Man, you never realise how old-fashioned your parents are until you hear them talking to their friends and ragging on women with tattoos and piercings for "disfiguring their bodies" and looking ugly, then being shocked when they ask me what I think of it and say tattooed girls are hot. The hilarious part is the conversation after where they try and fail to understand.

"But it looks bad in a wedding dress..."

Oh shit! It doesn't jive with an outfit you were maybe once or twice in your whole life. Disaster!

Chapter 7

Signal was a mixed bag in Qrow's not so humble opinion. On the one hand it fed directly into his goals for the future and gave him and Raven a chance to learn much-needed skills ahead of time, and it presented an easy way into Beacon in a couple of years' time. On the other hand, he had to wear a uniform, wake up at obnoxious hours, attend a packed cafeteria with lame food, not touch alcohol, be told what to do by teachers and – most dreaded of all – interact with brats he should be all rights be paid to teach. All for nothing. His "payment" was the education he received, but as a grown man used to earning actual money he could spend, this felt like unpaid labour. He was practically a slave.

Kids never really understood how painful that was until they earned money and got used to having disposable income. Time became precious, and you chafed at even an hour's unpaid overtime. Being made to work (even if it took little effort) from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon and then not being paid for it was hell.

How did children manage!?

It was at times like this, tapping his pen on an exam paper already filled out fifteen minutes ago while the class scribbled on in forced silence, that Qrow questioned his own motivations. Save Team STRQ. It was all so easy. But damn, no one ever said he'd have to go through all this shit again, let alone feel so emasculated whenever a teacher praised him for being such a model student. It was cringeworthy in the extreme – and that phrase "cringe" wasn't even "in" yet.

He'd unironically heard someone call their friend "square" as an insult. Ruby and Yang would have laughed themselves hoarse and accused him of being behind the times. Someone had even called him a teacher's pet and then stared him down as if they expected Qrow to burst into tears.

He felt like an alien trying to hide among humans.

The divide wasn't just in intelligence, but in culture and even technology. The scrolls of today were awful, the television shows were campy, and to top it all off the music was in that oldie's era of simpering ballads about hope, love, and traditional values.

But, of course, there was also a divide between him and Raven.

"Rargh! This is stupid!" roared Raven, sending her paper and pens crashing off the table. He wasn't the only one experiencing culture shock, but Raven was being much more overt about it.

"Detention, Miss Branwen," said the teacher, not even surprised at this point.

Raven had racked up a simply staggering number of disciplinary infractions. Enough, he suspected, to result in suspension in anyone else, but the headmistress had talked the teachers down due to their never having been in formal education before. That didn't stop the comparisons, or the comments from teachers that she should "act more like her brother" which only sent Raven further into her fury.

It probably helped that she was only like this in the theoretical lessons; the combat instructors saw her as an eager and attentive pupil who hung on their every word. The other teachers looked at them like they were gone out.

Education in the tribe had existed of course, even back in his day, but it was more the kind of knowledge passed down from parent to child or taught by others or even just by example and watching. They weren't dumb by any means. Raven could do addition and multiplication for stock and supplies, and division to share out loot, and they even had a bunch of other skills he was sure the other kids didn't like skinning and cooking wild animals. That didn't change the fact that Raven's education could be boiled down to maybe one hour a day from their family and other tribe members before this, while school in Vale started at 9am and finished at 4pm with an hour's lunch. That was six hours of study a day – almost as much as Raven and he would have gotten in a week otherwise.

It was expected that they would be behind, and behind they should have been. Behind, Raven was. The problem was that he was not, for the rather obvious reason of being forty fucking years old. Oh, he'd tried to hold back and not stand out, but he'd underestimated the level of "dumb" these brats could show. Even doing his best to blend in, he was the undisputed smartest kid in their class. Probably in their year. There was just no helping it when the material was so mind-numbingly boring. He taught this, so answering wrong took more effort than answering correctly, and sometimes he drifted off and his body went on autopilot and filled in a test for near perfect marks like it had now.

He knew Raven was pissed off at him for it. Confused, too. She didn't understand how her brother was suddenly so smart, and he didn't have any good answer to give her.

