Qrow couldn't exactly pretend that he actually enjoyed sleeping in his office, or like there was any enjoyment to be had in late nights at Beacon. The night before had been long and necessary- Qrow was exhausted, but Qrow was glad to have been able to have it.
Blake was a good kid, and if he was going to be the closest thing to family outside of her team while she was there in Vale, then Qrow was more than okay with that. He could play that role to her, if that was what she wanted.
He blinked the exhaustion away from his eyes as he dragged himself out of the office and began on his way out of Beacon. It was early, so Qrow was going to have to be getting ready to go off on patrol soon enough.
If his gut feeling was right, then he was going to have a busy morning. He'd have to check the forest for signs of grimm additional to the gargantuan, and then once that was done Qrow was certain that checking in on Raven was a good idea.
At the very least, if there were indeed grimm popping up again, Qrow wanted to know whether or not the tribe had seen any. Raven would know if they had. If they had, they would be on high alert.
Qrow walked out to the cliffs, ignoring the people around him before just launching himself off of the ledge and shifting forms. With that, the trip over the forest was easy.
The only problem was that Qrow wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of immediately abandoning his normal route. If that were to happen, then Qrow was going to need to be confident that the roads were secure. With recent grimm sightings in the area, Qrow needed to be thorough.
He did his best to soar over the roads, staring down at them as he flew over them. Just like he had every other time, Qrow counted them and found nothing immediately wrong on the roads.
After that, it was a matter of the forest.
He looked up at the giant grimm and quickly tried to figure out how far away from it. No getting close, Qrow knew that fully well.
Once he was sure of himself, Qrow flew out towards the spawning pool that he'd stumbled on with that group of students. He began to see black birds flying up ahead of them, small ones. It took him only a moment to realize that what he was seeing wasn't normal birds. Instead, they were unsettling to even glance at.
Nevermores.
That was very, very bad. Qrow fell back, placed some distance between him and the nevermores, and dipped closer to the treeline.
For the moment, it seemed that the spawning pool was inactive. There was nothing on the ground that looked like it had just come out. Qrow was sure that if he kept on flying he would find beowulves, or another beringel, or something land based.
But when he flew over the forest, and through it, Qrow found nothing. All that there were was that behemoth of a grimm, and the new flock of nevermores. Logically, Qrow knew that he needed to get back to Ozpin to report on that, but he had more plans.
Instead of making his trip go back to Beacon, Qrow headed off in the direction of the tribe's camp. Raven was sure to be there, and if she wasn't, then Qrow could trust that she'd pop back up on his radar soon enough. Regardless, Qrow was going to find her.
As always, the trip to find the tribe was exhausting, and Qrow landed down on the beaten road in about the same place as he had last time. Qrow wanted to take the moment to just breathe and relax, but couldn't afford himself the time. Instead, he walked to the camp as quickly as he could.
Just like always, he was given weird looks on the way in.
This time, he would find Raven leaving her tent. Either the word had gotten to her that he was there, or something was wrong.
She saw him and stopped dead in her tracks, her hand snapping down to the sword at her side. She was ready for a fight, and so Qrow took a half-step back and raised his hands in front of him in surrender.
"Qrow." She snapped at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I needed to ask you something." Qrow answered, taking a step forward when he finally saw his sister relax. He hanged his head just slightly as he approached. "About some things that I had a run in with lately."
"Taiyang and his daughters?" Raven asked, already clearly defensive and bitter.
"Grimm." Qrow clarified, trying his hardest not to bristle over Raven's comments. "I brought a group of kids out on a hunt, normal mission. End up with a Beringel after us. The kids fight it off, and I go out looking for more. Found a flock of Nevermores on the way here." He paused and looked up at his sister, meeting her eyes. "Sound familiar?"
Raven hesitated, turned her head, and looked to the two men that were about to join her. "Yes, actually." Raven says. She nods, and the two men begin to follow after her. Qrow takes the hint and falls into step at his side. "We had an incident last night."
"Did you now?" Qrow asked.
"We did." Raven replied. "Our search for a source didn't give us a whole lot, so I'm going out to find out where this is all coming from."
"Good to know." Qrow groaned. "So what did you all run into anyways?"
"Ursae." Raven replied with a quiet sigh. "No Ursa Majors, but enough to be some trouble to us. Most of the people here aren't really used to fighting grimm these days."
"I know the problem." Qrow sighed. "I know that you probably don't want to talk to me about this stuff."
