Chapter 21: Juice Boxes and Free Falling

"God damnit, Qrow! What the fuck is it with all the fucking juice boxes scattered around my house?" I pass about five more boxes, kicking them clear across the room, toward the couch where Qrow is sleeping. I hear a slight gasp and see his dark head pop up. I give a satisfied smirk before rolling my eyes and heading into the kitchen to fix something for breakfast.

The creaking of the door alerts me to someone walking into the kitchen behind me. I shoot a quick glance over my shoulder to see Qrow looking a mess. He blinks a couple of times before grunting at me. "What'd you do that for?"

I smile as sweetly as I can. "Cause your trash is everywhere, brother dear. I couldn't just let that go unpunished, could I?"

He rolls his eyes before yawning and stretching. "Yeah, well, it's not my fault that your girlfriend threw a party."

I thump him on the forehead before reaching past him to open the fridge. When I open it, my lips fall into a frown. "Fucking hell! Who drank all the milk?"

A tisking sound makes me turn to Qrow and glare. "Now, Raven, language. There's no reason to cuss like a sailor this early in the morning."

I narrow my eyes at him. "So, if it was, say, noon, I'd be able to use every explicative in the book?"

He rubs his chin in thought. "Precisely. Now, hand me those eggs. I'll whip us up some omelettes." I roll my eyes and reluctantly comply to his request, or demand, but I don't really care. He's the best cook out of us all, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to take advantage of it.

Something falls onto my shoulder, making me jump and spin around. I reach for my blade instinctively but soon realize that I don't have it on me. I snap back to myself when I see familiar, silver eyes. I clear my throat and blush. "Hey."

She just laughs it off with a roll of her eyes. "I swear that you're even jumpier than Qrow these days." She wraps her arms around my waist and pulls me closer. "You need to relax when we're not out and about. This is our place, after all."

I sigh as I stare out into the sparce woods surrounding the house. You can see past the other side easily, so I feel like it's the best of both safety and nature. "I just feel this foreboding sense of… something. I don't know." I shrug and lay my forehead on top of her head. "Maybe I'm just paranoid."

She tightens her grip around me. "Well, we can always take a job so you'll forget about it."

I almost facepalm at the rememberance. "I am such an idiot. I forgot that we were offered a job out near that new settlement. Some small villages around the area have been experiencing strange Grimm sightings and a few attacks. Do you want to take that?"

She pulls away, careful not to hit my nose, to look at me with an adventurous twinkle in her eyes. "Absolutely! When's the job?"

I laugh at her eagerness. She was always one for action. "The paper didn't specify. I suppose that means that you want to high tail it down there now?" She beams at me, her smile becoming impossibly wider, making me chuckle. "Alright. Let's go pack." I turn and slip my arm onto her shoulders and walk with her back to the bedroom.

Indescribable pain wracks through my head as I rub the bridge of my nose. Why the hell did I let Qrow convince me to let him and Tai come along? They're making so much fucking noise that I can't even think to myself anymore. I grunt as Summer falls into me, apparently asleep from only two hours of travel by air. She looks so peaceful, and just focusing on her eases a bit of my headache, little by little. I sigh in a state of semi-bliss. This is better than I expected when I saw those two come up behind me and board the ship.

"Drop zone's just ahead." A voice from the front sounds, echoing in the small, metal container of the airship.

Fuck. "Drop zone?" I glare at the man up front, making him smirk.

He scoffs at the anger in my voice. "You can't possibly expect me to land this thing in a tree, can you?"

I roll my eyes and shake Summer awake. "Come on. We gotta jump in a bit."

The pilot circles the copse of trees and slows to a stop. "Open the hatch and jump."

Summer takes a standing leap as the bay door starts to open. Tai narrows his eyes at the man, and I suppress a sigh at what he asks. "Don't we get parachutes?"

"No." I grab his arm and fling him out of the bay door. " Remember to not crash!" I call after him as I take a running start and jump from the small airship, followed by Summer and Qrow. I keep my body parallel to the ground before slowly drawing my sword and slashing at the air around me. I slip into the portal in front of me and step out of the portal that had been created near the ground. That was easy. I straighten my clothes and resheathe my sword. Suddenly, a gush of wind and some dirt fly toward me as a glowing yellow blob lands in front of me. "God damnit, Tai! What the hell?" I shake the the dirt from my clothes and try to get it out of my hair, but it's a lost cause. "You always have to ruin it, don't you?"

He looks at me with an amused smirk before running his hand through his hair. "How was I to know you'd come out in the general area of where I'd land?"

I scoff and roll my eyes. "It's the only area with more than three feet of space that's not occupied by trees. Where else would I touch down?"

He shrugs. "In a tree?"

I walk over to him and smack him on the back of the head. "No." I feel a presence behind me, and my hand automatically moves to my sword before I turn fully.

"Why are you all dirty, Rae?" Summer's familiar voice asks as she drops out of a tree.

I groan in frustration. "Ugh! Why do you think?"

Summer smiles and rolls her eyes. "Tai?"

A lopsided grin takes up my face. "Bingo! And on the first try."

"Who else could it have been? I know you're way too good to have a hard landing, and Tai is just standing there with this very evil smirk, I swear to god, he just huffed in amusement. What the hell is that about?" Qrow says as he passes Tai, flicking him on the ear.

"Aw, you complimented me." I flutter my eyelashes at him and laugh outright.

He flicks me on the forehead and tuts at me. "Don't get used to it, sis."

A/N: I am not dead. Unfortunately. No, I've just been swamped with finals and tons of family stress. Stuff that can make your hair fall out and/or gray. Pretty sure I also have a permanent headache. I'm hoping writing helps in this. I'll try to get out some more stuff quickly, but I'm being pressured into a job, too, so ugh. Yh.

I do have a account. At this moment, I'm not even sure I deserve it, but any contribution would be much appreciated. :)

Follow, Favorite, Review!