Chapter 6: Drinks, by the By

When Taiyang had mentioned a nightclub this morning, Raven had assumed she'd known what to expect. After all, she was passingly familiar with the seedy bars and taverns that dotted the roads and small settlements in the remote parts of Mistral. She'd been wrong. The club Taiyang had taken her and the rest of their team to was every bit as grandiose and unfamiliar to her as Beacon was. Loud rhythmic music filled the air. Colorful lights pulsed to the beat. And the crowded dance floor was being presided over by a DJ who was dressed in a bear costume for no reason that Raven could discern. However, unlike Beacon, Raven didn't feel like this club was dripping in pretense or self-importance. That alone was reason enough for her to like it.

Raven was seated at a table near one of the nightclub's walls. Summer and Qrow were sitting on either side of her. Taiyang, however, wasn't with them at the moment. He had wandered off toward the bar on his own almost the moment they'd all arrived, but not before telling everyone else not to order anything yet. He hadn't explained why.

Summer glanced around the club. She said, "When Yang told us this place was off the beaten path, I didn't think he'd meant it was this far out of the way."

Raven asked, "So? Is there something wrong with that?"

"It just seems like we ended up in a…not great part of town," Summer said.

It was true that Team STRQ had ventured down some poorly lit streets to reach the club. And the bouncer at the door had been especially large, surly, and intimidating. Even inside the club there was a small but nonetheless present air of danger. Ironically, that was why Raven felt more at ease here than she did at Beacon.

Raven asked Summer, "Afraid of who you might run into?"

"What? No," Summer said. "I fight the grimm. A couple of street thugs aren't going to scare me. It's just not the kind of place I usually go."

In spite of herself, Raven smirked. That had not been the answer she'd been expecting from Summer, but it was one that she respected. Perhaps they'd work out as partners after all.

Taiyang suddenly returned to the table with a beaming smile on his face. He was holding a tray that had a bottle, a cocktail glass, and a pair of tumblers on it. He set the tray down on the table and said, "Here's round one!"

Summer said, "Yang, we didn't tell you what we wanted to drink."

"Didn't need to!" Taiyang said. He tapped his nose. "I've got a good sense for these things."

Summer looked skeptical.

Taiyang started grabbing drinks and setting them down in front of his teammates. He said, "Straight whisky for Qrow. Rum and cola for Raven. And a strawberry daiquiri for Summer."

Summer stared at the drink Taiyang had given her. She looked like she really wanted to tell him that he'd guessed wrong. However, she instead took ahold of her glass and asked, "What about you?"

"Eh, just a beer," Taiyang said with a shrug of his shoulders. He grabbed the remaining bottle off the tray for himself. Then he walked around the table and sat down next to Summer.

Qrow was already helping himself to his whisky, and Summer daintily sipped at her drink. Raven, however, was warily eyeing the glass in front of her. Taiyang must have noticed because he asked, "What's wrong? Don't like it?"

What was wrong was that Raven had no idea what "cola" was. However, she was far too proud to admit her ignorance. She picked up her glass and took a sip. The drink was surprisingly sweet, and while it was far weaker than the forest moonshine that frequently got passed around her tribe's camp, it also didn't feel like it was tearing her insides to shreds. She really hated to admit it, but she did like the drink. And that made it all the more frustrating that she didn't know what cola was.

Raven set her drink down, doing her level best to not look pleased. She said, "Not bad."

"See? Told you," Taiyang said.

Summer said, "Very impressive."

Taiyang winked at Summer. He said, "You haven't seen anything yet."

Summer giggled at Taiyang, and Raven was surprised when she felt a pang of jealousy. She also heard Qrow grumble under his breath. Raven took another sip of her drink, a bigger one this time. She hated to agree with her brother on anything.

"So…" Summer said to the group. However, she was interrupted when a tall, black-haired teenager in a waiter's uniform walked up to the table.

"Hello," the lanky teen said, sounding as unenthusiastic as humanly possible. "Can I get you anything?"

Taiyang said, "Don't worry, my man. I've already got it covered."

The teen glanced down at the drinks on the table. He looked like he was about to walk away when he suddenly did a double take. His eyes had landed on Summer, and he openly stared at her.

"Uh…" Summer said. "Can I help you?"

"You've got silver eyes," the teen said, talking to himself more than to Summer.

"So I've been told?" Summer said, sounding very confused.

Raven felt herself getting angry on Summer's behalf, a somewhat unusual sensation for her. But rather than dwell on it, she quickly put her arm around Summer's shoulders and said, "Back off, Junior. She's taken."

The teen seemed to snap out of a trance. He asked, "How'd you know to call me that?"

"It's on your name tag," Raven said.

The teen looked down at the name tag pinned to his shirt which read, "Hei Jr."

"Right. Right," the teen said. "Uh. Got to go."

