PFK 33 - A Dusty Old Crow (Patreon)

I didn’t see Flicaille or King again that night; a completely different officer handled our interviews. We went one at a time, explaining the situation we’d encountered with Beauchamp sitting beside us, and when they gathered us up again the interviewer stated on the record that no charges would be filed. Beauchamp gave us each her card and bid us goodnight, before heading deeper into the station in pursuit of the recording King had promised her.

We still didn’t get an apology other than King’s personal one to me, but it was enough to fulfill my bonus objective.

[Quest Complete!]

[A Common Enemy, Part 2]

[You have gained 6850 EXP and 6000L (1000L × 6 burglars caught). Increased closeness with Ren Lie. Increased closeness with Nora Valkyrie. Increased closeness with Leopold Tenné. Increased closeness with Sun Wukong. Increased reputation with Vale Underworld. Decreased reputation with Vale Police Department. Increased reputation with Menagerie.]

[Bonus: Increased closeness with Percival King.]

[This questline will continue.]

[Enlightened has increased by 1!]

Hell yeah, more EXP boost. Wasn’t I supposed to get paid for this bonus though?

I had to file that thought away as we made our way out of the police station and I noticed a very familiar Aura approaching. Stepping outside, I waved the boys to a stop, then turned expectantly as a taxi rolled to a stop beside us.

Amber stepped out and gave me a critical look, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. “Is this what I can expect from ‘guys’ night’?”

Rather than get defensive, I smirked. “Is it even a night out with the boys if it doesn't end in the drunk tank?”

“Hear, hear,” rasped a voice I’d only heard over a call.

Behind Amber, a lean, unshaven man around my own height hauled himself out of the taxi, leaning against it and tipping an open flask to his lips. He was wearing a white coat with a tattered red cloak half-concealing his collapsed weapon strapped to his lower back. His eyes were red — both because they were bloodshot and also he literally had red irides — and his salt-and-pepper hair was styled to resemble feathers.

‹Drunkle›LV 69Qrow Branwen

Nice… but that doesn’t add up…

“The Scarecrow of Vale, I presume?” I offered a hand.

I checked his Status as he capped his flask. Yep, Job is ‘Master Huntsman’. I’ve really got to figure out how to clock actual levels when they’re hidden like this.

“Ain’t heard that name in a few years,” he belched. “So you’re the punk who’s making time with little Autumn, hmm?” Before I could say anything, Amber kicked him. Qrow let out a yelp, hopping on the other foot and clutching his ankle. “Ow! Dammit, that hurt!”

“You had it coming,” she sniffed.

I grinned at her. “He only has himself to blame.”

“Tch.” Clicking his tongue, Qrow set his foot gingerly back on the ground, then ran a hand through his hair, looking over my shoulder at Ren, Leo, and Sun. “Oz asked me to see you kids back up to school. I’m Qrow Branwen, retired Stealth and Security teacher at Signal Academy over on Patch.”

“He’s also Yang and Ruby’s uncle,” I added, turning to face them as well. “We won’t all fit in the cab, so Amber and I will head home now. Sorry about the trouble tonight. Sun, you need somewhere to crash?”

Sun, who had been in the middle of turning to leave, paused and glanced back. He pointed to himself, as if unsure I was referring to him.

“You see any other ‘Suns’ here? We’ve got a pretty decent sofa; it’s long enough for me so you shouldn’t have too much trouble.”

He blinked. “You sure, dude? You just met me tonight.”

“You jumped into a fight, outnumbered, to back up someone that you just met tonight. That says enough for me.” Turning back to Ren and Leo, I gave them each a fistbump in turn. “You two go reassure Nora and Barrie that you’re okay so they doesn’t break my legs, yeah?” They both agreed and climbed into the taxi.

Amber, meanwhile, had wrapped Qrow in a hug. “It’s good to see you again, old man. You’re staying at our place tonight as well; no need to fly back to Patch in the dark. We’ll go visit your nieces tomorrow.”

Qrow’s sour look softened. “You know that’s not a good idea, kid. Being around me–”

“I wasn’t asking,” Amber interrupted. “I’ll text you the address. You will stay with us or I’ll be very upset with you.”

“Tch.” Qrow clicked his tongue again. He didn’t answer, just dropped back into the cab and slammed the door. Amber looked triumphant, though, so I supposed that was his graceless way of conceding.

“I can’t imagine Glynda appreciates you getting along with him that well,” I observed as they rolled away. I extended a hand, and she took it, lacing our fingers together.

