Winter had planned to return to the troops after leaving the CCT, but Qrow had other plans.
Not that he made her come, but she just followed him until she realized they were going the wrong way.
"Feel free to go, but I have two missions." Qrow made it sound like it was such a chore to do work for Shine. "Scouting around for a hiding place--really, it's like she doesn't trust me at all. Raven gets to tail the weirdos."
Winter thought Shine was pretty good at dishing out karma.
"Perhaps if you made it through one thing she said without complaining," she suggested, "she'd give you more complex things to do... But then, communication was never your strong point."
"Says the person who's also been grounded," Qrow shot back.
"I had a medical excuse. That's completely different." Winter had a good comeback.
Qrow rolled his eyes, then consulted his scroll. "Well, marking off all the places Theo already frequents, doesn't leave the most savory options, but I know a few people around here. Most I wouldn't trust to watch my shoes in a locker room, but in a fight..."
"Was that visual really necessary?" Winter closed her eyes.
"Oh, you're still here?" Qrow pretended he'd forgotten.
"I suppose I should inspect whatever ill reputed establishment you find to make sure it's suitable," Winter said haughtily. "There will be children present."
"Like I can't figure it out," Qrow said, annoyed. "I've got this. You don't need to be here."
"I missed the part where I had to take orders from you," Winter replied coolly. "I'm sure Miss Likstar would trust my assessment more than yours anyway. I can work my way back to the camp from here."
"Just one little problem with that," Qrow said. "Did you forget that Vacuo hates you? You'll blow my cover."
"I'm sure they can't suspect much of anyone going into a...tavern." Winter hated the word "bar".
"If you don't order, sure they will," Qrow said.
"I'll handle it." Winter was starting to get offended by this.
"Oh, sure you will." Qrow didn't buy it. "Well--then again, what am I worried about? You'd never get past the threshold anyway. I'm pretty sure Schnees faint at the sight of riffraff."
"If that were true I wouldn't still be conscious now," Winter shot back hotly.
She really was getting better at the retorts; Qrow had to admit that stung a little.
But, convinced that Winter would certainly lose her nerve once they got close, he decided it would be funny to watch this.
And he had just the place, too.
[Anyone else getting Tangled Snuggly Duckling vibes?]
Winter was not as sure about this as she wanted to sound... She still didn't like this idea and wondered that Miss Likstar was encouraging it at all. Sure, it was a good cover, but were they really going to stoop so low? They couldn't find an inn or something?
[Oh, that's cute--she thinks there's an inn in Vacuo that's not also a tavern.]
One promising establishment, that bore the epithet Half Cocked on the sign outside with an image of a broken gun, seemed like a good place to start.
Winter didn't like the look of it.
"This can't be the best option," she said aloud.
"We're looking for run down," Qrow said. "Something that no one would never expect anyone from Atlas to step inside. Seems like I'm on the right track. And you can just wait here--or better yet, leave."
"No." Winter squared her shoulders. "I'm going to inspect the whole thing."
"I wouldn't inspect it too closely," Qrow said.
The smell from the street outside the place was enough to prove his words were wise.
The door was kind of rusty and creaked when Qrow opened it.
The scene wasn't anything that new to him--a lot of shady looking people around.
Winter, following, thought at first it was horrid...but then she thought, all in all, it could have been worse. She should just pretend it was like Mantle--granted, it had been ages since she'd actually worked in Mantle directly, and she hadn't interacted with that many people when she had, but, as long as no one started any altercations, she was fine.
Qrow seriously thought she'd leave as soon as she stepped inside, but when that didn't happen, he shrugged and headed toward the counter.
The person behind it looked up at him with a wary expression.
"Eh, Qrow?" One of the men sitting at the counter looked up. "Qrow Branwen? No freaking way."
Qrow recognized the person as one he'd met a few times in Vacuo... He thought he knew Theo too.
"Oh, hey," he said. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.
"I started to think you'd died along with the rest of Beacon," the fellow, Big Mac was his name, said. "Hey, Cody, give this man a whiskey. Bottom shelf."
"Actually, that's fine. I'm not thirsty," Qrow said...not that it wasn't tempting...
He could just feel Winter's eyes boring into his back though.
Come to think of it, she hadn't followed him. What was she doing?
