endure | e. jaeger & a. arlert

VII. Gear

a/n: surprise it's me with a new chapter 😋🤞🏼

You were used to being bad at things. You were used to being weaker than Mikasa and dumber than Armin and more scared than Eren. Therefore, you did not have high hopes when you were hoisted into the ODM harness for the aptitude test. The only advantage you had was the tips that Petra and Levi had given you.

Then again, that was quite the advantage indeed. How many of these cadets could say that they had been given advice from humanity's strongest soldier? And Petra was no slouch herself. She had one of the highest titan kill counts, as well as an incredible amount of assists. Her prowess with the ODM was perhaps not legendary, but it was not to be discounted, either.

You tried to remember all of this as your examiner raised you into the air. The reassuring words of the two experienced Scouts rang in your head, and you did your best to follow them.

Keep your core tight and your muscles limber, engaged but not resistant. If you overthink it, you'll fall, so it's better to just not think at all. Channel your inner T. This was Petra.

The key to the ODM gear is to not fight it. Most people try to outmuscle the gear, and for people who are big in size, that's fine — to a point. But it'll never work for you and I. The gear will automatically self-balance, so there's no need to force anything. Just let it do its job and focus your energy and strength on maneuvering your body. Try not to stay still, either. The gear is meant for movement, and counterintuitive though it may seem, the more you move and the faster you go, the better your balance will be. Levi had written an entire paragraph about how to effectively utilize the ODM gear in one of his letters, and his detailed advice combined with Petra's allowed for you to stay upright in the air.

After a moment, you began to feel what Levi was talking about as the gear started wobbling a little. You gave your examiner a worried look, but she only raised her eyebrows at you, perhaps wondering what you would do. Taking this as a challenge, you relaxed your body further and let yourself swing back and forth, making sure the examiner could tell it was on purpose.

The examiner nodded in approval before lowering you and helping you out of the gear. She handed you a bottle of water, which you accepted gratefully.

"You were excellent with that. Your instincts are uncanny," she said. You blushed and wiped your mouth with the back of your hand.

"I wish that was the truth, but honestly, I have a lot of prior knowledge. I live with Petra Ral — she's a Scout, you know, and part of the Special Ops Squad — and Captain Levi is my pen pal. They both gave me a ton of advice, so I had a bit of an unfair advantage, you see," you said. The examiner looked surprised before nodding.

"Ah, I see. Regardless of how you got your knowledge, the fact remains that you have it, and you definitely pass. You say you're...pen pals...with Captain Levi? Then I'll have to assume that he saw something in you, which only leads me to believe that you would've been fine either way. Congratulations, Cadet L/N," she said.

"Thank you, ma'am," you said, saluting at her before looking around, "Um, is there something else I'm supposed to do for the rest of the day?"

"I believe all of today is just devoted to aptitude testing, so no. Feel free to walk around and cheer your friends on or take a break. It's up to you," she said.

"It's pretty nice out today. I'll go see how everyone else is doing! Thanks again!" you said, waving at the woman before jogging off.

Tullia, who had gotten the same advice as you had, did similarly well to you. Mikasa and Jean were naturals with it. Mikasa looked almost bored, her newly-cut hair swaying softly in the breeze. She had decided to chop it off because, according to Eren, it would get in the way with the ODM gear. You were saddened that you wouldn't be able to braid it anymore, but she looked good. You doubted you could pull it off as well as she did. Eren had tried to get you to cut your hair, too, but you told him in no uncertain words to screw off and worry about his own hair. You liked your hair long, and you weren't going to just cut it because he said you should.