[Non-human, huh. If only you knew, Miles, if only you knew.
The next question takes him a little by surprise though and it shows on his face, eyes widening, then flicking away to stare at the far wall for a moment. He does miss it, but what he misses isn't the battles. What he misses is being part of the 104th and being able to surround himself with these humans and pretend their fight is his fight, pretend he can be a hero too for a little while. But it has been made more than clear that that is not something he can have, not anymore. The only allies a monster can have are those as monstrous as itself.
Unseen on the camera, Reiner's hand tightens into a fist as he forces himself to answer]
Yeah. [His voice is just a little rough. He hopes he can just pass it off as homesickness] I mean, it's my duty. It feels weird to just... sit here and slack off. Doesn't feel right, you know? [He gestures a little, forcing a grin onto his face.] I know we are supposed to be at war here and all, but if my old instructor could see me now, he'd probably yell at me to start making myself useful already.
[Which brings him back to the heart of the matter, and one of the subjects he's been experiencing unease about since arriving here. Reiner has been trained by various groups. He's been trained to be a warrior and he has been trained to be a soldier, and as different as those two things were, they had one common feature: he had been trained. And that is something that is very conspicuously absent here.]
I think if we were really meant to be soldiers, they would be training us. They bring all sorts of people here but they are not teaching us to fight. The only time you do that is if you aren't expecting them to survive anyway.
[A pause.]
Or hoping they won't.
[It reminds him, unpleasantly, of humanity's first attempt to retake Wall Maria. Nobody had meant to return from that crazy expedition and as a result, nobody had.]
no subject
The next question takes him a little by surprise though and it shows on his face, eyes widening, then flicking away to stare at the far wall for a moment. He does miss it, but what he misses isn't the battles. What he misses is being part of the 104th and being able to surround himself with these humans and pretend their fight is his fight, pretend he can be a hero too for a little while. But it has been made more than clear that that is not something he can have, not anymore. The only allies a monster can have are those as monstrous as itself.
Unseen on the camera, Reiner's hand tightens into a fist as he forces himself to answer]
Yeah. [His voice is just a little rough. He hopes he can just pass it off as homesickness] I mean, it's my duty. It feels weird to just... sit here and slack off. Doesn't feel right, you know? [He gestures a little, forcing a grin onto his face.] I know we are supposed to be at war here and all, but if my old instructor could see me now, he'd probably yell at me to start making myself useful already.
[Which brings him back to the heart of the matter, and one of the subjects he's been experiencing unease about since arriving here. Reiner has been trained by various groups. He's been trained to be a warrior and he has been trained to be a soldier, and as different as those two things were, they had one common feature: he had been trained. And that is something that is very conspicuously absent here.]
I think if we were really meant to be soldiers, they would be training us. They bring all sorts of people here but they are not teaching us to fight. The only time you do that is if you aren't expecting them to survive anyway.
[A pause.]
Or hoping they won't.
[It reminds him, unpleasantly, of humanity's first attempt to retake Wall Maria. Nobody had meant to return from that crazy expedition and as a result, nobody had.]