Reddish Gray

Raven Branwen is many things, a warrior, a leader, an awful mother, and ultimately a coward, but there is one thing she will never be, a racist. Her philosophy on life is that the weak die and the strong live, so something as unimportant as race bears no place in her tribe's hierarchy. After meeting the young Faunus for the first time and hearing his story, she concluded that even if he is not strong in body or at least not yet anyway, he has the will to survive like her, which makes him similar to her in a lot of aspects. She soon found the Den Mother tending to her now missing fingers and demanded.

" Explain to me why you are mistreating one of our tribe members to the point he is alienated from the tribe instead of being loyal as per your duty to educate the young."

The old crone spoke to her chief with the respect she deserves as the tribe's strongest and wisest.

" Chief, that thing has no concept of loyalty and is no different than a wild animal that will bite the hand it feeds it. In this case, that quite literally just happened last night."

Raven just looked at the old crone, unimpressed by her explanation, and told her in a tone colder than Northern Solitas in winter.

" Before I went to see the whelp, I observed him at first, and he got out of the cage with little to issue under the eyes of the guards, snatched for himself the bare minimum of food that would not be missed, and went back to the cell with the guards bickering all the while utterly undetected by the whole camp. So tell me, what does this sound like to you?"

The old crone's throat went dry under her chief's scrutiny, and she then told the old crone in the same cold tone.

" To me, it sounds like we had someone more than capable of dealing significant damage to the tribe and motive to do so but didn't. Can you guess why? Because he did not hate the tribe in its entirety to that point yet but was dangerously close to since last night due to your actions."

This was only a partial truth as the young Faunus retained his maturity and critical thinking skills from his previous life to make at least a few careful choices to ensure his survival, unbeknownst to Raven. After moments of silence passed through, Raven dictated to the old crone.

" Your punishment will be decided at a later point in time after I get a clearer idea of this young one's potential to the tribe. Speaking of which, what is his name?"

" He... was never given one..."

Raven looked at the nervous old crone, completely stunned at this new information, and asked after pulling herself out of stupor.

" Who were his parents?"

" One was a prisoner that used for stress relief before you stopped that practice, and the other died in a raid a few years back with having nothing to do with little beast since he was born."

Raven sighed in exasperation and muttered to herself darkly.

" Of all the c*ck ups..."

Raven shook her head in annoyance and went back to the young snow leopard Faunus in its cage and muttered to herself with a hint of melancholy and a slightly bitter smile.

" I guess I am not the worse mother in the world after all... Eh, Qrow."

***

I thought sleeping on a dirt floor covered with leather was uncomfortable, but a steel floor is even worse. I just can not get comfortable no matter what position I put myself in in this cage. I gave up trying to get any rest for now and waited for Raven to get back; if she decides to come back, that is. Seeing the guards watch me like a hawk, unlike before, I decided to make a joke.

" If you keep in starting at me so passionately, I will blush."

The bandits looked at each other and laughed as one of them said in between laughs.

" HA, brat, grow a bit bigger first, then we'll talk."

" I rather not, I don't we're you've been or where you've put the little knife in between your legs at and I rather not know."

" HA, he's got you there!"

The other bandit laughed at his partner, and the butt of the joke asked murderously.

" What's that supposed to mean, Grimm Bait."

The bandit smiled mischievously and looked at me, and said.

" Clean out your ears, brat, and listen closely. This guy hear got so drunk one night he actually SCREWED A GOAT WE USED TO HAVE!"

" Hey! I told you that in confidence, b*stard!"

I just scooted to the other side of the cage away from Goat-F*cker, making the other guy laugh his butt off, and Goat-F*cker punched his partner, and they started round two at each other's throats. As I enjoyed the show, Raven showed and ignored the guard's fight and came up to the cage and curtly asked me.

" What happened?"

I shrugged, not caring, and told her.

" They aired each other's dirty laundry and are now trying to kill each other."

Raven shook her head in disappointment at her tribe member's stupidity, then focused on me and asked.

" Do you consider yourself weak?"

" Yes..."

