InsaneJournal

Who: Qrow and Ruby
What: A preamble to Scythe Training
When: Mid August (before Diablo plot)
Where: Qrow’s apatment
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete

As seemed to be the custom, a lot had happened in Ruby’s dreams. Mostly her first days at Beacon with road bumps with Weiss (what else was new, though they seemed to be doing okay now), falling into a familiarity as a team and giving Jaune a pep talk about being a leader and the field trip to Forever Fall and learning about Pyrrah’s semblance. But when she woke up, none of that mattered. Why? Crescent Rose had shown up!

Yes, there were the concerns she’d had even before about not being the right choice for team leader, a feeling she’d had in the dreams but that had been figured out with a talk with Professor Ozpin and proving to Weiss she could be serious (it wasn’t her fault Professor Port had seemed more interested in bragging and so she had lost interest in his lectures). Nope, all of her focus was on Crescent Rose.

Dressing quickly, the teen grabbed the weapon, yelling out a goodbye to her dad before making her way to her uncle’s house. She couldn’t wait to show Crescent Rose to him! Hence the excited knocking on the door when she got to her destination.

Qrow was not what one might refer to as a “morning person”. He could get up at a decent hour, in fact the years of having classes first thing in the morning or having papers and exams to grade that had not been done the night before had pretty much conditioned him to be up on or before 7 am. Whether or not he was functioning at that hour was an entirely different matter and usually depended on if and how much he’d drank the day or night before.

He’d been on relatively good behavior the last night, using his time to get back to the research he’d started, but had subsequently abandoned due to recent events. However, there was a new factor in the mix, one that Qrow had absolutely zero control over: The Dreams.

His weren’t coming nearly as frequently as the girls’ were. He figured that might have had something to do with the fact that he was Dreaming further along in the timeline than any of them were. Giving them a chance to catch up? Which made a certain amount of sense. But what the hell was he doing while Ruby, Yang and the others were experiencing their first semester at Beacon Academy? He had somewhat of an idea, but no details to confirm or deny it.

He wouldn’t say that his dreams were necessarily exhausting, but he was waking up the morning after having one feeling as though he hadn’t actually gone to bed the night before, which was getting old extremely fast.

The other thing getting old? Random things showing up in his house in the morning. The first thing to appear had been his weapon, a sword-scythe-gun combo that he would admit was pretty amazing. He was surprised to find the moment he picked it up, he knew exactly how it worked. It was as though the information just clicked in his mind and he’d been wielding this thing for years. The other item that had recently appeared were the clothes he wore in the Dreams. They at least hadn’t appeared in his living room, but in his closet, just hanging there as though they’d always been there, because of course they had. Qrow left them where they were, unsure what exactly to do with them now that they were here.

His weapon, though, was in his living room right on his coffee table, which was the only place Qrow thought to put it for the time being. He didn’t get a lot of visitors (or any, really, except for Ezio Auditore, who had come over randomly out of the blue one evening needing to vent), so he wasn’t concerned someone would discover it.

Qrow was looking at it as he drank that morning’s coffee, but not really thinking about the weapon specifically. It was still too early and he was still attempting to make sense of the meeting he’d had with Ozpin, Ironwood and Glynda in the Dream he’d had that morning.

The knock on his door jarred him out of his thoughts with a jolt. Jesus, what was with people just dropping by and not calling first?! With a grunt he went to answer it with the full intent to let whoever it was standing on his front steps attempting to sell him something have it full blast. The intent vanished when he saw Ruby through the window. Of course the girl would be wide awake at this hour.

“It’s a little early in the mornin’ don’tcha think, kiddo?” Qrow yawned as he opened the door.

“It is? Oh no, I didn’t wake you did I? I’m sorry!” Because of course Ruby was awake and already at full energy. She could sit and focus when it was related to school and projects because it was something to focus her energy into, but she also tended to just wake up and be ready to go and keep going through the entire day. Which meant she tended to not pay attention to what time it might be, especially when she was excited about something.

And she was excited about something, which was why in the next breath she jumped into the reason she had shown up unannounced this time.

“Crescent Rose showed up and it’s really cool and we should definitely practice!” It was one of the reasons she hadn’t gone to Yang or Blake about this. Well okay she didn’t know if Blake had her weapon or not, and while she definitely could go train with Yang it had been Qrow who had trained her in the dreams so her first instinct was to go see her uncle.

Who she realized might not even have his own weapon.

“I mean, if you have your weapon. But it might not have shown up now that I think about it. I don’t know how Crescent Rose showed up besides just being there,” and thankfully her dad had been out at the gym so there weren’t awkward questions. “Which if not, um…” and she had no real response to what to do if it turned out her uncle hadn’t gotten his own weapon.

