later?"
She's surprised when the blonde loses herself in uncontrollable laughter at what she considers to be a ridiculous statement.
The last person who arrives downstairs for breakfast is Jean, who manages a stylishly disheveled look in light red ("Definitely not pink," he insists) chino shorts and an unbuttoned short sleeve dress shirt. His hair is waxed upwards in a messy fashion and a pair of sunglasses with lenses to match his shorts are pushed atop his head. He looks kind of lost for a moment, but quickly recovers as he takes his place behind Mikasa and puts the leftover scraps of food onto his plate.
It takes him a moment to realize just who it is that's standing next to him, and when he finally does, he surprisingly doesn't offer her much of a reaction. "Oh, hey. Morning, Mikasa."
And that's really all he says. And Mikasa's vaguely wondering if that's all she's supposed to expect or if there's something more there because wow, people are weird.
In a few short minutes, the teenagers have dispersed themselves around the living room and deck area and Erwin's grabbed a mic to talk to them. "Morning everyone! We trust that you've enjoyed last night's rest and are in the midst of enjoying the breakfast the staff made for you this morning."
From outside over at the pool deck, there's a muffled, "Man, this bacon sucks ass!" in an attempted faux voice. It is followed by booming laughter and a certain brunet snickering, "Dude, he's totally going to punch your dick off with his french fry swords."
Levi has literally lost all of the damns that he could possibly give.
"Anyway," Erwin continues with an awkward clearing of his throat, "In an attempt to further introduce all of you to one another, we'll be holding a team scavenger hunt today."
Petra beams proudly at the words, as the activity had been her idea, and tells herself that the lack of excitement from everyone is simply due to their preoccupation with eating. Either way, she takes the mic from Erwin's hand and continues, "We'll have you guys pick names from a hat and then you and your partner will proceed to find items that we've hidden around the island in preparation for our bonfire later tonight. There'll be s'mores and campfire songs and it'll be super fun, so make sure you try your hardest!"
The short brunet beside her looks at her in pity as she still somehow manages to have her hopes up. Does she really not get that these kids are lazyass fuckers who he has absolutely zero faith in?
"For now though," Erwin continues, "Feel free to enjoy your breakfast and relax. We'll come back here at noon to start the scavenger hunt."
He expects some sort of answer but, of course, doesn't really get one as the teenagers are too preoccupied doing their own thing.
Noticing this, Levi turns to his two companions with a sneer, "If they won't shut up, then it must mean that they're all becoming comfortable enough with one another. Why can't we just skip the niceties and jump straight into drunk boys wrestling in mud?"
To his silent surprise, neither individual responds to his venomous attitude. Instead, Erwin simply grips his shoulder while Petra offers him what looks like a reassuring smile. It's freaking Levi out. Why are they being so silently nice to him? In the past months that he's worked with him both, he's come to the conclusion that this is probably the worst possible situation he could ever find himself in. Where's Hange? Hange would probably save him.
Or make things worse.
Moblit. Moblit's who he should be looking for.
Before the man has an opportunity to think about it anymore, Erwin heaves him over his shoulder and begins walking in some seemingly random direction that Levi can't really detect because Petra is trailing incredibly close behind them both and might as well be blocking everything from his view at this point.
Levi blames his inadequate height for people constantly taking advantage of him.
[ REC o ]
"O-Oh! Hi. Marco here," the freckled boy awkwardly begins with a shy wave. It's kind of clear that he isn't sure what exactly it is that he's doing there, but the genuine innocence that exudes his being is unmistakable.
"In all honesty, I'm kind of excited to be here. Everyone has such good energy. I'm a little concerned about Annie though—sure, I've cast myself in an alliance with her, but wow, I didn't realize she could be so… mean," he admits, looking a tad bit guilty as he plays with his fingers. "I thought that she was only mean to Sasha yesterday because the heat was getting to her. There's no need to make enemies with people for no reason though, right? And Sasha's really nice…"
He lets out a soft sigh. "Bertholdt told me that coming in here would be a good idea to get the audience to know me better, but I don't know. I feel kind of awful for admitting these things about Annie. I'm sure that she's nice; I wasn't lying when I said that earlier. I just don't know how deeply you have to dig in order to uncover her true personality and, frankly, I don't think that any one of us are the right person to try and figure it out. I get a really weird vibe from her."
