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Bernadetta has never been much of a fan of mornings. The idea of leaving her safe, warm bedroom before the sun has even fully risen consistently fills her with dread. Not to mention that a large number of her peers also get up in the early hours, so the chance of people stopping her to chat, questioning her, or simply laughing at her for being out of her room increases exponentially.
The upside to getting up early, however, is Ingrid. Ingrid is very much a morning person, eager to get going and improve her skills every opportunity that arises. She’s often one of the first to rise amongst their cohort, and always seems to wake with an unshakable resolve to give the day everything she has - just one of the many things that Bernadetta finds herself jealous of.
Ingrid has always been great around horses, and seems to be just as good at handling a pegasus, breezing through the exams required to qualify as a Pegasus Knight but still actively working to improve despite the fact she’s already achieved the goal. Bernadetta doesn’t quite understand that, but it’s a quality that she’s very much drawn to.
Not to mention that Ingrid looks so good when she’s training. The determination in her eyes is enough to make Bernadetta’s heart skip, even though she knows Ingrid isn’t looking at her, she has more than enough imagination to picture that she is - an activity that she partakes in often.
She pulls on her hoodie and her jacket then heads to the training grounds.
Sure enough, Ingrid is there already, warming up with her lance, her mount grazing nearby already saddled. Bernadetta skirts around the edge of the grounds, trying to decide on the best view to watch her. She feels a little weird for doing so, but it’s coming from an earnest desire to learn from her, or so she tells herself, so it’s not creepy. It’s easy to find a good spot to sit and watch, and she rests a book on her lap to make it seem like she’s occupied, not that Ingrid ever seems to pay too much mind to her anyway, seemingly entirely engrossed in the task at hand.
Ingrid, however, has most certainly noticed. Even when she’s devoting her attention to training, she still ensures that she has some awareness of her surroundings. Such things are important to prevent her from striking someone who she believes has snuck up on her, but has actually been trying to get her attention for some time. An event that, unfortunately, has happened on more than one occasion.
As far as Bernadetta is concerned, she’s not really sure how to address the presence. They are coming up on almost a moon now since she broke down Bernadetta's door to demand she trained with her, an embarrassing occurrence that she’s not really sure how she can live down even after fixing the door for her as soon as she could. She sees a lot of herself in Bernadetta, and her overwhelming desire to help her ended up being… a little much. Though apologizing to her seemed to go well, she had thought that she would likely not want anything to do with her - a thought that upset her more than she anticipated, for reasons that she can’t quite put her finger on, but now here she is, sitting watching her train diligently every morning for the past week.
If she’s still there when she finishes her warm-up routine, she’ll approach.
—
“A Pegasus Knight?” Ingrid raises an eyebrow, bemused. That’s certainly not the information she had expected to receive upon approaching the shorter girl. She can hardly imagine Bernadetta flying high in the sky on a pegasus - she had mostly assumed that a girl so afraid of everything else would be terrified of flying. “I had heard word of that, but I must say that I did not quite believe it. What drew you to such a decision?”
“I– um–” Think, Bernie, think! You can’t just tell her that you carefully evaluated every class certification for the fastest escape route in a pinch, especially now that she already thinks that it’s absurd that you choose this path. “Well, um– horses are… really cool?” Her voice cracks as she fights back the desire to run away. “And um- pegasus’ are too, of course!”
Ingrid reacts with a smile, one that makes Bernadetta’s heart damn near leap out of her chest - Ingrid is smiling, smiling for me - just for me!
“They are, aren’t they? I was not aware that you enjoyed them so much. How is your training progressing?” Right to the point, it seems. Very on brand for Ingrid, as far as Bernadetta was concerned.
“Oh… ummm…” Bernadetta wrings her hands, averting her eyes from the taller girl. Ingrid seems to understand without the need for further explanation.
“Is this related to why you have been watching me?”
“Eep–!” Busted. A completely incoherent, panicked sentence quickly follows, before she sighs, shoulders slumping. “I-It might be, yes.”
“You are aware you can simply ask for my help, right? I already offered before.” A pause and a wry smile. “Though, as I remember it, you said you would rather train with anyone at the academy but me.”
“That– I– I panicked, okay?!” She raises her voice a little, and Ingrid is quick to back off.
“I know, I know. Heat of the moment, right?”
Bernadetta nods, chewing her lip.
