The first night at the dorm was, for a lack of better wording, stressful. Lilith had decided not to explore the possibility of sneaking out right away; after all, running with the Dauntless and then jumping into and from a moving train was probably enough exercise for one day. She'd simply changed into the clothes that had been left in the room for them, occupied the bed next to Christina's, and done her best to fall asleep. However, that proved to be harder than she thought, for one of the iniciates was sobbing. Lilith didn't have it in her to tell whoever it was to shut up, and she eventually drifted off.

"Statistically speaking, it's very likely that most of the top eleven will be Dauntless borns," a boy by the name of Will, who Christina had introduced her to in the dorm, said, as the three of them made their way through the Pit in order to get to the dining hall. Lilith rolled her eyes as he kept speaking, "They're used to this, they have eighteen whole years of experince. We have one day."

"That's only making me doubt myself even more, Will," Christina grimaced.

"So you want me to lie?" Will questioned, raising his dark eyebrows.

"We just want you to stop talking about statistics," Lilith replied, as they finally entered the dining hall. Despite still having a while until it was time for their training to start, most of the iniciates were having breakfast already. Her eyes scanned over the crowd, and she found Siobhan sitting at the same table as the previous day, with both Granger and Eric. The brunette quickly turned away from them, hoping that they hadn't seen her, and kept talking to Will, "You don't have to show everyone how big your brain is, now."

"I'm not-"

"You are," Christina interrupted, with a giggle.

A whistle suddenly echoed through the room, and Lilith glanced over her shoulder, clenching her jaw when she saw Granger waving her over. She was about to shake her head at the blond and gesture at Will and Christina, to let him know that she was planning on sticking with her friends, but Christina gently shoved her towards the table, with a smile on her lips.

"Go," she said, "We'll see you in the training room."

"Come with me?"

The other two exchanged a surprise glance and, after a few seconds, Will nodded his head. The trio made their way to the table where Lilith's most recent acquaintances were enjoying their breakfast, Siobhan instantly giving all of them a smile as she gestured at them to sit down. Cursing to herself, Lilith occupied the seat on Eric's right, seeing as neither Christina or Will seemed to want to do it.

"I'm Siobhan," the dauntless born began, adressing the two newcomers with a grin, "This is Granger, and you've already met Eric."

"I'm Christina."

"Will."

"So, should we invite all the other iniciates to sit with us, when it's time for lunch?" Eric raised his eyebrows at his best friend, though Siobhan was the one who shifted in her seat. The leader's grip tightened around the mug in front of him, "Might have to rearrange the dining hall, if you're planning on pitying every transfer, Siobhan."

The brown haired girl chewed on her lower lip, looking down at her breakfast, and something in Lilith ignited, "You know, you seem to be the only one who has a problem with this, Eric," she narrowed her eyes, "Maybe you should just leave."

"Watch it," Eric grunted, not looking in her direction.

"Or what?" her eyebrows were raised. Christina's eyes were wide as she watched the exchange, and Will was shaking his head, trying to get her to back off, but she wasn't going to let Eric get away with being rude to the first Dauntless who had been nice to her, leader or not, "Gonna whine even more about my presence?"

"You ought to keep your mouth shut, Candor," he finally glared at her, and Lilith gulped, "I'll be more than glad to show you to the door before training even starts, if you keep this up."

"You can't do that!" she fired back, though her heart was now clashing against her ribcage, "I've been training for this for years!"

The male raised his eyebrows in surprise, staying quiet for a few seconds before speaking, "Don't try me, then," he turned back to his food, "You learn to keep your thoughts to yourself, and we won't have that problem."

Everyone in the table was silent, refusing to raise their eyes from their respective meals. Lilith wondered if she truly had gone too far, but it didn't seem fair that Eric got to be an asshole without facing consequences just because he was a leader. The wise move was clearly attempting not to piss him off; after all, she did have to do everything she could, if she truly wanted to be in first place after iniciation. 

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she reached out for a piece of toast from the tray at the center of the table, not saying another word.

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Turning the gun around in her hands, Lilith analyzed it with interest. It felt heavy in her hands as she studied the different parts that formed the lethal weapon, and she assumed she'd eventually get used to the weight of it. Although she'd never seen a gun in person before, she managed to identify the trigger, the barrel and the magazine. She knew that some fire arms had scopes, which she supposed would make it easier for the shots to be accurate, and she wondered if these ones lacked them specifically to make training harder for them.