Realizing that he's solely focused on one member of the cast in his confessional, he quickly shakes his head to rid himself of his own train of thought. "But Bertholdt's really nice, I really like him. I think that he's kind of concerned about Annie as well, but he hasn't said anything about it specifically yet. I'm happy that he seems like the kind of guy to have your back though and that he has my back. I think he'll sort of become my security blanket on the show," he admits with a shy laugh and a faint blush. "Mikasa's alright, I guess. She's only really talked to Annie even though she's in my alliance, so I don't know that much about her. She's quiet—like me— so if we ever do get to know one another, it'll be a while.
"I've yet to really speak to anyone else, but that's okay. I'm pretty excited for the bonfire Ms. Petra talked about and so hopefully that'll be fun. I just really hope that Bertholdt and I are partners for the scavenger hunt today. I don't really know if I'm ready to meet anyone else just yet…"
"Oh, hey, Marco! I was looking for you!" Bertholdt calls with a friendly smile on his face. He had gone to shower when Marco had left to shoot his personal interview with the camera and the other smells kind of like spiced peaches—which is a bit weird—but Marco doesn't comment on it. "Sasha invited us to go hang out with her and Jean over at the pool deck."
The freckled brunet doesn't realize that there's a wide smile spreading itself across his features until it begins to hurt a little. Muscles must not be used to it or something of the sort. "W-Wow, that sounds great! But, er…"
Bertholdt raises a single eyebrow in curiosity at his new friend's sudden anxiousness but is eventually able to see his train of thought. "Oh, don't worry about Annie. I think that her and Mikasa went to the beach a few minutes ago—besides, just because we're in an alliance with her doesn't mean that she owns us."
"You're probably right, Bertholdt—"
"My name's a mouthful," the man interrupts, "Just call me Bertl."
The words send Marco's face into a scrunched up, freckled mess of delight as he allows himself an enthusiastic nod.
As the two didn't receive the fortune of winning one of the coveted rooms on the top floor, they aren't granted access to the designer closets that their fellow castmates are. Instead, they're left to wear whatever it was that they had brought from home—not that it leaves either man full of complaint. Bertholdt opts for a simple pair of black boardshorts and a white tank top branded with some obscure graphic design, while Marco settles for tan cargo shorts and a forest green t-shirt. It's not long before they've arrived at the pool deck and Sasha excitedly waves them over to the bar where a bright pink drink in a margarita glass sits topped with a miniature umbrella.
"Hey, you guys! Over here! C'mon, Jean's making everyone drinks!"
The newly-appointed bartender looks a bit surprised by her words, but decides to laugh it off. "Sash, I'm really not that great at mixing drinks. I'm honestly surprised that you're enjoying it at all!"
She waves away his words with a quick shake of her head, "Chill, man, I'm pretty sure that you have a talent with this stuff. What did you even put in this?"
He can do nothing but offer her a nonchalant shrug. "Not sure. I just kind of went for it."
Brown eyes stare blankly at him for a moment before they crinkle with delight as a soft giggle escapes her lips.
As Marco and Bertholdt lightly jog to see just exactly what it is that the new "bartender" is capable of, they pass by Ymir, who's lounging on an inflatable recliner within the massive pool. She's wearing a pair of baggy shorts and a gray tank top with a series of profanities splattered upon it in bright red ink. It seems that she's fallen asleep in her position, a copy of Northanger Abbey covering her features as she floats on the water.
Rushing past the duo are Reiner and Eren, who are both making a mad dash for the beach as they compete with one another to catch a football that Connie's thrown their way. The latter, who had previously been laughing it up with his infinitely optimistic friends seems a bit confused as he watches the redheaded girl that he had befriended yesterday explain something excitedly to the two individuals she had waved over, slowly realizing that it wasn't him that she had been looking for.
It's not that he's hurt by it but rather just a bit confused by it. He's not really sure, in all honesty.
His thoughts are quickly pulled back into his sport as a football is sent spiraling back in his direction and Eren belts a few deafening complaints about how it's not fair for him to be competing against a former high school football star.
"Connie, let's go," Reiner calls as he continues to balance sprinting backwards in the general direction of the beach and keeping Eren in what seems to be an incredibly tight headlock. "If Eren wants to challenge me to a show of brawn, then I know for sure that he's getting beat!"
Somewhere, in an unknown location and completely and utterly passed out, Levi cringes at the awful pun.
The shorter man responds with a boisterous laugh before charging after the "fighting" duo with the football, a dramatically loud battle cry whooping through the air as he storms by.
