Weiss awoke to her scroll playing a random song from the thousands of anime OSTs stored there. Instead of scrambling to silence the alarm like she did most mornings, she let it play through. "Finally I can use these alarms and ringtones! I don't have to worry about getting in trouble!" She signed contentedly, pressing back into the sheets; this would be the first day of total freedom she had in her entire life. The challenge ahead would be allowing herself to be open about her interests – something she had little practice in doing. "I'm better at putting on a face and hiding my feelings than I am at actually being myself…hopefully I can change that here."
She leaned over the bed to reach her suitcase on the floor, extricating her brush. She slid the brush through her silky locks, looking over at her overflowing food cache. "As much as I would love to have ramen for breakfast…I think I'll go to a coffee shop. I think there was one downstairs." Coffee would get this day started right and there will be plenty of time for ramen later.
Today's disguise would be a cosplay of one of her favorite characters. She used a couple hair dye combs and her hair curler for a wavy platinum blonde and green tea highlights hairstyle. A bit of concealer for her scar and carefully guided liquid liner for a winged look. She slid a purple tunic over her blouse, stepped into over-the-knee boots, and fastened a blue belt at her waist. For the final touches: a retractable wand and pointed hat. Admiring herself in the vanity mirror, she whipped the wand around and tried a couple poses, blushing slightly. She hadn't decided yet whether or not she would let people take pictures of her, assuming someone would ask.
Pushing the question from her mind, she gathered her scroll and returned the wand to her belt – the badge pickup line would open soon. Weiss froze as she reached the door, her hand trembling on the door handle. Her first time cosplaying…her first convention…her first real step outside as herself…with a community that quite possibly would reject her. After such a long time of wishing for this, it was finally here… "You can do this."
She braved the stuffed elevators down to the lobby. Half an hour later, she was swept by the tide of people toward the convention center, venti soy vanilla latte in hand. Next up, it was time to get her badge. "I thought I was early enough to beat some of the crowd…" she thought as she joined a line. "…but I probably shouldn't have been surprised." The room was packed with a diverse crowd of human and faunus, this might have been the only time Weiss had ever been in a space where humans were in the minority. She sipped at her coffee, taking in all the cosplays around her. "Wow some of these people put way more effort into their cosplays…look at that mecha!" There were quite a few stares directed her way as well.
She began to relax more as it seemed clear that she wasn't recognizable as the daughter of a faunus murderer. No raised voices of outrage or hostile looks. The monkey faunus that sat behind the booth beckoned Weiss forward when she reached the front. "Name?" he asked, his tail swishing behind him. "Lily White." He smiled up at her, tapping the name into his large scroll. "Useless Lesbean?"
She blushed and spoke over his snickering, "Yes, that's me." A cheap plastic bag, badge, and lanyard were pushed into her hands. "Stop by the peace-bonding table for that wand. Have a good time!"
She nodded, turning away from the beaming faunus. The badge showed her online name in large block text, with "Lily White" written below it. "Perhaps I should have picked a different name to have on the badge." Tying to will the flush to recede from her face, she slipped the lanyard over her head and weaved her way through the crowd. Peace-bonding was quick – a brief inspection and a pass through a dust detector. "That's a good idea…maybe I should turn this wand into a mini Myrtenaster!"
She turned to leave the table, imagining herself raining fire from her wand down upon her insufferable corporate enemies ("I'd call it Shiny Inferno!"), but was blocked by a towering, brown skinned man. "Excuse me," he spoke slowly. "My friend would like to take a picture of you, if you are willing." A pair of brown bunny ears poked out from behind the man, as a faunus girl sidled into view, smiling expectantly. Weiss looked apprehensively at the strange camera in her hands. The ears began to droop slowly as Weiss made no answer, standing frozen with her mouth wordlessly opening and closing.
"It's okay if you don't want to," the girl offered, smiling gently at her.
"N-no it's okay, you may take a picture." The cosplay was good enough, surely no one could recognize the SDC heiress or expect her presence at an event celebrating faunus culture. Weiss planted her feet shoulder width apart with her hands on her hips and gave the camera a stern look. A blinding flash later, the rabbit faunus was hopping happily. "That was perfect! I know exactly which scene you were thinking – from the OVA right? I should have had Yatsu looming behind you!" She offered Weiss a business card. "You can find the photos on that website after con. Email me if you'd like to do a photoshoot sometime. Thanks!" With that, the duo disappeared down the hall.
Dazed, Weiss looked down at the card. "Velvet Scarlatina…" Her eyes widened. "I know this name! I've reblogged her photography before. She has a wonderful eye for girls…" Despite constantly meeting high class celebrities in her role as heiress, somehow this moment topped even meeting her childhood hero Pyrrha Nikos. "Although, it might just be that father's presence poisons everything."
Her scroll buzzed at her side, bringing her back to Remnant. The RemCon app was perfect for obsessive planners like Weiss – allowing her to decide in advance exactly what she was going to do and when. First up, idol voice actress panel! The lines for popular events were often long and were formed well before the event occurred. Weiss joined the end of the short queue in front of the Beowolf Theatre. With a little under an hour to kill, there was time to play a few games on her scroll.
