"Your cities have fallen", Coco announced dramatically, smashing her fist on the table. "Your armies have been destroyed, and your gods have betrayed you. The weeping of your people echoes over your shattered city walls, singing the tale of my conquests in fire and blood."

"Coco, it's just a strategy board game, chill."

"And how exactly do you sing something in fire and blood?"

Completely ignoring Fox and Yatsuhashi, she knocked down the last of my miniature fortresses with rather unnecessary flair. Then she set her player's avatar on the tiny throne in the middle of the board we were playing on. "Bow down to me, for I am the almighty ruler of Remnant!" she declared triumphantly. Then she grinned, stretched in her chair like a cat, and added, in her normal voice: "Well, that was fun. Wanna go again?"

"No, thank you", Fox said. "I've had enough ruthless destruction for one day. And for the record, your idea of fun never ceases to terrify me."

"Agreed on both counts", my partner confirmed. "Velvet?"

I wished he wouldn't do that.

"I don't mind", I said. It was the safest answer. Civil. Neutral. Inoffensive.

"Velvet is always so polite", my partner told Coco. He smiled at me; I forced myself to smile back. He was from Mistral and he had an intimidating appearance, but he'd been gentle and patient and friendly since the first day. I wanted to trust that. I really did.

If we stretch her ears a little every day, do you suppose they'd get even longer? Man, that would be ridiculous. I wonder what happens if you cut them… then she'd look almost normal. Would you like that, bun? Geez, can someone get her to stop wailing? We're joking, you idiot. We'd never help you pass for normal. Trick innocent humans like that.

"Besides", my partner continued, still addressing Coco, "I thought you and Velvet were planning to go pick up the new parts of her combat suit today."

One of the first things we'd been asked to do at Beacon was to consider upgrades to our combat suits. Around Beacon, there were lots of shops that specialized in armory and combat gear, and offered discounts to hunters-in-training. When my team discussed it, they asked for my thoughts, so I mentioned that I wanted to add spaulders and wrist guards to my suit, and maybe make some modifications to my shorts and jacket so they'd match the new additions. I was originally just going to go to any second-hand shop and see what I could get. I didn't need, or want, anything fancy.

But my leader had other ideas. As soon as I mentioned my plans, her eyes lit up and she offered to design all the pieces and order them at a specific store of her choosing.

"That might be too expensive for me", I'd ventured. I'd really felt uncomfortable. First of all, Coco was being kind to me, which felt… weird. Secondly, I knew I couldn't afford to shop at the places she'd normally go to. On the other hand, saying no to people like her had never ended well for me, historically.

Coco had seemed quite oblivious to my dilemma. "Oh, don't worry about that, darling", she'd said, waving her hand dismissively. "My family get more complimentary discounts than I could possibly use. We'll get you the highly reduced Adel rate. And because I'll be doing the design, you'll be getting that part for free. At top quality, too."

I was still a little worried, but didn't dare say anything more. To my surprise, she caught on to my worry anyway. She worked quite patiently to appease it. And she turned out to be right: in the end, the price we settled at was comparable to what I'd be paying in a second-hand store. And you had to pay in advance for these sorts of orders, so I was sure that was really the final price and she hadn't pulled some kind of awful prank.

I didn't know what to make of Coco's apparent kindness. She was the sort of person I'd normally change pavements to avoid. She carried herself with all the confidence and self-assurance that her upbringing and family name warranted. In Pharos, she'd always been surrounded by friends and admirers. I had never seen her abuse her dominant position in the school's social hierarchy, but I also hadn't had many opportunities to observe her closely. We'd moved in completely different circles. Well, more accurately, she had moved in various circles. I had just been trying to get by without attracting too much attention.

But here at Beacon, Coco simply treated me as yet another member of her team. I remembered initiation: how she'd asked about my camera, and had seemed genuinely interested in how it worked, and hadn't been angry that I'd copied her weapon. I remembered how, at the very beginning, everyone else had introduced themselves: she'd looked at me inquisitively when I stayed silent, as if she'd expected me to speak up. To volunteer my name, like everyone else.

