"Sight for sore eyes, that…" Qrow said more to himself than Ruby while he leaned on the doorway between the living area and the kitchen. "Reminds me of better days."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked, peaking around to see just what he was looking at. The apron she wore was entirely too long for her since it belonged to Blake but she didn't seem to mind as she dusted her hands off, and taking in the sight in front of her.

Sitting happily in front of the television was Ace. Blake hunched over the small child with a brush in her hand, muttering curses under her breath at the unruly and wild strands of hair. A children's program flickered across the screen, the only thing rooting Ace to her spot. Occasionally she'd growl or whine when she felt the bristles touch her scalp, but Blake handled each knot with care, conditioning and schooling the frizz…which was why the entire ordeal had gone on for over an hour already.

Qrow chuckled distantly. "Just memories. They creep up on me when I don't expect them."

"At least they're good though, right?" Ruby asked.

"Nether good or bad, really." He said. "Funny thing about drinking, it dumbs everything. It gets me by, but, that's the down side."

"Can you at least tell me what you were thinking about?"

"It's just a feeling I get." He nodded back over to the sight. "Summer used to do that with Yang. Now that I think about it, Yang always loved to be around Summer. Listened to her better than anyone else." Qrow glanced over at Ruby then. "Tai and I, we couldn't tell Raven shit and expect her to take it to heart. Summer had a way with her though…a way with all of us, really. That's what I was thinking about."

"Oh..." Ruby pulled away from the doorway. "I suppose that makes sense."

"Your mom was a strong minded woman, and could shut any of us up with a glance." At this he shrugged, a soft laugh falling from his lips. "Summer ruled the roost, there was no question, and Yang noticed that I think."

Ruby smirked, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm going to go check the grill." She said, walking out of the kitchen and onto the small patio in the back where the grill sat. She lifted the lid, and watched the charcoal at work. It was hot enough for the tuna steaks, she decided, and began to place them as her uncle followed her out. "How long are you going to stay around this time?" She asked, no heat to her words, only curiosity.

"And that's what it comes down to, huh kiddo?" He asked somewhat bitterly. "Not that I don't get it, but, you know the profession just as well as I do."

"You're right. I am a huntress, so I know when you're lying now." Ruby told him as she turned to look at him. "I know the difference between you being three sheets to the wind after a long dry spell, and you just being drunk for the sake of it."

"Okay, I'll level with you. I've got some things to look into, and Ace might be part of it." He sighed as he eyed his empty flask. "Other part though just might be that I'm trying to be a good uncle. Don't tell that to Oz, though, he'll never let me live it down."

"You really should sober up." Ruby said offhandedly. "And think before you act..."

"Thinking, yeah sure. I thought about it plenty before I did it...and as for sobriety?" Qrow had considered it several times, all of them he had come to the same conclusion. One that he wasn't proud of, but it was his all the same. "I would clean up if it was worth it…it just isn't."

"Not even for the people who care about you?" She asked.

"It's more complicated, Ruby. I've got a problem. I'll own up to that, but it's my demon, not yours. If I would have benefit from quitting, I would have done it a long time ago. Trust me on that."

For a long time, Ruby said nothing, just flipping the steaks, and glaring daggers into the grill marks. "Maybe, or maybe not." Ruby finally murmured. "I hope we will never have to know."

Standing on guard gave them one thing, time.

Plenty of it.

Hours at a time they kept watch. They needed a way to keep focus, a way to chip away at the feeling of boredom, and conversation had been their way to do that.

Ever since the day Pyrrha had spoken of her feelings, an awkwardness wove itself between them. Idle conversation didn't seem quite so idle anymore. Weiss had always been very careful about what she disclosed to her friends. She had always been meticulous in how exactly she went about doing that. Mistakenly, she had thought Pyrrha was the same.

Although Weiss considered herself to be rather open around her friends, there were some things she just didn't talk about. Silence was safer than spoken word.

