wanderer's lullaby

Winter's eyes fluttered open and she stretched when her alarm went off. Right. Bakery time. Today was going to be a long day... She got out of bed and went through her normal morning routine. She gently petted Ein to wake him up afterward and the dog stretched. The poor boy was pretty old and definitely had a lot going for him... He really did have a kind mistress though she still wondered how Yang had come across a dog that had Atlassian as his base language. Why would a dog that spoke Atlassian be on a tiny island off the coast of Vale...? It made no real sense to her. There were too many mysteries in the world for her personal liking. She ran through her usual bakery stuff and returned to the house, putting her breakfast in the microwave then eating. She...really wasn't sure what to do with most of the day today. She still felt kind of trapped here on Patch... She was glad she was going through driver's ed but it'd take time to get through that until she could start driving. She still couldn't believe it was as easy as it was.. Learn the rules of the road, practice a bit, then take a test. Pass or fail. That was it. No having to jump through ten million hoops and having to get a male authority figure having to approve and all of that… Maybe she could spend some more time researching bettas. She probably ought to do that so she could be properly prepared for having a finned friend. It was still odd to think that she was wanting to have an animal to take care of her own volition. But the couple she'd seen at the aquarium had been gorgeous... She had fallen in love. Of course, she knew animals were more than aesthetic. They were living creatures that deserved to have the best lives possible. She didn't want to potentially hurt or kill an animal, even a fish… Wait a second. Clover had fish tanks. He was an aquarist. She wondered if he'd have any insight. She didn't know if they'd be good beginner fish or not. But with the time it was, he was probably in the middle of his normal duties. Damn it all. But she could at least leave him a message, so she texted him.I'm considering getting a betta potentially. Would you have any thoughts on it?She now remembered that his largest fish tank had busted because he was in a particularly vile mood before she left. She hoped those fish were doing okay... She knew those fish meant a lot to him. She got a text from Raven a couple of minutes later.Would you like to work with the birds today?Well, that would definitely help keep her busy. She responded with an affirmative and Raven opened a portal a minute or two later. "Well, come on then. And you're gonna need to get some different clothes for falconry. It's down and dirty work, so getting some clothes from the thrift store would probably be a good idea." "Entirely fair," Winter said. She hadn't really been out in the field or anything yet, but she had gone with Raven out that one day toward the marshes... She definitely needed some equipment and clothes that wouldn't be ruined because they got a little dirty. Most of her clothes were department-store clothes, but even so... She really didn't want to ruin a good chunk of her clothing by getting them stained with grass or whatever else. They went through the portal and, immediately, Winter heard excited chittering which she couldn't help but smile at. They were outside and Kiyay sat on a perch with Mono on another. She put her glove on and Kiyay immediately launched over, landing on her fist. She chuckled and petted his head. She kind of did miss having him around 24/7 like she had for those couple days Qrow had been in her apartment in Atlas. He was such a comfort to her for whatever reason. They both understood fear and uncertainty so it had bonded them quickly. "All right, all right, let's get this show on the road. Today, we're gonna work with the lure. Keep in mind this mightlooksimple and easy, but it's a lot more complicated than it looks. Also...you should probably spend some time with Pechicha today. For the most part, dogs in the tribe are really bonded to their handlers. We raise them from puppies starting about twelve weeks. Pechicha's already around a year and was bonded to Coya, but she's not so old and inflexible she can't accept a new handler." Winter frowned. "Did I take a dog from somebody?" "Nah, there were plenty of other dogs in the household. It wasn't like she was the only dog bonded to Coya. She's raised other dogs under my supervision. This was just supposed to be her first falconry dog. Unu can raise another falconry dog for her and let her use one of her dogs." Winter nodded a bit. She couldn't help but feel guilty for taking a dog from somebody, regardless of what Raven said. Still.. Raven was right. She needed to bond with the dog before too long. She hoped Pechicha wouldn't hate her or anything like that... It wasn't like she hadmeantto take her away from her main handler. That was a decision Raven had made. Winter had no real input into it. Winter put Kiyay down and put her glove away. "All right, so..." With that, Raven began to start to teach her how to swing the lure. Raven was right; it did look easy. However, as Winter started, she couldn't help but swear internally. It was definitelymuchmore difficult than it looked. Even the beginning step was more difficult than she thought