Chapter one: A Late Start
At the bottom of the bottle lay not the answer, but the question. And that question is, why did I drink this? If you remember the answer, then you go get another bottle. Repeat the process til you don't remember the answer, and preferably the question.
"Words of wisdom to live by," Taiyang said to himself while he fished a beer out ofrefrigerator, remembering the personal philosophy that his brother-in-law, Qrow, practiced. He stared at the bottle for a moment, mulling over those words before shaking his head and whispering, "Can't say that I've ever been much of a wise man though."
He walked back over to the kitchen table where he had been for most of the morning, drawing away in his sketchbook, something he did whenever he was bored or needed to clear his thoughts. Considering that there was already a few empty bottles near the sketchbook, and one to soon join it, he was leaning towards reason two. Settling back into his chair, he started to flip through the book to look over some of his recent rough sketches. There were a few doddles of the Grimm, some vague shapes of wildlife here and there, and a comic strip of Zwei chasing a large Beowolf up a tiny tree.
"Hey Zwei, I think you might like this," he said as he lowered the book under the table. Zwei, who was next to his master's feet and currently preoccupied with a rather tasty bone, looked up at the drawing and barked in approval.
"Heh, knew you would like it," Taiyang said as he brought the sketchbook back up, thinking about what to draw next. It didn't take him very long, for within a few moments his pencil was flying across the paper. About fifteen or so minutes later he had his next drawing partially done. It was of his two daughters, Ruby and Yang. In it Yang had Ruby in a tight bear hug; Yang was grinning from ear to ear while Ruby was grimacing in pain. He could feel a smile creeping on his face as he felt his chest grow lighter. Placing the pencil down and picking the bottle up, he tilted the chair backwards onto two feet and propped his feet on the table. He opened the bottle and took a modest swig of it as he started to reminisce about the events that had unfolded last night.
Ruby had come home later than usual that night, and was practically bouncing with excitement. Figuring that she had finally met a boy, Taiyang was about to ask his name when Ruby started rambling off the events that had happened to her. After multiple renditions, three or so quick games of charades, and one liberal use of his hand to the back of her head later, he was able to piece together what happen. Ruby was in the middle of a dust shop robbery, she fought off the would be robbers, and her skill with the scythe impressed Professor Ozpin so much that he would allow her to enroll in Beacon immediately as long as her parent signed off on it. It took Taiyang a moment to process the information while looking over the permission form, looking from Ruby to the form and back again.
Finally, it dawned on him that his youngest daughter would begin her training as a huntress. He couldn't help the smile that started to spread across his face or the tears welling up at the corners of his eyes. He looked down at Ruby, and in one quick motion he scooped her up into a bear hug and the pair started blabbering back and forth about the whole situation. Afterwards, when the two calmed down, she asked if she could go spend the night and the next day at Qrow's so she could get some last minute practice in.
Taiyang agreed to it, but first he wanted to take a measurement of her height at the kitchen doorway. It was a family tradition of theirs to measure each of the girls' heights at both their birthdays and major events/ accomplishments in their lives. Yang's was measured about three weeks ago when she found out she was accepted at Beacon (came up to five feet eight inches.) Ruby came up to about five feet two inches, just an inch taller than when she turned fifteen. She asked him not mark the measurement yet because she wanted to surprise Yang on their way to Beacon. He readily agreed to that, signed her formed, and kissed her on the forehead before she could dash out the door to her uncle's house. Looking back on it now, it was astounding that they didn't wake Yang up with all the racket they were causing. Which reminded him…
"Hey Zwei, could you do me a solid," he asked, snapping from his reminiscing. The little dog poked his head out from underneath the table and let out a bark to let his master know he was listening.
"It's almost eleven and that lazy bum still isn't outta bed yet. I need you to go take care of this problem," Taiyang said, well, more like dictated to the little dog. Zwei shook his head with a look on his face that shouted 'why me?'
"Because the last time I tried to wake her up, I got socked in the jaw for my troubles that's why," he said, figuring that what the look was about. He thought for a moment, then added, "The usual should work; breathe in her face, pull the covers off, cold nose to the middle of the back. Worked every time so far."
Letting out a loud snort, Zwei bounded out of the kitchen, through the living room, and up the stairs. Taiyang closed his eyes and started counting, "Three…two…one." Right at the one, a shriek came from upstairs, followed by loud thump.
