OOC: With Awesomoman IC: [b][i]Friday morning…[/i][/b] It turned out Diamond was making slower progress on her ‘hobby’ than she thought she would. It was OK on the first two days, but by now, she would openly admit to herself that she had a bit of a problem. Not only was she bitchier than usual, but her head just wouldn’t stop pounding until she took a drag. Despite that, she somehow managed to stick to one per day. But to top it all off, there just wasn’t any time these days. Soon the assignments started piling up and her waking hours were spent writing papers on Grimm she probably wouldn’t ever see or beating Althesian encryption despite the fact she had to avoid that country like devil avoids the cross. Thus she found herself few minutes before the sunrise in the gardens again, heading towards her favorite bench to catch up on the smoke she didn’t manage yesterday. It had a view both to the school and off of the cliffs, depending on which side one turned their head. And the best thing was nobody was ever there, allowing her a few minutes of quiet. Until today. There was an individuum invading her territory. From what she could see from this distance she could mistake it for another woman due to the ponytail, but a few meters closer the broad shoulders and overall build told another story. “You’re in my spot.” she said without any venom as she jumped over the back of the bench and settled down, reaching into her pocket for the pack. “Would you happen to have fire?” An A ranked mission? Was his team insane? Sure, he felt they had become better hunters in just the week here, but to take on the second hardest mission available? Trad was beginning to become stressed out. On one hand, if they did complete this mission, it would prove that they belonged here all along. On the other, if their arrogance got the better of them and they failed this, Ozpin would surely boot them right back out of Beacon. Sleep was hard to come by that night, so when morning came Trad was still wide awake. Still on edge Trad simply left the dorm and began walking to try and calm his nerves. It was not helping. Lucky for him, he did have something just for that. Wandering into the gardens, he found a nice bench that seemed secluded from everything else. Taking a seat and kicking back he reached into his lower right pocket and pulled out a pack of smokes. He had tried quitting a few times before due to the health problems they caused and their additive nature, but he found the relief they gave to be worth the cancer. Before he could even grab his lighter, a voice chimed from behind. In an instant an odd girl in a hat had slipped right next to him with her own cigarette out. “Um, sure. Here.” He handed her his lighter and watched as she in one motion flicked the lighter open and lit it. Guess he wasn’t the only one who had been smoking for a while now. It was only then he finally recognized her. “Hey, you’re in my Grimm studies class aren’t you?” He asked as she passed the lighter back. “Thanks.” she offered as she grabbed the lighter and lit up her coffin nail. As she took a long hit, she held the lighter open for the guy to get his going. Blowing out an O shaped cloud, Diamond sighed at the relief it provided. Usually she would watch the sun over her shoulder, but right now the man was in the way and she didn’t want to look like she was staring, so she kept her eyes straight. She would have been content just sitting there, but he just had to go and ask a question. Sparing him a glance, Diamond nodded. “It’d seem so. Big fat pain in the neck that class is. I signed up for learning where to hurt them, not to listen to chapters from the ‘Collection Of Stories From Before I Was A Fossil’ book.” she complained. On the first day it was excusable, but as time passed she took quite the dislike for prof. Port. Save for that the staff was mostly agreeable. Initially she was a bit nervous about how Goodwitch would react to her request, especially since she seemed particularly angry the exact day she went to ask, but to her credit the woman listened to her arguments and, surprisingly, agreed with her. When Diamond inquired whether she could help setting the procedure up, the professor conditioned that information with seeing how well she performs in the field. Oh well, today would tell. Speaking of which… “So, what do you have planned for today?” Diamond asked. Might as well keep talking now that they started. Well, not the answer he expected, but not really a surprise either. Trad personally liked the work they did in Grimm studies, but couldn’t agree more about Port. The man seemed to drone on and on. Where as his language class was the opposite. Albion usually started with some parable, handed out an assignment and then that was it. No literature discussion or real lessons. Trad let out a long deep sigh. “Mission. We have to do a Combat Recon I think.” He paused to hit from his cig, then let out a large puff of smoke. Just thinking about it put a pit in his stomach. “Its way above our level, and we’re on thin ice as is.” As he spoke he couldn’t help but feel he was being too serious, this girl was obviously also trying to loosen up. “Just be glad you’re not going, Professor Port is supposed to be over seeing the whole thing. No doubt he’ll have three hour speech about the time he did a similar mission.” As she listened to the man, Diamond finally connected the face to a name, and the name to a team. “You people seem