(open) i made a fist and not a plan

[hoody]

Date & Time: Starting Jan. 1st, but practically every morning (You can specify if timelines are important.)
Location: Near a forest on the city outskirts
Character(s): Annie Leonhardt, Eren Jaeger, and YOU?!
Summary: There's a short, slightly intimidating girl apparently training on the outskirts of town nearly every morning. Sometimes there's a kid with angry eyebrows training with her. Dare you approach? (Multiple prompts; one is closed, the rest are open!)
Warnings: Viol...ence? Will update if/when necessary.

A. (closed to eren)

She had been working off-and-on on the training space since they had returned back planetside. She had considered taking over a place indoors, but none of the buildings she found suited her, and she was far more used to working outside anyway. The cold was bothersome, of course, but there was nothing to be done about that. A few weeks later and it's mostly done—the snow of a loose circular area has been packed down to a floor, half of it bare with the other half hosting four make-shift 'punching bags.' In truth, they were each tall segments of a fallen pine tree that she had stripped the branches from and wrapped what looks like some kind of bedding. Hey, they're at the very least functional.

She'd left when the sun had started to rise, so now it's peeking over the treeline. The snow makes it brighter than normal; Annie narrows her eyes against the glare, though she's grateful for the warmth of the sunlight. It helps distract her from the temperature, buzzing on the surface of her skin. She shifts slightly, shoulders drawn up and hands stuffed in her pockets against the cold. She'd given the time and place to Eren, so all she has to do now is wait.

B. (open)

Off in the distance, in the aforementioned make-shift training area, you can see two figures fighting. They seem to be a messy-haired boy fighting a small blonde girl. Huh.

Well, from what you can see, either that boy is an utter trainwreck at fighting, or that girl is dynamite. Or both. He's just thrown a punch, which she dodged easily enough before throwing him bodily over her shoulder and onto the snow. Ouch, that had to hurt. Maybe you should approach and see what's going on?

C. (also open)

All the other mornings, there's just Annie training. When she doesn't have someone to beat up spar with, she's training on one of those make-shift punching bags. She's very quick on her feet, circling the target and striking with speed, strength, and efficiency. It's possible she doesn't notice your approach, especially if you do so from behind her; she tends to get a little absorbed in her training.

Comments

haha yeah, spectator tags are never exciting!

[hoody]

[That same fight gave Annie something more to fight for as well—she might have won the fight by that (thankfully) unremembered pause of Eren's, but that fight should not have lasted nearly so long. She had been taken aback by his blind rage, but no longer. The next time it happened (she was not disillusioned enough to think that it wouldn't ever happen again), she wouldn't allow him to gain even that first advantage.

She wouldn't allow it here, either. Annie was no kind instructor, no sage mentor. Every lesson that Eren had learned from her, he had learned it by having it drilled into him—through muscle memory, through an internal knowledge of how mistakes led to pain.

There is more, however. As much as she would never admit it out loud, he's got a keen intuition that requires no formal instruction. She's noticed how he's been mimicking her footwork (albeit shoddily, but what more could she expect), and she steps up her speed. He still gets closer than he's been able to, though, and she didn't quite expect that. She tries to twist away from his jab, but she couldn't in time—her breath hisses through her teeth as she takes the hit on her ribs, but his swing is wide open and it's left him practically teetering. Annie moves in one fluid motion, sweeping his feet and hurling him over her shoulder and into the snow.

She's breathing pretty hard when he hits the ground, and she resists the urge to raise a hand to her bruising ribs. Instead she lowers her hands from her guard, catching her breath before offering, quietly,] Good. [Better treasure that, Eren; you're not going to get many of those.]

it's fine! turns kate into a hunger games spectator

[gevurah]

[ The moment Eren moves once more, Kate is able to determine Annie is going take him down again. To the untrained eye, one could mistake Eren's movements for fluid and powerful. Not to Kate. Powerful? Sure... but brute strength is useless when your opponent is sharp and precise in their counter. In her line of work, she's been able to defeat monsters almost three times her size by being faster and knowing where to strike.

He's trying to emulate her, too. Kate can see it. It won't work, she thinks. You can't defeat your opponent by approaching them in a way they're familiar with.

When Eren goes down, she doesn't look the least bit surprised.

However, she has to wonder what good physical combat is against their enemy. Those titans. Sure, basic training, but... ]

Armin isn't joining the session?

[counterattacked]

[Hitting the ground knocks the wind out of him. And despite getting thrown in the end, he breaks into a manic, breathless grin at the small victory, (the rare acknowledgement of it,) taking shallow and stilted breaths in an attempt to speak. It's not a win, but it's progress. And that's something. Kate manages to save Annie the embarrassment of listening to him by distracting him.

He lifts his head at Armin's name, levers himself up into a sitting position.]

Armin? He doesn't really go for this sort of thing.