"Works every time," He said to himself, a grin spreading across his face. He was so satisfied with the results that he either didn't notice, or didn't care, about the brisk, noisy footsteps making their way down the stairs, through the living room, and into the kitchen. Nor did he notice or care about the hand that yanked the back of his chair and sent him tumbling to the kitchen floor. He opened his eyes just in time to see his older daughter, Yang, drop Zwei right onto his chest.
"Oomph! Good morning to you to sunshine. How'd ya sleep?" he asked as he picked Zwei off his chest, who was giving him the 'I knew this was a bad idea,' look. Yang responded with what looked like a half-hearted attempt to flip him off that she lost interest in half way through the motion. While he was picking himself and his chair off the floor, he heard Yang asked from behind the fridge door ask, "Where's the noodles?"
"Bottom shelf," he replied. She muttered out a quick thanks and shambled from the refrigerator to the microwave. Taiyang couldn't help but to chuckle a little at the sight of Yang trying to move around in her groggy state. She must have heard him because she turned around to glare at him.
"Something funny, old man?" she asked, attempting to sound and look irate. This…didn't have the effect she was hoping for. Unless said effect was Taiyang doubled over in his chair, gripping the edges of the table for support so he didn't fall to the floor again. If that was her intent, then she passed with flying colors. Grumbling, she turned her attention back to her food and started to make herself some coffee while she waited. Meanwhile, Taiyang was making an honest effort to calm down, but every time he was near his goal the image of Yang's face popped right back into his head, sending him into another laughing fit.
"Are you finish yet?" Yang asked, clearing a spot out at the table. Taiyang took a few deep breaths as he cleared his mind, calming down enough to where he could speak again. He looked up at her with an audacious grin on his face and asked, "Soooooo, how come you didn't tell anyone that you was auditioning for a part in a zombie movie?"
Yang's eyes moved from her father, to her bowl, to her cup, and back to her father again while she was figuring out what the cost/benefit ratio would be if she flung one of the items at his head. Deciding that she would rather have the meal in her stomach as opposed to all over his head, she ignored him and started eating, or in this case inhaling, her food.
"Can you even taste that," he asked. She took a quick break and said, "What, I'm hungry."
"Yeah, I can see that. So I guess I should pick up a trough when I go grocery shopping again," he quipped. Ignoring that last statement, Yang motion to the clutter on the table. Taiyang shrugged his shoulders, saying, "It's my day off today, so I figured I do a little drawing. Haven't got much of a chance to for a while now."
"Not that," she said. She pointed towards the bottles, asking, "Little early for that, don'tcha think?"
"What? Five o'clock was only eighteen hours ago," he said with a grin, hoping to drop the issue. Instead, Yang shot him a deadpan expression, causing him to respond with a half-hearted shrug. She sighed and shook her head, asking, "Am I gonna wind up a functioning alcoholic one day?"
"Alright kid, two things. One, it's only a few on my off day. Two, considering prior family history I would hold off on the straight edge tattoos for now," he said. Shaking her head again, she went back to eating her late breakfast/early lunch while he went back to his drawing. He was touching up the picture of his daughters hugging, trying to take away some of the roughness from it when heard Yang ask something through a mouth full of food.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," he said as he turned the sketchbook around to show her what he was working on, asking her, "Whatcha think?
"It's alright. Ruby looks pretty good, but I'm completely off model in that," she said as she looked the drawing over. Taiyang turned the sketchbook back to him so see what she was talking about. Looking at the drawing, he couldn't tell what was wrong with it. Yeah, it was a rough sketch, but he was still adding in the details, and he got most of the outline done. He looked up at her and asked, "So what exactly did I get wro…"
"Dude, my boobs are waaaaaay bigger than that," she said, cutting him off and causing his face to deadpan. Flashing him a toothy grin, she pointed down to her chest and said, "Well, I mean look at 'em. That drawing doesn't do them any justice."
"Duly noted," he said, reaching up to rub the corners of his eyes. Yang went back to finishing the contents of her bowl before making her way to the fridge again. She looked back over her shoulder and said, "Imma finish the leftovers off."