to be obsessed with trying to prove something. First Amy now you. Trad, right? Chill out, it’s week one. No one comes here an accomplished hunter.” she rolled her eyes. “Besides, you just have to survive a recon, right? Shouldn’t be that much of a problem, in fact getting the data back is a priority. I spent quite a few hours doing something like that and it was more boring than dangerous. After a few hours you’re gonna [i]beg[/i] Port to tell you another story, you’ll see.” Diamond chuckled, not envying the poor chumps their advisor in the slightest. “Yeah we’ll just be driving somewhere with a dust shipment from the SDC. Seemed like a good connection to make.” she shrugged, the smoke momentarily forgotten until a particularly annoying stab of pain in her head reminded her. Trad got a small laugh when she mentioned their ‘obsession’. “Oh trust me, Diamond,” Her name finally came to him when she mentioned Amy, who also had told him a tale or two about this character. “I’ve learned that all too well from practice class. Half the people there look like they’re holding guns for the first time.” He shook his head and took another hit. How the hell did BAST have failed while people like that clumsy couple passed? “But the other members of my team still think we’re runts in a pack of wolves, and we have to show we’re just as fierce.” He gave his cigaret a small flick to knock all the ask off. “I wish it were as simple as that, but in truth it looks more like our job is to search and destroy. If we were smart, we would have taken yours. Move something from point A to B while defending it? Thats our specialty.” He lifted the cigaret to his lips but stopped when he had another thought, “Course we don’t have an actual god damn tank.” “Best way to get yourself killed.” Diamond deadpanned at the gung-ho attitude. She didn’t try to persuade him otherwise though - it was none of her business. “And no, I’m not persuading Marcus to trade. I think taking on one datura per week is my limit. I’ll be happy to stick with a B level threat.” she grimaced, still feeling the bruises of the initiation even now. He raised an interesting point though. “Yah I heard that class is brutal in particular. I wouldn’t know either though. Still looking for some way to hit at range, but I don’t like guns. Mechanized killing - Feh. There’s no class in that.” she said, her tone one of an absolute disapproval. She chuckled sourly at the mention of that machine. “You know I kind of hate how that bloody tin can on track steals the show. I could beat a ‘bull in Grimm Studies with a bloody spoon after Aurelius rides it to the store and back and no one will talk about that, always the ‘tank guys’.” she thrown her arms in the air in protest. “I refuse to play second fiddle to a machine. I almost hope a white fang squad would show up, or someone who knows to hide from the big gun, so we could get some recognition for ourselves.” she huffed, taking an angry drag. “Well, anyway,” she said, disappointed that the last hit took off a good quarter of the cigarette, “even if it is search and destroy. Just find what you’re looking for before it finds you, they you have surprise on your side. Drop a rockslide on it or something, you know, play dirty!” she offered with a cheeky half smile. Diamond checked the clock and guessed they should get back soon lest they’d miss breakfast. Finishing up the cig, she turned her shadow into an ashtray and extinguished what was left of it, offering it to Trad. “Well, we should get going lest they eat everything without us. Nice talking with you though, we oughta do this more often.” she grinned. “Well well well, look who's trying to prove herself now?” Trad gave a sly smile at his remark. “I can see what you mean though. Yeah a tank is a massive and impressive machine, but every machine has its limitations. People on the other hand… we’re limitless.” He started sounding like an old wise man. “I wouldn’t put guns down too quickly. True they have no class, but when you’re in a fight and it’s either you or them, they makes the decision easy.” Trad always had a soft spot for gun. The raw power he felt when he had a rifle in his hands gave a lot comfort. “Well, thats a neat trick.” Trad extinguished his cigaret in the shadowtray Diamond had made, then stood up and stretched. He felt strangely calm now, almost as if the mission didn’t bother him at all. “I wouldn’t mind that. Should we make this a weekly session?” “Sure thing, I don’t want you here disturbing my peace every day.” Diamond jabbed verbally, although in a joking tone. “I’d go nuts if I only took one a week. Started on the cigs to calm my nerves a few years back and now my body refuses to cooperate when it’s become a bother. I’m managing one a day so far but this habit needs to go, period. If we’re stuck on a mission for a week, I can’t afford to be turning into a withdrawing junkie.” she shuddered at the thought. there’s been plenty people in Juvy with their brains fried by worse stuff than smokes. She had a point. Right now he had his cravings under control, but what happens when even one isn’t an option? Trad was starting to rethink his whole take on ‘Stress relief > Addiction’. Maybe Diamond and him could help each other quit? That was a topic for another day though, they were quickly losing time for breakfast and probably wouldn’t get a chance to eat again for a while. “Alright then, see you next Friday. But this time, bring your own lighter.”