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Yang and Blake joined us but planned to stay at Taiyang's house.
"Nebel, Garnet? Meet auntie Yang and Blake," I said. "Introduce yourselves."
"Hello Auntie Yang and Blake, I'm Nebel."
"Hello I'm Garnet."
"Wow you weren't kidding about them looking like their mothers," Yang grinned with hands on both hips. "Garnet looks exactly like Ruby did when Ruby was young."
"No I wasn't at all," I agreed.
"I'm Blake. And who is this?" Blake pressed. She was eyeing the shy child in my arms.
"Meet Pearle. She's a touch quieter," I said. "And this is Citrone and Cherry."
I gestured to my other children in turn. They were a shade too young to introduce themselves as was expected of the older children.
"And who is the little one?"
"Carnal," Weiss introduced. She was holding little Carnal.
"Well aren't you all one big happy family," Yang chimed.
"Now that you're here," Ruby embraced Yang and the sister's squeezed each other for a moment.
"So many children," Blake seemed flabbergasted. "Are they a bit much?"
"They try me. I don't know about Weiss and Ruby but things are definitely better now that they are a touch older," I answered.
"Well I can't imagine having so many. Maybe one. At some point," Blake confessed sheepishly.
"Ruby wanted a lot. And who was I to say no?" I wondered.
"So many…" Blake trailed.
"And I can only imagine that Ruby has been, like super mom," Yang cut in.
"Only every single day," Weiss rolled her eyes.
"You guys… I've been sleeping a lot," Ruby protested.
"Only the last two days," I denied. "Besides that, super mom."
"You guys…"
"Are you from Atlas?" Nebel asked Yang and Blake.
"Well I was born here in Vale," Yang answered.
"I'm from Menagerie originally," Blake agreed. "But we both work out of Atlas for the time being."
"Your ears are so cute!" Garnet chirped. "Can we get a kitten?"
Blake laughed a little and brushed her hair beside her cat ears.
"No. You should be content with Red," Weiss returned. "I don't like vacuuming animal hair off my carpets."
Garnet looked up at me. I shook my head. "You heard your mom. No more pets than the ones we have."
"But we only have the one!" Garnet protested.
"And that's more than enough," Weiss told Garnet.
"Aw man. Maybe if I just asked mommy Ruby," Garnet harrumphed.
"It wouldn't fly. She would ask Weiss," I informed her. "I would have too."
"But they'd be so cute!"
"No means no," I leveled.
"Fine. Can you pur?" Garnet asked Blake.
"Garnet," Ruby scolded aghast.
Blake laughed and waved Ruby off.
"I can't pur anymore than you can," Blake answered. "So not really."
"Not much of a cat then. Are you?" Garnet accused.
"Not really. Faunus are more people than animals."
"Animals are cuter than people. And nicer," Garnet decided.
"So sorry Blake," Weiss sighed.
"Oh I don't mind. Kids have questions," Blake denied. "And I don't think it's a crime for a young girl to like animals more than people."
"Still we tried to raise them conscious of such things," Weiss sounded sheepish.
"She's a child," Blake dismissed again. "Children are like that. And there aren't many faunus in Vale. It's a super minority. I doubt she's been around and been able to ask these sorts of questions to anyone else."
"Regardless…" Weiss stammered. She really was slightly embarrassed.
"It's really truly fine," Blake kept up. "So, you like animals?" She asked Garnet. She bent down to talk to the child on her level.
"Well I like Red. There aren't many other animals I get to be around," Garnet mumbled. "If only we had a kitty."
"No means no, Garnet," I informed her.
"You could at least think about it a little bit! Just think about it a second. Just a second!" Garnet ordered.
"Let me think then…" Weiss put her hand on her chin. "No."
"No fair. You didn't give it an honest thought!"
"So much energy!" Blake laughed. "Is it hard to keep her focused?"
"It comes and goes," Ruby agreed.
"Aw, she's so much like her mommy," Yang grabbed Ruby and pulled her into another hug. "You were like that as a kid. I had to run around all day to keep you entertained."
"You did not. You big fat liar," Ruby mumbled.
"I did so. Let's ask dad if you don't believe me."
