A/N: *popping up* Hello again! Good to see you wanna stick with this story. I don't have a specific posting schedule... but there's only 7 chapters, so it won't take too long.

With a blink, the psych starts. "Let's start with your history. Your… file, if you can even call it that, only shows that you're originally from Menagerie. No next of kin, no emergency contacts, nothing. This evaluation will go a lot smoother if I knew a bit more about you."

"With respect, ma'am… I know nothing about you, either. I'm not keen on giving myself and my past out to people I don't trust."

"You don't think you can trust another government employee?"

My pupils narrow to the cat slits that they sometimes do when I feel strong emotions, such as the frustration that bolts through me. This psych is going to be stubborn and I know it. "I'm speaking from experience."

"Okay, then. Why don't we start with what I do know? Like… your involvement with the White Fang? How did you first join them?"

...

The day that I joined the White Fang, and left the simple, easy life with my parents in Menagerie...

Honestly, my dad was the leader of the White Fang for a long time. You could say he had a hand in founding it in the first place. By the time I wanted to get in, he had retired and was serving as Chieftain of the White Fang was still incredibly small. An outlier, as I'd call it.

I was interested. I was excited. I know how weird it sounds… a teenager wanting to be a part of an organization of military contractors and bodyguards. A soldier, basically. But I was 18, and by that time, I was tired of seeing the way the world treated my parents.

I remember the day I told my dad why I wanted to join the group he started. "Dad… back when we lived in Vale for that one year, I saw everything. I remember everything. Like seeing mom come home from work with bruises on her arms, or how tired I was of hearing teenagers call 'Here, kitty, kitty...' to us."

"Blake… you can't let-"

"I got sick of the way that you had to fumble for excuses for why I couldn't go into that toy store on the corner, when it's because I just have a pair of cat ears! And that's not all of it… there's so, so much more." I paused, letting the air settle for a moment. "I want to fight, dad. If I can't get people's respect here or in Vale, maybe I can get their respect by fighting out there in the war."

Growing up like that… it changes you. And to me, being 18 and ready to take on the world… I thought I could make a difference.

Those thoughts bounced around in my head even as I tied my bow to leave my house in the countryside of Menagerie. My parents… when I told them, my mom got really quiet, and stared at me for a long time. She asked me how sure I was about this, and I told her that I was positive. I… don't know what she thought of it. It was hard to tell her that her daughter was leaving for an unknown amount of time, to go however far away…

My dad, on the other hand... he sat me down and made sure this was what I wanted, and gave me the contacts and information I needed. I left with his blessing, and his reassurance that I could always come back home, and get out of the White Fang.

I specifically remember how… cold it felt that day. Sitting at the back of a travel bus where everyone else was sleeping, just watching raindrops fall… It gave me time to think about how much I wanted this. To be something, to matter, to have some sort of significance in life, whether that be to soldiers in the kingdoms' militaries, or to people back home who needed a guardian. At that time, the White Fang was this shining beacon or monument, symbolizing the strength of the Faunus. Strength that I hoped I could just maybe add to.

My dad had given me a name. Adam Taurus. According to dad, Adam was one of the best. A great soldier, a natural leader. Someone who cared deeply about his team. The person I'd be answering to for the next few years of my life. I'd meet him at the airport, and fly to Vale from there.

I lean back in the comfy lounge chair that I had set up in the reading nook of my apartment.

"And you jumped into it? Even though your dad gave you the information, did you have any preoccupations or worries?"

I shrug. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Only it didn't, in this case."

I pick my now lukewarm tea up and finish the last few sips before setting it on the wooden end-table beside me. The end-table, a lavish and expensive piece of carpentry fashioned from cherry, is stacked with books, a few of which I had finished and a few I was still working on. "Ninjas of Love," one of my favorites, rests on the bottom. In the drawer is my pistol, loaded and ready to fire, with two magazines beside it. The gun isn't the only one in the apartment.

The apartment itself is very small- just one bedroom, not too far from that airfield in Vale- Beacon Field. After getting out of the White Fang, I still had a decent sum of money. Even though a lot of my belongings are in the hangar where the rest of RWBY stays, I still have this place to get away to when I want to, or need to. Yang is the only one who knows about it. Maybe I'll tell the rest of the team when the time is right.

