Faunus Friends! [Closed]

Abigail wandered through the halls of Beacon dormitories, looking at all the different doors curiously. Maybe one of them would be open and she could waltz in and say hello! Though that might be a little creepy, so maybe not. Mostly she was avoiding working out by herself again; she didn't really know many people at Beacon, and getting to know people was pretty high on her list of things to do. "OK," she said to herself, looking around again. "The next person I see I'm going to talk to. Someone's luck is about to change!"

Isabelle turned around and closed the door to her dorm behind her, locking it.  The rest of her team had already left for the day. She was usually the one who ended up leaving last and coming back first, so she was always the one locking or unlocking the door.  Her ears twitched as she heard someone approaching from down the hallway.  Another Faunus, it seemed, one who was okay with showing both her ears and tail.  She simply waved, before turning around and heading towards the stairs.

Bingo! There was someone! And they waved. If that wasn't some kind of sign Abby didn't know what one would possibly look like. Breaking into a light sprint, Abby ran to catch up with the other girl. "Heeeey," she said, coming to a casual walking pace when she got close enough. "I was just saying to myself that I'd make a point to talk to the very next person I saw, and here you are!"

Turning to walk backwards down the stairs, Abby looked at the girl curiously. "You were coming out of one of those rooms, which means you must be on a team, right? What's that like? Do you go on lots of field trips and adventures and things? I'm Abby, by the way," she said, sticking out her hand in greeting.

Slightly surprised that she had come after her, Isabelle took Abby's hand and shook it.  "Uh...  Hi.  I'm Isabelle."  She began her descent down the staircase.  "... As for being on a team, it's certainly an interesting experience, me being the leader...  We haven't done much together yet, b-"  Isabelle paused when she noticed the way Abby was walking.  "Do you really think it's a good idea to walk backwards down stairs?  You could fall."

Abby grinned and paused as well in mid-step, leaning so as almost to be teetering on the edge of the step she was on. "Can't really fall! If you gave me a push I'd still wind up on my feet," she said, lowering her voice dramatically. "Aura stuff, you know," she whispered conspiratorially. "I used to think it was 'cause cats always landed on their feet, but I guess it's just me." Abby cocked her head, apparently looking at the girl in a whole new light. "You're the leader of your team? How cool is that! Do you get to boss 'em all around and stuff, or do you run more of an easygoing ship?"

Isabelle shrugs, taking a seat on the step she was currently standing on.  "It's alright, I guess.  I don't really boss them around or anything, I just organize training or field trips."  She glanced over at the girl's tail, which she apparently didn't care about having in the open unlike some Faunus.  "You're not ever worried that someone is going to mess with that thing?" she asked gesturing towards it with her hand.  "Back at my old school, people would do shit like tying my tail to chairs.  Needless to say, that wasn't very fun."

Abby glanced over her shoulder at her tail, which was sort of sticking out at an odd angle while she balanced on the edge of the step. "Worried? Not really. Jerks are jerks, right? If they're gonna do something, they'll find a way to do something, tail or no tail. Besides! It helps me balance, and if anyone tries to grab it I can just backhand 'em and give 'em a nasty shock." Abby eventually gave up the teetering on the edge of the step and sat down as well, scratching her head.

"I guess if people had messed with it in my last school it might be different, but nobody really bothered me much -- and then I missed a bunch of time, and then I started learning how to fight! So I guess maybe I got off lucky?" She looked quizzically at the other girl, waving a hand vaguely around the area. "Beacon doesn't have people like that, does it? I bet you could get away with having your tail out if you really wanted."

Isabelle shrugged.  "I suppose so.  I haven't had it out at all during my time here at Beacon, somewhat because it's extremely sensitive and hurts if people pull on it a lot.  And I'm positive that there are at least a few racists."

Rina was rushing through the dorm areas - for what, she had no idea, except that she had been told (Or rather forced...) to go fetch something from the dorm. She hadn't wanted to do it - the dorms were so far away and she had class to get to, after all, but when she tried to say no, the one that told her to fetch his stuff had gotten all mean and in the end she had been forced into doing it!

