wanderer's lullaby

Winter stood outside the ferry house, waiting for her taxi to show up. Eventually, a green cab pulled up and the woman inside waved to her. "Come on in!" Winter nodded and sat behind the driver's seat. She'd ordered everything through the app, so she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with talking to the woman. Though her accent... It sounded Atlassian if lightly. She was older, perhaps fifties or sixties. "Are you from Atlas?" she asked. She saw the woman nod. "I hear you're form there as well, but based on the thickness of your accent, you haven't been here in Vale too long." Odd. What were the chances that she'd get a cab driver that was an Atlassian expat? She knew there was the Atlassian enclave, but even so… "A couple weeks," Winter confessed. "I've been here for three decades. My wife saved me from a terrible arranged marriage. She helped me file for divorce then helped me escape here." Winter blinked. So she was married to another woman. Huh. Oh well, it wasn't her place to hate or say anything about. "Did you flee for your own safety too?" Winter shifted uncomfortably. Well, she was an Atlassian woman. She would probably know what was going on better than almost anybody else... "Yes. My husband brought me here after my abusive father tried to allow men to claim me as their wife. It...was a fast marriage admittedly." She didn't really want to go into too much detail. But maybe she could get a couple answers on things. "Did you use the protection program to escape and get citizenship?" "I did. It took ninety days for my application to be approved and for my citizenship to be approved, but I've heard of women having as little as thirty days. Usually it's ninety, just to prove you aren't meaning ill and trying to abuse Vale's systems, but if you can prove the amount of danger you're in is severe, it can be rapidly expedited." Hm. Well, she could definitely prove that her safety was in quite a high amount of danger if she ever went back to Atlas. She couldn't be sure that her father wouldn't attempt to have some man rape her or something like that... And she would need help from Kali and Sienna on Weiss' case. She had the videos of Weiss' abuse as well, but she wouldn't release those to the public anytime soon. If they needed the videos for the case, she would pass them on. But for her own... It would suck because she'd be in the headlines for only Holy Father knew how long. But she needed to poison the well, so to speak, in order to prove that her safety was in great danger if she ever went back to Atlas. "Thankfully, I can more than prove that." She had the video evidence, usually from multiple angles. She was going to have to do it so that way she could incentivise the Valian government to hopefully really make it clear she was inseveredanger if she went back to Atlas. There was no telling what Gele would do. Even the bonds of matrimony probably wouldn't stop him from allowing men to do what they would with her if she ever went back. Plus, it would help paint the picture of what went on inside Schnee manor. People deserved to know what their money went toward when they bought from the SDC... If only she could get into contact with branded people to further show them what the SDC did, but that was impossible. She had seen a few brandees in the military and, understandably, they weren't happy to ever interact with her. She completely understood. She couldn't blame them in the slightest. "Maybe you'll even set the record for quickly citizenship gets approved." The woman chuckled then fell silent. Honesetly, who knew. She couldn't show off Weiss' videos because that would be stepping over a line, but her own abuse? Well. She didn't want people to see it necessarily, but it would be critical for making sure and proving that she wasn't safe if she ever went back to Atlas. She had had cameras installed in her and Weiss' rooms so that way she could turn international opinion against Gele at some point. But with her marriage... Her original plans were completely moot. They arrived at the hobby store and the woman waved before letting Winter go inside. Winter looked around, honestly feeling overwhelmed by the size of the store. She wasn't even sure where to begin. There were so many aisles and things to look at... She could probably spend hours in here if she wanted. Granted, it wasn't like she had anywhere to be today... So she could spend as long as she wanted in here. She started going up and down the aisles slowly, taking everything in. She had picked up a basket to put things in, but she wasn't really sure if she would want to put anything in it yet... There were small kits that one could do to introduce them to a hobby. Needle felting, latch hook, crochet, knitting, and countless other hobbies. She wasn't even sure where to begin. The kits were a little on the expensive side it seemed like too. But it wasn't like she knew where to start. So she tossed a couple kits into