It was several hours later that the four of them arrived back at home, and by then Taiyang seemed exhausted thanks to the paperwork he had to fill out to get both Ruby and Oriole approved for early enrollment for Beacon. Such was the small price of Ozpin's decision to bend some rules and allow them to all join the current year.
"Alright, girls... bedtime... it's two in the morning..." Taiyang said with a sigh as they filed into the house. He looked like he was ready to collapse.
Ruby and Yang whined a bit but nevertheless quickly headed up the stairs to get changed and go to bed. Oriole hesitated for a moment before throwing her arms around her dad.
"I'm so sorry, dad... I tried to get Ruby to come home early, but... things got out of hand... those guys tried to rob that old man. We couldn't just sit back and let it happen!"
Taiyang chuckled, put his hand on his daughter's back, and ran it in a circle trying to calm her down. In front of her sisters she hadn't shown just how upset she had been, but Taiyang knew; his little girl was sensitive and always worried about looking bad. "It's alright, Little Bird, I heard all about it from Ruby and the officers... and Ozpin. You held your own pretty well. I'm proud of you... your mom will be too." The last line received nothing but a hrrmph from the girl, unwilling to acknowledge her absent mother's pride. After a few seconds Oriole slowly let go of her dad and looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
"Dad... can you sing me to sleep tonight?" Oriole asked, her voice quiet; earlier that year she had snapped at him that she was too old for her dad to sing a lullaby to when she was going to sleep. Truthfully, though, she really liked it, it made her feel safe and comfortable hearing her dad's voice when she was falling asleep.
A smile crossed his lips as Taiyang rubbed her hair, the shoulder length dirty blonde strands starting to stand up with his ruffling. "Of course, Little Bird, you just have to ask. Now go get changed. I'll be up in a couple minutes."
Oriole nodded rapidly, and a short squee escaped her mouth, causing her to quickly put her hands over it. "You didn't hear that!" she whispered to her dad.
"Hear what? Sorry, my hearing isn't what it used to be," Taiyang joked, putting a finger in his ear as if trying to clean it up.
Oriole giggled and ran upstairs, but when she got close to the door to her shared room with her sisters she slowed down and walked in, keeping a practiced neutral look on her face. Yang was still in the middle of changing, while Ruby was already in bed. Oriole guessed she just pulled off her boots and socks and jumped in bed.
"I heard you kicked ass," Yang said, giving a big thumbs up with her goofy grin.
"I did okay... I almost lost, though, not to mention that the robbers got away." Oriole shrugged, trying to seem indifferent. "I was getting beat up at the start of the fight with that girl. I caught a lucky break that she let down her guard and let me get my hands on her."
Yang laughed and nodded, her hair going all over the place. "You hit pretty hard, I'm surprised she was able to get away."
"She... dodged really well," Oriole admitted with annoyance. Even held in place the girl had been able to dodge over half of her strikes. No one their age would be able to do that, and she doubted even that champion girl from Mistral could if she was holding her hand like the girl in the alleyway. Though... that girl probably wouldn't allow Oriole to grab her and was also substantially bigger, so maybe it would actually be a terrible idea to grab her. "She was so... tumbly... all over the place." Oriole wasn't sure how to explain the fight, or what the shattering mirror stuff was—probably the girl's Semblance. "She could make, like illusions. It wasn't a fair fight."
"Right, right."
"So... What did you do?" Oriole asked, kicking off her thin shoes, and pulling the socks off while balancing on one foot.
Yang paused for a moment. "Huh? What?"
"Why were you at the station, Yang? Dad was saying something about property damage."
Yang laughed nervously. "Just went to the club, some guy tried to get handsy... broke a lot of stuff in the scuffle... yeah." More nervous chuckling as she turned away to grab her pajama shirt and pulled it on. She was hiding something from the two of them; even Ruby had perked up from her place in her bed when Oriole had asked about what had happened.