I answered her curtly with a bitter taste in my mouth and also said a philosophy I agreed with to a degree.

" It is not a sin to be weak, but it is a sin to stay weak."

While she frowned at the first part of my sentence then nodded in approval at the second half. With that philosophy, what I view as a weakness leans more towards a person's character than their ability to fight, as Raven is likely seeing instead of her own weakness as a person. She ran away and abandoned people that would put their lifes on the line for her because they cared about her for a bunch of worthless murders and miscreants that would sooner or later drop dead in some random ditch. Salem may have been seen as unkillable by her, but even then, letting that witch have her way would doom everybody regardless, so it is better to fight for a few small victories than turn tail and run and lose everything in the end.

Regardless of how I feel about Raven, whether I consider her hot enough to tap that sexy piece of woman or a foolish coward, she holds my fate in her hands for now. Let's see what her judgment is and if I can live to see tomorrow or not. I wonder if I die again will I retain my memories and reincarnate again, or that would be the end of the me that exists now.

" So what now, chief? Am I to be punished or something else?"

I looked at the woman curiously as she spectated the fight between idiots one and two. She kept silent for several moments and told me.

" If you want forgiveness, earn it..."

" How?"

Raven smiled at my question, and I got a distinct feeling I was going to get stuck doing something troublesome and annoying. She then gave me a task to complete

" You can find a white petaled flower with a red center growing along some nearby cliffs; bring it to me, especially the roots of it."

" Okay... can you let me out of this cage first so I can get started?"

Raven gave me a deadpan look and informed me.

" You have the keys, don't you? Use them! I will let the guards at the gate know to let you through."

I guess she was watching me before when I got some breakfast, and as she left, I got out of the cage and went to borrow a few things without permission. Considering she said the plants she wanted were at some cliffs, I at least some rope and hooks to prevent me from falling to my death because I can't exactly refuse the chief of the Branwen tribe. I sighed and went to the tents that served as storage for some odds and ends in the camp. After I reached the storage tent, I commented.

" A mess as usual."

Everyone in the camp just tosses whatever they find in here and forgets about it, which means I need to dig through it all. As I looked through it all, I found something pretty useful, a book on plant life throughout Anima. I started to look through it to find the plant Raven wanted for reference, and I found it! It's called a jaded ruby flower and is mainly used for... tea... why am I not surprised? Tea-addicted bird brain coward! I sighed and kept the book as a reference as not to accidentally poison Raven, at least not yet anyway.

Plus, knowing about some edible plants could really help me in the future when I leave this d*mn tribe. I sighed and continued digging the piles of junk and actually found some mountain climbing gear. Lucky! I only went mountain climbing once in my previous life, and it was not for me, but I better remember it as best as I can for my sake. I also found a chipped knife and tied it to the end of a pole I found; at least I have some means of self-defense though not a very good one at that. I really hope I don't run into any Grimm, but the best way to avoid them is to stay calm or at least as calm as I possibly can be in my situation.

Raven, that tea-addled wannabe tough girl that hides beneath her covers in fright. I sighed once more and went to the main gate at the encampment and ran into Gol, who was nursing his wrist and demanded.

" What are you doing out your cage, you animal!"

I decided not to waste my breath and gave in to my first impulse and hit his leg with my makeshift spear causing it to bleed, and he looked at me with fear for the first time as he clenched at the spot I wounded him and called out to the older tribe members.

" HELP! THERE IS A WILD ANIMAL ON THE LOOSE IN CAMP!"

I just went back to my task at hand, and I felt someone grab my spear, and it was a scrawny bandit with long dirty blonde hair with a few teeth missing from his smile; well, he does have a very punchable face. Not that I can punch him with me having claws and paws instead of hands and fists. As he was about to say something, I decided to give in to my impulse again and clawed at his nether region, making him give off an impressive high pitch falsetto in pain. As he fell to the ground and covered his gonads in pain, well, I either leave the tribe for good today or get in Raven's good graces with her thrice-d*mned tea.

" F*ck my life."

I could not help but curse.