Wait until a human asks you, freak.

"Remnant to Velvet." Coco clapped her hands together, then waved at me theatrically from her seat. She smiled at me. "Would you like to go now? We don't have to, there's plenty of time for another round; but", she added with a smirk, "the boys here seem so intent on avoiding it that it would be cruel to force them into it."

"Big words, o great leader", Fox said. "Kind of rich after you made us play your favorite game. There are plenty of things I could beat your ass at, I just chose not to because I don't want to make you feel bad."

How could he be so… direct with her? Granted, he was also human, but still.

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Foxy."

"Besides", he continued, "I'm pretty sure you going with Velvet is just an excuse so you can do some more shopping for yourself."

"Fox, you wound me. Deeply. Also, you're being silly. I never need an excuse to shop."

"Coco does have another reason to want to go", Yatsuhashi said with a smile. "The new pieces are her designs, she probably wants to see them come to life."

"Yes! Thank you! See, the big guy gets me. Maybe you should take some pointers, partner. I really hope they turned out alright. I've been having some second thoughts about the pattern-"

"I think they look great", Fox assured her. "Some of your best work yet, in my opinion."

"Thanks, Fox", she replied, beaming at him. "That's really sweet, and I appreciate…" Then she realized. "Oh, ha-ha. Very funny, smartass." She turned back to me. "Ignore him. He's just jealous I didn't upgrade his outfit as well. So are we going now, or do you need some more time?"

"We can go", I said, a bit uncomfortably. I hated that I felt like that. I shouldn't be feeling uncomfortable. I should be happy that my teammates were consulting my wishes. It was respectful. Considerate. Normal.

It felt too good to be true, and I distrusted it.

XXX

"That dress is a disaster", Coco decided, throwing it in her increasingly large pile of discarded items. "That's too baggy. Too kitsch. Too flowery. Why are they selling this on full price? It's so obviously last season. I would not be seen wearing this if I were dead… seriously, I'd resurrect myself to change. What in the world is that fabric? I've camped in tents with better quality… That shade is an absolute clusterfuck for this design… No, no, and no."

An employee approached and started collecting the discarded items. She smiled subserviently at Coco and glanced sideways at me. I'd gotten a lot of looks like that today, in most the shops Coco had taken me to. Suspicious eyes monitoring me, making sure I wouldn't steal anything. Cold eyes fixed on me, telling me I didn't belong there. They always looked like they wanted to say something, give voice to the thought; but Coco's presence had so far been enough to deter them.

It was enough this time as well. The employee gathered all the items in her hands and walked away.

Coco smiled brightly at me. "Sorry, darling. I get a little carried away. We'll go get your things after this, I promise."

Fox had been right. I couldn't bring myself to begrudge her, though.

"It's okay", I said. "Please take your time."

"Geez, so polite. Yatsuhashi is right about you. Almost makes me feel bad for dragging you around like that… okay, last one, I promise." She sprinted to a nearby shelf and picked up two identical looking scarfs. She raised them up to my eye level. "What do you think? Which one?"

"Um…"

"You're right, I should try them on first." She wrapped one around her neck. "I really like the colors of this one…" she took it off, put on the other, and run her fingers on it, thoughtfully. "I think I prefer the texture of this one, though. Feels softer." She turned to me again. "So, what's your opinion?"

"I don't know", I said uncertainly. "They're both nice. Maybe that one looks a bit better."

"The plaid one?"

I blinked. "Aren't they both plaid?"

She blinked right back at me. "No, darling, this one is gingham."

"What's the difference?" I ventured.

She looked at me in surprise; then she closed her eyes in despair and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, Velvet, honey…" She remained silent for a moment. Processing her disappointment, maybe? Great. Barely a month in and I was already disappointing my team leader. Good job, me.

