*Authors note.

Thanks to X3runner for beta reading.

Heyo, it's me again. Sorry for the chapter being this short. The funny thing is, I already wrote more than fifty thousand words of future scenes, yet I am so slow with this one... Don't know why. Might be an indication of how long this story is going to be hahaha. Anyways, I wrote a lot of things.

Around evening, Jaune was sitting down with his family around a large round table filled with plates of colorful food. He was enjoying his food, loving the Baked Potato Salmon the most. He never managed to savor food this much in his previous life… as it was mostly just life-threatening training and more training along with assassination missions. He does not know if he could get used to this just yet.

"How's the food, son?" Jaune's father, Jonathan asked. He possesses chiseled features, golden eyes, and short messy hair of silver white similar to Jaune's hairstyle. His skin was apricot, rough and toned from his time as a huntsman, with a few scars to boot. One small scratch diagonally down his bottom chin, the second horizontally on his left neck, and finally one vertically marked at the center of his forehead. His body was slightly broad, well toned evident by his well-built arms.

"Mm, it's good, dad. How did you make this?" Jaune asked after swallowing. Speaking without manners at the table was a taboo set by Joana. Punishment for breaking the taboo was a half hour of painful spanking.

"Ohoho, no no. It was Saphron this time," Jonathan answered with a deep, prideful tone while pointing at his eldest daughter sitting at his left. Jaune looked at the calm smooth face of his eldest sister with awe.

"Oh, it wasn't much." Saphron waved off his eyes of praise with a smile.

"She got it from me, just so you know," Jonathan gloated a little, earning a pout from Saphron in the process.

"Dad!"

Her little sisters giggled at her in the process, earning more pouts from their eldest sister while Jaune just smiled genially at the bright scene. A warm, happy family, chatting and eating together without any trouble in the world. Though, the only thing missing in this family dinner was…

"Dad, where's mom?" Jaune could not sense her presence within the house ever since he returned home.

"Oh. She said she had to go meet a friend from our Huntsman days in town. She was invited to dinner by him, so I don't think she'll be here for a while." Jonathan informed, sparking Jaune's curiosity about the man's identity.

Meanwhile...

Joana was meeting with Qrow at a well-known cafe, Setting Star, sitting in a chair at a teak round one-stand table. She was waiting for him to arrive at the cafe but the said man was late. Anger slowly swelled in her veins, threatening to pop with violent fury, but fortunately, the crafty crow entered her line of sight in the streets behind a glass window. She waved her hand calling for his attention, which he noticed and watched as he entered the cafe and directly strolled to her table, sitting down on the other empty chair.

"You're late." Joana's scolded with venom. She can smell the traces of liquor staining his gray shirt, contorting her face with disgust. Qrow however blatantly ignored her tone and face and spoke up. The words coming out of his mouth were not something she expected to hear.

"Joana, have you been involved in any demonic rituals by any chance? Or did you stumble into an ancient cave of sorts and got zapped by something weird?"

Joana only stared at Qrow, processing his choice of words to the letter.

"...Excuse me?"

"Ahem, sorry. Look, I've been spying on your kid for a while-"

"You said you were on a ship towards Sanus… and that it will take some time getting to my 'humble town'." Joana cut in, bringing up another touchy subject.

"...Sorry, I lied. Anyways, is your kid possessed or something? I mean, is he really a kid ?" Qrow asked.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Joana asked unsure what he was trying to say.

"...I just saw your kid training out in the forest, the last surviving forest in this desert of a continent. Turned out his Semblance is telekinesis, very strong for his age."

"Really?" Joana asked back, now more curious than spiteful.

"And if that wasn't enough, he knows how to use a sword."

"I know that he frequently comes to my room to borrow my wooden sword from time to time."

"You don't understand. I know when someone is experienced with the sword when I see one." Qrow interjected, ending Joana's fantasies about her son's future.

She looked at Qrow with a raised eyebrow again.

"Look, I know it is hard to explain, but… you should've been there with me out there when he started swinging. The kid got moves that most professional huntsmen out there would drool over, and he hasn't hit puberty. I don't know if he's directly blessed by Ohm or just something inhuman like one of those things I've seen in those horror movies regarding demonic possession."

"Accuse my son of being a demon again, and I swear I will rip off your sorry excuse of a manhood." Joana threatened, silencing Qrow's insensitive claims.

Awkward silence subsequently ensued, basking them in an uncomfortable atmosphere.

"...I know he's not possessed as you say. I've watched how he unlocked his aura, and from how his aura shone, I know for a fact that he is a pure soul… and you know demons far better than I do. Even I know they don't have a soul as bright as the sun." Joana argued softly, lifting up the tension.

