Red Velvet
The walk through Beacon's gardens was a quiet and peaceful one for Adam and Velvet. Planted and tended to by students, it was not the most organized of gardens but, bearing all from the pink-petaled cherry blossom trees of Mistral to the lavender, bell-like harebell flowers of Atlas, it carried a myriad of flora. The lively colors and pleasant scent—especially for a faunus—made it all too easy for one to lose themselves in thought as they wandered down the pathway.
It was certainly Velvet's problem at least, for she found it rather hard to spark a conversation with the man walking beside her. Adam was fine with silence, only glancing occasionally in her direction, as if to make sure she was still there at all. That left it to her, she guessed, to try and start conversation... which was a shame, because she was absolutely awful at it. Coco was practically her definition of approachable and she still had problems sparking up a new conversation with her, let alone with someone she'd only seen with some form of a glare or snarl on his face.
That is, until now. Right now, he looked positively peaceful, and that had her on more edge than if he was furious. After all, what if whatever she said just ticked him off? Coco knew she didn't like conflict, and the last thing she needed was another student having it out for her. Cardin was bad enough.
"Tell me, Velvet." Adam turned his gaze down on her, "I was under the assumption that there was to be something about being a 'guidance counselor'. Was I incorrect?"
Velvet paled, ready to spring into damage control already, when she turned and found Adam smirking, clearly amused.
"I'm joking. Fixing up a team on short notice is no small feat; I don't envy your team's position."
She looked him over. "You certainly sound... not worried about this."
Adam shrugged and paused to catch a tumbling blossom in his gloved hand. "They'll fix their issues soon enough. Or won't. Yang will have no choice but to let Ruby go, Ruby will eventually take the reins when she figures out no one else will, and the Schnee clearly values her time here too much to interfere."
Velvet raised an eyebrow as she stepped ahead of him. "So you think none of this is your fault?" She couldn't keep the incredulity from her tone.
"Some? Yes. I refuse to follow a child's orders. When she's ready to speak with the intent to be listened to, not just heard, I will comply. No sooner. As for Yang, we've worked out our problems."
"And Weiss?"
Adam's peace vanished, his eyes narrowing with anger and barely-concealed hate. A chill ran up Velvet's spine: she'd seen that kind of hatred before in her hometown when the Schnee Dust Company was involved, yet nothing to the extent she saw now.
Just as quickly as it came, Adam's anger slipped away. He scoffed. "She brought that on herself."
Velvet fidgeted with her hands, not entirely sure where to even begin with that. "... Poor first impressions?"
Adam raised an eyebrow and, smirking, slipped the hat from his head. He brushed his fingers across a black highlight in his hair—no, horns. "You could say that."
Adam was a faunus. That... explained so much. The distrust of his team, the clashing with Weiss, the relief at being matched up with her, everything! Velvet realized she must've looked rather silly when she was shocked, for the faunus ahead of her shuddered with barely stifled laughter.
"Don't tell me I've broken you with that little revelation."
Her ears flopped down in front of her in a futile attempt to hide her embarrassed blush. Adam laughing openly this time didn't help her in the least.
Just when her embarrassment threatened to fester into shame, however, Adam placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. Frankly, I'm just happy that there's someone I can get rid of this stupid thing around. According to Yang, I look like a—and I quote—'total dweeb' with it, and I'm starting to agree with her."
Velvet held back a giggle and raised her ears, even if she still found it a little hard to meet his gaze. "I get it... I tried something a little like that when I got here from Menagerie. According to Coco, though, the top hat just made it way more obvious."
Adam snorted, though when she glanced up, she found his smile more... sympathetic. After a soft squeeze of solidarity to her shoulder, he let go and began walking down the winding pathway. Deciding to sidestep the Weiss problem, Velvet decided to change the subject.
"Maybe we should... focus on Ruby, first?"
"So be it." Adam sighed and looked off towards the tumbling, red petals of Forever Fall not too far away. "Should I start with her prodigal skill, the worrying fact that her leadership skills crumble at the slightest hint of resistance, or the substantially more worrying fact that she sleeps with her weapon?"
She furrowed her brow. "Well, that last one doesn't sound too bad... It's like security, right?"
Adam glanced over at her, face showing no emotion. "I'm not sure if security warrants using it like a body pillow."
Velvet's giggles filled the gardens as they walked along. His satisfied smile didn't escape her notice, either.