the cart. If she didn't enjoy them, maybe she could give the half-finished projects to Yang and Ruby. It looked like these kits were for kids mostly, but there wasn't anything saying she couldn't enjoy them or try them either. She was very clearly in the children's section of the store, but she didn't mind… One section had large, thick books with plastic pages that were blank and she wasn't sure what to make of them. She saw an employee putting some things on the shelves and she got his attention. "Excuse me, sir, what is this aisle in particular?" "First time in here? Well, it's for scrapbooking. Basically you take pictures from your life or somebody else's life and put it together with all sorts of decorations and stuff. I've never tried it, but people say it's a lot of fun." Winter frowned a bit at that. She had no real pictures or even happy memories to deal with... Why would she want to put together a book of bad memories? She had so few good memories in her life. The only pictures of her from Schnee manor were the official ones for publicity or forced ones that were posed. It was one of the few times she got to see Weiss outside of her secret night forays. Winter put the empty book away and continued wandering the store slowly, putting in the occasional thing that seemed to interest her. Of course, there was no guarantee she would be interested in something, but she wouldn't know until she tried it. She came across a small case that was locked that had what looked like decks behind it. What was this? There were also some books beside it.The Easiest Way To Learn The Tarot Ever!was one of the titles. What was tarot...? She opened her scroll and brought up Coco. "What's Tarot?" she asked. "Oh, it's a divination system based off cards. It's a type of cartomancy. A lot of people use it in spiritual practice and stuff. It's kinda silly, but if you wanna take it up for shits and giggles, that's on you." Coco grinned. "Never took up cartomancy myself, but who knows, maybe you'll find it fun. If not, you can probably find someone to give it to. Just choose your deck wisely. Where there are set meanings for the cards, there's still some creative allowance in there for the reader. Up to you what you wanna do with it." Winter nodded a bit. "That does sound silly. Predicting the future?" She shook her head. Nobody could predict the future. It just wasn't possible. The very forces of physics and nature prevented that from being a thing. But she was looking for hobbies right now... Things to kill time and maybe give her some transferable skill to a job... She still wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but it couldn't hurt. At worst, she didn't find it interesting and abandoned it. It would be money wasted on a deck and such but... She might find it amusing at the very least. She was just looking for something to help take up her time. "Would you have any suggestions as to what deck to choose?" "Well, the symbolism is important. Here's what the traditional artwork looks like." Coco brought up an image and Winter frowned. That imagery was terribly antiquated, it looked like it was possibly pre-Great War even. She didn't click with it. "Put the camera up to the case and see what decks there are." Winter nodded and did just that, slowly running the camera over the rows of cards. Coco was quiet for a little while as Winter watched her. "Well, the This Might Hurt deck has fairly traditional imagery but it's more modern. How do you like it?" Coco showed her some of the images. "That definitely feels a lot better to me..." Yeah, it felt better. She wasn't sure about 'connecting' with the artwork but it did feel better to her. Though one did catch her attention. "What's the 'Shadowscapes' deck look like?" "One sec and... Like this. It's a very artsy deck. Vibe is very different from traditional RWS decks, but it's pretty. If you want it, get it." Winter nodded a bit. "Need anything else?" Winter shook her head. Coco gave finger guns and clicked before disappearing. Winter tracked down an employee and had them retrieve the decks and bought a couple books to go with it. One was a very thick guidebook while the other was the easiest way to read the cards. It all felt very strange to be delving into cartomancy, but she was mostly looking for ways to kill time and fill up what were droll days. She knew that, soon enough, she'd have her siblings and all hell would break loose. From the way Weiss talked through text, her and Whitley did not get along whatsoever. He sounded like a small clone of Gele which wasn't great... But she wasn't entirely sure how true that was or not. It could definitely be true, what with how Atlassian men were, but even so… She continued meandering through the shop, blinking when she saw swaths and swaths of yarn along with a wide array of different thread colors. This was the fiber arts section of the store. She went to the thread area since she knew how to do several types of needlework. Each