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WARNING: Involves established fictional characters, which may or may not fit within the reader's preconception about said characters.
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2. First Impressions – It's not always as it seems.
Today Sergeant Rivaille learned that if there was something he hated more than uncleanness, it was watching new recruits train. Well, maybe he didn't hate it that much, but you get the picture.
He found the whole ordeal boring and a waste of his time. He would rather be outside, going on patrol and dealing a great amount of damage to their enemies' never ending forces. But no, instead he was stuck watching some lame thirteen or something year olds making fools out of themselves.
"Don't look so down in the dumps Rivaille! Not so long ago you were one of those kids! Heck, you could still easily pass as one of them now," Zoe Hanji, his colleague, laughed. Comments like these only made his already sour mood, well, sourer.
"I heard there are at least a handful of them that have already passed all the physical tests with flying colors, isn't that exiting? Imagine having those kids in the Scouting Legion," she continued in an upbeat tone to which he only gave his usual dull stare.
"Really? How exiting," he said plainly with sarcasm. He stared back at the fields where the new recruits were now trying the Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear for the first time. "Is that kid over there one of the handfuls you were talking about?" he pointed to a brunette boy who was upside down. One has to be truly unskilled to end up like that.
Hanji looked at a chart she had in her arms and fixed the position of her glasses.
"That'd be Eren Jeager, from Shinganshina District. He is an average recruit… I guess not everyone has what it takes, but all the others are not half as bad though, right?"
The short young man shook his head at Jeager's incompetence and continued his examination on all other recruits. He had to admit that some were decent, but only a few were able to really catch his attention for more than two seconds.
After a few more minutes of checking each of them, Rivaille already knew who the best were, at least in 3DMG. It took more than balance to effectively kill a titan though, so he couldn't be sure if they were up to his expectations just yet.
He snorted when his eyes returned to the still upside down kid. "Can we go yet? I feel weaker just by staring at these brats."
She sighed and nodded slowly, "All right, but I hope you took a good look because Commander Irvin wants details."
Rivaille sighed again and started to walk away, "Does our opinion even matter? It's each individual's decision if they'll join the Scouting Legion or not."
It was sad, but true. He knew that the most skilled recruits ended up in the Military Police, running from the stress of been in the front lines fighting the titans. Because let's face it; skills alone won't make you join the Scouting Legion. Most of all you need the guts and the will.
Rivaille never went back to see how the recruits were doing and he all but forgot about the clumsy Eren Jeager or any of the others. It wasn't until three years later, when he was already Corporal and they had returned to Trost District after the titans breached that he heard the name again.
"Unbelievable… a person who can become a titan, and it's that same stupid brat that couldn't even use a 3DMG to save his life. What a fucked up situation," Rivaille commented, while he and Hanji walked to Irvin's office just after arriving to Trost.
"Yep, he was a shape shifter all along, now that is exciting, don't you think?" The woman was almost overflowing with enthusiasm. It always freaked him out when she got like this.
They reached Irvin's office and when he was about to turn the handle she added in a singsong voice, "You more than anyone should know not to judge a book by its cover."
He flinched. That wasn't the cover; it was the goddamned first chapter at the least.
To make matters worse, she patted his head like a little kid.
The short man slapped her hand away and gave her a nasty look as she laughed, "What does that even mean?"
He'd see for himself. He'd see if this Eren Jeager was really what he had seen three years ago, or if he was the start of the solution to the problems humanity has faced for more than a hundred years.
"Let's just get this over with."