Fortunes of war (OPEN)

Cora flew through the woods swirrled around the head of a dummy and made a clean cut in its nape. She catapulted herself up in the air looked around to find the next dummy and grappeled herself from tree to tree to the dummy. Someone else wanted to 'kill' it but Cora was faster and nearly crushed against the other person. Her swords missed him by about two centimeters.
"Dammit, Can't you be not suicidal for once Cora, you nearly killed me with your damn swords!", he shouted after her.
Cora turned around while flying backwards and stuck out her tounge, "But I didn't. Stop being such a wimp!", she shouted back and laughed. As she turned around she nearly hit a tree, "Ooops.", she said and flew to the next dummy making a clear and in her opinion wonderful cut. She grappeled herself to two trees and catapulted herself over the treetops. What a nice view! Going by the position of the sun their training was over soon and they had a break.
She fell down again making a some saltos and she flew through the woods again. For now she was just training being faster with her 3DMG because she didn't want to steal more 'kills' from the other trainees.

Connor flew through the opening, keeping his arms crossed on his chest to create less drag while keeping his balance. His form with the 3DMG was fairly textbook besides that, compared to Cora at least, swinging on a branch above him to stay in the air and giving his gas a short burst to increase momentum. He kept conservation of resources in mind, letting the momentum of the short burst carry him while also making every strike count.

He struck like a lightning bolt whenever he reached a dummy, extending his arms and swinging under him with a primal yell, hitting the nape hard and deep enough to make the entire dummy rock and tremble. If he was this savage against dummies, there's no telling just how seriously he would take a fight with the real thing.

It was about this time that he spotted Cora, nearly colliding with another trainee no less. He watched her warily until she vanished above the canopy. He sighed and let her go, she had been at this longer than he had after all, but her reckless nature still made him uneasy. He continued to hunt down the dummies until the instructor called them back.

Cora heard the instructor and flew over his head and his face got red. But he didn't yell at her. She landed in a salto and grinned at the instructor.
"So. You all did very good today just two things. Cora STOP IT. Don't be so suicidal I don't want to lose you in training. And Connor. You did great! Keep on going!", he said and smiled shortly at Connor.
Cora got a cuff on her head from the trainee she nearly made a victim of her blades.
"Idiot. Stop doing that, you will die so early Cora. I'm sure of it!"
Cora grinned, "Well... I don't mind being dead. Come on! I didn't kill you!"
"You nearly did!"
"But I didn't!"
"You nearly did it. You were way too close with your damn blades!"
"pffff....Don't be such a pussy!", she said and rolled her eyes up. That caused her to get another cuff on her head. This time by the instructor. "Cora stop it. Go eat something!", he said.
Cora nodded and looked around at the other trainees. There was Connor again. She wrinkled her forehead and thought about the Zeus squad.

Connor watched Cora get scolded by the other trainee and the instructor. He stood at attention when the instructor addressed him next, saluting as he received his praise. "Sir, thank you, sir!" He listened in at Cora again, shaking his head lightly, but her last comment made his brow furrow 'pff...Don't be such a pussy!' Connor wasn't one to argue with personal opinion but he had to speak his mind this time. He walked by Cora as the trainees all went for lunch. "It's more than just your life on the line, you know." he began, looking straight ahead while walking with Cora. "If you end up being a liability to your team, you become just as much of a threat as the Titans.

Cora listened to Connor, "I know. That's why I prefer to fight alone. I'm bad at doing things in a team.", she looked up in the sky, "But if it's just training right now and we aren't fighting over titan kills when it comes to the real deal.", she said and looked at him. Cora saw the scars on his forehead for the first time, "How'd you get them? Mercenaries normally don't scar the face.", Cora wanted to punch herself, she had revealed that she actually knew some things about them. That was an information you normally only knew if you had been a merc. Dammit. She looked somewhere else hoping he didn't notice.

"But it's just training right now and we aren't fighting over titan kills when it comes to the real deal." "This is true, but if we don't take training seriously now, things can get much worse in the field." He rose a brow at her next question then felt his forehead, his fingertips lining the scars. "These? Most of it is self inflicted, my way of dealing with excess rage. At least one of them was caused by a raider, who clubbed me in the forehead off my horse." he spoke of self infliction like it was no big deal to him.

