wanderer's lullaby

Winter groaned when the alarm went off. It felt like she had only just fallen asleep. However, she did frown when she realised she didn’t have to get up so early. She wasn’t heading to the bakery that morning. But when she got up, she was pretty much up for the day. She sighed and turned on the light, then laid back down, staring at the ceiling. It was four thirty in the morning; what was she supposed to do in the meanwhile? She picked up the laptop and opened it, starting to idly scroll through various news outlets. Predictably, her marriage was still front-page new though the one article that reported on it was small.S he was out of the public eye so they would have to move on in due time. It seemed like it’d probably be that week they finally moved on which she was glad for. “Can’t sleep?” The AI made itself known and Winter sighed. “I forgot to turn the alarm off for when I should go to the bakery. Once I’m awake, I’m awake.” She had never had the opportunity to simply lay down and go back to sleep. Her body probably wouldn’t let her go back. Even if she could feel the meds still working. At least they didn’t take weeks to see if the nightmare blockers worked. “Would you like me to help find some videos to help you kill time?” Winter considered the offer for a minute then nodded. The internet signal loaded for a moment then a window with a bunch of tabs opened. Most were Ben Woodruff’s falconry channel which she could get behind. So she settled down to watch them. The next few hours passed by quietly and the sun rose. Winter went through her normal morning routine after she was sure she wouldn’t disturb anybody. She headed into the kitchen and saw Qrow there, drinking some coffee and eating breakfast. “Oh, hey, snowdrop, want me to heat up breakfast for you?” A light tinge of pink entered her cheeks but she nodded as she sat down. “If you wouldn’t mind.” He did that and slid her plate in front of her. “So what are your plans for today? “I’ll be away today. Sarah invited me to a craft show in the city. They should be here in a little while.” She had never heard of a craft show before. This would be a novel experience for her, that was for sure. But she was looking forward to getting out of the house and down into the city. She couldn’t wait to get her driver’s license which would mean greater freedom for her. She paused as she thought about it. “How long are we going to be in driver’s ed?” She would put forth the necessary time; she was just curious. “About nine and a half weeks. Monday to Friday, four to six. Things are a bit more condensed in the summer but since this is during the school year…” She nodded. That was definitely quite the time sink, but she was looking forward to it. She really was. Driving in Atlas for women had so many damn hoops. Even adult women needed a father or husband’s permission. If she had no male guardian in her life, well, she was pretty much out of luck. The processes involved to prove she was independent were such a headache… It wasn’t so here in Vale. “So I see. Thank you.” At least they had found a session starting so soon. She would have to wait awhile to get her license but it would be well worth the wait. She was really looking forward to it. And she didn’t have to be a citizen either. Though her citizenship process would hopefully straight forward. As long as she could prove her need for safety, she would be golden. And with all the video proof she didhave of her beatings, it wouldn’t be hard to prove that. Winter finished up eating and put her dishes in the dishwasher, then went to the living room. After a while, she heard a knock and answered. Sarah smiled brightly. “Good mornin’, Miss Winter! Are ya ready to see some crafts?” “Yes, I suppose so.” She walked out of the house with Sarah who practically vibrated with energy. They got into the car, Winter in the back seat. She watched as they left, the house eventually disappearing into the forest behind them. It felt strange to be leaving without Qrow. It was her first time venturing out into the city without him by her side… It felt almost wrong. She felt…alone. Don’t worry too much; I’m still around. Summer’s voice in her head made her startle and she put a hand on her chest, letting out a breath. Of courseSummer would follow her. She really had no peace, did she? What a mess. But, by the same token, it did bring her a bit of solace. She wasn’t completely without the people she had grown accustomed to. Even if Summer did drive her crazy more often than not. She felt a lift of amusement. Wasn’t expecting me then. I am still kinda recovering but she doesn’t mean I can’t bug ya a bit. She could hear the grin in the woman’s voice and feel the lift in the air. Been a long time since I’ve been to a craft show. Winter glanced over where Summer was, then saw Sarah turning