Finding a place to belong (Avery/Vlad)

Vladimir was looking through the Schools activity list. Currently he was trying to find an extra curricular activity so he wouldn’t have to stay in his dorm room all day.it also didn’t hurt to have a backup plan in the off chance he got injured beyond being able to heal. he had some knowledge in something else besides hunting right? Anyway so there he sat on a bench in the courtyard his gauntlets in their inactive state were pushed up a bit to be on his forearms more so he wouldn’t accidentally activate them if something happened to hit him.
Every once in a while Vlad would look up as people passed by his ears twitching from the noise. Hed take note of some of their weapons and their attire outside of uniform. After doing that hed return to looking through the activities sections of the school paper he marked off a few clubs and continued looking losing himself in his search.

Avery grumbled as she strolled inside the courtyard of the academy. A school paper in hand, she scanned the list of clubs available all the while walking and shoving people out of her way. Tsk. I don't see why I have to join a club. I'm perfectly fine on my own. She thought her eyes were still fixated on the piece of paper. Apparently her nosey friend decided Avery wasn't a friendly person, what with her notorious reputation as a bully and all, and thus forced (more like pester) the girl into joining a club for a good change of pace.

Arriving on a bench, the blonde-haired girl sighed and flopped down next to the guy who was also looking at the school paper. She leaned back against the bench and crossed her legs, folding delicate arms beneath her chest. She allowed herself to glance at people walking by for a few minutes before finally looking at the guy beside her.

A faunus? She raised an eyebrow. It was the first time she'd seen one up close. Her eyes trailed up to his ears and gasped. Cat ears! Oh wait.. dog ears? How cute~! She exclaimed in her mind as she was one who had a particular weakness against anything remotely adorable. Out of curiosity, she reached up to touch one ear, running her fingers along its surface. Then she snapped out of her trance and immediately pulled her hand back. What was she doing?!

"...! Eh! Um..!" Panicking, Avery looked for something as an excuse and saw the school paper he was holding. "Y-You're looking for a club too?"

Vladimir didn’t even notice as someone sat next to him on the bench. He looked back over and took his time to try and make sure he knew where he was heading first he figured he'd start with the art clubs and then maybe try some sports. He might as well try something new while he was here. He always had the two clubs he was truly interested in as his go to but he figured he'd branch out a bit. So as he marked off a final club he involuntarily let out a purr as the girl brushed his ear. He blushed lightly and then she asked what he if he was looking for a club after she lost her composure for a moment. He looked at her and just nodded before saying “Yea I am…..why did you touch my ear?” he asked more because he was curious. its not like he didn't like it he just didn't expect it.

He purred?!

Avery was caught speechless as she continued to stare at this.. dog faunus in front of her. Not only that, a blush appeared on his cheeks as though he liked what she just did. According to her limited knowledge about cats and dogs, their ears and tails are sensitive to touch and thus usually resulted in pleasant reactions. She didn't think that would apply to half-breeds like this faunus too. Her eyes suddenly lowered to his backside, searching for a tail or sort that she could play with. No, Avy. Behave! she scolded herself.

“Yea I am…..why did you touch my ear?”

She almost choked at his inquiry and this time her own cheeks flushed. She quickly turned away to hide her embarrassment before having the courage to speak. "Th-- I didn't touch your ear! You must have felt some kind of breeze or something. Psh. Stop blaming people," she murmured.

The girl immediately searched for her school paper and looked at it as though she was completely absorbed in reading. "I'm just casually reading here, looking for clubs that I can join." She turned to him and changed the subject. "How about you? What kind of club were you looking for?"