Further down the line, taking a stroll in between the land and the sea are Krista and Armin. Though they're both barefoot, it's only Krista that allows her ankles to bathe in the glory of seafoam. With her hair waving freely in the wind, she feels as though she's cleaned herself up rather nicely in her floral maxi dress that she has to hold up with her left hand. Beside her, Armin's pushed up the sleeves of his sweater and is holding a pink umbrella above the two of them as they walk.
To Krista's surprise, he's been practically silent since she insisted on meeting up at the beach instead of by the bar—which almost completely contrasts the mood he had seemed to be in earlier. He's allowed her to steal away his sunglasses to cover up her own baby blues and has instead opted for staring down at the sand he walks upon. His female companion vaguely thinks that she should be at least somewhat concerned over his seemingly sudden change in personality but chooses instead to revel in his silence and the lively churning of the waves at her feet.
Of course, it's all broken by a thunderous, "Man, I'm fucking feeling it!" and the sudden rush of air as Eren appears seemingly out of nowhere, catches a football, and proceeds to fall onto his back in the salty ocean water.
"Dammit, Eren, I didn't think you'd tip the scale like this!" Connie moans.
Reiner's just laughing at the scene and at Connie, who seems to have replaced Eren's position in the headlock.
Armin and Krista, each both very lost in their own thoughts, can do nothing but stare blankly at the tanned figure soaked from head to toe in salt water. His golden-green eyes are still crackling with excitement as the blonde reaches down to pick up his fallen snapback from the water and place it back atop his head.
A few meters away, Annie and Mikasa watch the scene unfold from their position underneath the shade of a tree. While the latter seems to be there only because she's not too sure where else she can go, Annie seems to be incredibly focused on the scene ahead of them. Absentmindedly fingering a loose thread on the beach towel the two had uncovered within one of Marco's unpacked bags ("I'm sure he won't mind if we borrow this—he's too nice for his own good," the blonde had insisted), Mikasa wonders what exactly it is about Annie that makes her anxious yet ultimately comforting.
"Hey, you hung out with them yesterday, right?"
The silence is broken by Annie's low alto as she nods in the direction of the other beachgoers. Connie seems to have been called away by a staff member, Reiner's no longer anywhere to be seen, and the other three are still standing on the shoreline.
Mikasa offers a simple nod, "Yeah, I did. Save for the bigger blond guy. Don't really know who he is."
"Are those two dating?" Annie continues, surprising Mikasa with her blunt question. It's obvious that she's referring to Armin and Krista, though at this point, as Mikasa follows her stare, Eren's picked up the former as though he were merely a sack of potatoes while they both laugh and the latter yells some kind of crude joke in indignation.
"I don't think so. I'm not exactly sure what it is between the two of them, but I don't think they're the types that would get into a relationship so quickly after meeting someone," she offers up in response. Though Mikasa would have to admit that she doesn't actually know them that well, she's always had a knack for making assumptions about people that tend to lean further towards the truth than the guesses of any others.
If she had been expecting a response from her female companion, she doesn't get one. Annie instead chooses to stare ahead, only making Mikasa even more curious as to what it is that's caught her interest.
The silence is broken by a, "She's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
Both women seem taken aback by the compliment and turn to face a madly blushing man with short blond hair and miniscule eyebrows. He notices the unwanted attention rather quickly and his features seem to only redden. "O-Oh, hi. Sorry. I'm, uh, Reiner." When they only continue to stare at him blankly, he fumbles with something else to cover up his embarrassing outburst. "C-Connie was called to the staff tent to pick up some fanmail or something. So do you guys maybe want to play football with Eren and I? Or, uh, if girls aren't into that sort of thing—"
"Sure," Annie cuts in, looking to Mikasa to silently ask if it's okay. Her brunette companion looks a bit nervous as she turns her attention away from Reiner and towards the trio that are still running yelling things at one another on the beach. "You go on ahead, we'll catch up in a bit."
Once he's gone, she states, "I feel like I'm making you do something you're not comfortable with and now I feel bad."
Mikasa only sighs. "That's not it. I'm just awkward around people. I don't think I made the best impression on those three yesterday."
"So?" The blonde leans back further into the sandy towel. "I can definitely tell you that I'm not on most peoples' good sides. I think that you just have to remember that the world is full of assholes and most of the time, you can't change how they see you; what's important is that you act in a way that you can be proud of because the only person ever worth impressing is yourself."
She definitely hadn't been expecting such words from the steely-eyed girl beside her, but despite the motivating picture they paint inside her heart, Mikasa can't find it in herself to believe them. And she wonders if Annie, herself, even does.