around from the passenger side to look at her. “I really hope you enjoy yourself! There’s so much to buy and look at during these shows! I hope you brought some money!” Winter frowned a bit.” Do they only accept cash? I rarely have it on me.” She usually has her wallet and card on her. She rarely ever had physical lien. With as much as Atlas liked to trace its people, cash tended to have a bad rap. It was generally seen as a way of evading authorities above all else. So few people carried cash in Atlas. Well, maybe the more outlying areas used physical bills, but for the cities of Atlas and Mantle, digital reigned supreme. Sarah frowned. “Yeah, a lotta people at these fairs only accept cash. Do you have a bank we could stop by to let you withdraw some?” Winter honestly didn’t see herself buying anything. She wasn’t want to spend money on things she didn’t use. And this place sounded like a center for useless trinkets. Still, she pulled up the address to an Atlassian bank in the enclave she had visited with Qrow. “It’s probably out of the way to where we’re going… I haven’t transferred to an international bank yet.” She would rather not incur withdrawal fees due to not using a Valian bank. Ugh, this was such a headache. “Don’t matter. We can go anyway.” Sarah’s mother spoke. Her tone was warm and genuine. Winter nodded a bit and let the GPS guide them to where they were going. Once there, she used the walk-up ATM and withdrew about a thousand lien. She doubted she could need any of it, but just in case. She got back into the car, then they found themselves at a school building. Once they entered the gym, Winter was blown away. Thismany people could get together for a community event of small businesses? It was insane. There were basically countless tables for people that were peddling their wares. As they wove through the tables, she could see a ton of different types of wares: jewelry, candles, plushies, fabric goods, and so much more. “This… I’ve never seen anything like it before.” She was honestly awestruck. This was incredible. She couldn’t believe people got together for things like this. Festival and such could draw crowds, but she hadn’t expected this for small businesses what focused on handmade goods. They found their way to a table with jewelry on it and Sarah and her mother sat behind it, inviting Winter too. “You don’t gotta stay with us the whole time, but it ain’t open yet. But yeah! This is a craft show! I can hardly believe you’ve never been to one!” Sarah smiled. “If you find anything to buy, you can drop it off with us, okay?” Winter nodded. SHe doubted she would find anything to spend her money on, but she’d keep it in mind. She was simply awestruck. It was amazing to see something like this… She did a quick search on her scroll. Apparently Atlas did have stuff like this. She simply hadn't known. “I’ll keep it in mind.” This really was something to take in. She let Sarah and her mother get set up and didn’t get in their way. Eventually, though, she saw people starting to wander the various tables. Sarah smiled brightly at Winter and then waved to her. Winter got up and started to wander a bit aimlessly. None of the things being sol were things she really needed. A lot of it was jewelry. Some of it was pretty but… You know you can pick up things because you like them, right?Winter sighed as Summer invaded her mind. She couldn’t speak out loud to Summer here because she would seem crazy. Then again, would anybody even really be paying attention? Still, better safe than sorry. I live frugally. Plus, it’s not like I have anywhere to put things right now.She really didn’t. She had nowhere to store things in the house on Patch. She really didn’t want to alter things too much in Summer’s room. She was interested in getting a betta, but she had no idea where to put it. Plus, if they got that house, how would one even transport a tank? Winter, the only reason my room has been kept the same is because of people's grief. While I can respect the fact that they hold onto me, it's really unhealthy for them to do so. If you want to change things in my room, go ahead. I'm the one giving you permission. If Taiyang or Yang say anything against it, they can come kiss my ass. Summer snorted and Winter looked at where she sensed Summer. Summer was a giving person, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to upset their grief so drastically. It would be nice to have a space to call her own, but the room was still Summer's. She hadn't even picked up the dirty clothes that still lay on the floors. How about I talk to them about it? That felt like it'd be the best compromise. She didn't want to intrude on their grief, but she really did need a place she could call her own. She wasn't trying to take Summer's place by any means... It was just the case of practicality of a living