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 Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 4:54 am
Trips home were rare and always enjoyable. While Axel was beginning to get into the groove of military life, it was always nice to get out. It was kind of a bummer that he didn't have any friends with him, though. Henrik was spending time with Alec, Alec was sticking with Preacher, Preacher didn't want to talk to him, and while he was sure Harper wouldn't mind hanging out with him the pink-haired girl was a little overwhelming one-on-one. That left him with no one for company but himself. The sign outside the orchard caught his eye, and Axel wandered over to one of the organizers to check it out. Spending his precious free time picking cherries wasn't what he planned on doing, but the opportunity to make some money while on leave was attractive. It would be nice to be able to buy gifts for some of his friends, and picking cherries sounded a good deal better than digging ditches or unloading carts. As soon as Axel agreed, he was handed a basket and gloves and shooed off towards the orchards. Putting his gloves on, Axel hefted his basket and walked towards the trees. Hm. Maybe he should have put more thought into this. Those trees were kind of tall. He'd been through training with 3D gear, but none of that training involved climbing ladders and potentially falling off and breaking your neck. He looked around for a friendly face, hoping someone else had a better idea of how to start. Maybe he could just help by ... holding someone's ladder steady, or something.
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:23 am
Seeing how he was a very new trainee, Brayden didn't understand the strain of military life yet. He knew there were far more rules than he was used to, but it seemed pretty okay for now. He missed signing up for a class by a day and he was actually pretty bummed about it. Oh well. He got to get out however. He wanted to do something, anything really, but go to his parents, go home and answer the questions that would fall like water from their lips. The tall man meandered down streets until he found a sign that caught his eye. The orchard needed help. Interesting. Tapping his chin lightly, Brayden pondered it over. If he could get cherries out of it, he wouldn't mind helping. Cherries were one of his weakness. They were so delicious and he could maybe convince someone to bake him a pie or even eat them raw. He wasn't afraid to say that he wanted to do it because he could get something out of it. He was handed one of the baskets when he said he was interested in helping, gloves inside, and he wandered towards the trees at a lazy pace. Climbing was his element. As he put on his gloves, he spotted someone he recognized. Maybe, anyway. So, he stopped beside the other man and gave him a grin. "Exciting, isn't it?" He had a lilt in his voice, lazy and comfortable before popping his fingers with the gloves on. "You look a little worried though. Not afraid of heights, are you?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 5:50 am
Exciting was not the word Axel would have chosen. He looked over at the other man. Another trainee. Axel didn't know the man's name yet, but he was immediately recognizable thanks to his unusual skin color and braid. He wasn't in Axel's dorm, though. Maybe he was in Tragen? Axel was pretty sure he knew most of the Luchse trainees. Unsure if he was being mocked, Axel shrugged, staring back up at the trees. Too tall. Who knew cherries grew so far off the ground? It would be better if they grew on bushes or something. He had grown comfortable with the use of military gear, but ladders? Hell no. Axel didn't even like riding horses, convinced that he would fall off if the horse got too rambunctious. "I don't want to break my neck falling out a tree, is all," Axel said finally, with as much dignity as he could muster. With that easy lilt in his voice, and the casual way he popped his fingers, Axel was pretty sure this guy wasn't afraid of heights. He sighed. With another trainee watching him, there was no way he could back out now. Better to get on with it. Axel had an idea, though. "I've never been a tree climber. Why don't you go first, and I'll watch you?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:34 am
Of course Brayden wasn't making fun of Axel in the least bit. Some people shared his excitement and joy in climbing, most didn't. He just never knew by looking at someone right away who did and didn't, so he ran off at the mouth. "I could... just go up for the both of us and you can hand me the baskets. You know, kind of trading. I don't mind heights." He grinned at the other and just headed for the nearest tree. Dropping the basket on the ground, Brayden took to the ladder fairly easily before swinging to branches and straddled one, settling himself on it fairly comfortable before looking down at him. "I'm Brayden, by the way! You don't... look familiar. What dorm are you in?" Yes, Brayden was making small talk as he reached down and made grabby hands for the basket. His ponytail settled on his back, hanging off the branch a bit as he looked upwards at the cherry filled trees. "God it smells good up here."