"Grandad Taiyang?" Pearle wondered.
"Aw, 'grandad Taiyang.' I'm sure dad is so proud," Yang kept up. "Yeah I'm talking about that old man," she informed Pearle. "Look at you! You're like a tiny Weiss!"
Pearle buried her face in my chest at the attention with a blush on her face.
"Like I said I couldn't be happier with how the kids came out looking," I grinned. "One little Weiss. A couple tiny Rubys. I'm over the moon," I rubbed Pearle's hair.
"Can I hold Carnal?" Blake asked Weiss.
Weiss forked over the kid in her arms gently. "She's got little feet and hands, oh Yang," Blake mumbled. "I want one."
"Sure you think they're cute now," I chimed in.
"And are we wrong?" Yang demanded. "Pretty sure that they are cute all the time. All of them," Yang accused.
"They're messy," I defended myself. "They make messes of everything. Especially themselves. They get stinky."
"Oh you both should have been here when they had that new baby smell to them," Ruby perked up. "They all smelled so good."
"Oh Yang," Blake rocked Carnal in her arms. "I want one."
"Sign me up," Yang agreed. She reached out and poked Carnal in the side. Carnal squealed a little and giggled before grabbing Yang's finger with the whole of her hand. "So small!"
"You know we don't stay small forever," Nebel mumbled.
"Of course not," Blake agreed. "How about you? You wanna grow up big and strong like your father?"
"I'm going to be a huntsman," Nebel declared. "A hero, like my parents," he finished.
I sighed. I didn't want that for my son. But if he had his heart set on it I couldn't really tell him no and deny him his dreams.
"You could always do something else," I half pleaded.
"Moms are hunters. Dad is a hunter. I can be a hunter," Nebel turned his nose up at me. I found that logic hard to argue with.
I sighed again. "Hunting is dangerous son. I would really rather you found something else. You could be a scientist or an engineer or a programmer."
"Its my destiny to be a hunter," Nebel kept up. "Don't worry about me daddy."
"I'm going to worry about you. It's my job as your father. And if you really want to be a hunter I'll train you. But I won't take it easy on you."
"I'm ready."
"You're not. Not yet," I denied. "But you will be. And I'll show you how it's done."
"Thank you," Nebel chimed.
"Don't thank me yet," I refused.
"I think it's cute that he wants to be like his parents," Blake pointed out. "He has grit."
"He gets it from his father," Weiss folded her arms. "He's the one who wants to be a hero."
"To be fair his father has to be a hero. The whole world is counting on him," Yang pointed out.
"What? Why?" Nebel demanded.
Blake and Yang shared a glance. Realizing that we must keep some of this stuff from our children. Blake bent down to Nebel's level, still cradling Carnal.
"Because he's so strong," she said.
"You're really that strong?" Nebel addressed me.
"I am. In all likelihood," I murmured.
"Then I can be strong too."
I glanced over at Weiss. She gave me a dainty half shrug. 'You made your bed now lie in it.' That's what that shrug told me.
"You can. With the right attitude and training. If you're willing to put the work in. If you have what it takes."
"You don't think I do?" Nebel asked me.
"I can't be sure until we start with your training. You might decide that it's not for you and pick something easier. You have the aura to do it. You're in my percentile."
"What's percentile?" Cherry asked.
"It's like a measure of how close two things are. Your father just means that Nebel has plenty of aura if that's what he wants to do with it," Weiss answered.
"Am I in his percentile?" Garnet demanded.
"No but you're in mine and Weiss's," Ruby responded. "You could be a huntress if that's what you wanted."
"I dunno. I'm not sure," Garnet decided. "Maybe if Nebel does I will too."
"It's a lot of hard work. You have to be willing to put in the time and effort," I said.
"If Nebel can do it, I can too."
"Of course you can sweetie," Weiss agreed. "And if you decide that's what you want, we'll support you all the way."
"It's not like you put in the time or work. You won the super power lottery," Yang accused me.
"I put in plenty of hard work. All the time. Seventeen to twenty one I became a bad mother front door." I censored myself towards the end. For the children. "I worked myself to the bone. Day and night. Especially after Crocea Mors version two. How dare you. I worked hella hard."