person compared to the grief toward a dead person. She really had no idea what to do about it. The four of us can have a meeting then. Though Yang won't wanna be anywhere near Taiyang... Not that I can blame her. A darkness entered Summer's tone at the last sentence. Yeah, the man was a worthless sack of garbage from the sound of it. Granted, she didn't know him very well, so she couldn't make a full determination either way. But abandoning his children to fend for themselves for a long time... That made him a terrible father in her eyes. Gele had been involved between her and Weiss and Whitley, but it was never positive. It was all for his own glorification. It was all so he could try to get as high in the world as he possibly could be. She hated that. Taiyang hadn't been anything like that to her knowledge but...how could he abandon his own children? Winter started to peruse the stalls a bit more and came up to a plushie stand. There were a myriad of colorful creatures, all obviously handmade. Some were gorgeous plushies, others were in a much more minute, cutesy style. Odd. She had never seen anything like this before. "You a fan?" The woman behind the table smiled at Winter. She shook her head. "I've never seen creatures like this before." They were awfully cute though... Some of the plushies were obviously incredibly intricately detailed and beautiful. The smaller, cutesy ones were cheaper. The bigger, more detailed ones cost several hundred apiece, but considering they were all handmade, it made sense. She really had no idea what they were, but she was drawn to them. "What are they from?" Maybe she ought to consider letting go of being so frugal... She would probably be able to get a good job here in Vale once she got her citizenship (or work visa; whichever came first) and once they moved into the new house, she would have a lot more space to do what she pleased. "They're from a popular, long-running video game series where you capture and train monsters that fit into little cubes. I'm surprised you've never run into it." The woman's eyebrows raised up a bit. Winter rubbed the back of her neck. She had grown up so horribly sheltered that she hadn't had any choice or chance to do anything. She had never played video games before. She wondered if Ruby and Yang had any systems... Maybe she ought to try to invest time into hobbies now. She had all the time in the world currently and not enough to do with it. "I grew up in a strict Atlassian home." She'd leave it there. The woman didn't need to know who she was. "Ah, I see. Dunno much about Atlas other than it's strict over there." It seemed like a lot of Valians didn't know much about Atlas or how horrible and oppressive it was over there. She had lived with it each and every day. The less she had to talk about it, the better. She really hated the fact that Atlas was the way it was, but there wasn't much she could do to change it with her limited power. Maybe once she took over the SDC she could effect some sort of change, but for now? She couldn't do a damn thing. "So you interested in any of the plushes even if you're not a fan? Or would you maybe like to commission me for something custom?" Winter blinked at the offer, then quickly texted Qrow to see if he had any pictures of Kiyay. Winter held up a hand to tell the woman she was busy. Thankfully, a message came a few minutes later with several different views of Mono. Winter looked at the woman and showed her the pictures. "Would you be able to make a white gyrfalcon?" She couldn't be around Kiyay all the time... It was best for him to stay with Raven for the time being. It was lonely without him. It wouldn't beforever, but it was incredibly lonely without him being there. She still wasn't quite sure how she'd bonded so quickly with a falcon… The woman took note of the pictures. "Could you send the references to me? And how big would you like it? Birds aren't my specialty but I can do it." They hashed out the details over the next ten or so minutes and Winter handed the woman over about two hundred lien as the initial down payment. It would be larger so it would take longer and cost more materials. Winter was fine with that. She saw no reason not to pay the woman her requested rate. The woman smiled at her. "Should be done in a couple of weeks." "Thank you." Well, despite that, Winter did pick up one of the cute plushes and tucked it under her arm. It was smaller but still a bit on the expensive side (about a hundred lien), but given these were high-quality and handmade, not mass produced, she was willing to pay the rate. She'd already eaten a decent bit into her allotted spending money, but she was fine with it. Over the next few hours, she wandered around, occasionally picking something up. She wasn't normally a big jewelry person, but she was a civilian now... She