Qrow remained silent. His eyes locked on Joana's as if trying to argue otherwise. But in the end, he couldn't find the right words to speak his thoughts.

"…Fine, I will see what I can find out about the kid. Anyways, I feel hungry. I want something… filling." Qrow insinuated as he took up a menu.

"Oh right. It's your treat, right?" He asked before ordering. Joana stared at him deadpanned, unable to believe the shameless words coming out of his mouth.

"...Yeah, my treat." Joana replied with distaste, deciding to bear it for now.

"Sweet. Waitress." Qrow called for the worker girl.

"I will take… the most expensive dish you got. No, the top three most expensive, madam." Qrow ordered with a smile, which grew wider upon seeing Joana's scowl marring her fair, serene face.

Joana felt like forcing his personal casket of whiskey down his throat and strangle him to death. Her nails dug into the wooden table, emphasizing her growing ire.

"Oh, and could you add the best dessert on the spot, beautiful?" Qrow added as he winked at the waitress, setting Joana off.

'Qroooooowwww!' Her left eye twitched in extreme irritation, her heart longing to tear the crow's wings off.

The man only smiled in return along with a wink, with the gall to add salt to injury.

There was a high-pitched scream later on that day.

After finishing dinner, Jaune was dragged by his sisters into the living room. Not for playing dress up, but to…

"Come on, Lil' bro! Let's dance!" Indicus shouted happily.

Play Dance Dance Revolution. Jaune does not know how to dance. Hell, Galen knew squat about dancing…

'Does learning the Forms count as dancing?' Jaune thought as Indicus dragged him by the arm while the others set up the dancing mats on the wooden floors, plugged in the game console into the plasma screen TV, and inserted the game disk into the slot. The room was big, right next to the light brown lobby. The floors were polished wood, linearly segmented patterned. A white wide plasma screen sat in the middle of the living room, with the children of the Arc Family gathered before it.

'...Screw it, I'll improvise. How hard can dancing be?' Jaune thought, believing dancing paled in comparison with the highly refined forms passed down from the Jedi for countless years.

But ten minutes later was more than enough to shatter his conjecture.

'It's harder than I thought!' Jaune thought as he struggled with each and every step. As Galen, he learned how to 'dance' in times of conflict… but dancing in times of peace? Jaune realized how inept he was.

Now, Jaune was dancing on the floor mat with his sister while the song, Shine, blared from the TV. He was dancing like a concussed acklay on spice… though his sisters were angelically supportive of him. They kept encouraging him to dance, helping him through every step of the way. If Jaune was not traumatized by being forced to dress and act like a girl, he would've seen this as a truly happy family moment.

"Come on… Why is this so hard…" Jaune grumbled. His movements were clumsy and out of sync, his balance rigid from the unfamiliar movements.

"Jaune, it's not that hard! Just go with the music!" Indicus encouraged, dancing on Jaune's left. The boy only groaned as cramps started to creep into his leg muscles.

'Why can't the lightsaber forms help me dance!?' Jaune mentally groused. He had a strong urge to collapse and sit the dance out… but he must stifle it for the sake of his sisters. They are very persuasive, and… Jaune does not want to disappoint them by distancing himself again. Although another part of him did consider this as a fun learning experience.

Before he tried another attempt, Jaune froze upon sensing his mother's Aura approaching the front door. Sensing Aura compared with sensing other Force-based lifeforms was different, but could be sensed nonetheless, making it simple for Jaune to adapt over time. The difference was that each individual Aura has their own… color, marking the individuality of each and every soul, sometimes people having the same color.

"Mom's home!" Jaune yelled, making his sisters pause their activities for now.

"I'll go get it!" Indicus volunteered as she ran out of the living room. After she left, Jaune felt… another Aura behind their mother, though this one showed ripples through it… as if it was… damaged? Jaune could not tell. What's even stranger was that the Aura felt familiar despite detecting it for the first time.

'Who is this?' Jaune thought as he followed Indicus out the living room to see this new presence for himself.

Upon entering the lobby, Jaune looked at the hallway leading to the front wall, to see Indicus pull it open and reveal… his mother, carrying large brown plastic bags along with a large purse, and a man decorated in grey, one with an odor that reminded him of someone that fell on hard times.

The stench of alcohol was strong, the scent reminding him of Rahm Kota in his times of depression in a bar at cloud city. The stench of a drunk made Jaune frown, as memories of the downtrodden general surfaced in his mind.

Jaune felt like giving him a bath… a very 'cleansing' bath, one he wished to give Rahm Kota before when he had the chance. It does not involve water or fluids, but something... much stronger.