The class burst out nervously comparing answers as the bell rang, and Qrow hung around outside to wait for Raven as she was told off within. He doubted it would stick, Raven being Raven and all. He still couldn't believe she'd walked up to the biggest boy in school on their first day and punched him in the face.

He could believe said boy had torn Raven to shreds in return once the shock wore off. This was a school for huntsmen after all, and she'd gone after someone one year from Beacon, all because she thought it would be the proper way to show everyone they weren't to be messed with. He'd groaned and told her this wasn't a prison, but Raven wouldn't listen. Being knocked down from top bitch in the orphanage to the orphan runt in Signal hadn't done her ego any good.

The door opened and slammed shut. Raven looked pissed. She looked around, saw him, and nodded, pleased with his commitment to stay. He knew she'd be frustrated otherwise. "What's the damage?" he asked.

"Stupid bla-bla-bla about my education and my future and not causing trouble. And a detention tonight." Raven shoved her hands down the waistband of her skirt. She despised the lack of pockets on the skirt, and he couldn't say he was too thrilled with the tightly fitting thing either. "I'm not going. You promised me we'd train."

"And we will, but we can train after your detention."

"No. It's a waste of time. I'm not going."

He heaved a sigh. This would come back and bite him, he was sure, but there was no arguing with her. "Whatever you say, Ray. Just remember that you'd have more time to train if you weren't getting told off so much. We're not the strongest here. We won't be for a couple of years."

"We've been in more fights than these idiots!" she snapped. "They're children. Brats!"

You're a brat, Qrow thought but did not say. He shrugged his shoulders instead. "They get more training than we ever did. I know it sucks, but six hours a day is kind of extreme. It's no wonder they're strong. Balmung was a lazy fuck by comparison. Almost everyone in the tribe was."

"That doesn't mean our ways were wrong."

"It sure does mean they weren't effective, though." He nudged her side, and she drew away, scowling unhappily, as she did whenever he criticised their past. "Look, just give it a chance. You've seen how tough some of these idiots her are after a couple of years. Just imagine how much stronger you'll be when you've been here for that long."

"I know. I'm committed." Raven kicked at the floor with her shoe, then scowled at it, no doubt wishing she had boots instead of the stupid school shoes and white socks. "It's just all this theory shit. Who cares what person did what in the past? Who cares how gravity works? It just does. I don't need to understand the equations behind it."

"Hmmm…" It amused him to hear the arguments he'd heard from Ruby and Yang coming out of Raven's mouth. There wasn't a kid alive and in school who hadn't at some point whined about the curriculum being pointless in one way or another. It was hard to empathise when you were a teacher. "Sure thing, Ray."

She scowled his way. "And how are you so good at all this? It doesn't make sense!"

"I study."

"Bullshit! You laze around our room and watch stupid videos on your scroll!"

Qrow flinched. Okay, not untrue, but it wasn't like there was a lot he could do. He was already pushing his and her bodies to breaking point so they needed rest. Just because he was here in the past ready to stop Salem and save his team didn't mean he couldn't afford some free time. It'd do their bodies more harm to push harder.

"I've told you I'll help you study if you'll let me-"

"No." Raven refused. As always. "I can do this on my own. I don't need you to do every little thing for me, Qrow!"

"I was just offering-"

"Yeah, well don't!" she snapped, pulling ahead of him with an angry snarl. Raven yanked her shoulders back and forth, powerwalking away. He let her go, sighing wearily.

"That sister of mine…"

There really was no understanding what went on in her head.

/-/

As much as Qrow wanted to find Summer and Taiyang, it was actually a few other boys he'd ended up making friends with first. Sort of friends. It was hard to see children as your friends, even when you were a child, but he'd formed a connection of sorts with some last years. They were sixteen, ready to move onto Beacon, and about as mature as he could get in Signal. That wasn't the main reason why he'd befriended them, however.

"Yo, Branwen." Brett waved. He was an unfamiliar name and face even in the future, but Qrow figured that could mean anything. It wasn't like he knew every huntsman in existence, so there was no guarantee Brett was a dead man walking. "You managed to get a hold of what I asked you to?"

