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[titanscience]

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[hometown]

[ That is. So much coffee creamer. Reiner blinks, wondering if the beverage will possibly taste good like that. He doesn't add anywhere near that much creamer! Then again, coffee creamer is a new thing for Reiner, too. Maybe he's been adding too little?

But Hange seems to enjoy it. So Reiner smiles again, small but pleased. ]

Yeah, it makes a big difference. Sometimes, I want that bitterness to help kick me awake. [ Spoken like a true masochist. ] Other times, it's like adding honey to tea, you know?

[ He takes the coffee creamer and adds some to his drink—more than he usually would, though nowhere near as much as Hange. ]

[titanscience]

Coffee existed in Marley, right? I still prefer tea, plus that is what Levi likes to make [And why make your own drinks when you can scrounge off somebody else?] but it sure would've been useful back when I had experiments to run! There truly weren't enough hours in the day!

[Hange takes another drink, confirming their opinion that yes, the coffee is so much better when it contains 50% sugar!]

You should try one of your cupcakes with it.

[hometown]

[ Thankfully, Reiner has grown accustomed enough to the Scout's knowledge of Marley that he doesn't jerk and spill his coffee. He only raises his eyes, slightly startled, then nods. ]

Yeah, we have coffee. You have to be careful with it, though. The stuff that wakes you up is called caffeine; it can become addictive.

[ Or so his superiors claimed when they barred Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, and Marcel from consuming coffee for several months before their deployment. Reiner didn't drink coffee much back then. However, he certainly felt the ban during long nighttime training sessions with only the moon for light.

He reaches over to pull the cupcake box closer, opening it and looking inside. ]

Do you want peach or spineapple?

[titanscience]

Caffeine? I've definitively heard people talk about it before. They say it's in tea too, but nowhere near as much.

[Something as simple as caffeine is still a scientific marvel to someone like Hange. Living here in Ellipsa is just a constant bombardment of information and facts they were never able to discover back in Paradis. Imagine the progress they could have made with access to both electricity and caffeine.]

Tough choice!

[Peach is always a winner, but in the spirit of getting to understand the unknown...]

Spineapple! I've never tried it before. No time like the present, right?

[hometown]

[ Reiner nods and gingerly takes two pineapple spineapple-flavored cupcakes from the box, careful not to mess up the icing. He sets one in front of Hange, then takes a moment to look at his own, his expression unreadable.

The cupcake is such a small thing. Reiner could devour it in just a few bites. But this gift from Hange means far more than the sum of its parts.

He isn't sure what to feel or think. He doesn't know if this gift comes with hidden strings or expectations, like so many others throughout his life. He expects the worst. He hopes for better. ]

Thank you.

[ It's the third time Reiner has said it. He still means it.

Then he takes a bite of his cupcake. ]