"I don't." Raven murmured. "But grimm are everyone's problem, regardless of whose side you're on." She eyes him up and down, and Qrow doesn't let himself budge. "You would know that, wouldn't you brother?"
"Yeah." Qrow grumbled. "Think you need another set of hands to do this?"
"No, I don't think so." Raven replied. "But if you're offering-"
"It'll be good for both of us to know." Qrow responded. "So I'm offering."
Raven eyed Qrow warily, and Qrow couldn't really do anything to ignore the almost angry jolt that it sent through him. This was him doing his absolute best to be there to help his sister, and here she was, ready to cast him off to the side.
It was no real surprise that years of things being like this had driven them both to despite the other in some way. Qrow knew how it was. To Raven, he was nothing more than a traitor. The man that had chosen to turn his back on the tribe that had raised them both.
To him, she was the traitor that had turned her back on the people that cared about her.
And that wasn't getting into the piles of things that neither were willing to address. The two of them both had things up their sleeves, it was just a matter of whether or not they were going to be willing to show their hands.
For that reason, the two of them were currently at an impasse.
Raven sighed and turned. "You can join us, Qrow." She said finally. "But you better know to stay out of the way."
"Got it." Qrow responded, falling into step at his sister's side while the two men that had coming with her fell behind the two of them. They walked side by side, and once their little group was finally an appropriate distance from the camp, Qrow decided to speak up.
"So how many grimm have you guys seen, anyways?"
"Not many." Raven admitted. "We've been trying to keep our distance from the big one, so the new ones have been a surprise."
Qrow nodded. "That's the same thing that happened when I was out in the field. Me and some kids, out doing simple recon, next thing we know there's a Beringel." He shrugged. "The only warning that we had was that there was a pool."
Raven nodded. "Do you think that there will be more of them?"
"I hope not." Qrow groaned. "You and I both know that once they're there, there isn't-" He stopped himself and glanced back at the two men that were walking with them. Just like that he wanted to bite his tongue because he didn't know anything about them. Mostly, he couldn't trust them.
Raven noticed his stop though. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned back to her two men. "We'll divide here." She said, passing the words down as a very clear order. "You two travel west, and we'll head east. If something is wrong-"
"Got it." The taller of the two responded, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at Qrow. He said nothing else, and he turned to go off on his own. His companion followed soon after, and then Qrow and Raven were alone.
Raven just looked up to meet Qrow's eyes. "As you were saying?"
"You know just as well as I do that if there are pools, we can't exactly do anything to make them dry up." Qrow finally said, intentionally keeping his volume low for both of their sakes. "The only reason that they dried up last time-"
A certain sorrowful feeling came over Qrow then. It was all a reminder of a time that had been better, and was sadly long gone.
"Was because Summer could make them dry up." Raven finished for Qrow, holding her head up high. "And there isn't exactly anyone out here that could do the same thing."
Qrow couldn't help but pause at that, if only because he knew that wasn't the case. Raven might not have known everything about what Summer had gotten up to in her absence, but Qrow did. Qrow knew that Summer wasn't the last Silver Eyed Warrior, he just didn't want to think about subjecting Ruby to that fate.
The kid was just that: a kid. She didn't deserve to have that sort of pressure put on her shoulders.
Besides, she didn't even seem to have shown signs of having any special powers like Summer had. If they were there, something was going to need to bring them out. Qrow didn't want for Ruby to suffer enough for that to happen.
It left Qrow wondering whether he should bring it up or not. If he did, then he didn't know how Raven was going to respond to it, that was for sure. He couldn't exactly pretend like Raven was easy for him to understand most days.
"Yeah." Qrow said finally, sighing. "Either that or someone has to be able to take out the head."
"Salem is dead." Raven responded, matter of factly and locking her eyes onto Qrow's.
Qrow stared her down, and the two of them were both silent for a long moment before he spoke up once more.
"You don't really believe that, do you?"
Raven was silent, but that said everything that it needed to.
They were twins. Qrow understood.
Hazel returned to the camp late at night, having spent most of his day wandering the village and looking for anything he could that could help them. He was tired, and he was carrying a sack with food in it that he was going to need to heat over the fire. Watts had decided to retreat to the local libraries for the night in the name of research. Hazel was more than willing to bet his lien that "research" actually meant "a nice hotel room to himself."
Cinder was supposed to be off on her task, and Tyrian was off doing whatever it was that Tyrian did. He'd never been exactly expected to gather intelligence, but he was useful when it came to the faunus or to the lower classes.