"I take it seriously. I'm always like that!", Cora stated she grinned as he said that it was cause by a raider. But then nodded and her grin disappeared, "Okay. So you just punched your head against a wall? That's one way of doing it I guess!", she said while thinking about her own scars. She didn't have that many self inflicted scars. The only self inflicted were about five to ten on her forearms. The only reason she had done this was because of Nec and Vex.
She pulled up the sleave of her left forearm and showed it to him. "These six were self inflicted.", Her whole arm was covered in scars, those six meant nothing. But two of them went from her ellbow to her wrist. One had cut her artery. It was still fresh but had healed completly.

He sighed. "Then why must you make your comrades feel endangered, and insult them for rightfully feeling so? It creates a breach of trust, something you can not afford to have in battle, no matter how you prefer to fight."

'That's one way of doing it, I guess!' Connor nodded. "They didn't call me 'Ironskull' for nothing."

Connor looked at her injuries, commenting on the one that went from elbow to wrist. "That one actually looks lethal...I hope that's not one of the six."

Cora thought about trust for a while. She never trusted anyone so she normally didn't assume anyone trusted her.
"Noone trusts me and it's better not to. I wouldn't trust myself either. It's better if everyone knows this from the start. And about insulting. I don't always mean it like that, I just say it and people interpret it wrong. If someone is really feeling endangered then...you can say it and I will stay away but I won't change!", she said.

Cora grinned, "It was one of the six.", she happily started humming a song, "I got a bit dizzy but I didn't pass out."

Connor nodded lightly. "I understand..I had only recently given up trust..." he ran his hand through his mohawk. "Its why I wear this...tends to keep the untrustworthy away." He scratched his chin as she spoke of people misinterpreting her. "There's a thin contrast between insults and wisecracks, but I understand. Personally, I won't expect anyone to change who they are but there's always a matter of responsibility too."

He grimaced as Cora confirmed the injury was one of the six. "Even I tend to stop when blood is drawn but...it's none of my business." He finished with a sigh, seeing the smile on Cora's face only meant that advice about this injury would fly through her ears.

Cora turned around and inspected his mohawk.
"It looks so...funny. I like it!", she said grinning. "Responsibility you say? Mhh...", Cora thought about her past at the pack. She was responsible, she had always been. Just not when it came to teamwork.
Her smile faded away as he said that he stopped when blood was drawn out. There had to be blood to keep them from taking control.
Without blood it was nothing, just normal pain. Not even that hard to endure. Blood kept them from trying to get control. Blood was the key to stop them. It didn't matter whos blood it was.
"Well...seems like I have to do some more serious self insurance, hu? Depends on the person and what bothers them I guess.", she whispered.

Connor rolled his eyes when she said his mohawk was 'funny'. He preferred that to it scaring her. In his experience its always the ones that fear him that want to bring him to harm. He found it was better to be a misfit than a fool. "You've the knowledge and grit of a warrior though, that much I'm thankful for. It's surprisingly rare to find experienced warriors among the cadets." That comment may or may not have given away that he figured out her mercenary past.

Cora turned her face away. Her eyes widened and she got pale. No! No! No! No! NO! How did he figure it out? She-aah damn. Did she say too much? Or was this just a guess?
She took a quick look at him but then looked somewhere else again. Dammit!
"W-w-we should g-get us something t-to eat.", she said and went a bit faster to the cantine (sry I don't know if you can say so)
Meanwhile she Nec and Vex scolded her for telling him but neither of them tried to take over her body. Better for Cora.

((Don't know if I can say so? What do you mean exactly?))

Connor rose a brow at Cora and followed distantly. Did he slip in what he said? He let it go and decided to get his food and drink. Once again he would have to display a bit of patience, something he said triggered this reaction and he preferred to let her say what in her own time.

He sat across from her, saying nothing, just eating and drinking with all the grotesque table manners of a grizzly bear. He didn't take much time to eat, still having not gotten used to the knowledge that he could actually enjoy his food without worrying if he would have to set off again before he could finish eating.

(does cantine work? I thought of a cantine more in a modern way :) )

Cora ate a lot less than Connor but she took the same time. While eating she looked anywhere but Connor, this wasn't of course not because of his eating manners it was because of what he said earlier. As Cora had finished she looked at Connor, still pale in her face.
She opened her mouth but closed it again only to decide that she should say something, "So I guess you found out, hu?", she said quietly, "Just one question: How?"
Cora looked at her empty plate.

