AN: Full disclosure, this started out as a self-insert. It shouldn't be one anymore, but you can be the judge of that. Also this is the first time I've ever published my writing so be gentle. Or don't. It's your choice, rip it apart if you want, I can't tell you what to do.
Roy Ember stepped off the airship onto Beacon's grounds for the first time. First things first. Roy thought as he stepped to the side of the crowd exiting the airship along with him. He patted the pockets of his trench coat, making sure he hadn't dropped anything onto the airship. Scroll, wallet, Scroll that beacon gave me, pocket knife….everything else is just details.
"So," Roy said to himself as he looked around the campus, "this is where I'll be living for the next four years, huh? I wonder if I'll fit in?" An explosion went off in the courtyard around the corner. Who am I kidding? I'm among my people here.
Roy walked around the corner, peering at the site of the aforementioned explosion, and saw a pile of luggage strewn about haphazardly along with a luggage car tipped onto its side. One of the cases was spilling its contents, canisters of dust, all over the ground in his direction. Thinking it safer to help gather up the volatile substance before a full on conflagration broke out, Roy bent down and began to pick them up. He took note of the snowflake symbol on the canisters, and the markings that indicated that its contents were ultra-fine grain, high yield fire dust. Someone's got a thing for expensive Schnee brand dust. Or... Roy's gaze was drawn to the apparent owner of the luggage, a white haired girl wearing an equally white dress. She appeared to be lecturing a shorter girl in a red cloak who was apologizing profusely.
"Unbelieveable!" The white girl shrieked "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"
"I'm really, really sorry" The girl in the red stammered out.
"How did someone as clumsy as you even get into Beacon?"
"Hey, I said I was sorry, Princess"
"You know," Roy interrupted, hoping to stop the conflict before someone started throwing punches, "maybe transporting a cart full of volatile dust by yourself through a busy area wasn't the greatest idea." Roy internally facepalmed. Wow, A+ peacekeeping skills there champ. Unsurprisingly, the 'princess' turned on him.
"I am MORE than capable of protecting a shipment of dust on my own." The girl retorted.
Welp, the peaceful resolution didn't work out. Time to be honest.
"Clearly," Roy turned to look at the cases spilled across the courtyard. "so long as you don't have to protect it from anything more dangerous than someone who isn't looking where they're going."
"Wha- how dare you!" The girl snatched the canister from Roy's hand. "Do you even know who I am?"
"No, but I have a distinct feeling you're about to tell me." The girl glared at his comment before responding.
"I am Weiss Schnee," She said, stressing the surname "heir to the Schnee Dust Company"
"Oh" Roy let out, his distaste apparent in his voice.
"What?" Weiss put her hands on her hips "Do you have a problem with the SDC?"
Roy folded his arms. "You could certainly say that. My dad worked as a Dust research engineer for the SDC. When he designed a new procedure for producing clear Dust they got some fancy lawyers and sued him for violating his own patent. Though my problems are tiny compared to the all-but slave labor the faunas miners have to endure, with deaths in the dozens every week. And that's glossing over the terrible work conditions of those that survive. But you wouldn't understand anything about hard work, Ice Queen." Roy said, stressing the nickname that he'd heard that the Schnee heiress hated.
Or was that her sister that hated that name? Nevermind, she looks pissed anyways.
"Wha- How dare you?" Weiss exclaimed, grabbing the canister from Roy's hand before strutting away.
"Yeesh, friendly as an icicle that one" Roy mused aloud. The girl in the red giggled. Roy held out his hand to the girl "Roy Ember" he introduced himself.
"Ruby Rose" she replied, shaking his hand. "Did you mean those things you said earlier?"
"Well it might have been a slight exaggeration to say that he was sued over violating his own patent, but it's fair to say that he never saw a single lien from it, and the SDC ended up with ownership of his patent anyways."
"That's...not quite what I meant" Ruby said quietly "What you said about the faunas" Ruby practically mumbled the last word
"I uhh, I mean" Roy stuttered nervously "I have nothing against Faunas. Don't get me wrong, the White Fang are a COMPLETELY different story, it's just…" Roy trailed off
"It's just what?" Ruby inquired, her silver eyes peering into his from under her hood.
"I didn't exactly grow up in a diverse town, so I've never actually known a Faunas personally." Roy admitted "I mean from a logical point of view, I have no reason to dislike them. The only legitimate reason I can see for hating Faunas is the Great War, and that was like, 80 years ago. No one who made any of those decisions is even alive today, so there's no reason to hold it against anybody." Roy finished, nervously scratching the back of his head. Ruby's smile grew from a slight hint of a grin to a stupendous smile that threatened to take over her entire face.
"Really? You really mean that?" She asked eagerly getting uncomfortably close to Roy's face.