it would be. The movements were entirely foreign to her and it felt strange. It didn't help that the rope hurt her hands and she had to stop gripping it after a while, letting go of the lure. "Is something wrong?" Winter opened her hands and showed Raven they were rubbed raw. "Ah... The rope. Yeah, it's a lot more crude than modern-day, mass-produced ones. These ones are hand made, so they don't have the precision and smoothness of modern-day ones. We'll have to go to the store and replace it. For now, since your hands are so raw, you might as well spend some time with Pechicha." Raven nudged the dog over toward Winter, but the brindle pup didn't want to budge. Winter sat on the ground near Kiyay and Pechicha reluctantly approached."I still don't really get why I had to leave the tribe... This place is weird and everything smells funny... And I don't like these 'stair' things. They're so annoying,"Pechicha whined. Winter offered her hand and the dog sniffed it, ears back a little."I understand. Such a massive change isn't easy."It really wasn't. Pechicha shook her head."There's no way you understand. You weren't a member of the tribe and suddenly taken from your handler and forced to live in a weird place where the floors are all hard under foot and aren't soft like the reed mats in my home." "No, I don't understand exactly what you're going through, but I understand struggling to deal with a big change. I had to move here on short notice like you did. The culture of Vale isverydifferent from Atlas, the place that I was born and raised in. They're pretty much polar opposites. I truly wasn't aware women could hold down a job while married and still be respected and that I wouldn't be expected to start having children as soon as I got married."Vale was such a different beast compared to Atlas. No, she didn't entirely understand what Pechicha was going through, but it was similar enough that she could understand the general beats. She was still struggling to adapt to Vale and everything with the culture... She didn't understand how Yang could run around in a tank top and shorts and not be assaulted. Men were lecherous animals that wanted nothing more than sate their disgusting sex drives and would take care of it in any way they saw fit. Even if it meant molesting little girls. Pechicha laid down and closed her eyes."I just want to go home... I don't like it here... But Raven said there's no going back for me. I miss Coya and Dove and Ciane and everybody else."The poor dog sounded absolutely miserable. Winter reached over and petted behind her ears. "I understand that... I miss the man who was the father I didn't have growing up."She missed the general something fierce. He had protected, guided, and nurtured her in a way Gele never had. Was he a perfect man? Not by any means. But he was one of the best men Winter had ever met. He did his best to make sure people's lives weren't as miserable as possible. He saved young girls like her to ensure they could have a future. If a young woman that ran away form the Atlassian upper class came to him, he would protect her despite the backlash. He had done the same for her... He had helped her grow into the person she was today and formed her into the good commander that she had been before being discharged for getting married… "Maybe you do understand..."Pechicha's ears went back and Winter continued to pet her."Who took you away from your home?" "Qrow did, but it was because my home nation of Atlas isn't very good to women. I got married and a married woman is essentially useless in the workforce as far as Atlas is concerned. I'm supposed to be home and make children for my husband and nothing else." Pechicha raised her head and tilted it."Well, that's wrong. Pregnant women can still work until a certain point... And you aren't even pregnant! Right?" Winter shook her head."No, I'm not. But Atlas is ass-backwards in how it views women."She wasn't really sure about the tribe, but it sounded like they might be relatively egalitarian. Which was odd, consideringt their general isolation and primitive nature... If Raven and Dove could be chieftain, then what else couldn't women do there? It didn't seem like it'd make much sense to allow a woman to be chief and then push them back from daily life and such. She wished she could’ve grown up somewhere more like that... Vale was a massive culture shock to her and she was still struggling with it. "I really can't understand that. Women are just as capable as men in most areas... I mean, yeah, pregnant women have to be more careful when they're late in pregnancy but still. Just married? You can still do your job."Pechicha sat up and scratched at her ear before laying back down. Winter nodded."Atlas is just backwards despite being the most technologically advanced on the planet."She shook her head. She wished she could've been born and raised here. In some regards, even the tribe probably would've been better. It just didn't make any sense to oppress women, but they did the same with Faunus. Even now, Faunus struggled to eke out a meager living when they could legally be paid 35% less than their human compatriots. Plenty of humans weren't racist, but plenty were. Prejudice made no sense on principle, but it was just how people were. She still didn't entirely understand trans and nonbinary, but