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:23 pm
Handing over the baskets sounded useful enough. Slightly more cheerful, Axel followed the other trainee to the ladder. He put a hand on it to steady it as Brayden climbed up. The slight creak and shift of the wood under his hand made him queasy. If Axel was not securely harnessed to something, there was no way in hell he was leaving the ground. No thank you. Axel handed up the basket, wincing at the grabby-hands gesture. Some people were altogether too comfortable with heights. It was unnatural. Unnatural! "I'm Axel," Axel said, relinquishing the basket and trying not to listen to the way the leaves fluttered as Brayden shifted around. "I'm in Falke. You're in Tragen, right? I think I know most of the people in Lusche."Smell notwithstanding, Axel was very glad to have both feet planted on the earth. "You really like climbing, huh? I bet you'll be good at 3D maneuvering."
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:19 pm
How could it be unnatural if it happened to way more than just him? When the baskets were passed up, Brayden hummed and reached out for some of the fruit, starting to pick it slowly to make sure he had his balance right. "Axel.. Yeah easy enough to remember that name." As he picked cherries, leaves fell and some of the fruit did too, casing the dark skinned man to wince and hiss out in an annoyed way. So delicate! Everything seemed delicate when he was up here. It was really weird. Shrugging, he glanced down when Axel mentioned the dorms and he nodded. "Yeah, Tragen. ....I don't even know half my roommates, much less the rest of the people.." A laugh escaped him as he scooted forward on the branch, the creaking and rustling being ignored. Never once did Brayden think about falling. He found that, after his accident when he was younger, the more he focused on not falling, the more unbalanced he became. So he just focused on the sights around him and it'd done him wonders. "Ah, the maneuvering gear. I think I missed this class by like a day? Or something... I'm going to catch it next time. It's definitely something I want to do. ..Are you good with it?"
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 1:42 pm
Clearly standing beneath a cherry tree while someone picked fruit was hazardous. Axel tried to catch the cherries that fell, tossing them in the basket by his feet. Creeeak. How did it not bother Brayden? Axel had no idea. "I'm terrible at the maneuvering stuff," Axel said cheerfully, brushing some wayward cherries out of his hair. His memories of training with that damnable gear were haunting. Haunting, bitter memories. "But I want to go to the garrison, so it doesn't really matter, right?"And here was the part where Brayden announced that he was going to go risk his life fighting Titans. Axel was growing used to some of his bolder (or perhaps crazier) classmates stating their desire to join the scouts. It bothered him quite a bit at first, but he had grown numb to it. If that was Brayden's career plan, at least he clearly had some skills off the ground. "I almost broke my nose. It was kind of sad, really." Axel chuckled. Brayden seemed like a nice guy, not the kind of person to mock someone for their faults. Axel felt comfortable laughing at himself.
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Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:35 am
He continued to pick cherries with a light hearted grin on his face as Axel kept talking. "Bad at the maneuvering?" Well that could prove an issue further down the line, but he it was like everyone eventually got the hang of it right? And then he mentioned wanting to go to the garrison and Brayden could only grin wider. He'd thought about that, honestly, but he wouldn't find any joy in a job like that. "I broke my arm once. There's scars on my hands and fingers from trying to grab hold of the smaller branches and they just kind of gouged into my skin. My parents thought I'd never climb another tree, but as soon as my arm was out of the cast, I was back in the tree like nothing happened. There's just something about seeing the world from up high that keeps me coming back. I could lose a leg and probably still manage to climb a tree." Brayden's laugh was eager and he looked down to the basket he was putting cherries into and hummd softly. "...I don't know where I want to go really. I'm still on the fence." He glanced down at Axel with a sheepish expression. "I guess that makes me the wild card, yeah?"
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