Oswald Connoly- Survival

As most of the students went off on their own, Oswald nodded towards Ineko, hoping the suited boy would follow him. "I'll get the wood, you watch our surroundings. I don't like to be caught off guard by Grimm." With his temporary partner hopefully covering him, Oswald made his way around the river, taking care to observe the life in the water. He noticed a few fish, as well as a few patches of moss, and some aquatic plants, filing away the information in his mind. 

When he had gotten sufficiently into the forest, Oswald set about collecting fuel for their campfire. Making sure to gather enough small sticks and twigs to start the fire, he found a spot near the other students to start piling his collection. He cleared a radius around his pile to make sure the fire didn't spread, and made a circle using some nearby rocks before making a quick second trip to gather larger logs of wood as major fuel sources once the fire had started. 

When he had gathered a sufficient amount of wood to keep a fire going for at least a small time, Oswald got to the dirty work. Looking at his hands, he sighed and chuckled. He could always wash them off later. Digging a small pit into the ground with his bare hands, Oswald tossed the tinder in first. He followed his tinder with the smaller branches, forming a pyramid with the wood before stepping back and drawing his sword. Carefully grabbing a red dust crystal from his pocket, he loaded it into the hilt of his weapon, pointing the sword at his pile of wood. Pressing a small button hidden on the side of his handguard with his thumb, Oswald smirked as a beam of energy instantly set the wood ablaze. 

After returning the dust crystal to his pouch and sheathing his sword, Oswald took a moment to relax and look around when Abel burst into the clearing, a Grimm following shortly thereafter. Oswald's eyes widened a bit as he realized that he was looking at an Ankou. What in the hell kind of place where they that such a monster would just casually come across a group of students making campfires? [i]Well...this certainly isn't boring.[/i]

The firey breath was enough to terrify most civilians, and he'd known plenty of trainees who shuddered at the mere description of the creatures. Oswald was among those people, he was ashamed to admit. Taking a deep breath as he moved into a combat stance and drew his sword, Oswald cursed when he realized he'd already put his dust away. Gren and Daniel were already under attack, and he was in no position to get between the Ankou and his fellow students with his broken wrist. Instead, he hoped to distract it, instantly transporting himself to its side and taking a wide slash at its flank, which was deflected by the Grimm's scaled arm. Leaping a few feet backwards, Oswald tried to grab his enemy's attention, his eyes narrowing and a guttural growl coming from deep in his chest.