The teen immediately took off at a brisk pace.

Summer muttered, "That was weird."

Taiyang said, "He must have been entranced by your beauty."

"Yang!" Summer said with a giggle. She playfully punched Taiyang's arm. "Stop that!"

Raven hadn't been listening to Summer or Taiyang. Something about the teen's strange behavior had gotten her hackles up. She watched him closely as he wound his way past tables and through the crowd of patrons to get to the other side of the club. He eventually ended up at a nondescript door with a guard of some sort standing in front of it. A small argument apparently ensued based on the frantic gestures the teen made with his arms. Eventually, the guard relented and opened the door. The teen vanished through it.

Summer's voice suddenly cut in, "Raven?"

Raven turned away from the distant door and looked at Summer.

Summer said, "Thank you for defending me. But you can let go now."

Raven realized her arm was still wrapped around Summer's shoulders. She reluctantly separated from her.

Summer took a long drink of her daiquiri. Then she said, "Now that that's over. This is supposed to be a get-to-know-you party. Who wants to go first?"

Taiyang swigged his beer. Then he loudly set it down on the table and said, "I'll start!"

"We're all listening," Summer said.

"I'm Taiyang Xiao Long!" Taiyang said like he was announcing himself to an audience. "But my friends call me 'Yang'."

Raven snickered. She said, "Still sounds like a girl's name to me."

Summer elbowed Raven in her gut, causing her to let out a grunt. Summer whispered, "Don't be rude."

Raven glared at Summer, but she didn't say anything more.

Taiyang continued, "I'm from Patch Island in the Kingdom of Vale! And I'm the latest in a long line of huntsmen! My great-granddad was a huntsman. My granddad was a huntsman. And I'm going to be a huntsman!"

Summer asked, "What about your father?"

"Oh. Um…" Taiyang said. He suddenly sounded subdued for the first time since Raven had met him. He muttered, "He's, uh, he's an accountant."

"Well that's okay," Summer said. "Accountants are important too."

"Sure," Taiyang said. "It's just…."

"It's just what?" Summer asked.

Taiyang brought his beer to his lips and took a long drink. Then he said, "He doesn't really get me. Or…approve of me going to a huntsman school. Or approve of anything I've done really. Ever."

"Yang…" Summer said. She briefly put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's alright," Taiyang said, still sounding sullen. "Someday, when I'm a world-famous huntsman, I'll go home. And Dad will see how awesome I am. And then he'll understand. And he'll say, 'I'm proud of you, Son.'"

"What about your mother?" Summer asked.

"Oh, you know," Taiyang said. "She's around."

A silence briefly hovered over the table, at least as much of a silence as there could be in the noisy nightclub.

Summer said, "I guess I'll go next. I'm from Mountain Glenn, right next door to Vale."

Taiyang said, "I hear that's a nice place."

"It is. We're very fortunate," Summer said.

"Were your mom and dad grimm hunters?" Taiyang asked.

"No, buuut…" Summer said, a prideful tone crept into her voice. "Papa is a famous weapon smith."

"Really?" Taiyang asked, sounding excited again.

"Yup! And since you live in the Kingdom of Vale you've probably heard of him," Summer said. "His name is Dusty Rose."

"Oh yeah!" Taiyang said. "He makes good stuff!"

Summer and Taiyang continued to chat, and Raven took another sip of her drink. She'd been watching the conversation unfold with a degree of contempt. She didn't like how effortlessly Summer and Taiyang were getting along. It made her feel jealous, although she wasn't even sure what she was jealous of.

Summer suddenly turned to Raven and said with a smile, "Well. How about you?"

Raven reflexively balked at the spotlight suddenly being thrust on her, although she knew she should've been expecting it. That was literally the point of this party that she'd been coerced into attending. But what could she even say? That she was a thief and a murderer? That she'd come to Beacon to learn how to kill its graduates? Not knowing what else to do, she turned to her brother.

Qrow was just tilting back the last of his whisky. He set his empty glass down. It was only then that he realized he had Raven's, and by proxy, everyone else's attention. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Go on, Sis. Unless you want me to talk and tell them absolutely everything."

"Ooh!" Summer said. "Like embarrassing childhood stories?"

Raven might have laughed at how off base Summer was, but Qrow's words hadn't been a joke. They were a threat. Raven gave her brother an ugly look, but she schooled her face back into a more neutral expression before she turned toward Summer again. She said, "We're from Mistral."

Summer asked, "Which part? Mistral is a big place."

"The forests," Raven said.

"Okay…" Summer said. "Like a settlement in the forests?"

"No," Raven said.

"Well you must have gone to a junior academy in one of the cities," Summer said.

"No. We didn't," Raven said.

"Then…you went to an academy in another kingdom?" Summer asked.

"No," Raven said, getting annoyed with all the questions.

