"Okay Ruby, repeat after me." Alex sat in front of Ruby, in an attempt to get her to learn. "One."
"Won!" Ruby cheerfully replied.
'Ehh good enough' Alex debated trying to move on to the next or wait till Ruby mastered it.
"It'll do, okay, here's the next. Two" Carefully enunciating the word, Alex looked at Ruby who appeared to be in deep thought.
"Twoo!" The ball of energy said, as confident as can be.
Realizing that this was pretty good in general, Alex continued, not wanting to lose the momentum. "Three"
"Twee!"
"Hmm, let's try to do sounds so it'll be easier. The first sound is th, can you do that? th"
Scrunching up her face as if he had just asked her to stop eating cookies Ruby started shaking her head rapidly.
"Hnnno!"
Alex looked closer at his sister, trying to decipher her sounds. "You want to take a break? What if I get you a treat when this is done?" Ruby perked up from that.
"Cocy?"
Mildly chuckling at his little sister's innocent tone, he continued, not minding that Ruby was crawling ever closer. "For every number you say, I'll get you a cookie. So if you count to 3, how many cookies would you get?"
"Tree!- ah Ummm th-th-three! Three!"
Mentally celebrating his successful ploy, Alex leaned forward and started to rub Ruby's hair affectionately. "Good job Ruby! Tell you what, you only need to do the next one then we can stop okay."
Excited at the prospect of EVEN MORE COOKIES! (What could be better) Ruby threw herself at the next number, already salivating at the thought. "F-F-F-Fo-Fr-F..."
Seeing his little sister's eyes go fro hopeful to downtrodden, Alex quickly intervened, not wanting his adorable little sis break down into tears. "Ruby, Ruby, it's fine if you can't say it. Your big brother will always love you, no matter what." To emphasize his point, Alex brought Ruby into a bear hug, not letting her escape had she wanted to.
Her previous mood thoroughly eradicated, Ruby nuzzled her head on top of Alex's shoulder, as if she were a cat. Glad that Ruby was no longer mad, Alex got up, while keeping Ruby in his embrace, and went to try to make cookies on his own, and while they wouldn't be as good as Summer's, he was still very good at making them.
Having baked a batch of cookies, Alex put four of them on a plate and set it in front of Ruby, who was gazing off into space. "Ruby? Do you want some cookies?"
"Yes!"
"Good, good." With a smile that looked suspiciously like a smirk, Alex asked "How many are on the plate?"
"Four! Ummm... ummmm... Fo?" Ruby started to panic, like a mouse that had just been caught in a trap.
Alex's smile turned into a smirk that could make a cat jealous, although oddly, there was still joy in his eyes. "Hey, Ruby. You're not in trouble, but you are going to answer me honestly when I ask you some questions okay? Nod for yes, shake for no. Got it?" Ruby nodded violently, not wanting to get in trouble. "Great! So... have been able to say four before today?" Ruby shook her head. Sighing, Alex took a cookie off of Ruby's plate... and ate it, not showing remorse for his actions, he picked up another one. Looking at Ruby dead in the eyes, he said "This is what happens when you lie in a serious situation. There will be consequences. So, let me repeat myself. Have you been able to say four before today?" Ruby sniffled and nodded her head.
Smiling an honest smile, Alex gave Ruby the cookie in his hand "And when you tell the truth in a difficult situation, the outcome will almost always be positive, although sometimes it will seem harsh at first, wait and it'll end just fine okay? So, the next question. Do Mom and Tai know you can talk?" She shook her head and Alex's smirk returned with a vengeance. "Can you count to ten?" A nod. "Can you say people's names?" Ruby paused and did a combination of shakes and nods. "Okay, that's my fault, should've specified. Can you say Mom's?" She nodded once again. "Yang?" Another nod. "Me?" A nod, although a bit more vigorously. "I'm forgetting someone here. Right, Qrow! Can you say Qrow?"
"Qrow!" Ruby chirped.
"Good, that's all that matters. So... since you know how to play pranks on people, you wanna mess with Yang? I got a pair of scissors that are kid-safe but can still cut hair, and she would never suspect you. You see what I'm saying?"
Ruby's eyes shone, and grin wormed her way onto her face. "Haircut!"
