"...I will work harder!"

Gelgar. Proud soldier of the Survey Corps and a member of Mike Zacharias's personal squad. Independent RP blog for Gelgar from Attack on Titan.

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

He was lost in his head if only for a moment. It wasn’t anything worth drawing attention to, just about everyone she’d ever met in the military no doubt had instances like that. She herself ended up lost in the muddle of her thoughts more often than not. Despite knowing that look in his eyes she said nothing.

“I appreciate your vote of confidence. I’ll admit, you’re right, you’ve been a trooper through all the sappy plots I’ve put you through,” she answered with a laugh. “I’ve got a lot of favorites y’know, it’s hard to pick just one. I’m gonna have to put serious thought into this so I don’t disappoint.”

Rene had some ideas. Something upbeat, something with a happy ending, something that would remind them the point of surviving in the first place was to live. If they were going to try to live through this next expedition with this as the reward it better be for something worth it then.Luckily, it seemed like they were both saps who would enjoy something like that. 

She didn’t want to think of the alternative. It was a reality and she would face it head on in her dreams tonight and later on when they set out behind the walls. Right now though was a moment of happy reunion, one that didn’t need sober reflection. Not while her hand was in his, enjoying these absentminded touches for the first time in a while.

Wasn’t she supposed to be discouraging this? She was never very good at holding herself back, emotionally or otherwise.

“Be careful what you wish for though,” she said playfully. “You’re gonna be so sick of hearing my voice after that. You know, you miss it now but after a while you’re going to be missing the sweet silence of busywork because I’m going to just be talking your ear off for a whole day.”

He laughed, the sound a little too loud in the room. 

“I don’t mind,” he said, his smile turning as soft as his words. God, he couldn’t imagine even an instant where he’d think she was too much, when he’d be sick of listening to the sound of her voice and want it to stop.

No, not a chance. But how was she to know that? She didn’t know the way she made him feel, sometimes--that the sound of her laugh sometimes made his breath catch.

He blinked almost as if leaving his own mind again, and clarified, looking down at their joined hands: “Since it’s you.”

Her fingers were shorter than his, her palm more narrow. The perfect size, really. But didn’t everyone say that? Guilt squeezed at him and he squeezed her hand, forcing himself to let it go afterward, over-aware, now, of what exactly it was he’d been doing, of how gently intimate a gesture it was. Worse, Rene had let him do it; she was too easygoing, sometimes. It would be easier if she just told him to back off.

But she was too kind to tell a good friend to stop doing something, especially if she saw it as harmless. It would be easy to imagine it was harmless, too, if she thought there was nothing behind it but a general friendliness. Gelgar had always been a tactile person, but this was too much.

Besides, wasn’t the responsibility on him to keep his stupid feelings in check? To stop letting them interfere in his life? It felt like he’d had this conversation with himself a million times already. Maybe this time it would do some good.

Straightening his back, Gelgar crossed both of his arms over his chest and let out an embarrassed sigh. “Anyway,” he said, clearing his throat, “don’t be dumb. If I was gonna get tired of your voice, nerd, it woulda definitely happened before now.”

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

“Me? Not thinking positive enough?” She asked him incredulously. There was a dramatic pause before she shrugged. “Alright you’ve got me there. I suppose you’re right, at least with breakfast comes the promise of something warm to eat.”

Rene brought one hand to her hip while the other reached up to stifle a yawn. If she were a more spoiled person she’d no doubt have more complaints but she’d been at this job too long. This wasn’t her first long night and if everything went alright in the future it certainly wouldn’t be her last. 

“Even if we end up pulling an all-nighter, god forbid, then at least we’ve done this before. We should be used to burning the candle at both ends right?”

He glanced down at her, his crossed arms falling loose, one hand lifting to pat Rene on the back. The gesture wasn’t exactly sympathetic; she was going to end up making him yawn if she didn’t watch herself, and he hated the thought. They had too much to do to yet for him to start feeling drowsy.

