Ruby: (holding up can of beans) Come on, Weiss. With enough ketchup, anything is palatable.
Weiss: Why do I feel like I need to be concerned with how confidently you said that?
Ruby: Uhhhhh...
-Flashback-
Young Ruby: (holding a blazing skillet) Ahhhhhh!!!!! Fire!!! Fire!!! Fire!!!
Young Yang: Ruby! What's going on- (walks into the kitchen and sees the chaos) RUBY!!!
Young Ruby: AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (waves the pan around to put out the fire, only to splatter the flaming grease on the walls, table, and curtains. Causing them to ignite) AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Young Yang: AHHHHHHHH!!!! (goes for the fire extinguisher)
---After the fire is extinguished---
Young Ruby: (staring at her charred briquets of food sitting on her plate) ....Yang, can you pass the ketchup?
I mean why else would I be writing a letter to my dead mother?
I’m probably talking to myself here
But dead mom, I gotta ask
Are you really in the ground?
Cause I feel you all around me
That sounds a little creepy, ugh, why is this so hard?
“Ruby! Get down here already, I gotta go to school!”
“Sorry Yang.”
I stumbled down the stairs before giving my sister a hug, I don’t want her to leave but she has to. So that she can grow stronger and protect me and Dad and Zwei. Next year I’m gonna go to Signal as well so that I can help her. She gave me another hug which was kinda too tight, but I didn’t yell cause last time when I did I felt bad all day.
The house is quiet when she leaves, I’m all alone.
Are you here, dead mom?
Dead mom
I wish mom was here. Yang said she gave the best hugs and that she smelt like roses too.
Dead mom
It’s lonely at home but I can’t go to school anymore. Everyone is so mean.
I'm tired of trying to iron out my creases
They kept calling me weird.
I'm a bunch of broken pieces
Yang says I’m ‘quirky’. I don’t know what it means but I think it’s good. Uncle Qrow says “Quirks are what makes you you” and he also says that “You truly are your mother’s daughter,” a lot so since you’re good, I’m good, so quirks are good.
But it’s still lonely.
It was you who made me whole
And It’s scary at home.
Every day dad's staring at me
And he always smells like Uncle Qrow’s flask. And he yells at Yang
Like all, "Hurry up, get happy
Move along
Forget about your mom"
But I never wanna forget you mom, and Yang doesn’t either.
Yang says Dad does cause
Cause daddy’s in denial
Daddy doesn’t want to feel
Which is fine, Uncle Qrow always says “you do you, kiddo”, but then he forces us to also not feel.
He wants me to smile
And clap like a performing seal
And he always yells when we don’t.
Ignored it for a while.
But then! Then he hit Zwei.
Uncle Qrow and Yang thinl Dad’s just not thinking straight.
But daddy’s lost his mind for real
You won’t believe the mess that we’ve become
The house is so boring when Yang is at school, so I go to visit the cliff.
You’re my home
Where you are.
My destination
It’s super pretty but no-one ever comes with me there. I think it’s cause I remind them to much of you.
And I’m your clone
Qrow says it’s a blessing.
Your strange creation
Dad thinks it’s a curse.
You held my hand
The trees are prettiest in the autumn.
And life came easy
They are bright orange. And there are loads of squirrels.
Now jokes don’t land
I wish I could stay here forever.
And no one sees me
With the squirrels.
Nothing seems to fit
And the trees.
Mamma is this it?
Are you receiving?
I want something to believe in or I’m done
And you.
Take me where my soul can run or I’ll be in me bedroom
Wake me when I’m twenty one
According the book under Yang’s bed, that’s when I can live wherever I want. Like her. With you. And not dad.
Daddy’s moving forward
It’s not fair!
Daddy didn’t lose a mom
He doesn’t care about you at all! And her hates me. He yelled it at Uncle Qrow.
Please
Mama won’t you send a sign?
He’s hurting Yang.
I’m running put of hope and time
I need to help her
A plague of mice, a lightning strike
Or drop a nuclear bomb
But you’re good. So I have to be good. Cause I’m your daughter.
This is my submission from the Shipwrecked Qrow Fanzine
Please check it out {Link}.
—
Qrow just wanted to do something nice for Taiyang. But his semblance is making things more difficult than they needed to be. With some help from Ruby and Yang things end up working out.
Family fluff.
—
Qrow slid the lock pick into the back door. After being told it wasn’t that hard, he’d had one of his... questionable contacts teach him how to do it. Unfortunately, lock picking needed a small amount of luck, so it was harder than anticipated, but he’d finally gotten—
SNAP.
Qrow sighed, the pliers coming out of his kit next. He pulled the broken metal from the lock before trying again. The second attempt got the door open so Qrow could slip inside. There’s a lot he’s got to do and it’s already taken him twenty minutes just to get into the house. Of course, he can’t blame Taiyang for not giving him a key. He’d just lose it.
Dumping out his bag onto the table, he had to scramble for the ingredients that tried to escape. A few bounced off the floor, but nothing he couldn’t grab and put back. He’d saved the ones that would have broken and made a mess.
Qrow can make a few things well… if his semblance cooperated. Some foods were easier than others. If there was one thing he couldn’t mess up, it was stew. A staple in the camp. Just toss a bunch of things together, put it onto heat, voila. Sustenance.
Taiyang and Summer had been both impressed and annoyed during that one mission they ended up camping in the woods. Glad they wouldn’t starve, but feeling jipped that the twins had insisted that they didn’t know how to cook. A lesson about the stove later and Qrow learned that his semblance made it dangerous. So most of the cooking was left to Tai and Summer anyway.
