"I'm still not sure that this is a good idea," Erwin admits. "I have this weird feeling that one of the kids is going to get hurt. It's like, my dad instincts are kicking in." There's a pause as something suddenly dawns on them. "Oh my God, they're like my children. I am responsible for their lives. And we basically sent them to kill each other—"
Levi's looking at Erwin as though he's on drugs and Petra seems genuinely concerned. "Mr. Smith, maybe you should get out of the heat… Have the two of you and Hange even attempted to fix up the tent from the other day?"
This time Levi looks at Petra as though she's on drugs and Erwin looks as though he suddenly doesn't know English. "Petra, why the hell—"
"Okay, okay," she hurriedly says, gesturing for the slightly taller man to calm down. "I'm just saying that maybe it could help you guys with the sleep. I'm surprised Hange didn't suggest it earlier."
"Oh, they did," the blond admits in a casual matter. "But then they passed out on top of the tent and Levi and I didn't feel like dealing with that."
Petra sighs, long and soft, as she regards the two men before her. They're idiots. But she likes them. They're lovable idiots.
"Guess it's Erwin's turn to take a nap in Mikasa's room?"
Levi whips his head around with a furious glare that the brunette was definitely not expecting. "You can't let a grownass man sleep in a teenager's room! That's fucking creepy as hell—especially if we don't ask her first."
"You literally just did the same thing," Petra deadpans.
"It's different!" Levi insists, dusted pink threatening to break through his complexion. As he scrambles with a proper explanation, he blurts, "I raised her, I'm practically her father!"
"Golly gee, Levi, you can join my dad club!"
In a brazen attempt at self-defense, the short brunet grabs a nearby frying pan and slams it into the side of his boss' face.
Oh yeah, it's definitely going to leave a mark.
He looks mortified by what he's done and can't stop looking between his hand, Erwin's face, and Petra's surprisingly calm expression. The woman puts a gentle hand on his shoulder before carefully taking the frying pan out of his grip. "Fix the tent and get some sleep, Levi." When she doesn't get a single reaction out of him with the statement, she adds on, "Or, I mean, you have a certain assistant that is basically paid to do whatever you tell him, so—"
"Petra, you're a genius." She smiles at him, flattered by the compliment. "Now help me drag Erwin into a bush or something where no one will find him. I'll think of an explanation later."
She parts her mouth to question whether or not that's a good idea but ultimately decides that it's probably just a better to do whatever Levi tells her to.
Worst comes to worst, she'll just blame Oluo.
-—episode two: all the doo dah day—-
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there, Freckles. Your family is either made up of pagans or I'm missing something here."
[ REC o ]
"Okay, in all honesty, Armin intimidates the fuck out of me," Jean admits with a nonchalant shrug. "I don't even know what it is about him. And it's super hard to admit this out loud because I'm Jean Kirstein. I'm the one who's supposed to be intimidating others. We haven't met before this moment though, so if I can make a proper impression on him, then I know that he'll make a formidable ally."
There's a pause.
"I just don't know how the fuck I'm going to do that."
"So, uh, what's our strategy?"
Everyone had kind of bolted from the room—either to start their frantic search for items or to locate Hange, who was in charge of the scavenger hunt list. The only two left are Armin (who had remained calm amidst the chaos and simply pulled out a notepad and pen out of nowhere) and Jean (who had run forward only to realize that his partner had not and had to walk back with some remote shame in his shoulders).
The blond boy says nothing but continues to scribble words onto his notepad. Jean has no real choice but to lean his back against Armin's chair with crossed arms. In all honesty, he's kind of annoyed: he wants to win and since this is a team challenge, winning is going to be pretty difficult unless Armin actually speaks up.
So with a sigh, the brunet realizes that he has no real choice other than to come up with his own plan, sort through it aloud, and hope that the other eventually joins in. "If a majority of the points are offered for coming up with unique items that aren't listed, then that's what we should probably focus on. In this case, the 'advantage' you got us for winning the last round isn't very helpful. That means we should be avoiding anything that has to do with s'mores, since that's likely what the others are targeting first."
Armin stops his messy scrawl in bemused surprise as he twists his torso to stare at the taller boy's back. All he really knew about this guy was what Eren had told him—and it definitely wasn't impressive. Seems that, as he had originally expected, Eren's perceptions of others tended to be clouded. "That's exactly what I had been thinking. I think that we should completely refrain from looking at the list in general; not only would it hinder our creativity, but I'm sure that Eren and Connie looked at it right away and are going to be racing one another the entire time in order to get everything they can on it. Rushing after them now—"
"Will only be a waste of energy," Jean finishes, leading his partner to a smirk.
"Precisely. Now let's start listing."
"Freckles, you're real quiet and it's freaking me out."
Marco wants to point out that addressing him by that particular facial feature is a bit odd since the woman in front of him shares the same trait. However, Ymir absolutely terrifies him, so he knows that it's a dumb idea. "I don't know what I should say," he manages. The slow trickle of sweat threatens to spill from his hairline and the young man wants to blame the island heat over his nerves. He knows that would be a lie though.
Ymir sighs, hands running through her messy bun, only succeeding in pulling out even more strands of hair. "Not really sure where we should be starting. We should probably snag some firewood before anyone else does—though I'm not very sure where they'd be keeping it."
"A shed or something?" Marco offers.