“You’d think a person’d get used to it, yeah, but it’s like anything else: there’s lotsa stuff nobody gets used to around here...” Like seeing people die. After more’n a decade it’d seem like you’d be desensitized to that kind’ve shit, but no, it ran straight into a person with the force of an overloaded stagecoach.

He held open one of the doors that led into the mess hall, waiting for Rene to go in ahead of him before he followed behind, right on her heels, and headed toward the kitchen at the very back of the room, pulling gently at his companion’s elbow in his impatience. “C’mon, c’mon...I haven’t eaten in ages.”

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

Isabel knew about Hanji, how she had found her niche in the corps after kicking a titan’s head. It made her laugh the first time she’d heard it, imagining her just kick a head. But thinking about it, she admired Hanji for having noticed that it wasn’t right, even in the state of rage she must have been in. 

She turned to look over her shoulder at him as he spoke, he was probably right, he went through the training, where you learnt what people’s reasons were without being too nosy. “I guess there aint no ‘good’ reason t’join up, huh” she hummed in thought, looking down as she watched her feet sway in the water. “Either way, I’m glad we’re here now, happy to have friends like ya t’pester” Isabel smiled back over her shoulder. 

He gave Isabel a bit of a shrug and a smile that pulled up just half his mouth. He’d been told before that there was something brave in joining the Survey Corps, reasons be damned because actions spoke louder than words and even a foolish or selfish reason couldn’t be wholly so when a person put their life on the line regularly. He wasn’t sure he agreed with the sentiment, not exactly, but maybe there was a little truth in it.

Still, there were worse places to be than in the Survey Corps.

“So you admit that you try’n pester me on purpose? I shoulda known a scrapper like you’d get her kicks that way.”

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

She laughed a little, unable to deny his comment, she had always been told she was a nosy person, but how are you going to learn without pressing for information. At least she had Hanji on her side now. 

The silence he had before uttering a word had her wondering if he was going to tell her, or just finding the right way to say it. She didn’t mind if he would rather keep it to himself, you got to have some privacy around here. But there was no denying the curiosity. She didn’t join up the standard way. Isabel didn’t have a reason as such. It was this or the underground. Best of two. 

Isabel looked at the smile on his face, it looked almost forced but she could see a little truth behind it in his eyes, so she couldn’t help but smile back. “So, yer just a ‘fuck it let’s do it’ kinda troop?” she poked and pulled off her socks before moving down to sit on the water side and just let her feet dangle in the lake, “If I had the choice, I’d fall in the group of folk curious ‘bout outside” Isabel hummed as she imagined a different life for herself. “I used t’dream about the city, but if I lived up here, I’d dream about out there”.

“I guess all of us were a little curious about the outside... I feel like you gotta be to make it around here. But there are some people that stand above the rest... Like Squad Leader Hange. But y’know, she didn’t join with curiosity in mind; I’m pretty sure it’s something she found. That’s not so weird around here, either, in my experience...”

Not that any of them could just up and leave the military, but sometimes the reason for staying did change with time--and for some people, it had to.

“But yeah...bein’ so nosy... You’d probably have grown up up here and been one of those...kids who joined ‘cause you thought you had to take back our land--or ‘cause you wanted to see outside the walls’n it didn’t matter if you died for that dream. We’ve had a few like that...” And most of them had died for their supposed dream. He wasn’t one to judge other people harshly, usually, considering his own issues, but he couldn’t deny he felt a little sour toward the idea of dying for the dream of seeing the outside world. There were things worth dyin’ for in their world, but that wasn’t one of ‘em.

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

Isabel smiled up at him, she wasn’t looking for a compliment or anything, in fact she didn’t even think she was talking down about herself but it was nice to know that people didn’t think bad on her skills. “Yeah?” she questioned, he hadn’t really ever spoken about his times training or when he first joined up so her interest was sparked once again as she guided him to the lake, sitting on a log there before she went to take off her boots. 

“What happened? If ya don’t mind… and, I’m gonna be nosey an’ ask why ya joined in the first place?” she prompted, patting the seat beside her. 