Alex's eyes widened in panic and he hushed Ruby "Ruby no! We can't make her suspicious." A bit louder, to cover his tracks, he said: "No Ruby, I don't think I want a haircut, I had one a bit ago and I don't want it shorter."
Confident that all suspicions were cleared, Ruby followed Alex into his room, where he gave her the tools for their plot, both of them had evil grins on their faces.
That day, the two of them learned to fear Yang's semblance.
In a bar in Vale called the Crow's Nest, Qrow Branwen made the typical decision of drowning his sorrows in scotch. Hearing his scroll ring, he looked at the caller and sighed. "The hell do you want, James?"
"I want you to keep investigating the Dawn family."
Qrow sighed once more. One of these days he was going to punch Ironwood. Or Jacques Schnee. Ideally both. "James, I did an investigation on them. They're clean. Not spotless, but they're a huge company, everyone has skeletons in the closet. Speaking of, how many Bullheads did Jacques give you to make this call? Because Last I checked, the Dawn Dust Conglomerate is the last major company stopping the SDC from having a near monopoly in Vale, Menagerie, and even Mantle. It's very telling that the SDC can't even have the majority for the second-largest city in Atlas."
James audibly sighed, not even bothering to hide it so that it wouldn't be heard on the call. "You know how it is, national interest above those outside the borders. I can't just do as I please."
Qrow laughed. "Yeah, it's not like you have 2 seats on the council, run the military, and Atlas Academy or anything." Despite his obvious snark, Qrow knew that the call was monitored as James used his code for 'not safe to talk' "But I'm telling you, James, the Dawn family is clean. They got 4 kids: a son of 17, a daughter of 10, a son of six, and a small boy of 15 months. Their inner circle is diverse, but ability and loyalty seem to be the deciding factors over race or heritage. They got some spies in the SDC but the SDC has spies in the DDC. Does that satisfy the man with an overcompensating mustache?"
"Qrow. What have I said about-" James chastised before being abruptly cut off.
"Yeah Yeah, don't hate on him just because he's not advantaged where it matters."
"What? James paused, being audibly confused. "Ohh. I thought you meant political power. That's quite Qrow."
Qrow's laugh returned "I think it's sad that political power was the first that came to mind. You need to get laid. There's someone at either Zoe's or The Tree who's into older dudes. Looks around 25, nice-"
"QROW" James bellowed before attempting to calm himself. "How do you? How do you know these people."
Qrow snorted, a smirk on his face. "You sure you want to know? Might ruin your worldview."
Having been told the code to debug the call, James did so and the responded. "Against my better judgment, yes."
Qrow took a sip of his scotch, enjoying the tension. "Well, all alcoholics know each other, and if we don't we know someone who knows them. Also, people talk in bed. Jacques is bad at both jobs."
The regret was nearly audible in James' voice. "Dear god Qrow. Please tell me you don't have a bastard son in Atlas. I don't want the risk of another bad-luck charm."
"Please, I'm were alcoholics, not irresponsible, besides, I already got enough with the trio." Qrow's voice lacked any of his usual snark, and ever so softly, he spoke. "Not that I would mind having a kid to my own, but, well, bad luck."
James sighed, he knew that Qrow wanted a kid, but was unable to have one due to his semblance. Mentally chiding himself for bringing up a touchy subject, he tried to steer the conversation back to a less depressing place. "Well earlier you mentioned some smudges on the Dawns, care to elaborate?"
"Bastard."
"Pardon?" James asked? "As in me or that he has one."
"Both," Qrow responded, glad that the call was Schnee-free.
"How bad?" James asked, sharing his silent sentiment.
"Daughter of four." Qrow languidly said, motioning for a refill on his drink once he found it empty.
James paused, mulling over his words before finally speaking. "I don't know if that's better or worse than a son. On one hand, a son could be molded into a mini-me. On the other... heirs."
Qrow responded eagerly (as eager as Qrow could get anyways) "Well, Dawn doesn't know."
James thought that one over. "How?"
"He took liberties with the maid, both agreed it was a one- and done deal. She showed signs very late, died a month-ish after giving birth. The daughter couldn't go to the funeral due to age, Dawn shows, sees no child, dismisses rumors as slander, mourns, and leaves." Qrow paused before answering the question he knew would come. "The only reason I know is that, as said before, alcoholics talk."