"Sure did." Qrow opened his uniform jacket to show the boy's scroll. "How did you get it confiscated?"

"Wasn't paying attention," the bigger boy admitted shamelessly. "Mrs Greene caught me looking at it. Lucky I managed to hide the screen so quickly though. If she'd seen what I was watching… well..." He chuckled and scratched his cheek. "Let's just say I'd get in trouble."

"Is that why you needed it back so urgently?" teased Qrow. "Can't jack off without your videos?"

The other two boys burst out laughing. Brett snorted. "Yeah, no. I promised Stacey I'd video call tonight. She says she has a surprise for me, and Mrs Greene wanted to keep it over the weekend as punishment. I'll be damned if I miss out on whatever this is because that hag wants to be a sour old cow."

Qrow snorted and tossed the scroll over. The shenanigans of boyfriends and girlfriends wasn't his concern, nor his business, but he could well understand a virgin like Brett not wanting to miss out on some quality time with his internet girlfriend. At least that was how Qrow assumed it seeing as the guy was never with her. It might have been a camgirl for all he knew.

"You managed to get what I'm after?" asked Qrow.

"You think I'd welch on a deal, Branwen? No chance." Brett looked around to make sure they were safe and then pulled his backpack around to the front and zipped it open. Numerous brown bottles glinted in the dim light. Qrow's mouth watered. They swapped backpacks like they were conducting a drug deal, and in a sense they were. Alcohol counted as a drug after all and could get them in almost as much trouble as any other in Signal. "You're a funny one, Branwen. Don't blame you, though. Been a while since I've had a drink."

"This wasn't any trouble?"

"Nah. I'm near enough seventeen anyway and the guy I know is fine with that. Wouldn't be if he knew I was shipping it off to someone your age, but hey ho. It's your liver." Brett pocketed his scroll and saluted. "Good doing business with you."

"Yeah. Sorry about my sister."

"Eh. She caught me before I got my aura up but it's fine. Not like I haven't been knocked around in combat class before. No hard feelings about putting her in the infirmary?"

Qrow laughed and shook his head. It'd been Ray's fault at the end of the day, and a valuable learning experience. Besides, like Brett said, it was all just training of a sort. Not so different from what sparring they did in class, except this time in the cafeteria in the middle of the day.

"It's cool. My sister is an odd one."

"You're telling me. Why did she come up and smack me again?"

"Prison rules."

Brett laughed. "Cool. Well, at least I know I'm the biggest and baddest motherfucker in Signal then. Or I look it to a fourteen-year-old girl."

/-/

If holding back in theory classes was hard then holding back in combat was even harder. The body reacted as it had been trained to, and even if his body lacked the muscle memory, his head still knew all the right moves to make and the little things you could do to minimise pain – the most important of which was to cause more pain to your enemy so they couldn't hurt you.

And forty years old in a child's body or not, Qrow was no masochist.

Worse still, his current body was still untried and rather weak, and sensitive to pain to boot. He likened it to calluses for someone learning a guitar, the fact that this body just wasn't used to fighting. While he was mature and focused enough to grit his teeth and ignore the pain, it still hurt maybe three times as much as it would have otherwise.

So, he avoided it.

Fairly simple. Automatic, too. When a kid with much more training than he came racing in with an overhead swing, Qrow's mind said "okay, let's take the hit so we don't stand out" and his body said "ARGHHH! DODGE! DODGE! DODGE!"

The body won out.

The brain just wasn't really wired to accept pain it could avoid, and his was no different despite being older than it should have been. Qrow sidestepped, gripped the boy's wrists by instinct alone, and used his own momentum against him, flipping him off his feet and the stage. To the kids watching, he might as well have looked like a martial arts master. To the teacher, and probably any real huntsman or even student of Beacon, he'd not done anything special.

Sadly, that didn't stop the rumours.

Or the adoration.

"He's so cool!"

"Isn't he still single?"

"Qrow! Qrow! Date me!"

"No way. I bet Qrow likes blondes like me."

