One Drop

[Lioness075]

Shade cocked his head at Anna's question and then righted his head as he walked over to her side. Eyeing all of the weights, he wasn't really sure what the heaviest one was that he could pick up. Shade walked down the line of weights and sighted some 100Ib dumbbells on one rack. Shaking his head, Shade was about to look for lighter ones when he realized that there could potentially be Dauntless higher-uppers watching somewhere above them. Wanting to impress them, and Anna who happened to be there with him, Shade walked right up to the 100Ib dumbbells. He looked down at them and exhaled while closing his eyes before opening them and then kneeling down by the dumbbells. Gripping both of them, he then slowly stood up, letting out a low grunt in the process. Once he was standing, he then squatted before using the momentum from quickly standing up to propel both of the dumbbells up and against his shoulders. He then lowered them as carefully as possible before straining to carefully put them away on the rack again. He put his hands on his knees for a moment as he worked on controlling his breathing, his short hair falling over his face slightly. He hadn't done any heavy lifting like that for weeks and was feeling the lack of working out for sure.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna couldn't help but smile. She was impressed. "Teach me your ways, oh wise one." she smirked. "I have no idea how you do that. Seriously... teach me something?" she requested hopefully, looking at the lighter weights. "I know how to punch. I can throw too. I can even run. But girls at Amity aren't really allowed to lift things much, so I never got strong. I know it's a competition, and you don't have to help me... so feel free to say no..."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade caught his breath and stood back up, his forehead slightly sweaty, as he looked into Anna's eyes with a calm expression. He then replied, "I'll help you get stronger if you'll teach me how to fight. I already know how to throw knives. Win-win situation, in my opinion." He cocked his head to the side while waiting for Anna's response. He'd taught himself how to throw knives in his family's kitchen with cooking knives. He was constantly scolded for it, but his family never told anyone about it so he got away with it.

 

[tamaracorine]

"Deal." Anna told him, offering her hand for him to shake. She met his gaze, a tangible excitement in her expression. She was happy to have made a new friend, and happy to be free from Amity. It felt good to stand on the floor where so many brave people had stood before. Shaking Shade's hand, she glanced over at the mat, then back to him, "You're okay with hitting a girl, right? It'll be hard to teach you if you won't actually hit me..."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade subtly grinned at this and said, "I'm not Amity, now am I?" Being Erudite meant that Shade was intelligent and could see through most lies. This being said, he knew that hitting a female was a part of Dauntless and he couldn't get in trouble for it here, so why be upset by the idea of it?

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna nodded. His grin somehow made a faint blush appear in her cheeks. She had expected Shade to fall apart and that she was being kind be befriending him, but it seemed like he had a lot more strength than she anticipated. She gulped, looking down as she became aware of the blush. "I... uh..." she laughed nervously. "We should go, right? Dinner soon and stuff?"

 

[Lioness075]

Shade raised an eyebrow at the slight tint to Anna's cheeks and obvious nervousness, but said nothing about it. He simply nodded about dinner and said, "We should hurry so we're not late." Looking around, he wondered if any other Dauntless had actually seen what he did or if he'd only accomplished in impressing Anna. 'I guess that's a win-win situation...right?' Shade thought to himself before running his hand through his hair absentmindedly. He then realized that perhaps he should get a haircut soon. He was kind of starting to feel like he'd let it grow out perhaps too much. It was more like a messy mop now than anything else....

 

[tamaracorine]

The Dauntless trainer walked into the room. "I wouldn't recommend flirting, initiates." he told them firmly. "Feelings only make you weaker. Dauntless don't let a man or a woman decide anything for us. Keep it purely physical, kids." he smirked, raising an eyebrow at them. "Good lift, Erudite. There's hope for you yet."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade's face blanched at having been caught...wait. Flirting? He gave Anna a quick glance before looking back at the Dauntless trainer as he decided against arguing with him. The last thing he wanted to do was get on the wrong side of any of these guys, especially since he hadn't gotten past being an initiate yet. Hearing the Dauntless' compliment, Shade half smirked, half grinned. He nodded at the compliment, his way of acknowledging it instead of orally thanking the Dauntless trainer. Shade wasn't typically that much of a verbal person, he preferred for his actions to speak for him.