He raised an eyebrow and unconciously wrapped his tail around his waist a bit tighter then usual. He then shrugged and replied simply.he laughed a bit as she looked fairly cute embarrassed but if she thought she could change the subject on him she had to be on something. "look I know the difference between someone touching my ears and a breeze and quite frankly ill be the first to admit when I'm wrong and if I enjoyed something but I'm not wrong and as for the club lets just say anything's fine with me as long as its not full of idiots or people who wont argue" he then returned to his paper and sighed before just writing down the notes of the clubs.
On the note it had a list of clubs from archery to weapons smithing. The only ones that were underlines was jazz band. Mixed martial arts aikido and weapons smithing's. Odd combination as they were he offered the list to her and said. "that's my current list. Next time just ask if you want to touch. Talking won't kill you at least with me any way" he gave her a small smile and returned to looking through the paper.(posted from my phone)

Her face flushed even redder and she lowered her head as he continued to talk about her little misfit despite having already changed the subject. "Alright alright, you don't have to rub it in," she grumbled almost self-combusting of embarrassment. It's not her fault it's the first time she'd met a dog faunus. Anyone would've probably done the same thing she did if they were in her place. Well, probably.

Avery blinked when he handed her the club list and politely received it. She scanned the list with some already crossed out. "Hmm, these are all interesting. I didn't know some of these clubs existed. Archery and weapon smithing sounds like my type of club actually."

Then he talked about her touching his ears again. "I said alright already! Stop mentioning it." she groaned as her blush had found its way back on her cheeks.

Vlad had to laugh a bit more at the fact of her getting embarrassed then over anything else. He put away his reading material and looked at her before introducing himself"hey I'm Vlad by the way. Uh want to go check those clubs out?" He was mainly speaking because he didn't want there to be an awkward silence and plus who knows they may be on the same team later. He doubted it but it was a possibility. After introducing himself he let his mind drift a bit and that's when he said what was on his mind. "you're sorta cute when you blush" he didn't realize what he said until it was out and then it was his turn to blush. He prayed she wouldn't call him out on it otherwise he might turn more red then a vial of pure fire dust. Hr then got up and his tail unraveled from his waist as he went to stretch

So his name is Vlad? Quite odd for dog faunus but beautiful nonetheless. "Av," she said in response as an introduction while her eyes were still fixated on the club list. She was deciding which one to visit first.

"you're sorta cute when you blush"

Her eyebrow twitched. That was the final straw. This guy was just pushing it and it was time to put him in his place. Just as the guy stood up to stretch, her eyes caught the fluffy tail on his back. I knew it. He has a tail, she thought with a wicked grin.

Avery stood up as well and nonchalantly placed her hand around his tail. Her fingers brushed its fur, playing with it in her hand as she glanced at the man beside her.

"My dear dog faunus, while you are adorable, I do not appreciate you toying with me. Nobody teases the queen and gets away with it," she whispered with a grin, stroking the fluffy appendage a little harder as she knew it was a sensitive part of any dog breed.

Finally she let go of his tail and started to walk. "Now which club should we visit first? Since archery is at the top of the list, might as well check it out."

As he was stretching he felt something grab his tail. He looked over to the side and sighed as he saw she was playing with it. A small purr escaped him until he heard her speak he waited till she was done before he corrected her. It totally didn’t have anything to do with the fact that he enjoyed having his tail stroked but wait a minute “Well A. I’m a fox and B. I sorta wasn’t teasing you….Those were my actual thoughts.” After she was done he just makes a motion for her to lead the way he was talking too much around her.maybe if they get moving he might be able to focus and not embarrass them both. Plus he actually needed to find a club he didn’t really have too many friends here. Seems sometimes groups of people don’t change they just become tolerant. But that was enough contemplating life he walked with her towards the archery club.

A fox?!

Avery stopped in her tracks and glanced at the man beside her. A fox faunus?! That made him ten times more awesome in her eyes. She suddenly wondered if half-breeds could transform into their full animal form. Guess that's something to look forward to. She didn't linger more on the fact that she had complimented her. After all, it was another weakness of her. Not even ten minutes of meeting this guy and he's already triggered two of her weaknesses.

"So are you fine with archery club? I mean, it is in your list so I'm assuming you have a bit of knowledge over how to handle a bow and arrow?" she inquired. She herself was more than capable enough for archery but it was worth checking out.

The two went out of the courtyard and headed towards the archery club room.