"Hello, I'm home. And I brought a friend to a sleepover at the house." Joana cheerily informed while the man behind her grimaced from some form of pain… and looking at his crotch, Jaune can guess the source.

'Did mom do this?' He mused, a little amused with the imagery of his mother cracking the alcoholic's manhood.

"Mom, he smells funny!" Indicus scrunched her eyebrows as her fingers clenched her nose.

"I know. That is why he is taking a shower. Now. I will introduce him to you girls later on." Joana said as she smiled.

"Ugh, where's… the bathroom?" The grey-haired man asked, grunting from dire pain with his two legs tightly closed.

"Upstairs! Third room to the right!" Indicus answered for Joana.

"Thank you…" The man groaned as he trudged into the house heading for the stairs in the lobby.

Jaune watched with amusement on how the man walked like a cripple, his lips curving up into a cheerful smile. Somehow, he relished the man's pain despite just meeting him for the first time. He wonders if the sadistic pleasure originated from the Dark Side… or just the Force entirely. Or maybe because he sort of reminded him of Rahm Kota in his worse years that he enjoyed his suffering..

"Mom, who is this man?" Jaune asked Joana with a tone of curiosity as his eyes trailed the slow gray figure.

"Oh dear. He is a friend I met from my Huntress days. He's a little roguish but he is a good man… most of the time." Joana's voice trailed off and her eyes broke eye contact with Jaune's.

Her distaste for the 'friend' was palpable.

"...Okay." Jaune did not want to know more about the man. There was no war or rebellion against an imperial nation that spanned galaxies or Sith Lords to fight and cut down.

"Oh, and I almost forgot!" Joana said as took off upstairs, and heard a muffled 'Ow!' from the man upstairs. Jaune smirked at the sound of Joana knocking the man down as he heard her steps returning back down from the stairs. When Joana ran back to Jaune, she presented what looked like a… sheathed sword to him.

"Is that a sword?" Jaune asked as he tilted his head, unsure why she brought it here.

"Well, I couldn't resist since you keep asking for my wooden sword. Seeing you with the weapon reminds me of your Great-Great Grandpa and made me remember that his sword is still in the attic! Please, draw it out!" Jaona smiled as her blue eyes sparkled from parental joy. Jaune scrutinized the sword meticulously, flipping it over up and down in his hands.

After enough inspection, Jaune drew the blade from its sheath… and held it up with his two hands in the air, watching the blade gleam under the Dust-fueled light from the ceiling. From this angle, the sword was like a large two-handed sword in his tiny child hands. Then again, he did wield the practice sword of similar size, but the difference was that he can feel the weight of an actual sword this time. Holding the weapon, a memory of him holding Vader's lightsaber when he was a child flashed in his mind.

'A bit heavy, but I can manage.' Jaune mused with a smile.

"Do you like it?" Joana asked expectantly, noticing his smile. Indicus, however, held a different reaction to her present.

"Mom, he's eight! He shouldn't be able to hold a real sword! And the sword is too large for his size!" Indicus reminded her mother, making her freeze in realization, but Jaune's words spoke otherwise.

"Hmm, it is a little heavy, but I like it! What's it called?" Jaune asked as tilted the blade from side to side, grasping the feel of the sword.

"...It's called Croceas Mors, sweety. It was left in the attic by my great grandfather, before his unfortunate passing… though forgive your mother for giving it to you too early…" Joana sheepishly poked her two fingers together sheepishly. Seeing his mother acting this bashful made him let out a chuckle.

"...Thank you, mom." Jaune thanked with a big, toothy white smile, though he was unaware of its potency when coupled with his current appearance. He did not even notice the blood trickling down Indicus' nose, nor his mother's rosy red cheeks, infatuated with the cuteness before them.

Indicus subtly tiptoed to Joana, cupping her left hand near her lips for a whisper.

"Mom, can we dress him up? He looks so cute in a dress!" Indiculus squealed silently, wanting to abuse her brother's innocence while she still could.

Joana, however, was busy, her mind raced with countless images of her only son in countless dresses and outfits… and they all look fantastic.

"...Show me the pictures later on." Joana approved silently.

Indicus squealed with mischievous delight.

Jaune, however, stopped smiling as he felt a sudden chill down his spine. He looked around him, looking for the source of his unease, and when his eyes landed on his mother and sister… he could see a dark, malicious aura surrounding his mother and sister…

'...No, no…' Jaune then tried to deny the possibility that his mother was infected by his sisters' cross-dressing disease.

Thus, repressing his foreboding thoughts, Jaune then coughed loudly, trying to get their attention.

"Mom, I feel tired… can I go to bed now?" Jaune asked as he placed Croceas Mors back in its sheath. He suddenly had a desire to flee before facing another cross-dressing demon.

