[Kingnoname1]

It was the last period before lunch but already Calen had lost focus, instead he trusted his memory to pick everything up for later digestion. More and more lately Calen had been becoming distracted in moments of quiet and even now he was subconsciously sketching in his notebook despite the teachers loud and boisterous voice echoing off the walls. The gaunt boy tried to ignore the growing issue but the analytical side of his mind refused to obey and quickly came up with a probable solution. For the first time since fleeing his family, Calen had settled into a routine, he was getting comfortable and as such, it was getting harder and harder to keep his darker thoughts at bay. How monstrous his family was, how he betrayed them by effectively leading their enemies straight to them, how they turned on him and tortured him for weeks, how even now if he could take it all back he would do so in a heartbeat. He would hunt down the innocents alongside his family if only he could be with them again. It was a hard concept for Calen to rationalise along with the other aspects of himself, he didn't consider himself bad or evil despite the persona he put on but here surrounded by more friends than he ever had before he still felt crippling agony of loneliness. Looking down at his notebook Calen found his family neatly sketched out, only their faces missing. It wouldn't take much more work to finish the drawing but he decided against it, dwelling on the past couldn't help him here. Sighing loudly Calen threw his entire notebook into the bin, he didn't need it, not with his memory and maybe the symbolic nature of the gesture would be enough to shake himself out of his downswing. It wasn't.

'And to help you hammer these lessons into your thick skulls your next assignment you will be a group one. Pairs will be selected...no you can't choose your partner... As I was saying pairs will be selected and tasked with tracking another pair. The objective is to follow the pair you've been assigned without being noticed, lose the pair assigned to follow you and after a day in the wild capture your target and bring them home obviously avoiding capture yourself. Full combat is authorised, minor injuries should be expected but so to is control so serious injuries could result in lost marks on both parties. On to the marking rubric itself, teams will be scored off how well they live off the terrain, no equipment beyond weapons and a limited supply of dust can be brought, how your fights go with the opposing pairs as well as finally how quickly you can bring your targets back to base after the three days.

It's not impossible to imagine you will encounter pairs which you weren't assigned and weren't assigned to you, please minimise contact as any assistance or conflict would damage the integrity of the task. Beyond that, the task will begin in two hours so feel free to ask any questions, and while you all are trying to come up with some at least half intelligent ones I'll read out the teams;...and lucky last Akeldama Blood-Heart and Calen Shrike.' The teacher read out in an antagonistic but mostly bored tone. It took the mention of his name to shock Calen out of his reprieve so luckily he didn't have any questions. He had only interacted with Akel once before in the four-person free for all, she had put up a hard fight but he didn't know anything about her personally.

It wasn't hard for Calen to pick Akel out of the crowd; white hair, large headphones as well as curves Calen thought to himself dryly as he gracefully dodged his way around the milling students to get closer to Akel. 'How do you do Miss Blood-Heart? It appears we have been partnered up for this assignment. I believe that we should do some degree of planning but then again some things are more fun to jump straight into. I don't use dust however so you are more than welcome to fill up on my share.' Calen remarked as he got closer to Akel, circling the girl and clearly evaluating her. When his eyes finally lifted from her body to her eyes they were cold and still distracted as if he was looking past Akel rather than at her.

[EdgeyReyes]

Akel was the same as she always was, listening contently to the professor as she noted down  everything and noting down everything in an extraordinarily neat cursive writing without her eyes ever looking towards the page. The young bat didn't have any questions as she understood the rules of engagement and how they were going to be assessed for this assignment.

She could hear the footsteps of Calen and glanced at him before looking down at her notebook to ensure that she had all the proper notes, she would always be able to review the class by using her headset if there was some notes that needed extra attention later.

She got up from her spot and walked ever so slightly closer to the hollowed cheeked student "Planning would be good, although discussion of this would be best if we were to distance ourselves from any prying ears." Akel stated with an intention to beat whoever got in her way with top marks.

"Just be sure to hold up your weight, although I don't think that'll be much" Akel remarked, a slight smile on her face as she sent a verbal cue to her survival partner. "I'll deny your offer on using your dust, you might find your own use for it even if they aren't directly related to your weapons or combat."

[Kingnoname1]

Calen shrugs at Akel's insistence on secrecy, although the effectiveness couldn't be denied it hadn't been something that Calen had thought of. Both because the gaunt boy always found giving people a false idea of their plan was a more effective subterfuge than no idea but mostly because Calen didn't consider those around him a threat to be taken seriously. 'My dorm room doesn't get much use anymore and much less during a day. If you fear loose tounges sinking ships and all that, it should suffice.' Calen responded in a well-practised tone in which spoke slower than he normally did but not slowly enough for it to become clear he was mocking Akel. As the pair walked off Calen quietly added 'I'm afraid you misunderstand Miss Blood-heart it's not that my weapon or style can't take advantage of dust I simply find the extraction methods distasteful and as such won't take advantage of it even out of combat.' Calen lied, convincingly but lied nevertheless. In truth, Calen couldn't care less about the trials and tribulations that miners go through or the impact on the environment he just wanted to put Akel off balance.