The woman in front of him turns to him with a response on her open lips but is cut off as the attention of the freckled duo is instantly redirected to none other than Eren Jaeger and Connie Springer making a mad dash past the two of them. They're shouting taunting obscenities at one another, Mikasa and Bertholdt trailing behind worriedly, until the frontrunners proceed to trip over a tree root and tumble to the ground.
"Whoa, whoa, now you're just trying to sabotage me, man!" Eren snorts, playful glare sparkling in his oddly colored eyes.
Connie throws an absent punch to the other boy's shoulder in annoyance. "You're the one who almost ripped up the list when it was my turn to look at it!"
As they continue to bicker back and forth, Ymir shoots Mikasa a raised brow while Marco silently wonders if Bertholdt really is this patient or if he's silently just dying on the inside. Standing next to one another looking in opposite directions, both Bertholdt and Mikasa look as though they'd rather be anywhere else. It isn't until they're forced to come to a sudden stop that they each refocus on what's directly in front of them.
"Oh, hey, Marco! How's your hunt going?" Bertholdt says with an easy smile.
Marco's nervousness goes away and he shoots his friend a wide grin. "Hi, Bertl. Ymir and I were just getting ready to go firewood hunting."
Ymir glares at her partner, feeling as though he's revealed one of their top secrets to their number one enemy—which might as well be true since Bertholdt is partnered with Eren, who currently seems to be leading the pack. The look doesn't last for long though as her eyes drift back to stare at Mikasa, who's gone back to looking uncomfortable and unsure of herself. At first, Ymir had been kind of relieved that the younger girl had ended up with Springer, rather than Jaeger. Unfortunately though, it seems as though they were kind of stuck together anyway. The freckled woman frowns, unsure of how to help but wanting to do so anyway.
When she's not staring at everyone's knees, Mikasa's allowing herself hesitant glances at Eren and Connie wrestling in the dirt. Maybe it's because she's used to having connections pre-established, but she honestly has no idea what it is with her relationship with Eren—or Jean, for that matter. Anyone, really. Perhaps she just sought some sort of closure? He just needed to say, "Look, I tried to help you and then you ran away from my help without even saying anything to me. Why?" And she wouldn't be able to answer the question simply because she didn't know how. And it would suck. She would just end up blurting a dumb "I guess I was scared." And then, because the conversation is still nothing more than a sad fabrication in her head, his expression would cloud over and everything would fade to white.
Hearing the freckled boy's words, Bertholdt frowns before hesitantly admitting, "Hange let it slip that they don't actually have any storebought firewood on the island. There's an axe though, in the staff's shed." Ymir instantly turns to face the two conversing teenagers with a scowl on her features. Seeing her displeasure, the tall man puts both of his hands up in defense. "Connie and Eren are probably too lazy to go after it, in all honesty, so you'll probably be able to claim it with no problem. Don't really see anyone else being interested in chopping away at these bigass trees."
(Somewhere, lugging Erwin's body behind him, Levi shivers.)
"I guess. Anything else you'd like to spill?" Ymir challenges. It's not that she doesn't appreciate the tip—it's more like she doesn't understand how this guy has zero fighting spirit and is totally willing to just give away important information to his enemies. Like, he knows that there can ultimately be only one winner, right?
Out of friendly concern at a certain brunette's silence, Marco rests a gentle hand on Mikasa's forearm, jolting the latter into paying attention. "U-Uh, Connie and Eren have been fighting about who's going to get the classic s'mores supplies on the list. They're trying to one-up each other, I think."
Ymir really thinks that these kids are too nice to be on this dumb reality show.
Not knowing what to say—or how to thank them for the information, in all honesty—she breathes a soft sigh. "I can break them up, if you want. That way you guys can get back on track. I'm sorry that you have to put up with these dickwads."
Mikasa doesn't respond, Marco looks away, and Bertholdt simply offers an offhand shrug.
Taking that as a yes, Ymir prepares to throw herself into the brawl. Seeing her, Eren instantly shrieks and Connie, not knowing what he's getting himself into, sits on top of Eren's chest with arms in the air—a victory pose of sorts.
In three seconds flat, Connie's face is stuck in the dirt with Ymir's foot firmly on the back of his head as the brunette throws her head back in gloating laughter and Eren just sits there wide-eyed and not knowing what else to do.
"Dibs on the axe," she states.
"Yes, m'am!"
"You're going to trust this chick with a fucking axe?" Connie yelps before he's pushed back down to take in another mouthful of sand.
Bertholdt chuckles and Ymir turns to look at him with an odd expression of relief on her features.
At least one of them has a bit of a bad side.
"Krista, your time's up with the list," Hange states with a smile as they gesture with their hand for the piece of paper to be given back. The whiteness of their teeth contrasts starkly with the pinkish-red of Krista's neutral lips. The young blonde returns the object without so much as a flicker of change in her expression before returning to her partner's side.
It's silent for a moment until she states, "The list is a lot shorter than I had imagined. Since Eren and Connie have been here already, I assume they're both going after all the s'mores stuff. Our best bet is to go after the basic sanitation supplies: napkins, utensils, hand sanitizer, and the like."
Annie doesn't respond. In her opinion, there's a better approach to winning this round of the competition. She's pretty sure that if she wasn't so pissed about getting this bitch as her partner, the solution would come to her fairly easily. Of course, she is Krista's partner for this challenge despite all the odds, so she'll have to deal.
