wanderer's lullaby

Winter blinked when her scroll went off. Coco’s ringtone seemed to blare in the silence of the study. “Hello?” She was so used to Coco simply butting in on her scroll. But with her still in Atlas, she didn’t have her usual setup. Hopefully she’d get back soon so they could get back to normal communications. She really didn’t like not having Coco around… It was unnerving now that she didn’t have her always breathing over her shoulder. “Hey, Wint. Sorry for not checking in with you the past couple of days. Parents’ve been busy so I’ve been dragged along to stupid meetings. Anyway, how’s Vale been treatin’ ya? Pretty great, isn’t it?” Winter’s mouth pressed into a thin line. Great? It was one of the worst experience of her life. She couldn’t lie to Coco, though. She’d known as soon as it left her lips. “Atlas as a married woman would probably be easier for me. I could still hold down a job even if my choice would be restricted.” It felt strange to talk to Coco in Valian. She was still so used to operating in her native language. It was frankly exhausting to operate in only a somewhat familiar language… She wanted to go back to Atlas even with as horrible as it was. Coco let out a a low whistle. “Woah, seriously? How can you be thatdown on it? I’ve never had problems while there. My parents gave me run of the city as long as they didn’t want me to learn something.” WInter sighed. How could their experiences be so different…? Everyone said Vale was this beautiful place, but she’d seen nothing but suffering. “I’m staying on Patch with Qrow’s family.” That was all she wanted to say on the matter. Coco could find out how things were playing out once she got back to Vacuo. She’d keep it relatively quiet for now. “Ah, yeah, that might do it… Staying with people you don’t know is hard especially when going through culture shock. Well, hopefully things will get better soon enough. Get into the city and things should hopefully be better. Being trapped in a small community is hard.” That it was. The people were treating her kindly enough but it was clear she didn’t belong. They weren’t too different from the Atlassian upper clas in ways… Hopefully she could find something to do with her time that wasn’t sitting around… “It is. I have too much time on my hands.” She already complained about it enough… But she hadn’t found any solution to it yet. She’d get her work visa eventually, but until then… “Have you considered volunteering anywhere?” “Volunteering?” Once again, she couldn’t figure out the word based on context. Something to do with time, but outside of that… “Yeah. You know how nonprofits depend on free labor? That’s it. There are tons of different types too: domestic violence centers, animal shelters, community centers, animal rehab, Faunus rights, and a ton more. You don’t need a work visa to volunteer as long as you’re not being compensated. Plus, it’ll help you start networking. You’ll need reference if you want to work. If you already have strong ties to the community, it’ll make you more attractive to employers.” The idea of not being compensated for her work didn’t sit well with her. The general had taught her the value of her labor and to never undersell herself. So to willing to give people her time for free… Atlas would have a field day with volunteering if it existed there. But having references for employment wouldbe important. She could probably talk with the AI about it after she got off with Coco. “I’ll take it into consideration.” Wasn’t it tantamount to slavery though…? Free labor without compensation… She didn’t understand how corporations that used volunteers didn’t take advantage of the people. She would reallyhave to drill in and see what it entailed. Though it might prove to be a valuable use of her time… “Don’t overblow it, Wint. I already know you’re overthinking it. Most places have you doing set tasks. It does vary depending on place though. But you’re often doing stuff so staff can put their focus into bigger areas while you help with the minutia.” That made some sort of sense. It was delegation. People being paid did more important tasks while volunteers took care of the less important ones. “So I see. I will check into it once we get off call. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” She and Coco usually didn’t spend a lot of time talking. Usually it was the pair of them sitting in silence while they both worked on things. Simply chatting about small things like this was…strange. “Nah, not really. Just wanted to do a quick check in. Can’t wait to get home and back to normal.” She could agree with that…though there was no ‘home’ or ‘normal’ for her anymore. Granted, even the apartment had never been ‘home.’ The only places she felt like home was with the general. As long as she was close to him, everything felt like it’d be okay… “All right. I’ll talk to you later, Coco.” Her friend gave a quick goodbye and the call clicked off. Winter grabbed the laptop where the AI sat on a chair, flipping through a book. Cute idle animation. But she already saw a window with dozens of tabs open. Apparently it had preemptively already opened up places looking for volunteers… If you want some more info on volunteering, I’d suggest talking to Yang. She volunteers with the Band most Thursdays. Plus her chapel is usually looking for volunteers.Summer spoke in place of the AI this time. “The Band?” She’d never heard of the organisation. But Summer spoke like she shouldknow what it was. She didn’t keep up with current events outside of the SDC, so she wouldn’t really know what it was. The Band of Siblings. It’s a more recent Faunus rights organisation.She got the very distinct feeling Summer wasn’t telling her everything. But Faunus rights, huh? Would a Schnee even be allowed to attend something like that? She had personally done nothing to harm Faunus. But with Gelé’s policies, people would not look on her kindly. Maybe that church though… It might not be a bad place to start. It’d save her from the dozens of calls she’d be making to find out what volunteers did in depth from each place she would look at. “Uh, do you know the chapel that Yang volunteers at?” The AI looked up from its book and shook its head. “No, I don’t. Ghostie is talking to you, right? Why not wait for Yang to come back and tell you?” She sighed heavily at that. She still didn’t want to interact with the girl too much. But there really was no way around it… But maybe she could find something for herself as well. Exploring options wasn’t a bad thing. But what would she want to do? “Could you please separate each general category into a window?” That would make it mucheasier to browse rather than the couple dozen tab mess this currently was. Within a few seconds, eight windows popped open and the AI gave a thumbs up. “Thank you.” Animal shelters, nursing homes, the homeless, and a few other macro options made themselves clear to her. After some quick glances, she closed out a lot of the tabs in ones relating to people. She could not people well, but she also didn’t have much experience with animals. It seemed like it might be a better fit, though, depending on the skill set required. One stood out to her, though: Star of Hope. It was a small aura breed shelter looking for people not afraid to work with birds of prey. The website did display a massivebrown bird on it. All she could think of what was an eagle. It might not be it was all she could really place. How should she approach it, though? Should she call or go in person? Then again, they’d know who she was the instant she walked in. Call it was, then. She dialed the number on the site. She frowned as it went to voicemail. She left her name and the burner scroll’s number along with a short message about her interest. Well, that was a bust for the moment, but they’d get back to her. Maybe she could stop by while they were in town. It was starting to get a bit close now with all the sorting she’d done… However, the burner went off about fifteen minutes later. “Hello?” Of course, there was only one thing this call could be about. “Is this Winter? If it is, I’m sorry we missed your first call. It can be a little loud in here at times and everyone was outside. My name is Jodi Garner and I’m head of operations for Star of Hope. Would you mind telling me a bit more about yourself? We’re a small rescue and work almost exclusively off volunteers.” She frowned a bit. She hadn’t been expecting on interview. But if they required special skills, it made sense. She did not have any special skills that they would be looking for. Maybe if they needed administrative help…? “I saw your site asking for help while looking for places to volunteer at. I moved to Vale recently and I’m waiting on my work visa. I worked for the Atlas military, so I have strong organisational skills, a keen eye for detail, and a willingness to pick up new abilities as needed. My history with animals is…limited, admittedly, but my new husband and sister-in-law are going to teach me falconry.” She’d seen the word on the website and figured out the Atlassian equivalent. Hopefully this would sound good. She had a wide range of skills but she wasn’t willing to notbe paid for most of them. If she was picking up new ones, though… Jodi was quiet for a few moments. “I’m not sure if you’d be a good fit or not. We do wish our volunteers to have at least have pets before. What is your experience with animals?” Her heart sank at that. “Not much… I was around the dog unit of the Special Operatives