was only a couple lien, but to stock projects, she'd need a lot... Thankfully, she was getting the stipend from the general and she had plenty of money in savings... She didn't spend a whole lot in the first place so she could afford to splurge on the different types of thread. She picked up a color chart: the DMC. She was too used to that chart and was fairly acquainted with it. She picked up one of a lot of different colors along with boxes to hold the thread. As for the other fiber arts... She had picked up a couple kits for crochet and knitting. She wasn't sure if she'd get into them or not, but for now, she'd stick by the kits. Looking at the knitting needles and crochet hooks, there were different sizes and gauges which she wasn't at all familiar with. She'd need to do more study and research into them in order to truly understand what was going on with them. Hopefully the kits would give her a basic idea of what went into each different art. Maybe she'd find something she liked, she wasn't entirely sure. She just needed something to do with her time. She was sick of sitting around all day and not doing much of anything. She was just too used to working all day, everyday... She hated having nothing to do but stick her thumbs up her ass. At an endcap to one of the aisles, she stopped and picked something up. Diamond painting? What was that? She couldn't really be sure. It was a canvas, 30x40 cm apparently. Around the side of the aisle, she found some more supplies. A strange container with little screw-capped containers, a pen of sorts, multiple sticky substances, little trays, and decorative tape. Well, if she needed things, then she might as well get them... She threw some of the materials in the cart and sighed. This was going to be oneexpensivetrip for her... She really wasnotused to spending money so frivolously. Hobbies were one of the most frivolous things on the face of the planet...but she needed a way to kill time and be productive. Tarot didn't sound terribly productive, but again...she was just looking to fill her time with something. Eventually, she got to the checkout lane and the man behind the counter smiled at her. "You were the one with the Tarot decks, right?" he asked. She nodded. "Well, this certainly is quite the assemblages of different hobbies... Why do you have so much?" Winter rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm exploring different avenues." She didn't want to give her life story to this man. But he was probably just doing his job by talking to her. "I recently moved here and have too much free time." She didn't have citizenship yet, so she couldn't work legally. Most places wouldn't be willing to try to hire an immigrant illegally. The people of Patch were one thing because nobody would probably care... But in the main city of Vale? Yeah, they probably would. The government would definitely want those different avenues traced and employees accounted for. She could probably find someone willing to hire her under the table but...she didn't want to chance it. She felt like working on Patch was enough of a risk. Though, for the most part, it really was just teens and young adults working stocking at the store. "Well, I hope you have fun with everything," he said pleasantly with a smile. "There are lots of hobbies out there and everyone has one that'll fit them." Winter nodded a bit. Her favorite was dancing, but it wasn't like she needed danceclassesor anything. She'd had so many different styles drilled into her over the years and she'd mastered all of them. Though things like the tango were completely off limits... It was all safe dances, the exception being the bolero which was Atlas' 'risque' dance though it really wasn't all that risque compared to something like the tango. Why should she need a class for something she knew basically inside and out at this point? Honestly, she could probably evenbea dance teacher but...nobody would hire her unless she had citizenship. She was stuck. Stuck until she could get approved. She nodded. "I'm trying my best." There was a reason she had picked up so many kits and such... She was trying to see what stuck with her and what she enjoyed. She had picked up so much stuff and the price... The price made her cringe. That was a lot of money compared to how she normally spent... Especially if she ended up not enjoying them. The decks were a bit on the expensive side too, twenty to thirty lien apiece. And the book was nearly thirty. Yeesh. So freaking expensive, but...who knew. She might enjoy it. Cartomancy sounded so silly but who knew what would happen. The man smiled and handed her the bags after she paid. She gathered them up and headed out. She was in a strip mall currently with a lot of smaller free-standing shops around. She looked at her scroll. It was well past lunch at this point... There were restaurants around. She used the maps feature to puzzle out a place that sounded good. A sandwich shop where she