Dances and Ruin// Reiner Braun x OC

Chapter Fifteen

Reiner's eyes begin to creep open to take in the sight of a small fire sitting in the center of the room. Everyone else seems to be sound asleep. Even Peri, who had her head in his lap as he fell asleep, is curled up on the other side of the floor now. How'd she end up over there? No matter. Reiner takes a deep breath and brings himself to a standing position, deciding to take a look around now that he's awake. He decides to take the time to wander around what spaces there are tucked away within the castle itself. The castle doesn't really have much to offer in light of spectacles or things of interest, save for a few old boxes that seem to have been emptied out long ago and a couple of old books, most of which have been damaged in some way or another. No less, he continues to wander in hopes of finding something worth his efforts. Regardless of his hopeless attempt at remaining distracted, he can't shake the gnawing suspicion that things are about to change. Whether for worse or for better, he can't really tell, and he's sure that's what so maddening about it.

He sighs as he opens up the door to a spare room somewhere in the farthest recesses of the castle to find that it is already faintly illuminated by the torch of another person. The rustling sounds should have given away before he even cracked the door open, but he chalked the sounds up to rummaging mice or animals. Thinking back on it now, he should've known that no rodent would be making sounds like that. "Ymir? What are you doing?" He asks upon realizing that she was the only one missing when he started to wander around himself.

She looks over her shoulder and scoffs, "Seriously? What are you doing? Here to ravage me? Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't think you were all that into girls."

"Uh," he pauses, "Come on, you know I'm with Peri. Even then, since we're on the subject, I didn't think you were all that into guys."

She laughs humorlessly, turning her attention back to the crate of supplies before her. If you must know, I'm scavenging for leftovers like a street urchin. I prefer not to meet my maker on an empty stomach."

Reiner rolls his eyes and peeks out the side of the doorway before stepping inside fully and closing the door a little more. "Look, about earlier, with Connie. Were you teasing him to take his mind off of things?" he asks. "It'd be great if you could keep that up. The less he dwells on his family right now, the better." As much as Reiner hates to admit it, Ymir had done something that helped Connie take his focus off of the topic, and put his mind at ease a bit, even if the way she went about it was rude. I'm grateful for that, it helps him feel a bit better and helps the rest of us keep moving. But is that all there was to it, really?

Ymir stills briefly before continuing to rummage ceaselessly through the supplies. "What are you talking about?" Silence. "Huh, this might be good," she says, her tone shifting completely. "Herring's not my favorite, but whatever."

"Herring, huh? Can I see?" Reiner inquires, genuinely intrigued.

"Help yourself," she replies handing the can off to Reiner.

Reiner's eyes glance at the text for a split second as he begins to speak, "I can't believe there's canned food here." Realization strikes the second he finishes his sentence. What is this? How can she read it? How does she know it's herring? I've never seen this language before. "What the-- Wait. What is this? I can't read a word of it. How do you know this is herring? This, uh, label... it's in another language. Ymir, how can you..."

The girl's head slowly lifts as her eyes cut back to look at him. She looks almost as if she's going to answer, but Reiner is unsure that she would. Either way, it's not like he'll get to find out, as a voice calls from the stairway in the center of the tower. "Everyone! Wake up! Get to the tower immediately!"