Vladimir simply shrugged and kept walking. “lets find you a club first I have a while before I need to find onr and plus the faster you find one the faster you can go back to your friends.” He closed his eyes a moment and kept walking before openin them.but either way as he walked in. he then looked up and saw people staring at him and out of a forced habit he ran a hand through his hair “Um…uh how about I meet you at uh archery club right?” he looked a bit nervous his ears pressed against his skull. And besides that his tail was wrapped against his waist and honestly he wasn’t too sure if hes making the right decision but it was definitely a safer one.

"What do you mean? We're looking for the clubs together. We'll check all of them out first and see which ones you and I like best. Then we can choose from there," Avery explained.

Going left down the hallway, Avery soon halted in her tracks in front of the Archery Club. She held a fist against the door and knocked twice. She heard faint noise inside until eventually it opened, revealing a girl with jet-black waist-length hair. From the looks of it, Avery didn't recognise her so she must be an upperclassman.

"We're looking for a club to join and just wondering what Archery Club's like. Can we come in?" Avery asked and the girl nodded, motioning for them inside. The blonde-haired spared a glance at the scared fox faunus and rolled her eyes. She took his wrist and dragged him inside. "Come on. It's not too bad."

Vlad followed her into the club as the black haired female looked at him suspiciously. She seemed to be analyzing him and why he looked so scared. And that’s when the black haired upper classman spoke.
“what’s eating him? And welcome but you should know you will have to try out for this club. We are a competing club after all. So its natural to see if you have some skill or if we will have to train you to our standards.”
Vladimir simply nodded before he looked at the long bow. He has never really used one he was somewhat hoping they would actually teach him how to shoot. Oh well he looked around and saw a few targets lined up he then bent down and picked up the bow and inspected it. He was more or less just curious. “if she doesn’t make it im not joining if I happen to”

"Yes, that's already obvious. We're not stupid," Avery responded to the upperclassman as she informed them that they needed to try out for the club. She saw that the girl wasn't very pleased with her choice of words judging from the frown on her face, but she didn't care. Instead, she wandered her gaze around the club room and to the players outside who were currently shooting some targets. Even from this distance, she knew that the range of the targets were a measly 40yds. Hardly a challenge at all. What kind of noob club is this?

Taking one of the long bows, she snatched three arrows from the girl, and held them in one hand. She turned around, placing an arrow on the bow and aimed it at an unoccupied target. The moment she let go of the string, the projectile soared through the air and hit the bullseye. Quickly, she loaded the next arrow which was still on her hand and shot again - another bullseye. The final arrow was next and it didn't come as surprise that it hit perfectly in the centre just like the other two. Three arrows, three bullseyes, 100% accuracy, and not even geared yet. Avery was an expert in mounted archery - a sport that involved riding a horse while shooting arrows, so something like this was far too easy for her.

Turning to the fox faunus, she raised an eyebrow. "Well? This was on your club list so surely you do know a little of archery, right? Show me what you got." she said as she tossed him three arrows that she had snatched from that girl again.

Vlad watched her shoot. She seemed rather confident in her abilities. Oh well as he watched her form he made a few notes on what he had to do as he raised the bow and aimed for her same target. Pulling back the draw string he took a few calming breaths. “Actually I’m new to this I’m just watching and trying to imitate at this point.” He let the arrow fly and while it didn’t hit the bulls eye hit was on the line. He shrugged. “And I was interested because I wanted to add a new skill to my repertoire.” He wasn’t all that into competing with ranged weaponry. But then again he shrugged as the black haired girl clapped for both of them. She looked at Avery and said “Well both of you are certainly skilled to some extent. You are welcome to join if you please. And your friend can come practice with us but unfortunately he said it himself he has little to no experience with archery. He was just imitating what he saw. That can cost us points in a match. Im truly sorry.” And then Vlad finally spoke up looking at Avery “You never introduced yourself you know I just realized that”

Avery sighed and gave the guy an incredulous look. "If you don't even know the basics and fundamentals of archery, you shouldn't be joining this club. As with any other skill, learning how to shoot is not something you can just take up in a day or two. You have to have commitment in it before even achieving a satisfactory level of skill." She told him. Tossing the long bow to the upperclassman, she turned around and walked out of the room since they had no business here anymore.

