"I grew up by the sea," Ymir began, getting out of bed to go grab something from a drawer. "My first real job was helping load crates onto large merchant vessels."

that's a lot of manual labor

"They shouldn't have let a child do that," I muttered my distaste.

"I was lucky they did," Ymir murmured in response, "hard labor is better than begging, and I chose to do it of my own volition."

you shouldn't have had to

there should've been something there to support you

a support system

"Anyway," she continued. "The first time I went out to sea it was a total accident, I was slacking off while loading crates and fell asleep. When I came to the harbor was already fading out of view, I couldn't swim back then so there was no point in even trying to get back."

you couldn't swim?

"You lived next to the ocean your whole life and couldn't swim?"

"Nope," Ymir chuckled, "no one ever taught me."

do you know now?

"You're a sailor who doesn't know how to swim?"

"Well I'm on a boat, there's no need."

WHAT IF THE BOAT SINKS???

"Isn't that dangerous?" My mind filled with thousands of different concerns.

"Calm down," Ymir put a hand on mine, "I've learned a little since then, it's just not my strong suit."

there's so much i need to make her do

"We should get you swimming lessons as soon as everything calms down, I really don't like the idea of you drowning."

this seems like something that should've been solved years ago

"I'm happy that you're so concerned but it's alright," Ymir smiled, "I'm not going to die."

"Ok fine," I gave in, "continue with your story."

"Right, where was I?"

oh uh-

"You fell asleep aboard a ship!"

"When I woke up it was too late to make it back to shore, for the next three days or so I hid below deck, trying to go unnoticed by the crew."

"For three days?"

i had a hard time staying inside for only a day or so- i can't imagine

"By the time the captain of the ship found me out I was near starving."

and then what happened?

"At that point, it was too late for them to head back and drop me off somewhere, so they had no choice but to let me stay aboard the rest of the trip."

for a second there i was scared tht you were going to say they threw you overboard

she's still alive isn't she?

you're right- she wouldn't be here if that was the case

"Did they take you back home?"

many merchant vessels end up going to a few different ports before they return to the place they started

"They offered," she nodded. "I ended up staying on that boat until I was 13."

that's a long time

"You didn't want to return home?"

"Not particularly, I mean, think about it my meals and living space were all taken care of if I continued to work and live on the boat."

what kind of childhood did you have?

even though i don't have a good relationship with my father there are still people i would miss

people i want to return to

"Don't look at me like that," Ymir frowned, picking up on my concern. "If you're going to keep on looking at me like I have the most fucked up life I'm going to stop telling you about it."

"Ok continue."

no promises ymir

"I received this from the captain after months of scrubbing the deck and hauling junk around," Ymir opened her hand to show me what she had grabbed earlier, a silver, slightly tarnished pocket watch.

"I didn't strike you as being the sentimental type," I commented, running a finger along the cool metal.

"Does that bother you?" Ymir raised an eyebrow slightly.

"No, it's cute."

"Enough about me," Ymir blushed, turning away. "You must also have stories."

are you asking?

"Not anything as interesting as the one you just told."

if you want to listen to me talk about all the pranks mike and i used to play on levi and erwin then sure but-

i feel like it's all boring in comparison

i mean you've lived through so much more

"Tell me about your childhood, I'm sure it's just as interesting," she pressed.

i mean- i guess ??

"I feel like it was fine all things considered," I shrugged. "My relationship with my father was good up until talks of my engagement to Reiner started when I turned 16."

but we had a good 16 years leading up to it

"A couple of years earlier Mike had left for boarding school so I guess it was only natural that he turned his attention to me soon after," I continued, urged on by Ymir's steady gaze. "I've always been given everything I asked for so I guess I understand why my father thinks I'm behaving so selfishly- I wouldn't call it that though."

him using me as a bartering chip is selfish

"You aren't being selfish," Ymir reassured.

oh i know

"Maybe the reason why I stuck it out for so long is because of the relationship I used to have with him? I mean I used to get into a lot of trouble with Levi and Erwin, he never used to get upset or do anything to correct that kind of behavior."

he let a lot slide

"Can you tell me about that? About what you three would do?" Ymir steered the conversation in a new direction.

"Only if you promise to not laugh-"

"I promise."

________________________

i actually haven't been able to stop thinking abt ymir w/ an eyepatch this week its unhealthy

- ami