But then she looked up again and smiled. "Okay. I guess we'll just need to work on your fashion sense. But there will be plenty of time for that in the next four years. Don't worry, I'll help you."

I worried.

XXX

After that, we went to pick up my order. Or, more accurately, Coco's order. It had been placed under her name, and she'd simply specified it was for her teammate. The reactions to my presence were even more pronounced than usual: the employees greeted Coco with the utmost politeness, then did blatant double takes upon seeing me and realizing I was the teammate.

I reminded myself this was to be expected, really. Faunus as hunters-in-training was an even more unusual occurrence than faunus as customers in high end shops. We had only been eligible for acceptance into Beacon for the last half century, and the first actual acceptance of a faunus student had taken place a little more than twenty-five years ago. And even now, there were so few of us here.

"I'll be right back with your order, Miss Adel", said the employee helping her. She was a woman in her thirties or forties with an elegant, polished appearance. She didn't even spare a glance in my direction before she disappeared to the back of the store.

"That chick needs to remove that stick from up her ass", Coco casually commented to me, not even bothering to lower her voice. "These people are acting weird. I'm sorry about that. If I'd known I would have picked another place."

She'd noticed. Well, she hadn't picked up on the earlier, subtler reactions, but she'd noticed this time. And apparently it was… important to her? A big enough deal that she'd have been willing to pick another place…

"It's fine", I said, my tone carefully neutral. I gave her a small smile.

"It's not fine", she disagreed, "and that was the worst attempt at a convincing smile I have ever seen. We'll go somewhere else next time, I promise. But hey, at least you're finally getting your new outfit. I'm sure it will look amazing on you." She raised her hand. She was probably just going to give me a friendly clap on the back, or slug her arm around my shoulders.

I flinched and stepped away. I couldn't help it, even as I berated myself for it. Coco's gesture had been a friendly one, I knew. But my body distrusted it, and it was faster than my reason.

Coco frowned, but she withdrew her hand and backed off.

"I'm sorry", I started, frantically. "I get skittish sometimes. I know it's stupid-"

"Hey, no", she interrupted. Her tone was firm, but not unkind. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. You get to decide how much space you need, okay? You didn't do anything wrong."

My hyperventilating subsided a little, but there was still some skepticism in my thoughts as I stared at her. She wasn't offended. She wasn't angry. I'd set a physical boundary, and it had been okay. It had been respected. It was my decision, she'd said.

Come on, I just want to pet them. I've never pulled them, it's not fair to lump me together with those bullies. I just want to feel how soft they are. Why are you being so weird about this? This is why no one likes you, you know. Even when people are friendly to you, you're being difficult.

"Coco, I-"

My response died in my throat as we were interrupted by a cough. Coco turned around to see the employee who had returned with my items. She was standing there with a stony expression on her face.

"Your order, ma'am", she told Coco, civilly but with clear disapproval in her voice. Had she heard Coco apologizing to me? She seemed the type to be scandalized by something like that: an Adel apologizing to a faunus, what was the world coming to? "I hope it is to your satisfaction."

"Thank you", Coco replied in the same tone. "My teammate will decide whether it's satisfactory. We will not be requiring any more assistance from you at the moment."

The woman narrowed her eyes, trying to decide whether to be insulted. But Coco returned her stare icily, and the employee decided she wasn't interested in fighting this battle. With a final, tight-lipped smile to Coco, she turned around and walked to the other end of the store.

"What a prick", Coco muttered, watching her leave. Then she turned towards me and forced herself to smile. "Don't worry about it, Velvet. Go try it on. Let me know if you need any help."

XXX

The girl in the mirror wasn't me.

She ran her fingers through her golden belt, resting them on the elaborate patterns. Her expression was uncertain. She raised her hands up, and used them to feel her spaulders, her wrist guards. All top quality combat gear, decorated enough to confer distinction, but not so much as to detract utility. They were snugly encased against an old pair of vest and shorts, that had, in a different life, belonged to a timid faunus girl. The new parts had been carefully designed to match the old ones in terms of color, but they also gave the ensemble a whole new look. A look that was… different.

