wanderer's lullaby

The alarm went off and Winter groaned, not wanting to wake up yet. She was used to waking up early, but it didn't mean she wanted to. She had never really known what it meant to sleep in. Even at Schnee manor, she had never had the chance. Up at five, breakfast at six, lessons at six thirty. And then moving into the military wasn't conducive for sleeping in either. She turned it off and rubbed her eyes, flipping the light on. She got dressed and ate quickly and quietly, trying to not disturb Qrow. He had to be up soon to head to class... And she'd start driver's ed today too. That was going to be fun. At least she wouldn't be the one out of sorts entirely. Qrow and Raven would be the ones that were out of place more than her. She was Atlassian, but she was still a teenager. The other two were full-blown adults that would stand out like a sore thumb. She found Ein and the dog led her to town through the darkened forest. This really wasn't the safest place to be, but she had Hylocereus so if any baby Grimm attacked, she would be fine. She had fought in darkness before. It was a part of her Specialist training. She needed to know how to handle herself in any situation and not be handicapped. The baker's wife greeted her and she offered a smile, though she knew it was nothing. She was trying her absolute best to not be off putting, but she knew it was an exercise in futility. She simply had not been socialised properly in her earliest years, so she really didn't know how to handle people. She started taking care of sorting orders and everything, placing them where they ought to be. She was not a good customer service representative. She would not do well in any sort of retail setting; she was all about logistics and being able to handle things in the quickest, most efficient manner possible. That was about all she cared about half the time. She just...didn't know how to handle people. Thankfully, it seemed like people had already learned not to expect much from her despite having only been there once or twice as they didn't really try to make conversation with her and just picked up their orders. Apparently the word had spread across the small town of Patch that she wasn't the best with people. Honestly, all the better for her... She tried to offer people smiles, but they seemed very very put off by it. She was doing her absolute best, but making a welcoming environment wasn't something she was really capable of. She tried, but her personality was cold and hard and just not amenable to trying to reassure people or come across hospitably. She made her way back to the house and flopped down on the bed, wishing she could go back to sleep, but she couldn't. She just wasn't the type to be able to nap even if she wanted to. Her life beforehand had ensured she wasn't able to knock out especially once daylight trickled in. She had noticed that Qrow had left which meant she was basically on her own at this point. Yang and Ruby were at school, Taiyang was working as was Qrow… So what are you going to do today? Summer's voice rang in her head and Winter sighed. "I'm not entirely sure... Oh. Wait." She grabbed her scroll, then looked at it. One unread text from Qrow. She opened it and saw that he had made arrangements for her to be picked up by Opal around ten. That gave her a couple of hours to do...something. She was stuck in this house and wasn't sure what all to do that day. She had driver's ed later so she couldn't exactly leave without some sort of negative repercussion. She needed to start to learn the city, but trying to balance everything was going to be tricky... What a mess. "I really don't know. I know I need to study for the GED and I could start studying your dust notebooks or the journals..." She just had no idea. Well, I can help you with the GED stuff. I never got one, but I got a good education at Beacon and, well, I'm me. Summer grinned and Winter rolled her eyes. That was true. Summer probably knew exactly what all to do and would be on the test without having even looked at it. Winter went over to the laptop and moved the touchpad which woke the screen up. "Good morning Winter. I'm guessing you're chatting with ghost me then?" "Yes. I'm going to start studying for the GED." "I brought up some good stuff for that if you want to see." "That would be quite helpful, yes." A folder opened that contained several very large PDFs. They were normally small files, but these were incredibly robust. WHat all had this AI put together? How much processing power did it have in order to run multiple processes when working with Coco to do stuff like this? Then again, it wasn't like Coco could skip her own lessons everyday... But at least they had gotten stuff done last night together... Winter was glad to have a study guide for the GED program even if these were hundreds of pages long. She frowned. "I don't think Yang would be happy if I printed all of these off on the home printer." They were incredibly massive. She could print them off a few pages at a time but...that would be a waste of paper when she inevitably had a page that was blank or she miscalculated. "Actually, why don't you