WARNING: THERE WILL BE VOL. 8 SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER AND MANY FUTURE CHAPPIES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED VOL 8 READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER. Thanks!
Chapter 4: Yang is a Shopaholic.
"The first bowl of chocolate pudding was too hot, but Goldilocks ate it all anyway because, hey, it's chocolate pudding, right?"
― Mo Willems, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.
Quinn woke up in a foreign room on a foreign bed, with light streaming through from a foreign window. She nearly fell out of her loft bed (she'd never slept in one before) and almost knocked herself out on the ceiling. Blearily, the teen looked around the bedroom. It wasn't her room at East Vale Orphanage for the Nurturing of Abandoned Youth, nor was it her room at her old place in downtown Vale.
It was weird, and uncomfortable, and foreign, just like living with her fath— with Qrow.
Dinner the night before had consisted of frozen pizza, and Quinn believed Qrow when he said that he was a terrible cook. Additionally, dinner went a lot worse than lunch in the car. They'd barely spoken, and Quinn had quickly been reduced to monosyllables or just plain mutism.
Cleo had told her that they all coped in different ways. Hers was shutting down verbally. In Quinn's extensive experience, silence was golden. Talking made things worse. Silence was a weapon to be welded carefully and skillfully, a weapon that Quinn had mastered at a very early age. And being homeschooled all her life, she never had much of a reason to speak anyways.
Quinn didn't really start to speak often until she'd met Kieran. After that, he demanded her speak all the time, telling her not to be a sissy and that she had to speak up because he was old and hard of hearing (not really) and that she needed to be more confident in herself.
Gods, Kieran ... where the hell are you?
Sighing, Quinn got out of bed, climbing precariously down the metal ladder, her bed frame shuddering with each step. She changed out of her nightclothes (which were nothing more than a t shirt and athletic shorts) and into a pair of baggy jeans and an Achieve Men band tee over a turtleneck. It would probably be too hot for the Spring day, but what else was new? Sometimes she wore sweatshirts in the summer. No one really gave a damn. She sure as hell didn't.
When she walked downstairs into the kitchen, Qrow looked up from the morning paper, looked at her t-shirt, and gave a long-suffering sigh into his cup of coffee.
"Good morning to you too," Quinn said, before rummaging through the cupboards for cereal. All she found was a half-eaten box of stale Pumpkin Pete's Honey Rounds. With a shrug, she poured some into a bowl.
"Milk's in the fridge," Qrow said, sipping absently at his coffee.
"Oh. Thanks ... Spoons?"
"In the drawer next to the sink."
"Got it." She retrieved the required item and settled at the kitchen table.
The father and daughter duo drank and ate respectively, trying to figure out what to say to fill the familiarly awkward silence and failing miserably.
Finally, Qrow coughed and said, "So ... you like the Achieve Men?"
Quinn automatically looked down at her shirt. "Uh, I guess they're okay ... Do you like them?"
Qrow didn't look up from his paper and shrugged. "Eh. Not really. The girls do, though."
It took Quinn a few moments to remember that Qrow was referring to her newly found cousins.
"You mean Yang and Ruby, right?" she asked. Quinn vaguely remembered Qrow and Tai talking about them. Graduates from Atlas Academy (not that they had much of a choice is what she gathered), part of team RWBY, survivors and heroes of the war. Aside from that, Quinn didn't know much about her cousins.
Gods. She had cousins! So weird.
Quinn took a bite of her cereal and cringed. Hard and crunchy and stale.
"So, um, when am I going shopping?" she asked, forcing the cereal down with a wince. Quinn glanced down at her t-shirt. "I need more clothes. And school stuff." And, now that she thought about it, Dust. Hard Light dust, preferably. Oh! And some parts for Acheron and Lethe—her babies needed some upgrades.
Question was: how was she supposed to explain buying Dust and highly intricate tech parts?
Quinn mentally shook her head. She'd get what she needed later, when she would be able to wander by herself.
And when you have more money her annoying inner voice reminded her. Since you're broke as a joke.
Qrow shuffled his paper, jerking Quinn out of her thoughts. "Right," he was saying. "I'm gonna take you into town later today with Yang and Ruby. They'll be taking you shopping, since—uh—I don't know much about ... girl things."
"Girl things," Quinn repeated, feeling suddenly wicked for some reason. "Like ... bras and underwear and tampons for my—"
"Gah!" Qrow choked. He tossed his paper away while fleeing the kitchen. This time Quinn did laugh, loudly and at his expense.
"I'm going to chop wood," he yelled at her from the living room. Quinn thought that the house was running on electric heat, not a wood stove. "Go, uh, entertain yourself for a while!"
