[center][h1]Trost[/h1]
[@LordVoldemort][@Solace][@FrostedCaramel][@LetMeDoStuff][@Ambra][@Poi][@SheriffLlama]
[h2][color=7ea7d8]Lauren Jones[/color][/h2][/center]

[color=gray]Three years.  Three long, intensive years of arduous training.  Now Lauren stood atop Wall Rose, staring out across the land now infested by Titans, feeling one step closer to her goal.  Her orders, given by her mother back in Shiganshina, resounded strongly in her head, commanding her to return one day.

Around her the other successful graduates of the 105th Cadets were working, as she was supposed to be doing; cleaning canon barrels and checking armament stocks.  Yet to have chosen a Corps to join they were being tasked with menial tasks like their current one, although part of it was to get them accustomed to the equipment they may one day use.  She could see Olivia, Reese and Gabriel nearby, a tight-knit group as ever, with Grant and Tanner both close by to Gabriel.  Emil, somewhat the lone wolf of their band, was crouching by a box of shells, presumably verifying the stocks.  Connor was somewhere on her other side, probably waiting for her to stop day dreaming and help with their assigned job but she was in one of her difficult moods, finding it hard to focus.

Their absence weighed heavily on Lauren.  The three years they had spent, renewing their friendship that had been lost after Shiganshina, had suddenly been severed by relocation orders delivered during their graduation festivities.  Jade and Mora, along with Sano and some of their other comrades, assigned to the Northern divisions with barely a moment's notice.  She'd desperately tried to find a moment to talk with them but there had been none and before she knew it had been watching her two closest friends riding away; at least it was to somewhere likely to be safer.  Perhaps when time came to choose which Corps they would join they might meet but in the meantime she felt depression weighing heavily down on her.

Sighing, she squared her shoulders and tried to force the heavy thoughts from her head.  It would do no good to think too much on it, for now she had to focus on those around her and, more importantly, on the task at hand.  She turned, opening her mouth to call out to the group when a blinding flash froze her in place, a deep thud rising through the Wall and shuddering up her body and rattling her chest.  The sun was blotted out, a great shadow cast over them all but more menacing than the sudden darkness was the presence behind her.  So huge it felt like it was all around, unavoidable and immovable like the Wall itself.  Except it moved.

Lauren's body reacted before her mind could process the appearance of the Colossal Titan.  She could [i]feel[/i] the air move as it raised its arms, stretching out over the wall top and crashing along it, scattering cannon and soldier aside alike in a bloody, churning mass.  She hurled herself over the edge of the Wall, twisting to face back up to the top as she did, feeling the rush of air past her as one massive, fleshy hand swept past the section she had just been standing upon.  Debris rained down on her from above, shards of stone and wood while all around she saw bodies and broken armaments tumbling down the stone face into Trost below.

With one hand she shielded her face from the shower, the left grasping for her Gear handle.  By now the hiss of gas and the slight kick as the hook shot out from her Gear were so familiar she barely noticed them, adjusting her position slightly to account for the movement so that she was not off balance.  The hook hit the wall and stayed there, her freefall coming to a jolting halt.  Her back twinged with pain at the sudden stop despite her readiness for it but she pushed past it and bent her knees so that when she hit the wall the force was absorbed.  She stood against it, the hook supporting her weight above so that she was at a right angle to the wall face, defying gravity with Trost down below her.

Her own safety taken care of, her mind caught up with her body's actions and thanked the relentless drills they had been put through the past few years, knowing her survival was only down to the harsh regime.  She looked around, searching for the others, knowing that there was simply no way she was the only one to make it away from the Titan's attack.  She was not even thinking ahead, not processing the realisation that Trost was about to breached and they would have to fight to stop another Shiganshina from happening, her immediate concern was for her friends in danger, and for the first time thankful for those not present to be in it.[/color]