"Therefore each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way," Four continued his speech, after everyone was already holding a gun, "The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."

"But what..." Peter cut himself off with a yawn, "What does firing a gun have to do with... bravery?"

Four's movements were fast as he moved his own gun in his hands and, before anyone knew what was going on, the barrel was pressed against the curly haired boy's forehead. Peter's eyes were wide in fear as their instructor clicked a bullet into place, raising his eyebrows.

"Wake. Up," he muttered, his jaw clenched, "You are holding a loaded gun, you idiot. Act like it."

A giggle left Lilith's lips as Four finally withdrew his weapon, and Christina too held back a laugh. Peter offered both girls a glare as his cheeks became red, but he kept silent and looked back at the older male, who had gone back to his place at the very front of the group. His brown eyes swept the transfers, almost as if he was waiting for another stupid question, but no one else dared to open their mouth.

"To answer your question," Four proceeded, "You are far less likely to soil your pants and cry for your mother if you're prepared to defend yourself. This is also information you may need later in stage one. So, watch me."

He turned away from the group, facing one of the targets on the wall in front of them. Lilith took notice of how he took a deep breath, before moving his feet so that they were far apart, and aiming at the target. The shot was unexpectedly loud, and the brunette couldn't hold back a wince as she watched the bullet go through the center of the target. Her eyebrows were raised in amazement as Four gestured at them to practice on their own targets.

After finding a target for herself, Lilith clicked a bullet into place and focused on the where she was supposed to hit. Three circles decorated the target, and Four's bullet had gone straight through the center of the smaller one. The girl doubted she could achieve the same results, at least during her first try, but she'd still do her best to get there. Closing her eyes for a brief second, she tried to recall the stance Four had taken minutes before, and did her best to mimick it. It took her a few seconds to make sure that she had it, but she eventually took her first shot. The recoil made her stumble back, a satisfied grin taking over her lips as she saw that she had hit the target. Nowhere near the red circles, that was for sure, but it hadn't been an awful shot.

She kept practicing, noticing how the bullets were getting closer to the circles each time. As she placed her second round into her gun, the person on the target next to her managed to put a bullet right through the middle of their target. Lilith's jaw dropped as she turned to look at the former Amity boy, who seemed proud of himself as he looked at his results.

"Holy shit," she breathed out, giving him a smile as he looked at her in surprise, "That was good."

"Thank you," he replied, his eyes drifting to her target. She almost felt ashamed for not having managed to hit the center yet.

"I'm Lilith," she introduced herself, holding out a hand towards him.

"Nate," he smiled back at her, shaking her hand. 

"Any advice?"

"No," the blond haired boy shook his head, "I think I just got lucky."

She hummed in response before turning back to her own target, taking a deep breath before aiming once more. Maybe it was just a matter of practice or, like Nate had just put it, she needed a little bit of luck. She exhaled before firing, her lips spreading into a small smile as she noticed that she had now hit the second circle. Maybe she'd actually be able to do it.

A few more minutes passed, and Lilith noticed her shots seemed to stick around the second circle. She hadn't managed to hit the target any closer to the center, and it was starting to make her angry. Taking another deep breath as she clicked yet another bullet into place, she wondered how everyone else was doing. Nate hadn't managed to hit the center again, but he wasn't too far off, while Peter, on her other side, hadn't managed to hit any of the circles. She supposed she was somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

"Your arms are slack."

She turned around at the sound of Eric's voice, who was leaning against the wall behind them. His tone made her want to give a snarky response along the lines of you're slack, but the events that had taken place during breakfast were still fresh in her mind, so she resorted to raising her eyebrows expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate. Rolling his blue eyes, Eric pushed himself away from the wall and took a few steps towards her, taking the gun from her hands. Lilith immediately noticed that it was a lot heavier than she had realized.

"Didn't realize how heavy it was, did you? Rookie mistake," Eric smirked. It unnerved her, but she didn't say a word as he kept talking, "People often don't realize that the weight of the gun matters. It's not just a matter of being able to hold it up and aim at the place you want to hit," he turned towards the target, closing one of his eyes as he aimed, "You got the legs right. But your upper body matters as well. The weight of the gun impacts mostly your arms and your back. Always try to make your arms as firm as possible, and your back as straight as it can possibly be," he took a shot, and Lilith wasn't surprised to see the bullet pierce the middle of the target. The two met eyes as he handed her back her weapon, and stepped aside, "Got it, Candor?"