"I swear, I'm either gonna get a bill or Beacon is going to send you on extra missions just to cover your food costs," he said, shaking his head in amazement. Yang looked over the refrigerator door and replied, "But I'm a growing girl!"
"Growing girl… There are four man squads that don't eat as much as you," he said as she was pouring the last of the leftovers into her bowl. She looked down at her bowl, then over to her dad and said, "Sounds like they aren't even a quarter of a man then."
[Damn, that was good,] Taiyang thought to himself. He was routing through his brain for another quip he could fire at her but he was only drawing blanks. He threw up his hands and said, "I give. One point to Yang."
"Wahoo!" Yang shouted as she pumped her fist in the air, but then asked, "What are the points good for again?"
"To be determined at a later date," he said as he went back to touching up his drawing. Not even a moment later, Zwei started whining and dancing by his feet. Not looking up from his work, he asked, "Yang, could you let the little guy out?"
"Yeah, sure. Come on Zwei," she said as she loaded her bowl into the microwave. She walked over to the front door and yelled, "Come here boy!"
Zwei bounded over to the door and stopped in front of Yang, who currently was jingling the door handle while shouting over and over at the top of her lungs, "WANNAGOOUTSIDEBOYWANNAGOOUTSIDEBOYDOYADOYAHUHHUHHUH?"
"Would you please let the…" Taiyang began, getting rather annoyed by the inane chant from right across the room, but he was quickly cut off by Yang shouting, "OUT YA GO!"
Zwei bolted before the door was fully opened. Taiyang, still in mid-sentence, let out a sigh and finished, "Dog out. Tell me honey, do you do that to annoy the dog or just me?"
"Yes," Yang replied with her infuriating toothy grin.
[Welp, walked into that one,] he thought to himself as he returned to his drawing, hoping to actually make some forward progress. He stopped moments later when he heard Yang loudly slurping on her food. Looking up, he saw that she was already making significant headway into her second bowl.
"Where do you put it all?" he asked, astonish that she was almost done with her second bowl. Yang stopped eating and looked directly down at her chest, saying, "Well, I can think of a few places…"
"Really?" he replied in a gutturally groan. Yang shrugged her shoulders, saying, "Groan all you want, but these puppies are gonna help me snag your future son-in-law…. Or daughter-in-law, whatever you're cool with being added to the family tree."
It was like an automatic response that Taiyang's hand shot for his remaining beer. In one fluid motion, he drained the last of the bottle's contents and flung it across the room right into the trash can. Yang gave him a hearty golf clap, "Bravo. It's almost like you had a lot of practice with that."
"Well, having kids will do that for ya," he said.
"Speaking of which," Yang began, "Where's Ruby?"
"At Qrow's. She wanted to get some training in today," Taiyang said, pointing in the general direction of Qrow's home. Yang's face fell a little and she started to rub her arm absentmindedly. Looking a bit dejected, she finally said, "That's cool, I guess. I just thought we were going to spend the day together before I went off to Beacon is all."
"Well, she wanted to make sure that she was ready before she heads off to Beacon herself tomorrow," Taiyang said, hoping that would reassure Yang. What he forgot was that bit of information was something she wasn't supposed to find out till tomorrow, a fact that didn't dawn on him until he saw the expression of shock on her face. Racking his brain to see if there was any way he could back pedal from that revelation, the only thing he could think of was, [Damn it Tai, why?!]
Yang started to walk over to where he was sitting, asking along the way, "My little sister, Ruby, your daughter, is going to Beacon? Is that right?" Realizing that the damage had already been done, he nodded. Before he could think of anything else to say, Yang lifted him off the chair into a bone crushing bear hug.
"OHMYGODTHISISSOGREATMYBABYSISTERISGOINGTOBETRAININGTOBEAHUNTRESSATTHESAMETHISISAMAZING!" She shouted in glee, unaware that she had currently cut of her father's air supply.
"Honey. Ribs. Can't breathe," He managed to wheeze out. She released him and sent him crashing to the floor once she saw that his face was turning a reddish-purpley color. She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment and said, "Sorry pops. You alright?"
Taiyang gave her a shaky thumbs up while trying to regain his breath. Yang offered him a hand up to his chair. After he was resettled she started pacing the floor, not bothering to restrain her excitement at the news. Even though he already had his moment with Ruby and enough time to properly process the news, you could feel the wave of enthusiasm sweeping over him again as it had the night before. One part because of the news, and the other because of his older daughter's reaction to said news.