Summer looked a little mystified. Suddenly, a realization seemed to dawn on her. She exclaimed, "Wait! You took the practical exam to get into Beacon?!"

"Obviously," Raven said.

"And you passed!?" Summer said. "With a…stick!? And no Dust!?"

"Of course," Raven said, trying to sound nonchalant. Although she was still, privately, a little surprised that she had passed, much less survived, the combat portion of the exam. It had been against live grimm, and it had not been easy.

"That's amazing!" Summer said. "You're amazing!"

Raven suddenly found herself taken aback. She still didn't appreciate the grilling Summer was giving her, but Summer's praise had sent a warmth spreading through her chest. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and she wasn't sure what to do with it.

Taiyang said, "Hey, Summer. You know what this means?"

Summer asked, "No. What?"

"Between the four of us, we're going to be the best team at Beacon ever!" Taiyang declared. "Maybe we'll even be the first freshmen to win the Vytal Festival!"

"Yeah!" Summer enthusiastically agreed. She and Taiyang spontaneously gave each other a high five.

Raven wasn't quite sure what to say. Fortunately, it seemed that Summer's curiosity had been satisfied for now as she didn't immediately ask more questions.

A lull settled into the conversation, and Summer took another drink of her daiquiri. While she did so, her eyes slid over to Taiyang, and she furtively gave him an appraising look. Then she set her glass down. A sly smile crossed her face as she seemed to make up her mind about something. She said, "So, Yang. Is there anyone waiting for you back home?"

"My parents," Taiyang said.

"No, I mean anyone special," Summer clarified.

"My parents are special," Taiyang said. "I mean, Dad and I don't get along, but he's still family."

Summer sighed exasperatedly. She said, "I'm asking if you have a girlfriend."

"Oh. Oh!" Taiyang said. He grinned. "Why do you want to know that?"

Summer leaned in a little closer to Taiyang. She asked, "Do you want me to make it clearer for you?"

"Maybe I do," Taiyang said, waggling his eyebrows.

Over beside Raven, Qrow tapped his empty whisky glass against the table a few times, making his displeasure with what Taiyang and Summer were doing explicitly clear to precisely no one except for Raven herself. Unfortunately for Qrow, Raven didn't care in the least. The little courtship ritual she was witnessing was making her squirm in her seat. However, the worst part about the whole situation wasn't that she was feeling uncomfortable, it was that she was feeling anything at all. Letting herself be affected so strongly like this was a sign of weakness, and she knew precisely who was to blame. Ever since the incident with the beringel this morning and Summer chasing after her, strange feelings had been simmering inside of Raven. She'd done her best to ignore them, but the alcohol and the flirting were both driving them to the surface. She knew she needed to deal with what was happening quickly and decisively.

Raven drained the rest of her glass and slammed it down onto the table. She said, "Blondie, we need round two."

"Round two?" Taiyang asked. He shook his beer bottle to judge how full it was. Then he promptly chugged the rest of it.

Summer said, "But…."

"Round two!" Taiyang cheerfully said, ignoring Summer.

Raven turned to her brother. She said, "Qrow. Go with him."

"That's alright," Qrow said glumly.

"Go with him," Raven hissed. "Or I will."

Qrow must have gotten Raven's message because he suddenly sat up a lot straighter.

Summer started to say, "I could go—"

"Yeah!" Taiyang said to Qrow as he got to his feet. "Come help me pick out something special for the next round."

"Alright, Tai," Qrow said. He stood.

Taiyang and Qrow started heading toward the bar together.

Summer reached a hand out after Taiyang, but then she lowered it again. She said, "Oh well. He'll be right back."

Unseen to Summer, Raven was staring at her with an intense look. Raven was still a bit flummoxed about what was happening to her. It was clearly some misplaced carnal desire that was causing all of this, she told herself. She didn't think it had been that long since she'd pushed her way into someone's bed, but her body obviously disagreed. Fortunately, the solution was very simple. She knew what she wanted. All she had to do was not be like her brother and take it.

"You're into Blondie," Raven said to Summer.

"Hmm. Maybe," Summer said. "I wasn't sure dating a teammate would be a good idea, but…."

"But?" Raven prompted.

"But why not?" Summer asked.

"Because you can do better than him," Raven bluntly said.

Summer outright rolled her eyes. She took a drink of her daiquiri which was starting to run low. Then she set the glass down and said, "I didn't think you'd be the type to get all high and mighty on me."

"I'm just telling you the truth," Raven said.

"For once," Summer said.

Raven was actually a little surprised that Summer was standing up to her. She was starting to wonder how much Summer's daiquiri was affecting her. She asked, "When have I ever not been honest with you?"

"You didn't tell me what you did with that Dust crystal, for one," Summer said.