didn't need to worry so much about things getting hurt or broken while in the field. Her life would be relatively low key and safe. If she wanted to wear jewelry, she could. Plus, she was supporting small, local businesses. It was strange to be so focused on her appearance in this particular way. She was all about being clean and minimalist. She wasn't allowed extravagance. So even wearing earrings felt strange, but she could get away with it now. Eventually, she returned to Sarah and her mother with her spoils, sitting behind the table. "Looks like you found some stuff! Oh, I love that game series! Are you a fan?" Sarah smiled at Winter. Winter shook her head. "It's cute." That...was literally the only defense she had for it. It was cute. She wasn't a fan of really anything. Books, movies, games... Everything from Atlas reinforced the strict, rigid gender roles that pervaded the society. She had attempted to read a few Atlassian novels in the past and been forced to watch Atlassian movies growing up. All they did was reinforce the strict hierarchy that had been forced on her growing up. It was all propaganda in some shape, way, or form. She couldn't stand it in the end. "Well, if you'd ever like to play and experience the game series, feel free to come over and we can play! Well. It's a single-player game, so I'd just watch, but it ain't hard. There's a big competitive scene, but I ain't involved with that. To play the game, it ain't too hard." Apparently there was no need to get defensive. So Winternodded a bit, letting her hackles lay down. "All right." She paused. "Is there anything you need help with around here?" She could honestly handle most things. She had been in charge of an entire unit and had double checked literally everything herself. She had already looked at everything the show had to offer, so she might as well make herself useful somehow. Sarah frowned. "Well, if you've found everything you want, then I suppose you can help with some of the logistics... Can you handle money? Winter nodded. "I can do that. It's a simple task." She was pretty good at mental math, so she saw no reason not to try to help. They had invited her and she had nothing left to do or look at. The rest of the day would be long and boring if she didn't have a job. She didn't exactly have any e-books or anything on her scroll to help kill time. Well, she did have the Ben Woodruff videos to watch since he was pretty comprehensive, but she'd rather not look like a freeloader. "All right then." They went over how much was in the box and all of that, then they let her take over. The rest of the day was pretty quiet with Sarah manning the sales portion and Winter handling the register. Sarah was busy talking with the customers, so they didn't exactly have any time to chat. Eventually, though, the day wound down to a close and Sarah double-checked the money with a smile. "It's exactly what it should've been. You're good at this." Winter shrugged. "Money is simple enough as long as you know basic math." Yeah, it had been a simple enough task, but it had kept her busy. She was glad to have been able to help in some shape, way, or form. Though yeah... SHe wasn't sure if she'd wanted to come back tomorrow. She had bought everything she wanted. She had the contact info of the person she'd commissioned for the Kiyay plush, so she'd just keep a look in her email for updates on that. "Will you want me tomorrow or...? I think I found everything I'll want to buy." She didn't mind helping out if that was the case, but she just wasn't sure. "If you wanna help, you can. If not, I ain't gonna force ya. Up to you." Winter tapped her chin as she thought. She really wasn't sure. It was nice to get out for the day even if she was in one location. "I think I'll join you." Her abilities in money were simple but they obviously had helped things run pretty smoothly. Still, she was surprised that Sarah had trusted her with the money. They were more or less still strangers. It would've been so easy for her to do something and steal even a couple lien. Winter had been keeping track of everything, though, so it wasn't a huge deal. Sarah smiled brilliantly and nodded. "All right then! We'll head home for now though." With that, they headed out to the car. Winter felt herself nodding off a bit and rested her head against the seat belt, her eyes closed. Being around people like that without interruption had really drained her, so she would probably be sleeping pretty well that night. She tried to hide a yawn, but it didn't work out so well. Thankfully, that seemed to signal to Sarah and her mother that she didn't want to talk, so the drive back was relatively quiet. They dropped her off and she entered the house. Qrow sat on the couch, flicking through a book, though he looked up when she walked in. "Hey snowdrop." The nickname caused her to flush anew. "You enjoy yourself?" He smiled when he saw the plushie in her arms. "Seems like you found some stuff." "Uh, yes... It was nice to get out." She was sick of being stuck in this house. She couldn't wait to get her own job and be in the office or whatever else she worked in. