Chapter 8
Pain
Scarlet was dead.
My one close friend in this hellhole of a city is dead.
I feel sad.
Maybe that's why I m currently trying to drink myself to death.
In the tavern at midnight, when only a couple of people went to drink.
I'm trying my best to dull the pain.
The pain that will never go away.
I hope it goes away.
Please go away.
"Jaune?"
I turned my head to look at who had spoken my name.
"Sergeant?"
He looked at me and then looked at the mug of drink in my hand.
"My Goddess man, what have you been doing to yourself!?" He said, clearly not happy that I wasted all my money on drink.
"I'm just doing some *burp* drinking sir.
"Well, you are an absolute idiot if you think this will help you get over Scarlet dying."
"What did you say?!" I shouted at him with utter anger.
He was wrong.
He was so wrong.
He was supposed to be wrong.
But he wasn't.
He wasn't wrong at all.
Goddess dammit he wasn't wrong!
Why wasn't he wrong!
Rahhh!
"Go away!" I shouted.
"No." He said simply.
I got up from my seat.
"I said GO AWAY!" I charged at him.
I was gonna give what he deserved!
When I was about to reach him, he simply sighed.
"Hmmm?"
Why did he sigh?
I very quickly found the answer.
He very simply moved to the right when I was about to hit him.
I missed and fell onto my arse.
That sucked.
"You see, you're just damming yourself by drinking so much." He said.
"Go shut yourself." I responded.
"Ah, there's the Jaune I know."
"I mean it."
"Listen, you need to get over it, no amount of drinking yourself silly will not have him magically walk through that door."
I look at him for a moment
"Alright." I sigh.
I try to get up.
"Oommff"
Turns out that it is quite hard to get up when you are drunk.
Who Knew?
"Here, let me help you."
The Sergeant grabbed my arm and pulled me up.
"Thanks." I said pathetically.
"No problem, Jaune." He responded.
"Hey, I have a question."
"Ask away."
"What's your actual name?"
"It's..."
The Sergeant paused, as if this was a question he didn't want to answer, probably didn't wanna get too attached.
"It's Qrow."
"You aren't from Vale?"
"From the wasteland of Vacuo."
That certainly is a unique heritage to have.
Most non-Valourians would have backgrounds from The Land Of Atlas or The Empire of Mistral, both usually portrayed as blonde or silver haired and blue eyed for the former and brown haired and hazel eyed for the latter.
But the wasteland?
If Qrow was telling the truth, then he sure as Tartarus did not at all look the part.
In fact, he looked more like an Imperial than a Wastelander.
Wastelanders were generally well known for looking very out of place even in the company of Atlasians, as most Wastelanders usually had long, reddish or golden metal looking hair, along with green eyes.
However, Qrow did not look like he had green eyes at all.
His eyes were dark, almost hazel.
"You look like an Imperial, Qorw."
"My eyes are green it's just that they lost their colour after so many years living in Vale." He said.
"And your hair?" I ask.
"I cut it to look less like a savage."
However, that doesn't explain-
"My father was one of my mother's slaves."
Oh my Goddess, that is horrible to think about.
"I regret asking at all now."
"I expected you to say that." He said.
"Why wouldn't I say it, your life sounds..."
I could not for the life of me think of what to say.
"Unpleasant?"
"Yes." I replied.
"It was." Qrow said.
"What happened?" I said before I could stop myself.
I am such an idiot.
"My mother killed my father in a sacrificial ritual by havign his eyes and heart removed from his body."
I could tell that he was going to carry on.
"My mother's fellow tribesmen found out about her affair with my father, and the tribal custom to remove those who have done horrid wrongs, she was taken to be sacrificed too, though her intestines were removed instead."
Too.
Much.
Detail.
Way too much.
Too much to warrant thinking about.
"Can we stop having this conversation?" I ask.
"Sure, my story was even less pleasant anyways."
Oh Goddess.
"So, anything interesting happening lately?"
"Not much." He replies.
"So, what happened?"
"There is a rumour that the King is going hunting tomorrow." He said.
"Really?" I asked, stunned that the King would do such a thing.
"By himself as well." Qrow explained.
"You're pulling my leg."
"I'm not joking at all Jaune."
"No, I mean you're actually pulling my leg right now."
Rii finally realized that he indeed was pulling me by my leg across the ground.
"Sorry about that!" Qrow said, sounding apologetic.
"I didn't notice!" He explained.
Really.
You have to be joking!
You seriously didn't notice that you were dragging me by my leg for over a minute!
You can't be that absent-minded, can you, because if you were any more absent-minded you would be unable to notice the Sun rising at the moment!
Wait, the Sun rising?
Is it morning already?
How long was I drinking?
More importantly, how long were we talking?
We couldn't have talked for the night!?
Did we?
It is either that or I may have had WAY more drinks then I thought possible to shove down my gullet in a night.
"I think I wasted my entire pay on drinks tonight." I said, noticing that any slur I had in my speech had disappeared, meaning that I was sobering up a bit.
Qrow suddenly stopped and checked my brown-coloured pouch at my waist for my money.
He then looked up at me.
"Nope, still got twelve coins on you." He said.
I only spent four coins?
That means I only spent enough money for six drinks!
I could have bought six more easily!
But actually, that's a really stupid idea, especially now.
Why is that?
I remember now!
Ah crap!
"I have to get ready for work today!"
"Don't worry about getting ready for work today."
What the heck?
"Why is that, Qrow?" I ask, wanting the answer.
"You're way too drunk for active duty today."
That's great!
Wait, that I means I hav-
"So you have night duty instead, because that's exactly when you'll be completely sobered up and ready for work."
Oh goddess in the heavens, damn night duty.
"Permission to speak, Sir." I ask.
"Go ahead." Rii replied.
"I hate you, Sir."
"I know that Jaune, I know that very well."