[ As soon as Reiner lays eyes on Falco, his mind goes blank. He doesn't react in time to reject or even respond to the hug, remaining rigid as it happens. His thoughts are reeling, the face of this boy burned into his mind from a memory not his own.

Falco. Falco. It was Gabi's Falco who saw him in that basement. Falco who will one day watch Reiner beg Eren to kill him.

No, that hasn't happened. It won't happen.

Has it happened for Falco? Has he seen Reiner like that? A broken ruin of a man burned down to a husk?

Falco pulls away and apologizes. Reiner blinks, trying to focus. ]

No, it's… It's fine.

[ It is not fine. But Reiner is practiced in pretending otherwise.

He gestures for Falco to sit, studying the boy's face. Falco looks around the same age that Reiner was when he, Bertholdt, Annie, and Marcel left home. As a Warrior Candidate, Falco is far from a helpless child. Still a kid, though. ]

I'm the one who should apologize. I know that you know me. [ Possibly better than Reiner suspects, if Falco already inherited the Armor. ] But this is my first time meeting you.

This place pulls people not only from different worlds, but from different times. [ He gestures to his face, indicating his relative youth. ] I was seventeen when I got here. I haven't been home to Liberio in a long time.