#AA in Ft Salta Series

[moonspirit]

"Embers," She remarks and her heart rattles in her ribcage. She's feeling too much.

"No," he laughs, dropping his head to lean in close, brushing his nose with hers. His eyes pour emotions into hers that she's too flustered to read.

"Lanterns," he whispers.

Wanted to post this absolutely STUNNING, lovely, gorgeous piece of art @annawayne gifted me last week!! A moment from my fic Time Falls like Moonlight, brought to vivid life by Anna's terrific talent and skill! Thank you so much Anna, this is soooooo beautiful!!!

[moonspirit]

A year and two days ago, I came back to the writing arena with Tomorrow Will Come, a post-canon oneshot that wasn't supposed to spawn four sequels after it, and the crazy talented and wonderful @annawayne gifted me this T_T

(anna pls, I'm overwhelmed every time, you can't keep doing this T_T)

I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn, because fic writers come and go, and there are many who've been in the AA fandom for years - but all the same, I just want to say, I'm happy I started writing again and returned to Tumblr. I've met so many wonderful people on here (you know exactly who all you are), and it doesn't feel like a year, more like a lifetime, and there is nowhere else I'd rather be. So... I'm glad this fic was the one that half brought me here.

As for this... This BEAUTIFUL art T_T Anna. Your talent knows no bounds. This is beyond fucking magnificent, I'm so grateful, thank you so much T/////T

That said, holy fucking shit do I need to re-write the whole damn fic because 🥲 I'm wincing a bit at my prose from back then...

[moonspirit]

Thought I'd also share, for any new Aruani fans.

Series is here.

[moonspirit]

I was going through some outlining, and was quite floored by the number of OCs I've... made... so far. This fic started with one (1) OC and was supposed to stop with a max of three (3), and now… welp.

For my own sanity, here's a list of OCs in VBEOW:

(only the important and recurring ones)

Asa - A orphan boy from Liberio. Armin's "son".

Aoife (pronounced 'ee-fa') - A young girl in Kald facing abuse from her father. Annie's "daughter".

Oliver - Stamp maker. Kari's grandfather.

Kári Ólafsson - Annie's admirer. Oliver's grandson.

Hikari - Armin's admirer. Daughter of the woman owning the hot-springs inn.

Pekka Heikkinen - Chancellor of Kald.

Helga - The Chancellor's Secretary.

Hanna - Housekeeper to the Alliance members. Also the Chancellor's housekeeper.

Felipe - A ex-Marleyan soldier from Fort Salta. Very friendly to the Alliance members. Native Kaldian, and childhood friends with Hikari and Kari.

Gunnar - Aoife's father, a confectioner and local handyman.

Igor - A strange man who frequents the barbershop and says strange things.

Oskar König - Grand Vizier (ie, Prime Minister) of Osneau, a hostile country.

Lanzo Feld - Prime Minister of Nauland, a country that was formerly a frequent victim of Osneau's bullying. Friendly with Kald.

Hahaha that's thirteen so far... dear god. Welp. Anyway. I'm trying to keep the OCs to the minimum (T_T) but for a worldbuilding of this scale and complexity, I am forced to create these characters to help drive the plot forward. Hopefully they're interesting enough.

[moonspirit]

Good morning, Moon!

I wanted to stop by and thank u for the amazing fanfics u write and share, and especially the 5 part of the Aruani in Fort Salta series. There's no better Aruani fanfic than this one and u r the best writer out there. Thank u and love u buddy, may the inspo never leaves u!

Ahhhh T_T Omg, aahhhhhh thank you so much for your kind words, I'm so very glad you're enjoying them! VBEOW has come to mean so much to me, and I'm happy to be able to share it with lovely people like you. I will keep doing my best to do Aruani & Co as much justice as I can, and give them enough happiness.

Thank you very much, once again.

[moonspirit]

Hello, Moon!

For the director's cut game:

In Planetisimal Feelings, what's your input on the scars on Annie's lower back, how she was afraid of letting people see them, including Armin, but grew to be more comfortable with Armin seeing them (later chapters)

Falling into Neptune (my personal favorite of the series!), the scene where Annie describes Armin's shoulders and hands, how she thought he might grow and become

As for VBEOW, you know I want more about Annie's thought process buying the family name seal (and maybe even receiving it later on)

Best of luck!

