Coco drew a deep breath and walked over to greet Weiss who was looking flustered.
Glynda had said to her yesterday, "Miss Adel, as you can see, we have three new students who like you have been in the public spotlight for some time. Our experience in the past that the first few weeks at Beacon can be a particularly difficult time for such students. I suspect it would be helpful if they had someone to speak to who understands the special pressures they are under. As far as I can tell none of them have any close friends arriving with them and have been taught not to confide easily in strangers. These are Weiss Schnee, Pyrrha Nikos and, to a lesser extent, Brede Campion. Professor Peach assures me that she has seen pictures in Salutations magazine of you with all three of them."
Coco grimaced thinking back to her own situation and working out which aspects were similar to Weiss's. Both belonged to the third wealthy generation of their respective families and had been in the spotlight from a young age. She expected that Weiss would, like Coco, have had it drummed into her that she represented the family whenever she was in public and being in public meant whenever you were outside the family home. Coco had also been taught if that you made a faux pas you either corrected it quickly or doubled down and denied that there was a problem. She suspected Weiss had been told the same, but with even less room for backing down. She supposed that Weiss had had her aura unlocked at an early age because of assassination threats. Coco's aura had been unlocked at age twelve by her bodyguard during an attempted kidnap attempt in Mistral when bullets had started flying. On the plus side that had meant that her mother had accepted that she would need to go to combat school to learn to use her aura responsibly and safely. She assumed that Weiss would have had private tutors or members of the SDC security team to train her.
Both had unexpectedly had the spotlight intensify at age 15 - Weiss from becoming the official Schnee heiress and her singing, Coco from becoming a fashion icon.
In Weiss's case there had been a very public argument between Winter Schnee and her father, Jacques Schnee which had resulted in Jacques saying in public that there was a conflict of interest between Winter joining the military and being heiress of the SDC. Weiss had been announced as the new heiress and had started a series of charity concerts and released albums of classic songs, again for charitable purposes. She was been presented as the acceptable face of the SDC. When Coco had met her, she had felt that Weiss enjoyed the singing, but hated the trappings.
In Coco's case, at the end of the summer term after she had turned fifteen, her mother had persuaded her to lend her name to and model a young adult range of clothing. Neither of them had expected the range and adverts to be so popular and her mother was not going to waste a business opportunity. This had meant that in her last two years at Pharos she often had promotional duties at weekends and during the holidays so missed out on much of the social life at Pharos. In addition, it would take an exceptional teenager who suddenly is the subject of widespread admiration and praise not to let it go to her head a bit – after all the world did seem to be revolving around her. In retrospect, she had been lucky to have brothers who greeted any signs of her taking her publicity seriously with affectionate derision. She still recalled their laughter when they read an interview in which Coco had referred to herself in the third person.
She greeted Weiss "It is great to see you here, Weiss. You really should have let me know you were coming to Beacon when we met at the Atlas gala as I could have given you the lowdown." She watched as Weiss consciously calmed herself down.
"Hello Coco" Weiss replied. "I would have done, but I am afraid that the SDC security team preferred to keep it quiet for as long as possible."
Coco said "I quite understand, but do speak to me if you have any questions or need to let off steam. It was a shock to me moving out of the Adel family home into a four person mixed dorm which was smaller than my bedroom suite at home."
Weiss looked around and then spoke in a low voice to Coco, "I assume you saw what just happened"
Coco nodded and said "I only caught the end of it. Do you want to talk about it?" Coco was relieved that Weiss was bringing up the incident herself.
"What is a child doing at Beacon? She was not looking where she was going and she cracked some of my dust containers"
Coco said "She is actually 16 although a little small for her age. To be fair to her, she did not know she was coming to Beacon until early this morning. She foiled a dust robbery in Vale, knocking out five thugs and forced one of Vale's leading crooks and rogue huntsman, Roman Torchwick, to flee the scene empty handed. This apparently impressed the Professors enough that they offered her a place." Coco was hoping that this would favourably impress Weiss.
Weiss nodded "Yes, I have heard about him. If she caused him to flee, I am prepared to believe that she has earned the right to be here although it sounds a little reckless taking on six riff raff by herself."