Hazel had been hoping for some peace and quiet, but when he got back to the camp he wouldn't find it.
Instead, he would find two girls sitting there by the fire. Cinder, and another one that Hazel didn't recognize.
They both looked up when he approached. Hazel kept his distance at first and then just looked to Cinder expectantly.
She understood.
"Hazel," She started, gesturing to the woman at her side. "I think that I have found someone to help us."
Hazel couldn't really do anything to help the almost immediate spike of skepticism that came up at that mention. His gaze slipped over to the girl at Cinder's side. She was too thin to be a fighter, and she looked like she hadn't been able to eat in some time. From first glance, Hazel had a hard time imagining this girl as being anything other than just a street rat.
She was also probably a year or two younger than Cinder was.
Hazel was reminded of the sack of food under his arm and sighed, approaching the fire and raising one hand to it to check the heat. It would do. "Good." he finally said, reaching into the bag and removing a couple of paper wrapped packages. "Have you eaten?"
"Only some rations." Cinder admitted. "You got real-"
"Beef." Hazel stopped the girl as he unwrapped the first package. "And vegetables."
"Right." Cinder sighed, looking over at the girl to her side. "Emerald, this is Hazel. Hazel, this is-"
"Emerald." Hazel finished for her without looking back over his shoulder. He just focused on creating a flat surface to cook with by rifling through his pack. He found a folding grate and laid it out on top of the fire before moving to add the food to it. Soon there was going to be a proper meal, and Hazel couldn't really help feeling like he was starving himself. Rations didn't do much other than satiate. "And why did you choose her?"
"Her semblance." Cinder said simply.
And that was interesting, because it meant that there was something special about it. Hazel wasn't sure that semblance alone was a good reason to recruit someone, but at the very least it was a start. Once he was satisfied with the placement of the food Hazel got up, stepping away from the fire.
He looked down at the two girls, trying to get a good idea of what this girl could possibly do. While he wanted to put faith in Cinder's decision making, he wasn't sure that it was a good idea. Hazel let out a breath before lowering himself to the log near the fire.
"You know that you will need more." Hazel stated, matter-of-factly. "If you're going to be able to do this."
"I know." Cinder sighed.
"What... am I supposed to do anyways?" The other girl asked. This was the first time that Hazel had seen her speak, so he picked his head up and glanced over at her. She was leaning forward on the log awkwardly, and a part of Hazel told him that she was getting ready to run. It was clear enough that there were things that the girl hadn't been told yet, and Hazel couldn't blame Cinder for that.
There was a lot of material to cover.
Hazel raised an eyebrow in Cinder's direction.
"I thought that it would be best to get one of your approval before making a permanent recruitment." Cinder said calmly.
Hazel just nodded.
"We'll test your mettle after eating." Hazel said, because that was going to be enough to make sure that there was an understanding. "Until we know what you are capable of, we can't take you in for sure."
Emerald's eyes widened and her expression sank. Hazel felt a slight pang of guilt for it, because it left him wondering what Cinder must have told her. It was possible that there was some sort of promise made, but Hazel couldn't imagine what. Perhaps food, considering the way that the girl looked.
"You... want to... test me?" Emerald asked.
Hazel just nodded. "We can't afford dead weight." He finally said, his voice calm as ever. "And that means that you need to be able to fight."
"I can fight!" The girl responded, and the way that she moved was almost like there had been an electric jolt shot through her. She was ready to fight, that much was clear based on the way that she was moving. "Why do you think that I-"
"Because I haven't seen you." Hazel responded, raising his voice in just the slightest way. It made his throat feel like it had gone raw, and Hazel almost immediately hated himself for it. This was one of the things that he hated the most about being in a position of authority over anyone. It was one of the things that he didn't miss from his previous fight. "And I have doubts that Cinder has as well."
"I've seen her semblance." Cinder replied, leaning back in her seat slightly. "I know that she can help us."
"That isn't enough." Hazel grumbled. "You know that Watts will be worse about this than I will."
"I do." Cinder replied, quietly. "So you'll test her?"
"I will." Hazel responded. "Consider it as practice for yourself."
He got up and approached the fire. The scent was a bit much, even with the meat cooking on top of it. The burning reached up into his nostrils and left Hazel feeling like he needed badly to recoil. He didn't allow it for himself, though. All he did was reach in and turn the food to make sure that there was an even char on it.