The answer to that was Winter hadn't followed because she'd been interrupted by someone who was sitting by the door, who looked her up and down and whistled.
"That's some fancy outfit," they said.
A rough looking woman stepped closer too.
"That's not just an outfit," she said, looking Winter up and down also. "That's an uniform."
Winter thought she really should have changed her outfit a little before doing this...oops.
Oh well, nothing to do but act indifferent.
She held her chin high and pretended they weren't there.
Big mistake.
"Aren't you from Atlas?" said the woman.
Winter made no answer.
Second big mistake.
"She asked you a question," the fellow who was sitting by the door said.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, b----." The woman snapped her fingers in front of Winter's face.
Winter gave her a cold look. "Step aside," she said.
"It's an Atlesian all right," the woman said. "Ain't no one else around here have that kind of lip. What brings you to this little POS bar. Felt like slumming it?"
Winter could feel more people in the room looking at the commotion.
Uh oh.
Might be to just get out now--no, that would look even more suspicious.
"It's none of your business," she said instead.
"They rush to put on airs," the man said, standing up, "considering they're trespassing on our turf. Hey, don't you know you gotta pay a fine to do that, if you're from outside the kingdom?"
Utter BS and Winter knew it.
"I suggest you stop talking," she said coolly. "I'd prefer not to remember you any longer than necessary."
"That's big talk coming from such a little lady," the guy said, not very nicely.
"I think her head is up her a--," the woman said roughly. [I can't help but hear her lines in a Scottish accent for some reason.] "Maybe we should take her down a peg or two."
"You read my mind." The guy reached for Winter.
Well, you can guess what happened next.
Right in the middle of Qrow's conversation with Mac, a glyph sling-shotted the woman into the counter hard enough to be heard all over the room.
At the same time a summoned Grimm had the man pinned into the side wall, snarling.
Of course the entire room got up to look at Winter.
"Great..." Qrow said. "There went the low profile."
"Is that Winter Schnee?" Cody said, frowning. "What is Atlas Military doing in here?"
"That's her. That's her Semblance," Big Mac confirmed. "I'd know a Schnee anywhere. They all have the cold, distant look."
A few people charged Winter even after seeing that, angry that their fellow citizens had just been shot across the room.
To say Winter made short work of smacking them all aside would be an understatement.
Qrow sighed. "Better order that whiskey on the rocks," he said to Cody.
"Now you want it?" Cody said.
"Not for me, for them," Qrow nodded. "I have a feeling they're going to need it."
"I think we can take her, Qrow," Big Mac said. "Come on, what do you say? I know you're good in a scrap. We can teach that cocky b---- some manners."
"First of all," Qrow said, "there's not a person alive who could do that, and second, I'm afraid I can't help you."
He leaned back complacently. "She's kind of with me."
"Like...with you?" Cody said suggestively.
"Nothing like that. Just looking for something, that's all," Qrow said.
"Wait, you mean...you're working with Atlas?" Big Mac frowned. "You know, I heard that, but I was sure it wasn't true. You never would. You hate Atlas."
"Things change a lot in a few months," Qrow said. "I'm not happy about it, but it is what is it."
"So we have you to think for this?" Cody said, scowling at him.
"Anyone else of you want to try, or are we done here?" Winter said, looking miffed.
She was not helping!
Qrow decided to try to diffuse this situation while he still could.
"All right, everyone--" He stood up and held up his hands. "Let's not jump the gun. This isn't about Atlas, all right? Just two people looking for a place to lie low."
That was technically true.
"Oh, well, you can lie low in hell," the woman said, getting up and rubbing her shoulder.
"Yeah, let's teach them some respect for Vacuo," another person cheered.
Qrow glanced at Winter. "Run," he said.
"Oh, like h---," Winter swore before she realized she was doing it.
Had she lost her mind? This was a whole bar of enemies!
Qrow thought he could probably take at least half of them on his own, but not if he had to keep an eye on someone else.
And he'd never hear the end of it if anything happened to Winter because of some punks while he was on the job! Raven would laugh at him for the rest of his probably short life.
In Vacuo you didn't stand on ceremony, people just attacked once they got mad, and that was exactly what happened.
Cody ducked behind the counter while everyone else in the place practically rushed at them.
