Hello, and welcome to a little test story. This will technically be a one-shot, however I may work on it more in the future. This will be written as a one-shot, so don't expect too much. I am working on Soul Based chapter 6, but that's coming along much more slowly than I'd like, with me struggling to piece together what the hell I was thinking when I started it and where I wanted to go with it. I know I said this in chapter 5 of SB, but I figured I'd re-iterate it. Also thinking of resurrecting Stratos, however that'll be much harder, as I haven't paid attention to Naruto for a long time, and even back then I was running on ideas from other fanfics.
Credit to Coeur Al'Aran for the whole "Jaune gets rejected from Beacon and opens a place" idea. I love Service With a Smile so damn much.
Anyway, on with the story!
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Qrow was in a bad mood. Worse so than usual, as he didn't have any alcohol on hand to drown his frustration. Being sober sucked when you had just been on a rescue mission that had led to the near death of a friend. I should be happy that Amber is alive at all, seriously. He had made it just in time before the woman's attackers managed to do whatever they planned on doing with that Grimm parasite. Hope Oz doesn't make me do any more dirty work for a while. Qrow knew that it would only get worse from here. She's safe, alive, and wants to get revenge… Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so they say.
While Qrow wouldn't exactly call himself a caring person, his actions kept tossing that notion out of the window, and he knew it. If Qrow didn't care, Tai wouldn't have been around to keep a watch over Ruby and Yang. If Qrow didn't care, he wouldn't have left his tribe in his past. If Qrow didn't care, maybe he wouldn't have to drink to cope with Summer's death.
He did care. He cared too damn much.
The black haired huntsman finally found what he had been looking for the past half hour. For a big city, it was actually quite hard to find a decent tavern. He looked up at the squeaky clean sign. It had the name 'The Jaundiced' carved into it, a dark yellow, almost orangy paint outlined each letter. Fitting… real fitting… The building itself was in nice shape as well, no chipped paint or stained walls. Yet. The yellow tinted windows and low lighting from the lights placed on the outside walls fit nicely with the dark burgundy paint. An 'Open' neon light hung low in the window from inside, the brightness contrasting with the somewhat broody styling of the building.
Qrow opened the door to the tavern, surprised to see a single young man moving some boxes around behind the bar. The rest of the interior was empty with the exception of a few tall tables with tiny candles on them.
"I'll be with you in just a sec," the blond called out, placing the box he was carrying on the ground. The man turned around towards Qrow, his slightly shaggy hair somehow not getting in his eyes. There was a slight stubble on his chin, not too noticeable but noticeable enough. He flashed the older man a smile. "Welcome to my tavern," he started, walking towards Qrow. "Name's Jaune. I still got a little unpacking to do, but that's mainly the fancy spirits and wines," Jaune said, jutting his thumb to the small stack of boxes with 'Fragile' written on them.
Qrow nodded to him. "Nice place you got here, kid," the huntsman complimented, taking the seat across from the blond barkeep, who responded with a smile and a nod. The chair was comfortable enough. Then again, anything would've been comfortable after a day like his. "Am I your first customer today?"
"Make that the first customer period," Jaune replied, grabbing a small glass. "What can I get for you?"
The black haired brought his hand to his chin and leaned back in his chair. "Give me some of that Mistrali stuff. I've been meaning to try that."
Jaune nodded, turning around to find where he had placed the sake. Seeing the only bottle he had at the moment in the small fridge, he grabbed it. "Is Duskai 45 alright with you?" he asked.
"If it's all you got, I'll take it," Jaune nodded to the man, opening the bottle and carefully pouring it into the glass he had grabbed earlier, filling it to about half way.
"Sorry about not having the fancy cups made for this stuff. I only have this much at the moment. Figured not many people would get it around here," Jaune said, sliding the glass to the older man who nodded in appreciation. Qrow took a test sip.
"It's kinda sweet, but not bad," he commented before immediately downing the rest. He inspected the glass before he glanced towards the blond. "So what made a kid like you open up a tavern as nice looking as this in downtown Vale?" he asked. The man behind the bar closed his eyes and stiffened slightly.