And so she did. For a while she researched on her desktop: what Patch High School was like (Go Patch Panthers!), what Patch was like in general (quiet and smelling like fish), what fun things there were to do (fish, watch movies, swim). She learned that Patch had the necessities, but if she wanted to upgrade her weapons, she needed to go to Vale. A conundrum.
For a while she fiddled on her desktop, thinking and brainstorming ways to make money, and to find a way to get to Vale unsupervised. She wasn't able to come up with much. She could get a job, Quinn mused, nibbling on her thumb. Do some mechanic work. Fix cars or something.
"Hey Quinn!" She heard Qrow call from downstairs. "Your cousins are here. Come down and say hi!"
It felt like her stomach dropped to the balls of her feet.
Not to say that she hated the fact that she had cousins, or the fact that they wanted to meet her, but what the hell would she say? It was all just so weird. Not having family, and then in the span of a week, she suddenly had an extra four members. Strange, and scary.
Quinn filed the whole "job hunting" thing in the back of her mind for later. Right now, she had something more important to do: surviving her cousins.
With a rapidly beating heart and very sweaty armpits, Quinn trudged downstairs. She was suddenly regretting her decision to wear a turtleneck under a tee shirt. Her heart was crawling steadily up her throat and to her great shame, her hands were shaking.
Quinn reached the bottom of the stairs and there they were: two girls, one about her age, the other, taller one older than her by a more than a year. Maybe like two or three.
The older girl was tall, blonde, and a total babe: beautiful, and confident, but not arrogant. Her lavender eyes lit up when she saw her. "Heyo!" she greeted, saluting with a jaunty grin. "You must be Quinn!" Before said girl could protest, the tall girl (but not as tall as Quinn, surprisingly. The Frost had a good three inches on her) squeezed Quinn into a hug, and she tried desperately not to clock her cousin in the face.
No one touched her without her permission. No one. Aside from the fact that she wasn't a touchy feely person in the first place, she hated contact with others for one very important reason: she could kill them. Not metaphorically or figuratively. Actually, honest to Brothers kill them. Within twenty seconds of contact, the person would be dead. Dead dead. And if they had an Aura, it only took ten seconds to shatter it completely, and then twenty more until every organ and important thing in their body completely failed. And then they would be dead. Dead dead dead dead.
That is, if she had control. If she was in control, they would only feel suddenly fatigued or sleepy. But it would quickly turn into full on exhaustion. And then eventually death.
But today she was in control. She had to be. It wouldn't be cool to accidentally kill her cousin from a simple hug. (It wouldn't be cool to kill her cousin at all, actually, since that kind of thing was illegal.) Thankfully, the blonde wasn't actually touching her skin (she knew it was a good idea to go turtleneck).
But geez, her cousin sure had one hell of a grip. She squeezed so tightly Quinn thought she could hear her ribs creaking. And soon she realized why: her cousin had a robotic arm, painted yellow and gunmetal gray. It looked intricate, high tech, and absolutely gorgeous. Quinn knew that she would cut off her own arm if it meant getting the schematics for that beauty. But first things first: she couldn't breathe.
"Hi," Quinn gasped weakly. "Wheeze."
"Hi!" came that bright, cheery voice. "You must be Quinn. I'm Yang, you're cousin." Yang finally let her go and beamed at her. Or rather, beamed up at her. "Damn!" she exclaimed, planting her hands on her hips. "You're tall! And you look just like Uncle Qrow."
Quinn managed to summon a dry smile. "So I've noticed." She noticed the shorter girl (she was much much shorter than Quinn, maybe 5'4"?), who was practically vibrating. She looked like a puppy, wriggling and squirming with excitement. Quinn smiled tentatively at her, and that opened the floodgates.
"OH MY GODS!" Her high pitched voice nearly burst her eardrums. A red blur shot over to her and two surprisingly muscular arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her clear off the floor. "THIS IS SO AMAZING! I HAVE A COUSIN!"
"And you must be Ruby?" Quinn croaked breathelessly. "N-nice—gasp—to meet you. Uh—could you let me down, please?!"
Qrow was watching near the kitchen, and let out a chuckle at her predicament.
Ruby blinked up at her and let out an adorable gasp. "OH!" she squeaked. "Sorry!" The short girl set her down and jumped back a little, wringing her hands nervously. "Sorry sorry! I'm just really happy to meet you!"
Quinn resisted the urge to feel her ribs, which were crying in pain, and instead looked down at her cousin. Short, scraggly, chin length black hair with red tipped ends. A young, round face, pale skin and —
And silver eyes.