Weiss hit me.
"What? Hella isn't a bad word."
She rolled her eyes. "It is too. And you're flirting with it."
"Fine," I rolled my eyes.
"It's true. Cloud was skipping nights to train back then. Those were dark times," Ruby agreed with me.
"Don't have a lot of light times, do we sweetheart?" I wondered.
"Now," Ruby pointed out.
I bobbed my head in agreement. "Well there's your mom. She just died."
"Gods damnit Cloud," Yang said. "You really can't have anything. And this time it's your own fault."
"I hear that. I hear that. I would argue that it was always my fault."
"What's that mean?" Cherry wondered.
"Your father is responsible for many of the tragic things that have happened in his life. I used to have a hunting team and they all died," I answered.
"Hunting is dangerous?" Cherry asked.
"Hunting is dangerous. But the death of my team was my own fault."
"Pyrrha wasn't your fault," Blake disagreed. "I don't even know how you could argue it."
I stared at her hard for a moment. My wives would lie to me to comfort me. Blake didn't care about my feelings.
"Well you know. If I was stronger. If I was faster. Back then rather than now."
"If I was stronger and faster Adam would still have had to die. Pyrrha had to die. For you to be the man you are now," Blake argued.
I said nothing.
"What does that mean?" Nebel asked.
"It means your father has a lot to atone for," I answered.
"I still want to be a hunter. I know it costs a lot. I know it hurts people that care about you. I know all that. I still want to be a huntsman. Like my father. The strongest man in the whole wide world," Nebel decided.
"Your father will teach you what you need to know. He's wise in his own way," Yang responded. "Very wise. And he's clever after a fashion and he's very strong. You will do well to be under him. He'll show you."
"I just wish I was ready now," Nebel returned. "I want to see for myself. I wish to see it myself. I want to know adventure and heartbreak."
I winced. I knew adventure and heartbreak. Out on the wild planes of Mistral with Ruby as my guide. I knew what it was like. I never wanted that for my son. I wanted him to feel whole. Nobody who knew heartbreak like I did was whole. They were always asking what if. Like waves on a beach. What if. Splash. What if. Splash. What if. I never wanted that for my son.
"You don't know what you're asking for," Yang pressed him.
"I suppose. But I can't really know until it's too late for me not to know. You know?" Nebel shot back. "But I still think I want to know. I want to be good. And I want to know what it means."
"I had the exact same dream when I was your age. Or at least I thought I did." I reached down and ruffled my oldest son's hair. He looked up at me brightly. "We'll let you cook it up for yourself. See what you think."
"Are you sure you want to be a hunter Nebel?" Cherry wondered.
"I'm as sure as I can be about anything at all," Nebel answered. "Let me cook."
"Let the boy cook," I agreed.
"Cloud? It surprises me. I was sure you'd want anything else for your son," Blake cut in.
And didn't she know it? I did. But I also wanted him to spread his wings and be himself. Hunting is one of those things where you really get to express yourself. And if that's what my son wanted then that was how he chose to express himself. And who was I to argue with that? I had to let him cook himself up. And who knows? He might have a long career. Just because I was doomed to failure didn't mean that my son was. The kid had a lot of hard work. And you didn't get hard work by being okay. He will do fine as a hunter provided that I gave him the tools to succeed before I died. And I could set him up. The kid could be ready for it.
"It's not what I want that matters a whole lot," I answered. And I said that with my chest. "He wants it and he says he can handle it. We won't know for sure until he starts dancing for real but if that's his dream then what can I do but foster it?"
"That's an interesting approach," Yang commented.
"How would you do it?" Ruby asked. "When I decided to be a huntress rather than dissuade me you joined up. I don't remember a lot but I remember how that went down. You became a huntress to be with me. To look after me. We don't have that option with Nebel or Cherry should she choose. And besides they are surrounded by hunters. Hunting is a way of life. Some of our kids are bound to want to be hunters when you look at it from that light."
Yang raised her hands in mellow surrender. She didn't have a good answer. None of us really did at the end of the day. But we should hardly be shutting down the dreams of our own children. They should be allowed and given the opportunity to grow.
That was our take. And we'd go down swinging with it.
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-WG