I was roused from my pleasant slumber by the sound of a slight rustling, a slight stir to my side encouraging me to pry open my eyes. I was met with a wall of golden blonde, the wall shifting as the person rolled around. Golden eyes stared back at me, a small smile quirking up as our eyes locked.

"Morning~" The blonde reached up to brush a stray hair out of my eye. "Never thought I'd see the day I wake up before you~" An airy giggle escaped the blonde, her arms pulling me closer in the confined space. "Granted, if you weren't clinging to me for dear life your teammates probably would have kicked me out already."

My sleepiness was forgotten immediately. I shot up as much as the arms around my waist allowed me, my head whipping around to dispel any rumours before my teammates got carried away. The arms around my waist forcefully dragged me back down, a hand cupping my cheek. The blonde in front of me seemed to be fighting back a laugh.

"Don't worry, they said they are going for an early breakfast. I explained our little story and they seemed to believe me." I could feel myself blushing, my whole body heating up at the thought of what my teammates might think of me. I'm their leader, I should be a good example, not some vixen that brings their date home on the first night.

Aurel giggled again, placing a light kiss on my forehead. "If you're worried about rumours, Rán has some VERY visible hickeys so I doubt she'll be teasing you for this."

"Mhn... I'm not really worried about rumours, I'm more afraid of what my teammates might think of me." I pushed myself upright, looking over to our shared clock. "We need to start getting ready, we're getting our first mission today."

"Huh... You have these as well." I heard Aurel say behind me. I turned to see her holding a small blue box with a scaled pattern along the upper corner. "I've seen Stheno and Euryale take these, but they have white bottles. What are these anyway?"

"I... it's e...embarrassing." I could feel myself heating up as a blush spread across my body. "They are my... uhm... my Heat suppressants." My meagre attempt to snatch the box from the blonde was easily evaded.

"Heat suppressants?" Aurel asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"You don't know about Faunus Heats?" The blonde just nodded in disagreement, my blush spreading across my body at the prospect of trying to explain what she wanted to know.

"Let's just say that I need to take them at certain times to be able to focus well." I tried to grab the box again, Aurel dodging the attempt again as well.

"Aren't Heats the times of year when Faunus are fertile?"

"M...most fertile." I corrected. "O...our instincts also drive us to seek out a partner at all costs. Thank the brothers' modern medicine allows us to keep it in control"

"So these are your Horny pills?" I could hear Aurel fighting back a laugh at her own joke.

I hid my blush behind my starscapes, my body rapidly heating up. "P...please... don't. ever. call them that again."

The blonde released an airy chuckle, gently prying away my shielding hands to place a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"All first-year students are to report to the amphitheatre, I repeat, All first-year students are to report to the amphitheatre." came the voice of Glynda through the announcement speakers.

I wrestled my way out of bed, turning to the blonde still in my bed and grabbing her by the arm. "Come on, we don't want to be late." A groan was my only answer.

Having managed to wrestle the blonde from my bed we met up with the rest of our respective teams in the amphitheatre for Ozpin's announcement. We were told to peruse the lists of missions available to the first years and pick out a mission we felt fit our team.

With my team crowded behind me I surveyed the screen before me, scrolling through the available missions in an attempt to choose a mission for me and my team. A single mission caught my eye. At face value, it looked like a standard support mission to ensure a shipment of dust safely makes it to a local dust shop, but not to me, to me it held a special meaning. I whipped out my scroll to confirm my suspicions, quickly navigating my work email to find what I was looking for.

"How about a support mission?" I asked my teammates, pointing towards the mission in question. Rán leaned over my shoulder, reading the mission brief.

"Strange, Don't dust companies supply automatic security to their shipments?"

"We do, but recently we have received reports that shipments protected by automatons are more likely to be attacked, so I'm just being safe."

Rán gave me a blank-faced stare. "So you just..." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "You just signed us up to a mission... That you commissioned... Just to make sure your own shipment won't be attacked?"

"Yeah?" I answered sceptically. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Noooo, I foresee no consequences from this conflict of interest." She said sardonically, shooting me a raised brow and an extremely sarcastic cross-armed stance.

