Shingeki no Kyojin/ Attack on Titan discussion

((Here we go! Monika and Caroline it is!))

Monika watched as a few recruits were yelled at by Shadis, a common occurrence by now, but it still seemed to scare them out if their wits. 'Half this bunch won't last at this rate...' she thought to herself as the two recruits the lecture was aimed towards hung their heads with shame. She almost laughed to think she had been amoung them, too scared yet at the same time, emotionless she had been then, after that day. She shivered at the thought and quickly turned her focus to the recruits again, waiting for her role here to be explained to the trainees.

Caroline had always been scared when someone got into trouble. She stared at Shadis. She noticed the older soldiers nearby. That was probably what was meant by 'special training'

Shadis yelled at them to stop what they were doing and left the stage for the group of the 6 more sociable members of the Survey Corps. Monika cleared the nervousness out of her throat and began, with a kind but still hearable voice.
"Hello cadets. You may be wondering why there are some members of the Survey Corp here and I'll tell you why.
We're here to train you on a certain thing us Corp members have been know for: being courageous, although we are all aware that being courageous can sometimes be interpreted as being stupid as the walled citizens so eloquently put it," she explained, the last comment earning a few giggles from the crowd.
"Now, who wants to try first?"

Caroline looked up at the stage. Slowly she stepped forward. If she went first then there wouldn't be anything to live up too.

Monika smiled kindly at her. "Thanks. What's your name?" she asked with a quieter voice.

Ryan stepped up next to Monika and continued. "Now that we have a volunteer, we're going to show you all some tricks with your 3-D Maneuver Gear and have you test your blades on something most of you haven't seen before. Now, before anyone asks, it's not a titan. What it is is a different type of target that some people have developed that are very close to titans is density as well as a few other elements, although they are immobile." He spoke with emotionless words and seemed annoyed. A good number of the recruits were whispering about how intimidating he was or how he seemed like a calmer, younger Shadis.
"Monika and I will demonstrate this maneuver with the help of this recruit. If you want to know the name of this type of maneuver before we start, it's called a "Team Kill" in the Corps," he added, his apparent annoyance showing a little in his voice.

Caroline stated her name. Then she she thought about this 'team kill'. Her head was a little sore and it was making her feel nervous.

"Okay Caroline, your job is to be the "distacter" as we call it, going in front of the titan but staying out of it's reach, if were real that is," Monika explained, her voice reassuring. Ryan just looked emotionless.
"Ryan will slice at it's arms and I'll be going for the kill. Is that okay with you?"
"I say she'll get scared and back off."
"Ryan! That's rude! Oh, I'm Monika by the way."
"I don't care if It's rude. It's what I think."
That comment earned him a slight glare from Monika and he backed off the topic.

'Okay' Caroline said bravely. Her pupils became pinpricks for a moment. She took a quick look around and noticed a fuzz before returning to normal.
She stiffened her muscles, determined not to move.

Monika noticed Caroline tensing up and frowned a bit. "Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.
"I bet I was right."
"Shut up Ryan!" Monika reached up and messed with his hair a bit, laughing a bit. "Anyways, we should go before people get bored," she said, starting to walk towards the trees by the training area, preparing to use her gear. Ryan followed in suit.

Caroline quickly hurried to catch up. But as she ran she tripped and fell.
'Ouch' she said.
She had landed on her forearms, just as she had been taught. Quickly she stood up. She heard laughter from the other trainees. She looked back and smiled and waved at them. She wasn't going to let them get her down.

For Monika's sake, Ryan shot a glare at the laughing trainees which shut them up quickly.
"Follow us If you don't want to get left behind!" he called out, shooting off into the trees, Monika following closely behind him.

Caroline jogged after the older soldiers.

The 3DMG of both older soldiers was suddenly used and they were waiting in a taller tree.

Caroline zipped up to the tree.

Jade Watched as Caroline ran off. 'Come on let's watch'

Ryan nodded to Caroline. "Distraction number 1 first," he whispered.
Monika nodded and smiled. "It'll be finished in 10 seconds after you distract it."

Caroline had no idea what yet were expecting so she just grabbed one of her blades and smashed it really loudly against her gear.

Ryan sighed and Monika laughed a bit. "You're supposed to go out in front of it and make it 'look at you'. We'll take from there."

'Ah' Caroline said blushing furiously. She did as they told her.

Jade watched with her friends. She liked Caroline. Caroline was cool. Problem was; Caroline didn't really have anything in common with Jade. The only times when they could really relate was during hand to hand when both of them were pumped and ready to floor some Titans.

Suddenly, Ryan was cutting as the hands of the titan, seemingly appearing out of no where and Monika land the finishing blow a moment later, then swung up onto a branch above the trainees.
"Who's next? You can choose what you want to do."