Oriole nodded and continued to change, slipping out of her dirty pants and shirt to put on a light pink nightgown that felt like just a very long t-shirt. While she would have preferred to shower before getting into bed, she was exhausted from the events of the day and went over to her bed in the corner of the room, crawled under the blankets, and sat up, waiting for their dad to come in to give them a lullaby.
"You waiting for something?" Yang asked, tilting her head in curiosity. Oriole realized her mistake too late. Her sisters knew about her telling their dad not to come sing to them anymore, and here she was, waiting for him.
To make matters worse, it was at that moment that Taiyang knocked on the door. "You girls in bed?"
"Yeah, all set dad!" Yang called out, a mischievous smile dancing on her face. "So cute, baby sis..." she whispered across the room.
Oriole sank into her bed, blushing madly from embarrassment. A moment later Taiyang burst into the room, the same goofy grin on his face. "Despite you girls getting into trouble, I thought it might be appropriate to give you guys a bit of celebration since all three of you are going to Beacon... but for now I'll just serenade you three to sleep. How's that sound?"
"Really?" Ruby seemed excited; it had been a while since he had sung to all three of them at the same time just before bed.
"Really really," Taiyang said, smiling down at Ruby. "I know, I know, a little embarrassing to have your dad sing to you, but just suffer through it, okay, Little Bird?" He directed the second line over to Oriole before turning to Yang. "This might be the last chance I get; soon we'll be very busy getting you all ready to go." Taking a deep breath, Taiyang coughed a few times, stalling as he thought of what to sing before coming to a decision and beginning his song, his voice slow and gentle;
"In the twilight's tender glow, my daughters, three,
Each one a star that shines so brightly.
Yang, my eldest, with strength that's tried and true,
A heart of gold, her spirit shining through.
Ruby, my little rose, with fire in her soul,
Courageous and bold, she'll reach her goal.
Though she may be small in size,
Her spirit soars, reaching the skies.
Oriole, my youngest, with the dawn in her eyes,
A spirit fierce, yet gentle as the sunrise.
Though she may not wish for fame,
Her spirit burns bright, a blazing flame.
Oh, my daughters, how proud I am of thee,
Each one a treasure, for the world to see.
With hearts of gold and spirits bold,
You'll conquer mountains, stories yet untold.
My daughters, you'll rise with the break of dawn,
Beautiful and great, you'll grow up strong.
In your hearts, my love will forever belong,
My daughters, you are my pride, in every song.
Rest now my darlings, sleep through the night.
No monsters or horrors remain for you to fight.
Rest easy and fall asleep,
There are no tears for you to weep.
My daughters, rest your weary souls,
In dreams, you'll find your hearts' true goals.
Under the moon's gentle light, filling you with peace,
Guiding you to dreams where wonders never cease.
So close your eyes, my darlings, drift off to sleep,
In dreams, your promises, you'll always keep.
For in my heart, forever you'll stay,
My daughters, my pride, in every way."
As the song ended, Taiyang looked at the three. They had all drifted off at some point during his performance, and he smiled despite his weariness, happy to see the peace on their sleeping faces. The moment passed, and he slid out of the room, turning off the lights and closing the door with a gentle click. The stillness of the night was interrupted by a short yip from downstairs. "Zwei? What's going on, buddy?"
Heading back down into the living room where the sound came from, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of disapproval, his jovial feelings smothered by what he found. "Good evening, Qrow."
A tall woman with medium length black hair laid on his couch, holding up one hand with the other cupping her head. "Shhh, shhhh... it's late."
Taiyang walked over to a nearby shelf and grabbed a blanket he kept there. "I know... Get some sleep, Qrow, we have important things to talk about in the morning." Moving back to the couch he unfolded the blanket and threw it over the woman with practiced ease. "Come on, Zwei, let's go to bed." Taiyang said, passing through a nearby door, and once Zwei went through, the little black and white corgi kicked the door closed.
"W-what are you doing here?!" Oriole's voice cut through the quiet of the house, hershock, surprise, and disapproval evident. Taiyang groaned as he stumbled out of bed and went out into the living room, where Oriole was standing a distance from the couch and the now-awake Qrow.