Weiss paused and continued "Thinking about it, perhaps I overreacted and should not have lost my temper with her."
Coco paused – she was going to suggest to Weiss that she say sorry to Ruby, but needed to be careful how she phrased the message. "Why not speak to her and say that you recognise that it was a simple accident, you were taken by surprise and your reaction was perhaps sharper than you intended or she deserved."
Weiss gave this consideration and mused "Perhaps I can also offer her advice on how to behave round dust, I have some SDC pamphlets with me."
Coco thought she knew the ones she meant and took a deep breath. She said "While well meant, that may make things worse. Very few people saw the incident as they were mostly on the way to the hall or looking at Miss Goodwitch. Frankly, a small dust explosion due to a defective container is not a big deal."
"I should add that Ruby's sister, Yang, is also a new student and she has the reputation of being protective of her sister. I am told by a friend who went to Signal that Yang is also probably the strongest fighter from Signal in her year and is well respected by the other Signal students. I think that, despite your good intentions, there is a danger that it will be seen as an insult and may cause unnecessary difficulties if you end up on the same team as Yang or any of her friends." Coco hoped that an appeal to self interest would push Weiss in the right direction.
Weiss did not look entirely convinced, although she was clearly giving it some thought.
Coco continued "Unfortunately people in our position are at a disadvantage as people have read lies about us in the press and the scandal mags. Sometimes people are too ready to see our behaviour as fitting in with the lies and there is no point in giving them unnecessary ammunition."
Weiss nodded at that and said, "You think that it may come across as bullying and arrogant".
Coco nodded "I think there is a risk. It does get easier as people get to know the real you and you get closer to your team. My team has been very good for me in letting me know when I am making the wrong impression"
Weiss indicated that she agreed with Coco. Coco noted for future reference that her guess that Weiss did not want to be regarded as a younger version of her father seemed to be correct.
Coco said "If you would like to join me at dinner, I will introduce you to some of the students in your year from Pharos"
Weiss said "I look forward to it"
Coco saw Velvet approaching and suggested to Weiss that they pose for a photograph. Weiss nodded at that and moved into what Velvet had described before as her Ice Queen pose.
Coco wondered what had caused Weiss to join Beacon and leave Atlas. Still that was a conversation for another time, although thinking about it when they had met in the spring vacation, Weiss had seemed to show real interest in the stories of the missions with actual hunters defending villages against Grimm invasions and of feeling really alive when fighting. She also seemed to have been intrigued by the discussion of the deep trust within teams.
The third bullhead had now arrived which had Brede Campion, groups of friends from the Vale schools and most of the mustangs on board. Yatsuhashi and Fox greeted the mustangs and directed them to the hall and the weapon lockers. Brede was clearly playing up the eccentric man about town image. His white linen suit fitted him perfectly and the material was top drawer, although she did feel that the monocle was overdoing it. She did not think even she could make if fashionable (on reflection of course she could but only for a certain proportion of her fan base). Brede greeted her and Weiss. Brede looked at Velvet and said "Miss Scarlatina, please take a photograph of me with these two charming ladies - I will be the envy of the Paladin club back in Atlas and it will reassure my brother."
Brede then accompanied Weiss to the weapon lockers and the hall, departing with a cheery "toodle-pip, Miss Adel." Coco liked him and found him good company, but wondered if he had played a part for so long that even he did not know who the real Brede was. She thought about her own public persona. She had had an image consultant since the age of eight – it had been drilled into her that, whenever she went out in public, she represented the Adel brand and must project a stylish and confident image. She had been able to insist on being a stylish tomboy –she was lucky she had a cousin who had been happy to take the princess role. The dark glasses had been adopted at age ten on advice from an uncle who said that if people cannot see your eyes, they do not know for certain what you are thinking and in particular cannot tell that you are nervous. The beret had been adopted at the age of thirteen after a bet with her older brother as to who could get away with the most outrageous headgear. By the time she arrived at Pharos, she carried herself in a way which radiated confidence and sass. It reflected part of her personality, but had required other aspects to be well hidden. She had also learnt how to talk amusingly, but superficially.
