Ava rolled her eyes, "Sir, all due respect, Sanja's a bit eccentric... I know she means well and we all have our beliefs, but the Titan's aren't going to bring about the end of the world," She explained, waving a hand to dismiss the other girl's ramblings. The scout before her was in bad shape, but she was making sure his bandages were fresh and all was tended to. She loved working in the medical tents when she wasn't able to be off training or making a difference elsewhere. Nursing and nurturing had always soothed her; plus, many of the men and women she spoke to in the tents had the most fascinating stories if they were willing to share them. "They simply can't," She beamed to the man, to which he somberly replied with a small, polite smile. "The world ended over eight hundred years ago; those abominations already brought it about. We were all born in an ongoing apocalypse. We were born stronger, faster, smarter than those before us - the Titans aren't the end of the world anymore. We're the start of it," She said confidently, patting his leg as she rose from his bed. "Hang in there. I'll be back to check on you later," She promised, clasping her hands behind her back and leaving the room. Several minutes later, she returned, "I didn't even realize I'd be bringing you lu-" A tray clattered to the ground and Ava covered her mouth, stifling a yelp. Food splattered all across the floor as she fell to her knees, splashing some of the soup that had pooled there. "Oh my god..." She muttered as fresh, crimson blood flowed from the man's throat, dousing his shirt, the bedsheets, [i]everything.[/i] The girl's eyes began to water as her entire body shook and her eyes drank in the entire scene in front of her. The curtain around his bed was closed and nobody heard him, so they must have assumed he was going to sleep... Finally, she let out a scream, the heat of her charge's soup beginning to seep through her pants and the warmth spread into her knees, stinging slightly. She ignored it. Nurses and doctors flooded the area around her, pulling back the curtain to find the macabre sight. It was far from unique to them, but it was still not an everyday occurence. A pair of larger men on the medical staff held Ava by the arms and lifted her to her feet. They began to pull her away but she shook her head, thrashing against them. "No, no, no!!" She screeched, trying to wrench from their grip, as though she could help the dead scout. Finally, they wrangled her out of the tent, sat her down, and made sure she took a few breaths. She was instructed to get back to her bunk, to which she nodded with an affirmative. Once the girl was on her feet, she felt the nausea and the vertigo set in... His limp body, slackened jaw, glassy eyes... They weren't lively before, but there was still something there... Right? She could swear she saw it. Did her words really mean so little? No matter how she tried, Ava could not find her balance, a hand resting over her stomach as she lost her footing every few steps. She wanted to hurl, her throat constricting tightly as she fought the urge. It would pass... Just focus on something else. Something other than his open throat, something that [i]wasn't[/i] his his mouth which hung agape... He looked so pathetic, but he was once a confident warrior, truly unstoppable. She squeezed her eyes shut. No, the last place she wanted to be was alone in her bunk. She headed for the mess hall. As she passed through the door, a large balding man was on his way out. "Good evening, Miss Ekkehardt," said their instructor. "Mhm," She replied in a trance, not even looking to him. In fact, she barely saw what was in front of her as she pushed through the door, taking her route by memory. The training officer frowned at her curt, seemingly rude reply. Had she not looked so vacant, were she not the very same Ava Ekkehardt who turned a team of delinquents into the top ranked squad in the training corps, he would have just about blown a gasket. What was with that squad today? Everybody was out of order. She grabbed her lunch or dinner... or whatever it was. How much time had passed since she left the medical tent..? The shape of the tray in her hand only put her back in her own shoes at medical, the scene flashing before her again. Her knuckles were white as she squeezed the edges of it, barely staying upright. "The fuck was that even about..?" Somebody asked, "That Heidrich kid just... pulled a knife on him?" "Asshole earned it, he runs his mouth every day about somebody doing something... Serves him right." "Ah, yeah, but still... he could've died." A darkness fell over their conversation as the other replied finally, "We all might