So...Partners, huh?

The sun overheated was beating down warmly and the bug-boy far below at the base of the mountains was thankful he'd chosen to don a sleeveless top for offense/defense today. Actually, the cloth was in fact an ivory pillow case with five holes ripped into the closed end to make way for two arms, two gossamer wings and a head. But that's not really the point.

Jedidiah began stretching his limbs half-heartedly because apparently they were going on some sort of trek today--he hadn't really been listening all that much--and there would be some exercise involved, naturally. You're supposed to stretch before that sort of thing, right?

While he stretched, the student glanced around to try and identify his partner. He intended to wait until everyone else had paired up because he didn't know his assigned partner by name.

"I'm Jedidiah..!" He tried announcing lamely, as it might help in case his partner didn't know him by name either.

Spyridon crossed his arms over his chest as his red eyes flickered over the numerous people pairing up and disappearing. One wolven ear flicked irritably on the top of his head.

Pairing up ad sharing his weaknesses? It was ridiculous. Did the human - who was well under a quarter of his age; was she seriously taking over from his previous Master? - really think he would willingly share weaknesses?

He was here on this island for a reason. He wasn't going to go sharing weaknesses that could hinder his personal project.

When the boy approached him, his eyes flickered over him, sizing him up. Nothing much to the eye. Hopefully he'd be better at surviving than he looked. Spyridon was not going to drag this boy along on his coattails.

And his outfit... A pillowcase, seriously? His eyebrow twitched. Why did people torture the public with such hideous fashion faux pas?

He himself, instead of wearing his cheongsam, was just wearing his shorts. His chest was bare; his hair tied in the usual braid; bandage around one upper arm concealing the brand that marked his skin.

"Spyridon," he replied in a quiet murmur, turning and stalking towards the mountain. The quicker they got this done, the quicker he could go back to training alone or with Mihai.

The less-than-approving appraisal was hard to miss and Jedidiah responded with a raised brow of his own. His hands found his hips and after Spyridon turned, Jedidiah pulled an immaturely mocking face at his back. Sure, he couldn't even have gotten someone a little bit pleasant? Whelp, might as well make an effort!

"Soooo..." he drawled, skipping a bit to catch up to the taller student. Both arms lifted, his hands folding on top of his head as they began their trek. "I have an exoskeleton!" The exclamation was forcibly cheerful in an attempt to get off to a friendly start, and one finger tapped the hard patch on the tip of his nose before returning his hair. "That's a strength I guess, yeah? And ah.. weakness, weakness... Well obviously I have no weaknesses!"

He glanced quickly at Spyridon to see if this attempt at humor had any affect, but he was somehow hesitant to expect it to. He quickly amended with a real weakness, "I'm not very strong. Or fast, compared to a human."

Jedidiah fell silent then to wait for a response, trying not to stare even though his gaze kept flickering back to Spyridon curiously

Obviously, he wasn't concerned with keeping strengths and weaknesses to himself. Or he simply didn't realize the benefit of maintaining the secrecy of such things.

He stayed silent, staring ahead as the shorter boy spoke.

The only visible reaction to the boys words and attempted joke was the occasional flick of an ear and both ears pinning back when he claimed having no weaknesses.

He mulled over what strength and weakness he could give that wouldn't have much of an effect if they were used against him.

Already he could list of a number of weaknesses the boy had. One, he talked about them freely. Two, he was far too relaxed. Three, he left his defences open. If the Jinn so pleased, he could attack the boy right now; possibly knock him out or kill him if he was quick enough.

"I have a striped brown belt in Zhongguo Wushu and I can't read English very well." One strength, one weakness; no matter how weak they were. If Blake had wanted them to give physical strengths and weaknesses, she should have specified.

Now they didn't need to talk to each other for the rest of the adventure.

The twitching ears were entertaining to watch, and Jedidiah stumbled once or twice on uneven ground because his eyes weren't watching the path.

The taller student's response brought a thoughtful wrinkle to Jedidiah's nose. "Not reading well in't really a weakness." Despite the comment, he didn't seem keen on demanding a more suitable answer. Honestly, he didn't really care. And he had no idea what Zhongguo Wushu was.

"Zone-go-woo-soo?" The word tasted funny in his mouth and he rolled up eyes up towards the sky pensively. "Is your belt good then? Are you like.. a ninja or something?"

The shortness of Spyridon's part in their required conversation was not lost on Jedidiah. But if they had to walk for some distance, he was going to get bored very fast, and some company wouldn't be unappreciated. He decided, therefore, that it was alright to try and keep some level of communication traveling between them.

"It is if you need to know the language to do your job." Usually it wasn't much of a problem. The Jinn he had been sent after generally stayed away from people and spent their time killing whatever tree they could find in a remote area far away from anyone they could hurt.

Now it was quite obvious that Ray was quite happy living among people. He needed to be able to read just in case he picked up on anything they had written with their name on it. That would hold their scent and he and Mihai could work from their.

