A New Day ((Open))

It was an unusual feeling sometimes, standing on top of the Wall. Something that as a member of the Survey Corps, Jordan did quite a lot, after all, when they were out in one of the breached districts such as Trost or further towards Wall Maria, these Walls were usually the number one place to start an operation. Yet, when you were standing atop on and looking down at the excess of land below you, it gave a dual sense of freedom and entrapment. On one hand, you could see nothing but green lands before you, an unhindered skyline and more fresh air than you could possibly imagine, but then on the other, these Walls were nothing more than a cage, somewhere to keep humanity safe and warm until Titans finally managed to break in. He couldn't help but break into a small smile, did it matter if they did get in? Sure, it would be dangerous, and he would be terrified, but when something finally breaks into the cage, doesn't it give the bird the chance to fight for its freedom, and flee through the opening? Maybe he was thinking about things too much.

He could hear the rumbling of the elevator carrying more people up on to the top of Wall Rose, but Czarniak wasn't too bothered with checking who it was, he simply sat down, threw his hands out behind him to support his body weight and let his feet dangle over the edge of the Wall. He wasn't actually on duty at the moment, in fact, he had only recently been allowed some down time, so he was wearing his uniform at the moment, but he was already thinking about when he'd get the chance to actually take it off. He let out a content sigh at the prospect of getting something to eat and drink, work was hard at the moment, but also rewarding, it gave him the chance to meet so many new people!

"Haaa..." He breathed to himself as he basked in the warmth of the sun that was just reaching its zenith above him. "Another day, another glorious sun..." He continued as he closed his eyes and allowed his skin to soak in the rays of the sun, as the elevator came to a clattering halt, signalling that he was no longer alone at the top of this beautiful view, yet again, Jordan didn't bother to look across to see who it was that had made the long journey up here.

The wall quiet just like any other day aside from the scouts and personnel in charge of maintaining the wall and its assets. Men and women walked up and down the walk way discussed all sorts of topics amongst themselves seemingly oblivious of the area around them on both sides of the wall. While the area up there was riddled with people the city below was moving and bustling. West was among the soldiers down in the lower area below, she watched the people working on their assigned tasks whether it was tending horses, prepping the canisters and blades for possible missions and expeditions, or moving around supplies they were getting their work done. If the people weren’t working they were spending their leisure time doing whatever they wanted. Meanwhile West sought out something to fill up her time. Unfortunately, the majority of the people seemed to have their work handled, or so she was told judging by the odd look they were giving to her she figured that they were a bit intimidated to ask. After a few minutes of asking around, some soldiers asked if she was willing to help move crates and supplies up to the top of the wall to reduce the number of trips they were going to have to make. Agreeing she began loading crates from the supply cart to the walls lift elevator. Once the elevator had filled her and another person who was moving crates rode it to the top to unload and distribute them to all of the on-duty soldiers at the top. On the ride up, she quietly looked at the wall as it passed, upon reaching the top the girl was nearly blinded by the sun that was hidden to the area around the base. West scanned the soldiers as she was handing off crates noticing one standing near the edge of the wall, however she didn’t have time to say anything to them after hearing that they still had more crates to move down below. Taking the elevator back down she once again began to help lode more crates until the last crate was unloaded from the cart and placed onto the elevator lift. she rode once again to the top of the wall distributing the crates to the soldiers. Giving a quiet sigh she looked on over the wall to the natural landscape that filled the area beyond the city. It reminded her of the plains area her father trained her to be a soldier in. Muttering something she shook off the memory knowing it wasn’t the time to think about it. The sound of someone suddenly speaking of the sun caught her attention, it was the same boy she spotted standing near the edge the first time she came up only now he was sitting and sun bathing. She approached the edge of the wall before stating “I’ve never noticed how peaceful it is up here” considering her occupation it wasn’t that much of a surprise.

A voice?

"I've never noticed how peaceful it is up here"

Jordan glanced over his shoulder, same expression as always, narrowed eyes and a slight pout, to see who it was that was speaking. She was tall, well-built. In fact, looking at her from his current position, Jordan was fairly certain that this girl was taller than he was, but he recognised her somewhat, just where from..? It was then that it dawned on him.