Coco was just about to head back to the landing stage when someone greeted her by drawling in an exaggerated Atlesian accent a suggestive "Well, Hello" in a manner clearly indicative of romantic (or more accurately lecherous) intent. She was rather taken aback as no one had dared approach her so directly (at least when sober) while she had been at Beacon. She turned round, pulled her glasses down slightly and glared at the reckless male over the top of them.
She saw a tall muscular Lynx Faunus with a Vacuoan complexion who she recognised from the photographs as being Leslie Corkran. At the same time, she mentally sent a message to Fox and the others saying "Thanks for the heads up, Fox, but I thought you said he was self-assured not suicidal. "
Coco's glare changed to a grin and she responded "You clearly have the same sense of humour as Fox. Out of interest does that approach ever work?"
He grinned back at her and said "Just wanted to see your reaction - you looked like a good sport. Surprisingly often, yes and, even if it does not, it generally seems to make women laugh rather than angry and they do remember me. Besides which too many of my contemporaries regarded hair pulling as refined courtship so by comparison I was suave and sophisticated. Still I presume you would recommend that I tone down my act a bit in Vale"
"I would hesitate to say that, but perhaps use that particular line sparingly. The competition here has moved beyond hair pulling" replied Coco. She had a mental image of the reaction if Leslie had greeted Weiss in the same way.
She looked at her scroll, the final bullhead was due in and it contained Pyrrha Nikos. She thought back to a meeting she had had with Pyrrha last winter. Somehow they had been left together behind the scenes at an awards ceremony for advertising – Pyrrha's handler had been called into a meeting to deal with an argument over how gushing Pyrrha's introduction would be and the exact clips to be shown from her tournament victories. Pyrrha had said that she was bored of the tournament circuit. She said that too many people went into the arena expecting to lose to her for it to be a real challenge. She had also been upset by a recent story in the Remnant Enquirer, which she half believed, that the promoters had arranged for a minimum height rule to be imposed in the Mistral Regional tournament two years ago. This had allegedly been introduced to prevent a person who had given her a close fight in the early rounds of the Mistral combat school competition competing. While she put it more politely, it was clear that the level of adulation in Mistral and Atlas was suffocating.
Pyrrha had then asked Coco how she had been able to leave the fashion business behind and go to Beacon to become a hunter and how difficult it had been to persuade her family to let her go. Coco had explained that she thought being a hunter was a better use of her skills and a better test of character. It was also good not to have people fawning on her all the time and indulging her vanities – she had shared the speaking of herself in the third person story. The descriptions of fighting Grimm, going on missions and being close to your team clearly interested Pyrrha. Coco had explained that she had been tired of being referred to a clothes horse who was playing at being a fighter, which also seemed to resonate with Pyrrha.
Coco pointed out that she had not entirely deserted the family business - she still did promotional tours in the holidays and oddly enough the fact that she was a huntress in training seemed to have increased the popularity of the Coco brand. She said that the analysts her mother employed said that by accident that they had managed to avoid making people totally sick of her name without her been forgotten altogether and that becoming a huntress in training had conferred authenticity on the brand and improved its longevity. Pyrrha had looked thoughtful at that and had jotted some notes on her scroll.
There was a little more to it than that. Her mother wanted her to go into the family business, but had struck a deal with Coco that if she was accepted into Beacon, then her mother would support her. However, in exchange Coco should also get to know the family business and be involved in promoting it. She suspected her mother had thought that she would decide that fashion was the career for her. Coco had wondered whether her mother may have given too much credit to Pettigrew's faint praise of Coco's abilities and either thought the deal was low risk or was trying to save Coco from disappointment.
Velvet had been taking photographs and listening out for signs of trouble. She had registered Blake Nightshade's remarks to Weiss. She had thought yesterday that Blake was familiar and the incident had only reinforced that concern. She decided to think further about it – Blake had been sarcastic but not threatening to Weiss and if she had been who Velvet feared she was there would have been the real risk of blood as well as debris in the courtyard. Most of the new students were excitedly talking to their friends and happily posed for photographs. She had caught a snippet of conversation between Cardin and Dove which had made her a little uncomfortable. She would discuss it with Fox later – Yatsuhashi and Coco would insist on doing something about it and Velvet did not want to escalate things yet. She had also been watching Anne Harker who was dressed very plainly, when someone stumbled over their weapon and trod on her foot. She had mumbled an expletive which Velvet recognised as being a common one in the poorer slums in the Faunus quarter.