“They get along better than you’d think,” she said. “Nice to meet you, by the way,” she said, offering Sun her other hand. “I’m Amber; Jaune’s girlfriend, if you didn’t get that from context.”

“Sun Wukong,” he said. Then he glanced at me. “You never said how you knew my name.”

“I sure didn’t,” I agreed, smirking. “C’mon, we live a few blocks this way.”

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“–and it’s almost another minute before Scarlet stumbles out of the storeroom with his lipstick smeared; his neck’s covered in love bites, and all he says is, ‘now that was a katana’!” Sun finished his story as the elevator to the penthouse opened.

Amber snorted a laugh. “Your team sounds like a riot. Are they coming ahead of the tournament too?”

“Oh yeah, they should be along next month with everyone else,” Sun agreed. “I just got really bored and wanted to scope out the competition.”

“…And they’re okay with that?” she wondered.

I unlocked the door. “Some of them might be. Some maybe not so much; you might need to apologize.”

Sun’s tail drooped. “You’re probably right. I’m not cut out for this leadership shit anyway. Neptune would be great at it, the big nerd.” He wore a fond smile as he looked around. “This is a pretty nice place– Is that fuckin’ Samiri!?”

“It was,” I corrected. “Now it’s my mantelpiece decoration. Spoils of victory and all that.”

“I heard it was killed by the Granny Givenofucks’ grandkid, but…” He said faintly. Then he wheeled around, pointing at me. “That was you!?”

I burst out laughing. “Do people call her that? That’s hilarious. I wonder if she knows?”

“Don’t change the subject!” Sun’s tail was standing out straight behind him now.

“Yeah, that was me, although my sister showing up definitely helped. Could you grab some drinks, Mon trésor?” I asked, dropping onto the couch and waving Sun to the armchair. “Amphivena’s is up there as well. Krios’ is in my room.”

Sun sat, and his tail was now flicking excitedly. “I’d heard Krios was killed too, before the school year. You’ve been busy, huh?”

“Ah, you know how it goes, once you start on a project you can’t just stop. Gotta see it through to the end, one way or another.”

He drummed his fingers on his knees excitedly. “Man, I want to spar even more now. Heh, I can’t wait until the guys get here; Neptune’s gonna flip when he realizes you’re the Wolf’s grandson.”

Amber returned with some water for each of us, dropping onto the seat beside me. “I’ve heard that name before; where did that come from?”

Sun glanced at me, obviously expecting me to explain. I shrugged. “Don’t look at me, I lost my memory last July.”

“Huh?” he goggled. “Uh, I mean; I don’t know the story that well, coz I’m from Vacuo, but from what I’ve heard the Roma family was supposedly descended from a kid raised by a she-wolf. That, and they ruled the West bank of the river before Mistral unified, I think? So, ‘the Wolf of the West’.”

“The Old Mistrali word for ‘wolf’ was also a euphemism for a prostitute,” said Qrow’s voice, causing Sun to jump. “And while sexism isn’t quite as bad in Mistral as it can be in Atlas, she still had an uphill struggle because she was so young when she took control of the Roma family’s seats on the Mistral Council.”

“You could’ve used the door,” Amber complained.

Qrow shrugged, walking into the kitchen and pulling down the bottle of rye Olivia had left when she moved out, carefully tipping it into his flask.

“Help yourself,” I said sarcastically.

“Thanks.” He didn’t stop pouring. “Anyway, the old battle-axe — or should I say, halberd — embraced the epithet and took a wolf’s head as her emblem. After she allied with the Alexandria, and thrashed everyone who had a problem with her… people conveniently ‘forgot’ about the alternate meaning.” He finished filling his flask, then tipped the bottle back and finished the last few swallows.

“You owe us a new bottle,” Amber told him, unimpressed.

Qrow groaned, but nodded. “Fine. Where am I sleeping? I flew in today and I’m wiped.”

“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” I agreed, fetching a pillow and blanket for Sun as Amber pushed Qrow into her bedroom. “Sleep well and wake, all.”

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“Go ahead wit–”

The unexpected music woke me with a start, and I reflexively slammed the ‘answer call’ button on my Semblance, hoping it hadn’t woken Amber. “What the hell do you want at–” I blinked at the HUD. “–five in the morning?”

Amber stirred, and I stroked her hair, hoping she would drift off again.

“Well as no one had the courtesy to tell me that you’d been arrested, I was trying to find out what’s going on,” said Isabella. “As well as why I had to find out from Ozpin.”