"You're right," she lies smoothly, "C'mon let's go play ball."
Blue eyes slide to stare at the brunette with something incomprehensible dancing in their glow. But without another word, she follows suit and they both jog to catch up to Reiner.
Eren and Armin have both fallen to the sand, the former roaring with undying laughter and the latter chuckling in amusement. Krista is silently fuming from her position atop Eren's chest as she continues to chastise him for some unknown comment while occasionally shooting a glare or two over towards her fellow blond whenever he finds a flaw in whatever it is that she's rambling about. Mikasa immediately feels like they're interrupting a moment that they shouldn't be a part of, but as though she senses this, Annie reaches for her hand to offer a reassuring squeeze.
"—But, like, do you see that hot bod? Man, if Armin looked at me that way, I don't think I'd be able to hold myself back!"
"Ugh, Eren, that is not the point I was trying to make!" the petite girl silently fumes, cheeks flushed a bright shade of scarlet as she does everything in her power to maintain a semblance of a level head.
"Well, Kris, in all honesty, whatever point you were trying to make was pretty nonexistent to begin with," Armin chimes in with a playful smirk. His female counterpart guffaws at the words and quickly shifts her weight in an attempt to tackle him into the sand. She, of course, misses, and lands between the two boys, eventually joining in their ringing mirth aloud.
As the newcomers stop directly in front of the trio, Eren finally takes notice. His eyes scan the crowd and lock onto Mikasa's as he says, "Oh, hey, Reiner! Connie's not back yet, but we can restart the game without him—he was losing anyway."
The brunette squirms uneasily underneath the heavy weight of his gaze, and noting this, Eren chooses to look elsewhere with a small smirk forming upon his lips.
Reiner enthusiastically agrees and before long, he and Eren are fighting over who's on whose team while Annie takes a seat on the ground and begins to engage Armin in a conversation—much to his surprise. Krista lets her stare rest for a little too long on the blonde newcomer before switching focus and instead allowing her stare to rest on Mikasa's with a smile that the latter simply can't crack.
"So you're Levi's younger cousin, right?"
And Mikasa had kind of been hoping that no one would find out, but Krista apparently has a way of just knowing things so she can do nothing but nod.
At her confirmation, Krista shoots her a playful wink. "Noted."
[ REC o ]
"Krista scares me. It's official."
It isn't long before noon hits and they all wander back towards the kitchen of the mansion to get paired up for the scavenger hunt.
Ymir's the first one to arrive, but Jean, Sasha, Marco, and Bertholdt aren't too far behind her. All five are holding drinks of various colors ("I don't even really like it," Bertholdt had whispered to Marco, "But for some reason I keep asking Jean for more."), though Ymir's settled for a bottle of beer. None of them, however, are really tipsy except for Sasha, who keeps giggling like a schoolgirl and is clinging to Bertholdt's arm in an attempt to maintain her balance.
Connie arrives soon afterwards with a box of cookies that he explains were sent to him by his mother. He offers each of them one and regrets his decision to do so almost instantaneously because in a mere matter of seconds, a beast awakens inside Sasha and he's left cookie-less.
The other six teenagers trickle in slowly after the other. In the end, there had only been half an hour left for them to get anything done and it was ultimately only Eren and Reiner that did anything athletic (read: wrestled in the ocean trying to see who could pull whose boardshorts down first). The others settled for scooting underneath the single umbrella that Armin had been holding earlier and allowing the blond man to entertain them as he attempted to narrate the scene before them ("If you look ahead, you can see two male muscleheads in their natural habitat…"), complete with a mock British accent.
Petra pulls Mikasa to the side, much to the latter's alarm. "Hey, Levi's been a little grumpier than usual—"
"Yeah, I noticed."
"—And so is it alright that we let him crash in your room for a bit? He passed out as soon as Erwin dropped him onto the mattress which really says something since that thing is hard as a rock."
The younger woman allows a short sigh because yeah, it really is. "It's fine with me, really. Just as long as the other contestants don't find out about it." Onyx eyes allow themselves to flicker towards a certain blonde for a moment who seems to making hesitant conversation with a profusely blushing Reiner.
"Oh, of course, of course!" Petra promises, before motioning for the youngster to return to the group that had hardly noticed her absence and skipping back towards her position beside Erwin.