[Armin's strengths lie elsewhere, and he's smart enough to put his energy where it's better used. He knew enough hand to hand to get him through basic training, but Annie's techniques are another beast entirely. Eren, on the other hand, had spent a childhood getting into fistfights for Armin's sake; getting between his best friend and those who would label him a heretic. Because though Armin never backed down from his beliefs, he had long refused to stoop to their level by getting physical. Eren had no problem stooping, even if it meant coming home with a black eye or a broken nose more often than not.

It's been years since then. Armin's a soldier, he's learned to hold his own. But old habits die hard, and Eren studies the woman curiously, a little warily.]

You know Armin?

[hoody]

[Annie's happy enough that the impact with the ground had knocked the wind out of him, because listening to whatever victorious words he had to go along with that look would have irritated her. She'd been becoming a little too lenient in these training sessions. Guess what, Eren—you're not going to get any quarter from Annie in the next few weeks. Good thing for that titan healing ability, huh?

She glances over to the stranger at Armin's name as well. Then again, she shouldn't be surprised that she might know him—he had been here for months longer than all of them.

The thought of Armin coming out here to train in hand-to-hand with them is enough to elicit a harsh half-laugh, half-scoff from Annie as she turns away partially. It's not that she looks down on Armin, however; his strengths simply did not lie in physical combat. There were plenty of other reasons to be wary of him, however.

Annie glances back over to their spectator, though. She's interested to hear how she might know Armin as well.]

[gevurah]

[ She should have figured; the kid had more brains than brawn as far as she's been able to discern. Never a bad thing. The army always needed someone who could think on their feet. ]

We've spoken a couple of times. He's been here a while.

[counterattacked]

[A while, he knew that. Months on his own, and Eren's expression creases to something disquieted before smoothing itself out again (he's not alone any more.) He stands, not without paying for his losses, but it's not much more than an ache, a shortness in breath. He's not hurt.]

I'm Eren. This is Annie. Armin's a friend of mine.

[Best friend, of the "would die for" variety, though none of that needs saying. It doesn't manage to occur to him how she'd known to connect Armin to them in the first place. So a beat, and-]

From home, I mean. We serve together. [The both of them in the Survey Corps. Annie had joined the Military Police after training instead, as evidenced by the green unicorn on her jacket instead of a pair of crossed wings.]

[hoody]

[She struggles to imagine what all Armin had preoccupied himself with in these months without any of the rest of them. If someone had posed to her in training camp that he might survive for several months without either Eren or Mikasa to hang around with, she would've laughed. He was made of stronger stuff than that, though, she guesses—she'd always been periodically surprised by him.

She glances over to the woman when her name is mentioned, but otherwise Annie remains just as talkative as she ever is.

As far as Eren's explanation went, she knew he was undercutting it—Eren and Armin, were neigh inseparable, and if Mikasa were around it would be the same for her as well. She knows that her own input on the matter is mostly unnecessary, though—the differing symbols on their jackets would, indeed, point out the difference in their military allegiances.]

[gevurah]

[ She commits those symbols to memory; it's interesting, but still rather tragic that this is their life. It's been her life here, but she's different: she's grown up on base, her parents were career soldiers, she was practically born to do this.

She starts to make her way closer toward the two, so she doesn't have to practically shout to continue their conversation. ]

Good to meet you. I'm Kate.

[counterattacked]

[At least she doesn't voice her feelings on the matter. Not that she's wrong, there's tragedy there, but Eren's not graceful at accepting anything he might view as pity. Being a soldier is all he ever wanted. It would be a lie to say he never worried over Armin (who was always small and hopeful but always struggling against forces bigger and stronger than him) or Mikasa (who is a damn prodigy of unprecedented proportions—but who he'd met determined to save her from men smaller but just as monstrous as titans and some part of him will always remember her that way.) But they'd made their decisions and followed him into the Corps, even if it's usually as good as a death sentence. After what happened in Shiganshina—well, it's not like they had much left except each other.

He's got little problem shouting a conversation, but he doesn't seem put off by the fact that she approaches.]

He didn't mention you. [Armin had spoken of a few people. A Batwoman in regard to the zombie invasion. But never a Kate.] You're a soldier too? With the Initiative, I mean.

[hoody]

[They had been born into it, as well—born into a world where they were hunted relentlessly by a threat they couldn't quantifiably understand. Where, at one point, you make a decision of whether to be a soldier or fodder.

Annie looks to the woman, introduced now as Kate. She manages a,] Nice to meet you, [before looking away. If training must be postponed, so be it, but she found conversation far more tedious.

Yet she listens to Eren, and whatever replies Kate might have for them.]

[gevurah]

[ She doesn't appear to be surprised or offended in any capacity. Armin isn't aware she was the one he encountered on that rainy night all those months ago and the same masked woman who took him to safety when the undead atacked.

"With the Initiative", however... she purses her lips momentarily. It's a complicated answer when she doesn't want to stand by them for what they've done, but it's a necessity. ]

I am, but I'm on the Transports' side, mostly.

[ A beat. ]

I'm not a commissioned officer, however.