Helping Hand
Today was the first real day of school and Velvet was so excited, she put on the outfit that Coco had bought for her after rushing to the shower. The boys were already up but Coco needed to be urged out of bed; the girl really did like her beauty sleep. Velvet shook Coco's shoulder gently to wake her up, watching the girl slink off to the bathroom to shower her mess of a bed hair.
By the time Coco was all ready, the boys were all dressed and Velvet had been ready for some time. She had not stopped smiling since being given the outfit and Coco knew she'd done the right thing buying her it.
"Alright Team CFVY, lets go!" she smirked and turned to leave. The first day of school was a tour of the grounds, showing the training area's that were free for everyone to use, showing the locker rooms where their weapons were kept and loaded into self propelling lockers that would arrive at their location or a set location determined by an App on their Scrolls. Velvet dropped her bag into the locker but kept her camera with her, as it was technically not part of the weapon she could keep it; it only took pictures and could work like a normal camera.
Their first lesson was with Professor Oobleck, who dashed around the lecture hall and gave them a lecture on the history of Grimm, Velvet had her notebook out and was writing in elegant script across the page. Coco leaned over and saw Velvet's notes were very intense, she was taking pretty much everything down.
Coco knew a lot of this from her previous school but took some notes down in her own notebook, her handwriting not perfect but she prided herself on keeping it very legible. A rich girl like her could not have messy handwriting. Leaning over to Velvet,Coco whispered in the girl's ear, her hot breath on her soft skin causing the girl to blush.
"We might be Team CFVY, I think we better bring Oobleck on our team as he seems to be downing that coffee" she smirked softly, causing Velvet to snort a laugh, almost catching the eye of Oobleck. After the lecture, they moved on to Professor Port's Grimm anatomy and Combat Techniques module. Velvet had liked Oobleck's quick nature of rasping off the work, she liked to learn but Port's art of describing the scenes, Grimm and the fights he'd been through. Many in the class seemed to be bored by his words, even Coco who was sketching some designs in her notebook for something.
After class, the group went for dinner to the mess hall. The vast hall was lined with students from all years. Velvet felt intimidated as she walked in the middle of her team, they always seemed to be taking up positions around her; Coco at the head, Yatsu and Fox at either side or slightly behind.
Approaching the counter, Velvet had pulled out her purse and was wondering if they took vouchers when she caught someone else asking a question.
"How much is the food?" A fellow first year student asked the lunch lady, who plopped a gollop of what appeared to be meat?
"It is free for students. You dont have to spend your vouchers here" The lunch lady smiled softly; Velvet suddenly realised that the student had been another Faunus. Noting the small mouse ears, she had failed to miss it. Seeing the vouchers in his hand, Velvet put her purse slowly away.
"What's those? Vouchers? I never got any Vouchers?" Fox asked quietly as they made their way down the line.
"Faunus Relief Vouchers" Coco filled in, taking her tray along the rail as she picked and selected a meal from the choices. Velvet was beside her and asked the lunch lady for the vegetarian option, she was a rabbit Faunus after all.
"What's those?" Yatsu asked beside Velvet.
"It's for Faunus who are below the income threshold. They are to help the poor get access to food and clothing. Quite a few places accept them but not any of the fancy places, it usually the poorer places or places set out for the poor or Faunus exclusively, like soup kitchens." Coco explained and turned to find a seat once she'd collected all her food. "There are a lot of Faunus who use them, its a pitty really"
Velvet's ears twitched. "Why is that?" she asked quietly.
"No one should be struggling to eat. My Father is one of people who pushed for the Relief Vouchers for Faunus, after the human poor got vouchers but the Faunus didn't" Coco explained and pointed to a table free.
"If I knew anyone who used the vouchers, then I'd not let them use them, I'd help them without them having to use what little they have" Yatsu nodded to himself as they walked down the lines of tables.
"No one should ever have to struggle to eat, there are already a number of things to fight against in life; why should the need to eat be a struggle too" Fox added as they sat down.
Velvet smiled to herself, she really had been assigned to a good team, they were all so kind hearted.
"Hey! Get off! Their mine!" a voice called out and the group stopped to turn to its source. An isle over, the Mouse Faunus first year they'd spotted in the queue with the vouchers was getting pushed around by some other students, they looked like third or second year students.
"Not anymore their not rat…" the bigger of the four held something in his hands and two of the group pushed the first year around. Velvet's eyes locked on the vouchers held in the bigger's hands.
"I need those!" the first year pleaded.
"Nah, I think I'll go get some shitty free meal instead" the bigger student laughed softly.
"Hey!" a voice snapped, and all eyes in the hall turned to Velvet. She had no idea who had spoken just then, why was everyone staring at her?
"What's it to you rabbit?" The bigger of the four snarled.
'Oh shit… I'd said that!' Velvet thought, her face going white.
"Stay out of this first years, you dont want to get hurt do you?" One of the bullying group threatened.
"L… l…leave him alone!" Velvet brought up the courage but her voice was a whisper. She turned around and found her team had disapeared. 'Where did they go?!' she thought worriedly.
Three of the students in the bullying team walked over the table towards her, Velvet backed up against the table behind her. One of the students pushed her and she whimpered as she hit the table hard.
"Poor little Rabbit caught in the cross hairs" the leader smirked as he stood up on the table between them.
Velvet punched out, she actually hit one of them square in the face and sent them flying back.
"Get her boys!" the leader yelled before suddenly a girly scream left his lips, his face being planted into the table. Two more cries of pain were heard from either side of Velvet and the last of the bullying team jumped to get Velvet, however she was ready, she backflipped over the table and kicked him in the face with both legs, squatting on the table in a stretched out pose, one leg behind her and the other bent at the knee.
She looked around and saw the rest of the bullies had been pinned to the floor by Fox and Yatsu; their leader was holding a busted nose with one hand and the other pinned behind his back flat on the table. Coco knelt on his arm and back as he pulled his hair back.
"Give…" she snarled and he dropped the vouchers. She took them back and handed them to the mouse Faunus student. "No one" she called out. "Bullies a Faunus on my watch! I find anyone and Team CFVY is going to knock you down a peg…" she called out to the hall, everyone going back to their own conversations and food.
Letting the bullies go, they dashed off through the main doors, probably to tell a teacher or something. Coco walked over to Velvet and knelt down, picking something up off the floor. "You dropped this" she smiled softly, it was Velvet's purse, it had fallen out of her pocket and her vouchers were sticking slightly out the edge.
"Th… thanks" she stepped off the table and took them.
"Next time you want to start a fight; let us get into a flanking position first, sorry for leaving you there on your own, I had the boys take care of those two while I snuck around and got the big one" she smiled and picked up the tray Velvet had dropped, a lot of the food had fallen off, so she went and got some more for her.
"You wont ever have to use those vouchers around me Vel" Coco told her as they walked along. "I am not going to let you go hungry or without anything." She spoke softly so only the Faunus could hear.
"I… I dont want your charity Coco…" she whispered quietly.
"Its not charity Velvet, everyone should look out for each other, you accept my gifts and you do your best to help everyone you can with those gifts and your own gifts" she smiled. "We're not just a team, we're a family. Family looks out for each other.