2

Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne

Chapter 2 Chapter Text

Flying to Atlas with a technically contraband child in the form of a puppy was, in Qrow's opinion… way more harrowing than it had any right to be. And yes, he knew Ruby could turn into a fairly decently sized Nevermore, but he refused to take that risk- she was only eight, had barely killed more than a few dozen Grimm in her life (despite the fact that she had promised to not start going after Grimm until she was at least ten) , and getting shot down by a bunch of Atlesian personnel because she was in the form of a Nevermore was a lot more violent and traumatizing for an eight year old kid than riding a passenger ship from Argus to Atlas was.

Even if the pressure made Ruby's ears hurt and even if she hated the engine noises because they were too loud in her ears. 

Still, though, the journey wasn't too long or too harsh- they got a few weird looks because of Ruby being a puppy with skeletal patterns all over her body and draped in a tattered red cloak, but nobody accosted them as long as Qrow held Ruby in his arms and kept out of the way. Thank the gods Ruby was an absolutely adorable puppy, otherwise it would have been way harder to get her on the airship. 

"Be careful here," Qrow called out once they were firmly settled on the not-quite-solid ground of Atlas, Ruby shivering a little as she drew her cloak around herself and sticking out her tongue from the cold. So high up on a floating island in the northernmost part of the world as they were, it was a miracle that Atlas was even livable , but at least there were heater lamps everywhere to keep the ice off the ground. "Ground's slippery sometimes. I don't want you to trip and fall or get lost, so don't run off, kiddo."

"Okay Uncle Qrow!" Ruby nodded, grinning brightly and shifting her outfit a little bit while she more or less hid behind her uncle as they walked into the CCT station near the airship docks. She swapped out her Mistral outfit for something a little thicker and warmer, changing out the tattered red cape for a more voluminous, draping cloak that was bone white on the outside and blood red on the inside- a lot like her mom's, even if Ruby couldn't quite remember her super well sometimes. "I'll stay close, pinky promise!"

"Atta girl. You got your scroll, right? Better settle in somewhere and get started on your homework while you wait," Qrow huffed, stretching lightly and grimacing as he flared his aura a bit to stave off the chill that lingered even indoors. Unlike Ruby, he wasn't quite so blessed with the ability to change his clothes on a whim- and he was ninety percent sure that Ruby could just choose not to feel the cold anyway if she didn't want to. Not like adding extra layers of clothes really helped her when she was her own clothes. Either way, Qrow was stuck in his usual Huntsman outfit and thus had to deal with the fact that he hadn't really worn an appropriate undershirt or winter version of his outfit despite being in Atlas of all places. Ugh. 

He sighed, then motioned for Ruby to follow along as he sat down at one of the booths and plugged his scroll in- his niece settling into the cramped space beneath the booth as she tangled herself around his legs and got to work tapping away at the advanced homework she really wasn't supposed to do yet but was learning anyway because homeschooling was… weird. A moment after plugging in his scroll and tapping through his contacts list, the call to General Ironwood clicked through with a little blip of sound- his old… not really friend's face filling the screen with a little buzz of static before the image resolved to full clarity.

"Hey, Jimmy," Qrow started, leaning back slightly and crossing his arms to look the General in his eye. 

"Qrow. And to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? If I'm not mistaken, you were supposed to be on bandit clearing duty in northern Mistral."

Tch, same as ever. Uptight with a stick up his ass, James was.

"Well, I finished early and figured I'd pop up to Atlas for a chat. It's pretty important- concerns a mutual friend of ours and his… let's say… belligerent ex. Figure I should come up to see you face to face, take a few jobs in the area. You know how it is," Qrow huffed, lacing his fingers behind his head and looking for all the world as casual as could be. 

"Unfortunately. But, if it concerns that, then I suppose I'd better hear you out," James sighed, rubbing his brow slightly and grimacing as he looked to the side for a moment, motioning for someone to do something before returning his attention to Qrow. His lips pursed for a moment, then he tilted his head to the side. "Do you have anywhere to stay? I can provide accommodations if you're going to be staying for longer than a day."