get a cheap tablet and work on it that way? Or you could put an order in from a printing company that would allow you to have everything bound in a nice way." Either way, she'd be looking at spending money. She wasn't sure which she wanted to do. Though the tablet would prevent her from needing to use paper while she was at school. And if she was doing class online, it'd be helpful to be able to not have to print everything off… "I wonder if Opal would be averse to taking me to an electronics store to pick up a tablet." If she could save on paper, she was pretty sure Yang would be happy about that. That and she wouldn't have to toss everything into the recycle eventually. It was a good thing to save on paper... She hoped that Opal wouldn't mind. Then again...didn't a lot of office supply stores also have technology of some sort? "I doubt she'll mind. She's pretty forgiving." Winter gave the AI a sour look. "She nearly bit my head off when I first met her and Raye." "...Right, completely forgot about that. I heard the whole thing via Qrow's scroll. But you're not the type of person to be angry or aggressive or hateful unless given good reason for it. Hopefully Ope learned that." "I still don't understand any of this transgender or nonbinary stuff, but who am I to judge? They're not hurting anybody ultimately." She just couldn't wrap her mind around how a woman could identify as a man or vice versa or how somebody could identify as neither...or move through genders. She just could not grasp it. But they weren't hurting anybody. Who was she to say something against it? They wanted to be comfortable in their own skins at the end of the day. How could she say anything against that? "Well, that's better than most other Atlassians who hate because of fear of the unknown. You at least tried to understand Raye. You still ultimately see a person that's trying to live their best life there. For a lot of GRSM people, that's all they can ask for. Especially coming from Atlassians." Winter nodded a bit. She tried. She failed. But she wouldn't judge or hate. They didn't ask to be born like that... She sincerely doubted anybody would choose to live life in a way that was much more difficult, at least in terms of Atlas. "I'm not sure how to fill the next few hours..." She sighed. I could start teaching you music theory, Summer offered. "All right then." They went to the library and Summer chose a few books that Winter picked up and they headed downstairs. Thankfully, they started out at a low level so Winter didn't need much help understanding. She knew it'd get more difficult later on like anything else, but at the base level, it wasn't too difficult. A few hours passed and Winter heard a knock on the door. She sat the book aside and answered it, greeted by Opal's form. "Qrow said you needed me to take you to an office supply store?" Winter nodded. "I organised Summer's dust notebooks because they might be of use to me in the future. With her intelligence and me being related to the SDC...they may very prove to be of use. Though...would you be willing to take me to an electronics store as well? I need to pick up a tablet." It was an investment. It would help her long term for a lot of things. She normally did things with pencil and paper, but now...she could get behind using a tablet. Now that she didn't have to worry about military secrets being stolen. Plus, with the AI, she could build an iron defense of things to help protect Summer's dust calculations. "I wasn't really planning on it, but I guess we can if you need it today." "I would appreciate having it today, yes. I need to start studying for the GED program." Plus, if she needed to check anything while out and about, she would have a larger screen with her... Scrolls only had so much real estate on their screens. She hated how bad things could get, so yes, having access to a larger screen would be useful. Though, knowing her, she'd get a more expensive model that would be able to be slipped into her pocket. Most tablets and computers still had backings; it was just easier to produce them than the devices which used hard light dust for their screens. She would probably get one with hard light dust since they were so much easier to transport and carry around. "All right then. Let's go." Winter locked the house up and followed Opal out to her van which was incredibly large. She wondered why until she got inside. Oh. It was a wheelchair-accessible van. That made sense. How much dust did it use though? She could only imagine the thing was not very mile efficient. The journey to the office supply store was silent and incredibly awkward. Winter could guess Opal still harbored feelings of disdain toward her for being Atlassian and a Schnee at that. So why even attempt to make conversation with somebody like that? Winter bought several file folder boxes (with help from Opal) and hanging folders and they made their way to the electronics store as well. Winter called up Coco and had her help select a tablet for her that would fit her needs. She got a much pricer model than she'd been planning on getting, but it wouldn't be completely obsolete in just a couple