8

Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_JolyneChapter 8

Chapter Text

"You know, I'm starting to think that you might have inherited a certain adoption instinct from me," Qrow muttered as he perched casually in a tree, watching Cinder and her new friend as they stepped within eyeshot of him- in the distance, he knew that the Vanille family estate was burning to the ground and he could hear sirens in the distance. "So. What'd you do this time, eh lil fireball?"

"I didn't do anything," Cinder scoffed, huffing and crossing her arms as she tossed her hair to the side, the girl beside her glaring and holding a pink paper parasol in her arms- not making a single sound, and standing behind Cinder as if she'd protect the girl from him.

He'd seen that look before. He'd worn that look before.

Oh boy.

"I was getting Trivia out of a… really bad situation is all- she texted me saying that she was locked in her room and wanted out, so I got her out," Cinder explained, clearing her throat slightly awkwardly and looking to the side. "... Er, sorry. Neo. "

She paused, looking over to the girl, who, judging by the implications, was Cinder's… texting buddy? Probably? Qrow was a little fuzzy on the details- even now, after five years of being his legal kid, Cinder was a pretty private person. He didn't begrudge her that. After a moment Cinder leaned over, murmuring something to the girl who seemed to have some kind of name indecision. Qrow tried not to eavesdrop, but with him being a professional Huntsman and Cinder still going through Signal's delayed learner classes… well. She'd learn how to whisper properly at Beacon. Probably.

"Hey, do you want me to call you Trivia or Neo now? Wh- yes, it's important! I mean- okay you can have both, but- Triv- Neo- look, I need you to know what you'd like my Duncle to call you- Dad Uncle. Duncle. Don't give me that look you know what I mean! Of course I call him that, just not when it's just him! Ugh, you are impossible sometimes… Do not get into that right now I don't need my Duncle knowing you're- what do you mean he's liste-" Cinder stopped, pausing her rather one sided whispered argument in favor of staring wide-eyed at Qrow, who was very much pretending to not be listening at the moment. And honestly kinda failing because he was still really shit at whistling casually and had completely foregone learning ever since Raven started teasing him about it when they were kids.

"Daaaaad!"

"Whaaat? I'm not listening!" Qrow lied poorly, snickering for a moment before dropping out of the tree and rolling his eyes. He walked over, stretching casually and eyeing the pair of teenagers. He thought the girl next to Cinder was about eighteen, but considering she was like… four foot six (four foot nine in heels probably?) to Cinder's five foot nine… well. He couldn't really be sure. "Also, I'm not really sure what I'm not supposed to know, so you might as well just get on with it and explain what happened before the cops get here. Also, y'know, if your friend's got a place to stay. Because congrats, Cindy, you might be adopted but you totally inherited this whole 'adopting strays' thing from me."

"Dad shut up! You're embarrassing me in front of my g-" Cinder paused, slapping her hands in front of her mouth in open surprise, panicking slightly as she took a step back and flushed bright red, all while the girl (who he was going to assume for now was going by Neo or… something) just facepalmed beside her and rolled her heterochromatic eyes. "T-that is… er- g- um. I can… explain?"

"You picked up a secret girlfriend and also now her house is on fire and I'm assuming her parents are dead somehow so you're dragging her back to Patch with us to evade the authorities and possibly repercussions from any criminal elements," Qrow deadpanned, cocking his hip to the side and raising his eyebrow, wishing desperately that he hadn't gone cold turkey on alcohol some few years back after losing his Semblance to Marcus Black (Honestly, easiest fucking kill of his life. Poor bastard could not have known that Qrow's semblance worked against him more than it did anyone else) and just awkwardly scratching at his chest instead where his flask used to be hidden. 

Cinder blinked. ".... I picked up a secret girlfriend and she was training at a crime ring operated school that turned rich bitches into assassins and I kinda sorta maybe had a hand in burning down her house but also the Spider gang showed up and-"

"Hang on- Spider!? Like- the most powerful gang in Mistral Spider? The fucking gang that's not supposed to be in Vale?" Qrow interrupted, as if he couldn't believe what the hell Cinder was saying- honestly, he believed just fine, he just… really didn't want to, honestly. Because, softly but with great emphasis, what the fuck. "How did your girlfriend get involved with- wait, gods, the fucking school was a Spider gang recruitment facility isn't it?"

