[i]ELM guidelines, test results, yesterday's notes... Where the hell...[/i] Sorting paperwork was never a fun job, but when you manage to lose something as vital as your class register, you know you're in for a long day. Perhaps it would be worth Duncan's time to clean his desk every so often, but who had time for that? He sighed, more frustrated at himself than anything, when a voice caught his attention. His eyes roving the class, Duncan mentally matched voice and face to... yep, it was Eika Munashii giving her customary morning salute. And there was that little... thing that always followed her about... [b]'Morning kid. I'd keep an eye on your balls today; where we're going, you might risk losing a few.'[/b] He took the doll's daily offering with a faux pompous bow and made a show of buffing the skin on his shirt. While he would never admit it, Duncan had grown to rely on... PuPu's (God, he hated that name...) apples. Instructors had to be up hours before their students to prep lesson materials and the damn cafeteria wasn't open at 4am.

As Duncan flicked out a multi-tool and began industriously carving chunks out of his adhoc breakfast, another of his students arrived with a nonchalant swagger. Syrus was a bit of an unknown, having trained elsewhere before coming to Balamb; he had only been assigned to Duncan's class in the last year. Still he was a good kid, if a bit loud... Before Duncan could reply, another student came up to talk to him directly. Xerox Craft, strange name notwithstanding, was a very odd child. Not only did he had the most unusual fighting style Duncan had ever seen, he also had a penchant for picking up weird bits and pieces, such as, as a totally objective example... that damn Moomba. Rue was quickly becoming a celebrity in campus, popular among the students and staff alike, although Duncan himself wasn't much enamoured with the ginger cat-monkey; the little bastard kept shedding all over his classroom. With this in mind, he felt that his expression of disgruntlement was rather justified as Xerox fielded his question. Since Duncan knew what the mission would entail, he personally would have said no, but... [b]'Loathe though I am to say this, Garden regulations allow every SeeD candidate to bring one non-human pet or companion for the field test, same as the Fire Cavern. So yeah, he can come. BUT! If I find so much as a single ginger hair on my uniform, then my office will be getting a new Moomba skin rug, capisce?'[/b] He gave the furball in question a meaningful look to emphasise the point.