Not bad different. In fact, that was the problem, I realized: it was too good.

For a large part of my life, I've tried desperately to avoid attention. Attention meant mistreatment, and my ears invited so much of it that the rest of me had to be as inoffensive as possible.

This combat suit claimed attention. Perhaps not so much in comparison to what my peers wore: Coco had really tried to take my preferences into consideration. She'd held herself back from flashier, bolder designs. But it was still more attention than I felt comfortable with. The suit looked foreign and strange and wrong, as if it ought to belong to someone else. Someone better.

The girl in the mirror looked like someone who actually had potential to become a full Huntress.

"Velvet?" Coco's voice came from outside. Despite the mildness of her tone, I instinctively snapped at attention. "Everything alright in there, sweetheart?"

"Yes!" I squeaked. "Yes, everything's fine, Coco. I'm coming out. Sorry for making you wait." I scrambled frantically out of the dressing room and almost stumbled onto her.

"Woah", she said. "Easy there. We don't have a train to catch, alright? It's okay", she cut me off as I started a second frantic apology. "Nothing to be sorry for. Why don't you just take a step back and let me look at you."

I did as she asked. She scanned the ensemble with an appraising look, until, finally, she smiled. "Looking good. Do you like it? I know we talked about it already before I ordered it, but sometimes it's different when you actually wear something."

"I do like it", I said, forcing a smile for her sake. It wasn't a lie, technically. The design was beautiful.

I was the problem.

"Great," she replied, beaming back. Then she frowned. "Hold up. We ordered your Huntress's emblem as well, right?"

I held it up, letting her see it. A small woven badge: a simple circle with the icon of a stitched heart in the middle. It was the only part of my uniform I'd designed myself.

"They made it", I said. "But it seems they didn't sew it on the vest. Maybe they forgot, or missed that part of the instructions."

"Alright, that's easy enough to fix", she replied. "We'll just ask them to-"

"No!" I hadn't intended to yell; a few heads turned towards us, eyebrows raised. Coco seemed taken aback by my panic. I lowered by voice before continuing. "Sorry. Coco, I really don't want to make a fuss."

"You're not making a fuss", she said pacifyingly. Then added, with a small smirk: "Well, maybe a little with that yelp you just did. Hey, come on, I'm just teasing you. Look, they made a mistake in your order. It happens sometimes. It's normal to ask them to correct it, as long as you're not a jerk about it. It's not a big deal."

"Please, let's just go. I don't want to turn this into a thing-"

"Velvet, darling, it's not a thing. I promise it's just a normal request. I'll go talk to them alone if it makes you feel better."

"No! Please, l'll figure something out. Don't talk to them, please-"

"Alright", she relented.

I held my breath. "Really?"

"Really really", she assured me. "I mean, I don't really get it, but if it makes you that uncomfortable we won't do it."

I breathed out, slowly. "Thank you, Coco."

She winked at me. "Come on, super model. Let's go pay for these things and then I'm taking you for coffee."

XXX

"Are they good?" she asked.

I raised my head up from my stack of pancakes. "Mm-hm", I managed through a full mouth. They were really good: fluffy and sweet with just the right amount of cinnamon, and little pieces of softened apple interspersed in the dough.

She chuckled. "Look at these full cheeks", she teased. "Aren't you just the cutest." She took a sip out of her coffee – one of these ultra dark roasted concoctions I've always found so bitter as to be practically undrinkable. "We were just in time to get your new outfit", she commented. "Now you can wear it during our sparring matches."

Yay. "We have a challenge from team CBLT already, right?" I asked. "Have you talked to them?"

"Yes, I've spoken to Casey. We'll set a date later. I want us to spar as a team first. Physicals are nice and all, but we have to plan how we'll operate together in the field."

I hesitated. "Coco… I think I need to talk to you about that." I didn't like the idea, really, but it was better to warn her; get it out of the way before we started training.