Annie's not always good with dealing.
Taking her silence as some kind of offhand approval, Krista turns on her heel and leads the way back to the Smith mansion so that the two can raid the pantry. For a moment, faint concern flickers through her mind as she wonders whether or not her fellow blonde will even bother to follow her. After a few seconds of leading the way, she finally hears the soft patter of footsteps behind her.
Good.
In all honesty, Krista typically likes when there's no noise; she enjoys hearing the sound of the distant waves and the birds in the background and the soft breath of those around her. This time around, however, the silence is cold, frigid, and threatens to drown her within her own thoughts. And sometimes that's okay, but when she's in a bad mood—like right now—it is most certainly not okay.
They pass the pool deck, where that Reiner kid is trying to stop his redheaded partner from puking into the chlorinated water—to no avail.
As soon as the silence is distorted by the sound of Sasha's retching, Krista snaps. "So are you suddenly a mute or something? Or do you just not have anything worth saying? Either's fine with me, I guess—they wouldn't be particularly shocking given your case."
Malice flashes in Annie's eyes—unbeknownst to the blonde in front of her—as memories of a life lived long ago flash through her mind. If she wasn't as rational as she is, she would pummel the girl in front of her to a bloody pulp. Of course, she quickly reminds herself that there's no way this chick would know anything about her past. It just wouldn't make sense.
Still, it's hard to ignore the bubbling anger pulsing through her veins.
"I don't like you," she spits.
Krista's not really sure what she had been expecting; she's even more surprised as she realizes that these are the first words that the other has ever spoken to her. What an impression.
They've reached the sliding glass door of the mansion now, and as she opens the door, she turns and manages a bemused expression. "Oh?"
"No need to play coy—we both know that you already knew that," Annie states, avoiding the glazed-over blue of her partner as she shoulders past her into the house.
In all honesty, Krista doesn't know what to say. Did she already know that? She has no idea. All she knows is that she's lost power in this conversation—something that she hates to admit—and that the air in the room has suddenly become very stiff and uncomfortable. Shit. "Oh," she finally manages with a forced, ringing laugh.
Historia doesn't like getting caught offguard. Getting caught offguard means that you're weak. Getting caught offguard means that you're a liability. Getting caught offguard means that you no longer have a purpose. Historia doesn't like getting caught offguard.
And so even though she knows it's not her place to say anything, she does it anyway. "I also know about your father, and wow, isn't that one hell of a story."
Annie freezes and something inside Krista's chest drops. She can feel her skin run cold and she's shaking now and dear Lord she thought that she had outgrown such childish mannerisms.
The power's back in her hands though—back where it belongs—and so she forces a smirk and pushes past the other girl to investigate the pantry.
Annie never moves from her spot.
"My mouth tastes icky now," Sasha whines as she falls to a crumpled heap on the side of the pool. Chunks of her breakfast float in the water before her and Reiner is just thankful that he managed to stomach the straight five minutes of puking. He also feels like he should get brownie points for holding back his partner's hair as she threw up. Like, man. Talk about your unproblematic fave.
"I don't really know how I can help and I'm no medical genius. I think we should get you some water though?" In her dazed state, she crawls closer to the edge of the pool and leans over its surface. "No, no, not that water!" He grimaces.
In all honesty, Reiner isn't sure what to do. Like, how do you drink so much this early in the morning? Did she not know her limits? Was this a first-time thing for her?
"I'm sleepy," she mumbles and then all of a sudden she's snoring.
They have a scavenger hunt to focus on. But it would probably look bad if he just left her. So with a sigh, he hoists her onto his back, hunches over so that she won't fall, and—because he doesn't know where else to go—heads straight for the bar.
"I can't believe that they got the chocolate and the graham crackers," Connie groans. "And I can't believe that the dumb staff didn't put that stuff in the pantry," Connie groans. He's on his knees with his head in his hands—the real image of true despair.
"You don't know that they're not," Mikasa points out, "Krista wouldn't let you in."
"Yeah, well, she didn't let Eren in either, and he still got the chocolate and graham crackers! Besides, we found the marshmallows in a bush and the skewers were floating in the jacuzzi."
Well, this was true.
The brunette can do nothing but sigh. In all honesty, they hadn't come up with the best game plan in the first place. "We get more points for coming up with items that weren't on the list anyway. So what else can we look for that could be used for the campfire?"
It's silent between them until Connie suddenly perks up, "Oh, hey! My mom sent me this really awesome bluetooth speaker this morning! We could use it to play some music while we're all hanging out around the campfire—it would make for a pretty awesome atmosphere, I think."
A small smile has made its way to Mikasa's lips from the simplicity of the idea. "I was thinking that we could get some drinks as well. It's weird that they weren't on the list, but people are definitely going to be thirsty."
Her partner beams before gesturing for her to give him an ecstatic high five. "Yes, perfect, Mikasa! I'm so glad that I have you as my partner! Eren and the others don't stand a chance!"
She can't help but blush a little as she chuckles at his enthusiasm. It's nice feeling like people like you. And she's realizing that what makes Connie such a likable guy is his easygoing personality and nonchalant nature in regards to everything.
"Okay."
