Author's Notes: And now it's time for fluff.
Eclipse
Chapter 10
Feathers
Their first week back went by relatively swiftly. After the drama of the first day, things seemed to cool off, at least in terms of the teams personal conflicts with other people. Reading their essays was the most uncomfortable part of the week, no small part of that being that it was overseen by Ozpin.
However, Raven had to admit, it at least seemed to solve the problem of Professor Port. While he was still far too long-winded, and enjoyed recounting too many of his own stories of conquest, the man seemed to take the message to heart. There wasn't another day that week where they didn't do something actually related to improving their skills and understanding of Combat essentials; and she had to admit, Petey seemed fairly capable when he wasn't busy trying to impress them all.
Summer had another talk with her later, where she tried to convey that she never wanted Raven to feel like she needed to censor herself to make her or anyone else comfortable; Raven had admitted that she had felt that way, even thought she understood the point Summer was trying to make. People so often wanted to her to change, after all; to make herself palatable, nicer, more polite. Summer insisted she was perfectly palatable the way she was, and that it was other people that were the problem. Despite wanting to agree with her, though, Raven wasn't entirely too sure that was the case.
The weekend arrived, greeted by all with much enthusiasm. Even with a higher work load this year, they seemed to managing their time better, and would actually be able to have fun on their days off. It probably helped that they didn't have to worry about detention or trust building exercises. They would even be able sleep in.
So she was very, very perturbed when her brother woke her early Saturday morning to drag her out of the dorm. Qrow was startlingly awake as he hushed her, pulling her by the hand down the hall and to the staircase that led out of the dorm. Raven cursed blindly, stumbling after him, still half asleep. Both Tai and Summer were still sleeping in their beds.
"Qrow, this better be good," she grumbled, letting him tug her down the last set of stairs and through one of the side doors onto the lawn.
The sun had barely risen, and the campus was a shadowscape of spires and monoliths. The moon was setting behind the distant library. No one else was likely awake, and the grounds were abandoned
"Come here," he insisted urgently, pulling her over to a lone pine tree. He pointed at a low nook in the tree. "Look. Real quiet like."
She blinked, sticking her head closer. Cradled in the elbow of the branch and trunk, she spied a large mess of twigs and other organized debris. Several sleepy faces peeked back up at her silently, blinking in concert.
"...you drug me up here to look at birds?" she groused. "Really? Couldn't you just look in a mirror?"
Suddenly, sharp little beaks opened and started squeaking and crying in unison. The noise hit her like a punch to gut and she started, stiffening immediately. Her brother watched her knowingly. They didn't sound like baby birds to her. They sounded like frightened, squalling children.
"What...What the fuck?" she whispered, unsettled. They were still crying, and the hairs on her neck were raising in instinctual distress. She nearly shifted into her second skin right there and then.
He nodded vigorously, pointing into the nest.
"They've been like this for like a day or two. I dunno where the parents are? But my guess is something bad happened, like a cat or something."
She remembered the cat from the other day, and frowned immediately. If little fluffy had eaten their parents...
"Well," she glanced down at the crying bird babies. "What should we do, Qrow? We can't just steal them or something, what if the parents come back?"
He looked at the babies remorsefully, shaking his head.
"I don't think they're comin back, Rae," he said, crouching to look at them. He sounded so sad.
"Ok. So, we can try to take them to a shelter or something," she muttered. "Kingdoms have those, right?"
"There's one in east Vale," he nodded. "I looked it up. But they're only open during the week, and we'd have to miss class to take them before they closed."
He looked at the babies and made a comforting sound, several gentle croaks. The little beaks shut promptly, their heads tilting in unison as they looked up at him. She realized that, to an outsider, this would be a truly bizarre thing to witness; two young people speaking bird to a to a group of nestlings.
Raven sighed, rubbing her face. Occasionally, one of the babies would peep, and it made her think of a child sniffling.
Cici never mentioned this as a side effect of being a skin changer.
"Alright, well. Let's get a shoe box or something," she droned. "We can take them to the shelter on Monday."
His face lit up, looking briefly so much younger, and it reminded her of when they were children; how he would find a hurt baby animal of some sort and always try to help it. He would always hold whatever little creature it was so gently, so carefully, trying to shelter it from his Semblance but also wanting so desperately to be close to it. It was hard, trying to nurture small wild things; it made her wonder how their parents had ever managed it with them.
