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Requested By : Polemoduke
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“It’s just…”
“A lot, I know.” Qrow grumbled, sighing and offering the bedraggled other man his flask. The man took it, hesitating a bit and looking at Qrow, and Qrow just grunted, “Summer.”
“Summer.” The man nodded, lifting the flask and stealing a drink before handing it back for Qrow to do the same. Sighing, he looked at the little cake he’d brought in and set up on the living room table, right in front of a tv already primed with her favorite cartoon, and frowned. “Not a lot for her big day, ya know?”
“I know, but…” Tai sighed, quiet and weak and fragile, and leaned against the edge of the door linking the living room and the kitchen and said, “But I can’t do more. No Lien. Which is… My fault, I know, but-”
“I’ll order pizza, too.” Qrow cut him off, smiling and falling onto the man’s couch. He was exhausted in that deep set sort of way that made him sore, all the way down to his bones, and groaned as it hit him. A heartbeat passed and, as always, he felt that same comforting presence right over his heart and laid a hand on the little clover there, smiling quietly, “Goof…”
“He’s doing it again?”
“Mhm.” Qrow grunted, “Time is it?”
“About nine.”
“Gotta be five for him, then.” He sighed, feeling a bit of guilt hit him - before that presence pressed in again, soothing and reassuring. Qrow tapped it and grumbled, “Yeah, I get it, ya bleeding heart.” A second passed and he felt a thump on his Emblem, too, and snorted, “Smartass.”
“You should be nicer to him…” Tai muttered, “And go see him.”
“That’s not a good idea…” He sighed, shaking his head, “Being around me… Ain’t safe.”
“That should be their decision, Qrow. Before there isn’t a chance for it anymore…” Tai argued lowly, something… Hard but at the same time broken filtering into his voice as his face darkened, his gaze staring off into nothing for a moment before he sighed and said, “S-Sorry, I-”
“Don’t.” Qrow cut him off, smiling, “I get it.”
“Yeah…” He sighed, resting a hand on his chest and smiling bitterly. “Yeah.”
“Rae there?”
“Distant, as always, but…” Tai nodded, “Yeah.”
Qrow wisely bit back what he wanted to say about that, fishing out his Scroll and opening the app for the pizza place up the road, “Two pepperonis, a veggie pizza and cheesy bread?”
“Only if you don’t want Yang to bust your kneecaps…”
“Hah.” Qrow grunted, rolling his eyes as he punched the order in and sighed. “Very funny, Tai.”
“I’m hilarious.” The man nodded, dropping into the chair at the end of the table and raising an eyebrow. “But, uh, who was joking?”
“Ha. Ha.” Qrow rolled his eyes, pointing at the door and grunting, “Done in twenty. Who is gonna run and get it?”
It was a familiar question, one he’d ask Tai a half dozen times over just the last couple weeks. And, as always, Tai looked at the door like Qrow had asked him to step on a landmine. And, with a shrug, Qrow rolled over and sat up, standing and waving it off as he made for the door. He only got his hand on the knob before he heard Tai choke something out, though, and paused, turning to look at him.
“I-I mean…” He grimaced, “I can ride with you?”
Both of them going was dumb, and he was so tired he’d rather Tai have gone himself if he was going at all, but Tai had barely left the house to water his plants since the funeral. This was a good step for him, and Qrow wouldn’t squash it no matter how annoyed he felt. So he just jerked his head and grunted, “C’mon, then.”
“Yeah.”
“And make sure you have the house keys.” Qrow grunted, “I ain’t flying down the chimney again.”
Qrow’s old, half beaten to death truck was waiting outside, his tiny little RV unhitched a few feet away from it, and Qrow climbed in with a grunt. Tai joined him, grumbling, “Is this thing black or green?”
“Yes.” He grunted with a little chuckle, waving at the dark green hood and smiling, “Old one came flying off a few weeks back. And the rest is liable to fall off ‘fore I get around to paitin’ the whole thing anyways.”
“Fair.” Tai sighed, “It is you.”
“Mhm.” He growled, “Smartass.”
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By the time they made it back with the pizzas, the girls were already on their way home, Yang leading Ruby along by the hand in their cute little black class shirt and pants as they pulled up and Tai leaned out the window, “Hey, girls, you know which way to the party? Heard someone ordered pizzas!”
“Daddy!”
“Pizza?”
