Well, let's cut to the chase today.
merendinoemiliano: Thanks for the review
Me-B-Louie-G: Well, this version of the Branwen Tribe is no less awful than the canon one, but they look after each other, which may be a redeeming quality in the eyes of someone. In mine, it isn't, so I say they are just awful. I, too, haven't watched Mandalorian, tho.
ER-47: Thanks for the review
Today was a special day. Kemuri would take him, Rowan, and some other children to their first hunt. Fawn was not confident in what was going to transpire today. There were too many variables that could go wrong.
His gut told him that it would go wrong.
Fawn had no reason to distrust his gut just yet. "Today, you are too young to practice it yourselves, but you will be shown how to hunt." They all nodded. Fawn wodnered if Kemuri would allow them to take the life of whatever animal he crippled in this hunt.
Creepily, it seemed fit for a tribe like the Branwen to desensitize children to death and killing to do their binding. He still remembered Qrow talking about how pleasant the Branwen lot were.
He shook his head— no reason to nurture those thoughts right now.
As he promised, Kemuri took them to "hunt". He pulled the string back and released it towards a passing deer.
It was hit on the shoulder. The older children looked confused at them. They thought he should've shot to kill, but Fawn knew better.
A bleeding deer wouldn't go that far. They could track it by its blood. It was already dead and didn't know it. Efficacy above morality and mercy.
A quick death would've been merciful, but not particularly feasible with ordinary bow and arrow, not without great skill and ability, which they lacked.
Kemuri was showing them how it was done by normal people. Those without aura or abilities. Just a glance at the man, and he knew Kemuri was strong and above average as a warrior.
They followed the trails left by the wounded deer. Kemuri gave them tips on how to notice and follow tracks. It was a hard process, especially in a body with limbs so short, but Fawn managed to grit his teeth and push himself a little further each time.
They eventually found the deer, exhausted, on the ground, bleeding out. Kemuri stood over it, placing his Geist mask over his face.
"Do you want to know how it feels to kill? When you are older, you are going to do this a lot. This is just the first step in becoming a hunter. A member of the Branwen." Kemuri offered them a knife to slit its throat. Get their first kill, the first blood. The children looked at each other, scared.
They were scared of the thought of killing a living, breathing being. It was not like stomping on ants or making insects suffer. It was a being like them, with the spark of life in its eyes. They hesitated. Fawn didn't.
He walked forward and took the knife offered to them. He looked the deer in the eye, and slit its throat. His hands didn't shake, he had no emotion in his eyes. It was a life, but back on Earth, they did things so much worse to animals.
Industrial farms, exploitation, and abuse. Such a simple death, to sustain, teach children how to hunt, was a worthier death than that of farm animals on earth. Besides, Fawn couldn't let children take their first kill so callously.
They would be taught how to deal with death and violence; they were in the Branwen Tribe, after all, but until their time came, Fawn would gladly take the weight out of their hands and onto his.
"This is how it is done?" Fawn asked coyly. He could not see Kemuri's face, but underneath the mask, the older Branwen had a smile, a proud smile over his face.
He knew the boy's instincts were sharp. He would grow to become a great Branwen.
(...)
Raven was worried for Fawn. He went on his first hunting trip with Kemuri. From what she heard, he did well. Too well. He also took the first kill. Raven feared she had failed Mose, failed her son.
He was way too small to take the first kill, to walk past his peers and do it. She never trained him or prepared his mind to do it. She was scared of the damage it could do to someone so young. She wanted to fly to him immediately, but if she did that, her worries and doubts would show, which would be unbecoming of a leader.
She could not allow this to happen, but she also wished to check on her surrogate son.
When he got back home, Raven almost jumped on him. Her arms rested on his shoulder as she knelt, her red eyes staring deeply into his orange-ish red eyes.
She looked deep in his eyes, but saw nothing. He seemed normal, unbothered even. "Fawn. I heard you went on your first hunt. Did everything go alright?"
Fawn nodded. Raven sighed, but she knew some things hid beneath the skin, away from prying eyes. She hugged him tightly. "If you ever need to talk about anything, if… You feel a weight on your shoulders. Come talk to me, okay?"