He shuddered on the stage and tried not to favour the very underage girls with any attention. Sure, they might not have been legally or physically underage to him, but they sure as well were mentally. This was almost as creepy as when Oscar developed a crush on Ruby. No way Qrow was about to let that happen when Ozpin would have been along for the ride and a backseat observer to…

No. Just no.

Luckily, Ozpin had been very much of the same opinion on that source of nightmare fuel.

"The winner is Qrow Branwen. Does anyone else fancy their chances?" asked the teacher, and then immediately sighed. "Anyone that isn't Raven?"

"Fuck you!" howled Raven.

"Miss Branwen, I've told you before that training solely against your brother simply isn't going to help you improve. I'm sure you already spar all the time outside of class, so I'm not going to waste your time making you spar during class as well."

Raven reluctantly lowered her hand. The combat instructor was one of the few she genuinely respected, on account of the man's response to Raven's initial question of "why the fuck should I listen to you" being replied with a quick bout that had Raven soundly defeated.

It turned out Raven could be reasonable when someone actually answered the question of why she should "give a fuck" about listening to them. Most people assumed she was just rude, but she often meant the question genuinely and literally.

Those who gave a good answer got her attention.

The fight itself was an obvious and foregone conclusion to him but not, ironically enough, to Raven. She still held to some of the old ways. It was to be expected when they were all she'd ever known. To her, someone made to teach students instead of fight was obviously lacking in some way – either crippled or useless.

And the "civilised folk" were weak as well, fat and glut on their fine food and soft from hiding behind their walls. While any normal child would have known a teacher could kick their ass, Raven genuinely hadn't, and had been stunned when the teacher soundly and quite easily beat her. Quite ruthlessly, too.

Most students would have cried unfair and cruelty, but Raven practically had stars in her eyes after. If he didn't know better, he would have been concerned, but he was sure Ray was only lusting after their teacher's strength and not his body. Qrow knew he couldn't beat a fully grown huntsman, and he doubted he could even hold his own against a student of a major academy.

All that future knowledge and experience was all well and good, but his physical condition wasn't what it used to be. There was a reason Ozpin hadn't used Oscar's body to just win every fight they came across. Experience and knowledge of advanced combat techniques didn't mean much when your literal muscles had also been replaced with those of a frail child. Qrow couldn't have even used Harbinger for more than a minute without getting tired.

Qrow knew how to win most fights, and was probably more skilled than many adult huntsmen, but it didn't much matter when they could wear him down or just brute-force through his child-like strength. An embarrassing problem to have, but one that would fortunately be solved with time, training and a proper diet.

"No one?" asked the teacher. "Really? I hope you realise that you'll be asked to face stronger opponents in the future. You shouldn't shy away from it." He looked like he was considering inviting a group up, but he decided against it. "You can come down, Branwen."

Qrow trotted down and weaved his way through the odd mix of admiring and jealous students. Both were as bad as each other. There had been a neat hierarchy within Signal when they arrived, and the two of them had blown it up. He was the strongest boy in their year now, and the worst part was that Raven was not.

There were at least two other girls who outclassed her thanks to coming from huntsman families and being trained from a young age. Ignoring the people trying to get his attention, he came over to stand by Raven and accept the small fist-bump she offered. Branwen solidarity at its finest.

"You did good," he said. It was the wrong thing to say, he knew, but he wanted to try and work on her. Ease her into civilised life and curtail some of the tribe's more sink or swim teachings. Raven scowled and retracted her hand, giving him the cold shoulder. "Look, you're easily the third best girl in our year and that despite not having a fifth as much training as most people here. It's just going to take time."

"Didn't take you time," she accused sullenly.

Jealously.

Ah, but his sister was a lot easier to understand as a munchkin. A lot easier to roll his eyes at as well, which was a good way to put himself on her shit-list again. Qrow forced himself not to comment on her childishness when… well, she was a child. When he wanted her to be more of a child and not grow up so quickly into the horrible woman she might become.

"Maybe the guys here are just weaker," he said, but she didn't buy it.