"... It was like he was a different person," Velvet admitted to her team gathered around her in the courtyard. "A-at least, from what I've heard. It isn't like there aren't any problems, but there just wasn't... I don't know... one central problem?"
"Like a lack of confidence or being too overprotective of your sibling," Fox offered.
"Right! Nothing big like that... besides being a faunus in a team with the Schnee heiress, but that can't be everything there is to it..."
"Nah, I think you hit the nail right on the head, Velvet," Coco said as she waved them to follow her back to the dorms. " 'He was a different person.' "
It dawned on Yatuhashi. "A mask."
"See, the big guy gets it: he's probably just putting on airs around the sisters, and probably not too happy about being around a Schnee, especially with how she gets. Sounds like what you've got is the real guy: all you gotta do is get him to take the mask off. Easy!"
Velvet grinned. "Great! How do you think I should do that?"
"Pfft, I don't know. Good luck on that."
Velvet deflated under the laughter of her team, but she could still manage a smile. She knew they didn't mean ill by it.
Adam seethed as he heard the mocking laughter at Velvet's expense in the cafeteria. Her complaints only seemed to spur on her torturers more, all while not a single soul rose to help her. Conversations went on during lunch like not a soul heard them. His fork stabbed into his steak hard enough to bend it.
Cardin Winchester. What a nuisance. Claim as some might that he is only a bully, he and his little crew were exactly what Adam expected when he came to sit alongside humans. Despicable. Petty. Racist. 'Bullying'. It was the latter, of course, that seemed to be bothering Team RWAY—who the Schnee unfortunately rejoined during their meals—and 'JNPR', another team he honestly paid little attention towards. They chattered and jabbered on about how Jaune should do something about Cardin's bullying of him, yet they were all too cowardly to do anything themselves. The specifics escaped Adam.
Frankly, he didn't care. Especially as they disregarded what was going on a mere table away.
"Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone," Jaune tried to defend himself and sent a pointed look in Velvet's direction.
Adam's fork snapped. The audacity. The audacity to use her as an excuse, not just to hide from his own problems, but to refuse to help the faunus with hers. He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, and Ruby's voice distantly calling to him just as his conscience did in Blake's own voice, but it was too late, now. Adam was focused. Adam was livid.
"You cowards just hide behind your words," Adam spat and shook Ruby's hand off of him.
The shocked expressions faded into the back of his mind as he stormed forward towards the group.
"What a freak..." One of Cardin's team snarked away, this one not even having the gall to join in. There was no doubt in Adam's mind that he did that only out of fear for being caught, just like his leader was about to be.
Adam snatched Cardin's wrist, his fingers biting into it. Velvet trembled, barely holding back tears, especially now that a genuine confrontation was bringing more and more eyes to them.
"What do you want, Hat Trick?" Cardin had a veritable wealth of aura: a little squeezing at his wrist wasn't going to even make him budge. Instead, he threw a smug grin up at Adam. Huntsmen and huntresses were the worst of the bunch, always believing that their aura put them on an entirely new level than the rest of the population. Combine that with the usual human discriminatory behavior and the hate for anything that so much as looked different, and you had what looked like an unstoppable force of torment for the faunus. But, ah, how they depended on their aura. It was amazing to see how many were all but dependent on it rather than defensive tactics.
Cardin refused to let her ears go. If anything, he tried to pull her even closer. This was a mistake.
Few things could truly turn a Huntsman's dependence on aura against them. The art of aura penetration was one of them. Overpower one's will with your own, and you can simply force your opponents' soul into submission, letting you by without a fight. It was a highly illegal art to learn after the Great War—after all, it is a technique almost solely for murdering other Huntsmen. It took plenty of willpower, plenty of bloodlust, and plenty of luck to find a mentor willing to train you in it... to say nothing of the training required.
Unfortunately for Cardin, Adam had all of that.
Which was why Cardin suddenly felt those fingers crushing his wrist, aura or not. Now, panic began to set in.
"What I want is for creatures like you to disappear... however, I am willing to settle for you to stop this. Forever." Points to Cardin, at least, for keeping a tough face throughout it all. A dull, white light began to gather around his fingertips: Cardin's aura was not broken, left constantly attempting to fill in the gaps in its coverage Adam's piercing fingers left. A fun fact: an already uncommon technique being banned for eighty years had a tendency to not be recognized, either. Even when exposed to it.
"Why should I listen to a faunus-lover like you? Please, and I'm the creature?"