"Hey! Did you hear about the top 10 from the Cadets ..?"

"Yeah, I heard one of them's a freakishly tough girl!"

"Jordan made it too in his class!"

"What was that girls name again..?"

West.

Jordan gave a slow nod as he motioned to the space beyond the wall with his head. It was truly a sight to behold, the way that the green hills rolled out before them like a silken carpet, it all looked so soft and untouched. Ever since Wall Maria had fallen, no-one was allowed to go beyond Wall Rose except for Survey Corps troops on excursions, nature had truly reclaimed the space between the two walls in the space of the years that had passed since. Even the trees in the distance looked large, unruly and dangerous in a weird way.

"Sometimes it's nice to just... Relax." Jordan finally responded. "Remember what we fight for, y'know..? Everyone gets down about it a lot, the idea of dying. But when you see this?" He pulled himself up to his feet, brushing the dust off of his hands on the back of his pants before offering one of them out to West.
"Makes it all worthwhile, don't you think? Dying?" He finally gave a small smile.

"My name's Jordan, I believe we were in the Cadets round about the same time. You were Top 10, weren't you..?"

West became mesmerized by the land scape, so it became clear to see why he was so easily able to ignore the people working on the top of the wall, everything behind her seemed to vanish only leaving the natural scene that lied ahead of them. Looking down the wall it was a far drop that make just about anyone nauseous. She took a step forward so her toes aligned with the edge of the wall, not the safest idea but fortunately she was sturdy and less likely to fall. Looking over to the boy she was familiar with the face, graduating a year after herself she was aware of who graduated in the top ten and she remembered he was high in the top ten. But this is the first time she met him in person. When it came to her class she only was able to meet a few people who didn’t end up being intimidated, luckily for her he didn’t seem intimidated by her.
The plains area rested quietly under the wind and sun, she’s rode out to the area on horseback before, but it was for a mission, so she wasn’t really taking in the scenery at the time. But now it was an enjoyable sight for sore eyes. West was also aware that that area now not safe for people, but it was their job to hopefully make it accessible one day. “it almost makes you forget that there’s something monstrous beyond the wall” almost… everyone knew what lived beyond the wall: tall, terrifying, carnivorous titans ready to use them for their next meal, no matter how glorious the landscape looked it would never be truly enjoyable until it is free from the titan menace.
West quietly listened to his comment about relaxing and what they fought for. For the most part she fought for humanity and to become the soldier to surpass her father but she clearly understood what he meant “of course this… all of this is what we fight for, the land, survival, and a tomorrow worth living in” she paused twitching about how quickly people loose moral, hearing the question about how the scene is worth dying for she gave a light chuckle “well it’s something that for us is what we fight for, but if I could have my choice of the last thing I would see before death… it would probably be this by far.” She gripped his hand shaking it acknowledging his question “West, you are correct on both I got out a year before and I made top ten… if I’m not mistaken you got top ten as well”

"I did indeed." He acknowledged West's statement about him making Top 10. "Could have been top of the class, but apparently I lacked the appropriate 'drive', was the word I believe was used. Can't really blame them, though, it isn't far from the truth..." He gave an awkward chuckle while West shook his hand. She definitely had a strong grip, something that he had expected given her size and stature. She seemed to share his views about the whole situation facing them at the moment, at least, that's what he gathered from the so far short conversation that they had had, she saw the world as something worth fighting and dying for, and Jordan could most definitely respect that, such an attitude was rare these days, and he was happy to see that others could have such a drive about them as well.

"Can't think of many better sights before death, truth be told..." He released her hand as he noted they were getting a few funny looks from the soldiers atop the Wall. Not totally surprising, they were standing there talking about death, after all.

"A-Anyways, all of that aside..." He swiftly changed the subject, the last thing he wanted was someone confronting them for killing morale. "How have you been finding life in the Survey Corps? It's not common for a Top 10 Cadet to move in that direction, must have been a pretty serious decision for you."