"How are you so strong?" asked Raven, not for the first time. Nor the last he imagined. "It doesn't make sense. We grew up the same. You were never this strong before."

"I grew up. We both had to."

"But how are you suddenly so competent?"

"I don't know." He glanced aside, hoping she wouldn't sense his nervousness. "I guess it's a case of having someone to look after. I wanted to do right by you, stop being such a burden, so I toughened up."

"Ugh. Don't give me that love makes me strong shit."

"If the shoe fits-"

"I'll beat you to death with that shoe if you don't stop. I'm already tired of talking to you."

Prickly. Qrow chuckled and watched the rest of the fights. They weren't anything special, but then what could he expect of kids this age? They were talented enough and he was sure a lot of them would do well in the future. That was about the most anyone could hope for. What bothered him more was the lack of Summer or Taiyang among them, but then he didn't know if they'd ever studied at Signal so maybe it was normal.

I can't believe Ray and I were so socially stunted that we never even asked where they studied.

He'd just sort of assumed that since Summer and Taiyang made a home together on Patch, that one or both of them had a connection to the island. It just fit. Then again, if that were true then they wouldn't have needed to build a new house, would they?

He'd helped build it, so he knew the thing wasn't an inheritance from any family. Maybe they'd just chosen Signal because it was close by, and they'd been thinking of the future. When it had been Tai and Raven, they'd just lived out of inns and rented apartments in between working as huntsmen. Raven had never cared for settling down, or for putting thought into the future.

He'd never been introduced to any parents of either of them, so maybe they were orphans too. It was honestly frustrating to realise he'd never cared enough to ask them stuff like that.

Summer and Taiyang had been saints to put up with them.

"You've got that look again," said Raven.

"I thought you were tired of talking to me."

"I am, but there's no one else to talk to."

"You could try and make friends."

"With these weaklings?" Raven's not-so-quiet comment drew them a couple of glares and angry words. Raven responded with her middle finger. "They're too busy trying to ask you out." Her lips drew down. "Or me."

"Huh?" Qrow turned to her. "Someone asked you out?"

He… He didn't know how to feel about that.

Angry? Protective?

Hardly. If anyone needed protecting it was the poor sap who thought Raven would be a good girlfriend. No, he didn't worry for his sister, but he instead felt a surge of anger on Taiyang's behalf. Which was stupid. Raven didn't even know him yet and hadn't even been a good wife to him at the time, so he wasn't sure what right he had to hold her back for Tai's sake. And yet it still somehow felt like cheating. Qrow shook it off.

"You didn't kill him, did you?" he asked.

"No."

"Did you make him cry?"

"No." Raven smirked. "But you did."

Qrow blinked. "What?"

"That guy you just humiliated in front of the class." She pointed, and Qrow followed her finger to the opponent he'd just bested, who met his gaze with a snarl and then looked away. "He asked me to go out with him on the weekend. I told him I would if he could beat you in class."

"You didn't…"

"I absolutely did."

Raven puffed out her already rather developed chest with pride. The boys here being young and fresh out of puberty, he wasn't surprised they'd be dreaming of his rather busty and also wild and energetic sister. It was weird to think like that, but he could see it. Raven had that dangerous and untouchable quality to her, which for some reason drove men wild. Taiyang had been bitten harder than anyone. Then again, hormonal teenage boys often just gravitated toward the biggest knockers within eyesight. He knew he had in Beacon.

"I'll stick to it too," she added, loud enough for several guys nearby to hear. "If anyone can beat you then I'll go out with them. I'll even let them kiss me if they want. I'm not afraid of going the whole way with someone really strong."

"Damn it, Ray."

He doubted she would `go the whole way` like she made it sound. His sister was all talk and couldn't afford to look weak, so she had to hold to as much bravado as she could. More troubling was the speculative gazes he was getting. From guys, now.

"Is this why I've been challenged more times this week than in the last month? Why do you do this to me?"

"You said not to hurt anyone or make them cry. Would you rather I break their hearts?"

"Yes."

"Well too bad. You're the one who gets to deal with it now."

"Please tell me you haven't offered to whore me out to anyone who beats you."