"I...y-yes?" Roy stammered. Ruby grabbed his hand and pulled him down a pathway on the side of the courtyard.
"Come with me" She pulled him along, stopping at what appeared to be a small flower garden, enclosed on all sides by tall bushes. Ruby checked around to make sure they were alone. Breathing in, she pulled back her hood. The first thing Roy noticed was that her red and black hair matched her outfit perfectly, but his attention was caught by the pair of wolf ears twitching on top of her head. Ruby shyly ducked her head, unintentionally thrusting the objects of her embarrassment directly at Roy.
"Oh my god they're adorable" Roy said before he could stop himself "Did I say that out loud?"
"You kinda did" Ruby replied, blushing slightly
"I-I mean that's not to say that they're the only thing cute about you,"Roy stumbled out "I mean that's not to say they don't add anything to how cute you are. You know what how about I just shut up?"
"No, no it's fine it's just...no one's ever said such nice things about me like that before" Ruby's cheeks appeared to be doing their best to camouflage her face with her cloak.
"I somehow find that hard to believe." Roy said "Surely someone as cute as you can't go three feet without someone complimenting you."
"It's actually a lot closer to the opposite." Ruby said sadly "People see the ears and suddenly before they've even met me I'm an animal, or a member of the White Fang. I actually started wearing the hood to hide them, even if it is really uncomfortable." Ruby raised a hand up to her canine ear and started rubbing it between two finger. Roy raised his hand halfway up but stopped himself, not before Ruby noticed however.
"You can touch them if you like," Ruby offered "Just be gentle."
Phrasing Roy thought, before bringing his hand to the canine appendage. He imitated Ruby's motion and rubbed it as gently as he could between his fingers.
"So soft" Roy noted.
"Oh stop" Ruby playfully retorted. A startled look flashed onto Roy's face and he pulled his hand away apologizing "I'm so sorry, was that too rough?"
"No" Ruby said, pulling his hand back to her head "Stop with the words, keep going with the hands"
"I-uh...okay" Roy relented, and resumed massaging the girl's ears with both hands. The faunas let out a contented sigh and started leaning into the ministrations. I'm going to have a difficult time explaining if someone walks in on this.
"You're really good with your hands" Ruby said softly, her eyes drifting closed. Okay, PHRASING! Roy screamed internally Is she doing this on purpose?
"Okay, not that this isn't fun for me," Guess I'm just as guilty when it comes to phrasing "But don't we have that thing we're supposed to go to? Like, at the auditorium?"
"Oh crap!" Ruby's eyes shot open. "I'll see you later Roy" She vanished around the corner in a red blur, leaving Roy in a cloud of rose petals.
"I...what?" Roy looked down at his hand, which was holding a single rose petal "WHAT?! What in Oum's name just happened?"
Roy's scrolled vibrated. The screen showed a new message from Ginger, Roy's older sister. Where are you? Didn't we agree to meet in the courtyard? Also I heard an explosion, was that you?
Roy began to type out his response, First off, why do you naturally assume that the explosion was me? Second off, something came up. I think I made a friend?
Ginger's reply came quickly. Because it's you we're talking about, and why is there a question mark after friend?
Roy responded Because I'm horribly confused. I'll talk to you about it later, I've gotta run to the opening ceremony. Roy started jogging in the direction of the auditorium. He could hear someone speaking to the whole group through the open windows.
"I'm late." Roy muttered to himself as he ducked into the side door.
"-it is up to you to take the first step" The speaker finished just as Roy slid in behind a group of students.
"Crap, did I miss anything important?" Roy asked himself
"No, not really" A voice behind him answered
Startled, Roy spun around. He was greeted with a full view of amber eyes.
"Ack! Too close!" Roy jumped back, scanning the owner of the amber eyes. The girl was slightly on the shorter side, and wore a black and white outfit, topped with a black bow on her head. "I mean, that's a relief. That I didn't miss anything that is." Roy paused awkwardly.
"Blake Belladonna" She held out her hand.
"Roy Ember" he responded. He took her hand before she pulled him close and whispered in his ear, "I didn't expect to see another Faunas pretending to be a human"
"I beg your pardon?" Roy responded, shocked.
"Oh come on, don't play dumb." Blake folded her arms "You may have tried to hide your scent, but I can still smell you."
Wait, "scent"? Roy thought before realization struck him She smells Ruby on me.
"Ah yes, you see, the thing about that is-"
"You are dismissed" A woman on stage cut him off.
"'I'll see you around" Blake said as she turned to walk away
"I...wait I need to tell you that I'm not actually- aaaand she's gone." Roy finished to himself. I have a distinct feeling this is going to come back to bite me in the ass.