could choose what she wanted. She would probably need three or four sandwiches just to sate her hunger... Working with the birds then spending several hours in the hobby shop had left her more than a bit peckish. So she made her way over to the shop and told them to make three of what she chose. They looked a little gobsmacked. "I'm former Atlassian military. I have my aura activated and need more food than normal," she explained. She really didn't need to explain herself but...it was probably a good idea. They probably weren't used to making such a volume for one person. The workers nodded and made her three, one-foot long subs before wrapping and giving them to her. She sat down and started to eat, reflecting on what had happened so far... Well, at least she had gotten to bond with Pechicha a little bit... She felt bad for the poor dog though. She clearly had loved her former handler and was struggling with being away. She understood that all too well... She really did. She missed the general. He was a bit of a stiff man, but he was a good man... She hadn't heard his voice in weeks...and it wasn't like she could call him anytime she wanted to right now. Even on the daily, she couldn't do that because he was busy with meetings and such. She sighed. She really did miss the predictability of Atlas. No, it wasn't a great place, but...it was all she'd known. All these changes just left her awash and struggling with life. She hated how radically her life had changed. It was so frustrating to not have any control anymore... She'd had so much control of her life in Atlas, now she was spinning and spiraling, attempting to hold onto whatever she could in vain. There was no control here, not until she could be approved for citizenship and get a job. It was just too late into the semester to start to apply for college... She still didn't know what she'd even go for... She didn't even know what majors or minors there were and what she'd like to do. Not that she'd likely be at any job for very long because she still intended to take over the SDC… She finished up eating and put the trash where it belonged, then sighed. She had quite a few bags with her. She was more than strong enough to carry all of them but she might’ve gone a bit overboard, now that she thought about it… She was just trying to findsomethingto do with her time. There were so many kits she’d picked up and bought. Some for knitting, some for crochet, some for something called needle felting, and more. The Tarot did kind of interest her at least… No, she wasn't into all that psychic woo-woo, but it could maybe at least help her kill some time while learning it. It wasn’t a practical skill in the slightest, but most hobbies weren’t super practical in the first place. She ordered a taxi and it arrived soon enough. She put all her bags in the trunk and climbed into the back seat, arms folded while she continued to think. She felt silly picking up something like Tarot, but she was really just looking for things to do. She had to study for her GED, yes, but she’d get it in due time. And it wasn’t like she could spend all hours of the day studying either. Well, shecouldand had done that before, but even so, this was Vale. Vale was different. She had to try to balance things better… Plus, she still had no idea how she’d be handling Weiss and Whitley once she got custody of them. Well, she might only get custody of Weiss… She hadallof the video evidence to prove that Weiss was in danger, but according to Coco, the camera in Whitley’s room hadn’t picked up any abuse that was physical. It seemed as if Gelé had changed his tactics when it came to Whitley. Annoying. She arrived at the Patch ferry and sighed. The taxi wouldn’t take her to the center of the island, so all she could do was trudge through the uneven forest. At least it was still daylight. She would be entirely lost if it weren’t bright out. She was no slouch when it came to being able to make her way through the woods, but this was an unfamiliar forest which wasn’t somewhere to mess with especially with baby Grimm running around. She was surprised she hadn’t run into any yet, but she wouldn’t complain about not doing that. She really just wanted to be left alone so she could do what she wanted to. She eventually made her way back to the Patch house and dropped everything on the floor then flopped on the bed. She was tired from the long walk in the heat. Yes, they were on the ocean, but the forest trapped humidity and made it nearly unbearable for her. She felt sticky and disgusting, so she got up and took a quick shower to rinse the sweat and humidity off. She normally wasn’t one to take two showers in a day because it wasn’t good for the skin, but in this case…it felt needed. When she got back to the room, she looked at all her bags and started digging through them. She put the book and deck on the desk, then stared at all the boxes. “I’m not sure where to put these.” She hadn’t really thought this part