[ ... it's a relief, to finally receive this. despite what she says. she's breathing, and able to type a message. it's enough. he probably shouldn't be relieved, but.. ]
I'm fine. Ran into some trouble, but we made it through. Stay safe, Annie.
Day 2 @ Rendezvous. Respamming you to fit the timeline.
[Communications are finally up, and people are still trickling into the rendezvous. Armin's gotten in contact, which is a relief, but Mikasa had made some pretty outlandish insinuations regarding his old hand to hand mentor back at the drop and then refused to explain herself any more. No matter how much he doesn't want to believe them that doesn't change the fact that there'd definitely been a fucking titan at the drop, and that's cause for concern anyway by virtue of being a fucking titan.]
[He has to think long and hard about sending this, and what to say to keep his cover intact. But he can't not check on her, not when she had been so upset when he last saw her.]
FROM: hoover.bertolt@cdc.org
Annie? Are you okay? Are you okay, Annie?
They said there was a titan at your drop point. I found Reiner but I haven't seen you. Please tell me you made it through all right.
[There's a whole lot to be done at the rendezvous, but there's still time between bouts of culture shock for distracting himself with trying to get some answers from the source. (Though it's Annie so he should know better than to expect it to be that easy.) An hour later, in a stunning display of his usual tenacity—]
[And then a long pause. Okay, maybe he's actually...done. Because shouting into the air via text and getting nothing back isn't doing his restlessness any good. The lack of response is sort of a worrying one. Because it probably means she's either unable or unwilling. And okay, these text things can be hard to figure out, and Annie's not exactly the most sociable person he knows. But they are friends, and this place is proving to be a whole lot of bullshit already, and he definitely doesn't like to imagine that it's because she's been hurt that bad.
(Not to mention he's got a lot of things to talk to her about. Because there are some wild accusations flying around. It's ridiculous. He doesn't want to believe it, so he doesn't let himself believe it. Not just like that.)
So, last ditch before he resorts entirely to seeking her out the old fashioned way—]
i need to talk to you
[The rendezvous isn't that big. You can't hide from him forever, Annie.]
[It's 70-odd hours delayed, but it's an answer. The one she gets back is not quite immediate, but it's close. And predictable. This is what you get for encouraging him.]
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