The only response was the twist of a wrist and a muffled, pained grunt from its owner. When Cardin and his crew did not speak up once more, Adam leaned down close and continued:
"Let. Her. Go." The fleshy crack of Cardin's wrist served as the final punctuation, followed swiftly by a cry and him letting the rabbit's ear finally go free. She started to back up, but froze under Adam's glare. The demand to wait was clear in his eyes.
His gaze snapped back to Cardin. "Apologize."
"W-what?"
A couple students cringed at the much more audible snap. "Apologize." Cardin's team was conspicuously missing. The rest of Team RWAY started getting up: this was going way too far. Team JNPR was less willing to interfere. Pyrrha did not want to cause a scene. Nora wanted to cause a bigger one.
"I-I-I'm sorry, alright! Just, please, just let my hand go! I won't bother her!"
"Apologize to her!" The faunus didn't turn away from Adam's gaze only out of shock. Oh, she knew something like this was going to happen eventually. This was why she never told the rest of her team...
"I'm sorry, Velvet!" Cardin cried, and Adam let his wrist drop like a piece of trash. His aura washed over it before he could even hold it in his other hand. The wound would heal quickly. Adam narrowed his eyes, giving a last warning glare to his advancing team, then turned away. As Velvet took the time to run off, Adam noticed an all too familiar silence: one filled with tension, anger, and unspoken insults. The eyes of the entire cafeteria were on him, now. His team was approaching, now, but it was too late: Adam was riled up, now.
He dramatically swept his hand across the cafeteria. "Oh, so now this is worthy of your attention? Don't act like you all suddenly care for someone else's well-being! Your silence is the only reason it got this far! Like you care about words instead of action!" Oh, how he relished this feeling: an entire crowd's blood turning cold with shame, like a bucket of ice water was thrown on all that hot anger flowing seconds prior. Adam took a breath and raised his hand, only for it to be yanked back down.
"O-o-okay, there, buddy!" Yang said, giving his wrist a brief squeeze. "I know you're seeing red, but don't go jumpin' up on the soapbox." His lips pursed, and his eyes found those of his team. Yang was grinning as always, but it was clearly stressed, and her eyes darted to and fro across the room in search of potential assailants. Weiss was already waiting at the door, clearly not wanting a single part of this. Typical. But, it was Ruby who finally got him to crack: her silver eyes were left full of shock, sadness and worry. Worry not for herself, but rather for him.
The same worry Blake held.
"Fine." He snatched his hand away, unable to bring himself to look at his team. "They've heard enough." Adam forced himself to walk away. It was best to keep control.
Even if he was running away from that judging gaze.
Velvet sighed and sat down beneath the shade of a perpetually-red tree at its outskirts. Atop a small hill, it had a commanding view of the endless colors the garden carried. A warm breeze brought the pleasant scent of roses to tickle at her nose. Though her enhanced hearing could still pick up the occasional crack of gunfire or burst of Dust magic from the students training or fighting in Forever Fall, it was still quiet. The beauty, however, was lost on her. She was already used to it, by now: half of her lunches were spent here. Good timing could have her escape the majority of students—including those who were less than inclusive—during on-campus breakfast and dinners. Lunch, not so much.
And it was looking like she was going to be spending even more time here. Even now, dressed in her normal gear for the next combat training, she decided it was best to wait her free period out here and let things cool off. There was no way Cardin was going to leave her be after that. If anything, it'd just draw more attention. It wasn't as if she didn't want to be helped—expected or not, seeing only one even willing to do so hurt—but, if anything, that might just drag Adam right in with it.
"Velvet."
She jumped in place with a squeak. Speak of the devil.
Adam stood just beside her, leaning against the tree. "Feeling alright?"
"Yeah, yeah... I'm used to it, by now." Velvet looked down towards the garden, arms on her knees. She wasn't sure how she felt about this: upset that it happened, angry at Adam for probably making it worse, thankful, ashamed. Velvet guessed that might've said a lot about how often anyone helped her, in the first place.
"Common occurrence?" She could hear the scowl in his voice.
Her ears drooped lower. It was answer enough.
His boot scratched at the bark as he kicked off of the tree. "Cardin?"
"No!" She flinched at how loudly that came out. "No, it's just... a few people. Two or three. That's all, though!" When Velvet looked up, Adam didn't look convinced. She glanced away. An awkward silence settled.
"... Thank you, though," Velvet brought herself to say. "Would you believe it's the first time someone stood up for me in the past two months?"
"Unfortunately, yes," Adam grunted.
Velvet couldn't help but giggle. "Well, either way, it did mean a lot..."