and I’ve spent a little bit of time around my mother-in-law’s aura falcons before. I would be willing to help with administrative work if that is needed.” She’d had a good feeling about this place but she’d apparently been wrong. She really shouldn’t trust her feelings. “Do you fly or feed the birds? Do you do lure work with them? What all is your experience? What species are they?” “They’re gyrfalcons. Unfortunately, I’ve only really been in the same room as them but I’m going to learn everything needed to take care of them.” She’d only been in Vale two days. Could they expect her to have learned everything in that time frame? Not that they exactly knew that… Hopefully they wouldn’t turn her away… “Well, if you’re willing to learn the ins and outs, we’ll be willing to have you. And if your sister-in-law wants something to do, pass the info on. We’re always looking for people with large bird experience. If you’d like to drop in at some point today or tomorrow, I’ll be in. Otherwise, I’ll have Felicity meet you if you come in sometime during the week.” Winter breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. Maybe this wouldwork out. She wouldn't do well in people-centric service, so maybe she could work well with animals. “All right. I’ll see about stopping in today. Thank you for your time.” “Thank you for your interest. Have a nice day, Winter.” The call clicked off and Winter looked at the ceiling. What an odd turn her day had taken. Not a bad one but odd. If it gave her the experience she needed with birds, she would notcomplain. But with that out of the way, she texted Qrow and explained the situation. So if we could stop by, I would appreciate it. Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll bring Rae though well have to keep it on the downlow. A few moments passed before he responded again. …You know about my bird form, don’t you? I do. Is that a problem?She was still curious about that, but with the way the AI had spoken, she wasn’t likely to get answers. That was fine though she was curious. Maybe he’d trust her enough one day to answer those questions, but for now, it would remain unexplained. When no response came for a few minutes, she turned her attention back to the books. He really was an odd person…

Ω

Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll bring Rae though we’ll have to keep it on the downlow.That much wouldn’t be too hard to do. Have her transform into her bird form and sit in the car. It keep Yang from seeing her but… His eyes widened as it hit him though. …You know about my bird form, don’t you? I do. Is that a problem? Qrow groaned and put his forearm over his eyes. How had he been so stupid… He’d flown straight to Winter’s apartment and transformed into a bird in front of her. It had been the most direct route to her that night… He hadn’t thought about it for a minutewhen he’d heard that bastard had been trying to get into Winter’s apartment. He’d just needed to get there as fast as possible. It meant Winter knew magic existed in some form now…and that painted a target on her back. He heard the door close a few minutes later. “Whew, tough session… What’s got your panties in such a twist, Qrow? You’re really down on whatever it is.” He heard the chair squeak on the floor as she plopped down. He could hear her grin which he met with a pointed glare. This was not a laughing matter. Winter knewinformation that would endanger her for the rest of her life. “I was such a fucking idiotand showed Winter my bird form while we were in Atlas.” “You what ?!” She grabbed him by the collar and he grunted, being brought eye to eye with her. “Why would you do something that stupid?! Summer called you an idiot for a reason but this is… Why , Qrow?!” Her tone was panicked more than mad. He could hardly blame her. This was stupid even for him.Summer would’ve had his ass on a silver platter if she’d known about this. (The AI couldn’t really do much about it…) “I wasn’t thinking. Some creep was trying to get into her apartment. It was the quickest way I had there. If I’d have gone by foot, the worst might have happened.” He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if that creep had gotten into her apartment. If she’d ended up raped, Jimmy would’ve had his ass on a silver platter. And he would’ve cooperated with Atlas services for the first time in his life. He would’ve deserved to be punished for that. Raven let go of him before she pulled him into a hug. “You really are the biggest bleeding heart, Qrow,” she muttered. He closed his eyes and sighed, resting his head against hers. She wasn’t actually mad about it? Ozpin would be furious when he found out… He really was the biggest idiot in the world… He’d endangered his wife through trying to protect her…