“Why are you more worried about the pizza, Ruby?” Tai scoffed, opening the door and stepping out as Qrow brought the truck to a stop. Patting the edge of the bed of the truck, he asked the girls, “Anyone want a lift?”
“Me!” Ruby bounced excitedly, holding up her arms so Tai could pick her up and adding a little ‘Whee!’ as he spun her and dropped her in the truck and Yang climbed in at the back, running up to stand, hands holding onto the top of the cab as they stood on tip-toes to see where they were going.
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“Riding in the back is dangerous…”
“They’ll be alright.” Tai waved him off, then frowned and added concedingly, “Alright, uh, go slow?”
Qrow just rolled his eyes and sighed, “Sure.”
The truck barely came to a stop when they reached the house a few minutes later and the girls hopped off the back, running for the door excitedly while Tai climbed out of the cab and called after them. “Hey! Be careful!”
“Sorry, Dad!” They both called, before Ruby started bouncing again and said, “C’mon, c’mon, I can see my cake through the windoooooow!”
“Wait, seriously?” Tai said, groaning when both the girls - easily past his waist by this age - turned and nodded, pointing at the window. “I could have sworn you were too short to see it…”
They both laughed at him and Qrow did, too, as he sauntered up to join them and the blonde man unlocked the door. The girls rushed through without waiting for it to even open fully, and Qrow winced as it slammed into the wall and Tai sighed. Qrow watched him as he followed the girls in, wary of the temper he’d had lately, but he didn’t snap at the girls and instead just checked for a hole. And then smiled at Qrow in a way that told him it was fine.
Which was lucky enough for Qrow to suddenly feel very nervous.
“Alright, girls, who’s hungry?” Qrow asked as he sat the pizzas out on the end of the living room table. Almost instantly, the two swarmed him, grabbing pieces and plopping onto the floor around it while the two men laughed and Qrow turned, handing Tai a piece as Qrow fell into a seat on the chair. “Eat up, girls, and you know the rules! Once Ruby feels her Bond, we get caaaaake!”
“Why do I gotta waaait?” Yang whined while Ruby, suddenly reminded of what this birthday could mean, started bouncing on her spot and eating through her slice of pizza all the faster. As if that would speed it up, somehow.
“You have to be polite, Yang.” Tai chuckled, wagging his finger at her when she pouted at him. “It isn’t fair for you to get to eat cake just because you already have your Emblem, you know.”
“I guess not…”
“Whuzzitmeelwike.”
“Ruby,” Qrow sighed, “no one understands you when you talk with your mouth full.”
“I did?” Yang grunted, brows furrowed in confusion as she turned to Qrow and then waved him off with all the flippant sass of an eight year old. With a hand over her heart she spoke to Ruby and said, “Mine feels like… Iunno. Hard to explain. Just… Way too warm? Usually. Like… A hug and you’re both wearing sweaters.”
“That sounds suffocating…”
“Romantic.” Qrow shot his old partner a look and Tai threw his hands up in surrender as Qrow sighed and chuckled. “Ignore your old man, girls. Two Bonded women and he still wouldn’t know Romance if it snuck up behind him and shanked him in the neck.”
“Oh, bite me.”
“I’ll let Rae know you asked.” Qrow drawled, cocking his head and waving the girls off when they both whined ‘ewwwww’. Laughing, he said, “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’m brilliant but way ahead of your time!”
“I mean, yeah.” Yang smirked, reaching for some of the cheesy bread and adding, “You’re waaaaaay older than us, after all.”
“Oh, I see how it is.”
“Ha!” Tai snorted, “She got you there, Branwen.”
“Yeah yeah…” He held up a hand, hiding the other as he flipped the man the bird and sighed. “Eat your pizza, brats. Tai, start the ruddy movie. Pass some time until the little Rosebud-”
“I feel it!” Ruby cut him off, making Qrow choke and snort at the same time as she bounced up and shot around the room, petals trailing behind her until she smacked into a wall and bounced off it. Laying on the floor on Qrow’s other side, red-faced from the impact, she threw her hands up in the air and said, “I feel it! All warm and quiet…”
“And?” Tai asked, leaning forward and smiling as the girl sat up, looking confused as she turned to look at them. “What else?”
“I think she feels…” Ruby blinked, “Scared?”