 

[tamaracorine]

"Get to dinner." he barked at them, walking into the knife throwing section and beginning to throw some knives with perfect accuracy. He laughed to himself, happy to have made them uncomfortable.


Anna walked out of the training room, her cheeks now bright red with embarassment. She kept her eyes down until she was satisfied that the red had faded to a more acceptable pink. "I wasn't... I didn't mean to flirt with you, Shade." she told him quietly. "I swear. I wouldn't do that intentionally."

 

[Lioness075]

Shade stayed silent as they walked, his mind still wrapping around the fact that the Dauntless trainer had thought they were flirting. Had they been flirting? Hearing what Anna had to say, Shade guessed they had been. He was so clueless when it came to female's feelings that he'd been oblivious to any potential flirting that may have occurred. Hearing Anna's apology, Shade quietly replied, "Don't worry about it." His walking slowed as they entered the dining area, which was loud with the Dauntless shouting and laughing together. Shade sighted the twins at one of the tables and immediately made his way towards them, not thinking to make sure that Anna was still with him.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna spotted Lucy a few tables away and made her way to her, desperate to recover from how awkward she had been. She easily fell into conversation with Lucy, and stayed with her for the rest of the night. Dinner felt a little like a party - loud volume, happy people, excitement in the air. She managed to put the flirting out of her mind.


It was cold the next morning. The fireplace in the bunk room had gone out in the middle of the night, and the initiates were woken up at an early hour by their trainer, Jai. "Get up! Get up! Go!" he bellowed into the room. "No breakfast. We've got work to do! Up!"

 

[Lioness075]

Shade groaned as he rolled out of his bed, literally. Landing on his hands and knees, he used the bed as an aid as he stood back up, his hair a tossed mess. He quickly swiped at it to at least flatten it slightly as he looked around in a sleepy daze.


<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_01/c6bc75ed34fa53ffb0d42c1b2392c3f8.jpg.759d37c9e9c085d6769d6c5ae05c7b0f.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="40184" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_01/c6bc75ed34fa53ffb0d42c1b2392c3f8.jpg.759d37c9e9c085d6769d6c5ae05c7b0f.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>


The twins were up in seconds, both eager to start training. Manjano donned a leather jacket while Chiro settled for just wearing his tank top. They both stood by the fireplace in the center as they waited for whatever was next.


<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_01/max-carver-charlie-carver-teen-wolf.jpg.5a4a7d0a12d0566971f505a7e31cdd9e.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="40183" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2015_01/max-carver-charlie-carver-teen-wolf.jpg.5a4a7d0a12d0566971f505a7e31cdd9e.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>


After having rushed to wake up, neither the twins nor Shade knew exactly where they were supposed to be headed.

 

[tamaracorine]

Lucy and Anna both rolled out of bed and got changed quickly, each wearing a pair of black shorts and a singlet. They sleepily pulled their hair back into ponytails and looked at Jai, waiting to hear what was next.


"Training room. Now. Run. Last person there gets to miss the first hour of training. Better move it." Jai grinned, standing back from the door to let them by. Anna began to sprint. She knew she could make it there. She was out the door before the others, forcing her legs to move as fast as they could. Lucy was a slower runner, but still worked hard, it wasn't quite fast enough though.