Satisfied, Hazel got back up and turned around to look at Cinder and Emerald both. While it would be easy to pit the two of them against each other in a match, he didn't like that particular possibility in that moment. It left too many possibilities for Cinder to get hurt.
There was a distinct burning sensation in his chest that reminded Hazel very clearly why that couldn't be allowed.
Perhaps then, the best way to check their skills would be to put them into a match together against someone else. There was always the possibility of using himself, and Tyrian would do just as well. Although, the man's present absence was at the very least worrying for Hazel. He had no doubt that Tyrian was managing to get himself into trouble in that moment, wherever he was.
"You'll both fight me." Hazel said finally, holding his head up high. "You're allowed semblances and weapons, the match stops if my aura breaks or when I get bored." And it was a challenge, Hazel was sure of it. "Understood?"
The two girls glanced at each other warily. Instead of saying anything else, Hazel decided that it was for the best if he stood off to the side and let them sort out what they wanted to for themselves. Slowly, the two of them both nodded their responses. With that matter at least settled, Hazel was free to turn back to the fire and make sure that their food cooked properly.
It was a matter of minutes, and then Hazel was serving both Cinder and Emerald their dinners while preparing some for himself. He allowed himself a seat on the log and enjoyed his meal, to the best of his abilities. It was getting to be a bit late, and Hazel had a sneaking suspicion that it would just be the three of them there at the camp that night.
Although, having Watts absent on a night like that particular one wasn't necessarily a bad thing, Hazel thought to himself. He knew that this was going to be harder on the girls than it would be on himself. For now, all that he could really do to deal with things was allow himself to relax and wait. When the girls were ready, the two of them were going to tell him.
Hazel was at the very least confident in that.
An hour or so passed before Cinder approached Hazel where he was sitting and carefully looking over his copy of the map. He was doing his best to chart out their next paths, even though Hazel was sure that it would be thrown out as soon as Watts got a good look at the plans.
"Hazel." Cinder caught his attention, and when Hazel glanced back at the girl over his shoulder he saw that she was standing there with her head held high. If she wasn't ready for a fight, then she certainly wasn't acting as though that was the case. Hazel could respect it- after all, a good part of going into battle against anyone was making it seem like he had the upper hand.
"Yes?" Hazel asked, already standing up and beginning to fold the map back together so that he could store it away. "Are you ready?"
"We are." Cinder replied. At her side, Emerald was standing there, looking far too nervous for anyone's own good. That was fine, Hazel thought. This was going to be his chance to find out what this girl was capable of, as well as why Cinder had wanted her.
All that he hoped was that the two girls were actually going to be able to work together. As things stood, Cinder had a definite upper hand over Emerald, and Emerald's reactions to things were almost uniformly submissive in some way. Like she was afraid that she would step out of line and end up insulting someone.
It occured to Hazel briefly that Emerald was probably going about things in the way that she was out of a genuine fear for being thrown back out onto the street, or something else entirely. Either way, it didn't sit all that well with Hazel.
Not that he would let it show.
If this girl was going to be useful to them, then her loyalty was going to come once that was a proven fact. For now, she needed to be able to prove herself.
Hazel allowed both of them a few times to arrange themselves at the other side of the clearing. Once they were ready, then Hazel was sure that the two girls would have the upper hand.
As for himself, Hazel made a show of shrugging off his coat so that he could prove that he was unarmed. He also took a moment to remove the two extra pockets of dust attached to his legs- he wouldn't need them here. There was an almost immediate self-conscious wave that ran over him when Hazel remembered that even Cinder probably hadn't seen how had the damage that had been done to his arms was. The scarring was heavy, and Hazel caught both of the girls staring for a moment.
He didn't allow his mind to linger on that. Instead, he laid the coat down on the log where he'd been sitting and raised his hands up in front of him.
There was a pause, and Hazel paused. "To be clear-" Hazel started. "You two can use your weapons and semblances."
The girls exchanged a look. Cinder took the lead, of course. She reached back for her swords, and it was interesting that she didn't move to snap them together into a bow. Perhaps she was going to attempt to fight him at close range. If that was the case, then Hazel was sure that this would be an interesting encounter, at the very least.
Emerald was more hesitant, reaching for her guns and falling into a fighting stance. She didn't look like she was ready for a fight, but Hazel wasn't concerned.
All that he needed out of this was to know whether or not the girl was capable of fighting.
"Go." Hazel offered the signal, and the two girls both took it.
