The travelling lasted forever. At least, for Russell, it did. He was not fond of the long travel time, of the airship deciding to land at Beacon first, rather than last. What genius had decided not to make Beacon the last destination on the list, and forced the Beacon candidates to wait the longest on the craft? Russell didn’t know, and so in his room was kicking about all over the place. On the bed, on the chair, trying to remove himself from boredom. Even the meals bored him, despite being the only interesting thing about the flight. Sometimes, he picked up Cinders and Ashes, making sure that she was clean and properly maintained. Of course, after the first time, it was already properly maintained each other time he looked.
Relief came in the form of a surprise for Russell. He jumped in alarm as the loudspeaker in his room began to crackle. After calming down, he almost thought it had broken for a moment before the pilot, or who he assumed to be the pilot, told the passengers that they were arriving and that they were free to exit the rooms. Russell couldn’t have been any happier, and picked up Cinders, leaving his room as fast as he could to peer outside through the viewing gallery.
He could not have been any happier with the sight of Beacon Academy in the distance, slowly growing closer and surrounded by a blanket of green, from the treetops and the grass. He also got a good look at everyone else around him, everyone else joining him on the journey. If there was one thing that shot out at him, it was that everyone looked older than him in one way or another. He tried to spot someone that looked his age, and was somewhat surprised to find nothing.
It wasn’t truly surprise that entered Russell’s mind, but there was definitely a little shocker. If he was right, still looking over the faces of others, he appeared to be the youngest. He wouldn’t know others’ ages until he asked, but he knew the age limit was seventeen. He expected others like him to get a waiver, others to manage to get into Beacon at his age, at least one other. It didn’t look like that was the case, however. It felt just a little odd.
Tinu was rather content with the flight. Partially because they were on the last stop before Beacon, but also because the flight calmed them rather than boring them. They'd never flown before, so it was a new experience. For the majority of the flight, they sat in their room and meditated. While not the most fun thing to do, it was far from being the worst. Tinu's contentment didn't stop them from being excited once the pilot said they could exit their rooms, though. The chance to meet new people was more than welcome.
Stepping outside of the rooms (making sure to keep their weapons in hand), Tinu quickly noticed two things. One, the view of Beacon was amazing. It brought them a sense of joy when thinking about becoming a hunter. Some parts would probably be boring, but it would be outweighed by the opportunity to travel everywhere and talk to everyone. Most likely both exaggerations, but Tinu would try their hardest to see as many new things as was possible. Two, there was someone! Another cat faunus, who was at Tinu's height but visibly younger. Filled with curiosity, Tinu stepped behind the other faunus, tapping their shoulder.
"Hi!"
The scares for the day were apparently not over for Russell. He jumped in surprise, turning on his heels to look toward the newcomer that had scared him. He took a moments to quickly just look over the Faunus that now stood before him, a few moments that helped calm him down a little. The tapping of his shoulder had startled him, both from the surprise of it and his own shyness-induced reactions to the beginning of a new interaction with a person. It took him another moment just to formulate a response.
“H-Hi,” Russell responded, though with a slight stutter and a lot less enthusiasm that had been given to him. He struggled to think of anything else to say, just allowed himself a tiny shy smile.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Tinu said, noticing the jump, "What's your name?" They asked, making sure to put on a smile that made them seem friendly enough.
“It’s okay. I just get startled easily when meeting someone new. My name is Russell,” The cat Faunus explains. He gave a shy little flutter of his tail, his head tilting a little to the side as he peered at her. “Russell Vermillion. And what about yours?” He asks.
"Tinu Si Heuong! Russell," They repeated. In their head they began to form a question, although it wasn't one that was normally asked. Would it make Tinu seem strange? Probably, but it's not like most people didn't think of them to be that way in the first place. Would Tinu like to be asked that? Yes, but would Russell take offense to being asked—"Are you a he?"
Russell was surprised by the question. Any other boy would have responded with an acknowledgement that he was male, but Russell and his innocent mind thought differently. Having been called a girl by bullies in the past, he automatically assumed that this was another negative comment on his masculinity. His tail stopped the little flutters it was giving, and his ears folded down a little. “Um… Yes, I’m a he,” the Cat Faunus replies, a little quietly.
Sometimes, Tinu's unfortunate habit of thinking out loud would benefit them. Other times, it worked out horribly. Judging by the tail and ears, this situation was one that fit under the latter. "I'm sorry," They looked down in regret. "I didn't mean anything by it, I was just making sure. Not that it's hard to tell! I just..." They sighed, looking away from Russell. Any moment where Tinu didn't make eye contact with someone was incredibly rare. "It's a long story. But," A sudden burst of energy and optimism shot through Tinu. Looking back at Russell, their tail stretched up to the sky. "I am sorry! How can I make you feel better?"
Russell gives a little shrug. Judging by Tinu’s reaction, the other Faunus was genuinely apologetic, a striking contrast and difference to those that Russell knew from the past. In a way, it was almost enlightening to find someone genuinely sorry. “It’s… It’s fine,” Russell responds slowly. “And, well… I don’t know. People don’t usually ask me what they can do to help me,” he says. It wasn’t just that, however - Russell didn’t want to make himself look weak, or rather, weaker, by asking anything from Tinu.
"Hmm..." Tinu came to be lost in deep thought. What would make them feel better and what would make Russell feel better are probably two completely different things. But what would be the most fun for both of them in whatever little time they had before the airship landed? There wasn't much on it, so... "I know," They said, pointing towards the pale, short-looking person with tall boots. "You can meet someone new. And they look so cool, too!"
Russell looks over to the girl that Tinu pointed out, before looking back to Tinu and shaking his head. “Sorry, I just sort of… Clam up, get shy, meeting new people. I don’t know…” He replies, his smile slowly vanishing. It took a lot of strength just for him to meet Tinu, meeting someone else was probably going to make him a little more antsy. Maybe he could, slightly later, but for now, he was content with his new friend.
“What about your team?” Tinu pointed out. “You have to meet them eventually, don’t you?”
“I don’t think I have a team yet,” Russell replies, twiddling his fingers. “Do you?”
“I meant the future,” Tinu walked to look at the view. “But no.” They started to notice the ground coming closer and gasped. “It’s landing! We should get towards the exit, I think.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Russell says, a smile growing on his face. He walks with his new friend to the exit, getting ready.