of years. She'd get some good mileage out of it to help her with all of her schooling as well as for the GED program. They returned to the house and, with Opal's help, moved everything up to the room. "I'm surprised they're letting you into Summer's dust notes though... Summer's stuff is pretty sacred to them." She looked around the room. "And they let you clean up? That's...impressive." "The AI talked some sense into them." She'd use that as an excuse. It had been *Summer* that had talked sense into them, but she wasn't about to go there. It might upset the woman too much to know that her old friend was still kicking in some form. She really didn't need to explain anything other than the AI. "A...I? What are you talking about? Do you take me for a fool?" "Actually, she's not lying." Opal froze when she heard Summer's voice. Winter looked over at the computer and saw the AI floating in the corner of the laptop. "What in Verana's name?" Opal went over to the computer and sat at the desk, looking at the machine. "Summer?" "Well, as close as you'll get now that she's dead. But yeah, she literally made a functional AI of herself before she died. There were some incomplete programs like the Valian Standard Sign Language one, but for the most part, those were just auxiliary programs. I can fully function on my own. Qrow's had me as his digital assistant since a little bit before she died." Opal shook her head. "I knew she was insane, but I didn't expect this. I don't think even the Atlassian military would be able to pull this off. She really was a one-woman army." She sighed, resting her cheek against her hand. She had seemingly accepted reality for what it was. Summer truly was a crazy woman. She was one of a kind. No wonder everybody took her loss so hard. Even if she could be incredibly annoying a lot of the time. Switching between the AI and ghost was a bit of a headache at times, but she was getting used to it... Opal stood up. "Well, good luck with her dust notes. Bye." Opal left and Winter was alone in the room. Well. As alone as one could be with an AI and a ghost for company. "Summer, would you mind helping me with this? I cannot understand your organisation system to save my life." Winter sighed as she flipped open one of the notebooks. Summer had helped her decode the dating system, but it still wasn't easy to deal with. She just... How did Summer function like this? It really made no sense on how she functioned with her mind being so offbeat. But she had somehow managed to become the best Huntress in the world that was fondly remembered by the older generation of Hunters. They still talked about her to this day apparently... And she was so special to those that had known her in life. Yup, that ain't a problem. C'mon. With that, they started setting the file folders up and started sorting things by date. There were so many notebooks though... She was going to need more file boxes than this. But it would at least get her started off if nothing else. She was just hoping to get started. Some of these were ancient and decrepit though. The dates were insanely old comparatively. They're from my Beacon days when I was just starting to figure things out. "I suppose that makes sense. The calculations are...simplistic for you." They were clearly for cartridges in a gun due to the micrograms that were being worked with. For most people, they would still be relatively complex, but for Summer, they were simple. It was amazing how she picked things up. Looking at notebooks even just two years apart showed how rapidly her mind grew. Run-of-the-mill calculations grew into massive, sprawling theory that even *created* new dust types simply from calculations. How had she had time to do all of this? She didn't really understand. These were insanely complex. She was sure some of these dust types had been found, but others were still theoretical... She would have to look at them more in-depth later, not when she was sorting through things. Well, if the SDC under you can benefit from my calculations, I'll happily share them. You clearly have a good moral system unlike most of the Atlassian upper class, so I'm happy these will be in such good hands. Does your little sister like dust studies? The question caught Winter off guard but she nodded a bit. "She outstripped me some years ago. She went from not understanding anything about math and science to studying top-rated dust study journals. I'll have to see what all you have in here... She does have a scroll, but it has to be used sparingly and carefully. If Gele ever found out about it, she would be in big trouble." Winter sighed. She wanted to talk to Weiss again... She missed her little sister so much. Kali and Sienna hadn't started the suit against him yet. She needed to apply for the protection program first and have her day in court. Once the footage was released to the public... She felt a lift from Summer and glimpsed the woman's form tapping her lips. You know... You could release that footage to the public now and start to get the ball rolling. If anything, the government might come to you and offer you expedited protection. That...wasn't something she