The school had rented out the entirety of the pub, and soon nearly thirty Huntsmen were shoveling down canapes and drinking freely from the open bar. Certainly that's where Qrow had found himself, holding court with a beer in one hand, Summer clinging to his other arm, and a circle of admirers listening to him tell war stories.

Raven nursed her own drink and made the rounds with the other graduates; she didn't feel particularly close to any of them, but had maintained good relations over the years (if only to better understand what they might be like as opponents, someday.)

So she was merely expecting to make more polite chitchat when she turned and found Tai leaning on the wall next to her, grinning, his hair covering eyes. "Let's talk," he said, nodding towards the deserted porch.

Outside it had begun to rain, and nothing was visible except for a thousand raindrops catching briefly in the streetlights, over and over. Raven leaned against the rail and stretched her neck and body out to briefly feel the water on her face, then leaned back, waiting for Tai to speak.

"I don't think I've said recently how much you tie this team together. With your semblance, y'know, in combat, but in other ways too."

"Oh?"

"Well, yeah," he said, stepping closer. "You and Summer are nearly joined at the hip. Qrow's my best friend, but he still looks to you half the time when I give him an order. And I..."

"You?"

"I'm kinda crazy about you, you know. Half of what I do out there, I'm just trying to impress you..."

"I'd be more impressed if you didn't come so close to dying half the time," she said, as he stood close to her and put his arms around her waist.

"Are you at least a little impressed, though?"

Looking away, she shrugged, smiled, then looked him in the eyes and accepted the inevitable kiss.

Marriages were arranged in the Branwen tribe, so Raven had no romantic notions that she'd be swept off her feet by a man. In fact, growing up listening to the older women complain about their husbands, she'd come to expect that men were to be tolerated as much as anything - truer relationships seemed to happen between women, rather than between the sexes. (Though Grandmother was clear - graphically, painfully clear - that such things shouldn't go too far.)

From that perspective, Tai was more acceptable than most men; she had no intentions of humoring him for longer than her time at Beacon, but he wasn't obnoxious, abusive, or repulsive, which made him a better man than most of the tribe. Physically he was fine. That was the perfect description for him, actually: she'd heard enough other Beacon girls lusting after him, often by saying "he's SO fine." But for her he was simply... fine. Kissing him, being held by him wasn't unpleasant - not much better or worse than sparring practice, really.

So... tolerable. Or it would have been, if it hadn't been for Summer.

She'd been fine setting up bunk beds in their room as new students, at Summer's request. She'd curtained the lower bed off, had looked forward to having a little area of privacy all to herself... but only a few days into their first year, Summer had started sitting down beside her as she lay in bed, which turned to laying together, which turned to cuddling and endless discussions. (Mostly it was Summer talking, but Raven found herself an avid listener... to Summer, if no one else.)

She'd initially told herself she tolerated it to gain Summer's trust, and truthfully she'd have had to be fairly forceful to reject the girl. Their beds were wedged into a corner, but Summer was agile enough at night to roll off her top bunk and wedge herself between Raven and the wall without touching the ground. Indeed, some mornings Raven woke up to find Summer unexpectedly spooned around her like a particularly cute blanket.

And if that's all it had been, it would have been fine. It wasn't even clear to Raven when the line had been irrevocably crossed. Summer giving her a quick peck on the cheek goodnight turned into quick smacks on the lips, which turned into longer kisses which turned into make out sessions (usually after drunken victory celebrations) which turned into touching into groping and, on a handful of memorable occasions, waves of pleasure that left Raven trembling while Summer looked on with affection and a bit of amusement.

What Summer didn't see was late at night, after she'd fallen asleep and Raven stayed awake, crying so hard she thought her shaking might rouse the other girl. She didn't see Raven tentatively reaching towards her face, holding her fingers just a millimeter away from her cheek, close enough to feel warmth but never close enough to actually wake her up and tell her everything, what her Grandmother wanted her to do but what she never could now that Summer knew how she felt and perhaps, Gods willing, felt the same way?

But through it all, Summer just saw them as best friends, with the occasional benefit.

It was heaven and hell all at once; sometimes she felt like screaming aloud at her Grandmother that Grimm were already chewing at her perverted heart NOW, so what difference could the afterlife make?

And Tai's tolerable kisses were a bitter mockery of what she should be doing, and the person she should be with.

After a minute or so of increasing passion on Tai's part (and did her own heart beat a little faster? No, it did not...) he took a step back. "I... there's some stuff I want to talk to you about."

She took advantage of the break to lift herself up and sit on the porch railing. "I'm listening."

"So, yeah, Ozpin... he's officially impressed. With us. STRQ. Everything we've done. He's told me some stuff about... everything, and he wants us to be part of some stuff he's doing. And it's all fascinating and incredibly cool and I'm gonna let him explain it, but one of the most important things is that he's promised us more money if we work for him. Like, the kind of money we got today, every few weeks, without us even working as freelancers."

She smiled slightly. "That's nice, but... you know Qrow and I aren't in this for the money. We're going back to the tribe now that we've graduated..."

"I know, I know," he cut in. "Except... I'm really hoping you don't. Partially because Ozpin pitched the work as a package deal, with all of STRQ working together or nothing. And partially because even if we don't work for Ozpin, we're an amazing team and it'd be a shame for us to break up. And partially... mostly... because I'm kind of crazy about you and I don't want you to go, and that's where this next thing comes in..."

He reached inside his vest and pulled out a printed photo of a large house, surrounded by trees. Handing it to her, he continued. "So I... kind of had an idea that the payoff from this mission would be pretty big. And I talked to Summer about it and we went and borrowed some money and put a down payment on... that. A house. A really great house that could be ours, all of Team STRQ's, if you guys will stay. I mean, you'd stay with me, but also with Summer, and Qrow, and if you need to go back to the tribe for a bit to settle things and explain I get it, but we've had an education together and now I want us to have a life, you know?"

He'd been looking down and away from her for most of his speech, but at these last words looked up and his blue eyes caught in the light from outside and despite herself, she was touched, everything else between them falling away leaving only a moment of genuine affection for a friend.

"I... it's a big ask, Tai."

"I know!" He almost jumped up, seemingly thrilled with the lack of an outright refusal. "I know. And it's complicated, and you need to talk with Qrow about it, and you should talk with Summer too, to hear her side of things and..."

He reached forward, kissed her quickly on the lips, and stepped back. "Look, I'm gonna give you space. But think on it. Look at the picture, ask Summer about the details about the house, and... just don't throw this away so quick, ok?"

And within moments he was gone, leaving her looking down at the photo while the rain poured down outside.