James shook his head in revolt, purging his mind of those thoughts before Qrow quipped. "Don't tell Glynda or she'll have my head, and not the fun kind."
James, entirely done for the day, decided to end the call. "Well Qrow, thanks for the info. I'm going to go follow in your footsteps and drown myself in whiskey."
Needing to get the last word in, Qrow said "Remember, Zoe's on Weekends, The Tree any other day."
Summer was happy. Her kids were doing well and all got along with each other, barring the usual prank. Yang wasn't so thrilled about having to cut her hair so that it wouldn't look awful-Ruby had a way with scissors. Ruby was being pampered by the household but was growing up well, as shown by Alex trying to tell her why she shouldn't lie- she was so proud of him. Yang had started to make awful jokes but was being supported by everyone, Tai because his sense of humor is non-existent, Ruby and Alex because she's their older sis. Alex was finally getting over his nightmares of being alone -abandonment does that to you- and he was even eyeing her blades, which hopefully meant that he was looking to get into mechanics and not that he was a psychopath.
However, there wasn't an easy way to put this, but Tai needed therapy. Raven's abandonment broke him entirely. Had she and Qrow not been there for him, he would've turned into a raving mess. Right now he was just a ...
'Man with issues? Yeah, that'll do' she thought.
Looking at the time, Summer left the armory, locked it up, and went upstairs. Noticing the distinct lack of people in Yang's and Alex's room, Summer opened Ruby's door softly, before doing a quiet "squee" at seeing the adorable sight. Whipping out her scroll, she took a photo of her children and set it to her background before turning off the light and closing the door.
Getting to bed, Summer looked fondly at the photo on her scroll. Her three children, Yang, Alex, and Ruby, fast asleep whilst cuddling each other, Ruby being sandwiched by Alex and Yang of course. Smiling at the sight, Summer turned the light off and went to sleep, the smile never leaving her face.
Glynda Goodwitch was normally seen as the stern vice-headmistress of Beacon. This was not always the case. The only people that she would truly let see, as Qrow put it 'her bleeding heart' were Ozpin, his inner circle, and a select few friends. So when one of her few friends from Atlas tells her that if anything goes wrong, she must take care of her daughter, she becomes reasonably panicked.
"FREYA! What in the world do you mean by 'if anything goes wrong?' what does that mean!"
"What that means, Glynda is that I'm going to go on a dangerous mission and if I don't come back, you are to take care of my daughter."
Irate at her best friend's behavior, Glynda prodded. "What do you mean 'dangerous' everything is dangerous! Is your worldview ruined?"
Snorting at the stupid code Freya responded "Yes Glynda, thoroughly shattered. But I might not make it back, this is something that must be done."
Frowning at the tone used, Glynda asked "What's the emergency?"
"There might be some silver left in the world aside from Summer."
Glynda spat out her tea -coffee was Oz's shtick, and she was glad for it- "But, you would only do that..."
"If the wicked ones know." Freya finished Glynda's sentence for her. "Hence the urgency and the need to have my daughter safe. We know there is a spy, and if we know, so does she. This is looking to be a long-term mission, as in maybe several years so Sif will be sent over a few months after I leave so that she'll be safe."
Glynda sighed. She hated having friends put in harm's way, no matter how much for the greater good it may be. "I'll need to get a bigger apartment from Oz."
Snorting at Glynda's utilitarianism, Freya quipped " Probably, you're likely going to need to install some way for kids to you know, have a good time at your place."
Glynda huffed indignantly at the joke "People have a good time at my place!"
Freya laughed, Glynda had just activated her trap card "Perhaps they might, after all, you have a lot of toys you like to play with~."
Glynda attempted to revert to her usual stoicism, marred by the faintest of blushes on her cheeks "That was a low blow, Freya."
"Why are you mad?" Freya asked in a fake-innocent voice. "I thought you liked that~."
Through gritted teeth, Glynda decided to end the call. "Yes yes Freya, I have needs, laugh it up. But I'll get a bigger place so your kid won't feel imprisoned."
Putting her scroll on her table, Glynda looked at her apartment, the definition of bare necessities, one bedroom with a closet, (only one was ever needed) a kitchen, one table, and one bathroom.
Cleaning up her spilled tea, she thought to herself. 'I'm not that bad, am I?'