Chapter 52

It wasn't long later that Ozpin was feeling fatigued and had to head off to rest. so you entered back into the house and into the living room. Ren was sitting in the corner meditating, training his aura and Arc was alongside thim, though he had a real problem with fidgeting you noticed.

Xiao Long was finally up, and playing with her scroll, while her uncle was lounging on a chair. And that was it. Weiss wasn't down yet, Nora it seemed was still out of it. And Ruby,,sitll hadn't come out of her cave of forging it seemed.

Just as you entered, Qrow stood up with a groan, stretching out his arms and looking at the watch around his wrist, "Ugh, I better get going, can't just lounge around here all day." the red eyed hunter grumbled.

"Have fun Uncle Qrow," Xiao Long bid him goodbye without even looking up from her scroll, "Don't get too drunk, kay?"

"Yeah, yeah." he waved her off and headed for the front door, opening it and stepping out.

You ran forward and caught up with him, slipping out of the door just as he closed it. Qrow looked down and raised an eyebrow at you, "What are you up to kid?" he asked. "Get tired of flirting with Ruby?"

You shrugged, "Nah, I stopped doing that like two hours ago, Proffessor Ozpin wanted to talk to me a bit about magic and shit." you replied.

Qrow sighed, "I was being rhetorical, I didn't need to know that. Hell, I don't want to know you're flirting with my niece."

"Fair enough," you shrugged, "Either way, I wanted to talk to you about an offer your sister made me, don't know how to bring it up without setting off your other niece."

Qrow groaned, "Ughg, more Raven bullshit?" he grumbled, before shaking his head and raising an eyebrow at you, "Lemme guess okay? Something something strength. Something something training. Something something join her. Something something about Ozpin being a liar. Probably tried to use that you were a horny brat to her advantage as well and offered to fuck you when you managed to get your human form back."

"..How did you..?" you wondered, blinking up at him in shock. Was he there, just like her in bird form and you didn't notice?

Qrow snorted, "Oh Raven, she's as predictable as ever," the man mused, "Don't mind her offer at all kid. Raven likes to think she's strong, but she's a leader of a bunch of weakling bandits and thinks that makes her tough cuz she can beat up the defenceless. She's a coward at heart, even if you did join her she'd betray you and leave you to die the second it was to her advantage, she ran out on her husband, brother and daughter because she was a coward after all and scared of Salem."

..You didn't really know how to react to that. A coward who abandoned her family in fear, and a bandit on top of it all. And she was married too and offering to fuck you!?

"What a bitch." you scowled.

Qrow laughed a little, "Understatement of the year," he said and smiled at you, "You're a good kid Cobalt, a horny little crazy bastard, but a good a kid all the same. You were willing to put your life on the line and kill to keep Ruby safe and patient enough to bring this up with me even with Yang throwing her tantrums around about you."

"Thanks?" you said, tilted your head to the side before shaking it, "Anyway, lemme come with you if you're going looking for information. I used to work for an information broker, I know of one that lives in Mistral."

"Yeaaah...no," Qrow denied you flatly, "Small size or not, you're still a Grimm a buddy."

"I can hide in a bag or something." you protested.

"Do I look like the kind of guy to carry a handbag?" Qrow snorted. He lifted his leg and nudged you backwards the house with it, "Go back to flirting with Ruby or something kid, and leave this to me, I've got over a decade of experience dealing with this kind of thing."

And then he transformed into a crow and flew away. You let him go because honestly, he was right. You forgot for a moment that you are a grimm, size or not. You were letting being around a lot of people and socializing again make you forget what you were.

Turning around, you headed back into the house.

You entered back into the house, opening and closing the door behind you with your tail, and decided to head up and check on Weiss. You know why Nora is still in bed, but it's odd for Weiss to still be lounging around her room when it's already well into the afternoon.

You hopped up the stairs and just as you got to the top, you heard the sound of a toilet flushing and a moment later, a familiar black haired young boy stepped out of it.

He froze as he saw you, "..Ah..hey?" he waved awkwardly, "..Cobalt, right?" the nervousness was apparent in his voice.

You snorted, "Yeah, that's my name Oscar," you replied easily, walking over towards him, "No need to be so nervous."

The boy sighed, "Yeah..sorry, I'm just not used to dealing with all...this, y'know?" he replied tiredly, waving his arm.

You chuckled, gesturing to yourself with the stinger atop your tail, "I think I've got a good idea." you replied.

His eyes widened minutely, "..Oh right..sorry!" he quickly apologized.

You continued chuckling, "Like I said buddy, calm down," you said, "Relax a little, if you get so wound up about it all, you're gonna stress yourself out." you definitely had early on.

Oscar let loose a small sigh, slumping against the wall. "So, how are you holding up with your situation and all?" you asked.

Oscar closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before releasing it, "To be honest..I'm just dealing with it a day at a time. I don't really know what I'm doing at all, it feels like I'm just going through the motions and letting myself be piloted like some kind of machine."

You nodded, "That sucks," you decided. "But well, have you tried taking advantage of your position? Don't get me wrong, sharing your body with someone isn't easy, but, it can be comforting to have someone share your worries. If it weren't for Pyrrha I'd probably be a lot worse of mentally right now."

Oscar was silent for a moment before be nodded, "I suppose so, Ozpin told me I've only got the barest hints of his muscle memory right now, but even with just that. I can still keep up with the others a decent bit and I don't have to worry about the average beowolf or ursa anymore..it's a kind of good feeling, being stronger."

"See, there you go," you cheered lightly, "It's bad, I'm not denying that, but there's plenty you can get out of it in the meanwhile. And Professor Ozpin has been around for long, long time, think of the things he could teach you personally."

"Yeah..you're right." he nodded. Oscar pushed himself up of of the wall, "That's given me a bit to think about. Thanks Cobalt. Now I'm gonna head and get some rest and think this over a bit."

"See you later." you waved him goodbye with your tail as he headed towards his room and then made your way to Weiss's room.