"No." Raven blinked. "Should I have?"

"No!"

"But it would get me a lot more fights," she mused, "and you're always saying practice makes perfect."

"Raven, no…"

"Raven, maybe…"

Gah. School. It was the worst. A pit of evil and hormones and shitty dating strategies. A hellscape where "holding hands" was considered scandalous, and where nowhere was more sacred or special than the back of the bike sheds. It was killing him. The lack of alcohol, the lack of real women, the lack of freedom and the lack of just being able to do what he wanted, when he wanted. And he'd signed himself up for more years of this. Too many.

Funny how I always looked back on Team STRQ days as the best in my life and forgot all this shit, thought Qrow. I'll never laugh at Yang complaining about school sucking again.

They hadn't even been able to face a real Grimm yet. Hell, some of the spars were with training weapons. It was absolutely galling for someone of his calibre to be babied in such a way. It was like going to a restaurant as a grown man and being told to sit in a baby chair while someone tucked a bib into your collar. Qrow groaned into his hand, wishing he could go out to a bar and get wasted. The worst part was knowing he couldn't afford to test out early and move a year or more ahead because that'd mean leaving Summer and Taiyang behind.

Maybe I should have kept us in the wilderness instead…

No. This was for the best. It was painful and boring for him, but it was in Raven's good. The longer she had to adapt to civilised life, the less likely she was to go off the deep end later. He had to keep that in mind. It was for her sake.

He just wished so many horny brats weren't sizing him up and considering their chances at besting him.

"You're a pain in my ass, Ray. A constant pain in my pass."

"Maybe," she said, shrugging. "But at least now they're not a pain in mine."

/-/

It wasn't so great a journey from Vale to Patch that Ozpin couldn't take the time off on a weekend to visit the headmistress, Julianna, and get an update on his latest additions. They were his nominees, so he did feel a little responsible for them, even if he was sure all was working out. He'd have been contacted as their registered guardians if things weren't going well. He hadn't done much of the guardianship the paperwork suggested, but then he doubted they wanted him to either. He was a busy man and a failed father several times over, and such brave children were quite frankly better off without his failed attempts at redemption.

"Ozpin. Welcome." The headmistress of Signal, Julianna, offered him a seat. "I hear you've been promoted to head of an entire year now on top of combat. How does that feel?"

"Tiring," he joked. He'd been through all those promotions before of course but he made it a point to earn them again, not because he felt he needed to but because it eased tensions. He'd had himself promoted to headmaster once in the distant past and almost all the other teachers quit because of the perceived (and rightly so) favouritism. He'd learned better since then. A little hard work on his part to show he deserved it was often enough to keep everyone happy.

It could even be fun for him to interact with the students every step of the way from bottom to top.

"The pay is better, no?"

"It's a welcome bump to my balance but it's the drama that's the real problem. I thought it was bad enough watching an ex-girlfriend and their ex's new girlfriend face off in spars and turn the arena into a bloodbath, but now I have to deal with all sorts of nonsense. There was a herpes breakout just last month among the first years." He rubbed his eye socket and sighed. "They really do start earlier and earlier, don't they?"

"They're considered adults at seventeen and are often living away from home for the first time, often with mixed teams. It's little wonder they see a chance to experiment."

"Yes, well, I didn't want to be involved in that. Bad enough I had to hold talks on STD's and sexual safety. The other teachers have been laughing themselves sick all week. Meanwhile, I've become an expert at slipping condoms onto bananas." Despite the words, he smiled. They were good men and women, and he enjoyed the chance to be laughed at. It kept him humble. Made him feel human. All too often was he left feeling detached from such things. "How are my two nominees doing? Not too many problems I hope?"

"Not too many…"

"Oh dear." Ozpin smiled. "Some, then?"

"Raven Branwen is a troublemaker and a disruption in class. We first thought it might be a learning disability or an attention deficit disorder, but we've come to realise she simply has no respect for formal education. We suspect that's from her upbringing so we're being harsh but fair with her. She also responds poorly to provocations from her peers, solves every problem she can with her fists, and refuses to interact with anyone outside her brother and our combat instructor. He, at least, she appears to respect greatly. Her scores in said class reflect it, showing that under all her brashness is a very intelligent young woman."