More silence. Just as Velvet began to speak again, however, she caught Adam suddenly turn to her out of the corner of her eye.
"You shouldn't be afraid to look me in the eye," he said.
Velvet forced herself to look at him. Frustration was written all across his furrowed brow and narrowed gaze. The grip on the weapon he always lugged around was tight and fierce. "It's not fear, it's just... I..." She forced a smile. "I'll be fine in the future, honest. You don't need to stick your neck out for me, Adam."
" 'Don't need to'?" Adam repeated with almost-offended incredulity. "We are faunus! We stick our necks out for each other, Velvet, no matter what. None of us should have to just sit there and accept being treated like dogs. We deserve better. You deserve better."
"But that didn't help!" She bit her lip, trying to hold back words that'd already been spoken. Adam glared at her, and it only solidified her regret. She didn't want a fight... but now, she was forced to explain herself. "I've seen that kind of thing before, Adam. All that's going to happen is he's going to come back with more friends, or target some other faunus—"
"And I'll defend them, as well."
"You and I can't be everywhere, though!" Velvet sprung to her feet. "Unless you're walking around with the entire faunus population, he's going to find someone to take his anger out on."
The man tensed, and his emerald eyes briefly darkened to an angry orange before lightening up. His expression faded from one of growing frustration and anger to solemn acceptance. With a soft frown and a softer tone, he said, "I see. Then he must be... dissuaded further." Whatever intention was behind that tone, it sent chills up her spine, and certainly not the good kind.
"You aren't getting it, Adam. Whatever you do to defend me, he's probably just going to do to someone else, or worse! It's just... mindless escalation until someone's either hurt... or wearing a white mask." That one left Adam gritting his teeth. "It's the same reason I don't tell my team. If it isn't me, it's someone else... and I'd rather have it be me."
Adam couldn't even believe what he was hearing. It was like talking once more to the miners so afraid of reprisal that they wouldn't so much as question lack of safety.
"Those words are the bonds that held us down for centuries! Do you think Cardin will just stop with you, or the next person, or the next after that? He will just continue spreading that hatred and ignorance further, to more humans who will crush more faunus! Can't you see, Velvet? We cannot lie down and simply take it! We have to fight back!" He slammed his fist to his chest. "It's the only way we've ever made it through, and that won't change! You are the upperclassman, you are the one who should be in control!"
"Fighting fire with fire will never make it better! It's just more hate and fear and ignorance." Velvet took a deep breath to calm herself and turned her gaze once more to the ground. "It's just like the White Fang... it's the entire reason I even left Menagerie. Hatred and anger won't help anyone..."
She could feel Adam's glare boring down into her.
"Weak words for weaker people," he hissed.
Now, it was Velvet's turn to tense. "So, is that what this is? You just think I'm weak, huh?"
Adam said nothing, but his silence said enough: if she so truly believed the best way to stop oppression was to lie down and take it with a smile, well... he'd seen plenty of leaders like her.
Without bringing her eyes back to his, she turned on her heel and marched off deeper into the Forever Falls.
Adam sneered. "Running away?"
Velvet stared at him over her shoulder, brown eyes carrying a certain determination behind them that, briefly, gave Adam pause. "No, I'm just proving a point. Are you coming?" She kept her gaze level, daring him to refuse.
When faced with that, Adam had no choice but to accept, following behind her without a word.
If Adam wanted her to stand up for herself, Velvet thought, fine. She'd start with him.
"Well?" Adam stared down Velvet, his arms crossed. The two stood in a grove surrounded by trees, every gust of wind leaving only more of the forever red leaves tumbling to the ground around them. "Go ahead. Prove it, then."
Velvet retrieved a large case from her waist. "First to a single, solid hit."
Adam rolled his eyes. How arbitrary.
"You seem awfully confident... how about we make things more interesting, then? You win, and I'll admit you're right. I'll even take Cardin down a peg the next time he tries something. But if I win, then you have to give peace a chance."
He scoffed. "It never works."
To that, Velvet only smiled. "Don't lose, then~"
Adam rolled his shoulders and flicked his hat away. "Fine. I accept your challenge. Let's make this quick." He glared down at Velvet as, rather than take whatever weapon was within the case out, she daintily set it off to her side. As if she didn't need it. He was just about to toss his own weapon aside when Velvet held a hand up.
