[center][h2][color=#FFD967][u]          [b]Tanner Harwell[/b]          [/u]
[color=#FFD967][sup][sup]Current Location: Giant Tree Forest, Training Grounds[/sup][/sup][/color]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/rX5zgAo.png[/img][/color][/h2][/center]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/i6fLcHF.png[/img][/center]

[color=silver]Pain.

By the walls, the pain.

The night of the avalanche was one of terror, and unfortunately, pain. Unlike the lucky few, Tanner was unable to escape without a few injuries of his own, mainly owing to his stubbornness to leave Gabriel behind. Gabriel stood in the rearguard to ensure all those he found and saw to safety--including Tanner--but a spark of resistance ignited within the boy, refusing to allow Gabriel to continue endanger himself while Tanner was safe with those that managed to escape the tumbling snow. Together, the duo attempted to save as many as they could, but Tanner's stubbornness was soon to be his downfall, both figuratively and literally. A rock had discharged from the snowy mass sliding down the mountain, and narrowly missed Tanner from splattering his skull onto the snow and trees.

However, Tanner wasn't as lucky as he thought he was. The rock sliced open a cut across his forehead, blinding Tanner's vision in a coat of blood. In the midst of trying to wipe away the blood with his sleeve, Tanner had unknowingly managed to get his foot stuck in a hole that had been covered by snow. Quickly losing his footing in the confusion, Tanner fell to the ground, his blood staining the snow as he faded in and out of consciousness. Someone had been yelling after he fell, but Tanner struggled to tell who had been screaming before the pain took him, passing out on the cold snow, leaving his fate to being rescued or dying underneath the avalanche while the snow contorted and twisted his body.

It had been a moment before Tanner woke up from the deep sleep that claimed him in the wintry mountains. The bed he awoke in was comfortable, but the pain that plagued Tanner was intense. His forehead was bandaged, as was his ankle, yet the headaches were constant and common. Gabriel was with Tanner whenever he could be, the tall giant being the first person Tanner saw after waking up from the darkness. Pleading with Tanner, the boy listened to Gabriel's concerns, and took everything easy and slow, often with the help of a crutch or Gabriel to move around until the sprained ankle had healed. The bandaging on his forehead was an entirely different matter, and Tanner found it rather distracting as he went about his days. Refusing to be looked down upon because of his injury, Tanner continued to allow his hair to grow out over the course of several weeks. 

The longer hair had covered the bandage from sight, but it had also managed to make Tanner even girly than ever, and even some cadets had mistaken Tanner for someone else. Nonetheless, Tanner shrugged it off, and stood with the rest of the cadets when the group was to begin their training--this time wearing the ODM gear. Schulz had disappeared from his place as their instructor since the avalanche, but their new instructor had been hardly different. The instructor was somewhat calmer than Schulz, but the yelling was still bothersome, even causing Tanner's head to ache in pain. However, instead of complaining, Tanner pushed through the pain and waited for the instructor to finish explaining the course. They were to be soldiers, and being reprimanded over a headache was something Tanner did not want.

The instructor rode off in a bored fashion, and the cadets looked around at each other in confusion until the supervisors announced that the time had started once he had left. Looking onward, Tanner noticed Emil had already started off in a jog, and decided to follow suit in the same fashion. Both of them were known to be some of the best with the makeshift device, and Tanner knew they had to impress the instructors at the training camp in order to live up to their expectations that would be set on the two of them. As such, Tanner had a personal rivalry against Emil--whether the boy knew it or not--and wasn't about to be left in the dust. Clutching the handles that were attached to the gear, Tanner took focus on a rather large tree ahead of the cadets.

Launching one of the wires towards the tree, the anchor sunk its metal tooth into the bark of the tree, having made a clunking sound as it embedded itself into the tree. Leaping upwards into the air, Tanner allowed for a small burst of gas to propel himself, the wire reeling the boy forward as it rolled back into its compartment like a slithery snake. Now in the air, Tanner allowed his body to be slung forward towards the rest of the trees ahead of him. Feeling confident, Tanner attempted to keep his velocity, milking the previous propelling for all the speed and length possible, before switching up the routine and sending the opposite wire into a tree, taking inspiration from the monkey bars they were once forced to cross over muddy water. Looking around for any sign of obstacles or fake titans, Tanner set his eyes back on Emil in front of him. Beating Emil on the course had been a goal Tanner set out for himself, and he was sure he'd accomplish it.[/color]

[hr]
[center][b]Mentions:[/b] [@FrostedCaramel][@LordVoldemort][/center]