Camera Shy

	Velvet stood on the balcony, aiming her lens at the fountain and slowly adjusting it to the distance. She backed her head up and tweaked a couple settings on the screen before leaning in and making a slight turn. She clicked the button to complete her shot.
	She took a few minutes glancing through the photos she'd taken that afternoon, mostly of students passing by quickly, not taking time to 'pose' for her, resting by the fountain for example, like this one had. Better still, he'd been taking the time to polish and tune what looked to be a crossbow-axe. She did some zooming and contrasting on a few of the images to see what she had picked up, smiling at some of the weapons she saw, hidden like easter eggs. She bent down to her bag and dug for her 18% gray card, to reset the camera's lighting for the setting sun, letting her camera dangle from her neck strap.
	While searching, she decided to look for her telephoto lens as well, to try and get some shots of across the courtyard. Before she could find it however, her neck scrunched, and she began to choke and be lifted from the ground. Then a hand grasped her rabbit ears. Velvet tried to yelp in pain, but instead let out a weak sputter as she was pulled completely to her feet.
	“What's that?” the culprit said, leaning her face in enough to be in Velvet's peripheral vision, though she shut her eyes in protest, “I didn't quite catch that, shutter-bun.”
	“P-p-please-” Velvet wheezed, shutting her eyes instinctively.
	“'Look at me when you're talking to me. Open them peepers.”
	Velvet lifted her lids hesitantly. The girl, Jade, was now in front of her still dangling Velvet by strap and ears, her face backlit by the sunset. “So this is what you do in your spare time? Lame.”
	“Could, you, please, let-” Velvet collapsed to the ground, again. The camera fell and struck her head, and Velvet was left rubbing her strained ears. She whimpered while Jade picked the camera up, the strap loosened from Velvet's neck. “Lets see what you got on here...”
	Velvet's eyes widened and she scrambled to her feet, or attempted to, as Jade stamped her foot on Velvet's back, knocking her back down. “Ah ah ah, I'm not done lookin'.” Her ears flopped in hopelessness while she felt the grind of Jade's boots.
	“Now...ooh you got a picture of Yatsuhashi, hrm...one of Port, you spy the fountains all day?” she continued to cycle through the photo collection, until she reached the one she had been looking for. “Here we are.” The picture was a simple composition, Coco with her gatling gun standing over a collapsed Jade, with a big smile on her face. “Arrogant bitch. Bet she wanted to share her prowess with the entire school didn't she?”
	“It was just a commemorati-” Velvet started.
	“Oops. Deleted.”
	“No!” Velvet struggled to get to her feet, rolling to the side to slip out from under Jade's foot. She leapt to her feet and tried to grab at her camera, but a hand pressed against her forehead to hold her back. “Stay back, I'm said I'm not done lookin'.” Jade's hand morphed into a hard, greenish, rugged version of itself, rock. Velvet couldn't see it, but she heard a phasing sound below her as well. Jade's semblance locked Velvet in place as she thumbed through the rest of the camera's library, deleting whatever pictures she saw fit. “Please stop, don't delete any more!” Velvet couldn't even let herself drop to the ground, as Jade now held her in a craggy clamp.
	 “Hmm...nope. Nope. Can't have that.” When she reached the end, Jade pressed her thumb against the screen while it morphed into the same green color as her other hand. A smidgen more of effort, and a light crack pierced Velvet's ears.
	“No, wh-wh-AAH!” She yelped. The hand released her, and she fell to the ground alongside her camera, the attached lens bending upon impact. “Keep this in mind next time you decide to be my photographer.” Jade mocked, sauntering off, leaving behind the distressed Velvet and her fractured spirit.

	Velvet fiddled with her camera lens, trying to bend it back into place. After it didn't budge, she undid the lock keeping it in place to try and inspect it directly. As soon as it separated from the camera, the rim on the edge fell off, clattering to the floor, and an internal strip dangled loosely. Velvet's ears drooped, and she bent to pick up the rim and shoved it in her bag. She turned the camera back around and stared into the cracked screen, reflecting multiple distorted versions of her face back at her.  Pushing the power button only displayed fragmented reconstructions of the already distorted internal lens. She rubbed the rough surface, sighing heavily.
	“Trouble with the light?” said a voice from behind.
	Velvet's ears rose in shock, and she turned to see her headmaster standing behind her. Ozpin raised his mug in greetings, and took a slow sip. “Oh! Hello Ozpin.” Velvet gave a small wave. “I just, some technical...problems...”
	“Would you like some help?” Ozpin took a few more steps forward, but Velvet stepped back and shook her head vigorously.
	“N-no! It's, uh, it's fine. I just dropped it.” she fumbled with it before Ozpin was close enough to see it himself.
	“That's quite the drop.” Ozpin remarked, “If I didn't know better, I'd say something dropped on it, a...golem, perhaps?” He gave her a skeptical stare.
	“No, uh,” Velvet rubbed the back of her head, “You see, it's, it's nothing to worry about!”
	Ozpin analyzed the nervous faunus, taking in her shifting facial expressions. “All right. If you say so Velvet.” He stepped past her and set his mug on the railing of the balcony. “You picked a wonderful place to shoot.”
	“Oh, I know, it has a great view of the courtyard and...the light from the sunset,” Velvet gushed, “The angles you can get from the fountain, and the statue, and it's easy to set up the focal lengths...contrast is wonderful...” As she went on, Ozpin gave a slight chuckle, at which time Velvet stopped her ramble. “Oh, sorry, I uh,”
	“No, please continue.” he smiled at her, and took another sip of coffee. Velvet gave an eager grin and began to point out the various shot locations she'd been taking advantage of. She mimicked her snapshots while Ozpin watched with intrigue, taking intermittent sips of a seemingly never emptying mug.  All the while, the sun kept descending until the shattered moon came into view.
	“...there was this nice moment with Luke, riiiiight next to uh, wait...” Velvet squinted, then pointed to a tree in the distance, obscured by darkness to the human eye. “You might not be able to see it but,”
	“I get it. I can imagine.” Ozpin nodded, “Though, wouldn't you have gotten a better picture if you stood next to the statue?”
	“Maybe, but, then he'd have seen me.” Velvet rubbed her arm, looking down.
	“Seen you?”
	“Yeah, he, I can get more natural photos from up here. No one sees me, not without looking for me.”
	“Do you not want to be seen?”
	“I...” Velvet hesitated, “No, yes, erm...”
	“Velvet?” Ozpin watched her continue to avoid eye contact, and heard her whimper almost silently. Ozpin nodded. “I see.” He turned back to the courtyard and looked at the moon. “The students I've seen come through the doors, walk across this campus, all of them have been unique. They came to this academy to begin the path to their dreams, or perhaps try and discover it if they had not found it. Some need to accept what they know is their path.” He turned to her, “And some need to find the courage to embrace their passions.” Velvet lifted her eyes to see the stern, yet serene smile of her headmaster.
	Ozpin turned toward back towards the academy, and began to leave. “Glynda can most likely help you with those fractures. I'd also recommend asking her for preventative measures as well.” He stopped before opening the door, “Of course, if she can't, I'm sure I could take a crack at it.” Ozpin shut the door behind him.
	Velvet packed up her camera quickly and decided to follow suit. Before she could leave, a thought occurred to her. She unpacked her camera and retrieved the telephoto lens, her only working lens, and attached it as best she could. She kneeled down, and steadied her aim at the moon above. Despite the screen being a mess of white shards and craters, Velvet closed her eyes and readied her index finger.
	Click.