The short walk to the ASTC dormitory was uneventful and like Calen said the room was empty of other people. Neatly stacked textbooks and the like line much of the bookcases and desks around the room, most looked new like they had only been opened once or twice. The floor was clear of clutter and what little furniture(mostly chairs, tables and beds) the team had, had tape around the base. There was a mini fridge and a small cupboard and Calen quickly put together a small meal for the two of them, two plates of cold salad with salmon, chives, olives, aioli, rocket and a few slices of bread and butter. 'Well the rules said we couldn’t bring food on the mission, not that we couldn’t eat before so make yourself at home. Unless you are worried how much weight you are bringing to this assignment.’ Calen remarked returning the barb as he passed over the plate of food and cutlery. He didn’t touch his own plate.

'So you heard the same rules set out as I did do you have a plan moving forward?’ Calen asked as he gracefully sat down on one of the beds. His eyes had gotten much of their focus back as Akel was clearly presenting herself to be more interesting than he had previously assumed, maybe there was some hope in breaking the rhythm after all. After Akel provided her ideas Calen would follow up with his own. 'We aren’t supposed to engage the pair we have been targetted in catching until twenty-four hours have past but that doesn’t mean we can’t find out who the pair assigned to catching us are and take them out beforehand. It would give us more space to move, make it impossible to fail and prevent the fun but nevertheless cumbersome situation of the pair hunting us joining the battle as we strike our prey.’ Calen continued clearly liking the idea of the larger scale fights but the practical issues of a 4v2 were obvious.

[EdgeyReyes]

"That sounds like a plan, but for a higher chance of success we'd need to attack during the night. Personally I can work in complete darkness but how would you work, we would still have the moonlight but I don't know how much that'll help since we will be in the wild and depending on where we are and out enemies, it'll make it a lot harder to fight, for you. Since you aren't a faunus... no offense." Akel explained in thought, taking some of the presented food and ate some of it, looking at Calen as she thought about how thin he would be underneath his clothing.

[Kingnoname1]

'I'll manage but thank you for your concern. As I'm sure you know sight is not the only sense one fights by and although I would prefer some light whether from the moon and stars or the setting or rising sun I can adapt.' Calen responded gesturing to the part of his head which if he was wearing Akel's headset the ears would be. Teasing aside Calen was in a good mood as Akel started picking at the provided food Calen pulled out a bottle of chilled water and took a few sips before continuing. Well with that sorted I've got a few things I need to put some things in order before going away for a couple of days, feel free to stick around if you like to eat as the others won't be back for a bit and I'll meet you back in the lecture hall for taking off. Feel free to call me on your scroll if you have any questions though.' Calen continued as he put the bottle of water back in the fridge and making his way out of the room. 'Remember no nerves, throws off my groove. Kisses' Calen finished with mock seriousness and overt coyness as he walked out of the room, not even looking back on their impact on Akel. Calen didn't actually have a huge amount of things he needed to get done, or anything really for that matter but it was important for Calen that he be perceived as a very busy and time conscious person, it made it easier to blow them off later.


True to his word Calen just made it back to the lecture hall as the students where pilling out to get into the airship to take them to field put aside for this exercise.  It wasn't any larger than any other airship Akel or Calen had been on before but most of the luxuries and the standing room had been taken up by even more large, heavy and uncomfortable chairs. It was rather clear that this is or at least was a military transport. Calen clucked his tongue disatisfied repeatedly as the reality of their fight became apparent and the gaunt boy was clearly not impressed. Being sat next to each other Calen turned to Akel and asked. 'So nightfall is probably in a couple of hours or do you want to try to wait for the morning, that way we get a nights rest and we can hit them while they are waking up?' Calen asked with a slight smile on his lips, despite all his complaining about the flight he was still obviously very excited for the mission itself, it looked like fun.

Calen looked like he was going to open his mouth again before a loud argument broke out further down in the airship but as everyone else was talking in hushed tones as to not be overheard the loud booming curses echoed all around the ship.
'What did you say about me, I could break you both into two pieces with one hand.' One voice cried out
'Please you can't find your way to the classroom without asking you won't be able to find your target let alone avoid the ones chasing you. A second voice sounded in response.
'A forest is totally different from a school, it's just the corridors they turn me around. At least I'm not a cowardly Caster hiding behind dust because I can't fight my own battles.' the first voice responded getting angrier and angrier.
'What did you say about Casters? A new voice sounded from further up the plane.
'That you are cowards and you are going to blow away all your power in the first couple of minutes and then you are just going to whine the rest of the time.' Another new voice responded close to Akel and Calen.

The exchange continued but it quickly devolved to insult throwing and the teacher didn't seem to have any desire to put a stop to it. Calen didn't join in but he was clearly following along as best he could and the threads of shouting matches got increasingly confusing as more people did, at one point it seemed like half the plane was yelling at each other and the other half was just kind of stunned at peoples outbursts. Calen turned back over the Akel and had to half yell to be heard over the commotion, smiling as he did so. 'I think this is going to be really really fun.' Luckily Akel and Calen were near a window and could easily see the terrain around them, they were flying out into the Forever Fall forest, a popular location for missions like this as it was close enough to civilisation for most major Grimm threats to keep away while far enough from civilisation so that the students don't accidentally break anything too important.