Qrow pulled out his sword and slammed a few people till he got across the room.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" he said to Winter, who was making summonings to keep them all at bay.
"They started it," she said.
"What do you want, a gold medal? This is exactly why you weren't supposed to come in here," Qrow said.
"And I thought you said I couldn't handle it." Winter smacked one of them aside. "I seem to be handling it just fine."
"Just fine? Wait till they get started!" Qrow had seen bar fights literally every single time he visited this area for longer than a few hours--and while they usually amounted to nothing overall, there was a reason that half the chairs in the room were missing part of a leg or their backs, and the tables all had scratch and burn marks all over them.
Then something hit him in the back of the head, and he got pissed.
Oh, they wanted it that way? Fine!
Qrow swung his sword and knocked at least three people back with ease.
You know, you try to play it cool, you try to act responsible, Qrow thought, and in the end some people just want to fight, no matter what... This was why he never bothered acting professional.
Winter really thought the punks would back down after just a few of them were knocked aside, taking them to be cowards...but she didn't know Vacuo. Being tough was the name of the game, and it only made the others more intent to stop her.
Admittedly, she would have been in trouble if Qrow hadn't also been fighting; there were too many people for one person, even one who could summon...though that certainly gave her an edge.
A whole flock of Nevermores wound around the room and knocked a lot of people down.
That surprised a few of them, and they backed off a little, wary of attacking her directly.
Some got behind furniture and started firing pot shots that didn't do that much damage. Winter deflected them with one of her glyphs, and Qrow used his sword.
Aside from the part where they were blowing their cover, he was almost starting to enjoy this. These people were total pushovers, but with so many of them it was almost like a real challenge.
The next few minutes had a lot of running around the room, dodging and striking, and some people ended up with black eyes or bleeding noses but no serious injuries... One person might have broken their ankle tripping, though... That was Qrow's Semblance taking effect.
"They couldn't just let us go, could they?" Qrow finally said, when a good half of the thugs were already down.
Winter's hair was all in her face now, but she didn't seem that unhappy about this turn of events. "Their mistake," she said fiercely.
"You know, Schnee, I've heard that taking out your problems on other people is actually a bad thing," Qrow said.
"And I need your advice on that?" Winter shot back. "If you don't want to fight, leave. I've had it with this kingdom and their utter lack of respect!"
"You want respect, lady? Respect this." One of them threw a whole table at her... It was Big Mac, actually.
Winter ducked, and Qrow cut it in half, just barely.
"Oh, that was just a cheap shot," he said. "Really, Mac, I expected more from you."
"Could you not say that in a way that makes it sound like he should throw the rest of the furniture in this direction?" Winter had no notion of being funny, but some of them laughed at that roughly.
"Hey, she's not half bad," one of them said. "This could actually be kind of fun. But don't get too cocky, Schnee--we haven't even started to really break out the dust yet."
"You think I'm worried about dust?" Winter said.
"In case you need a reminder, don't use your special power in here," Qrow hissed. "Not worth it."
"I know that. I don't need that to beat a bunch of arrogant hooligans," Winter said. "Just stay out of my way."
"Out of your way? I'm pretty sure I've taken out more of the guys that you have," Qrow said.
"Are you blind? I had a two-person head start," Winter argued.
"That was just at the beginning. I've taken out way more since then," Qrow said.
"That is a complete falsehood," Winter said.
"Uh," one person said. "You two want to go have this out privately in the back, or can we keep fighting?"
"What he said." Qrow opened his sword into a scythe.
Well...that scared a few of them who must have known who he was.
"Hey, man, I'm not crazy," one person said to his buddy. "You're on your own."
He ran for it.
Winter smirked.
Then out of one of her glyphs, the disgusting spider Grimm she'd killed a few days ago, appeared, almost as large as life.
All of them stared at it.
"Oh, h--- no," one said.
Winter actually ducked under its legs so that it was kind of forming sort of protective pillars around her, and it charged at them.
Some of them ran for it right then. They must not have liked bugs.
The others who attacked, Winter used her new cover to counterattack really fast, combining her glyphs with the summoning.
Qrow had to admit that was pretty impressive.
Well, he couldn't let her have all the fun.
He took out, like, 6 of the people with one swinging attack.