West gave a half smile "im always impressed with a good soldier who has enough drive to make it into the top 10, out of hundreds of cadets there's only that hand full that make that position" upon hearing that it was his beliefs that kept him from raking higher her lips parted slightly forming an astonished frown "they can't judge you based off of your drive, your fighting for what you think is right, thats all that should matter... fighting for something that doesn't attribute to you is something that your not going to fight for it's something your forced to fight for" she wondered who they were thinking they could tell him his drive to fight was wrong. Shaking his hand she seemed in thought pondering who told him such a thing. They were quiet similar to one another: what they fought for, quiet in nature, and others seemed to misidentify their personality based on their appearance. Fortunately for her though no one attempted to tell her that her drive wasn't correct.
She gave a chuckle on his response to the last sight "victory or a beautiful landscape at least" she saw him look at the other people at the top of the wall, giving them strange looks. She starred at them unintentionally glaring causing a few to scatter while others went back to their work. West heard a few whispers from the personnel of false rumors about her from her time as a cadet. Things along the line of "didn't she brake people's arms in training" or "isn't she really violent towards people" ect ect. West thought to herself [how did those lies start?]
She jolted out of thought when Jordan changed the subject "im making my stand against the titans with the corps thats all that matters... believe me other cadets thought me foolish when I turned down the opportunity to be in the military police, i had a role model who lead me down this path" she pulled out her pocket watch looking at the dates scratched in the lid. Looking back up she snapped it shut and scratched the back of her head "but the same seemed to have gone for you, what lead you to follow this path?"

Jordan nodded and smiled at her response to his question, having a solid role model to lead someone down a path that gave them happiness and an objective was most certainly helpful. Especially for younger people, he could only hope that he could prove to be just such a driving force for someone else in the future. He admired her praising him as well, telling him that no-one else should be able to tell him what should drive him, but he knew that already, if he had no actual drive he would have simply signed up for the Military Police and gone on to live a cushy life behind Wall Sina, but what good could he actually have done there?

"I spent a lot of time in an orphanage." He admitted. "A lot of the kids there were nice, but a few came from different, rougher backgrounds, they felt like they had to really press themselves upon the others, show that they were the ruling authority. The other kids, who were younger, maybe a bit meeker, they simply followed and did as they were told. They gave up all hope of fighting back against those bigger guys, I guess..." He gave a slight shrug before continuing. "The same thing stands for humanity as a whole. So many are happy to be cooped up behind these walls, bullied by the Titans. I just want to show people that there's hope, they can stand up and be accounted for. I just want everyone to be happy." He realised that he'd been talking for much longer than intended and gave an exasperated chuckle.

"But there I go, running my mouth again, sorry about that." He scratched at the back of his head, where his hair was sheared to its shortest, his fingers running across dark brown bristle. "Still, it's refreshing to see someone with a good direction to them. You said you had a role model..? May I ask who that is..?"

Though following a family line isn't technically having one's own drive for West it truly was, her mother wanted her to follow something else in life and her father wasn't there to force her to join the corps. She could have followed any path she wished since it wasn't her fathers demand it was simply a wish that she'd follow it. The day of her graduation when she was to choose her branch West couldn't see herself baring anything but the survey corps uniform.
Despite being aware of Jordan she wasn't aware that he lived in an orphanage, it was an unfortunate condition but he seemed to become a stronger person "I would have never guessed, I'm sorry you had to grow up with that." Listening to his explanations regarding the children positions in the orphanage "an unfortunate thing is that under rough conditions people always take authority... whether or not its for trying to benefit everyone or themselves there will always be those who take the title as head, like a shepherd and sheep, those who feel lesser will give in" she watched so many people follow the suit of order wether it was individuals or groups.
She gave a smile hearing his motivation to fight the titans and chuckled at his statement about him running his mouth "don't worry, you're not really... i find it interesting to say the least learning about others" she couldn't believe that they didn't find his motive to fight proper, especially if it's showing others that they have the ability to fight back and trying to make everyone else happy. West paused when he asked who her role model is. Unfortunately it no longer "is" for now it's "was." A bitter thought but she knew that it is how it is. "My father, he joined the survey corps just as his father did, now Im following that path" she continued her explanation of how her father was a good influence "he was brave, tactical, and gave everything to keep humanity safe from the titans, he taught me the basis of everything i know when it comes to military: combat, 3DMG, and strategy." She let out a sigh "i hope to one day be a great soldier like him"