Quinn almost choked on her tongue, and the words fell out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "You have silver eyes," she blurted, like an idiot.
Her cousins and Qrow stared at her. Ruby looked like a deer in front of an out of control bullhead. She chuckled nervously and shoved her hands into her pockets. "Uh, hehe, what?" she squeaked.
Quinn immediately blushed and scratched her head, avoiding their gazes. "Um," she began awkwardly, "uh, I knew a guy who had silver eyes. He's—He, um, moved away. But your eyes are identical."
"Oh," Ruby said weakly. She averted her eyes. "It's just—someone said something like that to me. A long time ago."
Quinn nodded like she understood, but she really didn't, so she didn't comment. The four of them stood in a tense circle in the foyer. Qrow, Ruby, and Yang were exchanging meaningful glances, while Quinn just watched and didn't even bother trying to interpret them.
Finally, after several long seconds, Yang clapped her hands. Everyone flinched a little and looked at her. The young woman preened under their stares. "So!" she said in a loud, energetic voice. "Are we shopping or what?" Yang looked Quinn over with alert, lavender eyes and tutted like a mother hen. "I love the band, but hate the shirt. And your pants hide all your curves. Girl, you need to show your stuff!"
Quinn grimaced. "I have no curves, or stuff."
"Psh," Yang snorted, "we'll see about that."
Quinn paled a little. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Ruby giggled. A high pitched giggle that made her shudder in fear. Creepy. So creepy. Qrow and Quinn exchanged similar looks of dread.
Yang began to cackle. "Oh, Quinn, darling," she cooed, "we're going to have so much fun!"
~ : : ~
Quinn was not having fun. None at all.
Ruby, despite being Yang's sister ("Half sister," Qrow explained during the car ride to commercial district. "My sister is Yang's mom, Ruby has—had a different mom. Summer Rose." The car ride was really quiet after that.), wasn't nearly as enthused about shopping like she was earlier in Qrow's house. The poor girl was dragging her feet and sighing audibly. Qrow had bailed over three hour ago, citing something about needing to get Dust, lots of Dust, you girls be safe and have fun. Right. Quinn called bullshit on that one.
Yang, meanwhile, was flitting around gleefully, entering every store they passed that had a mannequin in the window. "Window shopping" is what she called it. They would go in, Yang would heap a bunch of clothes onto her and order her into a dressing room. Then she had to change into all of them and come parading out, slouching and scowling and twirling unenthusiastically to show off her "assets," assets which Quinn was positive she didn't have. When she hit puberty, she shot up like a bean stalk but developed no womanly curves. She was flat chested, lanky, and would likely be so for the rest of her life.
From the get go Quinn declared that dresses, skirts, crop tops were out of the option, and she couldn't find it in herself to feel bad about cockblocking —or, clothesblocking her cousin. Yang pouted, but acquiesced to her demands.
Not surprisingly, Yang had a fantastic sense of style. She took one look at Quinn and stated, "Hipster grunge. Yep. I dig it." Quinn dared not argue, figuring that her older cousin would know more about fashion that she did. And it turned out to be true.
Three hours into the shopping spree, Ruby and Quinn were dead on their feet, gazing dully at Yang as she perused the clothing racks of the last store on the block not yet plundered. She hummed cheerily to herself as the younger two plopped themselves onto a nearby bench.
"Are we done yet?" Ruby complained, rubbing her eyes tiredly. It was now hour three and counting. At two o'clock, the three had yet to get lunch and Qrow had yet to show his face.
Quinn could only grunt in agreement.
Yang gawked at the two, placing her hands on her hips. "What?" she cried, outraged. "You've only got three bags of clothes!"
"Which costs hundreds of Lien," Quinn pointed out, gesturing to the bags on the floor. They were stuffed to the brim, looking like over inflated plastic beach balls. "I think the two dozen shirts and jeans and plaid and that nice pair of combat boots is more than enough." She frowned slightly. "And I will pay you back one day, I swear."
Yang waved it off. "Don't mention it," she said blithely. "You're family, kid, and that's enough for me."
Quinn rolled her eyes at the pet name. "That's funny when you call me kid, since I'm taller than you."
Ruby groaned again, louder and more drawn out than ever before. "Yaaaanggg," she wailed, clutching at her stomach, "I'm starving. Please can we go?!"
Yang pouted and opened her mouth to object, but then her own stomach let out a loud, gurgling complaint, and her cheeks turned fire hydrant red. Ruby burst out laughing while Quinn fought back a smirk.