"It's a shame that the things we were going for seem to have already been taken," Armin admits with a sigh. He doesn't want to say aloud that maybe it was a bad idea to spend so much time planning rather than actually doing because he already knows that Jean's spent so much energy observing his actions and such a blunt truth would irritate the other. He doesn't have the energy to present the honesty in a nicer manner either though because making himself seem likable in the first place can be so difficult. Especially when he gets the feeling that Jean thinks way too highly of him—which is odd, given the other's seemingly self-absorbed nature.
Armin doesn't like letting other people down though.
Jean's seated beside him on one of the deck chairs, absentmindedly watching a few of the staff members attempting to clean the pool of the floating vomit. They obviously don't know what they're doing—and if Jean weren't feeling bad right now, he would probably laugh at their misfortune. "Yeah, I guess," he mumbles, still running through a potential list of items that he can suggest that won't sound vaguely embarrassing.
The blond can feel the annoyance bubbling past his threshold however, because he's not stupid and knows that his partner's obviously keeping something from him. Which is incredibly dumb because he should know that they really have no other options here. Of course, Armin knows that he has to approach the situation in a careful manner so as to not push the brunet into an even worse strained silence. "We really don't have any other alternatives right now, I think. I wish I was creative enough to save the day, but all I was able to do was come up with a half-assed strategy that didn't even work," he manages, adding a choked scoff at the end for a more dramatic effect. "It all seemed so promising when we were talking earlier too… We definitely could have won…"
Amber eyes flicker to the right and then back down at his shoes.
He really needs to get over himself, doesn't he?
With a sigh, Jean straightens out of his hunched over position, turning his attention upwards at the sky as he prepares to speak. (Armin is careful enough to hide his small smirk in the sleeve of his sweater.) "Um, some meat—chicken would probably be safest since we don't want to accidentally offend anyone's religion—pineapple, bell peppers and bacon would be good. Coconut milk would be good for marination and I'm sure the pantry offers a wide assortment of salts and peppers. Tortilla shells would be good too, and then we just need tongs and aluminum foil. There are still a couple of hours left and this'll probably work if we take pictures of the ingredients to show what we've done—" There's a bright red blush spread across his cheeks as he continues to ramble.
It's incredibly clear that his partner's given all of this a lot of thought and Armin honestly can't help but be surprised. "Whoa, you cook?"
"Y-Yeah, it's a hobby of mine, I guess. I've never made kabobs or quesadillas before—especially over a campfire, but I think I can make it work," Jean mumbles into the collar of his shirt.
The condescending expression quickly morphs into a more relaxed smile as he realizes that wow, this guy was so obsessed with putting on such a "great" image for himself that he was embarrassed to admit that he was some sort of culinary genius. "I think that's really cool, Jean. You're definitely the guy I would want as my college roommate!"
The words seem to surprise his partner who freezes in his fumbling to finally face the boy with blue eyes. However, he regains his composure rather quickly and forces a lame cough in an attempt to cover up his embarrassment. "Oh. Well, cool. Thanks. Now, uh, let's start getting stuff in the kitchen ready."
By the end of that sentence, he's already three-quarters of the way to the sliding glass door of the mansion and Armin can't help but chuckle.
The chuckling turns into full-fledged laughter when Jean tries to open the door, gets cut off by a snarky Krista from the inside, and has said door effectively slammed in his face.
"You could help you know," Jean glares, and Armin notes with vague interest that his partner has both low patience and no idea with how to deal with embarrassment.
Jean's not Krista though—Armin doesn't particularly need him. But Jean's an interesting character and Armin imagines that there's a lot more to him than meets the eye. So he won't piss the guy off—this time, at least.
Hands in his pockets, Armin calmly brushes past his fuming partner and takes his place in front of the front door. "Krista, it's me. Open up."
For a second, there's no movement behind the glass. Then a curtain is effectively pulled by the agitated blonde herself so that she doesn't have to deal with the two men outside.
"Krista. Is someone still upset that they couldn't even defeat Eren Jaeger in a battle of wits?"
Something fragile is dropped on the other side of the glass, followed by vehement swearing and forcibly loud stomps. The curtains are thrown to the side to reveal an obscenely offended Krista who continues to curse as she opens the door for them.
Jean doesn't know if this is just how she is all the time, only when she's around Armin, or if they just caught her in a really bad mood. She's kind of freaky though. And hot.
Noted.
As he steps into the mansion, Armin casts an amused look over his shoulder at his fellow blonde. "Thanks, doll."
She grits her teeth but says nothing. Instead, her eyes flash to another figure across the room, who's staring back at her in undisguised contempt. As Armin follows her gaze and connects the dots in his head, he resists the urge to facepalm.
If Krista was better at making herself likable, it would be so much easier for him to get what he needed.
"A-Are you sure you don't need any help?"
Ymir slams the axe into the wood and allows it to rest there while she wipes some sweat off from her forehead. "Yeah, Freckles. I feel like if I trust you with this badboy here, you'll somehow end up chopping yourself in half. And that is a mess that I do not want to explain."
Marco shuffles uncomfortably in his position a few feet behind them woman and mumbles a mild, "Oh, okay."
She allows herself a short glance at her teammate and takes in the pitiful slump of his shoulders, the solemnness in his eyes, and the slight downward tug of his lips.
She feels herself actually cringe.
"How about you get started on thinking up some other items we can snag?" The poor kid just wants to feel useful. Ymir can understand that much.