She was so caught up in her scared memories of when she had managed to squeak out a "No thanks" (And subsequently bullied), that she didn't notice the two as she approached the stairwell, accidentally colliding into one of them who seemed to be standing on one of the steps (Abby) and falling to the ground with a muffled "Oof".

Looking up, she rushed to apologize, "S-Sorry! I-I s-s-s-s-s..." Or at least she tried, before breaking out into stutters.

Abby waved a hand dismissively, as if brushing away the point like an irritating fly. "There's racists everywhere. You can't let 'em get ya down or-- oof," she said, as the third girl ran into her. "Owww. Hey! Another new friend. Are you okay?" she said, quickly hopping up to help the girl back to her feet. "But yeah, what was I saying? Oh, right. If you start hiding because you're worried about racists and stuff then they've already won, y'know?"

Isabelle couldn't help but giggle when the girl collided with Abby, though she did feel bad for her.  "Are you guys okay?  That was quite the collision."

What Abby had said was right, though; I shouldn't be hiding, because that's exactly what they want me to do...  She stood up and came to the fallen girl's side, helping Abby get her to her feet.  "I suppose you're right, but I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to have my tail out yet.  I don't really trust anyone getting near it."  Though it would probably be a lot more comfortable.

Rina slowly got up, back on her feet, continuing to repeat, "Sorry!" over and over as she did, ears twitching with nervousness. Maybe since these two were Faunus too, they would be nicer? Although the other Faunus at the orphanage weren't much nicer than the humans here... She was curious about one thing though. Drawing in a deep breath, she mustered the courage to speak.

"U-Umm... Y-Y-You t-two are t-talking a-a-about people b-being m-mean to F-Faunus i-i-if they h-have their t-t-tails out r-r-ight? How b-bad i-is i-i-it...? P-People a-already p-p-pick o-on me a l-lot j-just b-b-because of my e-ears...." She managed to stutter out in a quiet, barely audible voice.

Abby tilted her head, then merely shrugged before sitting down again. "That's one serious stutter you got there, huh? And I dunno! I haven't really had any problems with my tail, so I might not be the best person to ask," she said, frowning slightly. "Besides! There's something to be said for yelling 'hate crime' at the top of your lungs while you beat the snot out of whoever grabbed your tail," she said happily, throwing a few punches at the air.

"Besides, I've tried tucking my tail away. It gets cramped! I'd rather take the chance of maybe someone messing with it over the guarantee of of a cramped tail any day of the week. Don't you guys get tail cramps?"

Isabelle looked at the girl and sighed.  She reminded her of her younger self, back when she was in Signal academy.  A stuttering mess, too nervous to talk to anyone.  "Don't worry, we're friendly.  What's your name?"  She pointed at her ears, as if to reassure her by reminding her that she was also a faunus.  Turning towards Abby, she went to answer.  "Yeah, it does get cramped sometimes.  Especially when you're wearing something like shorts."  She shifted uncomfortably while she spoke, as if to show her point.

"M-m-me?" Rina asked, in surprise, "R-Rina... A-And h-having it c-cramped u-u-up is m-much b-b-better than h-having p-p-people p-pulling o-on i-it a-and t-t-throwing m-me a-around u-sing it..." She stuttered. She tried to muster the courage to elaborate, but failed, instead merely cowering back upon herself and falling silent.

Abby shuffled around to sit leaning against the wall while balancing on the edge of the step once more, her tail flicking around energetically. "Well, there's an easy solution. Find a bunch of other Faunus to hang out with and then you'll never have to worry about getting your tails pulled," she said, grinning. "Or, I guess, a bunch of Faunus with tails. Anyone with a tail knows how annoying it is to have it pulled. You both could be letting your tails get some stretching in right now! Not like anyone here is gonna pull on 'em."