“Wow, yeah...you sure are a nosy little thing, huh?”

But he took the offered seat and looked thoughtful. He didn’t really share many details of himself with others; it was better to just shut the hell up and let them make stupid assumptions.

But he figured it was fair to tell Isabel a little bit; she was, after all, a good person...and she’d seen some rough shit in her life. Plus, he was good at tellin’ the truth without sayin’ too much: a life skill she probably had, too.

“I joined so long ago it’s like the reason’s been lost on me, or at least...it’s changed. Most people up’n join the Survey Corps ‘n don’t even know what they’re getting themselves into: I was kinda one of those sorts of people... Aimless, stupid. Anyway, I don’t think anyone joins with just one reason in mind... Ya got the people curious about the outside world, the gloryhounds, the kids who want revenge on the titans for any number of reasons, some selfless assholes who wanna save humanity... I guess you could say the rest of us fall through the cracks.” He grinned at her, but he couldn’t quite make it as silly as he wanted; well, it was a weighty topic anyway.

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

“Eh, don’t worry about the riding thing. It’s not like anyone’s holding it against you and it doesn’t sound like you had the greatest time, privilege or not. You know the first hour of that break might have been enjoyable but after that I’ve got no doubt that it would have gotten old,” Rene replied with a shrug.

She leaned forward and lightly returned his little touches almost reflexively. She was honestly surprised the action wasn’t a distracting action so much as it was a natural response.

The thought of the upcoming expedition didn’t do much to halt her actions but it did sober up the silly mood she seemed to have found herself in just a bit. It was inevitable, another journey outside the walls and another gamble on their lives. A very real occupational hazard. She attempted to focus on the lilt in his voice that kept his words from being too serious. Even despite this she still felt her stomach drop a little at his request for a promise. They were hard to keep and she felt lucky to have been able the last one she made to him over a cooling cup of tea. 

But she was pleasantly surprised, this one certainly was doable.

“Alright, that sounds like something I can do,” she said, glad that the relief she felt didn’t seem to bleed into her voice. “As soon as we can I’ll read you something real good. It will be hard for me to pick a favorite though. Is there any particular genre you want to hear?”

It had been too long since she read to him and the promise of another afternoon spent with him and a book gave her something to look forward to. No doubt it would be running through her head during the next expedition. While she would do her best on the expedition no matter what a little extra incentive never hurt, right?

It was gonna be a habit between them, he was sure: making promises or asking for ‘em from one another. A small part of him thought it was pathetic. He’d seen enough people die to know that words didn’t matter in the end. A titan didn’t care what one soldier had promised to another one or to their family, and there were so many outlying factors that it was impossible to cover all bases. Maybe a titan wouldn’t even be the culprit, in the end.

He thought about it a moment, the sides of his fingers tracing alongside hers. Hell, in the end his horse might throw a shoe, might break a leg jumping over something or falling into something, might fall and not get back up and leave him helpless but for his gear--and he’d be all right as long as he had gas, maybe, but then he’d be a dead man. He could misjudge distance with his gear, too, and hit his head on a tree or side of a building going too fast. Or maybe he’d get a bad injury and it’d get infected and he’d waste away in the back of a wagon and then in the med bay at HQ, slipping further and further until one day his body just stopped.

Lots of people died in those kinds’ve ways. There was no guarantee that a titan’d rip your head off and it’d just be over.

But it was nice sometimes to just...have a reason to fight. A moment could come, he knew, where a person might wanna give up, or where they might let fear rule, but...if they’d made a promise they’d feel guilty about breakin’ it on purpose, about not tryin’ harder. And maybe it wouldn’t be enough, but there was something good about dying only when you were out of other options, right?

He smiled to himself, not quite looking at her.

“I trust your taste,” he said. “You know I ain’t afraid of even the sappiest book you’ve got in your collection. But maybe you’ve got a special favorite that you haven’t read to me from, yet...’n if so, I’d like to hear it.”