He brightens up a little bit at the suggestion before settling himself on the grass as Ymir resumes hacking away at the wood. Once they had picked up the axe from the staff's toolshed, they were redirected to a more remote area of the island which was apparently the only area in which they were allowed to chop wood. Marco could imagine that others would find it kind of creepy—especially with only having Ymir as company—but he kind of liked the solace it provided. It'a comforting sort of atmosphere that kind of reminded him of home, of his family.
"You know, when I was younger, my family went camping a lot."
"Yeah?"
Marco nods though he knows Ymir can't see it. "Yeah, we had a lot of weird traditions."
Another tree falls and the freckled woman pauses once more to wipe the sweat off her brow. "All my dad and I ever did was replace the chocolate with caramel. So we can do that as one of our items."
"That sounds like a good idea."
Ymir turns to survey the amount of wood they've chopped and wipes her hands of the dirt before allowing herself to fall back against the pile, ignoring the discomfort of its texture. She looks to her partner to see if he's ready to start moving, but he seems lost in his own thoughts. She won't admit it, but she's exhausted. So it's a good thing, she guesses. Her eyes flutter shut as she tunes into the bird calls a few meters away.
"We used to go once a month," Marco starts, breaking the silence. Ymir doesn't mind. The birds were getting annoying anyway. "It was like our family bonding thing. We'd spend an entire afternoon hiking in order to find the best campsite and would spend another hour and a half setting everything up—my younger brothers wouldn't really help, but that's okay. Then we'd have dinner around the fire. My mom would bring out the skewers and then afterward, we'd toast marshmallows and cinnamon rolls over the blue flames, and when we were done, I'd throw in some aluminum powder for my brother's favorite silver sparks—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down there, Freckles. Your family is either made up of pagans or I'm missing something here."
Marco's clearly surprised by her interruption, but covers it up with a sheepish grin. "Oh, sorry. I, um, when you soak the logs in a mixture of alcohol and your preferred chemicals—my brothers really loved strontium chloride and copper chloride—they'll change the color of the fire when they burn. You just have to let them dry. I liked throwing in aluminum powder to give it more of a magical effect before we all hit the tent for the night and—"
"I'm kind of lost, but that sounds really cool?" Ymir offers. "It would be so awesome if we could recreate something like that tonight! I'm sure that it'll definitely put us a step above the rest! The toasted cinnamon rolls sound like they'll be delicious too."
She doesn't really know what kind of reaction she had been expecting, but when her partner's face lights up even more, she figures it's more than good enough. "Hopefully the staff can hook us up! The longer we soak the wood, the more vibrant the colors!"
He's jumped out of his seat now and is hurriedly trying to scoop up as many logs of wood as he can into his arms—it's not very successful at all, but Ymir definitely finds it amusing. With a muffled grunt, she lifts herself from the waist up and begins to pick up after the science nerd as he skips forward.
Bertholdt looks at Eren like he's slightly crazy, but Eren decides not to think too much on it because Bertholdt seems to be a nice guy that simply can't control his expression (also because it's the expression he's held ever since they started this partnership, but oh well).
"Chestnuts," the taller boy repeats carefully.
"Yeah, you know, like the song! Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…"
Eren has a pretty nice voice—Bertholdt has to admit that much. It's a low tenor that's slightly off-key but so full of genuine spirit that you hardly notice. Still, the idea seems a bit… forced.
"I don't know, Eren…"
The boy throws his head back in honest laughter. "I guess it's a bit of a stretch but I can't really think of anything else—unless you have some secret talent that you just aren't telling me about. But you know. Whatever."
In all honesty, Bertholdt doesn't consider himself to be a very interesting guy. He lived with his mom, his step-dad, and two siblings (Axel, a twenty-two-year-old college slacker, and Lorelei, his nine-year-old little sister) in a suburban neighborhood that was voted the top place to live in the country simply because it had good schools and a nonexistent crime rate. In his free time, all he really did was watch over Lorelei and hang out with his best friend (and Teenage Wasteland reject, Finny). If he had a secret talent, then it must've been so elusive that not even he was aware of it.
Which would definitely be a big waste.
"Well, hey," Eren suggests, seeing the taller boy's brows furrow in some kind of concern, "Let's just find some chestnuts and then hunt for some random junk in our rooms—doubt that there'll be anyone there to yell at us for going on floors that we're not to be on. Come on!"
Bertholdt figures that they don't have any better ideas so he'll just follow suit.
[ REC o ]
Eren struggles to adjust the camera into a favorable position before falling back onto the confessional booth's stool with a wide grin on his face. "Long story short? Bertholdt was totally keeping a secret talent from me."
"Attention, contestants! The time limit for the scavenger hunt has elapsed and we now ask all of you to meet us back at the pool deck for your evaluations!" Petra chirrups into the microphone.
The echo of her voice from the speakers around the island leave her with a prideful smile as Levi continues to prod at Erwin's back with his foot. "It's been hours now." A silent question is being asked within his words as he raises his head to face the brunette beside him. "I wouldn't be surprised if I accidentally killed him because that's totally just my luck."
"You didn't kill him," Petra affirms with a roll of the eyes. "He couldn't sleep the night before and you just… knocked him out so he wouldn't struggle anymore. Maybe if you didn't give him a black eye he would thank you."
Levi snorts at the comment but smiles nonetheless. "Yeah. I'll just call Hange and make them deal with it. They're good at dealing with things. Or making them worse. It's either a hit or miss."
AND THE RESULTS ARE IN!