"But Jaune, we're not done with Dance Dance Revolution! You still haven't learned the basics!" Indicus shouted, only to receive a twitch from Jaune's eye.

"But I am tired…" Jaune refuted as he frowned. Indicus frowned as well before she weaponized her pupils into puppy dog eyes.

Jaune's lips quivered upon seeing those eyes again, desperately resisting her ultimate power to escape his sisters' predatory hobbies.

"Pleeeeaaaasssssseeeee…" Her words were like a missile blasting his cracked steel fortress. He continued to struggle desperately for his life under heavy fire… until he saw tears welling up in her eyes. Her tears were like a Star Destroyer crashing into his meager fortress...

'Damn it.' He failed miserably.

"Fine…" Jaune felt like crying at this moment.

"Yay!" She then grabbed his hand and dragged a very crying Jaune back to the living room, leaving their smiling mother alone to her private thoughts… the private thoughts being what Jaune would look like in girl clothes.

After she finished her imaginations, she then walked upstairs before catching the glimpse of Qrow leaning his back on the wall atop the stairs. Knowing him, she understood he was eavesdropping on Jaune's interaction with his family, to observe his behavior in a comfortable, safe environment.

"Hm, he's a nice kid… at first glance. Very deceptive." Qrow commented as Joana frowned.

"I know, I know. Besides, I can see him warily eying me when I walk past him. I am not sure if he found out I was the crow he caught in the forest." Qrow followed up before the mama bear would lash him out.

"You reek of alcohol. Of course, he will be wary of you. I can see that after knowing you for so long." Joana retorted defensively.

"Yeah, that too maybe. Anyways, what now? How'd you want this to go? I can't exactly say 'hey, your mom asked me to bring you to a playdate and tutor you how to be a huntsman' and otherwise. How will you explain that to the kid?" Qrow brought up a valid point.

"Well… I can ask the girls to help with that. He can't argue if they support your… validity as a teacher."

"I am an actual teacher at Signal you know?"

"And I am still questioning why they hired you." She quipped, still unable to believe that he got an actual job.

"Touche." He retorted with a chuckle.

"Will you convince Jaune to let me teach him then? I do not think that he appreciates being taken away from his home for months." Qrow asked as Joana pondered this dilemma.

"Well… you can start by looking presentable at least. You look a rogue that I found sleeping on the streets to be honest, so…"

"You reap what you sow, Joana. Don't try to change me just because you feel like it." Qrow retorted as he grabbed a cask of whiskey from his breast pocket and downed it in one go. Joana frowned again, disapproving Qrow's actions greatly.

"How could your nieces stand you…"

"They love me as I am, sweety. I'm just that awesome." Qrow replied cockily.

"I doubt that." Joana deadpanned, her azure eyes narrowing into slits.

"You should see my girls first before jumping to conclusions, mama bear." Qrow countered with a confident smirk. Joana was about to retort, but the idea of meeting Qrow's nieces herself was not a bad idea in the slightest.

"Hm, come to think of it, I would love to see them one day…" Joana mused thoughtfully, wondering what they were like. She did not hear that much about them from Glynda except that they were the spark of Qrow's fondness for kids.

"Ohohoho, you will. Anyways, where's my room here?"

"...Room?" Joana asked as she looked at the Qrow confused.

"...you did prepare a room for me here, right?"

Joana only responded with avid silence. Qrow's eyebrows furrowed.

"...You did not pay for a hotel?" Joana asked.

"If I did, I would be using Ozpin's money. He keeps track of my spending record, you know?" Joana was silenced at his excellent point.

"...well…"

"Let me in!" Qrow started banging in on the door the moment Joana closed the door behind him. He was livid, absolutely betrayed by the woman that called for his aid.

"I can't let you corrupt my children with your filthy habits!" She loudly retorted, making Qrow stop his banging as he clicked his tongue.

"Alright, alright! I promise I won't drink in your house!" Qrow shouted back, deciding to make compromises.

"Qrow, if you want sanctuary, swear that you forsake alcohol for a week if you want a warm bed. That includes when outside my house, you drunk. And by the way, it is very cold here at night, you know?" Joana's sing-song voice echoed behind the door.

"Now you're just grudging against me, woman!" Qrow accused as he heard a muffled giggle behind the white door.

"You didn't say the magic word."

"Joaaaaannnnaaaaaa!" Qrow then banged the doors ceaselessly in desperate fury.

The last thing Jaune heard that night was a cry of a hobo… at least that's what he thought, before his sisters dragged him by the arms upstairs for further torment, leaving trails of tears along the way.