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd be doing though. Her skills were in some sort of management position. But, then again, what if she wanted to go to school? She had so many things to consider. She had no idea if she wanted to wait for a job or commit to full-time school. Maybe she ought to hash that out with Summer or the AI. She just really wasn't sure at all what to do with herself. "By the way, if you wanna play that game series that creature comes from, you can ask Yang or Ruby to help you. They have quite a few video game systems and it includes that series." Winter nodded. "How about we get you some dinner?" "That sounds good." She headed to the kitchen with Qrow and sat at the table while he heated up dinner for her. He didn't really say much of anything to her. He could probably sense how exhausted she was. But she would still need to be at the bakery tomorrow morning... She would have to go to bed earlier than normal. Not that she was exactly complaining. Being around a crowd wasn't something she was used to. She was used to being around her men and then being alone, so huge crowds like that were out of the realm of the norm for her. Unless one counted the occasional party she had to endure for the sake of networking with the upper class. With dinner eaten, she headed up to Summer's room and picked up the laptop, tucking against the pillows. The AI popped up and waved. "Hey Winter. What's with the long expression? You look pretty lost in thought." "I'm trying to decide if I should wait for a job or commit to school. Plus...I went to a craft show today. I'm not used to being around that many people." She would probably go to bed in an hour or so. She just really needed to figure this out. Then again, it wasn't a pressing issue... She wouldn't be able to enroll until the winter semester most likely. The fall semester had started, so she'd need to get financial aid and all of that figured out... What a headache. "Hm, yeah, that is a pretty big dilemma. Do you know you won't be be able to enroll until the winter--" "Yes, I already have that figured out. So I'd be waiting quite a while. I just...don't know what to do. I have a plan to take down the SDC. It's been...altered due to the change in my life trajectory. Ghost you knows about it since I assume she probably sat in on the conversation between myself, Mrs. Belladonna, and Ms. Kahn." She looked over to the chair and saw Summer faintly, giving a nod. Of course. But given how Summer was, she would probably be a good source of information and a valuable ally in all of this. "I'll use the protection program in Vale to make it public how much of a monster Mr. Gele is then they'll take over the court case in Atlas to get my sister and my brother out of his custody." It felt wrong to hand this over to somebody else, but she was a married woman. She wouldn't hold up well in court. That and she didn't know the laws as well as Kali and Sienna did. They would be able to handle it a lot better than her. She doubted even the attorneys that the general could hire would be better than those two women. "Well... If you get custody of your sister, think of it like this: what will give you the best flexibility to handle her when she arrives in Vale? You're already having a hard time adapting. How much worse will it be for her?" That...was a very good point. "Granted, there are options for both. There are online universities and work-from-home jobs. But what do you want? Do you want to be stuck in the house all the time or do you want flexibility to be with your sister outside of certain hours?" Winter frowned. "I don't want to be stuck in the house, but taking care of her will be full time on its own. Same with Whitley. They'll need a full-time caretaker. Qrow will be working outside of the home, so it'll be up to me to take care of them... Yes, we have Raven, but my siblings won't trust her immediately." Winter still didn't trust her entirely herself. If she could get them to trust Raven, it would make things easier, but with her not trusting Raven, Weiss would follow her lead. She wasn't entirely sure about Whitley. She knew nothing about him other than he was apparently a mini clone of Mister Gele. That was going to be terrible to work with. Narrow minded and bigoted... If only she could track down Kali's missing daughter and have the Faunus work with Weiss. Hm. Something to put on the back burner for now. "So you'll probably be stuck at home for quite a while with them until they can learn to trust Qrow and Raven. The