Freefall | Eren x OC *CURRENTLY BEING RE-EDITED*

Prologue: See You Soon, Eren

"See you soon... Eren...."

A woman with red hair, dressed in white, soothes as she gently kneels down over a man and reaches out to hold his face as his blue-green eyes close slowly.

Those eyes, pools of green, pools of blue.

The first time her eyes met his, it was almost surreal in how utterly mundane it was....

The curtain opens as if she's been dropped into the middle of a play she's starred in this entire time, without full awareness or consciousness. Her eyes, a stunning azure blue, stir and open to find herself spending the last hour of the afternoon wandering through the Shiganshina Shopping Centre, reluctantly treading into the Eldian Bazaar. It's small, overlooked, situated between a Hot Topic and a Le Creuset. She wanders inside, the store being dimly lit and strangely solemn for such prime real estate in a busy shopping mall.

The woman, sporting an head of long, wavey red hair, finds what she's looking for; a row of candles that look almost offensively kitschy. They're long votive candles with The Founder Ymir's likeness stickered on in an overly theistic position as she's flanked by two birds of freedom like some off-brand Virgin Mary. The redhead nervously tucks some of her hair behind her ear as she grabs a candle and quickly takes it over to the counter to be rung up. This place gives her the creeps with how much it drives home the archaic narrative of some long dead empire of Eldia that no one wants or cares about anymore.

"Nothing else for you, dear?" the older salesclerk asks cautiously, raising an eyebrow. "Just the prayer candle?"

"Just the prayer candle," the redhead mumbles an affirmative, not meeting the clerk's prying gaze.

She quickly walks out of the store, ready to forget all about it like she always does once her annual candle purchase is complete. She wanders around the mall aimlessly for a while longer, picking up some ties for work, picking up some chic sunglasses for her boss to appease him. She's finishing up her shopping trip for the day when the mall's bustling Starbucks catches her eyes. She hesitates, it's getting a little late for coffee, but decides against her better judgment to go inside.

Striding across the mall concourse, making sure not to bang into any pedestrian traffic as she does, she walks through the glass doors to discover a long line of customers casually waiting to approach the till. An involuntary soft groan escapes her lips; she'd hoped to grab a quick drink, and head out of the mall and back home. But there's no use complaining, she's made the commitment and stepped inside, she's not about to be that person outing herself as someone who can't handle a simple line.

She walks up to stand behind two men, pulling out her phone out of sheer habit. Her eyes drift up from the screen every so often to take in the two's stature and appearance from behind. The man on the left is tall, wide-set, and sporting a short mop of blonde hair. He's got an idle hand on his hip and wears a pink sleeveless shirt that perfectly frames his muscular frame. Every now and then, he mumbles something over to his companion, a tall slightly slouched man on the right.

"You think Levi'll be pissed we're running late for rehearsal?" the blonde mutters as he shuffles slightly impatiently.

"Probably. Fuck 'em, we'll grab a green tea to make up for it," the other man shrugs carelessly.

"Pfft, yeah I'm sure he'll really appreciate the idea of us bribing him."

The two men chuckle amongst themselves and the woman standing behind lets her eyes fall on the man on the right. A little shorter than the other, maybe a shaved-off inch or two, a much smaller build like some avid swimmer. The woman takes in, perhaps a little voyeuristically, the subtle lines of his back muscles through his slightly damp shirt; he must be sweating in this heat. But what really catches her eye is his hair, long dark brown locks that have been haphazardly tied into a messy manbun.