The two reached the Military Training Grounds the next day and were immediately sent off to their respective dorms after confirming their identities. Nadine was roomed together with a tall, dark-haired scary looking freckled girl who seemed to have a permanent scowl etched on her face and a brunette who lingered near the kitchens with gleaming eyes. They didn't really interact much in the beginning except for the peppy 'Hi!' that the brunette had sent them when she entered the room.
The room was small, with a bunk bed and a single bed, both placed against the opposite walls. There was a common bathroom for the girls. Apparently, the usual dorms for the female cadets was under renovation so they had to make do with what was provided during their first year.
"Can I take the bottom bunk?" The brunette asked, excitedly as Nadine rummaged through her bag for a shirt to change into.
"Go ahead," She replied, "I'll take the top bunk then. If it's alright with you," She directed the last part to the scaring looking girl who was lying down on the bed, eyes closed and hands folded behind her head. When she received no response, Nadine shrugged at the brunette and placed her bag on the top bunk.
"Always wanted to sleep on a bunkbed!" The brunette squealed, "Oh, I'm Sasha, by the way. Sasha Braus."
"Nice to meet you, Sasha," Nadine smiled, "My name's Nadine Vogel."
"Now that's a name ya don' get ta hear very often." Sasha said, distracted by the view outside the window. She didn't notice that her words were heavily accented. It was very obvious to Nadine, though.
Curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "Where are you from?"
Sasha jerked out of her daze and looked at Nadine sheepishly, "Just this place called Dauper…it's quite far from here." The accent seemed to have completely disappeared.
"Oh, Dauper village is North-West of Trost. I've heard about it. It used to be famous for hunting." Nadine ranted off whatever she had learnt in school, not noticing that Sasha's face had fallen. The red-haired girl grinned optimistically, "I hope we get along well and become friends!"
Sasha visibly brightened at that and nodded. After a thought, she asked, "Do you know where the kitchens are?"
Nadine stood next to Marco as their Chief Instructor, Keith Shadis, screamed into the terrified soldiers' faces, insulting and frightening them even more. She looked straight ahead, past the buff, blond guy. The sun was blaring over their heads. So lost in thought she was that she almost missed the yell emitted from one of the recruits.
"Armin Arlert, sir! I'm from Shinganshina, sir!"
Goosebumps rose on her arms, with her eyes wide, as she heard the name and relief flooded through her body. Nadine resisted with all her might the feeling of turning back to look at the owner of the voice. With a shiver running down her back, she thought she'd burst out crying.
'He's alive!'
Why was he here? He never wanted to join the Military before.
"Nadi-"
"Shh!" The red-haired girl harshly shushed her friend who too had recognised the name. Shadis was one row away from them, making a girl yell about her being from pig-shit city.
Marco seemed to understand his mistake and stood straighter.
The boy next to him, Nadine had noticed him the moment they had filed in early morning, threw them a glance. He was a little shorter than Marco yet taller than her and had light brown hair with atypical undercut that most of the Trost boys sported. She wanted to lean forward to get a good look at him but decided not to when Shadis approached the boy.
"Who the hell are you?!" Shadis screamed at him, looking scarier than ever.
The boy gulped nervously before smiling widely, "I'm Jean Kirstein, sir! I'm from Trost, sir!"
So that's his name.
"Why are you here?"
Jean looked a little surprised at that question and answered, "To join the Military Police and live in the Interior…sir."
Nadine scoffed on the inside, 'Aiming high already, huh.'
"Is that so? You want to live in the Interior?"
"Yessir!" the brown haired boy exclaimed.
Almost everyone's eyes were on Shadis and Kirstein when the former slammed his bald head onto the boy's nose. Jean fell to his knees, clutching his nose as the instructor yelled.
"The fuck are you doing down there? You think you want to join the MP when you can't even handle that?"
He moved onto Marco, who had an ever present smile, "And who the hell are you? Why are you here?"
The freckled boy looked terrified, yet managed to keep the smile on his face as he answered, "I'm Marco Bott, sir! I'm from the southern Wall Rose town of Jinae, sir! I came here to join the Military Police and offer my body to the king!"
