A continuation of the aftermath of my fictional series: Caged Bird

Weiss was irate , her eyes burning like blue gas flames, Qrow just stood there like a gangley tree waiting for her to reach him.

Weiss:"So that's what that ring meant..."

-she said producing the luck ring he'd left Willow-

Weiss:"That's why you choked when you saw me wearing this..."

Qrow:"-sigh-...."

Weiss:"All this time, that's why Winter Hates you!"

Qrow:"Kid..."

Weiss:"Why FATHER hated me!"

Qrow:"...kid keep it down do you want every Grimm in the wood to hear...?"

Weiss:"Why father made a point to stand me up on my birthdays!"

Qrow:"Hey I'm not saying i'm not sorry for- "

Weiss:"And you! You just left me there?!"

Qrow:"-half chuckle coughs- Just, just LEFT you there? Hold on...you make it sound like-"

Weiss pushed Qrow repeatedly, Qrow let her, stepping back with each push , crunching snow as he did.

Weiss:"You, never, once, tried, seeing me! Talking to me!?"

Qrow:"Kid, I have a semblance that nearly kills anyone who's around me for too long, I make a living jumping head long into suicide situations, and i work for a man who's as vague as a fortune cookie, on missions into places i don't know exist till i get there....I get the occasional break to check on my nieces but...that's not the sort of life you bring a kid along."

Weiss just stood fuming at him with a crystal tear on her face. While she wasn't blocking that out she was still hurt.

Qrow rubbed the back of his neck and went on:" You, you got a fortune to your name, a sister who's dynamite and protective as an Ursa, and an arguably good education....leaving out the fact that I was never sure that you even WERE mine....we don't actually share a resemblance after all...the best thing I could'a done was leave things as they were...and leave you where you were."

Weiss:"Without ever knowing who you were? Without ever knowing there was someone out there who'd gave a damn about me?"

Qrow:"Easy Snowflake, you had your Mom'n your sister'n your butler-"

Weiss:"Just- STOP! That's not the same thing! A butler who's like a father isn't the same as a real father, it never has been! Now i find out my real father is some sort of war hero...a favorite of my grandfather who's nearly died countless times trying to save the world from magic, and who knows what, and i've never even known!?"

Qrow:"Hey! I just told ya didn't I? I didn't know for sure if you were mine, and i didn't wanna go poke'n around to cause even more scandal to you , but more especially to your mother. Don't take it personally but people on the white mountain are very....particular about "image." I told you...I'm a bad luck charm no matter how you throw me!"

Weiss:"......you wouldn't have been that to me...."

Qrow:"Oh no? Look at me in the eye, what'a you see?"

Weiss:"......ah...I..."

Qrow:"Some reckless, drunk, bum" I think the term was you used when we met...you think if you found out someone like me was your father you'd of packed up a bag and left home with open arms to join me on my merry way?"



Weiss:"....I.."



Qrow:"No...no, the you back then? Hell, the you of a few weeks ago, you'd be ashamed, you'd be disgusted and feel like a fish out of water...you'd keep it a secret, and no one'd blame you, hell "I" wouldn't blame you...and that's all i'd need, someone else who knows I let em down somehow...I got enough of that in my own line of work...so you wanna tell me to shove off, I'll shove....but don't screech at me for trying to do right by you..."

Weiss:"......................................"

-Qrow starts walking off and takes out his cantine before a glyph yanks it from his hand-

Qrow:"Hey-!"

Weiss:"Right by me? You were doing what was right by you! Like you always have!"

Qrow walked towards her:"Give me that back before you-"

Weiss:"You did what was right by you all those years back with my mom and you got ME, and did it again by not even trying to find out about me or getting to know me! You're just like everyone else in my life, assuming they know me! Assuming they can guess what runs in me through and through...assuming they can tell me where to sit like some china set from Mistral..."

She sighed looking at the ground and then at the ring in her clenched fist, and the flask in the other.

Weiss:"...You're right, maybe i would've been ashamed at first....but what you don't know about is that maybe that little girl you were SURE wouldn't be able to look at you, would've tried. Would've....been glad."

Qrow raised a brow. She wiped her eyes but kept going.

Weiss:"Because there's a part of her she's never understood, that she's been scared of, ashamed of, not sure what to do with...and now she finally understands that part of her is yours...the part of me that Papa always hated, that always got under his nerves....the part that was "too noble" and "too idealistic." And just maybe, she'd of wanted to find out more about it, more than any of the other things that the other side of of her was expected to do! Or that, that would mean the world to her, just to know that someone could actually look at her in the face and not feel....ashamed, no matter what she did! The way you did when you smiled at me the other day! That would've been enough for her because she can change.....HAS changed! ...You don't know me at all...but how could you, you never even tried.....though....I guess I'm one to talk....-sniff-...I'm ...sorry..."

-after a long pause as the snow fell around them-

Qrow:".........................-laughs-"

Weiss:"Oh what...you're so drunk everything's funny now?" -wiping her eyes-

Qrow:"Drunk, heh no, THIS isn't me drunk, you're just as impossible as-"

Weiss:"What, as you?"

Qrow:"No, as your mother...at least how she used to be.....and smarter than me like her too..."

Weiss:"...We don't have to be too smart for that...."

Qrow:"-laughs more then coughs, then sighs- ...you gonna keep holding that, or you wanna learn how to drink?"

Weiss:"Wh-what? Drink this?"

Qrow:"You gotta learn sometime, what you need is the right teacher...and in a less cold environment than this snow...there's a tavern down the way, you coming...?"

Weiss:"......I'm not buying...-small smile-"

Qrow:"-chuckle- Kid, you don't make any thing easy..."

-both walk on-

Weiss:"So......your father teach you how to drink?"

Qrow:"You wanna know something snow flake? Me'n Raven never knew our pops either......No it was old man Nick Schnee, your grandpa...treated us after we helped save a village at the foot of Mount Geist......."

-both disappear into the forest-