“Nosy fuckin’ wizard,” I grumbled, keeping my voice low and trusting my Semblance to carry it. “It was nothing, the cop was just an asshole. I have to assume Ozpin already told you that we all got released and no charges are being filed, so why exactly did you feel the need to wake me up at five in the fucking morning?”

“Language, Jaune,” she chided, and I hung up in disgust, dumping the immediate redial to voicemail.

“Your family really has a thing against us sleeping in, don’t they?” Amber grumbled, pecking me on the cheek and yawning.

“Sorry, Mon trésor,” I murmured.

Aegislash -> 'Seven Deadly Sisters (And One Badass Baby Brother)' | Saturday, 05:02

     ‹Aegislash› someone feel free to tell Isabella the next time she fucking calls me at 0500 for no fucking reason I’m blocking her fucking number

     ‹Articuno› yea. she`ll do that. the timing could definitely be better. but it`s nice to know she cares sometimes. it`s obviously out of concern.

     ‹Aegislash› I don’t fucking care, send a text like a normal person

     ‹Aegislash› or, weird idea, take the hint that I’m still pissed and don’t want to fucking talk to you right now

     ‹Moltres› Ha

     ‹Moltres› Good luck with that

     ‹Moltres› Dont you know

     ‹Moltres› Mother knows best

     ‹Aegislash› then don’t tell her and I’ll block her now, save us all the headaches

     ‹Articuno› you probably don`t want to do that. if nothing else Dad will complain.

     ‹Aegislash› fortunately the block button does not discriminate, I can block anyone and move on with my life

     ‹Aegislash› people who respect me get comms privileges, people who don’t get a premium view of my back

     ‹Moltres› In that case

     ‹Moltres› How about you explain

     ‹Moltres› What your message with Indigo was about

     ‹Moltres› Last night

     ‹Moltres› You mentioned a robbery

     ‹Aegislash› me and the boys spotted one in progress, broke it up, got arrested for it

     ‹Moltres› What the fuck

     ‹Aegislash› well, they were gonna arrest Leo and Sun for being faunus, Ren and I objected to that so we got brought in too

     ‹Aegislash› we were released with one (1) apology, no (0) charges filed, Amber and Qrow came to pick us up

     ‹Moltres› Wait

     ‹Moltres› Who’s Amber

     ‹Articuno› jaune`s girlfriend. you gotta keep up with the chat more, slut.

     ‹Moltres› Whatever bitch

Knowing the squabbling would only get worse, I dismissed the chat window and tried to wriggle out of Amber’s grasp. She grumbled and tightened her grip.

“I can’t make breakfast until you let me up,” I reminded her.

“Don’ care,” she mumbled into my shoulder.

“Or make coffee.”

“Won’ need it ‘f I sleep more.”

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to leave Sun and Qrow unsupervised?”

Amber let out a groan, but grudgingly released me. When I stood up, she immediately stole my half of the blankets and rolled herself into a burrito, burying her face in my pillow, pouting.

I leaned down and gave the crown of her head a soft kiss before equipping a robe and heading to the kitchen to make coffee.

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We called another cab to take the four of us up to Beacon, over Sun’s protests. He wanted to vanish into the city until the rest of his classmates arrived in Vale, but I convinced him to at least meet with Ozpin in case the Headmaster wanted to debrief.

After a quick visit to his tower, during which Sun was treated to a chiding from Lionheartover video and provided with a dorm in the guest hall that he would eventually be sharing with his team, Qrow and I went to meet my team, leaving Amber with Glynda.

“So Mr Branwen–” I said as we walked across the quad.

He interrupted me immediately. “Gods’ sake, Punk, just call me Qrow. I never knew a Mr Branwen and there may as well never be one.”

“…Right. Anyway, you heard of a Zora Salazar? Bit taller than me, gangly, Vacuan hat, smells like she hasn’t showered in a couple weeks?”

He froze mid-step, and his red eyes were suddenly sharp as they met mine. “How the hell do you know that?”

I raised an eyebrow. “The robbery last night. It was that showboat, Roman Torchwick, in charge. I fought him and his partner — or daughter? I didn’t ask — while Sun dealt with the White Fang. We had them handled until Zora showed up. She knocked out the others and somehow turned off my Aura before kneecapping me and teleporting away.”

He looked me up and down. “You’re walking pretty well for having a bullet in your knee.”

“Healing Semblance, remember?”