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

“I’m afraid I can’t help that, not after that big jump you took,” Rene told him, laughs bubbling up once again as the image replayed in her mind. She bit down on her lips to regain control of her laughter once again her gaze drifted over to him and a warmth washed over her.

He was smiling. It was tiny but it was there and that was good enough.

“Thank you, it won’t happen again, I promise. Well, not tonight at least.” She drifted slightly closer to him. “Ugh I know, I’ll take anything at this point. I’m well aware that beggars can’t be choosers so I’d be happy with some bread or something. Even if it’s stale. At this rate though, we’ll probably be finishing this work by sunrise.”

She truly hoped she didn’t come across as whiny. To be honest with herself though the thought of working through the night and being hungry made her want to groan. 

“You’re not thinkin’ positive enough, nerd. Look, if we work ‘til sunrise, we’ll at least have breakfast available as a reward. Granted, it ain’t no feast, but at least it’s somethin’...” He glanced sidelong at her, resisting the urge to drape his arm over her shoulder since she’d wandered just inside his personal space. She was still looking a little too amused with herself, anyway. “’Sides, it’s not like we’d be getting any quality sleep on an empty stomach, anyway. Then maybe we can sleep after...as long as we want...”

He’d personally prefer the stale bread, though. He wasn’t much for working until dawn, not when he was used to the opposite schedule. Only new soldiers got stuck with the boring midnight shifts, and he was well past that part of his life.

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

“Y’think? I hope so. I’m not strong like a lot of soldiers, or smart like Hanji’s team, or good at plannin’. I’m just good with animals and flyin’” she chuckled looking up at the sky and maybe each time she flew it wouldn’t be to risk her life one day in the future. 

“Favourite? For sure is Greg. But the foxes are super playful!” 

She glanced up at Gelgar and smiled brightly, “I aint able to help much with the fightin’, but ‘least I can pet foxes” Isabel laughed in good faith. The small female didn’t care, she was living a better life up here then she could have dreamed about years ago. Colourful and fresh air, animals everywhere, and good friends. 

Flying. He tried not to smile at it, but the corner of his mouth turned up. And of course Greg would be her favorite animal; a small part of his brain reminded him that it was very possible Greg was the closest thing to a pet that Isabel had ever had--and had ever been able to spoil even a little bit.

“Ah, I think you’re bein’ a little too down on yourself, Iz. You’re not bad at active combat, and you came here already better’n most people who had official training. I think that’s gotta count for somethin’.” He wasn’t sure what else to say to brighten the subject, but she wasn’t the sort of person who stayed down for long, anyway. “Besides, you’ve lived this long, haven’t you? That’s a testament to your skill. Even I--I just got lucky, y’know, when I was new.”

[gelgar-blog]

TAGGED BY: @weirdcuriosity

NAME: Manna GENDER: F EYE COLOR: shrug emojis some kind of blue HAIR COLOR: shrug emojis some kind of blonde or brown RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Engaged (< 2 weeks to go!) ZODIAC: Leo FAVORITE COLOR: Green/purple FAVORITE SEASON: Summer FAVORITE PLACE: At my computer FAVORITE HOLIDAY: Do I get the day off work? Fave. FAVORITE VIDEO GAME: Fire Emblem 7 LAST SHOW YOU WATCHED: Attack on Titan lmao WHAT’S YOUR HONEST OPINION ABOUT YOUR MUSE?: He’s a piece of shit and I love him. WOULD YOU DATE YOUR MUSE?: I’mma say no. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE KINDS OF THREADS?: Gimme that sweet continuity. ARE YOU A SELECTIVE ROLEPLAYER?: I’m really picky about who I follow because I sign in from work a lot. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MUSE?: Gelgar and Hitch were my favorite SnK muses. I had a lot of fun with Anabel from Pokémon, too. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO JOIN THE FANDOM?: Saw a lot of Levihan art on my dashboard; I made a comment to a friend who was reblogging it and was told the ship would probably be to my tastes. I watched SnK mostly to make fun of it and to see if Levihan was a Good Ship™ and somehow I got sucked in... Oops. No regrets. DO YOU SEE YOURSELF STAYING WITH THE FANDOM FOR A LONG TIME?: There’s no escape.

