#i woke up at 5:00AM and typed this up idk if it even makes sense

[moonspirit]

One of the many things I like about the Connie-laughing-at-Annie-eating-pie scene is how we get a brief glimpse of Armin's protective side free of his usual self-sacrificial tendencies.

Because he doesn't think of himself as someone who can protect others. Armin sees himself as weaker than everyone else, lacking the ability to be someone stronger (say Reiner for example) and more confident (say Jean) who can protect others much better. The fact is that he's always been very protective of everyone he cares about; it's only that this trait of his character tends to show up most often at the sacrificial end of the spectrum. I think it tends to draw our attention away from his protective nature and puts greater focus on how little he values his life instead.

We see him always trying to get the others out of danger, starting with getting Hannes to come rescue Eren and Mikasa when Shiganshina fell, convincing the garrison not to kill Eren (tho his idea in this situation was to put himself directly in front of the cannons), sending Mikasa off in Trost with his blades, punching Eren for Mikasa, putting himself in front of Muller's guns at the end, so on and so forth etc etc, there are a million situations honestly---and in all of them, he tries to protect the others the only way he thinks he's capable of: by being the bait.

Which is why it always makes me so happy to see the pie scene, where you have a starving Annie stuffing her cheeks with pie, Connie making fun of her, and Armin's immediate reaction is to put himself between her and his harmless friend and indignantly yell, "She hasn't eaten in four years Connie, stop laughing at her!"

(Like, nevermind the fact that he's seeing Annie "alive" after four years, his girl's honour comes first lol. I bet he thought: I must protecc her chipmunk cheeks).

For once we see him defending someone without offering himself up in the process. It's just such a wholesome moment where we get to know that he's naturally protective, and in a light-hearted situation that doesn't drag his self-loathing and insecurities to the surface, "sacrifice myself" isn't the damned first thing on his mind.

How many more traits we'd able to see, both new and existing ones in a different light, if he'd been able to live in a way that didn't constantly fuel his hatred for himself?