Nadine almost face-palmed at the way Marco worded his intentions, 'It sounds like you want to sell yourself to the king as a prostitute, Marco!'
"Oh?" Shadis leaned back, looking menacing, "What a patriot." Nadine's eyes hardened at his words, "You got the right idea here. But, you know," The instructor leaned very close to Marco's face and hissed, "The King doesn't need a talking stack of shit."
The intensity of Nadine's glare increased so much that the blond boy who stood facing her looked taken aback.
Thinking that she was next, the red-haired girl stiffened up her back. But Shadis just walked past her, the next row, now verbally beating up a boy named Connie Springer. Poor Connie had used the wrong arm to salute and was being lifted up by Shadis, who had grabbed both sides of his head. Like a melon.
Marco sighed heavily in relief, glad that he wasn't subjected to such methods and when she tilted her head slightly to look at him, Nadine's gaze fell on Jean Kirstein. He was now standing up with a red nose, grumbling to himself. As if he knew she was staring, his eyes met hers. Immediately, Nadine looked away. Still feeling his eyes on her, she tried to focus her ears on their devil of an instructor who had suddenly gone quiet.
The ones who stood facing her row had a horrified expression and they stared at Nadine's right. Intrigued by their looks, Nadine and Marco twisted back to see Shadis staring at Sasha Braus who was-
She's eating a potato? Nadine thought, incredulously.
Silently, Shadis stalked towards her, "Hey, you little shit. What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Sasha obviously didn't know that he was talking to her so she started look sideways to see who he was addressing.
"Oh my god, she's dead." Nadine whispered to Marco.
When the brunette continued to eat the potato, Shadis lost his cool and howled, "I'm motherfucking talking to you! Who the fuck do you think you are!?"
Nadine's roommate chewed the vegetable and swallowed visibly, before saluting with her right hand which held the potato, "Sasha Braus, sir. I'm from the southern Wall Rose village of Dauper, sir!"
"Sasha Braus." Shadis said, menacingly, "What is that in your right hand?"
Sasha told him that it was a boiled potato and that she had took (stolen, actually) from the kitchen because it looked delicious. On being asked why she was eating it here, she said that potatoes tasted best when hot.
"She's definitely dead." Marco whispered back to Nadine.
"You'd be too, if you keep whispering." Kirstein interrupted them. Marco looked at him apologetically while Nadine stuck out her tongue at the ash-haired boy childishly. He raised his brow at her actions and turned back to look at Braus who was now offering half (it looked like a quarter, really) of her potato to Shadis.
The instructor did end up accepting the potato but also made Sasha run around the training grounds until sundown. Or till near death, as he had said. He dismissed everyone else after completing his quest of intimidating the cadets.
The crowd of cadets was in a hurry to get away from the heat so they all quickly ran towards their living quarters. Only, Nadine and a few others were stopped by one of the officials.
"You're Vogel?" He asked her, sizing her appearance.
"Yes sir."
"You and some more cadets are on lunch and dinner duty. Don't worry, it's just for today. Someone else will take your place tomorrow." The official said, seeing the panicked look on Nadine's face, "Report to the kitchen area right away."
Nadine saluted him and jogged to Marco, who was waiting for her at a distance. Next to him stood Jean, with his head turned away from her.
"What was that all about?" Marco asked her.
"Lunch and dinner duty. Can't sit with you today, Freckles." The girl shielded her eyes from the sun, "You seem to have company already, though." She nodded at Jean.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that the two of us are roommates along with a couple of others. Hey, Jean!" Marco placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, catching his attention, "This is Nadine Vogel. My best friend from Trost."
Jean frowned, "Didn't you say you're from Jinae?"
"He shifted from Jinae with his mom as I did, from Shinganshina." Nadine told him and smiled, "It's nice to meet you, Jean."
Jean stared at Nadine's red hair which seemed to shine bright under the sun, "Tomato." He said, thoughtfully.
"It's not nice to meet you, Jean."