Cody had started putting away his good glasses--which weren't many.
No one was sure exactly when it happened, but suddenly all the people in the bar were either down or had backed off or were injured and out of the fight, and Qrow and Winter were just standing there, waiting for someone else to attack.
Seeing no one was going to, Qrow put his scythe away.
Winter was breathing hard, but she put her sword away and straightened, with an icy glance at all of them.
"So how about that whiskey?" Qrow asked Cody.
Some of the vagrants laughed at that.
"I think you've earned it at this point," Cody said. "But then, you owe me for those two tables you just broke."
"Take it up with the people who started it." Winter was still mad. "This is the sorriest bunch of scoundrels I have ever had the displeasure of fighting, not that I expected any different of this kingdom. And you call yourselves huntsmen?"
"Oh, take it easy, lady," one of them said, rubbing their arm. "You already whipped us--don't kick someone while they're down."
"As if I need to do that," Winter sniffed. "I think you've been kicked enough already."
"No one likes a sore winner," Qrow said.
"Or whiners." Winter looked down at them disdainfully.
Some more of them laughed.
"That wasn't bad," one said.
The woman who'd started the whole thing picked herself up, rubbing the shiner on her face, and smirked. "Schnee, was it? Hey, you're not bad. I wouldn't have thought any chick from Atlas could hold her own in a brawl. You wouldn't happen to know Joanna, would you?"
"Robyn's Joanna?" Qrow said.
"Robyn Hill's?" the woman said. "Oh, well, are you friends with them?"
"We're...working together..." Winter wasn't going to say friends.
"Oh, well, in that case, pull up a chair," the woman said.
She picked up one of the kicked over stools. "The Happy Huntresses are some of us, if you get my drift."
"Have they been here?" Qrow said.
"Eh, not here, but around," the woman said. "Actually, Joanna's my cousin."
She looked like it, too.
"You're kidding," Qrow said.
"Nope." The woman shrugged. "Name's Cerry."
She held out a hand.
Qrow actually took it. Winter wouldn't have.
"Cerry?" Qrow said.
"Cerulean," the woman said.
Where Joanna's hair was green, hers was this dark-blueish color. Not quite as short, but she was huge, just like her.
"Cerulean Skye," the woman added. "S---, you should have just said right off that you were tight with the Double Hs. We're all for sticking it to those Atlas snobs. Go Mantle and all that."
"I'm from Atlas." Winter frowned at her.
"Sucks to be you then," Cerry said. "Could have fooled me. You've got a devil of a temper, don't you?"
"Oh, sure she does," Qrow said before Winter could answer. "She's crazy."
"Shut up," Winter said to him.
Qrow shot her a look like "don't be stupid."
"How crazy?" Some of the others were gathering around again, and they seemed to be on the fence about whether or not to let the whole thing go.
"Crazy enough to tear up the courtyard of Beacon over a squabble," Qrow said smoothly. "Even with General Ironwood watching."
This was stretching the truth a little bit, but it got a round of laughter from them.
"Eh-yo," someone said.
"That's right!"
"That's what I'm talking about. Suck it, Ironwood."
"Well, in that case, you two really should sit down and tell us what it is you want," Cerry said. "I mean, you came all the way in here to hand our a---s to us. Must be important."
"After all that--" Winter began.
"Sure," Qrow cut in. "Let's talk."
* * *
About an hour and a half later, Qrow was old friends with a bunch of the people, including Cerry and Cody--who thought the whole thing was a good joke apparently, despite his ruined furniture.
Winter was silent during the whole interaction, not sure exactly how she got here...
Qrow didn't want to tell them the truth, but when he said his team was looking for a place to hang out on the sly, no one batted an eyelash...had to be a common occurrence in this kingdom.
No one even questioned that the people who were holed up in Shade Academy were looking for somewhere else to meet.
Cody said they could come back anytime for a round two, but they needed to bring their own chairs next time.
"You got it," Qrow said.
Winter was only too eager to finally get out of there.
"Well, that went better than I thought," Qrow said, once they were outside and away from it.
"What just happened?" Winter was still reeling. "I thought we were going to leave after that...skirmish."
"Oh, heck no, you never leave after a skirmish in Vacuo," Qrow said. "That would look stuck up. You sit around having a drink or whatever and settle your differences. It's like a rite of passage to be accepted around here."