When she spoke, Connor wasn't entirely sure how to answer. He took a long drink, sighing before he began. "There isn't a time where I wasn't a warrior. For as long as I can remember, I was always being trained to fight, and little else. I had met many warriors in that time, and kept my company with them. I saw their scars, heard their tales, and even watched some of them fall in battle, and fewer still become scarred from it in all ways possible." He stopped for a moment. That bit of rambling was more an answer to himself than her, which brought him a reasonable response to sate her with. "I guess what I'm trying to say is...I've been around enough warriors to know what they look like..."

A grin appeared on Cora's face but she still looked down on her plate. "Nice that you see a warrior in me.", she said and looked up, "Do you know the pack? I was sold to them when being very very young and was trained as a bodyguard or mercenary."
Cora thought about Auth, the only one who had seen the scars or signs she got from the pack and the other group she had belonged to. She kinda missed him, he understood her and he trusted her.
She smiled as she thought about his face as he had seen the huge scar, symbol of the pack, on her back.
"You probably know that the other scars I have on my arms are from the pack. They have a very strict training and I started it two years earlier that's why I got so many!", she said.

Connor thought for a moment. "I've heard of them, though I don't think I've met them. Well, until now apparently." He took another drink before looking at her arm again, then at his arm. While his scars were a bit more plentiful, hers seemed to be a bit more...deep. "Is that why it disturbs you when I speak of it? You're reminded of the scars? If so, we can let it go. The past is the past...and sometimes it should stay there."

Cora's eyes opened slightly. It weren't the scars. The scars have never been a problem. The problem were...the other two persons inside her head.
She slowly shook her head, "Not the scars don't disturbe me...and I let the past stay were it is. That's why I don't talk about it."
Cora was glad she came up with such a fitting answer in such a short time. She wouldn't tell him about Nec and Vex. Never!

The bell's began to toll, unarmed training was up next. It may not have counted in the grades but it was good exercise, though one trainee would reveal just how seriously Connor took it, as he passed by with a mocking remark. "Hey thickhead, try not to break an arm again huh?" Was Connor's splinted elbow from before caused by an unarmed session?

Connor just rolled his eyes at the remark, looking at Cora for a moment. "Hmm...care to show me what the Pack has taught you?" Even Connor didn't know if he asked out of curiosity or a challenge. Either way, it would feel very educational to him.

Cora grinned, she had some advantages when fighting him, but he was bigger and definitly stronger than her.
"You will probably win", she said, "I'm fast but everything but strong. Also I think I weigh half as much as you.", she inspected him. She shruged her shoulders, "Nevermind. I will fight."

The other problem Cora had was simple. She could fight without any weapons at all but normally she used her knives too. Not so great when training fighting.

"We should probably get rid of our 3DMG first, shouldn't we?", she said and as she arrived at their training she took it off and put it at the side.

"Everyone get yourself a partner and train, later on you can use those wooden knives here!", yelled their instructor. "
Cora looked at Connor, "Just start, ok?"

Some of the other trainees gave Connor a wide berth as he entered the grounds, removing his equipment including his black jacket which fell with a clink as though it were lined with chainmail, which he wore for extra weight. "Even I know that strength isn't everything. The strongest punch in the world means nothing if it can't hit it's target."

As they both readied, Connor got into stance, his arms didn't rise above his body, protecting his abdomen but keeping his head exposed, as well as tightening his arms closer for faster jabs. He kept his hips sideways, making his groin much less of a target as well as keeping his legs primed for sweeping kicks. "I'll give you a hint; don't strike me in the head." He mumbled just before he threw the first few jabs, none of them going in deep, he was probing her for weaknesses.

Cora smiled and dodged his punches. She was indeed faster but if he came too close she would loose. Now she had to rely on the length of her legs and her ability to fight with them.
She kept some distance in between them. Just enough for her to kick him but too far apart for him to punch her.
Suddenly she jumped up and first kicked with her right foot and then with her left foot against his neck. She landed swiftly and backed up again.

Don't let him get too close!
I know I know!
He's strong, he can knock you out very fast!
That's why you are here!

His forearms managed to deflect her basic kicks, but were just too low to shrug off both flying kicks to his neck, managing to block the first leg but lost his defense against the second in the process and got staggered. He attempted to use the counter momentum to swoop under with his left leg, hoping to sweep her feet from under her before she could regain balance once she landed from the jump kick.

Connor got her and Cora fell.
"Bastard!", she whispered smiling, signaling him that it wasn't meant as an insult. Cora got up again and made one not so hard kick against his shoulder. Even if she kicked hard against it, it wouldn't hurt him that much, the shoulder was one of the not so sensitive parts of the body.