Off The Beaten Path

Seeing Red Again

☼ LEVI ☼

He fell into the chair, ripping his boots off. His feet ached with cold, his socks were drenched and stuck to his skin uncomfortably. Angrily he ripped them off, hanging them by the fireplace of his small house. It was a one bedroom set off on its own on the land reserved for military and government personnel. There were few houses here but it allowed him to stay near the barracks and his teammates. The houses weren't extravagant or large, most of them built in exactly the same fashion and quickly assembled, but it served his purpose of lodging and privacy. Some of the military didn't purchase property in the reserved section, living instead where their husbands or wives were located.

Levi had opted to be away from people. There was space here, a few feet between homes. He had built a fence, added tall growing shrubbery to afford himself more privacy along the borders of his property. The yard was small enough for him to fit in twice if he were laying down, but it was adequate for the small garden and plants he'd managed to culture when he wasn't slaying titans. It was approaching winter now though and nothing was growing. Mid-October had brought a light snow that melted by mid-afternoon. The streets were filthy with mud and puddles, training hadn't gone much better for him.

He rolled his shoulders as he sat back down in his chair. He'd visited the men's club again; after an hour of exercise he'd visited the sparring ring. Four conquered challengers later he had showered quickly; wetting his body he turned the water off and lathered; scrubbing at his skin in hard, furious strokes that left red marks trailing after the cloth. He flipped the water on and rinsed without dawdling, stepping out into the too warm room he dried and dressed in casual wear, the looser clothing was foreign against his skin. His walk home had been uneventful until the carriage had splattered his outfit up to his ribs.

He closed his eyes and sunk into the chair, his mind racing and his body alert. It was hard to break the habit he had been raised with as a child; stay awake, stay aware. They'll hurt you if you don't. It had been his mothers mantra to him. Men, customers, didn't like a hooker with a kid. It had been cold and hard. The hunger constant; a gnawing monster that lived within him kept company only by the filth. Food was usually scavenged, bug ridden and moldy. It had made him as sick to eat as it did to starve. He remembered the weakness, the pain, the cold. The illness. God he had always been sick. Sick and small and malnourished but by God he survived. He would always survive. It was the one constant in his life, even when he wished it hadn't been.

His clock chimed the hour, startling him out of his chair.

"Fuck." He growled, having fallen asleep on accident.

Angrily he stood, making his way back to his room. The bed sat, made and untouched under the large window. A light layer of dust attested to the cleaning service the military hired not having visited his house. He felt annoyance and pride in that. He kept the place so clean that they had nothing to do anyway. He pulled open a door to his closet, shedding his dirty clothes and placing them in the basket in the corner. Taking this opportunity he snapped the blankets, clearing the dust off them. Taking his duster he went over the room quickly. Following that he wetted a rag and ran it over the edges and sills of the room and then swept the floor. He caught his reflection in the windows and immediately went about polishing those as well. It was a fire in him, he could feel his skin becoming agitated and angry as he found more and more dirty things to clean slowly migrating around the house in its entirety. Bits of dirt in the cracks of his floorboards, streaking on the upper left pane of glass on the window in the kitchen. His fingers felt as though the nerves were made of glass, fragile and hot. Of course this meant all windows needed to be redone.

Meticulously he made his way to the bathroom, using vinegar he scrubbed all the metallic finishes and again worked on cleaning the sides of the tub that was installed - rarely used but cleaned to pristine perfection. Finally he mopped the floors, taking great care to get under the bookcases and chairs, moving each item of furniture to ensure he got every available space, working backwards into his room again. By the time he had finished he had a light sheen of sweat on his body. It was good sweat though, it didn't bother him as it would have had he been in his ODM gear or if it were a hot summer day. Taking care to grab a clean towel he rubbed himself down before turning to his dresser. Carefully he pulled out a clean pair of black slacks, a pressed white shirt and a new cravat. He pulled open his wardrobe, selecting the wool coat. As an added touch he dabbed the cologne over his jaw, the fine stubble growing gave him a dangerous look he thought. Levi made his way back to the kitchen and put the kettle on the hook overhanging the fireplace, adding another log to the flames.