had thought about before. She would need to... "Can your AI do it anonymously?" Normally she wasn't one to be so brazen and not consider things before doing them, but in this case, yeah. Yeah. If she could get things done quicker, that would make sure Weiss got safe a lot sooner. If she could protect her baby sister, then she would. That's easy to do. There'll be no problem there. We just need the footage. Do you have it or does Coco? "Coco does. I didn't keep any of it on my devices just in case they were discovered... I've had to be careful about my plotting." Gele certainly wouldn't let her continue on her path if he could help it. She was fairly certain that he would be trying to arrange a marriage for Weiss now that Winter was out of the way in Atlas. It would go against what she, Kali, and Sienna had planned, but the women seemed willing to roll with things and adapt as necessary. Can you get her to upload the footage to your laptop? "That shouldn't be a problem." She pulled up a window from the webcam which showed an empty seat by a computer. She frowned and sighed, then texted Coco. I need you to upload all the footage of the abuse to my laptop. We're releasing it to the public ahead of schedule. Oh, the three-ring circus that would create in the media... She knew Coco also had Weiss' abuse on camera since Willow had installed a camera in Weiss' room too. She felt bad for secretly surveilling her sister, but in this case, it was best to have as much on file as possible. Maybe it'd get the courts to hold an injunction and restraining order against Gele for her siblings... A simple thumbs up came in reply to the message. With that done, Winter went downstairs since it was close to time to leave for driver's ed. She saw Raven sitting on the couch and the woman smiled. "Ready to head over to driver's ed?" "Yes, I suppose..." She still felt uncomfortable around the woman, but there wasn't much she could do about it. And she would need to get used to her in due time anyway. They would be living together. What a mess. Raven opened a portal to Qrow and they sat down for the hour-long lesson. Winter used it to test out her new tablet, taking notes and such during. The dull tedium ended after what felt like an eternity and then she turned around and went to heat up dinner. Qrow stopped her. "I need to eat too, so I might as well heat up your dinner first," he offered. "All right..." She settled at the table and he popped her meal into the microwave, then sat her plate in front of her. She started to eat and he joined her after a couple of minutes. "So how was your day?" he asked. "Quiet. I'll need more file folder boxes than what I have. I guess I underestimated how many notebooks there were." She was just sectioning off by month and there were so many. Summer was definitely a prolific, studious woman. She didn't understand how she balanced so much in life. Somehow she managed to be a Huntress, a top-notch dust scholar, a mother, and so much else. How did one person manage to do that all? She was insane. "Yeah, she tended to spend her nights doing crazy stuff. She didn't sleep much due to the trauma she sustained. It was rough on her after Raven left and before she fell in love with Taiyang fully. And then the girls were rough on her too... But still, she found time to do it all. Not sure how. I lived with her for years and still don't know how she managed to do it all." Qrow shrugged. "She certainly was one of a kind." That was all Winter could say. She had never seen Summer in action before, so yeah, she really couldn't comment on how she functioned. And, well,she'd pulled her fair share of all nighters as well. It wasn't like she had any room to talk. She just hadn't done that since coming to Vale since she had nothing to really pull all nighters on. She would need to study for the GED program but she had all the hours in a day. She had basically nothing better to do. "Yeah, she was." Qrow sighed. Winter winced a little. She hadn't meant to hit a sore spot for him. She was just making an observation. Qrow shrugged. "It is what it is. She's still with us, sure, but you're my primary concern now, Winter. I'm not going to betray or abandon you. We didn't exchange vows, but unless you find someone you'd prefer to be with, you're stuck with me. But if you do want to date or get divorced or something at any point, that's on you. I'm not gonna trap you in this marriage." "I'm not going to leave... I don't trust people." She looked down. She just...didn't see herself ever going to somebody else. She was starting to trust him quite a bit. She could see he really only did have pure intentions. He was doing everything he possibly could in order to make sure she thrived. It was just hard when she was so limited by her immigration status. But once she got her court date, she'd hopefully be granted citizenship… "Well, that might change in the future. Don't say no to anything until it's come to pass." Winter wished she could abide by something like that, but no, she was damaged goods. Her mental health was in tatters. She could barely see a future for herself. She was glad Qrow hadn't been the type to want