-Clouds

Heya clouds! And thanks for asking xD This becomes a little hehe sexy toward the end xD

1. PF, Annie's Scars.

So it's my personal headcanon that pre-shifter scars and marks remain intact even during limb regeneration and Titan healing. Good old Ymir in the paths probably has an anatomy book for every shifter in history to make sure she doesn't mess them up when she rebuilds their legs and arms. Anyway, this is why Annie has scars at all, in this series. Wounds she sustained from her dad's training.

I think Pre-Armin Annie would've cared very little who saw what and what they made of it. Post Armin however and her realisation that he saw her as a nice person, she develops a whole avalanche of emotions that she doesn't really figure out. But anyway at this point, she wants to be a good person for him... But her scars are a memory of her ugly upbringing. Proof that she was trained "not to be good", in direct contrast with Armin who's the epitome of goodness. It doesn't really matter atp because he traps her, she crystallizes and any emotional advancements between the two is pretty much doomed before it even progressed.

Post Rumbling, she's alive, he's alive, they've talked their feelings out and it can't be ignored anymore. Armin who stopped the Rumbling because he's never been a person who's liked the idea of killing anybody ever, and Annie, who killed so many out of a selfish/desperate desire to go home. She feels ugly. Not good enough. Not "clean" enough. She doesn't want him to see it. She also doesn't want him to see proof of the shit she went through as a child because now, it all seems pathetic. Her life has been a pathetic existence. What would he think of her, wanting to go back to the very man who gave her those scars? At least, these are her fears.

But then, throughout the series, Armin wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't seem to be fazed by anything belonging to her past. He pops a vague-ish "will you marry me" question in PF. Tells her how much he desired her, physically, in Falling into Neptune. In TFLM, he tells her it's okay to live and desire happiness despite everything and that he wants to live his life loving her. Most importantly, there's the letter he gives her in which he very clearly promises to "Love her in all the ways it is possible to love her and maybe someday, the pain that rests in the scars on her back will no longer be a bad memory." which is basically a moment of reveal for her that he already knows about them through Bertholdt's memories. And he still loves her just the same. He doesn't see her as a used war weapon, now useless; he sees her as a girl, a woman, his future.

Her fears begin to dissipate. In VBEOW, she goes through a lot of reckoning over her feelings and her needs and desires, trying to make sense of them beyond just the surface level sexual frustration, and she makes several reckless (and cute) decisions that only serve to tell her that he means so much to her, more than she can even begin to describe. She wants him in her life, for good, for long, forever. And he reinforces all these beliefs by constantly telling her how much he loves her (too). By the time chap 5 comes and she learns of Pieck's sparse time with Porco, she understands the miracle it is to still have Armin alive, and the miracle of being granted long, ordinary, human lives. The scars will remain but she's fine with showing them to him, because it's Armin, he wants her and her alone, exactly for who she is and nothing more or less, and he's never going to let her go.

(More on her scars in chapter 11, Armin's going to... make good on that promise. Literally.)

2. Falling into Neptune - physical changes.

A horny midnight hour idea that arose out of the frustration of being robbed of the moment when Annie really SEES the man Armin's become, in canon material. Anyway. Since none of the sequels were planned at this stage, this was just a fic that focused on the purely physical traits that people grow to desire and want.

There's something to be said of a teenage girl's fantasies over a boy she likes. Annie, despite all her pessimism and seeming disinterest in romance and sex, was no exception. These thoughts are intrusive. You just can't help having them. At 15, as military trainees, while Armin was puny and frail, he was still taller than her. After becoming aware of her special fondness for him, she would've started becoming aware of... other things too. Like the size of his hand when he handed her a loaf of bread - a little bigger than hers. The protrusion on his throat that bobbed with every hearty laugh and shout. The back of his neck when the wind blew his hair away and how it would feel to hold onto it. The curve of her hips in contrast to his - slim and narrow. The wider shoulders compared to hers, narrow and small. The heat and scent of his body when he came especially close to her in totally normal situations, but her heart races. She would've gone to bed after training replaying all the little sounds he made while talking to her, all a little deeper in tone. She liked him, and he was a boy, so... different from her, a girl. At this age, you're hyper aware of every single change that you go through and she would've imagined how much taller he'd grow, how the features would change and etc. At the end of the day, she was just a girl with fantasies like anyone else.