through. Storage. Why did she think she could store a bunch of boxes in a room that was pretty much already packed to capacity? She wasn’t sure if Summer was around or not… Yep, sure am.Of course she was. But in this case, she couldn’t complain. “Where can I put all of these?” She frowned as she looked at where she sensed Summer. She was no aura reader, but it wasn’t difficult to sense where the aura flow and energy were now that she knew what to look out for. Summer announced her presence loud and clear which was good for Winter in this case. Shereallywasn’t sensitive when it came to aura… Not like Qrow, Yang, and Raven were. You can put them in the closet. C’mon; I’ll show you what you can toss out. I don’t need the storage anymore. If anyone gets after you, they can come after me.Summer really didn’t seem to have much, if any, regard for the feelings of those that had cared about her. Or was it just the fact she was dead that her priorities had shifted? Winter wasn’t sure, but it was probably best not to ask.Oh I care, but they cling too hard. I understand why they cling; I really do. But it’s not healthy for them. You’re a living person; you need the space. I’m dead. I don’t need physical, material things anymore. “I suppose that makes some level of sense.” It was incredibly practical, though she remained frustrated by basically everyone around her being able to read her aura. She hated it. But there wasn’t much she could do about it, not unless she sat down and started learning how to shield herself. By time she got there, it would probably be pretty useless… It’d take years, possibly a decade or more. She really hated not having her mind as her own refuge, but what else could she do? She knew it wasn’t something that could just be turned off once obtained. She opened the closet and got beneath the various dresses and stuff. She felt Summer pausing.Honestly, if you wanted to clean out most of this closet, you could. You’d want to keep the cloaks for pretty much everybody’s sakes, but otherwise? The dresses, pants, shirts… None of it’s needed anymore. Like I just said, I’m dead. I don’t need any of this shit. It’s completely unnecessary at this point. Keeping it is just for their sakes. “The cloaks though?” No, I don’t need them, but they’re a symbol of me. Realistically, it does fall under unnecessary shit but…I know the others would be beyond distraught if you got rid of the cloaks. And, well, I’m attached too. I know I don’t need them, but I don’t want to get rid of them either. “Well, theyareyour possessions. Who am I to say anything against it? But I think I’ll wait until the girls get home to see if they want anything else.” She wouldn’t just toss things out when people were so emotionally attached to them. She had no sentimental value attached to really anything to be honest. She wasn’t a sentimental person. But she’d also just never been given theoptionto grow attached to anything. Gelé had been in control of basically all of her possessions, so it wasn’t like she could keep anything even if she wanted it. She was nothing more than a little doll to him. And that practicality of seeing things asjust thingsrather than sentimental objects continued. It made it pretty easy to just throw things away when needed. That would be entirely fair. But for the storage stuff? Aside from the notebooks, you can just toss it.There were definitely quite a few boxes of notebooks, several containing dust equations. She managed to move things around enough and move some boxes out of the way so that she could store her various boxes she’d gotten in the closet. It was definitely nice to have some room to store things. There wasn’t a lot of space here, but what else could she do about it? She didn’t want to get rid of Summer’s notebooks, be they dust or composition. The dust notebooks were a treasure trove of information and theory that might push dust understanding into something new. She just needed to decode them. Weiss would probably have a field day with those notebooks. She opened her scroll and talked to it. “Coco?” “What is it, Wint?” “Do you know of any scanners that can do bulk scanning? Summer has…a lot of notebooks. Like boxes and boxes and boxes of them. I know home scanners exist, but that would take me weeks if not months to do.” “There are people who scan things in bulk, but you would need to pay them.” “I have plenty of money.” She really did. She barely spent any of what she got while in the military. Part of it was to make an account so, that way, when Weiss got to Beacon, she could have money to spend without it getting flagged and controlled by Gelé. She was putting some of the stipend the General gave her into that account. But now that she didn’t have any expenses, she really didn’t need much. “Well, you can take stock of the notebooks and see how much it’d cost to scan them. There are plenty of people that do that. How many notebooks we talking?” “Can you tap into the camera for a moment?” “Done