The series of events that led up to Roman Torchwick getting an eyeful of Qrow Branwen's penis were entirely of his own making, and he was well aware of that fact as he stared silently at the organ, frozen and feeling a multitude of different emotions.

It had all started so innocently- or as innocently as any morning could after a night in which Roman and Kali shared the same bed. Roman had woken up before his faunus friend, who had passed out atop his chest. Not wanting to disturb her, Roman initially closed his eyes and did his best to fall back asleep to no avail. After an unmeasurable amount of time had passed, he slowly wriggled his right hand from beneath Kali's thigh and up out of the blankets. That was where the problem began, setting the first domino in place that would eventually cascade into the final monolithic piece that was his friend's phallus.

Roman slowly pulled his scroll over to himself from the nightstand and lit up the screen to check the weather outside. Though he had entirely forgotten amidst all of the goings on since his arrival in Vacuo, the reality of his situation leapt to the forefront of his mind immediately as he found no answer on the device. His scroll still wasn't working properly, and according to the icons at the top of the screen, he had no service at all.

"Son of a bitch," Roman muttered as he tapped at the attached miniature keyboard below the scroll, moving through various displays. "No weather, no signal, no contacts nearby…"

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he turned slightly to reach a bit farther on the nightstand. Upon seizing Kali's scroll, he brought it back to himself only to be greeted by a lock screen featuring a photo of an unfamiliar beach and four-digit password. It took him all of five seconds to crack the code.

"…seriously?" Roman asked the snoozing faunus after keying in 6969 to unlock the device. "Anyone who knows you will try that immediately…"

Kali responded with nothing more than a muted snore, to which Roman rolled his eyes as he navigated to her Contacts page. His own scroll showed up as 'Out of Range' despite being in his other hand, and the sight caused him to scowl in irritation. Despite the supposed status, Roman tried to connect the call from Kali's scroll. All that greeted him was a soft hum of static. He hung up and decided to check against all odds if the issue was somehow with her scroll, only to find that everyone else was properly in range.

Frustrated, Roman navigated away from the gallery of familiar faces and moved his thumb to lock the device once again. For reasons he couldn't quite explain, he hesitated with his digit over the button to turn off the scroll. Roman knew that he was playing with fire, but he had never been one to let his curiosity go unsatisfied. Slowly, he took his thumb off the button and instead opened Kali's picture gallery.

Roman was immediately greeted by pictures of the Vacuan beach, and several photos that had been taken of various members of STRQ, OKRA, and BASS. Some were with their knowledge, while others were clearly without. Nearly every picture of Raven featured her staring at the camera and rolling her eyes, a sight that brought a smirk to Roman's face. He glanced briefly at Kali to ensure that she was still asleep before jumping as far back as he could within the gallery to start at the beginning.

The first several pictures were of Beacon Academy's campus, highlighting both landmarks and seemingly mundane locations. Though they had only been gone a few days, Roman found that he already missed it. Kali's photography skills left something to be desired, showing off her subjects at odd angles or partially obscured. She had seemingly documented her entire first walk up to the main building and taken several photos of Professor Ozpin during his introductory speech. Roman was simultaneously unsurprised and unsettled to find that the man was looking directly at Kali's camera in all of them. Without a second thought, Roman moved past the series and stopped on the photo beyond them.

There he stood within the scroll, smirking at the camera and wearing his usual leopard-print sleeveless shirt and scarf. He remembered the photo well- it had been taken on their first day as a team, and she had asked him to pose for her. What Roman didn't remember were the following 15 photos of him, one of which featured him bending over from behind. Kali had favorited the image, and Roman chuckled softly to himself as his mood started to improve.

The images that followed were of the rather mundane variety- empty classrooms, each of Kali's teammates, several photos of Raven either looking grumpy or taken without her knowledge, and a few plates of food. Next in line was a photo of Summer Rose with her hands cupped together, presenting a frighteningly large iridescent beetle toward the camera as she smiled, clearly proud of her find. A closeup of Kali's golden lugers disassembled upon a table in Professor Calavera's workshop followed. Then, suddenly, was a picture of Qrow Branwen in the STRQ dorm wearing nothing but a confident smirk as he gripped an entirely different sort of weapon.

Roman wasn't sure what to think or feel. He was certainly impressed, surprised, and unable to look away no matter how much he wanted to. Something about Qrow's smug expression set off all sorts of warnings in his head as he began to consider why Kali would have such a picture to begin with, and his suspicions brought about a mild panic mixed with a healthy dose of annoyance. Just as Roman moved to navigate to the next picture Kali began to stir, her head lifting slowly from his chest.

"Roman…?"

In a stunning display of grace, Roman panicked and pressed some kind of button before dropping the scroll directly into Kali's forehead as he scrambled backward and knocked his own head into the wall behind the bed. The faunus let out a yelp as her scroll bounced down onto the sheets, the screen black. Kali rubbed at her forehead as she gave Roman a glare of contempt.

"What the actual shit!?"