"Can you stay with them?" he asked, eyes bright with hope. "I'll be right back."
"Ok, ok," she sighed, settling on the rooftop. "Don't be too long."
"I'm not," he scurried away for the dorm.
Then Raven was alone with a posse of small birds. They started crying almost immediately, and she grimaced in pain. She was not great with children, human or bird; however, the noises they were making were extremely upsetting. She stared at them, completely out of her depth. With a final groan, she changed skins, flew up into the branches and hopped down into the nest.
They stopped crying immediately, more from shock than anything. There were four of them, all poofy with downy and half formed feathers, with too big eyes and beaks on ridiculous little bobble heads. They peeped.
All but rolling her eyes, Raven fluffed herself, laying down to try to help them settle. After a few moments, they shuffled closer, getting under her wings and trying to cuddle for warmth. She muttered, unable to be irritated with them. Despite the fact that she was literally a fucking bird, in a nest, surrounded by previously crying babies, she started to drift off to sleep again.
A cough roused her, and her head shot up. Her brother had made good on his promise to not take too long, and was grinning down at her. She glared at him.
"Not a fucking word," she croaked at him in corvid.
"Oh I would never," he replied, still smirking.
He had gotten gloves somewhere and managed to scoop up each one, nestling them into a box lined with a towel. He gave her a mischievous look.
"Do you wanna ride with them?" he asked.
"They're fine, I'll walk," she scoffed. No sooner had she declared such that they started crying again.
He stared at her. She stared back, stubbornly. He held out the box, mouth pursing to keep from laughing. She nipped at his fingers in reproach, but still hopped into the box with them. They immediately swarmed her, peeping fearfully. She made obligatory hushing noises, letting them hide under wings. Being held by a human scared them. She couldn't say she blamed them.
"Yo, Tai and Summer are going to have a fucking melt down," he chuckled, cradling the box carefully as he walked.
"You aren't going to say a damn thing to them about this," she whispered menacingly. It was hard to appear intimidating when you were a bird in a box.
"Whaaaat? It's cute. You're being mommy-"
"They wouldn't stop crying, I did what I needed to do. And this is a favor to you, knuckle munch," she huffed.
"Uh huh, you're right. For sure," he nodded.
She kept shooting him salty glares as they navigated the stairs and hallway; no one else was awake, otherwise it might have caused a mild commotion among their classmates. When they reached the room, Qrow carefully opened the door and stuck his head in, before slipping inside with them. The babies were all very quiet at this point.
"Qrow?"
Raven winced. Summer was awake now, because of course she was. It was hard to sneak around when your partner had wolf senses.
Qrow raised a finger to his mouth and drew out a comical shush. Raven, mortified, did not dare to stick her head out of the box. Shuffling ensued. She glanced up.
Summer was now curiously nosing past Qrow's shoulder. They made eye contact. Summer's face lit up as she clapped a hand to her mouth, trying to hold back a noise that was barely faunus or human in origin.
"OhmyfrigginDuuuuuuuuust," Summer squealed. "Oh my Dust, look at this! This is adorable- Tai! Taiyang, wake up!"
Raven croaked balefully as Qrow chuckled softly. The babies cheeped at the shaking of the box, cuddling closer to her. Summer proceeded to have a literal aneurysm.
"EEeeee, oh gods, this is toooo cute - Tai! TAaaaaai!"
If Raven wasn't covered in baby birds she would have flown out of the box promptly. A blonde, sleepy face poked over the side. He looked at her, blinking in half sober confusion, before freezing; a ridiculous smile spread over his face.
"Duuude."
"I knooooow, isn't this just like the cutest friggin thing!?"
"Dude. Raven? Have you adopted baby birds?"
"No," she growled. He of course, did not understand what she said.
"Dude, where is my scroll-"
"Don't you fuckin dare, Taiyang Xiao Long," she puffed up.
The babies began to cheep in upset, more in response to her reaction than anything; she realized with increasing dread she was trapped.
"Haha, oh my gods, I love this so much," the blonde beamed. He took a picture. Raven glared daggers at him. "I'm going to frame this."
"Wheredidyoufindtheeeeem?" Summer babbled, dancing on her toes.