"Don't. You'll need it." This was certainly a lot of very aggravating confidence coming from this girl. "Besides, ammo for that costs too much. Trust me." Her proceeding to draw a small, light-blue, likely expensive Dust crystal from a pack at her waist did not help his growing annoyance. "Whenever you're ready..."
But, he was better than to fall to his own tricks. There was no point in taking this too seriously. Besides, he could end this in a swift stroke. Red grass shifted under boots as both fell into defensive stances. For a second, the only sound was the whistling of wind through trees.
Adam was behind Velvet in the blink of an eye, walking away from her and flicking his hand back to tap her head. Only a chance glance back, however, stopped him from making a critical error.
Rather than being caught unaware, Velvet was already twisting to face him. In fact, her foot was also flying towards his head. Barely a fraction of a second to adjust himself, Adam spread his feet wide and strengthened his stance, blocking her strike and saving himself from what would've been humiliation. She was quick, but he wasn't going to let a good prediction stop him.
Adam threw her leg back and turned to throw kick of his own at Velvet, forcing her to leap away. She had barely even touched the ground before he was sliding across the grass foot-first. Her stance would be weaker, less steady. They could accelerate and move faster than cars, but gravity was a constant. It'd be an assured trip.
At least, so he thought, for as Velvet hopped up again and snapped a lightning-fast kick at him, Adam was forced to jerk his head back and finish his slide on his back. She missed by barely an inch, scattering blades of grass across his face.
So, she was fast and clever.
Grunting in annoyance, he kicked off of a tree to maintain his momentum and the offensive. She ducked beneath a roundhouse as he came back towards her and parried a palm strike when he landed, only confirming his observation. So, Adam decided to defeat her in a contest of endurance, throwing kick after kick, strike after strike in a flurry of blows he'd trained in using countless times. He learned two things. The first was that Velvet was most definitely a kickboxer like him.
The second was that they had disturbingly similar fighting styles. It was like fighting a mirror: even her stance was identical. She matched each blow, each feint, until the strikes left his leg feeling numb even through his aura. Only his final, forceful kick got past her guard, forcing her to block with her arms and slamming her back into a tree.
Velvet lowered her guard and winked. Was she daring to mock him?
His rational mind warned him that he was getting drawn in just as Yang was with him. All the way down to trying to teach this third-year a 'lesson'... but that didn't matter, now. Adam saw red.
He pulled Blush's trigger, sending Wilt out in a blur almost unrecognizable in the bright-red surroundings with him right behind it. Its hilt, even his follow-up slashes normally faster than his usual opponents could see, were both blocked by a pulsing, sky-blue wall of force.
The glow of the crystal in Velvet's hand flickered, and the shield shattered under a final blow.
She raised an eyebrow. "Finally taking me seriously? Good."
Wilt swung out and was back in its sheath three times in a single second. Each time, Velvet slipped and slid by as graceful as the wind, inching ever closer through his guard until she'd grown close enough to attack. Adam hadn't seen when she'd grabbed a red Dust crystal, but the roar of flames around her incoming punch was not a good sign.
Even when blocking with Wilt, the explosive force sent him skidding backwards. His foot caught on a root. Adam's balance precariously shifted backwards. His sight turned skyward. He was falling, and that would be it. Failure. Just like that.
Adam refused. With a grunt of exertion and pain from fighting gravity and inertia alike, he flared his aura and forced himself to stand. Not one more inch backwards! She might've been stronger than he'd believed—he dared think to himself that she'd proven her point—but his pride wouldn't let him go down like this.
By the time he'd focused, the space between them was full of flames. Some snaked through the air in erratic patterns, others were brutish fireballs meant to bowl him over. He could jump back and force her to lose sight in the trees. He could dive and take cover. But he was a man of his word. Not one more inch backwards!
Scorching heat licked and lapped at Adam's skin and clothes as he sprinted forward into the inferno. Body twisting around and between each orb and spear of fire he could dodge and cutting clean through those he could not, he advanced without breaking step nor losing speed. He was rewarded with the look of Velvet wide-eyed and mouth agape as he plunged through a final fireball, the end of his sheath lunging for her.
Instinct took over for Velvet, and she hurriedly raised her arms in front of her face. The fire Dust crystal, bright and flickering from the constant use dropped from her hand.
Unfortunately for both, it was the crystal that the point of Adam's sheath struck.
With a sharp crack and explosive wave of force, the nearly-spent crystal shattered, all its remaining energy used to blast the two of them away from each other. Adam crashed into the grass and tumbled across the dirt until he could flip up to his feet. He rose up to only find a shroud of smoke. Gasping for air, Adam wiped away the sweat on his forehead and waited. Waited to see if Velvet would have the nerve to call that their solid hit, or if she would wrongfully concede. On the other side of that shroud, he was sure Velvet was doing the same.