"Sorry, sorry!" Roman offered as he put his hands upon Kali's shoulders. "I was… I was tryin' to see if your scroll would pick up mine. I've still got no signal. Can't even check the weather."

Kali grumbled something as she rubbed at her forehead and snatched her scroll from atop the covers. Roman held his breath as she unlocked the device. The screen lit up to show an incredibly innocent photo of one of Kali's ridiculous lunch spreads. He silently prayed that she wouldn't say anything about her scroll opening to her gallery, and his efforts paid off as she navigated to her contacts.

"…I've got service, and you're still out of range. Damn…"

"This all feels pretty deliberate," Roman declared. "Something's up."

"A lot of things are up," Kali said before yawning loudly. "Gimme your dad's number."

"What?" Roman asked, wide-eyed. "No! He hates the fact that we're…" Roman paused, noting that Kali had given him her full attention. "…friends."

Kali's ears flattened out as she rolled her eyes.

"No shit- that's why I'll make the call, and you talk to him. Do you think this is some kind of petty revenge for coming out to Vacuo with us?"

Roman heaved a sigh and gave his friend a nod. His head was swimming with thoughts of home, Qrow, Kali, and a multitude of other problems.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do…"


"Remember- I'm the one in charge. You're just here for appearances."

"Fuck you," Jay Winchester cursed as he followed his brother up the cobblestone path. "And fuck your 'appearances'. You might be in charge, but that's in name only. Without me, you'd be totally clueless as to how to run something like this, let alone the company. I've got half a mind to let you fumble through this on your own after the shit you pulled."

Robin turned, walking backwards as he sneered at his brother. He ran a hand through his fire-red hair, laughing lightly with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

"After what I pulled? I just made good on the threat to tell Father what you've been doing all year. Rubbing shoulders with that faunus whore and her little friends, making peace with that stupid bull… bad move, bro. I agree with the old man- it sounds to me like you're not as focused on the future of Winchester Military Technologies as you should be. Maybe- maybe if you talk me up and help secure this deal, I'll put in a good word… and you can have some kind of secondary position when I inherit the company."

"Kali and Adam aren't friends," Jay insisted as he followed his brother up to the fountain outside of the Schnee manor and the circle of pavement surrounding it. "They're… colleagues. We're going to have to work with them this coming year, so I made peace. It's that simple, alright? We'll be out on actual hunter assignments and partnered up with them on occasion. The way you act around them? They'll leave you to the grimm at the first opportunity."

"Not if I lure the grimm to them first," Robin snarked as he turned around and kept walking. "Now, enough of that shit, unless you're going to use your little connections to get me a shot at Willow. Dad still wants us to win her over and use her."

The sound of an approaching vehicle caused the boys to pause. They watched together as a dust-powered limousine rolled up the path and circled the fountain once to line up the side of the vehicle at the edge of the path. Jay took the lead, stepping past Robin as he made his way around the back of the limousine to meet the man who stepped out and onto the cobblestone. He was exactly the tall, lanky individual that Jay was expecting to see, dressed in a grey suit with a dark yellow undershirt. The man had a wispy mustache and looked to be about the same age as the Winchester twins, or perhaps a little older.

"Arthur Watts, correct?" Jay asked as he offered a hand. "We met briefly at a party here a few months ago. Jay Winchester."

"…so we did," Arthur acknowledged as he shook the man's hand. "Am I to assume that you're one of the other parties invited to this meeting?"

"Yeah, we are," Robin butted in, seizing Arthur's hand the moment it left Jay's. "Robin Winchester- the brother in charge of negotiations. Who's the other one coming?"

Arthur sneered, his mustache twitching slightly as he pulled his hand back and stuffed it into his pocket.

"…I've no idea. Winchester Military Technologies… this does make sense. Let us proceed to the meeting, before anything else unpleasant occurs."

"Sorry about him," Jay offered as he moved to walk beside Arthur. "I'll be handling negotiations- he's just here to sign."

"Yes, I thought you might be the brains of the operation from the last time we talked," Arthur admitted. "Doubly so, now…"

"Doesn't matter what you think," Robin boasted. "The way things are going, I'll be the one with the final say from here on out. Jay's too busy focusing on other shit that doesn't matter. Like the faunus."

"Well, considering this meeting is primarily about the faunus, that may be a good thing," Arthur considered. "Having someone close to their ilk will do nothing but benefit us. It's a tactical move."

"…this meeting is about the faunus?" Jay asked. "I thought this was about a strategic partnership with the S.D.C. to revamp the security network of Mantle."

"And who lives in Mantle, primarily?" Arthur asked. "Don't be so naïve. This is about exploitation, profit, and little else. Your contributions will make it that much easier."

"Well, well," Robin mocked as the trio made their way up to the front door of the mansion. "Look whose little side venture paid off after all?"

Jay was silent as he stepped inside of the mansion, suddenly feeling like he'd rather be anywhere else in Remnant.


Author's Note:

Something's stirring in Atlas…

-RD