Although the thunderous storm lasted only throughout the night, the rain that came upon the island along with the monsoon season, somehow decided to stay. The sixth day passed as water kept falling from the sky and so did the seventh. And so, the inhabitants of the grove gradually grew more and more tired with the state of the weather.
Eren lazily scraped the remainders of the coconut flesh from the shell. It's been a whole week since they've ended up here, and it seemed like most of the people's attitudes from earlier had managed to cool down. They had dry, warm shelters for everyone and enough food to last for a little longer. But the fact that they weren't starving didn't mean they had an unlimited supply. Soon, they would start having less and less and along that, arguments over who got the better portion would spur.
Of course, fresh water wasn't an issue for them, given that it was still raining. However, one particular problem that Eren hadn't foreseen at the very beginning made itself known.
On the island, there was no clear place for a lavatory. At first, it didn't bother anyone, since they were going around, taking care of their needs whenever and wherever they had to. But when they were all staying in a shelter, everyone became aware of this elephant in the room.
Nobody wanted to live in a place that stank worse than it needed to. Besides, Armin told the young chief that it probably wasn't a good idea to keep the excrement around food. Therefore, he decided to meet with a representative from the girls, to talk this problem over.
The representative was of course, Ymir. She was the oldest of them all, but she didn't seem to have the same kind of attitude as Eren, so she never really stepped out of the line. If anything, she was extremely conciliatory in every difficult situation, trying to mitigate any arguments that got out of hand.
During their meeting the duo agreed that they were all in need of a place for lavatory. Of course, both boys and girls needed one of their own, so what they really had to do, was to find two good spots, far enough from the grove so as to not cause any sanitary trouble, but close enough that anyone in need could reach them in time.
Even during the rain, finding those kinds of places wasn't all too hard. After a thorough lookout with the help from Connie, Eren found one small cove covered by trees from all sides, that had the ocean water wash over its surface every day.
Finding a second place didn't turn out too well. There was no other remote cove like this one, and building anything in the rain didn't really sound like an option to the boys. So instead, they just placed two small logs on opposite ends of the inlet and called it a day.
This didn't meet with a good reception from the girls. They didn't really want to encounter any boys while taking care of their business and such a solution wasn't received well.
Eren sighed as he looked towards one particular brown-haired boy sitting by the shelter wall and whittling something that seemed to be a spoon from a small piece of wood.
Did he seriously suspect him of foul play against Jean? At the time, it really seemed like Marcel was up to something, but as Eren kept thinking about it longer and longer, the more honest the other boy's actions seemed.
Why would he carve that arrow on the tree if he was trying to cook something up? Attempting a murder was something that required as much secrecy as possible, so why announce it outright?
One thing was clear. Eren didn't trust Marcel. The other boy had his own goals and ambitions and those didn't certainly align with his own.
"Hey…" The young chief heard suddenly from behind.
"What is it?" Eren asked, before turning around to face his blonde-haired friend.
"I was thinking" Armin started "about the signalling fire… Maybe if we used sappy wood, it could burn even during the rain…"
Now this sounded irrational even to Eren.
"Wait" the dark-haired boy spoke, before raising his hand "the sky is fully clouded. There's no way whatever smoke we could make here would be seen by anyone from a distance."
"Not to mention" Porco interjected with a sour tone "It's raining quite heavily in this part of the world. No sailor that is right in the head would come here anyway."
Upon that, the bespectacled boy dejectedly looked down.
"You should've known that" Eren said after a few moments "your dad is in the navy…"
"Yeah, you're right" Armin responded "I don't know what's been coming over me, recently…"
All of a sudden, the atmosphere in the shelter worsened. Now that it was explicitly said, everyone could feel the hopelessness of the situation. The young chief looked towards his blonde friend.
If he knew already, why did he even speak? Was it because of some ulterior motive, some self-righteousness that Armin wanted to project?
"Never mind…" Eren exclaimed, after the long pause, trying to ease the tension in the air "…I need to meet up with Ymir, to talk things out…"
Going to the meeting, his resolve was all but gone. The problem they were going to discuss was important to everyone but right then he wasn't in the right mind to do anything.
As he reached the appointed tree, he was greeted by a smile from the older girl.
"Hey" the freckled female spoke while waving friendly at him "are you okay?"
"I'm fine" Eren responded, trying not to show any weakness.
"Really?" Ymir asked with concern "from my point of view, you seem troubled."
Was it really that hard to hide?
"What does it have to do with anything?" The chief asked in response, trying to divert the attention from his wellbeing.
"A lot, actually" the older girl spoke "I may not seem like it, but I lived with nuns for the greater part of my life."
Eren sighed for the second time today.
"Your body's needs are one thing" Ymir said "but your spirit's needs are another. Sometimes you just need to vent out and try to talk things out with someone else."
"Oh, and what good would that bring, anyway?" Eren exclaimed with annoyance "we're still stranded here, in an unknown part of the world, on an unknown island with no way of contacting the rest of the world and the only thing we're worried about is literal shit?! Give me a break!"
Silence fell between the duo and only the sound of rain could be heard within the grove.
"See" the freckled female finally spoke "and you're still a very good chief."
The flattery only made the boy sigh for the third time.
"Let's just get this over with" Eren said, waving his hand in resignation.
"The girls aren't happy with you boys, peeping on them" Ymir said outright.
"If they want a place of their own, they are free to look for it" the young chief responded "me and Connie were the ones to find it. There's nothing around close enough for us to use besides that."
"Just tell them to yell 'anyone there', while they're approaching" the older girl said, placing a hand on his shoulder "this way, they'll be warned whenever the girls are using."
"Are you suggesting that we don't have any manners?" Eren asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Some of you definitely need to learn them more" Ymir stated firmly "is this condition fine with you?"
The dark-haired boy thought for a bit. It didn't seem out of the blue. Maybe the easiest solution would turn out to be the best one, after all?
"I guess" Eren said, before sighing for the fourth time today.
The rain went on, even as they were wrapping things up.
"One more thing" Ymir said with a smile "I really think you're doing great."
This time, Eren simply stared at her.
"I mean it" the freckled female affirmed "most of the girls do so, as well…"
"Why?"
"Anyone else would go crazy, under so much pressure…"
In a way, Ymir's sentence gave him his lost confidence back. As he was walking over to the shelter, a smile appeared on his face.
'Maybe it's not all that bad, here…'