Anna was first through the door, thankful for the endurance her work on the farm gave her. She panted, resting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

 

[Lioness075]

The twins bolted, not wasting a second as they were close on Anna's heels. When Anna paused to catch her breath, both of the twins ran past her and skidded to a halt in the training room. They stood in awe, admiring every bit of it as it was the most beautiful art they'd ever seen. Shade hastily ran after the twins, terrified of being last on his first day. His fear kicked his speed into check and he passed Lucy at the last moment to avoid being last to the training room. He was about to apologize to her, but after what happened last night, decided against saying anything at all.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna groaned as the twins passed her, but she knew she was safe. She watched as Lucy came in last, giving her an apologetic smile. She straightened up as Jai walked into the room, having not even broken a sweat. She stroked the shaved part of her head, still fascinated by it, and cast a smile at the twins. "Good work." she told them quietly.


"Amity. Erudite." Jai called, "Get onto the mat. Yes, you. Anna. Shade. Now." he barked. "Let's see if you flirt with each other after this."

 

[Lioness075]

The twins both offered strikingly similar grins to Anna as they simultaneously said, "Thanks, Anna."


Shade didn't mind being called out to fight, but the minute flirting was mentioned, he stiffened and blanched. It didn't help that most, if not all, of the Dauntless were here to watch the newest initiates fight each other. His face was slightly pink as he walked onto the mat. He quickly regained his composure as he realized that he needed to focus on the fight ahead. He knew it most likely wouldn't go in his favor, as he knew nothing of fighting, only throwing knives, lifting, and anything requiring intelligence.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna stepped onto the mat and looked at Shade. She was embarrassed about the flirting comment, but determined to overcome it. She met Shade's gaze, grinning at him. "This won't take long." she promised. "And I wont even go for the groin." she cocked an eyebrow and moved into fighting stance.


"Go!" Jai shouted.


Moving quickly, Anna kicked Shade in the ribs, lowering her foot just as quickly as she lifted it so he couldn't grab hold of it.

 

[Lioness075]

(Woah, woah. Okay, for fighting scenes, you're only allowed to make one move at a time. Otherwise my character can't react to anything in real-time. Okay? I understand your character has the upper-hand in fighting, but even the best fighters make mistakes sometimes, okay? What you just made your character do was a tad OP imo)

 

[tamaracorine]

(agh, sorry. I knew that. I was only half paying attention, half cooking lunch. Sorry! I'll edit )


 
(Edited. Sorry again. Multi-tasking and I don't mix.)

 

[Lioness075]

Shade doubled over in surprise from Anna's swift, offensive move. He stumbled back a few feet and gasped for air, but recovered in time to wildly swing at Anna's shoulder, knowing that if he aimed at her head then she'd probably be able to easier dodge the swing.

 

[tamaracorine]

His blow landed on her shoulder. She hadn't expected him to aim there - face, stomach... but not shoulder. She didn't miss a beat, though. She shifted her weight forward, moving to land two swift punches on his jaw. She wanted him on the ground, and fast.

 

[Lioness075]

Stumbling backwards from the blows to his jaw, Shade managed to keep his balance and slowly swiped his fist across his lips. Blood appeared on his fist, indication that the blows had busted his lips. Narrowing his eyes at Anna, Shade instantly shifted into what he could only assume was a defensive stance, his feet shoulder length apart and his hands up in awkward fists in front of his face. His elbows were definitely to far out, but then again he had no idea how it was supposed to look. Now in defensive mode, Shade carefully watched Anna, hoping to put is intelligence to good use in the manner of trying to counter or at least dodge Anna for now.

 

[tamaracorine]

Anna was satisfied with the blows to his jaw, but he didn't reel for long enough for her to knock him down. She knew he was trying to watch her. She knew he was looking for signs of movement. She forced herself to move very little, until she used her core strength to dive towards his waist, hoping to knock him down.

 

[Lioness075]

Shade let out a yelp of surprise as Anna dove right into him, knocking him fall on his back and causing the air to rush out of him. He gasped for air and started throwing weak punches at Anna's face, which was really close to his. The punches were aimed wildly and Shade put various levels of strength into each throw as he worked on breathing somewhat normal again.