Raven was not good at helping others. It was a Taiyang thing, but she had to try. She was not geared up to be a mother, but if she abandoned another child, she would lose any excuse, her last piece of humanity.
The last chains of her modicum of morality. Fawn nodded again. "I will, Raven." His voice was serene, calm. Raven bit on her lip, but said nothing, just holding him tight. She hoped his calm and peace of mind were not an indicator of a bigger, underlying issue.
If it was indeed an underlying problem, she knew the more traditional members of the Tribe would not see it as a problem, but a quality. Fawn hugged her back. "Don't worry, Raven. I'm okay. I'm alright."
Instead of comforting him, Raven was the one who felt comforted, as if the weight on her shoulders was lifted. She dropped her lip and rested her head on his small shoulder.
She was relieved. It was strange that she, a grown-up, felt so relieved by his words. She was almost ashamed of herself.
"Kiddo, never do anything stupid." With a sigh, she got up. "Take a bath, and go to sleep. This is non-negotiable." Fawn yawned.
He exited the tent and went to the tribe's communal bath. Raven had other problems for now.
A portal opened behind her, and she flew away into it.
(scenebreak)
Raven stared at her child. Her actual one. She slept peacefully with her younger sister. Taiyang and Summer were in another room. If they weren't, she wouldn't dare to spy on her child.
She wondered how Yang would feel if she knew that she was raising someone else, that she had abandoned Yang to raise someone else's child.
Of course, the truth was not that simple. Yang was not raised in the tribe, she didn't know their shaky unity and their traditions. Her friends, her "family" with the Branwens.
She wanted Yang to one day understand her, but Raven knew it wouldn't be possible.
Her ears picked up on something. Summer and Taiyang were having a shouting match in the other room.
Something about a dangerous mission.
They tried to conceal their voices, not to awaken their children, but Raven knew better. She heard the anger undertones in their words.
Raven flew away.
(scenebreak)
Months passed, and spring turned into fall, and then into winter.
Fawn saw what transformations the seasons brought to the world, the new animals that Kemuri taught them to hunt and kill. The tribe was relocating to somewhere nicer for them.
The strange sadness and irritable mood that afflicted Raven, which Fawn was fully aware of the root of it.
The journey wasn't that bad, aside from the constant walking. They had horses and carts to carry their stuff as they made their way through the snow.
Fawn was growing older, and soon his combat lessons would start. He knew that Rowan was already being trained in combat and hunting.
Since it was the world of RWBY, Fawn had something to think about. Such as his future weapon. Maybe it was finally time for him to break out of his shell and explore the tribe properly once they relocated, instead of sticking to the school, Raven's tent, and the lake, to learn about their traditions and what weapons the tribe preferred.
If Raven was any indication, he guessed they all preferred eastern weapons rather than western ones, but Qrow was also a thing, he and his greatsword-scythe-shotgun hybrid. Amongst his deep and more serious thoughts, a small and inconsequential one blossomed.
'I hope our new "home" has a lake too.' He loved to throw pebbles at it. It was a little fun that Fawn didn't want to give up on.
His eyes closed. He was on top of luggage, on top of a horse. It felt so good to be there, warm amidst the cold. Someone scratched his ear, and Fawn forced one eye open.
She wore her mask, so Fawn couldn't discern what emotion was on her face or her thoughts. ''m roughly seven years. old This must be around the time Summer died, I think.' His memories were getting hazier, and exact information was escaping his grasp, but the memories of important events of the show remained.
Summer Rose's death was one of those core memories, and if Summer is already dead, it must mean that soon Yang will go on her whimsical journey through the woods to try and find Raven.
'When it did happen, although?' Maybe it already happened, or it was about to happen, anyway. Fawn couldn't do anything about it, anyhow, but he wondered how Raven would react to that event…
As if sensing something was wrong, Raven tensed. Her scratch slightly hurt his ear, enough to snap both of his eyes open. Something was amiss.
That's it for today. See ya.