wanderer's lullaby

The trip over to the restaurant was relatively quiet. Qrow did offer his hand to her and she took it. Her mind continued to work despite the quiet though. She just didn’t understand and how somebody could make the government submit to his will without actually being a bad person. It was the sort of thing Gelé and his cohorts did in order to further their power. But it seemed like Qrow didn’t do that. If he did, then he would probably be much higher in the world. Yes, he was the top of the pecking order when it came to Hunters, but in the eyes of the world, he wasn’t very high. He was essentially a homeless vagrant. He really didn’t have a palpable impact on the world like Gelé or even herself and the general did. He kept Grimm at bay and rooted out terrible people, but that was a pretty ephemeral legacy to people that didn’t know him. And for people that didn’t know existed… He was only a ghost at absolute best. She was vaguely aware of Qrow and Opal talking, but she really didn’t pay it too much mind. Eventually, he squeezed her hand and looked at her. “All right; we’re here.” He got out of the car first, then helped her get out. He offered his arm and she wrapped hers around it. They walked in and somebody greeted them. “Good evening. Do you have reservations?” Qrow nodded. “Two. Qrow Branwen.” They were escorted to a strange table that was built around a large, flat griddle. She saw the vent above it. What was this place? She’d never seen a restaurant like it before. Granted, she hadn’t been to many of them, but this still stuck out. “What is this place?” She hoped it wasn’t rude to ask. She wasn’t trying to downplay what he had chosen for their dinner. She simply never encountered this sort of restaurant before. It was absolutely strange. Though, again, her restaurant experience was restricted to the most upper class of fine dining establishments. Her family would never have eaten at a place such as this. It was simply too low class. “It’s called hibachi and it has its origins specific types of Nippoi cooking. I know this isn’t especially high class to you, but for middle-class people, it’s a bit higher end. Basically it’s really showy cooking that’s done in front of you. It’s why the grill is out here. Look at the menu and see if anybody stands out to you.” She picked up the menu and deliberated. Eventually, she settled on what she wanted and told the waiter. He whisked the menu away and Qrow leaned back in his chair a bit. “So do you want to discuss things now and possibly be interrupted by dinner or wait until we get our food?” “Waiting my be best. This is an important discussion and I’d really rather not lose our train of thought in the middle of it.” That was probably for the best. She wanted it to be uninterrupted discussion. THankfully, there was nobody else at their table even though each side of the grill could seat each people. It meant nobody would overhear them which was fine by her. She wasn’t fond of people in general, let alone strangers. She had never been to a restaurant where they didn’t have a private experience. All of this was so very strange. She was simply glad to not have anybody around to overhear a private conversation. Eventually, a man came out with a cart and started to get the grill prepped. He made small talk with them while it heated up and got everything ready. It was nothing major of note, simple small talk, but she responded politely. It was clearly part of his job, so there was really no need to be rude to the man. She abhorred men in general, but he was doing his job. Then the real show began. He started slinging around the cooking utensils everywhere and cooked the food in a particularly showy manner. It was really unlike anything she’d seen before. It was absolutely insane, but in a good way somehow. It was incredibly entertaining and she couldn’t help but smile. She was really enjoying the show. Even she couldn’t deny it. It was definitely one way to have dinner and a show without going crazy on crazy performances. Once they had their food, the man left and they were alone at the table. She saw they were provided chopsticks but also normal silverware. “Are we expected to use the chopsticks…?” She saw Qrow going for them which left her feeling awkward. Qrow looked at her and shook his head. “If we were in Mistral, you’d want to learn to use them, but this is Vale. Use the normal silverware.” He smiled at her and she nodded a bit. She couldn’t see herself ever traveling to Mistral at this point. Qrow was settling down to be more domestic, they were buying a house, he was going to get custody of his nieces, she was getting her citizenship… Things were shaping up to her to be able to settle down and have a married life that might not be horrible… She picked up the silverware and tasted the fried rice, then looked at Qrow. “This is really good.” She could taste some of the flavors he used but it was still wholly unique. It was a really good balance of flavor for her Atlassian pallet. It was savory and subtle without being overbearing. She really liked these flavors and wouldn’t mind having more like it if given the chance. Qrow smiled. “I thought that might be the case. I wouldn’t mind doing fried rice like this at home, but Ruby doesn’t like change. Convincing her to try anything new is incredibly difficult.” “Yang mentioned that.” She was pretty used to bland foods due to Atlas, but there wasn’t much she could do about it with Ruby. She didn’t mind it when Elm made her food or invited her over to dinner with the Ace Ops. The flavors of the Euskera people were definitely a welcome change from the Atlassian dishes Winter was so comfortable making. She had at least found some spice combinations she did enjoy after experimenting a little bit… “Anyway, want to eat a bit or should we start talking now? It’ll take me longer to finish than you, so we got some time.” He popped a bit of food into his