Qrow would never be able to consume enough caffeine to be even half as energetic as Ruby first thing in the morning. He stood just inside his door and let the girl get the first energy burst out of her system. It didn’t do any good to try to interrupt until she came up for air. A second wave would come shortly. Maybe by then, Qrow’s coffee would have kicked in.

He did have to admit that hearing that Ruby had gotten Crescent Rose had woken him up more. These Dreams had some incredible timing. He’d wanted to take a look at the scythe-shotgun since he’d seen Ruby wield it during the tournament in the Dreams. She was fantastic with it. It made him proud.

He kept his own excitement at a 1 for now, though. Tease the girl a little bit for banging at his door at this early hour. “You didn’t wake me,” he assured her. He was still in a pair of pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, but it was just barely 7:30 here and in the middle of summer. Not like he had any classes to go lecture.

“Come in, Miss Excited-pants,” he took a step to the side and motioned Ruby in. “Did you even eat breakfast yet? Yeesh. Take a breath and go wait in the living room while I get you some cereal or something.”

Can’t train on an empty stomach, after all.

As Qrow stood to the side, Ruby stepped inside still caught up in the excitement of Crescent Rose’s arrival. Because really, she had heard people talk about items showing up but this was the first time it had happened for her and it was just really exciting and thus the most important thing of the day.

“Okay, that’s a relief.” Because she really would feel bad if she had woken her uncle up in her excitement. Just sometimes things happened and things like paying attention to time weren’t as important. Or Ruby just happened to run on a completely different frequency than anyone else which was also a possibility. Though the question did give her pause.

“Um……” Which was answer enough. Just like how she tended to be very excitable and have way too much energy in the morning, it also wasn’t uncommon for her to forget to eat if she were either too focused on a project or excited about something. Laughing awkwardly, Ruby scratched the back of her head before nodding, “Thanks, Uncle Qrow.” And then it was heading into the living room only to see her uncle’s scythe.

“So cool you have yours as well!!” Well now she had another weapon to look at at while her uncle got her cereal. So much better than people.

In the kitchen, Qrow counted the second before Ruby discovered his sword-scythe-gun (Swyun? Scygurd? The hell did you call that thing?) on the coffee table. Five seconds. Not bad.

The weapon itself was in its resting mode, looking as though someone had taken a sword and had, literally, bent it in half. It made carrying it a lot easier, but also made it difficult for anyone to look at it and easily determine just what it was supposed to be.

That was kind of a theme with weapons in their Dreams, Qrow had discovered. Not many of them were only what they appeared to be. A long-gun was also a spear. A giant war hammer was also a grenade launcher. Melee weapons doubling as firepowered range weapons was extremely common, not to mention useful. So far Qrow had only seen two swords that were, in fact, only swords. However, considering how much Dust Weiss had crammed into her rapier, it almost wasn’t just a sword.

Qrow brought a bowl of cereal and a banana to the living room for Ruby. “Pretty neat, huh?” He asked, handing the bowl to her.

Because Ruby had needed to make her way to her uncle’s, Crescent Rose was still in its inactive mode, clipped onto the belt she had over her skirt just as she would carry it in the dreams. Only without the red cloak that she wore. No one had stopped her though, so it was all good.

Even in resting mode, Ruby was entranced by the weapon. But that wasn’t completely shocking, as she tended to get that way with any sort of weapon in the dreams, and engineering project in the waking world. Besides, she’d get to see it in all its glory once she ate so that she and Qrow could practice. The weapons in general were just fascinating because everyone had to make their own, or at least they did at Signal. They were extensions of the Hunters and Huntresses, unique to their fighting styles. So not only were they never just what they appeared to be, they were also individualized as well.

As her uncle came into the living room, Ruby finally tore her eyes away from his own weapon and took the cereal.

“It’s very neat.” Because this was Ruby, so of course she’d be excited by it. Still she at least was going to remember to eat first instead of getting caught up in all the excitement of the morning.

Qrow knew that look, when something caught his niece’s attention and made her forget just about everything else around her. “Wait until you see it in action,” he said. Ruby’s Dreams hadn’t caught up with his, she hadn’t seen the impromptu match between him and Winter (yet).

“Here you go, kiddo,” he handed her the bowl of cereal. “Eat up.” He took a step back, glancing between her and her weapon and the sword on his table. Qrow still felt as though something was on the horizon and that their Dreams were preparing them for it. And even if it wasn’t the grimm, it really was only a matter of time before something else decided to show up. It would be a good idea to make sure Ruby knew how to use Crescent Rose first.

