[redox-kun]

darth vader lucas hammond had been the fourth graduate of his class, a fact that his mother and his brothers had touted with pride. he would be a fine addition to the king's forces, they say. a real patriot who always knew his purpose. at least the latter part was correct. he knew his purpose, and it was to follow in his father's footsteps, no matter where they would lead him. his mother had cried when lucas came home to tell her the news with the wings of freedom spread across his back. he shouted with the same tenacity that his brother had used to shout at him. "why can't you be happy for me, why can't you see that i have become a man." "you're a man, lucas. not titan fodder." he had yelled until his throat was hoarse. he father wasn't titan fodder, his father died for rosenburg's honor, died for the legion's honor, died for humanity's honor. those were the words that he had repeated to himself while he slept in the stables that night. those are the words that he repeats to himself as he walks himself to the blacksmith shop. lucas sneaks a look at the soldier beside him, having realized by now that she's no recent graduate. it doesn't feel like he's nearly awkward or scared enough to be. the thought excites the boy, and it's moments like these that he feels that he's made the right choice, joining the scouting legion at the age of fifteen. these are the people that he will live and die for, and they are the people who will live and die for him. it is an uplifting thought to lucas. it's only right that they should be acquainted. "i'm sorry, but i never really got your name. i'm lucas hammond, by the way."

LAIKA OF GS!

[darth vader]

Jokes are always funnier when they're at someone else's expense. Zeyn enjoys watching Mina scurry around, wide-eyed and desperate to remember every single morsel of advice Thalia imparts to her on the training field, and Lucia hopping like a scared rabbit whenever  someone just looks at her, but she's not laughing now, walking to pick up an assortment of blades. She should be helping plan the next expedition, drawing up strategies and maneuvers. Instead she has a list of errands to run. Errands a child could do--as evidenced by the fact that she is being accompanied by a literal child.  "That's because I didn't give it to you," Zeyn drawls. "Zeyn. Zeyn Al-Amin." She looks down at him to get a good look at his face. "Hammond? You related to Hugues? He was the only Hammond in the Corps, I think."  Not a very notable family. Zeyn's mother would have called them a diluted stock. There are those born to lead, and those born to serve. The masses have to keep churning, though. One needs warm bodies to command. (There's a soft voice of disapproval that sounds annoyingly familiar in the back of her head at that thought, but Zeyn ignores it. Boxes it away. She doesn't need it.)

LAIKA OF GS!

[redox-kun]

darth vader he's a kid. he gets it as well as any boy who spend so much time trying to prove himself to be worth anyone's time. lucas was never blessed with his peers' height and sharpness of wit, but he never doubted that he was a ...maybe gem was the wrong word to describe lucas? a bread loaf then. he was a delicious bread loaf of quality. he just had to convince the buyers to take a bite. "you're a man, not titan fodder!" okay, so maybe that was an awful analogy. at least he didn't say any of that out loud. "it is an honor, miss al-amin! and yes, hugues hammond was my father! as honorable of a soldier as any, a man who had died on the battlefield for humanity's glory! may he rest in peace, god willing!" yes, those exclamation marks were all necessary, as evidenced by the amount of staring from the passerby. he had managed to restrain himself during the beginning of the trip, but his father's name was something of a floodgate. one that the people around him had learned not to drop in polite conversation.

LAIKA OF GS!

[darth vader]

There's no glory on the battlefield, and no cause that's worth the price of dying. Zeyn's learned that lesson as well as any other, even if there are those who would disagree with her. Hugues Hammond was just another rotting corpse who had accomplished as much in death as he had in life. If there was any value to him, it was in the resolve not to walk his path. Zeyn's mother ironed manners into her though. She steps forward to the counter and gives the blacksmith Thalia's order. It should be ready for pick up, miss, he assures her, and shuffles to the back of the shop to bring it. "I knew Hammond," she says. "He was a man of principles. I'm not surprised his son joined the Corps as well."

LAIKA OF GS!

[redox-kun]

darth vader lucas looks at zeyn the same way that fresh recruits would look at the squad leaders. that is, he looks at her as if she were the legion's living manual. except he doesn't see her as a soldier to emulate (that was what his father was for), but as a window into the world that only his father had known. even that was hard to come by, with the extensive gag order placed upon the details of his death. rosenburg herself had come to their household to inform them of what she could. she held herself to the gag order, and lucas respects her more for it. to bismirch the integrity of the legion would be unthinkable for a squad leader. her discharge had not shaken his faith. if he would take sina's witnesses to be more trustworthy than a squad captain's, then he was not fit to be in the legion.  "of course! what else but duty would drive us out of these walls?" lucas almost feels as if he is nodding to himself when he thinks about his mother's radish soup and his brother's out-of-tune violin. "how well did you know him? training, joint missions, or -- after you, miss" lucas is first to reach the door of the shop, and he holds it open for zeyn.

LAIKA OF GS!

[darth vader]

Duty? Zeyn keeps a straight face, somehow, and sweeps through the door when he holds it open. If he's unlucky, Thalia might snatch him up for her squad with that type of attitude. Then he'll learn the cost of duty, and the price of servitude, learn it in the lines of his eyes, crow's feet stamped resolute. In his shaking hands. Zeyn doesn't envy either of them their ideals. She has power, and power is meaning, and meaning is enough. "I didn't know him that well," she says a bit sharply. And then, with some consideration, in a gentler tone: "I knew of him, and I'm sure he knew of me, and we had talked from time to time, but he was assigned to Rosenburg's squad and I serve on de Luca's. Our paths rarely crossed. Thalia dislikes being behind the Walls more than is absolutely necessary. Our squad mainly works alone. Yours won't be like that, most likely. The average squad leader is far more conventional."

LAIKA OF GS!