MorningWood

Chapter 8

A man with a deep voice but moderate stature sitting at the head of the large table opposite the group speaks up, welcoming the trio by name and title. He reminds the room of the already well-known accomplishments made by Eren, Armin, and Mikasa in the previous months and years, then settles his arms onto the table in front of him. Glancing around the room, his tone grows stern and more serious.

Eren sinks into his chair, his attention waning from the room and losing track of the man's voice. Armin seems to do similarly, though maintains his upright posture as the man's deep voice drawls into a monotony of beaurcratic preamble. Mikasa appears to keep her attention focused on the room and her posture straight, but her breathing betrays her growing irritation with the lack of a productive objective for being called to a meeting with some foreigners at the crack of dawn.

Sure enough, more than an hour and a half later, the group has done nothing but give some minor quips about fighting Titan's with now-outdated technologies and in a world without any known Titan threats. One of the lesser officers on the panel askes the group another question, the aids aside the trio scribbling down the meeting's minutes as they speak.

Eren yawns loudly and stands, pushing away the officer's notes from his space. "You are a waste of time. None of this has any use. Why did you even bother calling us here?" his tone is low, but careful to keep any threatening edge out of his voice. Mikasa and Armin look at him with a sudden alert, unsure exactly what to expect of this round of Eren's familiar, stubborn iconoclasm.

The room looks at Eren, suddenly taken with his pointed questioning. He stands facing the row of officers, irritated and unmoved.

"Eren..."

He ignores her.

"Tell me, what was the purpose here? Aside from wasting our time and disturbing our sleep?" Eren persists. After waiting all of two and a half seconds he pivots, walking back towards the door. "Yeah, that is what I thought. Bunch of babbling nincompoops squandering... for what benefit?" He finishes with a mumble to himself, venting an inner choleric swelling up through his mood.

He swings the door open and disappears into the hallway, leaving the room in a stunned silence. Armin and Mikasa glance at one another, considering their response.

Armin looks up to the head of the table, his face tightening as if expecting an actual answer from the man. But the man's mood still appears to be disconnected with Eren's insubordination, either shocked by the disrespect or genuinely not having an answer for himself. "Well?" Armin asks, leaning into the valid accusation with far more diplomacy than Eren. Mikasa's look follows Armin's, resting on the leading officers with the same expectation of some substantiation.

The leader settles back into his chair uncomfortably, saying nothing.

"So, you have no legitimate cause to call us here other than to review what you already know and what you already know is no longer applicable?" Armin presses the point. Many of the officers break eye contact with Armin and Mikasa, mumbling among themselves or saying nothing at all. One officer on the right end of the table reconstitutes eye contact with the pair and gives a subtle pantomime, seemingly admitting to them that they were dragged into it, too – that there was really nothing to be gained from the meeting. Merely an exercise in ogling and starstriking.

Armin glances at Mikasa, a brief nod. Followed by a shrug and a relax of posture.

He pushes back from the table, the scrape of the chair echoing loudly through the room. A smart turn and Armin walks away. Mikasa lingers a moment longer, her eyes sweeping over the long table. She did have to admit that she saw no point in staying, especially since both Eren and Armin called them out on their beaurcratic aimlessness. Still, she is hesitant to leave her duty behind.