Scratching the side of her head, Qrow looked at her daughter and gave a grunt. "I live here, kiddo. Tai gave me a key, you know that." Qrow reached into a pocket and held up her hand, a single key hanging from a ring wrapped around her middle finger. "How've you been?" Voice groggy and dry, Oriole knew she had been drinking the night before based on that... and the persistent smell of booze.
Oriole couldn't really argue. Her dad had given Qrow a key so she could come over whenever she wanted, and they even had done up the spare room upstairs for her to stay in... not that she slept there when she came over, it was almost always the couch. Shaking her head, Oriole refused to sink to her mom's level. "I'm okay..." Before she'd even finished her sentence, Oriole walked into the kitchen, where she began to get out pots and pans to prepare breakfast: eggs, bacon, and some potatoes.
Not long after Yang and Ruby came down. "Auntie Qrow!" Ruby ran down the stairs and practically tackled Qrow from the couch. "We fought bad guys last night! They were like 'gimme your money, kid' and we were like 'no, you shouldn't do that.' But then they had a gun and were like 'pew-pew-pew' but I got out of the way..."
Oriole tuned out of the conversation happening in the other room as she continued to prepare breakfast for five. A few minutes later, Taiyang came in to give her a hand. They worked in silence—he knew she wasn't happy. Qrow hadn't shown up when they were in trouble at the police station, but she had half-drunkenly stumbled in overnight. Trying to defend her behavior to their daughter would just sour the mood further, so instead he just smiled and continued to help.
He grabbed some plates and began to lay them out on the countertop for placement, quickly noticing that a certain plate got the burnt and misshapen pieces. Taiyang shook his head at the pettiness of his daughter. "Must be from your mom," he whispered to himself as they finished cooking.
Carefully he made sure to pick up the burnt breakfast, and soon saw Oriole looking around, confused that she couldn't find it. "Girls, Qrow, breakfast!" he called into the other room, putting the plates down on the table and purposely taking the one with the ruined food for himself.
Seeing which plate her dad had in front of him, Oriole panicked. "Dad, that's not your—"
Taiyang had already begun to eat, biting into an egg that crunched a bit. "It's wonderful, Little Bird. Thank you for making breakfast."
Oriole wanted to cry. That food wasn't meant to go to her dad; why was he being so nice? It had to have tasted awful and yet he ate it with a smile. "Thanks, dad," she muttered, her voice catching.
Yang, Ruby and Qrow came into the dining room and took seats around the table. Ruby was still rambling on about meeting Professor Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch from Beacon, and how cool it had all been with Yang acting as a bit of a hype man, laughing a bit at certain points of the story. "Then! Oriole and I got told we can come to Beacon together with Yang!"
Qrow raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Tai, were you going to tell me about this?" Her voice carried a small edge to it, something everyone at the table caught.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, but last night... I was too tired." Oriole wanted to rip her hair out and scream. He was covering for her. Again. Dad always did this for Mom when she was the one being unreasonable or doing something wrong, and it never got any less frustrating for her daughter. "The girls were all involved in an incident last night... well, Ruby and Oriole were involved in one, Yang was part of a different one."
"Mmmmhmmm?"
"The two were involved in a robbery. Some guys were sticking up a Dust shop they were buying comics from. Most of the guys got beaten down by these two but some of the others got away," Taiyang said, his voice showing some slight pride in the skill of his daughters. "Glynda was there at the end."
"Of course she was... nosy..." Qrow muttered the last word, quiet enough that no one could hear it, but it was obvious what she had said.
"Ozpin intervened, sparing both of them from records and offering them a chance to jump grades to attend Beacon Academy. They were already planning to apply when they graduated Signal and they both wanted to go... so I signed the papers to let them join."
"You..." Anger flashed across Qrow's face for a moment before she calmed down. "Fine... Summer was about Oriole's age when she joined anyway." Taiyang flinched at her words, as if he felt Qrow was taking a stab at him.