It was just a matter of finding a place where they could do that. Qrow had neighbors on either side of him and he wasn’t sure they would understand (or appreciate) the two of them using their weapons in his backyard. Not that it was a very big backyard, either. More like a postage stamp of grass with a stick of a tree in the middle.

“I can’t wait!” And she couldn’t even though it would only be a half hour at most until she got to see it in action. But it was just there and waiting to be used! And then a reminder and cereal bowl in hand.

“Oh. Right.” The most intelligent of responses for getting food, but she was in her completely distracted mode which required a constant reminder to do things like eat. There had been days that would go by where she’d forget because she was so caught up in a project or reverse engineering something. But first, eating.

They could worry about where to practice after that was done even if Ruby would be quite content to start practice right away. Which wasn’t an option. She wasn’t really thinking of anything that might get thrown at them despite her awareness that strange things could happen there. No, she was just excited to see the two weapons in action. Which was why she ate as quickly as possible. The sooner to get to practice.

Qrow watched his niece devour her food, her eyes hardly leaving the weapon on the coffee table. He wondered if he’d ever been so excited about anything that he’d literally forgotten to eat. Maybe. A long time ago. But he honestly couldn’t remember. It was important to him that Ruby maintain that aspect of her personality for as long as possible. So long as she didn’t choke on her cereal first.

“Slow down, kiddo,” he chuckled. “Breathe between bites.” He picked up his coffee again and resumed drinking it. Ruby’s excitement was a little contagious. Qrow could feel it in his chest, a growing desire and pressing need to get his hands on the hilt of his sword and actually use the damn thing instead of just look at it.

Already he was thinking of places the two of them could go. As populated as Orange County was, there was also a lot of land on the outskirts. Farm land. Unincorporated land. A good place for them to go and no one would even hear them, much less see the complex weapons in action. He felt a grin start pulling on his face. “I think I know a place we can go and try these out.”

Right. Not choking on cereal would be a good thing. She could do that, really! Mostly? She would make sure not to only because it would interfere with getting to try out their weapons and getting to see the scythe in action. So through a strong feat of determination, Ruby managed to slow down eating so that she actually also breathed as well.

Still, she wouldn’t be her if she didn’t find excitement in such things. Okay, eating and---

“You do? That’s awesome!” Because Ruby hadn’t really thought about the where they could practice as she’d been too caught up in her excitement. But of course it also meant that her cereal was forgotten again. “Where will we be going?”

Qrow drank his coffee while Ruby attempted to eat her cereal slowly -- or slow enough that she could actually chew it instead of swallowing it whole. He tapped the palm of one hand against his coffee mug. “I’m thinking it’ll be best if we go outta town,” he said. His eyes were again on Crescent Rose attached to Ruby’s hip. “If I remember correctly, your scythe is also a sniper rifle, right? Mine’s a shotgun, so if we want to shoot, we’re going to have to go somewhere where we aren’t going to bother anyone. So I’m thinking probably out of town. Might be a bit of a drive, though,” he raised a brow at Ruby. “Think you can sit through a car ride?”

And she was finished with the cereal and didn’t choke on it! Accomplishment one of the day! Even knowing that Qrow shared the same dreamworld and had helped her in said dreams when it came to training, there was still that one part of her that always seemed shocked he knew these things. But then again, he was Uncle Qrow, of course he knew these sorts of things.

“Yep! But that would probably be a good idea.” Of course then there was the question. Could she sit through a car ride? She really wanted to get to training however she also knew that Qrow had a point. “I can definitely sit through a car ride.”

Mostly. She might be bouncing in anticipation, but she could handle a car ride.

There was quite a bit about Uncle Qrow that Ruby would have found surprising, in both realities. This was one of the few that he didn’t mind sharing with her.

He watched her bounce on her feet a little, a brow raised. He believed she could sit through a car ride, but she might make the entire vehicle vibrate in her anticipation. He gave her a grin before draining what was left in his mug. “Alright. Here’s what we’re gonna do then. I am going to go upstairs, shower and change. While I do that, you are going to pack us a lunch and a few snacks.” Because it was better to give Ruby an activity to do while she waited, otherwise the poor girl might explode. And since they were probably going to make a day out of this, they were going to need (and want) a lunch anyway. “I got cold cuts, cheese in the fridge. Make us a couple of sandwiches and a list of snacks for us to pick up. We’ll pick up a couple of bottles of water on the way too. Alright?”

Giving Ruby something to do was definitely a good idea. It would allow her to focus her energy into something else for the time being and it would make the wait go that much faster.

“Yep! I can do that!”

Of course she could, and thus Ruby promptly took the now empty cereal bowl and coffee mug into the kitchen to wash those and whatever other dishes might be out and then to make the sandwiches and snacks. All with the same energy she always had, smiling to herself as she did so.