Armin and Jean: 45 points
Ymir and Marco: 28 points
Connie and Mikasa: 24 points
Reiner and Sasha: 15 points
Eren and Bertholdt: 14 points
Krista and Annie: 8 points
By seven, all of the contestants have showered and redressed.
Levi had stopped by his tent to grab a change of clothes (because islands are hot and sweat is gross and it was probably a bad idea to be wearing jeans in this kind of weather), seen Hange awkwardly tending to Erwin's face with a bagful of ice, noted that they had tucked Erwin into the ground with the tarp of their tent, and then bolted out of there. He's currently in a sour mood hoping that this campfire will at least be somewhat entertaining. And will have good food.
He's also hoping that he can get Mikasa to sneak him a pillow from her room, but that would have to wait.
"I'm not even mad that we didn't win," Eren insists as he walks down the stairs with Connie. "Like, bro, you don't even understand. Bertholdt and I are going to wreck."
"How can you wreck anything if you're basically at the bottom of the leaderboard? Eren, please. You're just mad because even though you got the chocolate and graham crackers, Mikasa and I still managed to destroy your score."
The brunet only laughs at the remark. "You'll understand it better later. The numbers don't matter: in the end, it's all about how fun tonight is."
"That sounded like a line from a really cheesy teenage movie on Disney Channel," Jean cuts in. The smile is wiped off Eren's face as his nose crinkles in distaste. "Oh come on, I didn't even say anything remotely douchey that time. Calm your balls."
Connie can't help laugh at Jean's immediate defensiveness and before the three know it, they tumble down the stairs because Reiner isn't watching where he's going. Suddenly they're all screaming, blaming one another, and trying to push the former athlete off, but the fallen blond is too exhausted from taking care of his partner earlier in the day to even acknowledge their plight.
At the top of the staircase, Armin and Ymir continue to alternate between looking at the heap of testosterone on the floor and each other before bursting out into laughter.
Ascending from their rooms downstairs are Annie and Mikasa; the latter seems to be worried about something the former isn't saying and the former's gaze looks dull and lifeless. The two stop for a moment to gaze at the scene before the shorter girl rolls her blue eyes and starts to lead the way to the campfire.
Not too far behind are Marco and Bertholdt, who are aiding Sasha in not falling to the ground in a dazed heap. Of course, once she catches sight of the dogpile on the floor, she's quick to join in. The two men that had been at her side stare at each other with an identical expression: should they still even bother?
Noting their expressions, Ymir steps forward with a huff, mumbles something incoherent, and sure enough, Connie and Eren suddenly find the strength to throw Reiner off of their bodies.
Krista's just come up the stairs by herself and regards the fallen men at her feet with only vague bewilderment. She raises her eyes to meet Armin's but finds that the other is attempting to assuage a developing dispute between Jean and Eren. And that's probably not that big of a deal. But today's been a fucking crappy one for her and even though Armin was a total asswipe, he was still supposed to be her constant on the show.
The blonde feels something unsettling begin to bubble and froth within the pit of her stomach but takes care to retain her stoic expression. Not knowing what to do wasn't okay. But she would make it work. Definitely. Maybe. Probably not at all. Well, shit, man—
"You alright?"
She blinks at the sudden question, not realizing that she had lost herself within her own thoughts. Standing before her is a taller woman in basketball shorts and a muscle tee. Her dark hair is down and still wet, dripping onto the expensive tiles as she stares down at her fellow contestant. "I asked you a question—are you not going to answer it?"
Krista huffs at her companion's lack of patience. "Didn't think it was worth my time."
Ymir's a bit shocked at the burst of venom, but the disbelief quickly turns to agitation. "Okay, look: I'm not going to be nice to you if you're not nice to me and I really don't give a fuck. But I'm just saying that everyone's already gone outside and you've been standing here looking like a lost bitch for the past two minutes. I don't know what the hell your problem is, but get the fuck over it and stop trying to pretend like it's everyone else's fault when it has nothing to do with any of us." With that, she turns on her heel and exits through the open glass door.
The blonde tries to ignore the prickling cold that attacks her forearms as she pulls at the sleeves of her cardigan. It doesn't really work.
Oh. Today really is a bad day.
"What the fuck, Jean, you can actually cook?"
"I don't understand why it has to be so shocking," he responds, glare seemingly permanent on his features.
Sasha waves a dismissive hand as she continues to grab more kabobs and chips to put on her plate. "Connie's just mad because you're getting all the attention," she slurs. A strawberry-peach wine cooler is at her feet and the others can't help but wonder if they should be concerned in regards to their new friend's alcohol obsession. At least she had decided to share with everyone, as she and Reiner had supplied the night's alcohol.
The shorter man beside her flushes at the comment and turns his attention to Eren. "Yo, have you connected your phone to my speakers yet? You said you had good music and I'm wondering why I even bothered to believe you!"
All twelve of the contestants are sitting around the fire on either spare logs from Ymir and Marco's logging adventure or spare blankets the two had found in the latter's suitcases. The fire is burning a shocking blood orange with golden sparks sputtering out every once in a while and everyone—for the most part—looks like they're having a good time. Jean had supplied an arrangement of kabobs, tortilla chips, and quesadillas (Armin had admitted that he hadn't been very helpful), and now the group—Levi included—is enjoying the flavors of the Mexican coast that he's recreated.