who was she to try to stop them from living their lives? Honestly, she still needed to reach out to May and the Happy Huntresses now that she thought about it… "Weird."Pechicha shook her head a bit."It makes no sense." "No, it doesn't."She paused."Do you have any toys you like to play with?"She didn't know anything about dogs, but she knew some liked to play with toys and such. She needed to bond with the dog and get closer to her so they could form a well-lubricated working team. It'd take time, but she did want to get closer to the dog. With everything going on, it just hadn't been a priority... But things were settling down, so she had time to do it now. She really didn't have much to do during the day, but if she met up with the Happy Huntresses, then she would at least have people to talk to on a regular basis. Assuming they didn't turn her out into the cold. She really hoped they didn't. Pechicha stood up and went inside, making several trips inside and out to gather up some toys and bring them out. Some were rope, some were leather. One looked a lot like a lure but another was just rope with severa knots in it."We can play tug, fetch, and some other things." "I probably shouldn't play with the rope toy..."She looked down at her raw hands. She wasn't used to rope at all, but the rough, hand-hewn rope really tore apart her sensitive skin after not too long. She wasn't sure how much better modern rope would be but she hoped that it wouldn't completely tear her hands up. Rope was going to be rough no matter what, but still... This stuff was just nasty to handle. "No tug then, but fetch?"She picked up a toy and dropped it in front of Winter. Winter looked at Raven. "What's fetch?" "Oh, you throw the toy and the dog brings it back. It's that simple," Raven explained. Winter nodded and picked up the toy, then flung it with a fair amount of force. Pechicha scrambled after the toy which went sailing almost out of sight. As the dog ran, Winter could definitely see the stout muscles rippling underneath the dog's fur. This dog was built to be a working dog and be active. She was strong and would definitely need a lot of exercise... Winter wasn't exactly lazy but she hoped that she'd be able to provide the dog with what she needed in terms of activity and everything else. But Qrow and Raven would help as well. She hoped that she would be a good partner for Pechicha... She had never worked with dogs before and had no idea how to handle them. She was shooting in the dark right now. For a while, all they did was play fetch. Winter didn't have to do a lot other than throw the toy as hard as she could and Pechicha would run after it. Eventually, though, the dog dropped the toy and laid down, panting."Did I throw it too much..."Winter asked. She didn't want to overtax the poor animal. She was trying to follow Pechichal's lead on what she wanted to do to hopefully bond with her a bit. Pechicha shook her head despite her panting."No. I'll stop when I want to. You were fine. That was fun!"Her tail thumped a bit and Winter managed a small smile. She was glad Pechicha had fun. Fun was pretty much foreign to her. Raven came out with a bowl and put it on the ground near Pechicha. She could hear the ice clinking around in it and Pechichia went to drink, only to pull back and look shocked."It's cold like snow!" Winter chuckled a bit."We can basically make ice on demand for drinks. Those are ice cubes in your bowl. I didn't much use them in Atlas, but I'm sure they're nice here."She was in the shade so she wasn'tdyingor anything, but she was definitely warm. Being outside like this in Vale was definitely a bit taxing... Even the nights were warm and muggy and a little hard to deal with. She was so thankful for air conditioning... She would definitely be dying and miserable without it in the Patch house. Pechicha nodded a bit and started drinking, finishing the whole bowl before laying back down."So what do you do for fun?" Winter frowned."I...don't really have any hobbies. I was always working."She didn't have time for hobbies especially when Weiss' life and future hung in the balance. She needed to make sure she did as much as she could to move up the ranks of the military to try to gain the influence in order to free Weiss. But now, she had toomuchtime on her hands. She wasn't used to sitting around with her thumbs up her ass, just waiting for things to happen to her. Kali and Sienna would be taking over Weiss' case and so all she could do right now was wait. It would be months until anything came of it... They had a plan, but they had to wait to make the right moves. They would be starting proceedings soon, but...she had no idea how things would pan out. It was all up to Kali and Sienna to free Weiss and Whitley from Gele's clutches. She just hoped that her little stunt whenever she released the videos of her own abuse wouldn't hamper things too much… Pechicha practically frowned."No fun? That's boring! How can you not have fun?" "That's just not how Atlas is. You either work until your death or you're a woman that has ten to fifteen children over the course of your life. Atlas actively tried to repress the arts around eighty years ago... It was one thing that sparked the Great War between all the nations."Unfortunately, she didn't know a whole lot about that point in history. She