"I mean, Ozpin could block my scroll from signing up to missions commissioned by my company if he thought the conflict of interest would be an issue."

"That I certainly could, Ms Quirian, but I do believe you are just looking out for your own company. However, I expect you to focus on the mission first and your own interest second." Ozpin's sudden appearance made the entire team jump, a hint of a smile on the man's face.

Just as suddenly as the man appeared he left, me and my team stunned at the strange interaction. We just shot each other nervous glances, the man's ominous smile building a sense of dread in all of us.

We gathered around the airship, our bags packed with enough supplies for the next few days. The hunter we were assigned to shadow was checking over the last few things before we headed off to the agreed-upon meeting location.

"We'll meet up with the airship at the drop-off point, they should have finished loading the train by the time we get there so we can just ride it back to town." The hunter said, stepping out of the Bullhead.

The hunter was a fairly average Faunus man. A white streak in his brown hair matching his wolf tail, a bayonetted rifle slung over his shoulder. "If I may ask, why did you commission protection of a dust train that already has a large automated security force?" The man asked.

"Just looking out for my own company," I answered, the man shooting me a raised eyebrow in response.

"You know the chances of something happening is next to none, right?" The man said as he crossed his arms. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were using your position to cheese a school assignment."

I just pushed my way past the hunter, boarding the Bullhead shortly followed by the rest of my team, the hunter just moving straight to the pilot to indicate we were ready to head out.

The Bullhead shuddered as it took off, pointing in the direction of the emerald forest and heading towards the train station just outside the other side of the forest where the company airship would be landed to unload the delivery.

The trip was relatively quiet, most of it spent staring at the vast expanse of the Forever Fall Forrest. Occasionally the monotony was broken by a text from Aurel ringing through on my scroll. Her team was assigned to patrol the streets of Vale with a detective for a week, the blonde sending regular updates to alleviate her own boredom. Most of the updates seemed to be interesting places she found while patrolling.

Several hours into the trip my staring was once again broken by a notification pinging into the quiet rumbling of the airship. If any of my teammates noticed the notifications they didn't comment on it, keeping to themselves. I opened my scroll, opening the new message from Aurel

'Heading back to the dorms now, how's your trip going?'

'Pretty boring actually, we're expected to touch down in another hour or so.'

'I know this is kind of sudden, but what are we?'

The question caught me off guard. I haven't put much thought into how I would classify our relationship. Despite our little 'experience' last night I couldn't quite formulate what I thought we were.

'What do you think we are?'

'I would love to introduce you as my girlfriend, but I'm not slimy enough to think we are dating just because we slept together once.'

I blushed at the message, stunned at just how forward and honest Aurel was with her feelings.

'I mean... If you asked me out I would have said yes.'

It took all of my willpower to type out the message, trying my best to not reduce myself to a blushing mess in my seat.

'When you step off that train you can bet your cute little ass I'm taking you to one of these cafe's I found today.'

I felt like a beacon, the heat radiating off my body clearly betrayed my embarrassment.

'Aren't you coming off a bit too strong there?'

'After last night nothing can embarrass me anymore, although just imagining your blush definitely has me feeling something.'

I was caught between laughing and melting, Aurel deciding to end off her extremely cheesy message with an emoticon that just heightened the cheese factor.

I was roused from my thoughts as the Bullhead shuddered to a stop, the side door opening to an open clearing with a set of train tracks running through it.

"I'll set up for the delivery, you take your teammates and secure the perimeter." The hunter said to me as he leapt onto the forest floor, busying himself with setting up an impromptu platform for the train to stop at.

I gathered my teammates, huddling just outside the Bullhead to formulate a plan.

"Lance-" I directed my question at my teammate."Your semblance allows you to view your immediate area from above right?" He simply nodded at my question. "Mhn, tell us about the surrounding area. Me, Rán and Medusa will eliminate any threats you see."

Lance nodded again, planting his axes and closing his eyes as a light azure shimmer wrapped itself around his frame, an intricate latticework forming on his usually blank horns.