"You're about as excited now as you were when you got the acceptance letter into Beacon…minus the fact that the front door is still on its hinges," Taiyang said, pointing towards the door in question. Yang looked behind her and shrugged, "Hey now, at least I helped you put it back on."
Taiyang was about to emphasize that she still tore a door down, but figured it was best to not belabor the point. Besides, he had another problem on his hands. Namely, he promised Ruby that he would let her be the one to surprise Yang with the good news, but that ship already set sail out of the harbor and well into open waters. So, doing what any good parent would do, he decided to resort to an old standby.
"Hey Yang, quit twirling like a twit for a few seconds and listen. I need a favor from you," he said. Yang did an about-face and took a bow, "I am at your beck and call milord."
"Smart ass. Anyways, I promised your sister that I wouldn't tell you about her getting into Beacon because she wanted to surprise you herself. So, surprise…" he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice at the end. Yang crossed her arms and one of her hands moved up to stroke her chin in a mock thoughtful manner, pondering the implications of this request. Finally, she asked, "Soooo… what you're asking is for me to lie for you, am I reading this right?"
"Don't think of it as lying for my sake, think of it as more along the lines of lying for your sister," Taiyang said with a wicked grin.
"What?! Daddy lying to his own daughters?! Never!" Yang exclaimed, feinting shock. Taiyang waved off Yang's dramatics with an over exaggerated motion of his own, "Lying is second nature to parents. You should know this by now, and if not then you are a fool and I have failed you in my duties as a father."
"Well, I won't argue with one of those," Yang said.
"Good, then we agree you are indeed a fool," Taiyang replied, flashing his wicked grin again. Realizing that she had walked right into that one, she chose to ignore her father and went back to the thought of her and Ruby both starting at Beacon tomorrow. Could they end up on the same team, or even as partners? How did the team/partner process work? Was there some type of system, or was it left up to chance? Are there measures in place to keep family members from being teammates, or was it encouraged? While pondering on all this, it finally hit her that maybe she should ask the one person in the room that had already been through Beacon's training. Would he even tell her, or would he say that she would have to wait and see it for herself. Well, couldn't hurt to ask.
"Hey, old man, what's…" she began, but stopped quickly when she took in the sight in front of her. Her father had his chair balancing on its two back legs again while his feet were propped up on the table, one of his arms hanging off the back of the chair. He was looking over his shoulder towards the doorway with the girls heights, and even though she couldn't quite tell she had a feeling that he was looking at the top notches on both sides. This, combined with the bottles on the table, was a scene all too familiar to her. She started to walk towards her father, the anxiety growing in the pit of her stomach.
"Hey Dad, are you alright," she asked softly, placing a hand on the shoulder he was looking over. He turned to look up at her and said, "Well, as long as you don't tip my chair over again I should be fine."
"Dad, I'm serious," Yang said with a stern tone. Taiyang let out a low sigh and said, "I'm fine honey. Really. Just doing a little thinkin' is all."
"A few liens for your thoughts," she asked as she seated herself across from him. He let out a loud, slightly hollow laugh.
"I think you're overpaying for 'em kiddo," he said as he fell forward in his chair, placing the front two legs back on the ground.
"Eh, I've spent my money on worse," she replied. He should have known better by now that when she starts to worry like this there was no use in trying to brush it off. He'd remember being pretty similar in that regard when he was young.
"Look Yang, I already knew this day would come, sooner or later," he began, taking a deep breath while he gathered his thoughts, "I've made my peace with that. I knew that my girls, for one reason or another, would grow up to be huntresses, and in a way I wanted you girls to. It's one of the most fulfilling experiences you will ever have; new places to see and explore, new people to meet, while making the world a safer place to live. Yeah, it's one of the most dangerous careers on the planet, but you and your sister are tough, and I know you girls will make excellent huntresses. And you best believe if I wasn't damn sure you or your sister were ready, I wouldn't have let either of you step anywhere near that school. It's just that…I don't know… I had it somewhere."
