Ein Riese, der Fliegen Wollte

About-Face

He growls, a low pleased sound, as the sweet perfume of human fills his mind with a heady, drugged feeling. The sharp, briny scent of the ocean is a wane thing in the presence of the little critters that are running around the beach.

One of them squeaks shrilly as he pops it into his mouth and bites down with a satisfying crunch. A deep-seated, instinctual part of him revels in the taste and urges him to devour more. He swallows his mouthful and reaches for another, ignoring the small, sharp pains of its stinger as he brings it to his mouth, biting it in half.

A smaller Titan that had followed him over the treacherous cliffs and onto the sheltered beach makes the mistake of trying to partake in the rest of his catch, and he snaps his jaws at it with a growl of warning. The other Titan flinches away and trills warily, its instinct to consume human flesh warring with its instinct to live.

The sweet, seductive scent of human is apparently too strong for it to resist, and it braves his wrath again with a cautious grab at the remains in his fist.

A foolish mistake.

He swallows the tender chunk of nape he'd ripped out with his teeth and leaves the rest to disintegrate into the sand. Why fill his belly with Titan meat when the small delicacies are still scurrying around the beach? He scoops another of the tiny animals up and is about to place it in his mouth, when the strangest thing happens.

One of the humans is coming towards him.

That never happens...

He watches it reach up a tiny little hand in the direction of the human in his fist. It makes shrill noises, and the one he's holding looks down to it, reaching one of its hands down.

What were these odd little creatures doing?

The one on the beach reaches him at last and starts stabbing wildly at his foot with its stinger. It's a bit of a pathetic attempt, as it doesn't hurt in the slightest, but the sheer spine of the creature stops him short. He's never had a human attack him like this before. Most of them fought in his grip or even in his mouth, just like any other animal, but not like this.

The humans reach towards one another again and it's so baffling that he can't help himself. He crouches down and brings the two closer. They claw at the air when he does, and he hears more shrill chirping. His instincts snarl at him and pound against the inside of his skull, demanding that he stop toying around and shove the thing in his mouth, but...

He can't help but want to figure this out.

It's like these two in particular wanted to be near each other for whatever reason. He tries to remember if he's ever wanted to be near another Titan in his life and comes up blank. The one on the ground resumes its slashing, and he feels the overwhelming need to understand the little thing. What on earth could make something as small as a human approach something as big as a Titan and start provoking it?

Maybe it had nothing to do with the human in his hand. Maybe this was just an Abnormal human. He's seen Abnormal Titans doing the strangest things sometimes...

Out of sheer curiosity, he places the human he's holding on the ground near the other. There's a moment where nothing happens, but then the two humans scramble towards one another. When they meet, they grip each other fiercely and run away from him as fast as their tiny legs can carry them (which isn't all that fast, actually), never once letting go.