Qrow watched the four kids as they wandered down the path on their way to Mistral. He felt a little guilty shadowing them, but he wasn't sure what else to do. He was heading in the same direction, but with Oz out of the picture for now, Salem's minions might be bolder. There was a good chance they'd try something, and he'd rather be a surprise than a known factor. He'd let the Ruby and her friends get a head start because he knew he could scout ahead of them easy enough.
He was just about to shift when the crunch of dirt caused him to spin, crouch, and put a hand on his weapon. He relaxed a little when it turned out to be a blonde girl, and a pretty one at that. She paid him no mind as she came to a stop a few feet away. She squinted at the retreating foursome, and spoke without taking her eyes off of them.
"Qrow, right?" He hesitated for a moment, looking her up and down. He didn't recognize her, but the women tended to blur after a while. When he didn't answer her, she finally looked over her shoulder at him. "Qrow Branwen – that's you?"
"Uh… Who wants to know?"
"Buffy Summers wants to know, which would be why I asked." She eyed his hand on the hilt of his weapon. "Relax, tough guy. Ozpin sent me."
His eyes narrowed at that, and he didn't feel inclined to listen to her, or believe her either. "Is that so, Buffy? What in the hell kind of name is that, anyway?" He'd been around the world a lot, and had never heard of anyone with one like that before.
She shrugged and returned to her observation of the valley. "I dunno. What kind of name is Qrow? Seems a little edgy, if you ask me." She crossed her arms and sighed. "Look, I wasn't super keen on coming here in the first place, but Ozpin made his case – so how about we skip to the twenty questions, huh?"
"Fine," he grunted. He stood back up and fished out his flask. He took a pull and started to put it away, and then thought better of it. He held it out to her, and she looked at it with mild disapproval. "Humor me."
The girl rolled her eyes, but she took the flask and tipped it back. "Bleeaaahhh!" She shook her head and made a face as she thrust it back in his direction. "I'll never understand why people choose to drink rotgut like that."
He chuckled and slipped the container into his shirt. "'s good for ya, puts hair on your chest."
"God, I hope not," she muttered.
"Alright then, Buffy Summers, we got a few. Suppose I believe you. It'd be a neat trick, since he's been missing for months, which means he's probably d-"
"Dead?" Qrow closed his eyes. "Yeah. There's a lot of that going around." It was hard to miss the tone. He'd heard it plenty of times before. Still, he wasn't quite ready to just take this stranger at her word. "He found his host, sort of."
Qrow's head whipped around at that. "Sort of?"
Buffy shrugged again. "Somewhere in Anima was all he knew for sure. He was in the process of narrowing it down when I left."
Qrow could only nod in relief, even if this was beyond bizarre to him. Oz coming back, that was one thing, but he'd never actually seen it for himself. "So, how does a pretty girl end up having a conversation with a dead man?"
"You know, open mouth, make words come ou- Oh." She ignored his flinty glare. "Sorry. Obviously being dead had something to do with it." She frowned and scuffed her heel in the dirt. "I gotta say, my afterlife was pretty disappointing."
"Oh?" If he hadn't seen the things he had, he might think she was just plain crazy. He still wasn't convinced, but he could afford to listen a while longer. If he didn't like what she had to say, he could just split.
"Yeah," she scowled as she said it. "I was looking forward to lounging on a cloud, maybe play a harp or be eating some grapes, maybe see my mom again, but ohhh no. Instead I get suckered into more fun and games with a ripoff of L. Frank Baum's classic. I mean, who even am I supposed to be in this little puppet show, Dorothy?" When she caught his confused frown, she grunted. "If you call me Toto, I will so kick your ass."
He splayed his hands out in her direction. She wasn't making any sense, which made him lean farther toward her being nuts. "So why come at all, then?"
She fixed him with a piercing gaze. "Because eternity reading books in an old cottage sounds even more boring. If I wanted to do that, I'd have stayed in college instead of picking a fight with a god."
"Oh for," Qrow grated. This was turning out to be a huge waste of time. "You're just yanking my chain now." When she didn't have anything to say to that, he seized her by one shoulder to make her face him. "I've had enough of-" the sentence was interrupted by a whallop of a punch that knocked him back a good two feet. His aura had been up the second she'd appeared, and he'd still felt it. This Summers girl was very strong. In the space of his stumble, the scythe came out. He gave the girl credit – she was already in a defensive stance, and hadn't blinked an eye at his draw. "Hands. Off." He supposed he had that coming, so he didn't attack. He also planned to at the first sign from her. "Is that how this is gonna play out then? We don't even bother with 'Prove how you know this stuff' and go straight to the fighting? Because, Qrow, I gotta tell you, I'm pretty irked right now. A fight would be just dandy."
"Start talking, blondie." He relaxed just a hair. "If I don't like what you've got to say, we can fight."
She nodded once and dropped her fists. "He told me all of it: The Maidens, Salem, the relics, everything. Cinder showed up to finish the job with Amber and pulled it off. How's that for a start?"
He grimaced. "That only proves that you know more than most. For all I know, you could be working for her."
She huffed in frustration. "Yeah, because waltzing up to a so-called enemy and making nice sounds like a brilliant master plan." He didn't answer her and made his disbelief plain. "Fine. Ozpin said you'd be a suspicious old bird. He also said he knew you were the one that dusted his coffee during your third year, whatever that means." Now that got his attention. The ruckus that had caused was enough for him to take that one to his grave. "And if that doesn't convince you, there's always the prank that Professor Port turned around on you, something about dressing up like a Gr-"
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on now!" Qrow shouted as he looked around in panic. Nobody was supposed to know about that either. His attention was brought back to Buffy, who had an entirely too amused look on her face. Ozpin was probably laughing at his expense right now. He shouldered his scythe and grumbled. "Okay then, Buffy Summers, I guess we don't have to fight after all." He scraped fingernails across his jaw and winced.
"Good," she said, simply.
"So what's the deal, then? Why'd Oz send you, backup?" If so, it would be welcome. With their allies scattered and him keeping an eye on Ruby and her friends, any help would be welcome. Deranged or not, it was better than nothing.
Buffy jerked her head toward the valley. "Ruby. Ozpin said I should look out for her, that she's important." She looked skyward for a moment. "Actually, critical was the word he used. Which is kind of nice, by the way, not being the Chose One for a change."
That confused Qrow. He understood that Ruby was important, with her silver eyes and all, but this was news to him. More importantly, he wasn't sure how he felt about this. "How do you expect to do that? I don't see a single weapon on you."
Buffy glowered at him. "You're not looking hard enough. I am the weapon." She said it matter-of-factly, as if she were describing the sun rising in the east. Points for confidence, anyway.
Qrow snorted and finally collapsed Harbinger and stowed it. "Just like her dad, huh?" She looked at him askance. "Ruby's dad, Tai. He's the same way – no weapons necessary, the punk."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Don't get me wrong, I can use them – prefer to, actually – but I can make do with whatever. Or not. Apparently the afterlife doesn't provide a stipend for the recently reincarnated, so it's whatever." She shrugged. "So are we good?"
He stared down the empty path, debating. His plan was to fly ahead to Vale and keep an eye on the kids once they left the city. If she was going to tag along with them, he was going to have to change his plans a little. "I guess so, Summers. Come on then, let's talk details while we walk to town. You got a Scroll?"
"Sorry. Just like no money from the afterlife, rolls of paper didn't come with the whole resurrection package." Qrow sighed at the obvious sarcasm. This was going to be a long walk.