“Scared?” Qrow’s brows knit together as he straightened and laid a hand on the gril’s little shoulders. “What kind of-”
Before he could finish, Ruby’s tiny hands snapped to her throat and she gasped, collapsing as something… Ragged tore through her throat. And then she screamed, kicking and thrashing as Yang erupted into her own screaming, confused by her sister, and the two men shot to their feet. Qrow turned, wrapping up Ruby while Tai grabbed Yang and both tried, desperately, to calm them down. To figure out what was even wrong…
Until, slowly, he saw Ruby’s neck redden and thin, winding lines burned across her skin.
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Cinder knelt, using a little chisel to chip at a spot of mud worn into the rug beside the door while her hands throbbed and her head ached. It’d been a long night already, and a busy morning was already on the way. And this little spot of mud just. Wouldn’t. Come-
“You still aren’t done?” The cold, shrill voice of one of her ‘sisters’ asked as they came to stand over her. She’d been outside, mud and snow falling off her nice shoes all over the rug, and Cinder looked up to meet her gaze. “Shame. Mother wants you in storage.”
“B-But I haven’t finished-”
“Duh.” The girl cut her off, turning to leave and adding, “Why you think she wants to see you?”
“Right…” She sighed, forcing herself up on sore, aching legs and turning to pull her cleaning cart along behind her.
She made it to the kitchen, and to the door into storage, before she felt… Something. Like a pressure on her chest. A heartbeat passed her by and she felt so much more slam into her - excitement, energy, a tiny sting of pain - and Cinder realized what had happened. It was a few years late, but she’d heard from the tenants that sometimes it took a few years - that a Soulmate could be younger than you - and let it go. Never daring to hope.
But now…
“Mine.” She murmured, leaning against the wall, a hand pressed against her chest, “All mine…”
Suddenly, her world erupted in a familiar sort of agony. She collapsed and grit her teeth, trying to keep from screaming until, a second later, it passed and she lay on the cold tile floor, panting as the Madame stood over her and asked, “Why are you dallying about?”
“M’sorry.” She slurred, mouth and throat somehow numb and sore all at once as a hand came up to rest against her Emblem absently - worriedly. “I-I got… Distracted…”
“Oh…?” The woman knelt, then, yanking her shirt out a bit so she could peek in and hum. “Ah. A little Rose… How adorable. And alive, too. I suppose I owe Miss Rice fifty Lien, then.”
“What…?”
“I didn’t think you had a Soulmate.” The older woman sighed, dropping her and standing, dusting her hand off on her dress like just touching Cinder’s clothes had been… Nasty, somehow. Shaking her head she said, “A shame, that.”
“W-Why?”
“Because now you’re hurting someone else, too.” She held up the little device, thumb hovering over the button, “When you laze about.”
Again, her world exploded in fire and pain, but it only lasted a moment before the woman left and Cinder rolled over, curling into a weak, trembling ball. But, even then, she felt the pressure. Warm, and soft, and scared, but… So full of something else, too.
Worry.
Cinder finally choked and let herself cry.
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Tai laid the sleeping girl in her bed and retreated, finally, closing the door quietly and trying to keep his breathing calm. Qrow was waiting outside for him, sitting on the bottom step of his RV with a bottle in his hand and a scowl scribbled into his face. Tai joined him, sitting in the dirt, and accepted the bottle he handed over without a word. For a few tense moments, that’s all there was. Then, Qrow cleared his throat.
“Did you… See her throat?”
“Mhm.” Tai nodded, “Know what can do that?”
“I do, but…”
“But?”
“You gotta keep your cool.”
“Not a damn chance.” Tai laughed, a sound that was harsh and dry and bitter even to his own ears. He took a long drink of the whiskey and grunted, lowly, “Tell me.”
“...Shock collar.” He sighed as Tai’s blood ran cold. “And since it happened for different lengths of time…”
“Manual.” He grunted, blood boiling in his ears as he snarled, fingers trailing fire and veins lighting up all along his arms. “Some motherfucker electrocuted my baby girl.”
“Tai-”
A heartbeat passed, and Tai felt panic echo through his Bond - the part that wasn’t quiet and dead and cold - and the world in front of him ripped and tore itself apart. The evening air was split and rent by violet until, dressed in robes barely tied on, Raven surged through, teeth bared and Omen whistling through the air as she came out in a guard stance. When she realized the world was quiet around her she turned, looking around, until she finally turned to them.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Sit down,” Tai growled, too angry to even be angry to see the woman - or to feel the closeness in his Emblem from it - as he held the bottle out, “and I’ll tell you.”