TAGGING: This floats around a lot so I won’t tag anyone specifically. If you haven’t done it in the last 6mo though, please feel free to do it. :)

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

Isabel went a little red in the ears hearing him say that, looking to the ground a little as he continued. She really wished he wouldn’t follow through with the hug, it was a nice gesture sometimes, like during a storm, but right now would just make things awkward for sure. 

The effort he had with trying to make the conversation come back made her smile at the ground before looking back up at him, “Heh, yeah they do, they run on natural instincts” she nodded. “Erwin found me this book on horses when I first joined, he wanted to gain my trust so he got a bit through it” Isabel laughed, “And it was easy t’figure out certain behaviour signs, like the ears being stiff an’ pointed back means ya better get the fuck away from it’s hind legs” though, she figured he already knew that since it’s one of the first things she tells the newbies. 

“But once ya know the basic’s it’s pretty easy to figure shit out and almost copy”. 

He was relieved to see Isabel pick up the conversation like he hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary at all. He flashed her a grin that was only slightly awkward.

“You’re pretty good with knowin’ that kinda stuff...or at least...pickin’ up on it. Not many people got that kinda talent. Pretty useful in the military...when it comes to horses I mean.”

He supposed that was a good advantage--to understand horses since they were their ticket to, well, escaping an early death. Their only real ticket besides their own fighting prowess, and even that wasn’t always enough.

“So what’s your favorite, then? To try’n communicate with?”

[gelgar-blog]

@titanbait;;

It was a quiet night; the air was heavy with moisture and if it didn’t rain soon the morning would give them a heavy fog to wander through. Drills wouldn’t be canceled and they wouldn’t be delayed, but they would have to be changed. It just wasn’t worth the risk of losing people--not to something so stupid.

Gelgar came into the mess hall through a side door. It wasn’t exactly curfew, but getting close. The room had only a few occupants, part of a team sitting together at the far wall talking in hushed tones, and one or two other scattered soldiers. The dreary weather had no doubt sent everyone else to their quarters early, preferring the company of their bunkmate or perhaps a book or writing utensil in-hand over the openness of the mess hall.

Cutting across the room, Gelgar was startled to caught sight of Captain Levi, previously hidden by one of the building’s support columns. The shorter man was sitting alone, which wasn’t especially unusual; neither was the look on his face, which, as usual, wasn’t something Gelgar felt capable of translating: it was possible Levi was in a bad mood, but just as likely he was tired or overworked or really, any number of things.

The military--the Survey Corps specifically--gave a person a lot to think about, and the thinking always seemed to happen when a body least wanted it to.

“Captain Levi,” he said, the action of pausing to speak automatic; he couldn’t just walk right by the other guy without acknowledging his presence. It would be rude, and while Gelgar wasn’t exactly the most tactful man in the military, he tried to be at least a little personable. “How’s it going, uh...sir?”

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

She simply shrugged at his comment, it was clear for the reason why so she didn’t need to voice it. For sure Gelgar knew it. Besides, if something did come up, it’s not like she had a lot of options on whether she was free or not. He had his attention as he spoke, questioning the motives behind her choice of companions wasn’t something she considered rude or anything, not at all. 

“Huh? Well, I guess like ya say, they aint judgin’ ya. I could be readin’ out load and they don’t care if I say the word wrong or s’min’” Isabel mused, looking over at the paddock with their horse’s in, a fond look on her face. “Animals aint never hurt me either” she added in a hushed tone, turning back to smile up at her friend. 

“Some days I just need to disappear into a herd of horses, there’s a pack of wolves in the forest im slowly gettin’ close ta. They’re a lot easier to predict than humans”. 

“Goddamn... That’s the saddest thing I ever heard.” 