The last Bullhead arrived and Pyrrha Nikos stepped out. She looked around her, waved at Velvet and came over to her. "I'm sorry for the bother, Velvet, but I was glad to hear that you would be taking the photographs. Where would you like me to stand." For the next few minutes, Velvet took photographs of Pyrrha. Some had the towers of Beacon in the background, other had her back to the aerial view from the landing site, while others had her signing autographs for fellow students, the Bullhead crews and even the Schnee valets who were returning back to Vale after having dropped off the luggage. There was then a photograph with Coco and the Lynx Faunus friend of Fox.
She discussed with Pyrrha when the next batch should be taken. It was agreed that there would be a few at dinner and some during the welcoming speech in the hall. Pyrrha then signed a few more autographs and went towards the hall with Coco.
She checked in with Fox and he and she started chivvying the waifs and strays towards the hall. Ruby and Jaune in particular seemed to have got very lost and she went after them.
She greeted Ruby and said that it was nearly time for the welcoming ceremony. Ruby recognized her and said "Hello Velvet. This is Jaune. Where are we meant to be?" Velvet escorted them and a few other stragglers to the main hall and discussed weapons with Ruby. She admired the refinements to Crescent Rose and took a couple of pictures of Ruby wielding her. Jaune Arc noticeably moved backwards when Ruby extended Crescent Rose to its full length. He also stayed out of shot of the camera. Velvet was rather puzzled by Jaune Arc's weapon as it seemed very outdated to her. However, he seemed friendly and pleasant if perhaps trying a bit too hard to be sociable.
She delivered them to the hall and then checked in with Fox who confirmed that they had managed to get everyone to the hall in time. Coco reported that Tom had said that fifty-four students had handed in the weapons so far and Velvet volunteered to direct Jaune and Ruby to the lockers after the ceremony. She tensed up when she saw Weiss approaching Ruby and Yang, especially as she saw Ruby flinch at the sound of Weiss's voice. However, the semi apology was made, no dust pamphlets were produced although Weiss's horrified reaction when Yang suggested that Ruby and her become buddies and discuss boys slightly spoiled the effect. Still it could have been a lot worse. She took a few more pictures of Pyrrha, and also some which were of interest in showing how the students had gathered together, the mustangs had mostly migrated to each other, most of the students from Signal and Torch had gathered in one large group each while the Pharos students were in three separate groups.
She noted four students by themselves, Blake Nightshade, Jaune Arc, Leslie Corkran and Anne Harker. Blake looked comfortable and was reading a book while waiting for the ceremony to begin. Leslie was looking relaxed and was about ten yards away from Weiss and the rest of the Atlesians. Anne looked overwhelmed and Jaune a little uncertain. She suggested to Yatsuhashi via Fox's telepathic service that he take Jaune to the locker room after the ceremony and then introduce him to Nora and Ren. He had seemed friendly enough and with them being from Mistral they may have things in common. She decided that she would speak to Anne after she had escorted Ruby to store Crescent Rose.
Ozpin began his speech which she appreciated more this year than last year. The last year had taught Team CFVY that it was too easy to assume that merely having made it to Beacon meant you had done the hard work. They had come to appreciate how their team was more than the sum of its parts. She was looking through Anesidora during the speech and taking photos when she registered two unexpected movements. Blake's bow had twitched at the mention of wasted potential and Leslie Corkran had turned his head slightly and looked closely at Blake.
She thought about it and then sent a scroll message to Dr. Oobleck asking him if she could come and see him after the ceremony. He had responded saying that would be fine and to meet him in his office in 30 minutes time. She then asked Fox if he could have a word with Anne and try and make her feel more at ease. She also asked for more background about Corkran. She pretended it was merely curiosity after the teasing of Coco.