"That's good. I'm sure it's something she'll get over."

"That's our thought too. We're giving her time. The brother is much more interesting. I'll be frank, Ozpin, he's good. Very good."

"Oh?"

"He's risen to the top in combat without any difficulty, held back only by his lack of a real weapon, and he's also at the top of his other classes based on the few examinations he's been involved in. He doesn't pay much attention in class, but no teacher has been able to catch him out for not knowing the material. Our history teacher tried to catch him with a trick question on a topic they won't even study until next year and he answered it easily. With great boredom, even."

Ozpin smiled. Intriguing. He wondered at the boy's past – it must have been the same as young Raven's, and yet he was obviously the mature one. The matrons in Mistral had all agreed it as well, saying that he did all he could to look after not only his sister but the other orphans too. Ozpin had suspected the young man had forced himself to grow up quickly, but it looked like that maturity translated to his schoolwork as well.

"Are you suggesting he should be moved up a year?" asked Ozpin.

"No. I'd normally be all for that, but Raven isn't ready for it, and I have a feeling separating them will end in absolute disaster. They're orphans together and ought to be kept together."

"I fully agree," said Ozpin. "He's not harming his classmates, is he?"

"No. Qrow is quite good at holding back so I don't foresee any harm in letting him stay – other than him growing bored. I can always provide him extra work of an advanced level. Let him test ahead but stay in his year. We've done that before for children who really ought to move up, but who are being kept back because they want to stay with friends or because their parents have refused it. I have to say that aside from refusing to pay attention in class, he's a model student. He has more friends among the upper years than in his – jealousy from his classmates, I expect. He does have a few concerning habits, though."

"Oh?"

"He drinks."

Ozpin blinked. "You can't mean-"

"Alcohol, yes. And quite a lot of it."

Ozpin hadn't expected that and didn't quite know what to say. He taught students, and plenty in Beacon enjoyed their drink, but they were of legal age to do so, and he'd never had to deal with a child as young as this being an alcoholic. It was a bizarre experience.

"Oh dear. I… I had no idea. So young? Are you sure it's not just a case of wanting to fit in? Or peer pressure? You said he has older friends. Older boys can be poor influences at times. Where is he even getting it from?"

"A lot of it is in his room. I think he's forgotten that the dorms here are cleaned by our staff. They've been reporting it for a few weeks now. Bottles, in decent numbers too, stashed away and disposed of whenever he can find a chance. I don't doubt a young man who has lost his family might have reason to mourn, Ozpin, but I do not like the thought of one turning to drink."

"Me neither. Have you confronted him?"

"Not yet," she said. "I wanted to gauge your opinion. And to ask if you might want to do it. As his registered guardian and all."

Honestly, no, he did not, and yet there were many things in life Ozpin did not want to do that he knew he ought to. He sighed. "Well, I've just given one speech on the dangers of unprotected sex. I suppose I could give a guest talk here on the risks of alcohol."

"I'm sure young Mr Branwen would be grateful for that," she said. "Even if he doesn't yet realise it."

/-/

There was no way this was happening.

"Hello Mr Ozpin," said Ozpin, speaking through his lips as he waved a sock-puppet on his left hand. He was in front of the whole class and had a puppet on either hand. "What are we here to talk about today?"

"Well, Mr Boppit, today we're here to teach the younger generation about the dangers of alcohol."

A projector lit up on the wall behind Ozpin, showing a big picture of a bottle of cheap beer.

"Now it may sound cool, but alcohol is a very bad friend," said Ozpin, waving his puppet meaningfully. His eyes were locked on Qrow's the whole time. "The problem with alcohol is that it often portrays itself as a friend willing to help you when you're down, but it's a baaad friend. It's the kind of friend who rifles through your pockets for money when you're not looking. Now, let's all sing the alcohol isn't your friend song!"

"This is hell," whispered Qrow. "This is my own personal hell…"

Next Chapter: 11th November

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