A thought suddenly occurred to Abby, and she pointed directly at the nervous girl. "Why were you running in the halls anyway? That coulda been dangerous!"

Isabelle hesitantly reached behind herself and fumbled around until she was able to pull her tail out of her shorts.  She looked at Rina, turning a bit red.  "See?  Nothing bad is going to happen."  While she spoke confidently, she still felt paranoid for some reason. There's nothing to worry about, there are only other faunus here...

Rina blinked at Abby's first suggestion - She HAD been hanging out with a bunch of other Faunus, and they still made fun of her! Although it was less for her tail than for her personality... but still! Even among Faunus she couldn't feel comfortable. Unfortunately she certainly didn't have the courage to say any of that out loud, but it's the thought that counts, right?

"U-Umm... I-I was g-g-going to g-get s-s-someone's b-b-books... U-uh oh! I-I s-should p-p-probably h-hurry b-before he g-g-gets m-mad..." She said, looking nervously at the time, but at the same time not wanting to look rude. The other girl taking her tail out helped her feel better about taking her own out in the future, but it didn't do much to help her nervousness.

Abby looked from one to the other again, before throwing a thumbs up in Isabelle's direction. "It's already been seconds and nobody is causing you any problems, right? Nothing to worry about! And whaddya mean 'someone'," she said to the nervous girl. "Sit! Be merry! Let 'em get their own books! Even better, let 'em come looking and run into all of us together," she added, cracking her knuckles ominously. "Wait! Unless it's for a boyfriend or something. Theeen you should probably hurry."

"Nobody can make you do things for them.  And if they try, we'll always be here to stop them, right?  Faunus have to stick up for each other, after all."  It wasn't normal for her to say something like that, but being around Abby, if only for a short time, had given her confidence.  "Sorry if we're making you nervous.  You can go if you want, or you could stay."

Rina blushed deeply, the feeling of her cheeks heating up only intensifying her nervousness, "B-Boyfriend? N-n-n-n-nooooo n-nothing like t-t-that!" She said hastily.

They were willing to protect her? Huh? But... why? She definitely wasn't worth protecting - in fact she was hardly even worth noticing! Why would they do something like that? Were they trying to play a prank on her or something?

"T-Thanks... B-b-but I wouldn't w-want a-anyone e-e-else to get i-involved... A-And i-i-it's o-o-okay... I-I'm always n-nervous..." She said.

"Pfffff, getting involved could be fun. Or at least not boring," she said, stretching out to see how many steps she could lay across before she started sliding off. "And speaking of which! Why are we hanging out in a stairwell? We could be doing anything. There's a whole academy for us to run around in," she said, suddenly springing up to her feet and waving her arms around excitedly.

"There's even a city we could be checking out. I haven't even been down there once since I got here. Or forests! Or something," she added. Stairwells were apparently excellent places to meet people, but now people had been met. Something entertaining had to be done!

Isabelle stands up and shrugs.  "I'm not exactly familiar with this city, either.  But, there isn't much to do here either."  She glanced down at Rina.  "You don't have to join us if you don't want you.  I don't want you to think we are forcing you to do anything."  The whole situation had made her feel somewhat guilty.  This girl was a nervous wreck, and they were probably only making things worse on her.

"A-A-Ah... I-I w-w-would b-but i-if I don't get t-the b-b-books and d-deliver t-them I-I-I'll p-probably g-get b-beat u-up a-again..." Rina stuttered, cowering slightly at the thought. It might actually be fun to go with these people- they actually seemed nice, but she wasn't joking. The first time she had decided she couldn't do something for him, he had hit her until she agreed to do it anyways. It hadn't been fun at all...

Abby frowned slightly, putting her hands on her hips. "Compromise, then! We all go deliver the books together, and then threaten this guy until he pees himself. Or electrocute him if he doesn't!" She looked over to Isabelle, quirking an eyebrow. "Whaddya say? Threaten people, then city? I've never gone window shopping after delivering threats before. I wonder if it makes it more or less fun?"