She was panting on the other side, but said nothing. They had their answer: neither were content with ending it at that.
Leaves crunched under Velvet's foot while she crept along the perimeter of the smoke and flame. Unlike the rest of her spells, that burst was uncontrolled. She couldn't just have it put itself out like she did for the rest. Besides, she had Dust, she could put it out in an instant... even if she might have to do some explaining later.
She might've gotten carried away a little—
Velvet jerked her head out of the Wilt's way as it shot towards her, crimson blade so close she could briefly see her reflection on its polished side and feel the heat from its Dust-powered propulsion on her cheek. The smoke ahead burst open just long enough for a black blur to slip through. Velvet twisted on her heel, nimbly withdrew another fire crystal from her pouch and raised her other hand. Adam's swing cracked off of yet another shield of light, but he was already in the middle of his next swing by the time she'd noticed.
Their bout next to the swaying smoke was less a fight and more a dance, each swaying and twirling out of the way of the other's blows. So close that their footwork threatened to have them stepping on the other's toes—a tactic both also tried and failed at—they evaded crimson flashes of a blade, sharp kicks, thrusts of energetic shields and jabs that left darts of controlled flame in their wake. Neither wanted to risk blocking, now: it was a game of speed and endurance ever increasing, with either unable to break their gaze from the other for more than a fraction of a second.
Velvet's shield shattered. The force knocked both crystals from her hands, spent and colorless already. Adam saw his chance. Turning and bringing all the momentum of their dance into a final twist, he swung Wilt out for the finishing, aura-pumped blow.
He never saw Velvet snatching up a final crystal.
She lifted her hand towards his blade, and he felt his blade grow heavy. A purple crystal. Gravity.
Adam's eyes followed his swing passing low beneath Velvet's chest. He missed. The force, amplified but now aimless, struck out with such force that it whipped away the smoke and flame beside them in a rush of wind. Adam was distracted by the burst, but only momentarily. His eyes had snapped back to Velvet before his swing had even finished. He could salvage this. He let the momentum take him, turning his entire form so that his rifle would turn to her.
Velvet's fist buried itself in his gut. The breath was driven from him. Wilt flew from his hand into a tree behind him.
He'd lost.
Catching his breath, Adam stumbled a few steps back, eyes wide. Had that just happened?
"W-well..." Velvet was left panting as well, though the confidence was unmistakable in her tall stature and subtle cock of her hips. "You're... way stronger than I thought you'd be."
"... Likewise." He was still in shock. Had he just lost to someone who couldn't even protect herself from a schoolyard bully?
"Don't forget our bet, now... and also don't forget that just because someone isn't"—she giggled—" 'kicking ass and taking names,' as Coco would say, doesn't mean that they can't." Velvet strolled up and teasingly flicked Adam's nose, snapping him out of his daze. He couldn't even bring himself to be angry. Adam was plenty of things, right now: impressed, devastated, confused, amazed, frustrated... but not angry. It was rare.
Adam had forced himself out of his thoughts just long enough to tear Wilt out from the tree it had buried itself inside, when Velvet held his hat out towards him. "Does anyone in your team know that you're a faunus?"
He shook his head. "Not yet." His horns were once more covered up by the homburg. "They'll figure it out eventually—it's not a great disguise—but maybe I'll tell them, in time."
Velvet frowned a little and knitted her brow in thought. Finally, she sighed. "If you say so..."
The two soon parted, Velvet carrying a bounce in her step and confidence in her smile, Adam's gaze turned down and mind churning in thought. Neither were noticed in the students passing along to their next classes, lost in the river of man and faunus alike.
"Absolutely not!" The Schnee's shrieks were never going to stop getting on his nerves, Adam swore as they and the rest of the team lingered in one of Beacon's halls. "I don't care what you were doing or if combat training is next, you're at least changing into a different uniform. I'm not having my partner strutting around reeking of sweat and ash like some filthy animal!" The sneer was even heard in her voice.
Animal.
Adam gritted his teeth and stalked away before doing something the Schnee would regret.
He knew that humans like her would no doubt find his true nature to accept, however, it would be revealed inevitably. Hate it as he might, even if solely for the insults he knew he would fail to weather from that Schnee girl, Adam would tell have to tell them on his own terms.