She just looked at me enquiringly. I forced myself to continue. "Remember initiation, when we took down that giant Roc?"

"When you took it out, you mean", she replied, beaming at me.

"It was a team effort-"

"It was mostly you", she interrupted. "And, uh, yeah. Of course I remember. It was epic. But what about it?"

"Well…" I hesitated again. "Remember how I used all these weapons with different forms and moves for each one?"

"Damn, Velvet, you don't need to brag so much." She held up a hand, smiling, as I opened my mouth to start frantically explaining myself. "Relax. I'm just messing with you. I do remember it, and I've been meaning to ask you about it. Since you brought it up, let's talk about it now. Do you train extensively with all these different kinds of weapons? It's impressive that you have time for all of them."

"Yes… no… kind of." I paused, searching for the words; and she let me, waiting patiently. "You see - it's my semblance."

She knit her eyebrows, thoughtful. "Photographic memory, right?"

"Yes." That was the name I had given my semblance when filling my entry form to Beacon. My teammates had all received this information, as I had theirs: we'd all gotten a summary sheet on each other's abilities, based on the information we had each filled in our entrance forms. Coco called her semblance hype, and she'd added an explanatory note describing how it worked. It was fairly straightforward: she could amplify the effects of Dust. Fox had named his telepathy. It was not an inaccurate name, but it was not all-encompassing either: from the name, you could guess his ability to speak to people telepathically, but not, for example, his ability to sense auras.

But the same applied to my own semblance. From the name, most people would think of the classical definition of photographic memory. Which… did apply to me, but did not describe my semblance in its entirety.

Coco still looked questioning; might as well rip the band-aid off. "I can copy moves", I muttered. "When I observe someone else fight, I… sort of absorb their muscle memory. I can remember everything they did in perfect detail. Afterwards, I can replicate it at any moment."

So all you can do is copy better fighters? Man, just when I thought you couldn't get any more pathetic. You really are the walking embodiment of dependency, you know that? And you seriously expect us to train with you? No one wants you leeching off their skills, you fucking creep. Go away, copy-bunny. You'll never be a real Huntress.

Coco had remained silent for a while, gazing at nothing. I forced myself to wait, bracing myself for her reaction. But finally she looked up at me with an expression I could not quite place. "Velvet, that's… amazing."

Okay, not the reaction I expected.

"Thank you", I said. "But I should let you know-"

"Man, the sheer strategic possibilities this opens", she continued, not seeming to hear me. "You can practically fill any role in the team. And the complementarity with your weapon! It's such a perfect fit. Did you design your weapon around your semblance? I bet you did. Oh, that's so clever."

"That's very kind of you, but-"

"Is it passive or active?" she asked abruptly. She kept cutting me off, but it didn't feel like it was on purpose: she just seemed extremely focused on her own train of thought.

"It's kind of a combination", I said. "Observing other people is passive. And if I watch them, my memory obtains the movements; it's not something I need to think about, and I don't even really have a choice in the matter. It just happens. But deciding to use the movements later – that's active. It's something I consciously need to decide to do."

"Does it use a lot of aura?"

"Not really."

"Can you copy fighters you've seen on video?"

I blinked. It was the first time anyone had thought to ask me that. "Weirdly, no. I've tried. It should be possible in theory, but right now I can't do it."

"Oh." She sounded momentarily disappointed, but recovered quickly. "Still! We're in a school full of elite fighters, we'll be observing sparring matches on a regular basis… including demonstration matches by upperclassmen, maybe even professors. And you can own techniques that would take years to master just by spectating them once."

It sounded badass when she put it like that. I had to disillusion her. "Coco, I really need to explain something to you."

"Hm?"