"Qrow... it's not like that. Are you going to go and revoke Oriole's permission to attend Beacon with her sisters?" Taiyang said, his voice showing his hurt, this was a happy thing, all three girls would attend the Academy at the same time and could keep an eye out for one another, watching each other's back. "They'll have one another while they are there. There's nothing to worry about."
Qrow grunted and wordlessly began to eat her breakfast, leaving the mood at the table thoroughly killed. Ruby tried to get a conversation going but just trailed off halfway through her first sentence. Yang made a corny joke about cutting the tension with a knife, but even that fell flat today. Qrow's disapproval hung over the room like a storm cloud, gray and ominous.
Not long later the food was gone and Ruby and Yang were asked to do the dishes, Taiyang took Qrow into his bedroom, locking the door behind him. His face was dead serious; after Qrow had rained on the parade of all three of his daughters, a talk was in order.
Not wanting to be left alone, Oriole joined her sisters, drying the dishes after they had been washed and put them away. "You're really good at cooking, that was great!" Yang tried to lighten the mood a bit, noticing both her sisters were down. "Ruby was like a vacuum, sucking it all up as fast as she could."
"I was not, Yang!" Ruby denied, smoothing out her pajama shirt. "I am... so.. so... sofis... fancy." She let out a humph and continued to scrub the plates.
Oriole nodded a bit and smiled weakly at her sisters. "Yeah, Dad taught me well... you two are hopeless when it comes to cooking."
"Oh yeah? How's about I cook you after we're done here?"
"Eh?" Ruby and Oriole looked at Yang in confusion.
"Ugh! Let's spar in the backyard. Ruby will be the judge," Yang explained, exasperated that she had to spell it out. "I'm still the champion, you know," she added with a laugh as she flexed, making several poses like professional champion fighters did. "Oh~ yeah~!"
Oriole shook her head slightly, and the three quickly finished the dishes and went upstairs to change. Yang and Oriole got into training clothes: tank tops and sweatpants for the pair. The biggest difference was Yang putting on a pair of heavy boots while Oriole wore athletic slip-on shoes. Ruby, meanwhile, put on her regular, everyday dress. Arriving at the backyard, Yang and Oriole squared off, facing one another each in their own ready position.
Yang took up the boxing pose that Taiyang had taught her; it fit her style perfectly, and she was always more than willing to use her overwhelming strength even if the situation didn't call for it. Oriole held her hands up, fists unclenched and feet wider apart than her sister's.
"Ready... fight!" Ruby called out with excitement.
It was a rapid clash. Jabs, hooks, uppercuts came flying out from Yang, only to be deflected, dodged, or caught by Oriole, who willingly gave ground under Yang's relentless assault. In a head to head battle without using Aura or the Aura techniques she had been taught Oriole couldn't beat her much larger sister in a direct fistfight, but as always, there were other options. Yang threw a haymaker, intending on dropping Oriole with it after she had knocked her arms wide, no defenses left. Oriole, however, just jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the strike.
Jumping back in, she let loose a kick while in the air, but Yang just batted it aside. Without Taiyang there they weren't allowed to fight with their Aura—it was considered too dangerous—but without it, Oriole felt like she was crippled when it came to fighting. Several more exchanges occurred, each of them testing the other and then... Yang got in a solid blow and knocked Oriole down, the younger girl clutching her bleeding nose. "Oh, oh no! I'm sorry, I thought you would dodge that one too!" Yang panicked, not expecting to hurt her sister.
"Ooowwww..." Tears in her eyes, Oriole cursed internally. Despite the early hour, it had already been a long day: dealing with Mom being there unannounced, Dad taking the plate she had made for Mom, then Dad fighting with Mom and now Yang busting her nose... "I think I'm done with today," she said, her voice coming out odd due to the bloody nose.
"Yeah... let's call it here..." Yang and Ruby helped their sister back up, and they all went back inside the house.
Some days are a bit rough for the Xiaolong-Rose-Branwen family.
The lullaby was written and created with the aid of fellow writer Child0fSkies.
Proofread and assisted by Myst66.