Jade looked up before hearing a random boy from behind her call out 'How many points is it worth?'

Ryan clicked his tongue. "This is practice you dingbats, there are n-"
"Each team kill gives 30 points to each participant," Monika announced, smiling kindly. "If you decide to do it with SC members, beware that if any of you mess up, the kill is only worth 10 points per participant."
"Since when-"
"Since just now. This way more trainees will participate in the beginning."

Jade stepped forward. She wanted to get into the military police so 30 points was pretty much the best thing she could ask for. 'I'll do it'
She said zipping up the where Caroline was

Monika smiled. "Okay! Caroline, you can return to the group of your classmates."
"So, which part do you want to do?" Ryan asked, his foot restlessly tapping against the bark beneath it.

'What Caroline did' Jade replied simply.

"Okay! You're first!" Monika replied, pointing towards the next fake titan.

Jade did what she had to.

Caroline watched, wishing that she was as talented as Jade.

The same process occurred but when they were done, Monika hopped down and walked over to Caroline.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, concern evident within her tone.
Ryan shooed Jade out of the wooded area and called out to the group again.
"I want two volunteers up here right now! If 2 don't show up in the next minute, no one will be getting ANY points!" he threatened, grinning as two trainees quickly took the stage. They did the routine and Ryan went back and asked for more volunteers.

'Nothing' said Caroline 'I just wish I had more talent'

Jade looked at the rest if the trainees. They were always talking about how they wanted to be part if the military police just to stay away from the titans. Did any of them actually have a good reason for wanting to join?

"I do too Caroline." Monika sighed. "I'm not all that great yet in the way of titan-slaying."

Caroline smiled nervously. She looked up into the trees. 'I want to get to know my comrades' she mused 'its probably a really bad idea, but I'd like to know who they are. Who they REALLY are'

Monika nodded, watching the next group do the routine. "I feel the same way with the members of the Survey Corp. Especially Ryan, I just feel like I know him from somewhere in my past, even though I hardly talked to anyone. But from what I've heard, his childhood is a blank, so that was the end of that." She laughed a bit, but it was tinted with sadness. "I just need to really know them to be able to interact with them."

'Nearly everyone here just pretends to be things they're not' Caroline explained 'take Jade, for example. She seems to be pretty cool and brave but sometimes I catch her being completely hyperactive and I have no idea which version is the real one'

"That makes sense. You could say I'm like that too." Monika smiled to herself as she watched Ryan yell at some trainees for screwing up. "I seem to be calm, kind, confident, and a great role model, but in reality, I'm still just a scared little farm girl with no self-confidence who blames herself for th- no, for just about everything that goes wrong."

Caroline smiled. 'I wish I could remember who I was...' She murmured. She looked at the floor. There was a little ants nest a few metres away. Ants all worked together to keep each other alive. In principle, humans should be the same. But they weren't.

Monika looked over at Caroline, a smile on her face, but her eyes were sad. "Ryan felt the same way. I saw him once, cursing to himself about how he didn't remember anything and how much he wanted to know. But someone else comforted him. They told him one thing that changed his perspective entirely." She paused, taking a quivering breath before continuing. "They said that maybe there was a reason he didn't remember, as it was Fate's way of giving him a new start. That maybe, deep down, he really didn't want to remember. That it might hurt him and terrify him so much that he would no longer be functional." She turned back to see him land gracefully on the tree as he got yet another group of volunteers. "I'm sure it still annoys him that he can't remember, but maybe it's for the best. Just... If you're having a hard time, remember that this may be Fate's way of allowing you to live for once after what could possibly be years of internal agony."

Caroline looked down. Her head was pounding. There were two reasons. One was that she could sense shifters nearby. The other was that her brain was trying to grasp memories that she didn't have. 'I suppose your right she said,

Jade noticed Caroline, she recognised the strained look on her face. She decided to give it a minute and if it didn't go away she would call a medic.

"Well, I should probably give you some space and start working with some of the last groups," she said, zipping into the trees to take over for Ryan. He grumbled and came down, landing next to Jade. " Most of these kids are untalented as hell." He was obviously annoyed by them.

Jade walked towards a group of other trainees. Slowly, she opened her mouth. She wanted to ask them about the military police. Then she realised what a stupid question that was. They would just tell her that its corrupt and they wanted to join. If the MP really was corrupt, then why should she join? She wanted revenge not the comfortable life.

Caroline looked at Ryan. 'Are you from the Survey Corps?' She asked.

"Yeah," he responded. "-and it makes me cringe to see all these no-talent trainees who think they'll be able to make it into that corrupt bunch of cowering losers," he spat, his tone growing dark as he talked about that was obviously the MP.
"They think that they're all so bloody great for getting into the MP but it just shows that they're cowards who never want to learn the real truth about everything."

