[center][h2][b][color=708090]Ashe[/color] and [b]Skye[/b][/b][/h2][hr][h3]Grimm Studies[/h3][hr][sub]Collaboration by [@Azereiah] and [@FlitterFaux][/sub][hr][/center]

[color=708090]"You too?"[/color] Ashe raised an eyebrow. She'd heard Beacon had some pretty strict entry requirements, but was that really true? All she'd had to do to be accepted was find a pen an administrator had dropped in the woods during a previous entrance exam. She was pretty much certain that civilian academic universities had higher reqs, but then, maybe test scores weren't what the headmaster was looking for here. Skye had almost [i]admitted[/i] to also having, let's say, a [i]poor[/i] education. What's the common theme here...? Either way, Skye didn't [i]seem[/i] to be a mass bombing psycho, so Ashe was getting more comfortable by the second, even if masked Faunus worried the [i]hell[/i] out of her. [color=708090]"It's my first day too, and let's just say I have very little idea why they let someone like me in. I have almost no idea what I'm doing here... [sub][sub]andImay'vefailedmymathquizthismorning.[/sub][/sub]"[/color]

[b]"So it's the first day for us both? That seems... lucky, doesn't it? Neither one of us being alone in having just arrived."[/b] The fact that Ashe also felt she didn't belong definitely struck a chord with the fox Faunus. Skye tried to smile encouragingly, though she was not sure if her words would even make Ashe feel better. Ashe met Skye's smile with her own. It was still forced, but at least this time it had some genuine quality behind it.

[color=708090]"I wouldn't exactly say 'lucky's the right word. We're both new and if you're as behind as you say you are, we're probably both flunking our core classes. But it's nice knowing we're in the same leaky boat, right?"[/color]

[b]"Yes, it is. However, if you think about it, we are both now in Beacon Academy. Against whatever difficulties we had to face we still made it here. And again, on the same day. So... I'm glad for our leaky, lucky boat."[/b] 

Skye truly was glad. She did not like to feel alone. Even lost out in the wilderness there had been the other survivors, if not right there with her then near enough to run to. She had not felt completely alone until Lily had died. Even when she made it to Vale and found herself surrounded by so many people, that sense of loneliness had persisted. Luke had been the first person she had met that had changed that. And in just the few minutes since he had left for his own class that isolated feeling had returned. But since she had approached Ashe she had started feeling better. [i]I suppose in the end none of us want to be alone...[/i]

Ashe's mood seemed to have been improving as well, but her eyes had been locked on the mask for some time, and... [i]Oh. The mask. This isn't the first time I've started a conversation and forgotten I was wearing it.[/i] But Skye's concerns were the same as every other time the thought occurred to her. [i]Maybe I could at least explain it to her, then at least she won't think I'm being rude or intentionally creepy.[/i]

[b]"Sorry about... my mask. I'm not trying to be mysterious or anything like that. It's... my health. I would prefer to spare everyone the sight of me. At least until I get my weight back up. I really am sorry. I should have said so sooner."[/b] Skye looked away awkwardly, her eyes unintentionally drawn to the captive Grimm once more. She wanted to ask why Ashe felt she might not belong here, but at the same time she was unsure if she should.

The mask question was answered, and Ashe hadn't even had to have asked. One more layer of anxiety fell away, and she was left with roughly half an anxious onion left -- which was good, because that was just slightly more onion than she usually ran on back at home. [color=708090]"So [i]that's[/i] what mask's for? That's a relief. Here I was thinking you might be-- Er, nevermind."[/color] Ashe caught herself before continuing. She was almost certain she wasn't sitting next to a murderer now, but Skye hadn't explicitly said that she wasn't with the WF. Hard conversation shift! [color=708090]"You have your disguise, I have mine. We can be disguise buddies or something!"[/color]

Skye's eyes moved away from the Grimm, surprisingly without any of the difficulty it had taken to look away before. Skye's gaze came to rest on Bianca once more. Bianca looked very much alone, somehow, even with people all around her. Skye hoped it was just her imagination, but judging on that sense bordering on compulsion, she now doubted that was the case.

Ashe's eyes drifted toward where Skye's eyes were aimed as well, and... Well, she felt it too. An aura of depression radiated from the winged Faunus girl across the room like a cold fog, and Ashe found her thoughts turning towards the Barbarians. [color=708090][i]Wonder if they'll get along alright without me...[/i][/color] It was a lonely thought, but there was no cure for it other than incessantly messaging them on her Scroll, and that wasn't really the healthiest solution. She had to move on.