“But I’d be happy to show you the ropes, if you–”
“I-I’d like that very much!” Bernadetta responds before Ingrid even finishes her sentence, hands clenched into tight fists at her side. Ingrid can’t help but find her eagerness terribly endearing.
“No problem.” She rubs her neck. “I’m not sure how much of a teacher I’ll be. I can demonstrate, though. Get your mount ready and warm up and then we’ll start, okay?”
Truthfully, she’d like to ask Bernadetta to spar with her to warm-up, but she doesn’t want to push her luck. She’s trying to be more considerate of her boundaries, and, to be honest, more than anything else she just wants to continue spending time with her. The universe has offered her this rare opportunity and the last thing she wants to do right now is squander it.
“Y-Yes ma’am!” Off she goes.
She certainly is cute. Ingrid is a little alarmed by the thought, shaking her head and turning back to collect a lance and return to her drills, cheeks dusted pink.
After a quick warmup and saddling up her pegasus, Bernadetta returns to loitering in Ingrid’s peripherals, fiddling with the reigns to occupy herself, and Ingrid finishes her strike pattern before stretching out and putting the lance away.
“All ready?”
“A-As I’ll ever be–!”
––––
The session is short, but it goes well. Ingrid demonstrates the basic motions as patiently as she is able to and Bernadetta copies as best she can, then receives critique and advice on her form. She’s not great at taking criticism, but there’s something about the genuine warmth and care in Ingrid’s tone that makes it easier to hear somehow. Even better than that is the encouragement, the praise she’s receiving. She could definitely get used to Ingrid telling her ‘good job’ and ‘well done’ more often. She’s not sure she’s ever been quite so determined to master a motion before.
Ingrid is sure not to go on for too long - she herself struggled with the amount of new information when she first started out, so she imagines Bernadetta will find herself in a similar situation. For the sake of Bernadetta, and for the sake of her own patience, she lands and dismounts, stretching. Bernadetta lands beside her, yelping a little as she finds the landing a little harder than she expects. Ingrid huffs out a laugh.
“You’re laughing at meee…” Bernadetta whines, sliding out of the saddle.
“No, no, not at all. You did very well today. Good girl.” A force of habit from praising her mount, but Bernadetta quickly goes red in response. “I– ahem. I mean–”
“N-No!” She interjects, stamping her foot. “You can call me a good girl! I… I liked it!”
“Oh, well, okay? You are a good girl.” Ingrid rubs her neck, a little awkward.
Bernadetta giggles, a little giddy, shifting her weight from one foot to another and twiddling her thumbs. Ingrid isn’t really sure what to think of that response - it’s not unpleasant by any means, just unexpected. After basking in it for a few moments more, Bernadetta speaks up.
“I… um… Thank you, Ingrid. Thank you so much!”
“Hey, it’s nothing. I am always happy to help out my classmates.”
“That’s so gallant of you!” Bernadetta can’t help but admire her, while she likes to help people too, she could never change her schedule like Ingrid has just done. Now it comes Ingrid’s turn to blush, the compliment bringing warmth to her chest and her cheeks, pink spreading to the tips of her ears. Bernadetta certainly enjoys the sight. I made Ingrid blush! “Very very gallant! A-And handsome!”
Ingrid clears her throat, pulling at her collar. The attention is quite overwhelming. She’s hardly a stranger to flirtation at the hands of a certain childhood friend, but it certainly feels different coming from Bernadetta. At least, she thinks this is Bernadetta flirting, anyway.
Bernadetta feels a surge of confidence from Ingrid’s reaction and approaches her, heart pounding in her ears as she leans up to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. Ingrid inhales sharply - if any of her face hadn’t already turned from pink to red, it has soon enough. She looks around, relieved to find that they are alone at the current moment. Bernadetta’s confidence is quickly fading.
“I-I’m sorry– I just–”
“No, it’s fine. I was just a little surprised. You are certainly full of surprises, Bernadetta.” Ingrid takes slow breaths, eager to cool off. Sylvain would have a field day if he came across her like this after all, and others might have questions. The warmth in her chest, however, is something that she can see herself getting used to. “I take it you would like to do this again?”
“The kiss-?!”
“The training. Though I must admit I have no objections to the former.” This comes as a surprise to Bernadetta, but it is a welcome one. “Would you like to get breakfast once we are finished here? We can take it somewhere more quiet than the dining hall if you would prefer.”
“I’d love to!”
Bernadetta is starting to think that mornings might not be so bad after all.