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Zinnia snapped the 3D maneuver gear securely onto her belt, by now familiar with the weight of the contraption and blades. Because both she and Lenore had passed their 3DMG training tests, they were now free to practice using it in their spare time. She'd convinced Lenore to go out into the forest on the training grounds in order to improve. Although they still had their regularly scheduled training sessions with the gear to keep them in top condition, Zin knew that she had to push herself if she intended to keep with the rest of the trainees. She hadn't wanted to do it alone, though.

"This will be fun!" she said to Lenore as she checked her gas canister for leaks. "They left the target dummies up, so we can go through the course like normal. Let's see who can kill the most Titans!" It still felt like a game to her; she had no intention of actually fighting Titans, and she couldn't imagine Lenore joining the Survey Corps either. This was simply a way for her to prove herself and spend time with Lenore outside of the library.

"You can give the starting signal," she said with a grin. "Meet you at the top." She shot her wires high into a tree and, angling herself carefully by releasing gas from her canister, she landed gracefully on a branch.

Zinnia drew her swords and blasted off at Lenore's signal. Normally, the dummies were moved every time they went through the course to hone their searching skills, but this time the targets had been left up from the previous training session. Their locations would not be much of a mystery, so instead it would come down to who was faster. Zin knew better than to underestimate her best friend's skill, so she held nothing back.

She remembered the first time she'd run the course; Walter and Colin had been with her when she had knocked herself out against a tree. She had gotten stronger and more accurate since then, so she banished the lingering fear of repeating the experience. She went as fast as she could, releasing more gas than was wise as she dodged through the trees.

She came upon the closest dummy, a towering wooden figure with a very beat-up neck, and made a dive for it, hoping that she would be able to mark it before Lenore.

((If you want, we can use dice to determine who reaches it first. 1 = miss, 2-6 = success at increasing speed.))

Zinnia veered off in surprise when a dark streak blew past her. She saw Lenore slice cleanly through the dummy's neck before moving on to the next. Zinnia grit her teeth and released a blast of gas, trying to catch up to the younger girl. It looked like Lenore was holding nothing back, either.

Zin tried to remember the fastest route to the next "Titan" and made a beeline for it. At that speed, dodging trees required all of her concentration. Still, a part of her was very impressed by Lenore, and a smaller part worried that she would not be able to keep up even with her best friend. She did not give those feelings a chance to become fully-formed thoughts; she had a dummy to kill.

Zinnia gave a whoop as she tore through the dummy. She glanced over her shoulder to check if Lenore was on her tail, and made the mistake of leaving her gas on full-blast. By the time she turned to face the front again, she was about to collide headlong into a tree. She panicked and turned hard, barely avoiding smashing into it, but her gas canister clipped the trunk hard enough to dent the siphon. The gas was suddenly forced to escape in a different direction, and Zinnia lost control.

Still moving at her highest speed, Zin suddenly flew straight up into the air. Her wires ripped free of their anchors and she disappeared into the canopy. Zin fumbled to cut off the release of gas while tree branches tore her clothing and pummeled her body. Something whipped her just above the eye, and blood poured down her face, leaving her half-blind. She finally managed to shut off the rogue canister and fell a few feet, breaking thin tree branches as she went. Finally, she hit branches that could support her weight. Her entire body pounded and for a moment she lay still, waiting for the pain to tell her how seriously she'd been hurt.

She felt bruised all over, and she could feel her heart pounding in her eyebrow where blood dripped down her face, but otherwise she was unhurt; nothing was broken. "Lenore!" she called down. "Lenore, can you help me? My gear is all busted." She tried to wipe the blood out of her eye and was surprised by how much there was. She'd forgotten how much head wounds bled.

"I'm okay," Zin said feebly in response to Lenore's exclamation. She felt embarrassed; she'd tried to show off to Lenore, and now she was relying on her for rescue. At the younger trainee's suggestion of removing her gear, Zin said, "Y-yeah..." She unhooked the gear, feeling a little guilty; it wasn't inexpensive. Someone would have to retrieve the cartridges later.

She shifted herself carefully, putting her arms around Lenore and hanging on securely. "Okay, I'm ready," she said. This training session was a complete fiasco.

Zinnia leaned on Lenore even when their feet were safely on the ground. She tried to steady herself, one hand pressed against the cut on her head. "I think... I need stitches," she said hesitantly. "It feels pretty deep..." She'd given up on wiping the blood away; she kept that eye closed, but it stung. "It doesn't hurt too much, though," she said in hopes of keeping Lenore's spirits up. "I'm sorry for being so reckless; it was stupid."

When they entered the infirmary, a nurse spotted Zinnia's plight and was quick to act. She rushed Zinnia to a private room, plying her with questions. Zinnia seized Lenore's hand and held on tight to prevent them from getting separated as she tried to keep up with the worried nurse.

The cut looked worse than it was. Zinnia did not have a concussion, and her other scrapes and bruises were minor. The nurse had her eyebrow cleaned and stitched up in only a few minutes. Zinnia squeezed her friend's hand throughout the entire procedure, though she kept her eyes stubbornly trained on the wall behind the nurse's shoulder. She did not cry.

The nurse gave her instructions on how to keep her stitches clean as well as a short lecture on safety before sending her and Lenore on her way. Zinnia finally let go of Lenore as they exited the infirmary together. "Um... Thanks for staying with me," she said, giving a small smile. "She said that I'll probably have a scar. It'll look cool, huh?" Tears welled up in her eyes, despite her artificial smile. She slowly broke down and hugged Lenore close. "That was scary," she whispered. It was unclear whether she was referring to the procedure she had just gone through, the act of receiving her injury, or the catastrophe of losing control of her gear.

Zinnia wiped her eyes and when she released her friend from their embrace, she was smiling. "I guess we gotta tell someone about the gear we left up there," she said. "I'm okay, but I'm not so sure that the gear is... I hope I don't get in trouble." She forced out a light chuckle.

"Sorry for messing up the training session! We'll have to try again another day. Right now... I kinda wanna just lie down, heheh..." She rubbed the back of her head, smiling apologetically. Her entire body was still throbbing from the trees' manhandling. "Um... do you..." she glanced away uncertainly before making eye contact with Lenore, "Do you wanna hang out in my room instead? We could read..."

((We can wrap this one up in a couple more posts methinks! :3))