She opened the FaunVerse app to check her StreetPasses. Previously, Weiss kept the StreetPass feature of FaunVerse deactivated, for fear of being discovered. Visiting dignitaries often brought faunus servants with them, just imagine them receiving a StreetPass in the Schnee Estate. She couldn't help but smile to see a huge line of little faunus avatars marching into her FaunVerse plaza. Weiss had once asked gaynightshade why there wasn't a human option in FaunVerse – she cringed a little remembering the blistering lecture she received about humans not forcing their way into faunus spaces. The company that created the FaunVerse app, the only social networking app that allowed faunus identification at all, was a fairly small and underfunded group of faunus – adding human features to the mix wasn't on their priority list. At any rate, Blake suggested that she simply pick a faunus trait that wasn't very obvious. However, Weiss simply couldn't help herself – her little avatar's snow fox ears and tail were simply too adorable to pass up. "How could I resist such floof!?"
The VA panel was as every bit amazing as Weiss imagined. Without even thinking about it, Weiss was letting loose! She squealed "NICO NICO NIIIIII~" along with the rest of the panel audience. The Q&A portion of the panel lasted for an hour, ranging from favorite ships to best waifus. There was quite a bit of time left after the line for questions died down; so a spontaneous group karaoke session began. In retrospect, Weiss may have let herself get a little too into singing but this was a rare opportunity for her. Fortunately, this was a convention for nerds – she wasn't the only one with penlights.
It was then time for a game tournament. Those nights Weiss spent stumbling around her DDR mat paid off; she won a few rounds before getting knocked out of the tournament. She could only stare in awe as the finalists feet flashed across the arrows. "Oh my dust, how is that possible!? Are they using a semblance of some kind?" The dog faunus that emerged victorious must have been in his early teens, much to Weiss' surprise. She clapped loudly for him as he received his prize bag of goodies.
With a few hours of free time before the next event, there was time to tour a few other areas of the convention. The Artist's Alley and Dealer's Hall were packed, so she quickly moved through the rows mentally marking the stalls to visit later. She certainly did not take a few passes by the 21+ section, an innocent girl like Weiss Schnee would never! "But Lily White on the other hand….I-I'll come back later once I've found the courage…"
The last point of interest was the gaming rooms, the largest of which was the console gaming room. A few steps into the room, Weiss stumbled backwards as a wave of heat hit her. Her senses were assaulted by the smell of sweaty bodies. She covered her nose and mouth with her hands, trying to stave off the stench that hung heavy over the room. The smell was so overpowering, Weiss stood still for a few moments swaying precariously. "I..can barely think…too…much…gross."
She scurried blindly from the room as quickly a she could – she couldn't stand the smell for another second. The first breath of fresh air filled her lungs, "Oh thank dust, that's so much better what the heck do people not know what deodorant is-," the thought cut short as she collided with a black and lilac mass. "oomph!" she squeaked, as she toppled onto the obstruction, flopping down face first.
In contrast to the disgusting room, she was surrounded by a lovely scent. "Mmmmh this smells soo nice," she thought inhaling deeply. "Soft, too~" She started to free her arms, which were pinned below her. She noted the firmness of the abs her hands passed over. "Wait…abs?"
"Um, do you mind getting off me?"
Weiss shot up to her feet, eyes wide with horror. "OH MY GOSH I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THAT," panicked words tumbling out of her mouth. It turned out that the collision was with a tall cat faunus, whose abs she had just been feeling – and her face must have been…. "Oh dust no.."
It was difficult for Weiss to finally fight past her cringing to look up at the faunus' face as she continued to sputter. "I'm sor-," Weiss froze immediately as a jolt of recognition passed through her. "I know this beautiful girl…those ears…her luscious jet-black mane…"
The girl had returned to her feet, dusting herself off. Her bemused grin faded slightly, looking down at a comically frozen Weiss. "Are you okay…?"
"B-blake…!" Weiss finally managed to sputter. Weiss' brain fell blank and breathing came shallow and fast.
"Oh! Do I know you?" Blake asked, ears slowly bobbing as she tried to figure out this strange girl that blundered into her – it was quite unusual for Blake to not recall meeting a person…especially when it came to pretty girls.
The awkward silence dragged on while Weiss tried to restart her brain. Blake opened her mouth to speak, but Weiss took off down the hall at top speed, crashing through the crowd. Stunned, the faunus cocked her head to the side, watching the purple-clad girl disappear through a door. "This will make a great story to tell Lily," she thought amusedly. "Hmm…Lily…"
"How come you don't let me touch your tiddies, Blakey!?"
"Shush Yang."
Weiss finally stopped fleeing to hide in the AMV theatre. The lights in the room were always kept off and the music was loud. "Although," she thought belatedly, "Blake's could probably see me easily in here. Faunus night-vision must be nice to have…" She sat in the last row to catch her breath. "Okay, I know I said I was going to talk to her if we met, but…there couldn't possibly be a worse introduction than that. Wait…how am I ever going to introduce myself to her after this?"
"So...do you know who that was?"
"I have an idea but I don't know just yet. Hopefully we can find her again, I'll keep a lookout for her scent. She certainly gave me enough opportunity to learn it."
"Ooh Blakey are you going to ask her out? We can swing by the hentai section to grab you some bondage supplies!"
She blushed slightly, face-palming in response.
"Well you better decide quickly before I snatch her up! No girl can reject a PUN-sexual like me!"
"Yang…please no. Your horrible puns are going to give me a headache. Ruby can you control your sister please? You two said you were going to be on your best behavior." Blake cleared her throat slightly. "But…maybe I will go buy some…supplies…"