"Yeah, planning on… let's say two or three days? Enough time to earn a quick lien or two if your Ace Ops don't take all the work first," Qrow huffed, making a show of inspecting his nails to avoid the fact that he really, really wanted to take a drink instead- but he had to set a good example for Ruby, who he could just barely hear tapping away on her children's model scroll as she went through the coursework that he and Tai had made for her. "I'm fine staying in a hotel. Hate the bunks in the Academy anyway. Seriously, Jimmy, I've slept on rocks more comfortable than those bunks- what'd you stuff 'em with, scrap metal?"

"Scrap metal and the sharpest rocks we could find," James deadpanned, rolling his eyes at Qrow before shaking his head again and flicking his fingers across his screen- spending a few seconds typing something that Qrow wasn't privy to before sending over a ping into Qrow's notification box. "There. A reservation for a single suite at the Glass Unicorn. It's the current closest hotel to the Academy- high ratings across the board, open bar, no complaints about service in its entire history. Try not to destroy it."

"If it's got a better bed than the Academy bunks, I'll fucking take it," Qrow answered, grimacing a little at his slip of the tongue before shaking his head and sighing one last time as he reached into his coat for his flask. "See you in a couple hours then, Jimmy. I'll stop by the hotel first, grab some lunch and drop my luggage off, if it's all the same to you."

"That will do. Make sure to call in before you enter the grounds. Security's been beefed up and it'd be a shame if you got shot because you didn't know the procedure. "

"Yeah, I'm sure it'd be a real shame for you," Qrow shot back one last time with a sardonic huff of laughter. A few more minutes of meaningless banter and coded messages back and forth later, Qrow finally said everything he needed to, then ended the call without so much as a goodbye. Huh. Well how about that- as far as talks with Ironwood went, that had almost been downright pleasant. 

Probably because he'd had to tone down his attitude and language to make sure Ruby didn't pick up even more bad habits from him. She already had a bunch of substance addictions (well, okay, she was addicted to cookies even before Summer died, and it wasn't like her love of dog products and foods was really a medical problem… her weird thing about cheese was… something , though), he didn't need her picking up his sass or dry wit or flirting or alcoholism or refusal to be presentable unless it was super important or- well. Honestly, just about the only thing Qrow hoped that Ruby would pick up from him was his scythe skill and combat prowess. She could inherit all of her good traits from Tai anyway. At least his brother in all but blood actually knew how to take care of kids, be a good role model, and make sure they didn't grow up to be traumatized wrecks who couldn't even think of their childhood homes without bursting into a cold sweat or a murderous rage.

He sighed again, shaking his head- he seemed to do that a lot these days, sighing and shaking his head. Probably because he had to take care of a precocious eight year old child who wanted to run around and violently murder grimm without a care in the world as to whether or not they were the kinds of things that could kill an unprepared Huntsman- let alone a kid her age. 

The only thing justifying her presence with him at all was the fact that she couldn't live a normal life- not on Patch. The community there was just a little too insular for Tai to get away with Ruby's sudden transformation and newfound animal traits. Ruby herself had much less control than she needed to when she'd turned, and it was only constant love and care and both him and Tai wrestling her to the ground that let Ruby learn how to keep her cool and suppress her grimm urges to rip and tear anything that dared feel emotions around her. She still didn't have quite enough control sometimes- slipping into a more feral, wild appearance when the mire of negative emotions in the area reached a high point and running more wild and violent the more she sunk into her own negative emotions. So… "home" schooling. Keeping her out of the public eye. Making sure she learned everything she needed so she could test into and out of Signal's combat prep academy and join Beacon eventually, where she'd be safe with Yang. 

Maybe she'd make some friends along the way when she and Yang were old enough to make trips into Vale on their own.

Whatever. That was a problem for a few years later.

"Hey kid- c'mon, we gotta go. Uncle Qrow's got us a room at a ritzy place for a few days- let's get settled in and drop our stuff, yeah?"

"Mm! Okay!"