The much taller individual straightens himself up just a tad as he clears his throat in order to regain the attention of the room. "Welcome back, everyone! I hope that you enjoyed your free time on the island. In fact, it looks like a few of you enjoyed yourselves too much." There is a pointed look at Sasha who suddenly looks ten times worse than she had looked before and is now humming along to an imaginary song aloud.
"As I'm sure you all remember," Petra picks up, "Yesterday's 'mission' winners were Eren, Armin, Connie, and Krista. As promised, each of you—and your partners—will receive a special perk in today's scavenger hunt. Will the four of you please come forward to choose who you'll be working with today?" As the words leave her mouth, she pulls out a random baseball cap from behind her back that is presumably filled with the names of the other contestants.
Each of the four individuals take turns reaching in to pick out a name and once they are done, Erwin says, "Now, each of you call out the name of your partner so that they can step to the side."
"Bertholdt," Eren calls out with a smile. The taller man returns the expression—albeit with a little less exuberance—as the former adds, "I'm Eren, by the way. It's nice to meet you!"
"Mikasa," Connie reads. She steps forward and carefully returns the man's high five when he gestures for one.
"Jean," Armin states rather calmly. In the back of the room, said individual adjusts the shades atop his head before approaching his new partner, chest slightly sticking out. Armin has to remind himself to refrain from laughing.
"Annie," Krista drawls cautiously. Two pairs of blue eyes shoot to meet the other as the fellow blonde manages a small sneer.
With that said and done, Petra gestures for the remaining individuals to choose names out of the hat.
Ymir and Reiner are the first ones to reach the much shorter woman, and the former can only pray that she's paired with anybody but him. Sasha's barely able to move forward without Marco's help and so the poor guy is stuck helping her out from the back.
In the end, Ymir and Marco are to work together while Reiner and Sasha make up the other pair.
"Now, here are the rules of the game: find as many items as you possibly can for the bonfire tonight and be back here at four. Each item you bring back will be able to score you between one and three points. These items are pretty obvious—like marshmallows and flint—and already have a preassigned score to them. However, any item is game as long as you're able to create an argument for how it's significant—if we're convinced to agree with you, you will be granted a total of five points per item."
"The only individuals who will be allowed to see the list of preassigned items are Eren, Armin, Connie and Krista. However, they'll each only be able to look at the list for one minute each. Whenever they want to use this advantage is up to them, but keep in mind that you'll only be allowed to look at the list once—no pictures or copying it down either."
Erwin looks down at his wristwatch before raising his eyes to the rest of the contestants with a wide grin. "Your four hours begins now. Go!"
a/n: *old man voice* It's been eighty-nine years since I last updated this fic…
Haha, hi, everyone! I'm awfully sorry for this horribly late update. I could drown all of you in excuses, but I'm sure that most of you are just happy (hopefully?) that I'm back. (Though I swear, my excuses are actually really solid this time around, so hmu if you're curious.)
Since I'm a recent high school graduate and university doesn't start for another three months for me (woot!), I'm hoping that I can churn out some weekly updates for you guys, but I'm pretty hesitant about making promises, so I guess we'll just see. In this chapter, I wanted to focus on highlighting some of the other characters (like Marco and Bertholdt) that haven't really been getting much attention. I'm not sure how successful I was with that though—I actually think I just talked about Historia more than I should have because my bias towards her is strong and I cry. I think I brought some of the focus off of Eren though, who I was also writing about a lot, so hopefully that's a good thing? I'm trying to give everyone some equal character development but I'm realizing now hard it is to juggle twelve+ characters evenly, so lol, whooooops. At the very least, the foreshadowing has begun! Homemade digital brownies to anyone who's able to notice them. ;b
As always, don't forget to vote for your current favorite character in the reviews and the poll on my profile! Last chapter's results will be combined with this chapter's before I announce the winner at the end of "this episode" (read: the next chapter). Just as a reminder, your votes don't decide who wins the challenge and are simply going to be used to decide the third-place winner at the end of the show. c:
In other news, if you're a Kingdom Hearts fan and willing to read more of my work (LOL), feel free to check out my new story, Nonexistent, on my profile! It's technically not a new story, but rather a revamp of my first fanfic ever, so don't worry, it shouldn't really interfere with updates to this story. c;
Also, if you're just a video game nerd in general, hit me up over at my tumblr (nojeons) and please cry with me because Sony and Square have literally slayed me with emotional feelings.
Okay, I'm done for real this time, LOL.
Constructive criticism is more than appreciated! Thank you all so much for your support. *showers you all in endless rainbows of love*
(minor edits made 05/09/2017)