"Possible Grimm north-east, close to the treeline."

Before I could even react a ghostly Taijitu shot towards the bush, a rustling heard before the snake reappeared into the clearing.

"Just a regular forest critter," Rán confirmed.

"Something is approaching from the south-east, prepare to engage." The Faunus boy said opened his eyes, preparing his axes.

As expected a small group of three Beowolfs stalked out from the edge of the clearing, cautiously slinking along the edge as they seemed to assess the situation. After stalking along the perimeter for what felt like ages the Grimm charged straight at us.

I shot a concerned look behind me towards the hunter. The man held his weapon in a light grip, ready to act if needed but choosing to see how we'll handle the situation. I looked at my teammates, all standing ready with their weapons raised. I readied my own weapon, Kama in my right hand and the hook in my left.

Rán took a wide stance, the intricate hilt of her katana folding out into a rifle stock. The weapon roared with the pull of the trigger, the shot finding its target between the eyes of the middle Grimm.

The Grimm barely flinched, immediately discouraging the idea of trying to fight at range. Within seconds the Grimm were upon us, lunging at myself and Rán. One of the Grimm was plucked from the air, a spike piercing its side and dragging the Beowolf from its intended target in a flash. As the Beowolf crashed into the ground in front of Medusa a pair of axes sunk into its skull, the creature shrieking before dissipating into a billow of smoke.

I managed to dodge away from the Beowolf leaping at me, Rán bringing her swords up to block the one charging at her. A clattering of steel was heard as the Grimm made contact with the swords, the other crashing into the ground. Within seconds Medusa was upon the Grimm trying to break Rán's block, wrapping the chains of her weapon around the wolf's neck and leaning back with all her weight. The Grimm staggered back, rearing up on its hind legs, allowing Rán to thrust her sword into its soft underbelly. Rán twisted the sword to face the blade upwards, using her arm as a pivot point to slice the Grimm open from stomach to sternum. The creature roared as it collapsed to the ground, black smoke leaking from the vertical slit in its stomach.

That only left the Grimm before me, slowly lifting itself off the ground. With a rip of silk, I dove into a portal, reappearing above the Grimm. I landed on the Beowolfs back, rearing back to drive my Kama into its skull. Before I could bring my weapon down the wolf beneath me shifted my strike landing in the creature's shoulder instead. The Beowolf started to buck wildly, desperately trying to throw me off. I grabbed my Kama, my scales gripping the hilt with all the strength I could muster. I triggered my pistol, the Grimm howling as the Kama was driven deeper. The wolf pawed at its back, just barely missing my small frame with every swipe. A strike crunched into my ribs, knocking the breath from my lungs as I was flung from the Beowolf's back.

I crashed into the ground, tucking into a roll to break my fall. By the time I got up, Lance had overpowered the Grimm, its body dissipating into a plume of smoke.

"That could have gone better." I jokingly chided as I dusted myself off.

As if on queue a whistle rang out through the clearing, the train pulling into the makeshift station.

"Hopefully that airship of yours doesn't take too long." the hunter said as he walked up to me.

"I've never had problems with them before."

Within half an hour the airship slowly lowered into the clearing, a few scratches visible on the outside.

"Status report," I asked as I approached the pilot, the automatons starting to load the shipment onto the train.

"We ran into a few Grimm on our way here, but nothing we couldn't handle." The man said as he did his final checks.

"Good, just ask Sandra for a damage claim when you get back to the quarry."

"Will do boss."

It took about an hour to load the shipment onto the train. The moment the train started moving I pulled out my scroll to confirm the shipment was transferred and moving.

'I know you are concerned about the White Fang attacks on Dust shipments recently, but I fail to see what you're planning to do.'

The text from Litura pinged through on my scroll, questioning my motives.

'If I can convince them I'm dealing with the situation they might stop'

Litura didn't send an answer, the next ping coming from Aurel instead.

'Hoping your trip is uneventful.'

'Hoping so too'

I am not dead, sorry this took so long to get out. Hope you all enjoyed it.

Stay safe and peace.