Mikasa can't help but be entranced by the way the fire licks at the pineapple on her skewer and the way the sparks add an intensified magic to the night. Annie is behind her, staying seated on the blanket that they had procured, and as Mikasa allows her thoughts to drift back to her blonde friend, she can't help but feel worried. Ever since they had gotten back from the scavenger hunt, it was evident that Annie's standoffish nature had evolved into something much deeper and much more genuine. She wants to ask what's wrong, but something tells her that doing so would only make Annie feel worse.
So she settles the second kabob down on the paper plate, next to the chips and quesadilla slice, before grabbing two beers and reclaiming her seat next to her friend. When the blue-eyed girl looks up with a question in her eyes, Mikasa only smiles. "I got a bit ahead of myself and grabbed too much food. Come on. Let's share."
Annie stares at the plate of food and at the two bottles of beer in the brunette's hands and allows a small smile to grace her features. "You're an awful liar. But thanks. You really didn't have to."
Mikasa shrugs before popping the caps off of the drinks. "I'm used to taking care of others, I guess. Not a problem."
"Connie, I swear, every time I try to pick a song, something else starts playing! It's this weird shit that I've never even heard of before. You guys should be thankful that I'm keeping the volume low," Eren calls.
"Sounds like you're just making excuses for not being able to figure it out by yourself," Armin retorts with a smug grin on his face.
The brunet laughs at the remark before ultimately giving up and taking a seat between Reiner and the blond. "Whatever, we don't really need music anyway. The party here is lively enough!"
Reiner laughs at this and ruffles the shorter boy's hair. "It's because people are starting to get drunk. Things always get better when people are drunk."
"Except when they're puking everywhere," Sasha pipes in with a mischievous glimmer in her eye. When Reiner gives her a pained expression as his only response, she throws back her head in roaring shrieks of glee that end up incredibly contagious.
Armin, who's seated next to Marco, turns to face the freckled boy. "I'm not going to lie, these flames are really awesome. I would've never thought to mix lithium and calcium chloride this way! Then again, I suppose that chemistry isn't really my forte."
A nervous smile raises its lips on Marco's features. "Haha, I would say the same—I definitely prefer physics. I'm actually attending Trost University in the fall and—"
"Whoa!" Jean interrupts. "Hey, man, I'm going there too! What's your orientation date?"
Bertholdt smiles as he watches his friend speak to others. He's not exactly sure why, but he gets the feeling that it's not very common for him to do so. Marco still looks a bit tense and uncomfortable in the conversation, but he's doing okay and okay is a lot better than nothing at all.
"Man, I'm so excited for the s'mores. And the cinnamon rolls. The sugar in general, to be honest."
Seated beside him is Ymir, who's snacking on some chips and languidly swirling some chocolate liquor in a martini glass. Bertholdt nods. "The actual food is practically gone at this point. I'm anxious to get dessert started—it's always my favorite part of any meal."
She smirks in response before elbowing him suggestively. "Say, I bet that if we start it, the others are sure to join in in no time."
In that moment, Ymir reminds Bertholdt a lot of Eren and he's not very sure how he feels about it. But sure enough, it's not long before she grabs him by the sleeve of his shirt and whisks him away to the bar where all of the dessert items are being kept.
Before anyone knows it, it's raining marshmallows and chocolate bars on all of the blankets and a scoop of frozen ice cream is forced down the backs of Reiner and Connie's shirts.
"The brats are having a lot of fun," Levi mumbles.
"Well, yeah—campfires do that to people. Did you really not believe me when I threw out the pitch?"
"Hell no. I thought it was one of the dumbest ideas I had ever heard." His eyes dart to Petra's for a second and he feels a bit of guilt. "No offense or anything."
He wishes that Erwin were here. Erwin always knows how to make his seemingly asshole-ish comments a whole lot nicer.
Petra's starting to figure Levi out a bit though, so she forces herself to grin and bear the comment. "None taken. The only thing that's important is that I proved you wrong."
He allows himself a small sigh of relief before passing her one of the marshmallows in what he means as a humble sort of peace offering. She offers a tiny smile back before joking, "You don't win girls over with marshmallows, you know. We're more into cinnamon rolls."
An actual laugh erupts from his throat, though he quickly cuts himself off. "Please. If I was flirting with you, you wouldn't have been able to notice. Besides, I'm pretty sure that any person I date would have to also be willing to date Erwin. We're kind of a two-for-one deal that I didn't want to be a part of—but you know how he is."
She isn't quite sure how she's supposed to respond to that so she's incredibly relieved when Erwin's face suddenly appears in Levi's lap as he screams, "Levi, look at what Hange did to my face!"
The kids around the fire burst into laughter at something that Sasha's said and it's not long before the cheerful mirth is joined by Petra and Levi.
"Hey, Jean."
"What is it, Eren?" the boy calls, obviously drunk on chocolate covered marshmallows.
"I finally got you to call me by my first name instead of my last!" he cheers before tripping over a log and falling face-first in Bertholdt's lap. "This is cause for celebration! Quick! Bertholdt! Get the thing!"
He's not making much sense, but that's okay because suddenly it's almost midnight and they've all been drinking alcohol so no one really makes sense at this point.