"... Yeah. Basically. Neo uh… I may or may not have given her a bomb," Cinder cleared her throat, both her and Neo looking far too casual to be admitting to arson and bombing a school . Then again, it wasn't like Qrow was always on the right side of the law either. Huntsmen and Huntresses operated on very different rules sometimes. 

"... A bomb."

"Well… a big metal tank of gasoline and styrofoam and a bunch of fire dust crystals and some other stuff Neo stole from the academy's science lab… and well…" Cinder shrugged, holding up a shard of glass- one of the many, many pieces she just… kept on her now as a sub weapon in case her dual swords/bow was unavailable or she ran out of normal arrows. "Y'know how I figured out how to do delayed charges on stuff?"

"... Stop- I don't need to know any more. That explains why I got the news earlier that Lady Browning's was burned down…" Qrow sighed, rubbing his forehead and grumbling under his breath- dammit, Cinder just had to somehow take after Team STRQ in the worst ways. Adopting strays was one thing- casual arson committed against horrible amoral institutions was another. Somehow, his adopted kid had managed to take after Summer Rose without him realizing or ever telling her that much about his former team leader. "Okay, and how did that result in Spider gunning down the Vanilles, and how did you end up burning the estate down?"

Cinder cleared her throat again, looking to the side guiltily while Neo just patted her on the arm and held up a scroll, casually leaning on her parasol as if it were a cane. Upon closer inspection, there was actually some text on the screen, so Qrow leaned in slightly to read it and-

<Cinder was trying to melt the lock on my door because parents turned room into a bank vault. Lil Miss Malachite and Junior arrived while she doing that we both panicked when melted caught carpet fire. It happened really fast>

".... Alright, that explains that," Qrow sighed yet again, palming his face as he pulled Harbinger II from his back and shifted it into its active form so he could lean against the massive blade and support his weight because clearly his legal daughter was determined to drive him to drink again. "Right. So, let me see if I've got this chain of events right- You somehow picked up a secret girlfriend at some point, and within the last twenty four hours, you and her bombed a school with gang affiliations, she got locked in her parents' mansion for some reason or another- I can only assume because of criminal affiliations- you busted your ass out to rescue her, wound up on the periphery of Spider gunning down her parents, and in the process ended up setting the entire mansion on fire with your Semblance to cover your tracks. And now you're here. That all sound about right?"

"... Yeah," Cinder nodded, hanging her head in shame and blushing as she tried very hard to not activate her Semblance to drop her into a molten hole in the ground. Beside her, Neo just nodded without a care in the world, seemingly entirely too casual about the entire thing.

"... Right… cool… cool cool cool…" Qrow nodded, scratching at his beard lightly and pursing his lips as he thought it all over, then blinked slowly as a thought came to him, looking between Cinder and Neo. "So… girlfriends, huh? I don't have to give either of you the shovel or the sex talk, do I? Cuz I had to give it to Ruby when she was eleven, and I don't wanna do that again." 

"Ugh-! Dad no! I- we- we're not!" Cinder shook her head, sticking out her tongue and blushing even harder, Neo patting her side gently as her much taller girlfriend became a stuttering mess of embarrassment- so unlike her usual calm, collected, femme fatale facade. 

"Good. Keep it that way while Neo's at our house. Speaking of which- do Ruby and Yang know?" Qrow asked, picking up Harbinger II (and quietly admiring just how well made it was for something he hadn't forged with his own two hands- Ruby was, as always, scarily good at weapon creation, it seemed) and folding it away again with the quietest whisper of gears and winding mechanisms, Qrow starting to walk back towards the edge of the woods about as far away from the Vanille estate as they could reasonably go while still staying in Vale proper.

"Ruby does- it's hard for her not to know with her sense of smell and emotion sensing," Cinder sighed, shaking her head as she and Neo followed Qrow through the woods, Neo very gently holding onto Cinder's arm in a way that Qrow thought was just adorable . "Yang doesn't know."

"Well, you're gonna have some explaining to do then, when we get home," Qrow snorted, lacing his fingers behind his head and shrugging. "Good luck."

Cinder winced.

"Ugh… Yang's gonna be so mad …"

"Yeah, I know."

Neo, at Cinder's side, just sniggered silently.

"Oi, hush you."

Neo did not, in fact, hush.

[The first actual character pic in this story! It's Cinder!]