At 19, things are very, very different. She's been listening to his voice deepen in register over four years, but seeing him is... a shock. Suddenly he's way taller. His shoulders are now broad. Much stronger. For all the strength and muscles she packs in her arms, his are now much bigger, and longer. Her neck, thin and long, and his neck, thicker and wider. The back of his neck, exposed permanently by that stupid gorgeous undercut that makes him look so good. Longer legs, thighs slimmer than hers but very firm and strong, and when she sits on his lap, she can feel how easily they remain in place and don't buckle under her weight. Waist and hips still narrow. When he turns his neck and yells at someone, she can see a vein straining. Beautifully long fingers and attractive as fuck forearms. The clench of a sharp jawline. He's lost the baby fat from his cheeks, but while he still looks a little boyish, there's no doubt that this is a man. And far sexier than in all her fantasies put together.

3. VBEOW, Annie's hanko.

So an unplanned but very significant subplot now, the hanko is, undeniably very cute xD While she doesn't find out about the hanko's existence until she actually visits the stamp maker, this subplot begins the very moment she undertakes Armin's job of getting that official seal made. The way I see it, the common family stamp in Japan is affixed on all official documents as a signature, and everyone carries one around. In VBEOW however, I made it so that a married couple has just one, and they share it. When she agrees to visit the stamp maker, she's already begun to share his responsibilities. Seeing the hanko there is just a physical manifestation of what she wants in their relationship, both consciously and sub-consciously.

She's also impulsive. Had Armin seen that hanko, he wouldn't have bought it. (If I can say it without spoiling, I'd say Armin's... going about this in a different way xD and I'm so excited to write this scene later on!) Armin is methodical and he'd have done it by the book, and got their hanko after being married. But Annie had one look at all the family names embossed so cutely in little rubber circles, and she thought "Oh... Arlert... would look nice on one of these."

All it took was once glance. And it becomes a fixation. Better at expressing her emotions by actions (sometimes not even that) than words, she runs back to the store the next day with enough money in her pocket, little to no thought of how it would look like to get a seal typically ordered after getting MARRIED of all things, until after she actually reaches there, she blurts out his surname and scrams back home, mortified and embarrassed. Subconsciously, she wanted something of him to keep with her at all times, but how embarrassing would it be to ask him to give her something of that sort? But here's a thing she can buy, put his name on it, and keep close.

Once she receives it out of the stamp maker's kindness (for free! basically trying to say that the things you do for love, in love, are priceless), she becomes instantly attached to it. At this point, she's still battling with putting a proper name and description to her love for him, so to have this little stamp carrying his name in her pocket, in her hands, something of her own that makes her happy and warm and safe and most importantly, loved (in contrast to the ring, that reminds her of awful things) feels like magic.

The hanko will be important in future too, and there will be plenty of cute shenanigans around it :D (some moments i'm literally DYING to write T^T)

Oh god sorry this is so long T^T I hope you made it through ifhsoighsgg.

[moonspirit]

HELLO BAE!! HOW ARE YOU?? So i have been reading fort salta for quite some time now and I came across a video about jean not having time to indulge in his hobbies because of him being a cadet and all. But imagine fort salta series post rumbling jean buying art materials and finally having some peace of mind to draw and paint. A small step towards a peaceful life dont you think?😭❤️

Hello anon! I'm hanging on, how are you? :3

A post-rumbling Jean finding and indulging in a few hobbies is very heartening T^T And painting definitely seems like the kind of thing he'd like to do; it's a skill that can leave a lasting impression with people, and I can just see him standing on a breezy hill with an easel and canvas, sketching and painting serenely. He definitely deserves it, considering the way he's grown and matured over the length of the series. Give him some peace and quiet, yes T^T

On a wilder tangent tho - One day someone might come along and say "Jean, paint me like one of your french girls" xD

[moonspirit]

AT THIS POINT…Asa is Armin and Annie’s son. IM JUST SAYING. This chapter he was like “mom i want to see dad.” And Annie got all upset because their kid ruined date night 😭😭😭🫶🫶🫶 i love them

Oh absolutely Anon!

She's basically his mom the moment she says "Go get your shoes" and takes him to see Papamin xD And then she gets all the mom-feelings when she watches Papamin heading to work and dropping Asa off in school (woodworks shop) on the way lmaooo.

I can't say that there won't be more family moments! They've basically become Parents-in-Training!

[moonspirit]

When Armin sees the scars on Annie’s back wont he connect the dots back to her father? Won’t he feel angry that Annie continues seeing him even after he made her life a living hell as a child?

Hi anon! I'm assuming your questions are framed in context of VBEOW.