“Hn.” His gaze dropped to the ground for a moment before he kept walking. “Yeah, I know her. She shouldn’t be working with the White Fang though, she hates faunus.”

“So does Torchwick, that hasn’t stopped him,” I pointed out. “And I happen to know it’s because he’s being intimidated by one of Her underlings.” The emphasis I put on Her made it clear who I was talking about.

“Crapbaskets.” Qrow clicked his tongue.

“Oh, you say that too.” I guess Ruby had to get it from somewhere.

He ignored my interjection. “You think she’s being leaned on the same way?”

“It didn’t seem like it?” I replied, pulling open the door to the dorms. “They’ve definitely met before, but she didn’t seem nearly as reluctant as Roman did. I might be able to get him to flip; her, I did not get the same impression.”

Qrow let out a hiss. “If anything that’s worse. If she was helping reluctantly, I’d lay good odds on her eventually getting frustrated and killing whoever tried to order her around. If she’s collaborating willingly…”

He fell silent as I swiped my Scroll to open the dorm, and I waved him to wait. He leaned against the wall and started fiddling with his flask.

I opened the door a crack, then paused. “Everyone decent?”

“Not morally, but we’re all wearing pants if that’s what you’re asking,” came Yang’s voice.

Qrow’s lips twitched, and I pushed the door open to find the blonde sitting cross-legged at the foot of her sister’s bed, playing a game on her Scroll. Ruby, still in her pajamas, barely glanced up from her own, fingers working the controls frantically as she tried to beat Yang. Pyrrha was going through her yoga routine, while Blake leaned against her headboard, reading as usual.

“What’s this about ‘not morally’, Firecracker?” Qrow drawled, stepping inside before me. “Is there a young man I need to have a talk with?” Both sisters dropped their games, whipping around to stare at him as he paused. “…Or young lady. Either way.”

“Uncle Qrowww!” I wisely stepped back as Ruby dove off the bed, tackling Qrow back out of the room. He staggered back a step, but patted Ruby’s head as she clung to his chest. “Did you miss me? Didja miss me!?”

“Pfft, no,” he said immediately, ruffling her hair. Plucking her off him and setting her down with one hand, he tilted her face this way and that. “You look more like your mom every day, Little Rose.”

Yang had joined us by now. “What’re you doing here, Uncle Qrow?”

“My last mission ended and I had some time in town, so I thought I’d drop by. If it’s not too much of an imposition, maybe you could squeeze in some training time with your favorite uncle?”

“You’re our only uncle; not much competition there,” Yang quipped. “But I’m always down for a scrap.”

“Lemme get dressed!” Ruby vanished in a flurry of petals, the closet door slamming behind her.

“Everything all right, Jaune?” Blake asked, one eyebrow raised over the cover of her latest book.

“Fine; I’ll fill you guys in later,” I waved her off. “I’m sure Ren told you what happened, but I have some details he doesn’t.”

“Why aren’t you telling him, then?” Yang asked.

I smiled faintly. “Some things are need-to-know.”

Qrow glanced at me, seeming to consider something. “Speaking of need-to-know, you’d better with us, Punk. Normally I’d say this is family business… but you’re Ruby’s team leader, and it might be important for you know know about.”

My eyebrows contracted, but I nodded.

“Oh, by the way, Ren made Nora promise not to break your legs,” Yang added, trying not to laugh. “Any idea what that was about?”

“Just a joke I made, but maybe he was worried she’d actually do it.” I glanced at Blake and Pyrrha. “I don’t know how long we’ll be, so you can take the day. I’ll see you later.”

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Name: Jaune ArcLevel: 58 (Next: 88.08%)Title: Academy StudentRace: HumanAge: 18Job: Beacon StudentClass: PaladinSemblance: The GamerHP: 7545/7545MP: 4177/4177STR: 213 (100)CON: 261 (101)DEX: 151 (53)INT: 130 (50)WIS: 106 (52)CHA: 144 (52)Points: 97Money: 953,788LStatus: Cursed – Yellow Death [High]

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A/N: If you’re enjoying this story, feel free to check out my discord server at https://discord.gg/H6V854Fvbg

Point of order, it has been about 10 days since the call with the headmasters where Qrow agreed to come home. There will probably be another timeskip soonish, to just before the arrival of the other students.

I’m aware Neo is not Roman’s daughter; that was a twist planned for the future of my discontinued Baked Alaska fic Going Down Swinging because of the thematic similarities between their names. Here it’s just a joke.