But that wouldn't be any help if he couldn't read what was written. Mix ups could happen and he could go after the wrong person.

He hated it when his hunts stayed around people. it meant more work for him.

His ears pinned back against his head and he very nearly made a pained face at the terrible mispronunciation of his favourite martial art. Seriously, he hadn't heard of it? Well, obviously not if he can butcher its name that bad, he snorted mentally. "Ninja are trained in Ninjutsu not Zhonnguo Wushu." And as for his belt... not the worst but bad enough to push himself higher. That's what his Master had told him right from when he was just a white belt. And it had worked. It grated his pride knowing that he wasn't the best so he strove to become the best.

Well he wasn't going to argue about it, but Jedidiah's small frown said he still didn't think not reading English was a significant weakness. Of course, he wasn't wise to Spyridon's specific reasons to think so. And at any rate, he supposed it was at least enough to complete this portion of the assignment.

"Alright, fine. What's your job then? Is it something to do with woo-shoo?"

'Job' and 'reading' in the same room made him think of secretaries. But somehow, he was having difficulty imagining Spyridon sitting behind a desk, typing away on a computer and answer phone calls.

Then without waiting for a response, he snapped his fingers like he'd suddenly been struck with inspiration. "Oh hey! So how about-- I'll help you learn to read if you show me some awesome moves, yeah?"

No, Jedidiah had already seen enough to not actually expect for Spyridon to accept this offer. But it couldn't hurt to put it forwards.

His eyes flickered to the boy for a second before returning to the path. "Occasionally Wushu is involved."

It was very rare that the urge to fight Jinn as a human. It was a weaker, harder to control form. His movements were much more fluid when he was a wolf. He needed fluid, easy movements when he was fighting dangerous, rabid demons that were years older than himself.

His eyes flickered back to the boy, trailing over him slowly again. "Pass," he decided after a long moment. He didn't suddenly feel the urge to act social enough to want to be in anyone's presence for extended periods of times.

"Try to keep up," he muttered before breaking into a fast jog. He wanted to get this over. And walking was prolonging the end of the assignment. The faster he ran, the quicker it was over and the quicker he could go back to being a social recluse.

A sort of disbelieving stare was pinned on the other student's back, then a quiet huff and a shag of the shoulders diminished the look into something dull and less impressed. Spyridon got a bit of a head start before Jedidiah pulled a frown and hopped after him.

"D'y'know what, you're not very much fun," he scolded half-heartedly. He did manage to catch up. Every few paces he would fall behind again, then his wings would buzz loudly and he would hop to propel himself forwards again. "Did I offend you somehow, or are you just not friendly?" His tone lacked any bite, the otherwise rude question posed in a conversational sort of tone.

One hand shot out as they hurried past the trees and Jedidiah awkwardly held out on hand towards Spyridon in offering while still trying to maintain pace. His fingers were clutched around a fistful of spongy green foliage that he had torn from the bark. "Oak moss?"

He snorted quietly, pushing himself faster, bare feet padding loudly against the ground. "I don't do fun," was his less than friendly response.

Mihai was the one that did fun. Spyridon was the older, more responsible one that got things done. He was the more boring and unapproachable of the two. And that was just fine by him. He was cantankerous at best and didn't care to even try to make friends.

Friends held him back and distracted him.

He didn't even glance back at the boy at the question and offering.

"Well that's a shame, I'm resigned to pity you." He shook his head in a mockery of sadness. The ignored oak moss was promptly shoved into his own mouth and munched on quietly for a couple minutes--still barely managing to keep pace--until it had all been devoured.

"Do you know, I thought this was supposed to be challenging or someth--AH!" Both of the insect's arms wheeled as he fought to keep his balance after a hasty reverse-jump. For a brief moment, he thought a monster had ironically and finally decided to rear its head at them but a couple clarifying blinks, and Jedidiah realized that the object which had descended into his path was merely a medium branch that had loosed from the boughs above. He looked quickly to see if Spyridon had even stopped to see what had happened, sort of hoping he hadn't since it was a little embarrassing. Although... Did the branch fall of its own accord or could there be something travelling above them?

Imagination incited with curiosity, his gaze flew up to examine the space above.



(( I have nothing planned! x'D ))

"Pity me if you want, you'll get no reaction in return." His eyes turned to the side, eyeing the large trees besides him.

How long had it been since he had travelled by tree? It must be over a year now... he thought with a small frown. He loved climbing trees. He had done since he was a pup.

And so deciding that he had gone too long without climbing a tree, he jumped, hands enclosing around a branch and swung himself upwards to settle on it with a crouch. The wood gave a quiet crack and he grinned a little, pushing off of it with a little too much force, propelling himself to the next tree as the branch snapped and descended to the ground.

"Watch out for the branch," he called back purposefully late, glancing over his shoulder with mirthful blue eyes for a moment before carrying on, travelling through the trees.