Skye suddenly realized Ashe had said something that struck her as a bit odd. The other girl had thought she was... what, exactly? What or who did she remind Ashe of, and why? It seemed to bother her, whatever it was, as she had quickly moved on. But what she said after that was strange, too. [i]Disguises? I am very confused now.[/i]

[b]"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by disguises. I mean, I suppose I am literally hiding behind my mask for now. But how are you in disguise?"[/b] A thought occurred to Skye right after she asked that question. Back in her village she had known some people that preferred to dress and act in ways... contrary to what one might expect. One of her cousin's best friends had been like this, and Skye remembered the subject to be somewhat sensitive.

She leaned in close to Ashe and whispered so she would not be overheard. [b]"Please, ignore me if this is too personal a question, because I don't mean to offend. But, when you say you are in disguise do you... do you mean... are you a man?"[/b]

Skye's question brought her back to her comfort zone, and Ashe couldn't help but stifle a quiet, short-lived giggle. She wasn't even remotely uncomfortable talking about this sort of thing. [color=708090]"Yeah, uh... Totally. Yep. That's it,"[/color] she quipped. Zero. Sincerity. At. All.

[color=708090][i]Close to the mark, but not what I was talking about. Not today at any rate,[/i][/color]she thought to herself. It'd been a few weeks since she'd gone boymode and she wondered when she'd flip again. But that was irrelevant. Meanwhile, Skye was having some very similar thoughts - if perhaps on the wrong track. [i]Oh. Well she- he? No, she currently. Right? -makes a very convincing and attractive young woman. I never would have suspected if disguises hadn't been brought up.[/i]

Ashe responded to Skye's assumption by whipping out her Scroll and pulling Skye against her for a picture with nearly blinding speed. Skye almost jumped away when Ashe grabbed her, but the girl was shockingly fast. Skye tried to check her movements around people; she had a tendency to accidentally break things. So instead she relaxed her body and let it happen. [i]Click![/i] With the picture taken, Ashe let go and scooted back out of Skye's personal bubble just as quickly as she'd invaded it. Cameras didn't seem to be affected by her Semblance at all.

When Ashe showed Skye the picture of the two of them, she became confused. [i]If she just wanted to take a picture of us-[/i] Skye's eyes widened as she caught the inconsistency, and she looked at Ashe again. No horns. [i]So that's what she really meant by disguise. How is she doing that?! But... more importantly, why? Why is she hiding the fact that she is a Faunus?[/i]

Since donning the Beacon uniform over her more useful long coat, Skye's own ears and tail were plain to see. But no one had mentioned those features specifically. There were other Faunus in the school, too, not the least of them being Bianca with her beautiful wings. Back in her village there had been very little of the discrimination she had heard plagued most Faunus in other parts of Remnant. Here in the academy as well she had seen little to no mistreatment towards the Faunus students. [i]Maybe that White Fang group has been making a difference lately? It has been several years since I last heard anything about them. But then why is Ashe hiding her horns?[/i]

Ashe was, in all honesty, only hiding them because she'd [i]been[/i] hiding them all morning. Beacon was an alien place, and she hadn't been sure whether Faunus were well accepted until after she'd been in class for several hours. There had been a couple of bullying incidents in the hallways, but those had gotten shut down very quickly. Most of Beacon's students seemed to despise racist jerks. Ashe shot a somewhat concerned glance toward Bianca, who was still quite alone. [color=708090]"So, how 'bout we go make a friend? Seems like someone needs the company."[/color] But then a boy sat with her, which seemed to have cheered her up a lot... followed by an entirely [i]different[/i] feeling drifted through the classroom: awkwardness. [color=708090][i]...Yeah. She's a train wreck.[/i][/color]

As Skye wondered if it would be appropriate to ask about these things, Ashe changed the subject to Bianca. When she thought about it that was no surprise; Skye had spent a fair amount of their conversation staring in that direction. Even more so than the Grimm, maybe. To be honest she was glad her new friend(?) had suggested they go sit with her. Now Skye might feel less distracted and Bianca less lonely, if that was indeed the problem. She seemed to now be talking to someone since last Skye had glanced her way. Even so she felt Ashe's suggestion was a good one.

Nodding silently, Skye stood and began making her way in that direction, and Ashe followed. What appeared to be a loose chunk of very [i]vocal[/i] calamari in a black dress flew across the room and began harassing one of the other students, and the two hastened their walk lest they be accosted by the thing themselves. It didn't take long to reach the back corner of the room where Skye's teammate was, and as luck would have it there were still free seats. Still, Skye felt she should ask first before just taking the seats. [b]"Good afternoon, Bianca. May we... sit with you and... your friends?"[/b]

Ashe conversely plopped down two seats over, leaving one empty space in the middle for Skye and completely nulling the point of the masked girl asking for permission. She shot a smile and a wave across the lecture hall desk toward Bianca, Benjamin and Sangue, then introduced herself. [color=708090]"Heya, hope you don't mind us sitting here. Thanks! I'm Ashe."[/color]

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