Yang pursed her lips and lifted her chin, her nose sticking up in the air. "Fine," she said in a sniffy voice. "We'll go get food. And then—"
"No more clothes," Quinn interjected. "Seriously, I have more than enough. Now I need school supplies like notebooks and pencils and normal things like that. Okay?"
"Alright, alright. Sheesh, tough crowd. C'mon, we gotta find Uncle Qrow."
Qrow told them earlier to meet them at Vale Victuals, a bar and grille only a block or so down. The three girls walked there, bags in hand. The older two chatted a mile a minute while Quinn listened passively, sandwiched in between them.
Her cousins were really nice. Overwhelmingly nice, even. That fact simultaneously comforted her and put her on edge. No one in her life had ever been very nice to her, but her cousins acted like they had known each other their entire lives. They acted nothing like war heroes, like the saviors of Remnant. She wasn't sure if their true colors would show the better she got to know them or if they were really just this amazing when no one was looking. Quinn figured she's find out one way or another.
Vale Victuals was a small, rustic looking bar and grill, specializing in smoked meats and fish. They apparently had two locations, one of patch, and another, larger restaurant in Vale City. Quinn, Ruby, and Yang walked inside and were greeted by the hostess.
Yang greeted her cheerily. "Hello!" she said, "is a Qrow Branwen here? We're supposed to have a table together."
The hostess, Quinn noticed, took the three of them in blankly, before audibly gasping. "Oh my!" she exclaimed, hands traveling to her mouth. Her eyes widened almost comically, and her voice carried far enough that other patrons turned to stare. "Y-you're Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long! From Team RWBY!" The hostess didn't seem to notice Quinn, which was fine with her.
Yang and Ruby exchanged a look that looked very resigned, like this had happened many times before. "Uh, yep!" Ruby chirped with false cheer. "That's—That's us! Um, is a Qrow Branwen here yet? We really are supposed to meet him."
Quinn could hear whispers and stares and, oh Remnant forbid, the flashing of Scrolls taking pictures of them.
Ruby and Yang moved in sync, creating a human shield to block Quinn from prying eyes. "Ma'am," Yang said firmly, "please, could you take us to Qrow Branwen's table?"
The hostess blushed, be it from embarrasment or shame, and quickly pointed to the back of the restaurant.
The three girls walked through the rest of the establishment, dodging a few waiters and patrons, all of whom stared at them while they passed. Quinn, as much as she tried to fight it, was blushing furiously under the attention, and hunched pathetically to make herself a smaller target. It didn't work. She was still taller than both of them.
But there in a back booth was Qrow, sipping on a glass of clear liquid. The tall man perked up as they approached.
"Hey girls," he said. "About time you got here. It's been four hours!"
Yang rolled her eyes and sat down across from her uncle, Ruby joining on her side, while Quinn sat next to her father. "It wasn't that long," Yang insisted. "And after lunch we have to get Quinn's school supplies."
Qrow's eyes bulged and he almost choked on his drink. "You haven't even gotten her school stuff?!" he exclaimed, staring in horror. "What have you been doing these last four hours?"
Ruby rubbed her tired eyes. "I don't even remember," she muttered. "It's all been a blur."
Quinn merely wrinkled her nose. "I hate shopping."
Yang threw her hands up in exasperation. "You were in dire need!" she declared. "I was doing you a great favor by guiding you on your fashion journey."
Ruby rolled her eyes. "If torture is a favor, then yeah, you're awesome, Yang."
The next few minutes were spent ribbing the blonde good naturedly. Quinn was beginning to relax—whether her cousins were faking their niceness or not, she was having a good time. But the stares and whispers were always there, lingering in her peripherals, and it became something she couldn't ignore.
"So, uh, you seem to be a big deal around here." Quinn tried to keep her voice upbeat but it just came out dry and humorless.
Ruby, Yang, and Qrow all cringed at the same time. "Uh, yeah," the man said, scratching the back of his head. "After the last battle, um, the Councils—who, um, were still in office" — or, the Council members who survived— "they paraded us all on international television, for being the 'saviors of Remnant' and all that bull. So it's not exactly something people can forget."
Yang snorted. "Which is just what we wanted." Her voice was bitter and her eyes were turning a not super subtle shade of scarlet. "More publicity ... Yay."
Quinn wondered if their minds were going back to the Vytal Festival three years ago, the one before the fall of Beacon. But she didn't ask. It all seemed like a sore subject, all of it, so Quinn decided it would be better to let things lie.
After what felt like an eternity, a server hurried over, notepad and pen in hand. Unfortunately, it was the hostess who'd greeted them. She had seemingly heckled a coworker to switch positions—just so she could meet some of the "saviors of Remnant" in person.