and done.” Winter pointed the camera at the notebooks packed into the plastic containers, then swung it around to look at the bookcase crammed with composition notebooks. Coco let out a low whistle. “That’s insane. How in thehelldidone personfill all those up.Arethey all filled up?” Pretty much. “Summer says yes.” “Damn. And I thought I was prolific.” “Weiss would have a field day with all of these… Though I imagine shipping will be a nightmare, what with weight as an issue. Unless I can drop them off to the scanning facility.” “I’ll see what I can find in terms of Vale. Sound good?” “Thank you.” “Need anything else?” “No.” “Talk to you later then.” Winter pocketed her scroll again and shook her head. This was absolutely insane. Summer was definitely a one-of-a-kind mind. There had to be hundreds of notebooks between the bookshelf and the boxes in the bottom of the closet. They were all either music or dust… She had no idea how Summer had filled all of them. She stood up and closed the closet before going over and laying on the bed again. “I should’ve asked before putting Coco to the task. Do you evenwantthese notebooks scanned and possibly put out into the world?” It wasn’t like she was going to just publish them on the internet or anything… She would keep them for personal use and possibly give them over to Weiss that way she could have material to work on. Weiss was better with dust and other things than Winter was anyway. Weiss was a certifiable genius; Winter…was not. She had to work hard towardeverythingshe did while things just came more naturally to Weiss. Honestly, the family could make a lot of money from my composition works. I just never published because I never felt a need. Do you know music theory at all?Winter shook her head. She’d never really studied music before.Well damn. Because if you did, you could easily put my songs into collections. “Weiss is the musician, but I know she’s not particularly fond of music due to being forced to study it.” She could feel Summer frown.Nobody should be forced to learn music. It’s a wonderful medium for self-expression, but if forced to learn it…I could understand how and why she wouldn’t like it. For me, it was an escape from life on the streets. I would often buy composition notebooks instead of eating… I just wanted to compose music by what I learned at the local library rather than eat sometimes. That’s why I was so short in life. I didn’t get even an eighth of the necessary nutrition an aura user needs… “Unfortunately, force is the only way Gelé knows how to do anything.” Winter shook her head. Fair. He’s a monster. If your sister hates music, that’s…terrible. What are your feelings on it? “Entirely neutral. I was never forced to learn it or anything like that, so I have no strong feelings on it.” You never listen to it for fun? “Do you know who you’re talking to?” She didn’t understand the meaning of ‘fun.’ She really didn’t. There was no time for frivolity as far as her life had been concerned up until she’d moved to Vale. She had no free time to do anything. She and ‘fun’ didn’t know each other. She would say it was frustrating, but how could she when she had never known what funwas? Touche. Well, I think Qrow said something about getting the piano tuned a while back? “I believe he did. I’ll have to speak to him about it later.” I can easily teach you to play. “It would definitely help with killing time and giving me something at least semi-constructive to do…” She wasn’t sure if she’d find music fun or not, but it would at least give her a skill to work toward…assuming the thing could be tuned. It’d been around a decade since it’d last been used. She wasn’t sure if a piano that out of tune could really be used or not… They’d just have to wait and see. “I’ll have to speak to him to see what he wants to do about it.” Well, a piano can still be tuned as long as it’s in working order…and this is in working order. It’ll probably just take multiple tunings to work at its full capacity. “I see.” Summer was…Summer, so she felt like she could trust what the woman said. “Anyway, I should probably start getting around for driver’s ed…” That was in about an hour or so, so she definitely needed to start getting up and around for it. She was already dressed and showered and everything, but she needed to get her tablet and such. All right. Well, if you ever want to practice in the car with someone that knows what they’re doing, I can always help you, assuming Taiyang doesn’t mind.Winter was silent at that. Based on Raven’s reaction…Summer was just as crazy a driver as she was in terms of intelligence. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in the car with Summer or not. But being alone in the car with Taiyang felt…terrible. She did not want to be alone with a man. There was always a chance of assault happening… She could never be too careful around men. “Anyway, I need to get ready for Raven to pick me up.” With that done, she started getting around.