Not today! He was determined to surprise Tai and have dinner made before he got home. It was going to be worth standing in the store for twenty minutes figuring out what the spices they’d used in camp were called when packed for sale. Then the traipsing through the aisles for everything else he needed. Now he just had to peel and chop it all without cutting himself. A job that would have gone much worse without an aura. He dumped everything that was sliced into Tai’s large stock pot and set on the back to boil.
Ok, easy bit done. Now onto the actual surprise—cake.
If it was from a box how bad could he mess up?
—
Qrow stared at the mess of crispy and dark disk that was supposed to be a cake. What happened? The oven had been at the correct temperature. He double checked the recipe.
Bake at 350 for… oh. He’d misread the stupid chart on the box and left it in the oven for an extra 20 minutes.
Now what.
He thunked his forehead on the table. At the store, he’d considered getting a second box for backup, but how hard was a box cake? Tilting his head slightly, he glared at his disappointment. As if his burning gaze could somehow make it less dry. Pouting in a manner that if Tai saw he would be cooing over how ‘cute’ Qrow was.
The lock clicked, interrupting his brooding. Sounded like the girls are home from school. He should probably make himself known so they don’t freak out and attack him again—Tai had taught them well.
“Is that my two favorite nieces I hear?” he calls.
“Uncle Qrow?” They peek in the kitchen before he’s met with the stampede of hugs.
“What are you doing here?” Ruby asks.
“Dad said you weren’t coming back till next week!” Yang follows up.
“Well, I wanted to surprise him for his birthday. And the best way is to do it two days early.” He gave them a playful wink. They giggled.
“Is that cake!?” Ruby notices.
“Err, sorta…” Qrow rubbed the back of his head as the girls inspected the disaster. “I kinda burnt it a little, and now it’s all dry.”
“Why don’t you just do what Dad does with dry cake?” Ruby questioned.
“What does he do?”
“He crumbles it up and mixes it with icing,” Yang explained.
“Then he lets us make shapes so we can put them on sticks.” Ruby looked excited with the prospect.
Well, if they wanted to help...
—
Qrow hid in the kitchen. It was the girls' idea. They were excited to surprise their dad, so he went along with it. Waiting as he listened to Tai’s footsteps on the porch and the creak of the door opening.
“I’m home!” he calls. The girls jumped him in a hug.
“Dad! Dad! We have a surprise for you,” Ruby exclaims.
“Oh really? What is it?”
“Nuh uh. That’s not how surprises work,” Yang scolded. “Close your eyes!”
“Oh all right.” Tai played along. The girls giggle as they pull Tai into the kitchen. Qrow had to suppress his own laughter.
“Ok you can look!” Yang declared. Tai gaspsed.
“You guys made dinner? All by yourselves.”
“We had help.” Ruby pointed behind her dad. Tai turned around. Qrow smirked at the surprise on Tai’s face.
“Qrow?”
“Happy Birthday Dragon.” Qrow wrapped his arms around Tai’s waist.
“You know my birthday is in two days.”
“Yeah, but you were surprised, weren’t you?” Qrow gave him a quick peck. Ruby giggled as Yang made a fake gagging sound.
“All right you two, go wash up.” Tai told the girls. They giggled as they left. He turned his attention back to Qrow, pulling them together to touch foreheads.
“I missed you.” Tai whispered.
“Missed you too.” Qrow purred. His nose wrinkles. “You smell like sweat.”
“Helping out with practicals.”
“You’re a mess,” Qrow shoved him toward the door, “Go shower.”
“Only cause you’ve asked so nicely.”
—
Dinner was actually a success. And the ‘cake’ that the girls had reshaped into the words ‘Happy Birthday’ gave Tai the biggest smile. Qrow loved that smile. The girls volunteered to do dishes so they could relax in the living room. Tai settled next to Qrow, head resting on the taller’s shoulder. It had been a long day.
“Thank you for the surprise.” Tai whispered, kissing Qrows cheek. Qrow tilted his head for a more proper kiss. He would love to progress into more passionate kissing but the girls would burst in any minute after finishing the dishes. He still pouted when Tai pulled away. “None of that.” Tai rested his head back on Qrow’s shoulder. “How long are you here for?”
“Only a week.” Qrow curled his arm around Tai, “Next mission should be short though.”
“Any chance you could stay longer? Birthday present for me?”
“I was gonna give you a massage as a gift.” He reached up to dig into the spot between Tai’s shoulders. It was always tense. Tai groaned and slumped into Qrow’s lap. Qrow smirked and moved to put pressure in the next trouble spot. Tai groaned again.
“What are you doing to Dad?” Ruby had come out of the kitchen.
“He’s helping me with the soreness from practicals.” Tai sat up. “Did you two finish the dishes?”
“Yep, all done!” Yang grinned.
“Well, I know it’s not exactly your bedtime,” Qrow rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “But I’m gonna need some help early tomorrow if you two want to go gift shopping with me.”
“Yes!” the girls both agreed at the top of their lungs.
“Alright, off to bed then.” Qrow shooed them towards the stairs.
“Can you both come tuck us in?” Ruby pleaded.
“Of course Petal, just shout when you guys are ready.” The girls scampered up the stairs.
“You still tuck them in?”
“I am going to tuck our girls in every night until they think they are too old, and probably then some,” Tai rested his head back on Qrow’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you convinced them to go to bed early.”
“Well, I’m sure you’d appreciate going to bed early too.”
“You’re not getting out of giving me that massage.”