"Got rejected from Beacon. Too old to enter as a first year, or something like that. Not exactly the best news I ever got, but I can't change a damn thing about it," Jaune answered, slight annoyance dripping from his voice. He leaned on the back counter. "Kinda always was my dream to be a knight in shining armor, and that got ripped from under me. Now I'm here, running a bar with only some knowledge about this kind of stuff."
Qrow nodded in understanding. "Believe me when I say this, kid. Being a huntsman isn't all what it's cracked up to be," he said gruffly, placing his glass back down. "I'd know…" he mumbled. "People you love die and there's little you can ever do about it," Qrow looked up at Jaune, his red eyes piercing into the blue.
"I… I know, but it was always my dream-"
"And that dream will turn into a nightmare, kid," the huntsman interrupted. "Just today I only barely saved a friend. She's alive, but it wasn't without some damage. She'll have scars that won't heal easily," he lowered his voice, "and I can't even be there for her."
Jaune took a deep breath, grabbing a glass for himself and pouring some of the sake he already had out. He drank it all in a single swig. The blond placed the glass behind him. "I know, okay? My father already gave me this lecture. I can still have a dream."
Qrow felt a twinge of guilt. He was this blond guys first customer and here he was shitting all over his parade, of which already seemed pretty shit. He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, kid, I'm sorry. I've had a real rough day and I shouldn't have taken out on you."
"It's fine. I should have probably expected people to come here to commiserate and all that," Jaune waved him off. He didn't think it'd happen with his first customer, however. "You want another glass?"
"Sure, why not?" the blond bartender nodded, pouring another glass for the man and one for himself. He placed the bottle down and raised his glass.
"To better days," Jaune said, half joking.
"To better days, kid," they clinked glasses and swallowed their sake. Qrow placed his glass back down. "So, what do you have planned for this place?" he asked, leaning on the counter.
"To be completely honest? I was thinking of a place where huntsman and huntresses can come to rest after missions," he smirked. "I guess I already got that down, huh?" he chuckled to himself.
"That you did," Qrow had started to take a small liking to this almost-clone of Tai. "You the only one working right now?" Jaune nodded.
"Yeah, just got a few interviews done for some help. All three were students of Beacon, so I'm hoping that this won't reflect badly on them," that caught the old bird's attention.
"Students of Beacon, eh? What're their names? I might know 'em," Qrow asked. Jaune brought his hand to his chin and stroked his barely visible stubbe for a second.
"I think one of them was Lie Ren, he's gonna be a first year, plus he's a good cook. Another was Velvet… Scarlatina? I think? She was pretty shy." he closed his eyes in thought for a brief moment before his eyes snapped back open. "Oh! The last one was Yang Xiao-Long!"
Qrow slammed his head into the bar with a groan. "I seriously should have a talk with her about this…" he grumbled to himself. He tilted his head towards the blond before him. "Be careful with Yang, kid. She's a real firecracker."
"She's the only person who applied that actually had experience mixing drinks," Jaune shrugged. "I'm sure she can't be that bad-" He was cut off with the sound of an explosion in the distance.
"She can be, kid. And knowing my luck, that was probably her."
Jaune sighed. "I'm suddenly now doubting that civilian life will be easier."
"If she starts actin' up, just tell her that her uncle stopped by. Qrow Branwen, if she's feeling fresh and doubts you," Qrow blinked. "Qrow with a Q. Not a C. Never a C."
"I know the feeling, Qrow. I know it all too well," Jaune sighed as he glanced to the name tag he had set down. Even with specific orders to have it say Jaune, it somehow got printed with John on it.
"You got any whiskey back there?"
"How much you willing to pay?"
"However high you can go."
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And that's a wrap. I'm thinking of only doing one shots every now and then to try to regain some creativity. God knows I need it.
Also Duskai is supposed to be a rename of Dassai. My brain is large.
This one wasn't very long, as you can tell, though I was thinking I could do a Qrow centric story one of these days.
Anyway, this was written in like a day and a half, so I hope you liked at least some of it.
-Tobi