"My semblance is not as good as you think it is. Or rather, my ability to use it is not." She looked perplexed, but made no comment, waiting for me to explain. "You see, I have all these fighters in my head. And when I'm in a fight, each one of them wants to do something different. Like, normally when a punch comes your way, you don't stand there and think "hm, I will use this block or that tactical maneuver". You react from muscle memory. And… I have so many different memories inside my head, and they all compete with each other. In theory, I can use any of them. Combine them, even. Take the best elements of each one and mix them up. But in practice, I often get paralyzed when I actually have to decide what to do at a specific moment."

Coco still looked a bit confused. "You didn't seem to have decision paralysis against that Roc."

"Sometimes my semblance just… kicks in." Even as I said it, I realized how stupid it sounded. "Like it's on some sort of autopilot. Then, I'm no longer guiding it; it's guiding me. And I don't need to think, I just know what to do. It usually happens when I'm in genuine danger, but even then it's not consistent. During initiation, I… got lucky." I lowered my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, no." I saw Coco's hand reaching over the table to touch mine; but she remembered, and restrained herself, withdrawing it at the last moment. I raised up my eyes to meet hers. There was no anger in them. They were kind, understanding. "I still think there is incredible potential in your abilities. And we'll work on your weaknesses together as a team. But don't apologize for having weaknesses. Everyone does."

"Do you?" I've been wondering that for a while, but had never meant to actually ask it; it just slipped.

Coco looked thoughtful for a bit. "Well, since we're on the same team, I guess you should know. I don't really do well in confined spaces."

"You're claustrophobic?"

She nodded. "And I suppose if Fox was here, he'd call me overconfident." She winked at me. "But it's not overconfidence if your skills match it. Right? Then it's just the appropriate amount of confidence."

How could anyone be so casually self-assured?

"In any case, you'll have plenty of time to form your own opinion." She took another sip of her coffee. "I suppose another potential limitation is your dependence on hard light dust. Not that there's a shortage or anything, but it might still be useful to have a secondary weapon."

"I still have the weapon I used in Pharos", I said. "It's a multi-tool type of thing: it can switch between a spear, a small pistol, and some other weapons. I can show it to you later. It was my first attempt to design something around my semblance. Anesidora is more recent: I finished it up during the last year of combat school."

"That's good", she said. "Anesidora is the camera, right?"

I nodded.

"Okay." She smiled contentedly, absorbed by her plans again. "We are going to be such a fantastic team", she said. "Between Fox's telepathy and your adaptability, we can coordinate any sort of attack and change them on the fly. And the big guy would make an incredible tank." She paused for a moment, thoughtful. "I wonder what his semblance is."

Yatsuhashi had not shared any information on his semblance. This was, of course, allowed: a semblance – a unique ability powered by aura, the manifestation of one's soul – is deeply personal and intimate. People may chose to display it freely, and often do. But asking about it uninvited is one of the rudest, most intrusive things anyone can do. And the academy didn't care how you passed its entrance exams, as long as you did so successfully.

Any information you had volunteered in in your entrance form was (with previous consent) shared only with professors and your teammates. The rest of your peers would only learn however much you chose to tell them, or reveal in battle. Some people were fairly relaxed about explaining their semblance; others chose not to talk about it, either due to sheer introversion or because it somehow gave them an advantage in fights.

Even your teammates only knew what was in the form: they wouldn't learn more until and unless you told them. In practice, most teammates eventually learned about each others' semblances: it was the natural result of evolving trust, and it made strategizing much more effective. But it was not something that could be forced.

"In any case", Coco said. "It's good that you have a secondary weapon. But if you do ever need help fueling Anesidora, I can probably help. My mother has access to hard light dust at a discounted rate, if she wishes. We can probably arrange something."

"It's okay. I get my supply from my father. He's an engineer in Atlas. He works with general Ironwood. You probably know him."

"Yeah, I've met Ironwood a couple of times. My mom has worked with him in the past as well. He came to our house a few times to discuss weapon specifications with her. He seems very selective on whom he choses to work with. Your father must be highly skilled."

I shrugged. Coco either didn't notice my lack of enthusiasm or chose not to comment on it.

"I didn't know engineers got such perks in the form of dust supply, though", she said instead.