"In a tree by the dorm. They've been there alone for a few days, and their parents are missing," Qrow replied, scratching the back of his head self consciously.
"Awww, poor lil things," Summer crooned, looking into the box. "Oooh! Let's feed them!"
"They're probably too young for like, completely solid food," Tai scratched his chin. "I have eye droppers in the fanny pack though, if we need them. We can make something they can eat - oh, do you know what type of bird they are?"
"They're crows," her twin muttered. He looked rather bashful. "It's why, ah, I knew something bad had happened. They were crying for their parents."
Tai and Summer stared at him, their expressions growing promptly mushy.
"Aw. Qrow?"
"What?" he grumbled, folding his arms. "Stop making fun of me."
"And I'm what? Fair game, then?" Raven asked. He stuck his tongue out at her.
"We aren't, it's sweet! Ok, well, what can we feed them?" Summer wondered, pulling up her scroll. She and Taiyang started looking up the facts while her brother set the box gently on the desk. Raven hopped out of the box, prompting a renewed round of crying; little faces poked over the side, trying to follow her. Qrow snickered at her.
"Your turn," she declared. "You play mom."
"Ah, but you're doin such a good job," he laughed.
She hopped onto the floor, shifting back. After a pause, Qrow chuckled, changing skins and hopping up onto the desk. He started talking to them immediately.
"Hey little guys - it's ok. You're gonna be ok."
Raven ignored the twinge in her chest, glancing uncertainly at her teammates. Tai had looked up from their research, and was smiling genuinely at her. Her ears reddened.
"Ok, well it's a good thing you two are birbs too, because socialization is like, imperative for crow survival," Summer said, still reading. "A lot of time people try to raise and then release corvids and then they have a really hard time making it, because they don't know how to socialize with their own species. But that place in Vale has an excellent program, apparently, so it's our best bet. Oh, and lucky us, they can eat puppy food!"
Tai beamed, opening the pack. Yin was on the bed watching all of this unfold, her ears upright as she watched Qrow and the babies. However, she did not bark or try to bother them, because Yin-yin was a good girl.
Tai pulled out a bag of kibble, reading the instructions, and proceeded to soak the kibble in warm water. Summer called up the wildlife rescue, leaving a message, before scooting over next to her to watch Qrow and the babies. Summer poked her cheek, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.
"What?" Raven grumbled, her ears still red.
"Nothing! You're just a cutie!" Summer declared.
Raven rolled her eyes, her lips twitching. Taiyang brought the puppy food over, studying the the begging mouths.
"Soooo. Who's feeding them?" he asked.
"Well, where are the droppers?" Raven asked, looking at his hands.
"This stuff might be too thick for droppers. You guys should just, ya know," he gestured, looking impish.
Raven raised an eyebrow.
"Should just...what, Taiyang?"
"Ya know! Just feed them! You're birds, it's natural!"
The look on her face could have frozen a Goliath.
"With our fucking mouths?" she drawled. "Is that what you are suggesting to me right now?"
"No," he shook his head. "With your beaks. Duh."
Raven glared at the blonde.
"You're a dick."
"How am I being a dick? Look, it's not a big deal," he laughed warmly. "It's totally normal! And we don't want them to imprint on people, you know?"
Summer giggled, shaking her head at them.
"We can cut the droppers so they have a wider mouth," Summer said. "Here, let me see."
She fished the droppers out of the fanny pack; luckily, they were plastic and pretty wide to begin with. She took scissors and cut, before drawing up some of the mash into the dropper and handing it to Qrow. Qrow angled the dropper in his beak carefully, offering the end to the first squeaky mouth that appeared. After some experimentation, he managed to feed the starving nestling the whole thing.
Thus it was that team STRQ spent the rest of their weekend babysitting orphaned birds.
...
More Notes: So hey again. In the event you do ever find orphaned wild things, remember to always try to take them to reserve or appropriate shelter. Most people mean well, but wild animal babies have needs that most of us can't provide; especially animals that are highly intelligent and social. If you ever find a fledgling on the ground, make sure it really needs your help before interfering. Baby birds don't stay in their nests that long, and corvids stay with their parents for up to two years. The parents like to spread their young out as soon as they can, because nests are actually really dangerous and attract predators. Just because you don't see the parents doesn't mean they aren't there looking out for their kid. Anyways, thanks for reading. Ya'll have a good weekend.