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The day had finally come, the day she was supposed to meet Eren Jaeger again.
She'd asked Armin to help braid parts of her hair with strings of seashells, and he'd done as she asked. Albeit, he wasn't happy about it; braiding wasn't necessarily one of his specialties.
But she didn't mind. She knew Eren Jaeger wouldn't look too closely at it anyway. It was a good luck charm more than anything else.
When he finished the final braid, she smiled as she looked at her reflection in her handheld mirror.
"Do you like it?" Armin asked. She was about to say yes, but another question came out of her mouth.
"Does it make me look kinder?"
"Kinder?" His brows furrowed.
"Kinder, more approachable."
"Who do you want to approach?" Armin teased, but there was a hint of disdain in his voice.
"It's just a silly question, don't pay too much mind to it." She settled the mirror back into her collection of trinkets. It wasn't grand by any means, but they were hers, and that's all that mattered.
Armin didn't seem convinced by her reply, but then a crack of thunder broke the sky above them, and he looked up. "The storm isn't going to let up anytime soon, is it?"
[Name] pursed her lips and looked up at the darkness swirling above them. It had been raining all day, but she didn't expect a thunderstorm to come along with it.
"Do you think it will clear up?" she asked, doing her best to seem uninterested. "By the time the sun sets, I mean."
"What?" Armin laughed, as if she had asked the silliest question on earth. He only stopped when he noticed her scowl. "No, [Name]. There's no way the storm's going to clear up by tonight. There aren't even any animals around; they're all in hiding."
She swallowed the lump in her throat but nodded nonetheless.
"You're right, I haven't seen so much as a butterfish today," she whispered.
"That's not all. Annie told me that Maytare's been sleeping more than usual. She might need to feed again."
"Already? Didn't she just eat two moons ago?" [Name] turned around to look at him, and Armin could only nod.
"It doesn't matter. She's growing old. Maytare's going to need to replenish, and soon. Some of us are going up to the surface tonight—"
"What?" She sat up quickly. "What do you mean you're going up to the surface tonight? Do you not see the storm? There won't even be any ships out—"
"Yes, there will. Humans are always out in the sea. Mikasa likes hunting in the rain, anyways. She says it makes the humans easier to trick, and you know her true voice. She could sink an entire brigade on her own if she wanted to."