Cinder rushed him first, and Hazel just raised his hands so that he could block any strike. Before she could make contact with him, Hazel activated his semblance so that he would have just a little bit less to worry about. His aura could deal with the rest.
Cinder collided with his forearm with both of her blades, and Hazel just pushed her back with some force. The girl stumbled back, annoyed but ready to move again.
Hazel blinked and looked for Emerald, only to find that he didn't know where she was. A quick scan of the treeline offered nothing, but when Hazel listened he heard something moving around in the brush.
Interesting, indeed.
Hazel's gaze flicked back to Cinder. He didn't allow himself to drop his attention from the sounds of the underbrush, but for now...
Cinder had fallen back in her position, drawing two arrows that were going to go in Hazel's position. Hazel narrowed his eyes and watched the girl. If he could get the timing correct, then he could be sure that there was absolutely nothing for him to worry about.
Cinder let the two arrows loose, and Hazel lept back. Moments later both arrows exploded into flame, and that gave Hazel ideas, though he was sure that it would have to be something for later.
Before he even realized it, Hazel heard a sound of movement again, followed quickly by the feeling of something colliding with his body but little more than a pressure to tell him that it was there. It felt curved and sharp, and that was more than enough for Hazel to go on. Unable to see them, Hazel swung an arm blindly and caught something.
A chain, which he tugged on to pull its source in.
There was a stumbling sound, and then Emerald appeared seemingly from nowhere.
Hazel rolled his eyes and tugged again, disarming the girl before paying attention to Cinder once more. She had to have something planned for him, it was just a question of what it was going to be.
As it turned out, that was a question that Cinder answered quickly with a set of arrows that landed down by Hazel's feet. He had to move fast, and was barely able to get away from the blast radius around them before Hazel locked his eyes back onto Cinder. He stalked forward, and Cinder decided not to move into Hazel's range. She just jumped back away from him and sent a blast of flame in his direction.
Hazel didn't have as much time to move as he would have liked, and came away from it a little more than singed. It did require some effort for Hazel to be able to ignore how that left him feeling, the way that the smell left him reeling. It didn't matter. After a long moment Hazel just got back to his feet and looked between the two girls, who both looked ready to fight. As it turned out, he wasn't going to need to fight them to the point where auras broke.
He'd seen enough.
"Good." Hazel said, waving a hand to signal to both girls that they could stand down. Cinder and Emerald shared a look, but a moment later both of them relaxed, lowering their weapons. Instead of giving them reason to think that they were about to go into more battle, Hazel just approached the log with his coat and seated himself. Once he was comfortable, he let his semblance drop away from himself. "She can stay."
Emerald understood that well enough. She stood up straight and her eyes were wide with surprise. "Thank you." She finally said, once she'd finally managed to collect her thoughts.
Hazel's only response was a grunt. Both of the girls took the chance to relax for some time, while Hazel went about general camp maintenance.
The quiet and comfort that had fallen over the three of them was subsequently shattered by the sound of someone moving around in the underbrush. Hazel hesitated and picked his head up, glancing towards the bushes and waiting. A moment later, Tyrian stumbled through. He looked tired yet manic, like he'd spent hours doing something akin to hunting.
"Ah!" Tyrian greeted them. "Dear Ember, Hazel! And..." he paused, eyes narrowing into squints and a smile creasing his face that was the same sort of smile that Tyrian always wore when he was excited by something. "Who is this? I do not remember our-"
"Tyrian." Hazel cut him off, since it was probably for the best that they didn't show their whole hand yet. Cinder had needed time before they'd given her the full story on what they were doing. Tyrian had gone through similar treatment when Hazel and Watts had first found him. It only made sense that Emerald would be put through that same process, for better or for worse.
Tyrian clamped his mouth shut and gave Hazel a strange, almost scared look. Hazel just gestured towards the man's bedroll and watched as Tyrian crept over and seated himself there. Quiet, like a dog in the corner. Hazel wasn't a fan of making such orders, but if they were what needed to be done to keep the peace fo the time being, then Hazel figured that he didn't exactly have much of a choice in that matter.
Showing too much could only lead to chaos.
It wasn't exactly a big surprise that the rest of the night turned into them doing a glorified mission briefing, in which all of the worthwhile and important information had been carefully placed to the side and censored out for the time being. Hazel was sure that there were going to be many more nights like this ahead of them.
For some time, managing that was going to be a matter of seeing where things went and nothing else. Hazel tried not to worry too much about that, but that was not such a simple task.
Eventually, after much tossing and turning, Hazel managed to go to sleep.