It wasn’t really, but it probably made some kind of list--a top ten, maybe. He was used to titans being the enemy, being everyone’s greatest fear and most terrifying foe. It was easy to forget in the Corps how terrible other people could be.

“Geesh, you’re makin’ me think you might need a hug or something...sayin’ shit like that. Not about the wolves--I just--” Damn, it was getting to him. Isabel came from a world he didn’t even understand, couldn’t begin to understand. He’d grown up so privileged it seemed impossible to even consider that she’d been struggling while his family thrived. While he was eating supper in his parents’ home in Sina, she was beneath the city doing who-knew-what. 

He hurried to put the conversation back on track before he made things awkward.

“Anyway, I guess animals can be pretty predictable... They stick to ...uh, regular thought patterns, right? Or...behaviors, I guess? Hah.”

[lawyercd-blog]

                   ATTACK ON TITAN INDIES MASTERLIST

                             reblog to be added to the master list

        - original characters welcome. - multi muse blogs welcome. - may contain spoilers. 

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

It took everything she had not to laugh out loud. Still as she watched Gelgar  attempt to recover from jumping she snorted with barely restrained giggles. It was childish and silly but well, at least he was awake now.

Silver linings right?

He had widened the distance between them though. A serious drawback she hadn’t considered, though she should have. Rene attempted to will the residual laughter to stop bubbling up in her throat as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry. It wasn’t a nice thing to do… you just brought it up and I couldn’t help myself. Forgive me?”

“It’d be easier to forgive you if you weren’t laughin’ while you were askin’ forgiveness,” he said, but there was a teasing edge to his voice; it’d be hypocritical of him not to forgive her for such a small slight, anyway. He’d done far worse things in the past, and Rene’d forgiven them all.

He glanced over at her sidelong and felt a small smile begin to tug at the corners of his mouth at the sight of her walking next to him, hands firm on her hips like she meant business.

“Well, I guess I’ll forgive it this time... Since I did give you the idea ‘n all.” His posture loosened but he didn’t uncross his arms. “Gotta say... I’m pretty hungry. I’ll be disappointed if there’s nothin’ in the kitchens for us to eat. Still got a couple’ve hours ahead of us, too, if we wanna get done with this work before we retire for the night...”

[gelgar-blog]

ausdauer:

“You asked me?!” she gasped in pure amusement, had he forgotten already in his old head. Maybe he had too much hair products in it to really think. But he had a point. Gelgar had been there a lot longer than she had that’s for sure. “Tch” was her response, pouting slightly as she folded her arms over her chest again. 

Isabel was glad they took the decision to stay, she liked it here despite the danger each time she was in full armour, but Isabel felt a sense of pride, belonging, importance. 

“Nothin’s been planned” she shrugged, though both those options seemed like a good idea, maybe not the singing part. Even Isabel knew she couldn’t sing and people only gave food to shut her up. This at least was a habit that hadn’t stopped; because it worked 99% of the time. “So ‘til then im hangin’ out with the animals”. Maybe she’ll take the book she was reading - Peter Pan - Hanji had loaned it out to her, and she was slowly getting better at it. Slowly. 

“Eh, I guess nobody ‘round here plans too much in advance...” For obvious reasons, of course. But even then, it was useful to have that same evening’s plans made up in advance, wasn’t it?

Gelgar was a bit of an impulsive person and didn’t have much trouble making or breaking last-minute plans, but most of the people he knew didn’t work that way.

“So, not to be an ass, Iz, but why d’you like hanging around with a buncha animals, anyway? ‘Cause they’re quiet ‘n don’t judge? Or d’you just like animals more’n people?” He felt pretty sure he should already know the answer to that question, but...it never made much sense to him. Animals were nice sometimes, but they weren’t replacements for human companionship--not in his book, anyway.

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

As Rene listened patiently to his admissions about his not-so-exciting adventures while they were both swamped with work she made quick work of her roll. It wasn’t too surprising but she was just invested in hearing him share what she had missed out on.