With that he got up from the table and started pacing around the kitchen, something he did when he had something important to say but didn't have the right words to say it yet. Yang sat there quietly, not wanting to rush him. He finally stopped pacing and turned to face her. He took another deep breath and began again, "It's like… a paradoxical bomb of emotions went off in my brain and all the surviving cells are trying to figure out what happened. On the one hand, I practically bursting with pride and joy. Just… watching you two succeed is such a feeling that the only way I can describe it to you is that you'll understand it when you have kids of your own and are standing where I am right now. But, on the other hand, I'm anxious…no, that isn't the right word. Scared, that's it. Scared that something will happen to either you or Ruby. I already lost both of my wives, I don't… I can't imagine burying either of my daughters…"
"Dad,I…" Yang said, but was quickly cut off by Taiyang.
"Let me finish Yang. It's hard enough as it is," he said. He looked around the room as if he was looking, hoping for someone else to be there to help him. No such luck. He bit his bottom lip before he continued, "There is…a bit of guilt to. Like, if Summer… or even Raven were here now…I just know that they would be proud of you girls. But they…can't be here, for one reason or another. It's….I just feel like…that it isn't fair to you or your sister, ya know. Maybe… It's just… I don't know…"
Not waiting to hear the end, Yang got up and walked over to her dad, pulling him into a tight embrace as she buried her face in his chest. She felt him returned the embrace as he wrapped one arm around her back and placed his other hand on the back of her head. They stood there for a moment, letting the silence saying everything that needed to be said. She felt him plant a kiss on top of her head and heard him say, "Love you to Yang."
"Don't mention it dad," Yang said as she and Taiyang parted. He looked over his daughter's shoulder at the doorway again, saying, "I just thought I would have a little more time is all."
"Think you got all the time in the world until you start thinking about time," Yang said in a low and hushed tone, doing her best to sound like a sagacious old woman and causing her father to let out a chuckle.
"Nice to see that quote calendar Ruby got you is being put to good use," he said, lightly teasing her, "does it have a word of the day to?"
"Why yes, yes it does. Do you want to know what today's word is?" she asked, flashing that mischievous grin of hers. Knowing that he was going to regret it, he motion for her to continue. Somehow, her grin got even wider when she said, "Brevity."
"Ouch. That hurts the soul," he said, recoiling in mock pain. Yang waved it off as she walked over to the window to let some fresh air into the kitchen while Taiyang went back to the table to continue his sketching. He was thinking of what to draw next when he heard Yang ask from across the room, "So, whatcha up to today?"
"Yer looking at it," He replied. He looked up at Yang to ask, "Why, did you have something planned?"
"I do now. Wanna hear it?" she asked. He shook his head, "Not really, but let's hear it anyways."
"Good man. Anyhows, since Ruby bailed on me, I thought we could spend some quality father-daughter bonding time together with a few friendly sparing matches," she said, her eyes flashing red for a split second. A smirk started to spread across his face, knowing well and good how these 'friendly' sparing matches turned out. Still, he had to ask, "Why so eager? I figured that you would want to start your first day of school off fully rested and with a spring in your step."
"Oh, I'm sure that I'll still be springy by tomorrow," she replied as she moved towards the opposite side of the table, her eyes locking on to her father's. They locked themselves into a staring contest, neither one wanting to back down and both of them sporting the same cocky smirk. Feeling generous, and figuring that a good father would let his daughter have at least one victory today, he blinked first. Yang's eyes flashed red again as she leaned closer to him and whispered, "So you up to it, old man?"
That was it, the challenge had been issued. Taiyang let his face fall into a neutral, polite smile as he said, "Always. Go get dressed and grab your gear. Grab mine to while you're up there."
And on that note, Yang practically skipped across the kitchen, into the living room, and up the stairs to get ready. He couldn't help but to shake his head as he rose from his chair and started to stretch the stiffness out of his muscles. He turned back to the doorway to take one last look at it, saying to himself, "Today won't be so bad after all."
/
Hoped you're enjoying yourself so far, and if you have the time, please leave a review I appreciate any and all constructive criticism I can get, for it helps me put out higher quality stories for ya'll to enjoy. Once again, please and thank you.
Did some minor editing (again) and fix a few grammar errors (again again), so this chapter should be done. Fingers crossed. Anyhow, enjoy.
Also, thank you emiya-excalibur, Lord Jaric, and…Guest for the reviews. They really have help me flesh out this story better.