It's an honest mistake at a distance, but surely, no teenager has those eyebags.

A gift from a friend. Well, Reiner must have been making friends with the locals, it seems. That's... good? The more he interacts with people here, the less likely he will be to try to blow them up, right?

Well, at least while he's not asking the wrong questions. Levi still intends to tell him the truth if he asks for it, but if he doesn't, well. This really is simpler for everyone.

But even if they've reached a somewhat civil equilibrium (in big part probably thanks to Gabi and the heartfreeze incident), he certainly wasn't expecting this Reiner to come to his aid (again). The older one, sure, but the fresh Warrior?..

Well, if it weren't for him, Levi would be on a long way down right now. He probably would have died even if he managed to reach the bottom and walk for a while, seeing as his ability to breathe was tied to having physical contact with someone every twelve hours and that place had to be pretty damn deserted.

It's actually quite chilling to think about; he keeps considering this place 'safe' compared to their own world, but it has some completely new, different dangers that he couldn't even think to consider.

To think he got this close to breaking one of his promises. Fuck.

"...thanks," he says, sounding just the tiniest bit strangled, but there's no rude follow-up or anything. It really must be genuine.

It may be a mixture of both, but Levi definitely isn't looking like much of a threat at the moment. Probably more like a wet kitten. Ironic, considering water is supposed to be his element, but perhaps the seasons were a worse match for some than others. (But then, even on land he often wasn't quite as terrifying as he was in the air.)

Still, if he had wanted to flip Reiner (underwater) he probably would have managed it somehow. He doesn't. There's no unspoken rule broken or sensibility offended. Instead, he's just had his ass saved by somebody who only really knows him as an enemy. There's finally a fragile olive branch of trust being extended, and why would he want to break it?

He does look somewhat uncomfortable as he's being pulled up, but he makes no motion that might interfere with it. The uncertain feeling intensifies a little at the offer; quite a change from someone who had essentially been holding an entire street of people at a knifepoint the first time they've met. Apprehension, perhaps. He mostly trusts Reiner not to transform on him here, but there's not exactly much he could do about it if he did.

"...I'll think about it," he says, wondering if there's anything that could go wrong about accepting help from someone who would like to see him crushed under a pile of boulders (even if he knows they're going to change their mind later).

Damn, this whole thing was a headache. How did Gabi hold out this long?

"Didn't know you're such an avid swimmer." More like a well-rounded Warrior candidate, probably, but he can't say for sure if swimming is even included in the Survey Corps curriculum as he had never gone through it. And there was definitely not enough water to need that skill where he came from.

His orca finally notices what happened and quickly swims up to them with a small sad whale whistle which may or may not be orca for oops, my bad.

He does think Reiner deserves the redemption he's going to get -- has gotten -- and ultimately he doesn't blame him personally for the Paradis infiltration mission either. Perhaps he used to. It can be tempting sometimes, like when Reiner threatens the safety of Nightwake, but back home... he was in a situation that no kid should have been put in to begin with. That's hardly something to pin on him when the ones who sent him there would have done it again to anybody without a second thought.

Reiner should have never ended up at that point, should have never been forced to choose between the options he did. Not unlike Eren, even though there's no redemption for killing the entire world. But they've been managing, somehow, small tendrils of trust allowing them to reach each other despite the rift between them that can never close.

He can't overlook the fact that Reiner, this version right here and now, thinks they're enemies. But then, what the hell was he doing right now, helping him? That's not exactly enemy behaviour. Perhaps things had gotten more complicated for him too, even if he doesn't know the truth.

Yet.

"Right," he says mildly. He did know about the Liberio port -- he had been there, several times now, at least one of them through Eren's memories here -- but just because there was a harbor nearby did not mean the people living there were allowed to go there. He supposes it makes sense, though. Warriors were Marley's weapons; they would want them as versatile as possible. "Well, suppose I'm lucky you did."

He doesn't thank him again -- once is enough -- but the sentiment is much the same.

He reaches for his mount's harness perhaps a little stiffly, still on high alert from the stress of nearly dying, and makes sure to strap himself in more securely this time, even if it limits his mobility somewhat.

The orca doesn't answer, but it does swim an excited little circle around Reiner with some happier sounding clicking noises. It's probably as good as promising that it will do its best, though whether or not that will be successful probably remains to be seen.

It wouldn't be taken as offense, either, though Levi still isn't entirely comfortable with Reiner. He wonders if he ever will be, but at least their level of civility seems to be approaching the sort they had at the end of the world, and now he does have clear proof that the younger man isn't waiting to get rid of him despite his last memories from home being of them as bitter enemies. Levi briefly wonders when exactly he comes from; if he knows about his former classmates blowing him up, if he knows about his comrade's fate, if he knows that they all but wiped out the Survey Corps that day.

He seems to be on their side again now, however reluctantly -- or perhaps on Ellipsa's side is a better evaluation of that -- and as much as an extra failsafe would feel nice right about now, they do also have a mission to complete.

"No, I'll slow you down." He frowns slightly, hoping it doesn't sound too dismissive; he just really does think that Reiner seems to be too damn effective in this environment to get tangled up babysitting a hamstrung man who can't swim. "There's probably others that could use your aid."