[8/9/14, 12:25:43 AM] madi: i mean to me armin's parents were heretics and -- i just imagine them being really young, a v young couple, possibly his mom being pregnant in high school
[8/9/14, 12:25:52 AM] madi: and it was always their dream to travel the world and do things and see everything
[8/9/14, 12:26:15 AM] madi: and they never wanted to follow any rules - they eloped without armin's grandfather's blessing (who i kinda hc as his mom's dad)
[8/9/14, 12:27:14 AM] madi: and when they eloped, they kinda cut ties from him and all and moved and all was good, but when armin was like 1 year old or so, they left him with a family friend while they went to celebrate their "marriage" and they were young and foolish and decided to take a long roadtrip to visit some place they had never been before
[8/9/14, 12:28:19 AM] madi: and i've always imagined the accident as a car accident, a drunk driving accident where armin's dad has too many and drives and they both end up dead and that's part of the reason that armin's grandfather has so much trouble spending time with him - he looks like his mom and dad alike, and whenever his grandfather sees his mom, he's sad and mourns, and when he sees his dad in him, he's angry and upset and feels robbd
[8/9/14, 12:29:04 AM] madi: his grandfather in general is a traditional working man, so here's this child from his crazy daughter and the man he didn't approve of, and all he does is read - he never wants to play football or do anything physical, and doens't have much physical strength and so the grandfather doesn't know what to do with him
[8/9/14, 12:29:28 AM] madi: and as time wages on and armin reflects more and more of his mother/father in him the grandfather loses the strength to be around him even more because its too much for him, and he has even less in common with armin
[8/9/14, 12:30:17 AM] madi: so its not necessarily a /mean/ grandfather its moreso just??? how the cookie crumbled they still live together but armin's grandfather isn't much of a presence. essentially provides a place to live and the occasional company for a meal, but they don't eat together very often and armin is usually on his own for his own money