Quinn decided she didn't like her.
The former hostess-turned-waitress beamed at the four and uncapped her pen with an unnecessary flourish.
"Hey there, and welcome to Vale Victuals! I'm Ebony and I'll be your server today! Can I start you heroic heroes with a refreshing beverage?"
Quinn nearly gagged and Ruby tried to become a turtle by ducking her head as far as humanly possible. Qrow just grimaced and sipped his drink while Yang eyed the waitress suspiciously. "Aren't you the lady who greeted us at the front?" she asked, frowning at her.
The waitress didn't notice. "I—ah—just got my shift switched, so I'm serving at the moment. It wasn't my decision of course ..."
Quinn and Qrow exchanged dubious glances, and she saw him shrug. Just roll with it is what she interpreted. Well, fine then.
The four of them ordered their drinks and the waitress eagerly jotted down their orders. Then she scurried away.
Ruby watched her go. "I don't think this will ever end," she said suddenly, and the others looked at her.
"What do you mean, kiddo?" Qrow asked, scratching at a dirty spot on his glass.
Ruby gestured to the waitress's retreating back, and at the customers who were still not-so-subtly staring and whispering. "That. People keep bringing up what we did, and yeah, I'm glad they're grateful and what not, but ... "
"But the war is finished," Quinn said out of the blue. "You want to be finished but when people keep dragging it back up, it's like it never ended."
Her cousins and Qrow looked at her in mild surprise. "Yeah," Ruby said after a moment's pause. "Exactly. Thank you."
Yang chuckled. "Who knew you had a way with words?"
Quinn blushed and looked away. "Um, I don't know where that came from. Just ignore me."
Qrow, Yang, and Ruby exchanged curious looks, but left it alone.
For the rest of late lunch, they had to deal with the fangirly waitress and staring customers. The drinks came late, and the meal they ordered was cold and unappetizing. The four decided that they wouldn't go back to Vale Victuals any time soon.
For the final round of shopping, Qrow actually stuck around. They just visited the general store, and got some notebooks, pack of pens, pencils, and erasers, a homework planner, and a new backpack. Ruby and Quinn nearly had to threaten under fear of bodily harm towards Yang to keep the trip mercifully short.
Then, after a long day of shopping and getting to know each other, Yang and Ruby said their goodbyes back at Qrow's house. They were on Yang's motorbike, which was lovingly called Bumblebee.
Ruby and Yang nearly strangled her in a hug before they left, citing that next time they would introduce her to their teammates and friends. Quinn, to her quiet shock, was mildly looking forward to it. They left her and Qrow in a cloud of dust and a pile of bags filled with the things she bought.
She and Qrow hauled the goods back into his house. "So," Qrow grunted, tossing some bags onto the couch, "that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"No. It was ... fun. Thanks for taking us out."
Qrow snorted with amusement. "Don't thank me, thank Yang and Ruby. I just hitched along for the ride."
"A ride you were mostly absent for."
"I hate shopping," was his lame excuse.
"Well, so do I."
"I've been on more shopping trips with Yang than you, missy. You have a lot of catching up to do."
" ... I'm going to put my stuff away."
"Whatever you want, kiddo. I'm taking a nap. It's been an exhausting day."
The father daughter duo looked at each other for several long seconds. Finally Quinn rolled her eyes. "Right, old man. You go take your mandatory nap time."
The explosive "I AM NOT OLD" followed her up the stairs and she smirked in victory.
A/N: So, the state of the world today is shitty and I'd like to address a specific issue. Bear with me.
I am Korean. I was born in Korea to a fourteen year old mother and a nineteen year old father. She gave me up for adoption with my sister and I will always be grateful for her. But as much as I am Korean, I'm also American. I'm more American than I am Korean, in my personal opinion. I have lived here for over 18 years. I eat American food, I've spoken English for most of my life, and I hope to be a productive member of this society after graduating.
So why am I looked on differently for the color of my skin? For the slanting of my eyes?
People automatically think I'm a genius. I'm not.
People automatically think I can suddenly speak my native language. I can't. I'm American. I don't speak Korean.
And now, people think I'm a source of a virus that has nothing to do with ethnicity or nationality. COVID-19 doesn't give a shit whether you're Asian, American, German, or all the way from Antarctica.
Internationally, people of the AAPI community have been targeted and hated for just being human. If you want to help support those affected by this xenophobia, please visit stop asian hate dot o-r-g and other sites like it. Sign petitions. Speak out against inequality. Be kind, but stand firm.
Thank you,
June.