"Heh!" Reiner chuckled, "You know me! Just a buoy from the mean streets of the East End." He bit his lip and glanced down at the hands that had just been on Kuno's skin, and now lay upturned and open in his own lap, smiling. He liked the response, even if it was a tease. It implied that Kuno felt like he needed Reiner. Connections like that were hard to come by at the best of times, let alone after a national disaster claimed large swaths of ones prior loved ones.
Reiner did have other friends, but times like these were strange. Overnight things could change so drastically in the world, and also just emotionally. It used to be that he was really good friends with a few of the men in his unit. Sure, they teased him. A lot. Mostly about the idolization of his lofty cousins, which they took for putting on airs. Those who'd known him long enough, knew he'd adopted his mother's maiden name, which made it worse. And those who'd known him longer still remembered when he was a kid and everybody thought he was a girl, and still taunted him for that, even though he'd grown into his look. Or so he thought. But he teased them all right back. Everybody had something to rib on, and he could dish it out as well as he could take it. That was just part of friendship. No... brotherhood.
But things had shifted between Reiner and those men the day some man in a fancy suit showed up with an air yacht to take him up to the ivory towers in the sky. It took the air out of a lot of the teasing he used to get from the other men. At first he just thought they were eating crow for being wrong all those years, now that Reiner could prove he was a legitimate, card-carrying Dornkirk. He peacocked around a bit about it, but softened when it wasn't received well. Eventually he realized what it was. They were scared of him now. He had the kind of connections that could get them crushed or coronated. That was what they thought. Some were afraid to talk to him, others kissed his ass. Nobody teased him anymore. Just Kuno.
Kuno had turned out to be the bridge between his worlds. Another metaphor, that, but it felt appropriate. He was salt-of-the-earth enough that they could banter like old chums, and entrenched enough in the new world of the Islands that he could help ease Reiner into unfamiliar situations. He was adviser, translator, educator and so much more. There were so, so many gaps in Reiner that Kuno was able to fill.
Reiner bit his lip and shook his head at the offer of another game.
"Not tonight, I don't think." He scooted to Kuno's left so he could slide both legs by him and get to his feet. "It'll be another early morning, and I'm still catching up from the last couple nights." He did stretch his back at the mention of massage, but made his way over to his bunk, pulling his undershirt off along the way and tossing it into his trunk.
"We got plenty of time for cards." He sat down on the edge of his bed, tugging his woolen socks off and rolling them into a ball, which he lobbed into the trunk to join his previously discarded shirt. He glanced across to Kuno's bed, realizing both of their pillows were still there from last night.
"Be a chum and toss me my pillow?" He extended his arms, waiting. He wasn't sure if Kuno was expecting him to commandeer his bunk again, but he wasn't feeling as playfully presumptuous tonight. Perhaps he really was that tired. His drooping eyelids seemed to suggest as much.
Reiner did have other friends, but times like these were strange. Overnight things could change so drastically in the world, and also just emotionally. It used to be that he was really good friends with a few of the men in his unit. Sure, they teased him. A lot. Mostly about the idolization of his lofty cousins, which they took for putting on airs. Those who'd known him long enough, knew he'd adopted his mother's maiden name, which made it worse. And those who'd known him longer still remembered when he was a kid and everybody thought he was a girl, and still taunted him for that, even though he'd grown into his look. Or so he thought. But he teased them all right back. Everybody had something to rib on, and he could dish it out as well as he could take it. That was just part of friendship. No... brotherhood.
But things had shifted between Reiner and those men the day some man in a fancy suit showed up with an air yacht to take him up to the ivory towers in the sky. It took the air out of a lot of the teasing he used to get from the other men. At first he just thought they were eating crow for being wrong all those years, now that Reiner could prove he was a legitimate, card-carrying Dornkirk. He peacocked around a bit about it, but softened when it wasn't received well. Eventually he realized what it was. They were scared of him now. He had the kind of connections that could get them crushed or coronated. That was what they thought. Some were afraid to talk to him, others kissed his ass. Nobody teased him anymore. Just Kuno.
Kuno had turned out to be the bridge between his worlds. Another metaphor, that, but it felt appropriate. He was salt-of-the-earth enough that they could banter like old chums, and entrenched enough in the new world of the Islands that he could help ease Reiner into unfamiliar situations. He was adviser, translator, educator and so much more. There were so, so many gaps in Reiner that Kuno was able to fill.
Reiner bit his lip and shook his head at the offer of another game.
"Not tonight, I don't think." He scooted to Kuno's left so he could slide both legs by him and get to his feet. "It'll be another early morning, and I'm still catching up from the last couple nights." He did stretch his back at the mention of massage, but made his way over to his bunk, pulling his undershirt off along the way and tossing it into his trunk.
"We got plenty of time for cards." He sat down on the edge of his bed, tugging his woolen socks off and rolling them into a ball, which he lobbed into the trunk to join his previously discarded shirt. He glanced across to Kuno's bed, realizing both of their pillows were still there from last night.
"Be a chum and toss me my pillow?" He extended his arms, waiting. He wasn't sure if Kuno was expecting him to commandeer his bunk again, but he wasn't feeling as playfully presumptuous tonight. Perhaps he really was that tired. His drooping eyelids seemed to suggest as much.