I bring a leg up and rest my ankle on my knee, crossing my legs in a fashion. "In this case, you might say the cat killed its curiosity."

"Because you don't trust anyone?"

Underneath, my jaw clenches and I temporarily bite my tongue, hard. On the surface, I shoot a glare at the psych. No, I don't trust people, except for RWBY. Faunus don't trust people, because that trust has been betrayed more than once in the past. "Ma'am… the place where I grew up is called Menagerie. Definition: a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition. Yeah. I don't trust anyone except my team."

"Okay. Sorry. Maybe we'll talk more about it later. Do... you want to tell me about what happened when you first met Adam? At the airport, I'm guessing?"

...

She's right. It was at the airport.

Truth be told, I had never been in an airplane before that day. Late afternoon storm clouds threatened with lightning and thunder, making me even more uneasy at the fact that I was getting on some big contraption that just used air and pressure to get off of the ground. That is, if I found this Adam Taurus and actually got onto the right plane.

My dad didn't give me a location. Or a face. That's how the White Fang operated at the time- no trails. Not the kind of group to keep records, mainly because they wanted to operate off the grid. Off the radar. I still have no idea how my dad was able to get back into contact with them after so many years away.

Menagerie's main airport was a pretty large one, especially for its size as an island. Lots of people, both Faunus and human, bustled around me as I just… stood there. Like a clueless idiot. Because I was a clueless idiot. I'd never flown before. Where was I supposed to go? What were all those signs?

I first met Adam just as a voice at my side. "Lost, darling?"

I looked beside me and saw a tall bull Faunus, looking over the papers and documentation I had in my hand. Hearing the word 'darling' made me blush slightly. "Um… yeah…."

"Then you're the one. Follow me, and stay close."

I looked up at him as he started to walk away. He had horns that ran along with his head. Red hair. A long, black jacket that slickly fit his body. It had red markings, and was complemented with a bright red shirt underneath. To be honest, I found him intimidating at first. The way he walked, how he scanned the rooms and everyone he was passing… it was all meticulous. Calculating. But also relaxed, as if he'd been doing this his whole life.

I didn't even confirm that it was Adam. I just… followed. I was curious. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Security. You've never flown before, have you?"

We weaved through crowds of people at the airport, and that's when I noticed how quiet it was. Humans talking in hushed voices to other humans in groups, Faunus doing the same. There was still the ambient noise of tickets being scanned and bags rolling on carpet or tiled linoleum, but… no conversations. I've always embraced the Faunus traits that my parents gave me, such as night vision, higher reflexes, and advanced hearing. That day, though, I folded my ears against my head and tried to shut out everything I heard from the human groups.

He sighs, noticing my ears drop under my bow. "Listen… You've done a good job so far hiding those ears of yours, and obviously Ghira thinks very highly of you. You've got a lot of work, though. Just because you're Ghira's daughter doesn't make you an automatic shoe-in. So let's start simple. Hide your eyes, hide the scent, and not look like an abandoned kitten when you're around people who look down on Faunus. You've got until we get to the plane to show me you can do that, or you're not getting on. I can't let you endanger what we're doing, here."

In that moment, I had a wake-up call. It's not that anything changed, but my teenage brain realized that what I was doing was real.

Damn it… that sounds wrong. Not what I'm trying to say. I've read a ton of books, but telling my own story… it's hard.

Either way, I decided that I couldn't go back home and watch my parents live while everyone thought of them as lesser beings. This organization- the White Fang- was going to be my future. The Faunus's future.

"So… you impressed him? What happened?"

I shake my head, standing up and grabbing our tea cups. I walk it in to the small kitchen in my apartment, setting them both down on the counter. "Do you want any more tea?"

"I want to know more about you, Blake."

"And I want to know if you want more tea. So tell me."

She cocks her head at me. Her eyes search mine, which are iced over against any search she tries. Her brow furrows, and she gives in, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Sure. Hit me."

...