His concern for keeping a close friend well-fed was the only reason he bothered to go to this sector in the first place. While the pumpkins might have been violent, they were by no means as great a threat as the pests in oo5, nor did they hit as close to home for Eren. Besides, the plant’s fragrance was comforting – pleasant, almost. Despite the fact that he never had a taste for coffee – at least, not while he still could enjoy a smoke with the Boss – he thought a hot, pumpkin-flavored drink might have done him some good. If it was savory enough, he might have considered bringing some home for Annie – she had always liked coffee.
Standing on the edge of a street, sipping from a cup that warmed his hands nicely, he was entertaining himself by watching the people who indulged in direct interaction with the pumpkins. As menacing as the idea of a sentient plant was on paper, in practice it failed to achieve that spookiness. Maybe they should have added in a few facial expressions to its coding, he thought.
As quiet as he was, he didn’t expect anyone to bother him. Despite that, someone just had to invade his personal space, ruin his privacy, and make him drop his coffee. Normally he’d have been up in arms about the whole situation, but the fact that he was nearly done already made his complaints only amount to being moderately more grumpy. He sighed, intent on walking away – but the person caught his attention not too long afterwards.
Turning his head around in confusion, his eye twitched with pain. The tips of his fingers were burning up, and he had to clench a fist in order to become focused again. Without a word, he squinted and tried to assess who this person was. He used every reference in the book – but nothing came to. With a very perplexed voice, he replied hesitantly.
“Yeah, that’s me – how do I know you? Have we met, somewhere?”
Despite used to peculiar occurrences in such a vast city and the scientists’ always managed to impress her expectations. Of course, this is perfect research material and obtaining material to research sufficed -- not like its nice having sentient squashes walking around nearby your home district upon arrival! Alas, better be optimistic and get the job done as per usual even when at the moment is difficult to look at the bright side.
“Hold on, what?” Initial confusion drops the usual laid-back facade. Hange can be comical even when concerned but such is not the case anymore -- hand drops from its position, gently as opposed to her commonly abrupt demeanor and eyes remain fixated on his facial features.
‘I don’t like where this is going.‘
“What’s with you, Eren? It’s me, you can’t go around joking with that.” Despite keeping a nonchalant demeanor, sadness lurks in vocals and its idiotic to feel hurt from a mere cold attitude -- masking inner turmoils is a simple task, so long as anger isn’t involved and maintaining a composed bearing can be possible. “You’ve got Levi’s bad sense of humor! Have you been hanging out a lot? You’re hurting my poor little heart...” Laughing off everything always helped, it’s been for years so now it’s the same. However, it doesn’t last and lips grimace. “Either way, this is a prank or a personalized welcome greeting from those guys and I’m not liking it one bit...” Blade is directed at him, pointing at his chest.
“So? The name Hange Zöe doesn’t ring a bell?”