girls won't be of much use since they'll need to be in school. Though what are you going to do about school for Weiss and Whitley?" Another good question that she didn't have the answer for. There were online schools like Summer had said. They were no doubt developmentally stunted in terms of socialisation and forcing them into a school in a different culture pretty much off the bat wouldn't work very well. They would need to be homeschooled. She would have to look into homeschooling programs...or just let them study things at their own pace. Weiss learned so incredibly quickly that she'd probably find any sort of online schooling via formal curriculum stifling. "So I guess that means I can do work from home or online schooling..." She sighed. "Schooling might be better since it'd give me more time to work with Weiss and Whitley. Having private teachers or tutors for them would be best since that's what they're used to, but finding and vetting for people..." She shook her head. That was going to be time consuming. The AI made a clicking sound and gave finger guns. "You know that's why I'm here, right? I can start looking into people while you're asleep and such. You'll have to do the contacting, but I can do the majority of the legwork for you without problem. You'll just have to leave the laptop open." That...was a very good point. She could probably start talking to people on Monday since she'd be busy tomorrow. Plus, it was a Sunday. Most places would be closed and most people wouldn't be taking calls. This wouldn't be for several months down the road though... Still, if she could start looking into things, it'd be great. "All right then. That would be incredibly helpful. Thank you." Winter already saw a window pop open and tabs starting to fly around like crazy. She shook her head and ate. She took her plate back down to the kitchen, then headed back upstairs. She really had nothing to do while she waited, so she wandered over to Summer's bookcase crammed with notebooks and other music-related literature. She flipped through the books and couldn't understand any of it. Maybe she ought to look into a music class or something... She really needed things to fill her time until she figured out what exactly she wanted to do with herself while here in Vale. She would take over the SDC someday, but for now... She was living day by day. She just wanted to do something. There was a piano in the room. She hit a note on it and, even for someone musically untrained like her, she could tell it was out of tune. "Yeah, that thing hasn't been tuned since Summer died, no doubt," the AI put in. "But if you want to learn it, Qrow could probably pay to have it tuned again. Plus...Ruby might enjoy it. From what little I do have of Ruby, she really enjoyed music." "I'll have to talk to him about it then." She really just needed more to do with her time than sit around like she was doing. She was trying to fill her time, but she just had no idea what to do. She just wanted to do something fulfilling and worth her time. She had no idea what to feel about music. She had never really explored it. She knew Weiss despised it because of being forced to learn it, but she had no personal opinion on it other than it could sound very nice. You know, if you want to learn music, I could teach you. It wouldn't be that hard. Winter just about jumped out of her skin when she heard Summer speak to her. Damn woman. She always appeared at the least expected time. She hated how easily Summer turned up and such. Her thoughts weren't her own anymore... The one bastion she'd had was no longer her own. She hated it. "I mean...I suppose that is true. I'm just still not used to being around a ghost like this is all." SHe supposed she should've figured out Summer could teach her, but ghosts were still so out of the norm for her. She couldn't exactly blame herself for not immediately thinking of going to Summer if she wanted to learn music. It just wasn't natural for her to think of turning to a dead person that had no real physical form to interact with. "I'm mostly just looking for things I can do while I'm here in the house. I need to get back to my regular training as well but..." She frowned. The forest was so hot and humid and wore her out so quickly. Well, once I regain my strength a bit more, I can spar with you in your dreams. You'd be surprised how much you can get out of dream sessions.Hm. That might be one way to do it, but yeah, she definitely needed to wait for Summer to regain her strength. Winter found herself yawning as well and rubbing her eyes. That had really worn her out. She wanted to curl up and sleep. She shooed Summer away then changed into her pajamas. She settled down in bed and drifted off into slumber, her mind at relative peace and the nightmare blockers keeping her from going to dark places.