[Let him get beat up if they could help it. Though.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org he isn't weak. he didn't fight back because he called it stooping to their level
[But he'd never let them silence him, either, and that's a sort of conviction Eren could respect, even if Armin had refused to throw a well-deserved punch in his own defense.
Eren, on the other hand, had no problem stooping in Armin's defense. And Mikasa had followed to bail them out when he inevitably got in over his head in the process. (Naturally, they'd been twice as scared of her as they were of him, but don't expect him to admit that.)]
[More pride than you'd think. Armin never took help he didn't need, even from Eren or Mikasa.
That said, just what are you insinuating, Ino. There's a pause before he answers. (Not least because thinking too hard about his father still makes his temples pound and his gut clench and he doesn't know why.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org it was better than letting 'em get away with it
[That's a "yes." Far more frequently, before Mikasa came along. But he'll take a few bruises over an injustice any day. (In some ways, it's a bitter thing to talk about. It doesn't excuse the things they did, but he's aware that some of his neighborhood adversaries never made it out of Shiganshina. And that is also an injustice, a far greater one, and those responsible haven't paid for it.)]
[He won't abide bullies on any scale. Some are easier to bare his teeth at than others. Childhood adversaries, corrupt and lazy military. Maneating monsters and blackmailing cosmic demolition corporations.
He's a lot better at expressing that sort of thing than he is waxing nostalgic about growing up. It wasn't very exciting, really. Shingeki life is bleak and joyless, Ino, I'm sorry.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org we had chores. messed around. Armin had his grandpa's books.
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org you could have asked mikasa
[She's been friends with Mikasa a lot longer. It's not that he minds the nosiness—Ino strikes him as a good person, if occasionally a confusing one. He doesn't dislike her. It just that thinking about easier days and older times doesn't really mean much, in their current situation. They can't ever go back to that. Wishing they could is a waste of time they could spend figuring out what's going on right now.
So, in that vein, wondering about what's crawling out of the TV set seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to him.]
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What does it sound like?
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Don't tell me you let him keep getting beat up by bullies.
Armin, I mean.
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Between you and Mikasa, you must've had that covered.
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of course we didn't
[Let him get beat up if they could help it. Though.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
he isn't weak. he didn't fight back because he called it stooping to their level
[But he'd never let them silence him, either, and that's a sort of conviction Eren could respect, even if Armin had refused to throw a well-deserved punch in his own defense.
Eren, on the other hand, had no problem stooping in Armin's defense. And Mikasa had followed to bail them out when he inevitably got in over his head in the process. (Naturally, they'd been twice as scared of her as they were of him, but don't expect him to admit that.)]
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Stooping to their level, huh? [ Even Armin has some pride, apparently. ]
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Did your dad ever have to patch all 3 of you up too?
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That said, just what are you insinuating, Ino. There's a pause before he answers. (Not least because thinking too hard about his father still makes his temples pound and his gut clench and he doesn't know why.)]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
it was better than letting 'em get away with it
[That's a "yes." Far more frequently, before Mikasa came along. But he'll take a few bruises over an injustice any day. (In some ways, it's a bitter thing to talk about. It doesn't excuse the things they did, but he's aware that some of his neighborhood adversaries never made it out of Shiganshina. And that is also an injustice, a far greater one, and those responsible haven't paid for it.)]
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FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Hey, I'm definitely not blaming you or anything.
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
So that's it? You guys would just hang around the fields and beat up bullies?
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He's a lot better at expressing that sort of thing than he is waxing nostalgic about growing up. It wasn't very exciting, really. Shingeki life is bleak and joyless, Ino, I'm sorry.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
we had chores. messed around. Armin had his grandpa's books.
kid stuff. there wasn't a lot more to do
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
why
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I don't know, can't a girl ask her friends about their lives?
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Besides, this is a whole lot more entertaining than wondering what's going to crawl out of the TV next.
FROM: yamanaka.ino@cdc.org
Mostly.
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FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
you could have asked mikasa
[She's been friends with Mikasa a lot longer. It's not that he minds the nosiness—Ino strikes him as a good person, if occasionally a confusing one. He doesn't dislike her. It just that thinking about easier days and older times doesn't really mean much, in their current situation. They can't ever go back to that. Wishing they could is a waste of time they could spend figuring out what's going on right now.
So, in that vein, wondering about what's crawling out of the TV set seems like a pretty reasonable thing to do to him.]
FROM: jaeger.eren@cdc.org
have there been more
[Things....crawling out of her TV...]
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why are you doing this to me
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i don't judge your lifestyle, ambi
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I'm sad the game died just as they were becoming actual friends 8( weh
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me too... ugh don't remind me.... they were turning into really cute friends in spite of... everything