could probably ask Persia, considering she'd lived through the war and fought in it. She wasn't sure about the Faunus Wars though. She really didn't want to sound stupid and ignorant over history because she'd been fed nothing but propaganda. She knew she'd been fed pretty much nothing but half truths at best and outright lies at worst. There were books in Summer's study... Maybe she ought to pick up reading more. "That's sad... A lot of work has to go into the Chihi-poho, of course, but people still have time to relax and have fun. Inactive season has a lot of fun! There's still stuff to do and work to be done, but we have lots of downtime due to the snows trapping us in. We learn to tell stories and stuff. Kids play together. We play music. Lots of fun stuff. I was born during inactive season."Winter nodded a bit. That...sounded like it ought te nic No wonder Pechicha missed being with the tribe. All Winter knew was cold isolation and prolonged work schedules. She really struggled with having so much free time. She would have to wait several months to apply to school... She wasn't even sure what she wanted to do honestly... Business would look good whenever she took over the SDC but even so... She wasn't sure what she'd enjoy. She simply didn't have any conception of 'fun' or loving something for the sake of it. "I see. I've never known anything like that. Qrow did tell me some of the tribe's stories when we first met."That night on the balcony felt a lifetime away now. It was another world entirely. She could hardly believe how much things had changed since that fateful night... Life had stopped making sense when she met him. She was too used to things being neat, orderly, and following Atlassian rules. Now... Nothing made sense and her life was in shambles. She just had no idea how to handle any of this. It was a lot. And she needed to contact the Happy Huntresses... That would probably lead to things making evenlesssense than they did now...but she was getting used to the lack of sense to some degree. "You should learn something fun. Do you like music? Stories?" Winter shrugged."I don't know. I was never allowed to explore myself like that."It was just a simple, honest answer. She didn't know if she enjoyed stories because she had never been allowed fiction books and she didn't know if she liked music. The only music allowed in Schnee manor had been Atlassian classical from some two, three hundred years ago. It was all so droll and the only time she got to hear it was during dance practice. Well. She did like dancing, but it wasn't like she could do anything with that. It was the only thing she found any joy in. She needed to go to a hobby shop and see what al inspired her and maybe caught her attention. She really needed a hobby other than falconry because that would only be a few months out of the year. "We can teach you. Right?"Pechicha's tail wagged a bit and she looked at Raven who chuckled. "If she wants to, Pechi. If she wants to,"Raven said."There are plenty of things I can teach you, but without the cultural context of the tribe...not sure how interested you'd be in them."Winter shrugged. She wasn't sure either. The only thing she really enjoyed was ballroom dancing so far... It was a nice break from the droll life she had lived. Of course, most people had been terrible partners for her. So far, only Qrow lived up to her standards. So many Atlassian men stomped on her feet and used the closeness as an attempt to molest her. But she always put a stop to that even without any combat training whatsoever. It wasn't hard to grab a wandering hand and make a scene on the floor. "I just really don't know what I can do as a hobby that isn't falconry or dancing." She swapped back to Valian to speak to Raven. The woman still intimidated her beyond all words, but it was a bit easier to accept her when she was in relatively normal clothes and didn't have her sword on her. Her clothes were still mostly dark, reds and blacks, but she looked a lot more approachable in a t-shirt and shorts. "I don't have my license yet, so it's not like I can just go out whenever I want to." Public transit was definitely nice, but it took quite a while to get from Point A to Point B with it. "There are plenty of things you can do in the house without a license. You should just go to a craft store and see what catches your attention. We've done what we can for now and you've bonded with Pechicha a bit. Want to see if you can get a lift to a craft store or hobby shop or something?" Raven folded her arms and looked at Winter. "I have wanted to do that... I just don't know where anyareto be honest. And trying to get a lift is hard. Qrow isn't around to arrange a ride for me." "There are taxis and ride-sharing services. You might just have to go to the ferry house on the mainland before they'll pick you up." That made some level of sense. Well, she could get to the ferry house on the mainland without too much trouble. It was daylight now, so she could make her way through the forest. There were only so many directions one could go on Patch… "All right then." Her hands were still rubbed raw from the rope. It really hurt... But she stood and Raven opened a portal for her, then dropped her off in the house. Well, not much else to do now but see about getting a taxi or ride-sharing service...