"No, they…. Sorry, I should have explained better. Ironwood decided to grant me this supply. When I visited my father in the summer, I showed him the designs for Anesidora. He was really excited about it. I thought he was just being partial, me being his daughter and all. But then he showed the designs to Ironwood and… apparently he was impressed? He told my father I could have the dust I needed at military discount. Or maybe my father talked him into it. I'm not quite sure how it went down."

"You said you visited your father in the summer?" she asked, after a short pause.

"My parents are separated." I remembered the fights, the yelling, the tension afterwards. The fear of breaking it, unwittingly, by some inconsequential remark that happened to hit a nerve. I remembered my older brother shouting at our parents to stop it, to think about how it affected me. Only, that was just more shouting, and now he was fighting too.

As we grew older, he stopped arguing with our parents and started taking me out of the house instead. We went for ice cream. To the movies. He was telling me about his plans for the future. He would become an engineer like our dad, but, instead of military equipment, he would design devices that would help people. Medical equipment, prosthetics. That sort of thing. He would make a lot of money and buy a house. And if our parents were still fighting by that time, he would let me live with him until I became old enough to earn my own way. He was just a teenager then, only four years older than me. But he spoke with such conviction that I believed him. It was a nice picture.

"It was for the best", I told Coco. "They fought a lot."

"A divorce is better than a bad marriage", Coco agreed. "Did you grow up in Vale?"

"No, Menagerie. My mother insisted. She's a rabbit faunus as well."

"What was your childhood like? What made you decide to go to Vale?"

"It's not a very interesting story", I said. "I don't want to bore you."

"You wouldn't bore me", she said kindly. "We're teammates, and I'd like to get to know you better." She gave me a playful smile. "Come on, tell me."

An order. From my team leader.

Maybe she hadn't meant like that. Just because she'd used the imperative clause didn't mean she was actually giving a command. Maybe she was just teasing. Maybe she expected me to speak up, like Fox would, if I was really uncomfortable.

But I wasn't sure, so it was safer to treat it as an order.

I took a breath. "My parents met in Vale. My father was in college, and my mother was doing a four-year apprenticeship to become an electrician. She was always more of a working with your hands type of person. She loved woodworking and crafts, too… anyway. They met through some common friends and started hanging out."

I paused for a bit. "My mother had a hard time in Vale. Some people didn't mind her. She even made friends, of sorts - or at least acquaintances willing to hang out with her. Learning a trade was considered an acceptable occupation for a Faunus, even back then; more acceptable than higher education, anyway. But even so, it was hard for her. There were snide comments. Social exclusion. People would shout hostilities at her when she walked on the street. Local clubs were always miraculously full if she tried to join. Some restaurants outright refused to serve her. A specific group of trainees were always shouting obscenities at her: asking if what people said about rabbit girls was true, describing what they'd like to do to her. That sort of thing. She complained, but her program didn't do anything. It stopped when she started dating my dad. But she was terrified for a while.

She knew her children would be faunus as well. She wanted them – me - to grow up safe, away from… well, away from all that. So she asked my dad to move with her to Menagerie. He agreed at first, but as time passed, he grew dissatisfied. He felt he was professionally stagnant in Menagerie, that his talents were being wasted. He suggested moving back to Vale. He tried to convince my mother that the intervening years had certainly lessened the anti-faunus sentiment. He said it would also be good for me and… " I caught myself on time. "For me. I'd have access to better schools, and I'd need to interact with humans at some point, and it was better to start sooner rather than later."

I stopped there, suddenly feeling conscious of sharing too much. Coco was proving surprisingly easy to talk to: listening attentively, only chiming in with relevant probing questions. It almost made me forget that she was a human, and an Atlesian. She'd been perfectly nice so far, but it wouldn't hurt to be careful for a while.

Not all humans are like that, you know. Everyone has to deal with assholes, you're not special. Why are you making it about you being a faunus? I think you're the one being racist, actually.

