She doesn’t know much about cats, but she hadn’t really thought that they liked companionship. Isn’t their whole thing that they’re independent and stuff? Still, if Reiner wants to delude himself with dreams of magical cat friendships, Annie isn’t going to stop him.

“I see,” she says, half-teasing. “If you keep that up, you’ll get an entire menagerie.”

And wouldn’t that be a sight? Reiner surrounded by animals, some of that tension gone from the set of his shoulders, his eyes with that bright happiness lighting them from within…the sort of life neither of them had been able to have back home.

“Does this little fellow have a name?” She reaches out to pet it before hesitating and drawing her hand back. “It’s a cute little thing.”