to knock her up immediately and start having her pop kids out as much as possible... She didn't know what she'd do if he was that type of man. She just... She struggled with people so much. Everyone had been out to get her in Atlas… "I feel like it's too late for me." She was just so damaged. Nothing could heal her. She was completely shattered and broken. The only thing keeping her going was Weiss. She wasn't sure about Whitley, but she knew he needed to be taken out of that house as well. Weiss described him as malicious and not much better than Gele. She hoped that he wasn't just a mini-Gele. If that was the case, then there was no hope for him or having a place in the SDC. She wouldn't allow some sort of rat to come back into the SDC and undo the progress she would be making. With Kali and Sienna at the helm with her, she'd definitely make good progress in helping Faunus communities. It seemed like Qrow wanted to say something to her, but he didn't. He just moved into the seat next to her and kissed her head, rubbing her shoulder. She leaned against him and closed her eyes. She still couldn't believe he hadn't taken advantage of her when she'd been asleep. She'd fallen asleep with a man in the nearby vicinity. Well. One that wasn't the general. She trusted him implicitly. It hadn't started off that way, but now she would trust him with anything. "So how was driver's ed for you?" he asked, obviously trying to get her mind off her current thoughts. "Dull. The teacher is about as enthusiastic as a desert wind." Yeah, the teacher was beyond boring. She was pretty sure she'd seen students falling asleep due to how boring the teacher was. But...she was looking forward to getting her independence. She needed it severely. They'd be relatively isolated if the house sale went through. She just... She needed to be able to get out. She already felt so trapped on Patch and they were still technically in the city. They weren't that far away. "Yeah, he was pretty dry. But just think, in a few months, we'll be driving. We can go practice in the agricultural district and, once the house goes through, we can practice on old country roads. Though winter's coming so we'll have to learn how to drive in the ice and snow..." Yeah, that was gonna be rough, though probably not as bad as driving in Atlas. Though they did have the warming system and they were in the city... Here in Vale, they'd be out away from the city where roads would be maintained. An hour away from the city might as well be a whole other world. "Yeah... I will be looking forward to my independence, though. But...how will we get cars? We can't exactly go for test drives." "Snowdrop, you're talking to the world's foremost Huntsman. I know how to get people to cooperate with me even if it's breaking laws. Just give 'em a couple thousand and they'll usually shut up." She normally wasn't one for bribery, but in this case, it would benefit them. Guh. Her morals were really starting to be compromised by being around Qrow. The general held himself to such a high standard of morality considering how Atlas was. Qrow...did not hold himself to that, though. She wished that she could say she was above this, but no, he was starting to make it so she wasn't. "I suppose that works." She shook her head. What was even the point of denying it? "Would we get new or used cars?" "We'll probably need to get some sort of all-wheel or four-wheel drive vehicles due to the snow and ice we'll be dealing with. It'll be up to us to take care of our driveway and, well, that driveway was pretty long. I'll probably need a truck with a snow scraper attachment on the front. Since you'll be driving your siblings once they're in your custody, something like a small SUV might be good for you. Lots of room and a powerful machine." Winter nodded a bit. She didn't know much of anything about cars outside of car, truck, van. If that was what he thought was best, then she'd let him make that particular decision. "But to get to the question, yeah, newer cars would probably be best." "Very well then. When can we go?" "Prolly this weekend. We'll just need Persia or Opal to take us." Winter nodded. That sounded fair... Granted, she would only have a week of driver's ed beforehand, but she was pretty sure she could figure out the basics of how to drive on side roads as long as they weren't on main roads. It was just so hard to pay attention to the teacher, but they would be getting hands-on experience... Figuring out when and how to drive was gonna be fun since her schedule was already so packed… "All right." With that, she finished up dinner and put her dishes in the dishwasher. She flopped back on the bed in Summer's room, rolling onto her side. She would need to leave for stocking soon enough... But she felt so tired. She hadn't even done that much either... But she couldn't get comfortable and fall asleep so early. So she opted to sit at the desk and pulled up the GED stuff and her tablet, starting to study it. The AI reminded her she needed to leave and she nodded and sighed. She went to Ein and looked at him. "Ready to take me to the store?" He nodded and they headed off into the forest.