Bertholdt, however, is quite sober in comparison to everyone else. Him, Marco, Annie, Mikasa, Krista, and Armin. Perhaps it was a downstairs person sort of thing. Nevertheless, he repositions the fallen boy in Ymir's lap (who cackles with laughter as she pours the last of her drink in Eren's hair, excitedly pointing out to the others that it's like camouflage) and finds his way back to the house to get "the thing."
When he returns, Sasha—who's migrated over next to Mikasa—points at it in excitement. "Oh! It's so shiny!"
"It's a guitar," Annie notes aloud, vaguely interested. Sasha seems to be in complete marvel over this revelation.
The others erupt into a chorus of "ooh"s, "aah"s, and in Connie's case, an exuberant, "Hell yeah, we're going to set it on fire!"
"No, Connie. We are not going to set Bertholdt's guitar on fire. That's very rude, would probably hurt his feelings, and I'm sure that you would regret it in the morning," Armin states calmly. He places a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down a bit, but it doesn't really work as well as he had hoped.
"The only thing I'll regret in the morning is not socking Eren's face for messing up my speakers! Like, bro, I just got those!"
There's a loud shout from the brunet that ends up being muffled since his face his still hidden within Ymir's lap. "He says that they were shittyass speakers anyway and that Bertholdt's 'thing' is way fucking cooler," she translates. Hearing this, the brunet sits up in a more proper position and nods passionately, obviously agreeing with himself.
"Well, Bertholdt, what've you got?"
"Uh," he adjusts his collar nervously. "It depends on what you guys are in the mood for singing, I guess. I know 'Wonderwall,' 'Counting Stars,' 'Night Changes,' and 'Free Fallin'' off the top of my head. But I'm sure that I can figure something out if you guys are interested in something else."
A medley of all four names is called out by the crowd, no single winner evident.
"Oh, hey!" Marco pipes up, turning to face the staff members assembled at the get-together. "You know, we never found out who the fan favorite of the day was."
The others cheer for his good memory as Levi curses for his forgetfulness and Petra lets out an innocent "Oops!"
Erwin though, just as level-headed as he usually is when he actually gets sleep, pulls out an envelope from seemingly nowhere and taunts the drunk teenagers with it. "And the winner is…" They take the bait fairly easily and Reiner creates a makeshift drumroll by pounding at the log he's seated next to.
"Mikasa!"
The brunette in question seems honestly surprised by the revelation and the other eleven kids applaud for her. Levi allows himself to crack a smile as well. He definitely hadn't been expecting that.
"Okay, okay, so Mikasa has to pick the song first. That's only fair," Jean states. Eren nods fervently, acting as though this decision was the most important one of the entire day.
In all honesty, Mikasa hates picking music. She's the type of girl that just gets enjoyment out of listening to what others like, and decision making is not her forte. Not knowing what else to do, she turns to Annie for support. Annie, of course, is focused on the dancing flames and hardly takes notice of the dilemma at hand. Ultimately it's Sasha who pipes up next to her in excitement, "Ooh, 'Night Changes!' Mikasa, please!"
"'Night Changes,'" she repeats. Sasha cheers, a few of the others grumble, and Eren's nodding has hit an all time high.
With that said, Bertholdt gets into position and begins to strum his guitar. It would have been expected that Sasha's voice would be heard above the rest, but in all actuality, it ends up being Eren.
"Going out tonight, changes into something red…"
His voice is scratchy, but it's also warm, and it entices the others that hadn't been taking the song seriously to start doing so. There's a nostalgia in Bertholdt's playing that's kind of like the sound of a memory being made and, for the first time, everyone feels like they've made an odd sort of home on the reality television show. The feeling is stronger in some people than it is in others—but it's persistent.
"We're only getting older, baby… And I've been thinking about it lately…"
Mikasa's voice stands out as much as Eren's does. It's soft and gentle and Annie can't help but think that it sounds like kindness personified. It makes her squirm a bit in discomfort, but the feeling goes away when the brunette turns to her friend with reassurance sparkling in her eyes. Beside her, Sasha's started to steal the show with a powerful voice that no one had been expecting from the petite girl. She's, by far, the most talented singer of the group.
"Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes?"
In his head, Marco can't help but think that it sort of reminded him of his own family campfires.
He smiles.
Everyone is smiling.
Except her.
"It will never change me and you."
a/n: Jesus Christ, this chapter is a monster. An awfully overdue monster. Guys, I genuinely apologize for how late this chapter is coming out. The creative juices just weren't flowing and I was struggling to get things worded properly. This is basically three weeks overdue though, and I don't really have an excuse.
Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed my longest chapter so far! I'm having a bit of trouble with the pacing, to be honest, because even though this is the conclusion of the second episode of the show, it's the sixth chapter of the story and everyone kind of lives together so it's hard to keep personal things personal. That being said, there's a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, and I really did try my best to spread out the spotlight a bit more. Not sure how successful I was, but please let me know!
I actually made some character profiles in an attempt to solidify everyone's personalities and figure out how to make each of them shine more. Put them all under the MBTI test, and there are two pairs of people who ended up getting the same result. Brownie points to anyone who guesses correctly!
Mikasa was the fan favorite this episode! Close behind her was Krista, and third place was a tie between Eren and Ymir. I'm happy to say that the votes were spread out a lot more evenly this time! I'm definitely taking that as a good sign.
Well, that's all I have to say this time around. Feedback is definitely appreciated! Thank you for sticking around and reading this far, everyone. It really means a lot. c:
(minor edits 05/09/2017)