An excerpt from Time Falls like Moonlight:

And Annie’s father - he doesn’t really like him, because he’d seen the memory of a small, timid boy following Annie home one afternoon after he’d become curious about the angry red marks - welts - on her shoulders during training, and, hidden behind a wall, watched her getting kicked by an angry father. She’d taken it without complaint, without a single noise, without a single tear. Those kicks were harsh. Cruel. Painful. The timid boy had done nothing, just continued to watch. And this memory would never, ever, leave Armin. Armin doesn’t really like him - but he’s Annie’s father, who she’d wanted to come back to for years, who she’d struggled to stay alive for. It’s not his place to say anything for now.

From this it's obvious that he's seen Bertholdt's memories of following Annie home one day and watching her get beat up. So he knows about the scars. Armin does know how she got them and who gave them to her. He knows exactly what her childhood was like.

In this series, and now in VBEOW, Annie has a... 'functioning' relationship with her father (you'll bear witness to this in Ch 9). It's no longer frightening, but it's also not very warm. While Annie has to deal with her childhood abuse through Aoife's issues, she's not going to be beaten/abused by her dad again - I'm not taking this story down that route (for several reasons). Annie's journey of change and growth will be different.

Armin's role in this aspect, on the other hand, is one of respect for Annie's decisions. What Armin wants to give her, as he mentions in his letter in Time Falls Like Moonlight, again:

"... Love her in all the ways it is possible to love her and maybe someday, the pain that rests in the scars on her back will no longer be a bad memory."

This is his priority. To give her a happy life in her (their) future as opposed to a hellish life back in her childhood. Freedom for Annie in her life, her choices, her time, because she never had freedom before. In this fic, he respects the decisions she makes and won't interfere with what she does or doesn't do, unless of course, she gets hurt. And she's not getting hurt by her father anymore here (as I said, not going that route).

As for her scars, he can't get rid of them, but he hopes to instead, overwrite the pain they carry, with love and care.

(However, I will say that we'll see a very angry Armin much later on, for something else. Personally, I'm dying to write this moment as well T//////T)

[moonspirit]

Hi Moon, I'm Anónima from ao3 and I just came here to tell you that your fanfic Aruani is my favorite post canon, I admire you a lot as a writer, I say it again, your characterization is so sublime, I really feel like I'm reading a continuation of the manga and not a fanfic 💓

Ahhh hello!!! Welcome, it's so good to see you here! And thank you so much for your kind words, I'm so grateful you're enjoying the fic and the journey T_T

I'll continue to do my best to keep that vibe going!

Thank you T////T

[moonspirit]

⭐

Hello anon and I'm so sorry I'm answering this late T_T But you literally sent me a star for a favorite scene I'm dying to talk about... and I have too many xD I had to think.

Anyways, I decided to pick the final closing scene of Time Falls Like Moonlight (I don't think I'll ever shut up about how special this fic is to me lmao. It single-handedly birthed a whole longfic in VBEOW? T^T) where Annie finds Armin at the front of the train, eyes closed, and enjoying the breeze over the open sea, and watches him quietly, with his letter tucked into her bra.

For me, this scene was magical from the very beginning, and it was born entirely from this song: The Forest - Montear. I remember I was making tea one evening while revising for my exams, and I came across the song and immediately, an overhead-drone-camera-panning shot of Annie bathing in Armin's dazzling happy smile on a hurtling train - was born xD Needless to say, the whole of TFLM came into existence only because of this final scene. I built everything else to get to this point, this filled-with-hope, bursting-with-positivity moment (that Armin accomplishes) leaving Fort Salta train ride after all the hell they went through.

I imagine an endless vast sea, with a railwaytrack running over it as far the eyes can see, pink sunrise colouring the waters and AruAni, "heading to a new world, full of beauty still, beauty of the sort Armin always dreamed of, by the light of a new sun."

And so was born Kald.

Thank you for the ask :3!

[moonspirit]

You are the only thing keeping me sane rn after last nights episode 😭 Thank you sm for writing these fics. They are top tier. Any plans for any other character povs in the Fort Salta series?👀

Ahhhhh Anon, thank you and I'm so glad you're enjoying them! The episode was very hard...

As for other character POVs, I have no plans at the moment, because I don't want to write something that doesn't seem in character at all, so I will need to sit down and do a study xD However, who knows, if a sudden song inspires me to write one it might happen ._.

(on a further note anon, there are plenty of fantastic authors who all have amazing stuff keeping things going, please follow them!)