“You know, I don’t think it’s dumb to complain, at least a little. If something happens in the next expedition then… well, the present is all we have. Work is monotonous and leaves you uncomfortable. There’s nothing wrong with wishing the guaranteed present was just a little nicer,” she remarked softly, sending a smile his way. If she hadn’t been trying to rein herself in she would have reached out and touched his outstretched arm.

She didn’t. Instead she continued talking.

“I’ll admit though, if I had been asked to ride off instead of burning the midnight oil on paper work I would’ve jumped at it but you’re making me glad about not having the option. The way you described it makes me sore just imagining it.” Her nose wrinkled at the thought.

“Lucky for you though,” she continued. “It’s looking like work is dying down into something more tolerable so now you get to enjoy the privilege of listening to my lovely voice once more.” Rene punctuated the end of her sentence with a large grin and a poke of his arm. 

She took his teasing with calm grace--now that was new. Well, not new so much as...unexpected. Usually she returned fire, might have smacked him for letting her think he had a cool story to tell when he knew he had nothing smart to say.

But maybe that was a product of not really seein’ each other very much over the last months. It was possible she just didn’t have it in her to be mad at him right now--not for anything silly, anyway.

He returned her grin at the poke and lifted his head to rest it against one hand while the other grabbed hers, his grip gentle as he pulled her fingers away from his arm to prevent further poking. “It sure feels like a privilege now,” he said, a little cheerfully, and forgot to let go of her hand. “As to the riding... I dunno, maybe you would’ve enjoyed the break. I’m not much good for paperwork, y’know, so...it made sense to send me, but... I know it ain’t really fair to the rest of ya.”

Nobody else liked doing paperwork, either, really--except maybe Nanaba, but Gelgar had long ago suspected that Nanaba liked anything that gave her an excuse to be near Mike.

Gelgar hardly noticed that he was absentmindedly playing with Rene’s hand; there were too many other thoughts crowding to the front of his mind.

“Our next expedition’ll be coming up pretty soon, y’know...” It was the first big thought he had. Paperwork was nothing compared to that, and truth be told, he’d rather be saddlesore for a month straight than go on another one. But that was childish and pathetic--something he didn’t want to ever admit to anyone, not with a modicum of seriousness in his voice. What kind of a coward joined the Survey Corps, anyway? He pushed his negativity away; he was in a good mood. This was a good night. It wouldn’t do to fall to pieces over nothing, not today. “You gotta promise,” he said, his voice something between serious and teasing as his fingers brushed gently over hers, “that when it’s done ‘n over with, that you’ll read somethin’ to me. Somethin’ good... One of your favorites, all right?”

[gelgar-blog]

hoplismena:

She resisted the urge to close her eyes as Gelgar pulled her closer. Who knows, maybe she could have fallen asleep on her feet if he was so comfy?

“It’s drafty in here you know, especially at night,” she told him matter-of-factly. “I’ve just got a bit of a chill. Maybe it’s for the best though, it’ll keep me more awake when we get back to work.”

At his last request she got a mischievous glint in her eye. “Huh? Don’t touch you with my cold fingers? You mean like this?” she asked feigning innocence as she reached up and pressed two admittedly, rather cold fingers against whatever part of his neck she could reach. 

It was a bit of a dick move but he gave her the idea in the first place.

He didn’t think she’d actually do it.

In hindsight, he shouldn’t have been surprised. Rene was a willful creature, after all: kind...but mischievous. Putting her cold fingers on his exposed skin was exactly the sort of thing she’d do just after being told not to do it. With his jacket back in the office, his button-down covered only part of his neck.

He jumped a little at the contact, completely against his own will. “Now I’m awake!” he said, trying not to let the surprise migrate to his voice. He might have dove out of the way except it wasn’t a life-threatening situation, so instead he took his arm back, crossed both of his over his chest, and stepped to the side to put some distance between them. “Guess it ain’t worth tryin’a help you avoid a chill, is it?”

Of course, he hadn’t been doing that exactly, but surely it had been helping her in that regard anyway.