It took Raven a second before she realized that Summer was referring to the crystal from the initiation ceremony. She said, "That? I told you, I don't have it."

"Mmm-hmm," Summer said, clearly unconvinced.

"Don't try to change the subject," Raven said.

"Alright. Go on then," Summer said. "Who do you think would 'be better' for me than Yang?"

"Me," Raven said.

Summer looked startled for a moment. Then she laughed. However, her laughter quickly grew nervous before trailing off into awkward silence.

Eventually, Summer asked, "You?"

"Think about it this way," Raven said. "I'll never get you pregnant and leave you to raise my kid."

"What does…?! What are you even…?!" Summer sputtered. "This is a…joke, right?"

"Of course not," Raven said.

"But…we're both girls!" Summer said.

In a funny sort of way that had been exactly what Raven had wanted to hear. She'd briefly considered seducing Taiyang instead, but that would've been too easy. More to the point, there would be something so very satisfying about showing someone like Summer what she'd been missing out on.

Raven gave Summer an almost predatory grin. She said, "Yeah. We're both girls. So what?"

"Girls don't date other girls," Summer said. "It's…just not a thing that happens."

"It is. And I have," Raven said, although she knew her romantic history was less "dating" and more "sleeping around".

"But…uh…" Summer said. Her cheeks flushed, and Raven could practically see Summer's imagination begin to run wild.

Eventually, Summer shook her head. She said, "But we…we wouldn't even be able to get married!"

Raven had to swallow a laugh. She asked, "Who's talking about marriage, Sunshine? You're getting a little ahead of yourself."

Summer's cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

"If you really want to jump Blondie's bones then go for it. I don't care," Raven bluffed. "But you'd better hurry. I give him and my brother a week before they're going at it."

"Going…!" Summer exclaimed. Her eyebrows shot up to her brow line.

"Yeah. That's a thing that happens too," Raven said.

Summer just sat there, looking like someone whose whole world had just been shattered. She silently took another drink, draining the last of her daiquiri.

Raven had half a mind to just plant a kiss on Summer's lips. But for some reason she felt compelled to take things a little slower. That was certainly a first for her, but she didn't feel like questioning it. She said, "Tell you what, Sunshine. If I ever do anything you don't like, tell me to stop, and it all stops. How does that sound?"

"It sounds…fair?" Summer said.

Raven scooted her chair over until it was right next to Summer's. Then she snaked her arm back around Summer's shoulders and pulled her into a sideways embrace. Summer jumped a bit like she'd been startled, but she didn't resist.

Raven bent down and whispered into Summer's ear, "Do you know what I hate most about you? It's that I don't hate you. You want us to be friends? Congratulations, we're friends."

Summer's eyes were locked forward. She was not looking at Raven, but she quietly asked, "You mean it?"

"I do," Raven said. "But why stop there?"

Raven felt a shiver go through Summer's body. Summer was blushing so furiously now that the tops of her ears were red. Raven leaned in even closer, close enough that her breath must have been tickling Summer. She whispered, "Tell me to stop, and it stops."

"Don't…stop…" Summer breathed.

Suddenly, Taiyang and Qrow popped back up at the table. Taiyang was carrying a tray filled with over a dozen full shot glasses. He happily announced, "Time for round two!"

Raven hastily pulled away from Summer and scooted her chair back to a more friendly distance. She then proceeded to act like nothing had happened.

Taiyang slid back into his seat and set the tray down where everyone could reach it. Qrow also sat back down, although his eyes remained focused on Taiyang.

Taiyang said, "Qrow picked these out. I don't even know what some of them are!"

Summer's hand shot forward. She grabbed one of the glasses and downed it in the blink of an eye. She immediately started coughing.

"Uh…you okay, Summer?" Taiyang asked. "You're looking a little red there."

"Yup! Fine!" Summer said in a hoarse voice. "Yay round two!"

Author's Note: I have absolutely no idea how flirting works if you're straight. Hopefully Summer and Tai's dialog was a good enough approximation. Then again, what Raven did wasn't a great example of sapphic flirting either, but that's on purpose. (I'm choosing to ignore the fact that Raven's "flirting" would definitely work on me.)

I should probably also address the institutional homophobia in the room. It's not going to be a major part of the story, but at this point in Remnant's history, gay marriage is not a universal right. It's a more repressed time because, well, because that explains Summer's ignorance. Don't worry, things will get better. On Remnant anyway. (Until Salem kills everyone, but what can you do?)

Oh, and in case it wasn't clear, the waiter in this chapter was Junior of the Yellow Trailer (and Volume 2) fame. He's a young Junior here. A junior Junior if you will.

As always, I welcome constructive criticism. Please feel free to leave a review. And if you like what you've read, taking the time to favorite and/or follow really helps me out. You can also find me on tumblr (electronicyarn) if you want to send me a message or be notified of updates.