"That's stupid," Winter said.
"Eh, to Atlas, I guess," Qrow said. "The two philosophies are completely different. Atlas believes that strength means not needing to fight, and if you do fight, it's a total annihilation so that your enemy doesn't even get up again. In Vacuo fighting is just how you show your stuff, and you're friends afterward, as long as you don't fight dirty."
"It seems uncouth," Winter said.
"Then why did you do it?" Qrow was loving the irony of this.
"I... they..." Winter sputtered. Then, "Why did you?"
"It's not like it was the first time I had to brawl," Qrow said. "First time I was ever here I got into, like, three fights in the same week. They got tired of losing."
Winter rolled her eyes at the bragging.
"What? Not fancy enough for you?" Qrow said. "Prefer the courtyard? More refined."
She shot him a death glare.
"What? They loved it," Qrow said. "What are you so touchy about? We got out of there alive."
"It's..." Winter paused. "Oh, you wouldn't understand in the least. Why should I explain it to you?"
"What? It's embarrassing?" Qrow said. "Losing your temper is something to be ashamed of, is that it?"
Well...if he was just going to say it.
Winter looked at the ground.
Her regiment would be horrified...
Well...to be fair, Elm probably wouldn't have cared.
And Weiss...!
"You're really that concerned about what people think?" Qrow said, like that was stupid.
"Of course not," Winter said. "Like I'd care about what the opinion of some drunken fools was..." Of course that was insulting to Qrow... "Anyway they don't even know anything about us," she amended. "It's just...Atlas prides itself on being prestigious and self controlled, always cool headed in a crisis. I have always striven to be the embodiment of that. But...more than anyone else in my rank, I let my emotions get the better of me. As you have proof..." She frowned.
"I'm surprised you admitted that," Qrow said.
"It was obvious," Winter said.
"Yeah, but still, admitting it, doesn't that make it worse?"
Winter frowned at him frostily. "Fine, rub it in," she said. "I don't care."
That wasn't true.
"I'm not rubbing it in exactly," Qrow said. "I just can't picture the Winter Schnee of two months ago saying any of what you just said. This place is getting to you."
He might be right... Was this what became of her training? You lose Atlas and suddenly it's not worth it anymore. Idealism just coming down to public opinion not being able to scourge her in front of everyone. She just tossed aside all those principles like it was nothing?
Well, it said a lot about how much she really had ever embodied them!
"Atlas sure puts weird ideas into people's heads." Qrow thought it was dumb. "Most women--or men--who just stomped an entire tavern of people would be feeling pretty good, not worried about their professional standards."
Silence.
"At least I had fun," Qrow said, casually. "But that's me and my reprobate self, I suppose. Still, I don't get why you're so bothered by it. It doesn't matter anymore--Jimmy's not here to bust you."
"You see, that right there, that's insulting," Winter said. "As if that's the only reason I care about it. I'm not a little girl! I can have my own standards, thank you very much."
"That's it, you're not a little girl." Qrow probably shouldn't have said that the way he did. "That's my point. Daddy's not going to come ground you for misbehaving or whatever. So what? If you think you made the right call, that's all there is to it. Somehow, you do what needs to be done. It's not always pretty, but it's what it is. And in Vacuo, like I said, that's just normal. Those buffoons, as you call them, they're not just unprincipled losers all the time. Some of them are just sick of the infighting of all the other kingdoms who push people around over stupid things like status and race. They expect people to be able to earn their own stripes. And personally, I don't see a problem with that. Say what you will about acting professional, but the fact is, it doesn't work on everyone. You have to adapt. That's reality. Theo always went on about that in Atlas too. Like he said, they expect everyone else to do what they want. They shove their standards down everyone else's throat just because they're the best."
"I see," Winter said. "And you resent this about Atlas? But what is wrong with trying to be excellent?"
"Nothing, I guess," Qrow said. "It's just how they do it. People would rather be liked and accepted however they are, than be surrounded by people who might be the best but who look down at all of them. No one wants to be compared to perfection. In the end, even Atlas can't live up to its own hype. Vacuo has to be feeling pretty smug that we all ended up here. It's the opposite of Atlas in every way, and it's still here...granted, maybe not for long, but they still beat Atlas."