How could she possibly detail over two decades of conclusions that had jaded her? How could she justify her own stringent moral failings? Ill-begotten as they were, they were still her crosses to bear, and she protected those personal hells very carefully. It was just a matter of speaking her mind, and she knew that…but her mind was a poisonous place to be.

She had done damage before unthinkingly, unintentionally, simply by speaking her views.

If she were to explain herself to Pyrrha, she would have to speak using the very foundation of her upbringing as a crutch. A cornerstone to which all of her other conclusions were built upon. Some of those assumptions had been smashed into tiny bits, and buried deep inside along with whatever admiration she had left of her family…and that alone was a dark place to think, mentally.

Yet, Pyrrha wanted to know, and Weiss found it quite difficult not deny such an earnest, hopeful request…but, where to start? Well, Weiss knew where, but that didn't make the topic any less uncomfortable.

"My father is an impressive man." Weiss explained as she leaned on her usual slab of brick. "He may not be many things, and the things that you can define him as would be distasteful even in the worst of company…but, for all of that, for what he is, and what he isn't, all of it is impressive. No matter my views, no matter my station, that was the sort of person I felt destined to become…an impressive person…however, as I am, that's impossible."

Pyrrha frowned deeply, she hadn't expected such a response. The Schnee family itself was prestigious, anyone would be a fool to argue otherwise. "Weiss, that's just not true."

"Yes, it is." Weiss wondered when she had finally figured that out, but it was long before graduation. "There's something you need to understand, Pyrrha. You never truly wanted your fame. For all the power it gives you, you truly don't need it, nor do you truly desire it…but I need his power. I need his status. To keep the promises I made to the people I care about, I would have had to sell my soul. I would have had to become a carbon copy of his image, and bend to his willpower…and I didn't do that."

"No one wanted you to."

"But I still should have." Weiss gave Pyrrha a sideways glance. "I'd rather not elaborate the point."

"How am I to understand if you don't?"

Weiss bit her lower lip. "How many Faunus die yearly under my father's thumb? How many of my father's personal friends line their pockets with the blood, sweat, and tears from labor forces? How many unknowing people are dragged into his questionable practices, none the wiser that what they're doing is wrong? There are dust shops remnant wide buying from him, they're perpetuating the need for even more underpaid labor…trafficking…who knows what else."

"Weiss, your father's sins are not your own to bear." Pyrrha replied earnestly. "You have to believe that."

"You could be right. However, the question comes down to this; how many lives have I thrown away carelessly, all for the sake of my own?"

"I…" Pyrrha nipped on the tip of her tongue. "Weiss, I…" She shook her head. "I don't know what I could possibly say to that."

"Because there is nothing to say." Weiss laminated. "The numbers are staggering, and that's my fault."

"No…" Green eyes closed behind closed lids. "No, it's not your fault."

"It will always be my fault." Weiss pressed, without even a flinch. "I'm not looking for pity, or to be consoled. I'm telling you the truth. I chose to walk away from Atlas. I disobeyed my father, and flagrantly disregard his warnings. I chose to put down the responsibility given to me, knowing that doing so would be the same as claiming that hundreds of thousands of lives were less significant than my own…" Weiss bit her lip then. "I didn't act for the greater whole. Not for Faunus, or for humans…I acted for myself, Pyrrha…and I know that what I did has lasting repercussions."

There were millions of words Pyrrha could have spewed from her mouth. Several she considered as they stood at their post quietly. Still, she was not a daft woman. She was not blind to the one simple fact that sat between every word Weiss used to berate herself. When it came to life experience, Weiss had an upbringing that was akin to an untamed foal. One that had been beaten too many times. One that had been too terrified to bolt, and too reliant on the man that kept breaking her until it was too late.

Words wouldn't heal her. Even if they had such a power, they would have to come from elsewhere. So instead of saying anything at all, Pyrrha wordlessly moved closer to Weiss and slowly slung an arm around her and pulled her close. Inwardly Pyrrha hoped the gesture would be enough.