Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
【𝐒𝐈𝐗】
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF TRAINING PASSED BY in a haze of fall, winter and then spring. Some days were spent in the air as they sped through the trees on their ODM gear, silver swords outstretched in their hands as they slashed through the weak spots of the wooden titans they had all become closely acquainted with. Other days were spent on foot running through the trees in brutal attempts to build up stamina and strength. Shadis quite often had them running with rock-loaded packs on their back and their gear strapped around their waists, adding about thirty kilos of weight to their beings. For some like Reiner, who was already in immaculate shape and had muscles nearly as big as his head, this wasn't too hard.
For others, like Armin and Krista, who weren't as big as Reiner, they found those days exhausting. Dinners were quieter and, rather than the meal hall being filled with chatter and laughter, it was filled with pained groans and uncontrollable yawns. They went to bed most nights with aching muscles in places many of them didn't even realise they had muscles.
Himari, who had spent nearly half of her life spending every day running away, whether it be from MP's or people who didn't like the fact that she was a thief, found the running parts easy. It was not as easy, however, when the additional weight was added to it. She was not used to carrying so much on her while she ran and the muscles she had built up over time in Shiganshina had depleted when she was sent to work out in the fields, or found a job as a barkeep in a tavern when she was old enough.
Compared to when they had first started military training, their days were much longer and packed full of lessons, whether it be in the classroom or outside. While Himari seemed to excel when it came to physical training, the same couldn't be said for the theoretical lessons. Himari's mother, who had left the family when she was only a baby, hadn't been present in her life long enough to teach Himari how to read and write. Her father, a wall engineer for the Garrison before he fell sick, did what he could, but his workdays were long and he was home most nights well after dark when Himari was asleep by then.
That left behind just her sister, who was a few years older than Himari. She'd spent a few years at school - just enough for her to understand how to read and write correctly but it had never been enough to allow her to teach Himari, too. She'd only really properly begun to learn how to read when her father fell sick and couldn't work on the wall anymore - which was well after Selma had joined the Survey Corps. Yet, even then it was a struggle for her father, who spent most of his days asleep, trying to fight off the illness that had infected his body hard and fast.
So, for Himari, it was difficult for her to understand how to expel the thoughts she had in her mind, onto paper. She could barely understand what it was she was being taught, thanks to the lack of ability to read the letters on the page in front of her. Ashamed of how behind she was, compared to people like Armin who spent most of his time reading whenever he could, Himari, at first, had kept quiet about her struggles.