Pause.
"I suppose this explains the reception we got," Winter said. "It's not just about the war."
"No," Qrow said. "It's not."
Winter frowned.
"That's why Theo was such an ass," Qrow said. "He's been saying for years that Ironwood would screw himself over, and it happened... Still, don't take it personally--he just assumes everyone who works for the guy is just like him."
Winter couldn't believe Qrow of all people was telling her not to take it personally.
"Why, I think the two of you are a pair, then," she said. "I don't recall you ever holding back on those insults."
"Then maybe--" Qrow rubbed his head. "--still considering how things turned out, it kind of doesn't make sense anymore, does it?"
Well...that was true.
"If I didn't know better, I'd read some kind of apology in that," Winter said.
"Good thing you know better, because I would never do that," Qrow said roundly.
"Of course not," Winter said. "It's unthinkable. If you ask me, you fit into this kingdom. I wonder that you don't live here."
"Well, if Tai hadn't decided to stay in Vale, who knows?" He took that more seriously than she actually meant it. "But he'd never move the girls here... Not the best influence on Firecracker's more...uh...independent tendencies."
"At least we completed the assignments," Winter changed the subject hastily.
Winter pulled out her scroll to let Shine know what had happened at the CCT...and she got a reply.
"I think I won't be going back to the field after all," she said. "Miss Likstar is already finished with Watts. She says it went well... I can only imagine what she said to him."
"She got around Ironwood?" Qrow said.
"You really should have more faith in her skill to manipulate a conversation," Winter said.
"It's creepy," Qrow said. "She could talk anyone into doing anything."
"Except respecting her, apparently," Winter said. "I know the secret now--she needs to get into a brawl with them."
"Was that a joke?"
"With our experience, I think it might be reality," Winter said.
"Don't even joke about that." Qrow knew that Yang would be only too happy to oblige.
"While we're on the subject of Miss Xiao Long...I was...somewhat surprised that you didn't object to her punishment." Winter dared to bring it up.
Qrow had really hoped no one would talk about it.
"She's...dealing with this," he said, "but she can't...sabotage the rest of the team just because she's angry. I get the anger, but there's other people to think about. Still...well, maybe Tai can talk to her."
"But why did she hide the truth about Miss Branwen?" Winter said.
"Can you stop calling her that?" Qrow said. "If you're not going to call me Mr. Branwen, it just sounds weird."
"I would never call you that." Winter was disgusted.
"Well, it doesn't fit Raven any better," Qrow said. "You sound like Ozpin."
Even Ozpin didn't call him Mr. Branwen.
"Anyway, I don't know," Qrow said. "I'd think Raven blackmailed her into it, but she seemed just as surprised as the rest of us. Maybe she thought it was to protect her. I'm sure Raven doesn't deserve that from Yang, but...Yang's like that."
"In the long run, it seems like that wasn't protecting her," Winter said.
"Yeah, well, how was she supposed to know?" Qrow said. "She did what she thought she should. I probably should have seen it coming."
Winter wished very much that she could say they'd seen it coming any more than Yang had. "Still...Raven is going to stay, it looks like. She's still a part of this."
"You can't get out of this once you're in it," Qrow said. "We all realized that. She was stupid to try."
"Then where has your...brother in law been?" Winter wasn't sure what Tai was. "He must have known all this."
"Tai...he just was never that invested in it," Qrow said. "He didn't want Ruby and Yang in it either, but it's no shock that they ended up involved. He's blaming me for that."
"Why?" Winter said.
"I told Yang where Raven was," Qrow said, "and I told Ruby about her eyes. And then about Salem later. I thought she should know, that it'd be safer if she did... That was obviously wrong. Also I think he just didn't like that Raven stayed in touch with me longer than him."
"Why did she stay in touch with you?" Winter said.
"I can't explain it," Qrow said, "other than she figured I'd find her either way so she might as well just be on the offensive. What's with the personal questions?"
Winter had not noticed that was asking personal questions.
She paused. "I just think it's part of all this, that's all. I'm...new to this, remember? I want to know the full truth."
"Some truth it's better not to know," Qrow said.
"No, I think it's better to know," Winter said firmly. "Enough secrets."
Qrow went silent after that for a long time.