@allourdays asked:
this affects me, too, you know. (surprise me)
"...I know," Qrow said softly, gazing at Tai over the cup of hot chocolate the man had placed in front of him. He'd poured some liquor in it when the other wasn't looking, although Tai probably noticed anyway. He was like that.
"But you know Ruby. She's just like..." he paused, unsure if he should continue that thought. Skipping over the rest of it to get to the next sentence. "She's going to try to save the world, whether we want her too or not. You can't stop her, Tai."
@allourdays replied to your post: “I’ve seen some students’ drawings of bird people before. Like, bird...”
I feel like you are one of two people who can answer that question, and I don't know how to feel that you don't seem to have an answer.
“The difference is that I’m a bird or a human. There’s no perfect blend of traits here, so I would not have an answer on what fucking a half bird half man person would be like.”
Clover is awake before the dawn and he isn’t the kind of person to laze about in bed. It’s hard to leave the warm sheets behind and begin his day when he’s sharing his bed with another man. He could. He can. He has, but the way Taiyang draws breath when he sleeps seems far more interesting than a morning run.
Besides, it’s a little too early for the sun to rise. The bedroom is still dark and Clover can still make out the tattoo on Taiyang’s shoulder. He shouldn’t bother him when he’s sleeping, but he’s feeling a little mischievous. Clover inches closer to the blond under the sheets and his fingers ghost over the mark, teal eyes watching Taiyang’s still face before he traces the tattoo lightly.
Clover smiles softly to himself as he follows the curve of the heart. He doesn’t have any marks himself, but he thinks tattoos are sexy, or maybe he’s come to think they are, now that he knows this one particularly intimately. He looks again to Taiyang’s still face and he replays the night before in his mind, smile turning a bit more sly. Scratch that. Clover may have some marks on his neck.
As the morning light pours slowly into the room, Clover feels the urgency to finally rise. Duty ever calls, but he doesn’t leave without placing a soft kiss to Taiyang’s forehead.
The test had been successful: multiple communications to the military installation in Argus had been placed, sustained, and completed. There had been successful calls to Vacuo, Mistral, and even Menagerie. One after another, some alone, some in groups, the assembled that had helped to make it possible had reached out to family and friends all over the world, each leaving with a brighter expression than they’d gone in with.
Yang and Ruby had both been present for others’ calls already. When Blake had called Menagerie, Yang had been right beside her. Ruby had sat in with Oscar on a call to somewhere remote on Anima. Neither had seemed nervous about those calls in the slightest.
But now, they were just sitting in front of the terminal, Ruby was twisting her fingers anxiously in her lap, Yang rubbing at her right shoulder, the contact information from one of their scrolls pulled up on the screen. The picture above it featured a blond man apparently sleeping on a green sofa with a black and white dog sticking its snout into his open mouth, but even the relative hilarity of the photo didn’t seem to be making either of them laugh right now.
When the door opened, they looked up to find both their uncle and the general, the latter peering toward them in concern. “Is the connection not working?”
“We just... haven’t called yet. We’re gonna, though. In a minute, it’s just... taking us a second,” Yang explained. “It’s... just that... we’re calling our dad, and uh. Well, Ruby kind of left Patch really suddenly. She’s... afraid Dad’s gonna be mad at her.” She looked at her sister, reaching to place a hand on her shoulder. “But he’s not.”
“You don’t know that,” Ruby mumbled.
“He wasn’t mad when it happened, he’s not gonna be mad now. Besides, it’s Dad. Dad could never be mad at you.” Yang looked up, directly at her uncle. “Right, Qrow?”
“still drinkin’ the sunflower pop, huh?” qrow says, appearing seemingly out of nowhere as he flips a bottle cap towards tai like a coin. “that stuff’s nasty, way too sweet.” he laughs. “how’re you doin’ tai?”
“Thank you once again for allowing us to stay, Mr Xiao Long”, he says, bowing slightly out of habit. “Your kindness is most appreciated”. Just the concept of Yang and Ruby’s father offering to house them for the school break still slightly mazes Ren, but he isn’t one to question a kindness so freely given. And it will be nice not to have to spend the break at the school, like he and Nora had done so many times in the past.
“Damn it!” A frustrated fist smashed against the wheelchair arm, Qrow panted and his face was drenched with sweat.
Physical therapy sucked. Running a hand through his sweat drenched hair, he glared at that parallel bars breathing furiously. He hated this. He used to be so strong, he used to fight monster like it was going out of style, but now he was struggling to stand - let alone walk.
“I think you’ve done enough for today. Maybe we can continue this tomorrow?” The nurse asked encouragingly.
Qrow shot her a determined look, pointing to the railing. “No, I’m making it to the end of those damn bars and back. Today.”
The nurse nodded gently, before someone at the door caught her attention. “Oh, maybe you should take a break. You have a visitor.”
Qrow looked over his shoulder, and saw Tai in the doorway. The Nurse quietly excused herself from the two men. Qrow had expected this, Summer and Raven had visited, Tai was the only one who hadn’t yet. Not that Qrow could blame him, he was a teacher and had the kids to look after, but now he was actually here, Qrow was just as lost for words as he had been with his love and his sister.
“Hey.” Qrow offered after a moment. “Been a while.”