After escorting Ruby to the weapons store and persuading her that Crescent Rose would be safe, Velvet hurried to Oobleck's office. She explained to her team that he had asked to speak to her. Fox also filled her in on the background to Corkran and explained one of the theories about his Atlesian accent. It appeared that he often worked with the Atlesian military and had found that they responded more quickly in battle when he addressed them in a voice they associated with officers. It was also said that he really enjoyed the reaction when they first met him face to face after talking to him over the radio.
Oobleck greeted her with his thermos in hand. "Miss Scarlatina. What is it you wish to talk to me about?"
Velvet said, "When you talked to me yesterday about Faunus passing themselves off as human, you had two students in mind didn't you?"
Oobleck raised an eyebrow and said, "What has caused you to believe that, Miss Scarlatina?"
Velvet raised the easiest one first, "I assume that Anne Harker is an alias. She is looking a little lost and her vocabulary slipped for a second earlier today. However, I doubt any human apart from you would recognize her from the press coverage three years ago. I might not have done if you had not put the possibility of someone disguising themselves into my mind and the case was one I took an interest in. Still I do understand why she is using an alias and will not say anything to my team. I have also not taken photographs of her."
Oobleck nodded "Thank you for letting me know you spotted her and for your discretion. She has a cover story which she will use if anyone asks her and a more detailed one which she will use with her team if all is going well after a week or so. I hope that she will feel able to be more open with them later. You said that you had a second student in mind."
Velvet nodded and said "I believe that Blake Nightshade is a cat Faunus. Her bow twitched in a way which only made sense if it was covering ears. She also has strong views on the immorality of the SDC. In any event she does bear a striking resemblance to pictures of a young Kali Belladonna who I know has a daughter of around the right age and who split with her parents at about the time Siena Khan took over from Ghira Belladonna. I hope that I am wrong, but I thought that I should check that Beacon is satisfied that she is neither the Belladonna daughter nor a member of the White Fang"
Oobleck took a long sip of coffee and thought for a moment. "I spotted the resemblance yesterday and raised it with Glynda last night. Glynda told me earlier today that she had spoken to Professor Ozpin who told her that he knows exactly who Blake Nightshade is, she is not a member of the White Fang and he is happy she bears no real risk to any student at Beacon. She agreed with me that we should not allow any photographs of her to be passed to the press"
Velvet said "That sounds like a curiously specific choice of words. I hope Professor Ozpin understands the full risks to Beacon and to Faunus if he is wrong. Weiss Schnee is not the most tactful person on Remnant, and I can see arguments with her and even a lukewarm White Fang supporter escalating quickly. Even a mere fight with an ex member of the White Fang, let alone an attempted assassination, would lead to a severe crackdown on Faunus in Atlas and would cause an upsurge in anti-Faunus activity in Vale."
She paused "I do have some other concerns. There was an incident between Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee today and two of the new students reacted noticeably more quickly to it than anyone else. Now they are both mustangs and it may have been that they have learnt to react without delay."
She paused and then continued "One is from Atlas and so travelling on the same Bullhead as Weiss and being in the general vicinity of her and the other Atlesians may be simple coincidence. The other is a Vacuoan Faunus mustang who has in the past been rumoured to work for the Atlas military in covert operations against the White Fang. He is also, for some reason, spending a lot of his time today within 10 yards of Weiss rather than with the other mustangs or Vacouans. I think he also spotted Blake's bow twitch. It would not be surprising if the Atlas military and/or the SDC had sent some additional protection for Brede Campion and Weiss Schnee as well as the two new members of the serving staff with suspiciously strong auras. If I am correct how do you think they will respond if they identify one student as possibly being the daughter of an ex leader of the White Fang and the other as a Faunus who killed a member of the Mistralian ruling class, albeit in self defence."
Oobleck looked at Velvet and asked, "How much longer can you spare before you have to rejoin your team?"
Velvet said "I would prefer to rejoin them now as I am meant to join them in taking students on tours of the weapon shops, but 15 minutes should be fine if I can let them know I am still reporting to you"
Oobleck nodded and reached for his scroll "Professor Goodwitch, could you join me and Miss Scarlatina in my office immediately. I think you need to hear this."