"Think so," she mumbled in response. Now with the tips Eric had given her in mind, Lilith positioned herself as she had before. Her arms burned as she tried to keep them firm, and she struggled to keep a decent posture as she aimed at the inner circle. Clenching her jaw through the pain, she pulled the trigger. The recoil didn't make her stumble back any longer, and so she was able to watch as a new hole appeared just a few inches away from the middle. Instantly, her lips spread into a smile.

"Keep it up," was the only thing Eric said, before she heard him walk away.

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As it had been revealed to them the previous night, they were free to do whatever they wanted after training was over, at six in the evening. Lilith had planned on taking advantage of the time until dinner to explore the Pit and the multiple places carved into its rock walls, and she'd been surprised to see Siobhan waiting for her in the corridor, after she had taken a shower. The Dauntless born girl revealed how she was in a quest to get a new tattoo, and Lilith had agreed on going with her, and perhaps getting one herself.

"How did you enjoy training today?" Siobhan asked, as they began their trek up the path to the tattoo parlour.

"It was... interesting," she nodded her head, "Four taught us the basics of shooting a gun this morning, and then we practiced fighting on the punching bags. Definitely intense," she chuckled, gazing down at her still reddened knuckles, "But really cool."

"Lauren taught us about guns too," the other girl replied, "I'd seen Granger shooting before but had never done it myself. It's harder than it looks."

"Eric explained to me that sometimes your posture can be messed up because of the weight of the gun," Lilith said, "Then he gave me some pointers about how to properly correct it. Maybe that's your problem too."

"Did you just say Eric helped you?" Siobhan's eyebrows shot up, and she stopped walking with the shock.

Lilith just gave her a nod in response, "I was as surprised as you are, right now."

"I'm not surprised at the fact that he helped you. He's smart enough to know that you're good," Siobhan clarified, as she led Lilith into the parlour. The girl's lips spread into a smile as she spotted Christina, Tris, Will and Al, and she gave them a quick wave, before following after her new friend. Siobhan flipped through a book filled with tattoo designs and quickly found the one she was searching before, before turning back to Lilith, "It's just that he holds grudges for a long time, you know. I don't think he's forgiven me yet for bringing you into the group."

"Why are you even friends with him?"

"He's not all bad," she shrugged, "He has a mean streak, I guess, and being a leader at such a young age hasn't helped him either. When he's not worried about his role, he's not that bad of a person to be around. It's just that... for the past two years, it's been just the three of us. Then I brought you along and you have your attitude, and you guys just seem to clash," there was a hint of a smile on her lips, before she winked, "I think you should give it a little time."

"Right," Lilith mumbled in response, before grabbing another book with designs. It seemed pretty impossible to her that she and Eric would ever get along, much less become friends, but she didn't want to ruin Siobhan's sudden hope that they would all be a united group, some day. As much as she talked with the other Dauntless borns, Lilith had noticed that Siobhan wasn't too close with any of them, and she also supposed that that was one of the reasons why she'd been so insistent on being around her. Not that she minded.

As Siobhan took her place on one of the chairs, chattering with the tattoo artist, Lilith remained hunched over the book she was looking at. The designs were beautiful, she couldn't deny that, but there hadn't been a single one she'd want to put on her body. She wanted something with meaning, and not just something pretty to look at. Time was ticking by as the brunette thumbed through the pages, almost sure she wouldn't find anything, when her eyes landed on a flower themed design. 

It instantly made her think of Hortense, who had traded the Candor lifestyle for the peace associated with Amity. She hadn't seen her older sister in years, and she wasn't sure that she would, ever again. She'd missed her sister ever since she had transferred, though she never really talked about it to anyone. It had been the two of them against all odds for years, and Lilith hoped that, wherever Hortense was, she was happy. 

"Are you getting that one?" Siobhan's familiar voice questioned. Lilith turned to see her standing by her side once more, a bandage covering her upper arm.

Giving the pattern one more glance, she nodded.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

I feel like this chapter is pretty much a filler lmao but it is important and dives a little deeper into the beginning of Erith. Let me just tell you that Lilith is a lot more collected in this version than in her previous ones, which I'm glad I changed because her old version was a brat and would have been kicked out by now simply for being rude. Eric is also just more annoyed instead of actually disliking my girl, because yeah they do clash, but it's more of an annoyance than actual hatred.
We also were properly introduced to the bean aka Nate, who deserves the whole world.
Anyways,, I hope you enjoyed this update and that you're having a good day. Please let me know what you thought!