die. Scouts, Garrison... Hell, the Military Police might be cozy, but they're not safe anymore," He pointed out, returning to his meal as they awkwardly tried to change the subject. Ava ignored them entirely and continued to her table, sitting down. She nearly dropped the tray as she let her grip go and it came down to the table only an inch or two from it. She was thankful that she'd made it to the table without the food covering the floor. She was sitting across from Alois as she poked and prodded her food. "I hear others in the mess here talking about you," She observed, staring at the food before her. "What did you do?" ----- Jonah changed out of his training uniform and into a pair of blue jeans with a black t-shirt. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and went out for a walk, figuring that Tinker was in good hands while Ava volunteered the remainder of her time to the medical tent. He wasn't really that hungry, so he just took his own stroll, letting Kiryuu have his own space to think over the day's misses and successes. Some days were better than others, but they'd have to clean it up if they wanted to survive out there on their own. Nobody approached him, but then again, he was fairly good at keeping the masses away from him. He spotted Kiryuu seeming a bit flustered as one of the lower squads berated him. By the time he got to the girl at the 'head' of the small pack, Kiryuu was gone, but Jonah still found it a bit necessary to put her in place in front of her friends. "Tss! Hey," He called, giving her a rather blank expression as he got her attention like she was some kind of dog. "Who the fu- oh, it's Althaus. What do you want, creep?" She asked as her friends snickered. He rolled his eyes as he held up his hand, showing a small space of air between his index finger and thumb. "What're you doing?" The girl snarled. "Oh, I'm trying to remember how wide I saw your cuts the other day. Because as I remember, you barely even passed your exams to be Garrison corps. Did they tell you yet? What your job will be? ... Oh, that's right, they said you were manning a cannon, didn't they? You see, we have made mistakes, all of us, Kiryuu is one of them sure, and today wasn't the best day in training... But what's funny is that if we miss a cut, then we can get the fuck out of dodge before we get squashed like the tiny little insect [i]you[/i] are when the mission goes awry. We're top ten because we [i]adapt,[/i] but you don't. In all honesty, it's pretty sad how slowly you react to anything. Those cutouts don't move - I'd like to see you train one day, [i]one day,[/i] with us. With him, even. You're nobody." He grinned and patted her head, "But if you wanna try some day, we'll let you drop in on a game of Catcher in the Trees, or run through one of Ava's mock-tests, one of her simulators. Oh, those are fun, you see, she darts off a few minutes ahead of us, sometimes it's her and just [i]one[/i] of us. Then the rest of us hunt them without our blades... She's quick, too. You ever see her go all out? When she goes that way, pushing our abilities with the maneuver gear like no trainer could, she's impossible. The fake Titans are good for testing your cuts, but nothing can teach you how to move and respond to movements like that shit... Kiryuu's caught her before. What's incredibly funny, though? You'd get devoured. That man holds his own [i]every time[/i] with the rest of us, but you'd lose your shit on day one." The girl was about to be in tears as she met his gaze with daggers in her eyes, her hands trembling. "Y-you bastard... Why would you even... I'm gonna..." "What? What?" Jonah asked, leaning forward and tilting his head, "What're you gonna do? Go cry? Go try to be a Scout? You won't even survive the Garrison Corps, you bitch." He spit on the ground, smiled at her, "Have a blessed day," He taunted, turning on his heel and walking away, letting out a breath. He felt refreshed from it, some kind of thrill came out of it for him. Vengeance was a dish served ice cold for her. Kiryuu was gone, though... That kid needed to get some confidence - he was the top ten and he needed to start holding himself like it. One mistake like that was something to learn from, nothing more. A while later, he returned to the bunks and saw Kiryuu emerging. The boy plastered a grin across his face, "Hey! Buddy!" He said, clapping the boy's shoulder, "It can get much worse..." With a devilish smirk, he leaned in, "Where's my ball? I [i]know[/i] you didn't lose it, Zero," He said menacingly. He hadn't heard about Alois, nor the suicide in the medical tent... Nobody hung around him unless he went searching for information, so he didn't clue himself into gossip.