Jade overheard Ryan. She furrowed her brow. Was she really like all the other trainees? She remembered the image. Her mother falling to the floor with blood all around her. She remembered Crystal telling her to run. She clenched her fist. She didn't care what branch if the military she would join. All she wanted was revenge.

Caroline was shocked. She'd never heard anyone talk that way about the MP before. 'Why do you think that?' She asked 'Are the MP's really that bad?'

"Because I saw too much corruption when I once went to Sina on an off-day to visit a friend of mine from my trainee days. Every other way you look there's some MP member selling off military supplies and taking money from people in the form of taxes, seeing them make people pay extra so they can get the extra money for themselves," he growled, continuing with his reasons. "Not to mention that every single one of them has the same motive for entering the MP: 'I want to go into the MP so I'm safe behind the remaining two walls,'!" He used a mocking tone and pitch of voice when saying the excuse, making annoyed motions with his hands. "Is that enough reason? Also, I may have been being a bit harsh before, because there are a few talented kids here, but most of em' are just no talent little pricks who are only here for the free food and to get safely behind Wall Sina."

Jade whipped round. 'Not all of us are like that'
She growled 'I was born in wall Sina. So why would I become a trainee? Because I want revenge! And the only way to get that is to make the underground criminals pay for what they've done. And the only way to do that is to join the Military Police!'
Jade looked at Ryan. 'It was murder. What they did was murder' she spat.

Ryan glared at her. "You know trainee, you didn't seem to listen to me. I said MOST trainees are like that. And let me tell you, I've never seen a non-corrupt MP officer, so I think it's fine for me to have have made that assumption." His tone was cold and calm, seemingly hiding a storm beneath his already stormy eyes. "I'll also have you know that you're not the only one who has had someone they knew and cared about be murdered. I know a girl in the 104th who is the strongest person you'll ever meet who isn't Corporal Levi and guess what, her parents were both murdered in front of her eyes, brutally killed with an ax. So many others here had loved ones murdered, but how many of them care anymore? Very few, because what happens, happens and no one can prevent it. you need to get over yourself and stop morning at some point. Also, for future reference, wanting revenge with that kind of determination will get you killed, you'll lose it on the battlefield and go solo, which will NOT fare well for you AND your squad mates. I've seen people abandon their squads because they wanted revenge so badly and just about all of them end up dying." His voice was stern and cold, the glare still very much present in his eyes.

Caroline looked at them both. Ryan's outburst has been shoving but jades was even more so. She'd never heard Jade yell before. The other trainees were silent too. The whole situation felt like being on a battleground.

Jade narrowed her blue eyes. 'If you had seen your mother die, your adoptive parents throw you away and your sister was last seen fighting to the death against the murderers that killed your mother, you would want revenge too' She spoke more calmly 'I know that my squad is the most important thing in helping me get that. Why would I leave them?'

((*shocking sorry about this autocorrect))

"I was just saying that to make sure you knew it could happen. And sure, sure, that's horrible and all, but it's even worse when YOU don't know a thing about yourself except your name and age, because it's those people who lie awake at night trying to figure out if they've done something unforgivable, horrible, or something else. Those of us who don't know whether or no we even have family LEFT, let alone seeing then die. For all us amnesiacs we have no idea if we saw a family member die, if WE killed someone, or if we were just bystanders. We end up trying our hardest to remember our past which may end up being horrid. And kid, trust me, other people have it a lot worse than you. Let it be someone who can't remember or a trembling orphan, someone has it worse than you," he spoke with anger, yet his face was calm. Monika nervously watched the scene below.

'Shut up!' Yelled Caroline 'don't say things like that!' She panted for a moment or two, trying desperately to keep her eyes open. 'It hurts' she moaned. She was fighting to stay conscious. She fell onto her hands and knees.

Jade was scared. No one had reacted like that to anything that anyone had said before. She watched as Caroline fainted against the ground. She stood totally still, in shock from the events unfolding before her.

"Woah, wait, what did I say." Ryan was obviously confused. Why was the trainee in pain and had what he said triggered it?

"Ryan, what did you do this time?" came Monika's exasperated voice as she kneled next to Caroline. "Is there anyway you think I can help, Caroline?" she asked, her voice soft and kind.

Caroline squeezed her eyes tighter. She began to feel a giant weight compress her. She was slipping again.

Jade looked at Monika. 'Shes having a breakdown' she said calmly 'its happened before. you just gotta let her faint. After that you can wake her up and all is well'

((I was away))
Also Jade had remembered the first day of training. The instructor had gotten out the swords for the first time and it had triggered something in Caroline.