She took out the club list once again, letting her gaze scan through the page. Most of them she had knowledge of, so what's left was the guy. Turning to him, she handed her the list and folded her arms beneath her chest. "Since I have skills in most of those, let's try out what you wanna do. You choose which club now."

Then she raised an eyebrow. "And I already told you my name before. I said I'm Av. A-V. Simple."

Vladimir looked at her and replied. “Well if something interests me id rather try it and see if it keeps my interest. How about we try the music oriented clubs seeing as your insisting I do something I am skilled at. That is what I excel at the most on that list besides martial arts and weapons smithing.”he looks at her and raises an eyebrow and sighs as she reintroduces herself. “Sorry Av I forgot” he scratches the back of his head and looks up before bowing to the captain of the archery club. “Sorry to disturb you” he then rose from the bow after a few seconds. The captain waved him off and said they were both welcome to come and shoot around when their mission was done. He sighs as he relaxes and his tail flits from side to side as he waits for ideas on what else to do he had made his suggestions and personally was waiting for her suggestions.

"Music?"

Avery blinked at her suggestion. Sure he did have a point but this person didn't look like the type of guy to like music. He sure fitted the more active clubs like the martial arts and weapon smithing clubs that he previously mentioned. She tilted her head in thought. Music was something she enjoyed in the past. More than enjoyed actually, she had the knack for it as well. And since she did say the fox faunus could choose where they'll go next, Avery gave a small nod. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try, right? Who knows, maybe she'd get to enjoy it as well.

"Alright, we can do that. What kind of music club do you have in mind? Any particular instrument you wanna improve on? Or maybe a genre instead?" Avery asked as she began to walk. No use hanging out in the archery club anymore so it's best if they kept moving. She did however notice that the guy was somewhat a passive person, preferring to let her go or decide first before he took action. Or perhaps he was being a gentleman? Either way, Avery figured she'd have to address the issue.

"Also, don't mind me too much. I'm fine with any, so you don't have to be so uncomfortable. If you want to do or say something, just do it" she stated.

Vladimir looked at her and raised an eyebrow. he stretched and looked up "Yes music Its personally one of my favorite things to do when i have free time. I could play for you sometime if you'd like. But we could always hit the martial arts clubs first and get a spar in if you would prefer that idea." he was more or less trying to goad her into a spar he was feeling anxious and a bit of revenge couldn't hurt. he figured they probably had about the same amount of experience when it came to this. and She might be his teammate one day he wanted to learn more about her fighting style. A par was the best place to do it. "As for the instrument and your opinion. Your opinion matters because our goal was to find a club for both of us after the tail incident. as for instruments i play piano and guitar. so either of those is fine."

Avery gave short nod when he talked about playing instruments. The girl herself had several experience with music both from her upbringing and background and her personal interests. Still, it would be a good change of pace for someone to play for her. She looked forward to that some time. Her eyebrows slightly raised, however, when he mentioned the martial arts club. From the looks of it, one wouldn't randomly invite for a spar unless it was in their intention to actually spar so Avery merely smiled to humour his request.

"Hmm~ I might not look like it, but I have a bit of experience with hand-to-hand combat." She said humbly. Lies, of course. Not only did she train her defensive manoeuvres before attending Syne, her recent private tutoring with her survival 101 professor boosted up her offensive unarmed skills. Perhaps, it's time to try out those moves against another student. And this particular guy didn't look like a weakling anyway.

"We'll drop by the music club later, but for now, you seem to be on edge for some sparring. I'll take you up on that offer." Avery grinned before starting to walk towards the martial arts club room.

Along the way, her phone vibrated and she took it out to see a message. She frowned and sighed. "Unfortunately, we'll have to schedule that some other time. For now, I have to go. I look forward to our fight next time."

[exit]