mouth. She tapped her chin. She normally wasn’t excited for food, but this was pretty good, so she wanted to actually enjoy it. Time was of the essence though. Restaurants did kind of have an unspoken time limit. “I suppose it’s best to start now.” Plus, she wasn’t one to pussyfoot around. She preferred to get down to brass tacks. Simply waiting to get around to things wasn’t her style. She was sad she couldn’t focus on the food, but it was better than holding everything up. “All right then.” He held his hand up near her head and she inclined it. He gently patted it before going back to eating. “So yes, I do use my power to make the government bend to my will sometimes, snowy. But the fact of the matter is that I usually abide by the law, so they’ll usually overlook what I’m asking of them. I mean take the driver’s ed stuff for example. I mean adults don’t have to take those classes; they can study the rules of the road on their own, then take the test to get their permit. But we’re going through ed, so we are abiding by the law there. “Plus, I’m the best Hunter in the world. No government wantsto lose my patronage. If they piss me off too badly, they know I’m serious when I threaten to not take missions. I’ve denied many upper-class families service after they’ve slighted me. So me denying governments patronage isn’t too far fetched.” Winter fell a bit quiet as she pondered that. “But if you deny governments jobs, what about the people that rely on you most: the common person?” For her, that was the big thing. If he didn’t take jobs, people would suffer. She couldn’t take on many herself, mostly because her hands were tied. She was military, not Huntress. Her qualifications and goals were different. “I said I wouldn’t take jobs from the government, not the people.There are places to look that aren’t the central request hubs if you know what you’re doing. I’d look to those places instead of the government-controlled boards. Those help the people more than the main boards.” There were places like that? She wasn’t aware. Then again, Qrow was an experienced Huntsman, so he would know better than her. The world was a complex place. “But then why threaten the government in the first place?” She gripped her silverware a bit tighter. She was so worried about that. He didn’t seem like the type to abuse his power like that, but it still worried her. She really didn’t like people who abused power like that. It was so hard to trust people that did that. After seeing what Gelé and his ilk did, power was something that she saw as rather scary. It was so easy to abuse. Even General Ironwood abused his power to some degree. It was only to help people, but still. She’d seen him use his power to get people to bend to his will. “Sometimes bureaucracy gets in the way of what needs to be done. You ought to know how slow and inefficient government can be. Sometimes they just need a kick in the ass to get things going.” Winter sighed and nodded. “Unfortunately that’s true.” She knew how terrible any institution could be. Atlas’ military was horrible and it could take weeks to months to get anything done. “Is that really the main reason you do it?” If it was, she could understand that. Qrow did seem the type of person to not really do things unless he had to. He was fairly lax and didn’t like to expend extra energy. “By and large, yeah. I’m the type to not like to use unnecessary energy. I have limited time to do shit. The longer I remain in civilisation, the more people suffer. I really don’t like waiting with my thumbs up my ass.” He sighed. She could understand that, but she hadn’t been able to really do much about it herself personally. The only way she could force anybody’s hand was to have the general put pressure on them to move faster. “But what about the birds…? That doesn’t seem like forcing things to move faster…” That didn’t really match up with what he said. She didn’t want to be parted from Kiyay but she also wanted to follow the law. She had listened to most of Woodruff’s videos and he said that one had to go through an apprenticeship in Vale. Though he mostly focused on normal birds of prey instead of aura breeds due to the expense. Qrow sighed. “Yeah, it this case, this is me pulling the strings to pull the strings. I don’t have a falconry license, but I’ve been involved with this since my youngest years. Would you reallywant to learn under some other person with a bird that wasn’t Kiyay?” Touche. SHe really didn’t want to give Kiyay up. She was already attached to the bird and he was attached to her. She enjoyed his company and couldn’t imagine hunting another bird. “Fair point. I’ve seen the normal start birds are a red-tailed buzzard or a kestrel?” She couldn’t imagine working with a non-aura breed. It was disheartening to know the government would take Kiyay away from her if it weren’t for Qrow. That was legitimately upsetting. “Yeah, that’s where Vale starts people off at. Red tails are generalists and can be trained to hunt in lots of different environments on lots of different prey. Pretty forgiving birds. Kestrels are small and easy to train but much less forgiving than red tails.” Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “The reason they want people to start on normal birds is because aura breeds are so psychologically complex. People usually imprint them and it’s far too easy to screw up an imprint. So you can fuck an aura breed for life if you do it wrong. But you’re dealing with an already trained bird, so it’s not a worry to me.” Winter nodded. “I see.” She didn’t want a screwed-up aura breed. She could see why things operated the way they did, but she didn’t want to give up Kiyay. She wanted to stick with him because he was a great support for her. She couldn’t imagine life without him a this point despite how short a time she’d known him. She couldn’t imagine he’d be too happy away from her at this point either. “So yeah, unless you want to wait yearsto hunt him, I’m doing what I gotta do so you can be happy.” She blinked and looked up at him and felt her cheeks flush faintly. He wanted to make her happy? She really hadn’t expected him to say that. He really was a sweet man… She really couldn’t detect any ulterior motives either… Qrow rubbed the back of his neck. “I embarrass you? Sorry. Didn’t mean to.” He scratched under his stubbly chin. “It was mostly unexpected.” Yeah, she really hadn’t been expecting him to say that. How was one supposed to react when something like that was said so blatantly? Then again, it wasn’t like people in Atlas were attuned to the feelings of others really at all. General Ironwood did a lot for her, but he couldn’t read her emotions very well at all unless they were obvious. Atlassians simply weren’t trained or raised to be able to read others. At least not unless it was to have emotions used against others. The only time she hadn’t had emotions used against her was with Weiss. But if Gelé ever found out about that… “So, uh, you have any other questions?” Qrow looked at her and she glanced at him before shaking her head. “No, not really… I believe that about covers most of my questions.” She probably shouldn’t be trusting him so much. She really shouldn’t. But he really did seem to have her best interests at heart. She would still doubt him for some time to come, of course. But he wouldn’t have suggested the GED or allow her to take driver’s ed if he wanted to control her. If he did, he would have kept her completely in the dark about these things. Letting her get an education and a driver’s license was the complete opposite of what an Atlassian man would do. “So what do you want to do about your citizenship?” She blinked at the question and glanced at him again. Another unexpected question, but a fair one, she supposed. Even if he had only told her about it not that long ago. She really wasn’t one to sit around, twiddling her thumbs. She liked to be active and have decisions made as quickly as possible. Plus, waiting so long for a work visa… “I think I’ll take the protection program you mentioned. I don’t want to wait that long for a work visa. Plus…” She frowned. She really didn’t want to wait on her laurels for Gelé. Once it got out she had been abused and the same happened to Weiss, she wasn’t sure what would happen. “I need to have legal counsel with Mrs. Belladonna and Miss Khan first. There are some…snags I’ll need to talk to them about first.” She needed to rescue Weiss and this would have a major impact on that. “Well, I can text them and see if they’re open tomorrow morning before your appointment if that’s okay?” “All right.” She wasn’t sure where she’d have to be tomorrow afternoon when it came down to it. Tomorrow would likely be a very difficult day emotionally. Opening up to people she didn’t know in the first place would be so incredibly difficult. Having to show Sienna and Kali videos that only she and Coco had seen to now… Maybe if they could file the case before the hearing about her protection program eligibility, they could even get an injunction to get Weiss and Whitley out of Schnee manor. A pipe dream perhaps, but she sincerely hoped that it could happen. Qrow fell silent for a few minutes as he texted back and forth with somebody. “Sienna says they’ll be here tomorrow at seven, seven thirty. The ferry to Patch opens at six, but they need some time to wake up and get ready. Is that okay?” Winter nodded. “That’s fine.” This was probably going to take some time to do. The earlier, the better, but she wouldn’t hold that against them. Plus, she could probably wouldn’t be sleeping very well again unless Raven put her under. That really wasn’t sustainable for them, but it was only one more night… “We’re all set then. They’ll be here tomorrow between seven and eight.” Qrow smiled at her, but she didn’t return it. She really wasn’t thrilled about letting anybody see the abuses she’d been through. But it would be one of the greatest weapons against Gelé. Vale at least would be on the other side and she could use that as leverage against him. If she could have Vale with her, then she very well may have a chance of getting her siblings away from that madman. Winter nodded, though she did blink. “Oh, right… I start at the bakery tomorrow too.” She had nearly forgotten. With all of the emotional upheaval and lack of sleep, it’d slipped her mind. SHe’d need to set the alarm clock so she could wake up at the proper time. She’d gotten so used to waking up later that part of her wasn’t looking forward to it. Plus, she was still kind of sleep deprived and wished she could sleep longer. “Yeah, that’s right… You’ll have a lot to do with the bakers. Good, hard-working people, they are. I know you’ll do fine though, snowy. You’re a solid worker and driven. I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He smiled at her and she felt her cheeks heat a little bit again. He really was too kind to her. He was treating her to most things though she at least was getting more from the general now. It was going to give her some leeway to be able to buy things she wanted and needed. “Do you have anything else you wanted to discuss…?” It felt like the conversation was winding down. She was mostly done with her food, though Qrow still had more left than she did. It was a nice change of pace to the meals she’d had for the past week. “Not really. We can finish up then head back to the house.” He did smile at her. “How was today though? Did you enjoy yourself?” Winter nodded. “Today was nice.” She couldn’t even deny it. She hadn’t expected the aquarium or to enjoy it so much, but it was a really lovely excursion. Plus, getting away from the house had been a nice break. She was glad to have gotten away after feeling so trapped. “Glad to hear it.” With that, he fell silent and they both finished eating. After paying, they got back into the car and headed back to Patch.