"That must have been a hard decision for your mom", was all Coco said.

I looked at her skeptically for a few seconds. When she didn't add anything, I responded. "It was. But in the end, she agreed. I'm not sure if she was really convinced by his arguments or felt guilty over the opportunities he'd already given up. In any case, she agreed, and we moved to Vale."

I stopped again. Coco said nothing, letting me take my time.

"My father was thrilled. He was getting interesting work and increasing responsibilities. But my mother couldn't get work on her field. They'd both had jobs in Menagerie, but in Vale, she couldn't convince anyone to hire her. He tried to support her: searching through job listings with her, recommending her to friends and acquaintances. She'd get occasional work, but nothing long-term. He tried to reassure her that, from a material standpoint, she didn't need to worry. The truth was we could use a second wage, because even though he was good at his job and his bosses liked him, he was still pretty junior. But he said they would make things work. She could take her time searching and he'd provide for us in the meantime. He meant well, but the way he phrased it sounded as if he thought her work was unimportant compared to his. That hurt her. They had their first big fight that night.

Others soon followed. I was getting bullied at school, and the teachers were turning a blind eye to it. If I tried to get help, they told me I probably had done something to provoke it. That everyone else got along, so I must be the problem. If my parents tried to resolve it, the school would schedule a meeting to talk about it, but nothing ever came out of that. Just words. My dad had to go to most of these meetings because the school officials always took him more seriously than my mom. He tried his best. They both did. We kept changing schools and it kept happening. I had to be homeschooled for a while. It even continued in combat school. My parents fought it together at first, but eventually they grew frustrated. They found ways to blame it on each other. They never blamed me, but they blamed each other in front of me, and that was almost worse."

Coco looked very serious. "Velvet…this won't get repeated in Beacon. If you ever have bullying problems here, I want you to come to me. I'll handle it. Okay? I won't let that sort of thing stand."

I forced a smile. "Thanks." She meant well, but it was never as simple as that.

She looked at me thoughtfully, as if something had just occurred to her. "You know, we don't have to keep talking about all this if you don't want to."

I stared back a little doubtfully. Her expression seemed sincere. "It's fine", I said, carefully. "Essentially, the fights got progressively worse – there were ups and downs, but overall they were getting worse. At some point they both realized that, although they still cared for each other, they weren't compatible anymore. My father moved to Atlas when presented with the opportunity. My mom stayed in Vale until I finished combat school, and then moved back to Menagerie."

It wasn't a lie. It was just a very condensed version of the truth.

"Ah, well", Coco said, rubbing the back of her head. She seemed to be searching for words to make me feel better. "My brothers and I fought sometimes. We annoyed each other a lot when we were younger." She raised a hand to stop me as I started forming some generically civil response. "Actually, scratch that, it's not comparable to your situation at all. No need to humor me with whatever polite thing you were about to say."

I smiled a little at her self-awareness. In my head, she'd always been this unassailably cool person who was invariably on top of everything. It was comforting to see that she could be awkward, that she didn't always know the perfect thing to say. It made me feel a little more relaxed around her. Just a little.

"In any case", Coco continued. "I hope you enjoyed our shopping trip today."

"I did." It was not entirely a lie. "Thank you for being so understanding about that thing with the emblem. I really don't like public confrontation." Or any confrontation.

"Hm?" She frowned, as if trying to remember. "Oh, that. Don't worry about that, it was your call. I can just sew the emblem in myself anyway."

"You sew?"

She grinned, looking unassailably cool again. "Of course, darling. What, can't a woman have multiple talents? It's useful to know how to fix your own clothing. And honestly, I can never fully trust someone else to do it right. It's a bit like maintaining your weapon, you know? Personal."

I knew what she meant. "Well, thank you."

"You're welcome."

XXX

She was finished that same evening. A stitched heart on a circle, carefully sewn in on a vest. It completed the ensemble perfectly. I thanked Coco and took my finished uniform from her, wondering if I would ever be worthy of it.