BC42: Mercury's Home Insurance (Mercury & Co.)-4
Closer to Argus, their scrolls worked better, less patchy.
And Cinder got a call that she wasn't expecting.
So did Shine.
"Hello, Ms. Fay. What is it?" Cinder answered. "Was there something you want me to pick up?"
"No, I'm afraid that's not it." Fay sounded a little stressed. "Miss Scon, I don't think you should return to Eurus just at this time."
It was like a cold wave crashed over Cinder's head.
"Are you...letting me go?" she asked.
"What? No, it's not that," Fay said. "Though I'm not sure what to do about that. Listen, something happened today that was concerning..."
* * *
Fay had been covering her dress shop, as she was down one worker and it was a slow day at her other office.
Jacqueline had been working at the counter when some strange woman came in.
She looked rough and unfriendly to them, and they knew she didn't live in the town. They knew everyone.
The woman glanced around the shop's interior in a manner like she was sizing it up, then she asked Jacqueline if she knew a woman named Scarlet Scon.
"She's the manager," Jacqueline said, before Fay could stop her. "She's not in today."
The woman had looked surprised, but then masked it.
"I've heard of her skills," she said, with a sugary smile. "I was hoping to a place and order for shoes. Glass, aren't they?" Pointing to the ones in the display case.
"She's quite talented with glasswork." Jacqueline didn't know about Cinder's Semblance.
How anyone thought she made that stuff when she only worked at the shop was a mystery. Maybe they thought she had a glass oven hidden in the woods.
But then there were no glass workers in this town. It was possible they didn't know how you made it at all.
[I didn't before I saw it at a fair.]
"When will she be in?" the woman asked.
"We don't know just yet." Fay had rushed to take over before Jacqueline could say anything. "She's out on break. Perhaps I can take a message. who shall I say was asking for her?"
"Oh, don't bother. I'll just come back another time," the woman had said at once.
She'd left then.
"How odd," Jacqueline has said. "Didn't even bother to ask for our website."
"If she comes back," Fay said, "don't tell her anything about Scarlet. That was not a normal conversation at all."
"It wasn't?" Jacqueline said, frightened now.
"Perhaps it was nothing, but it sounded like trouble to me," Fay said.
After which they discovered that some of their display items had been stolen. The woman must have slipped them into her bag.
* * *
"So, I'm not sure it's safe," Fay said. "I think you have enemies we do not know about."
Cinder was silent for a moment.
"What did she look like?" she asked.
"A tall woman, dark hair--short though, almost like a man's. Very broad shoulders, but...well, you could tell she was a woman, even though her clothes had no taste at all. Dark eyes also, I think."
Fay remembered people's faces and attire very well.
Cinder pursed her lips.
"So you knew all along," she said in a low voice, "that I wasn't who I said."
"Actually, dear, I think you are exactly what you said," Fay said. "A stranger, far from home. That's what you told me when I discovered you in that alleyway.... I would hate to put you in that position, but I think, now you have friends, personally this was Providence. If you had been here, there's no telling what would have happened. She may come back, but without you here, I doubt she'd bother to do much. If she were to know where you were hiding out...but don't you have people who can protect you in Argus?"
"But I don't want to stay there." Cinder felt almost suffocated.
"I'm sorry, but I don't see what choice you have. Didn't you say you got into some trouble with thieves while you were there before? Of course you didn't say that much about it..."
Fay's tone said that she knew plenty--for all the news had covered it, Fay could easily put together that, even if Cinder wasn't named. It was the same days she'd been in Argus that the incident had happened.
"This woman is a thief. She might be one of them...though why they would be looking for you, I don't know."
Cinder bit her lip before answering. "It has to do with more than just a couple months ago. If you know what I mean."
"I see...well, if you stay away for a few weeks, no doubt they'll give up. Then you can come back.... Perhaps you can work from Argus. I'll message you orders, just send them to us. It couldn't hurt to branch out a little, study the latest fashions. I'll take on another assistant here, Augusta from the butcher's family. She was just telling me the other day that she doesn't like working in meat...and I can't say I blame her. She might pitch in. She's handy with a needle."
Cinder sighed.
Sure, it wasn't being fired...but it still felt like being replaced.
Though that was irrational. It wasn't as if Fay was doing this out of anything but concern.
This situation even proved to her that it was true that Fay offered her such a favor when she already knew who she was.
"If you knew all along, why did...?" she puzzled.
"My dear," Fay said poignantly, "you are not the only one who has regrets. I wasn't always the lady who wanted to make the dreams of this town come true. Just ask that nice young Zapato man--many of us have our mistakes. Oh, perhaps they aren't the kind that make you raze cities...but then, I always thought it was just a matter of Providence that spares most of us from doing that kind of damage with our selfishness. If we could push aside everyone else to get what we want, many of us would...but not many of us would stop. I suppose I thought that should be rewarded. But let's not speak of it--that's all in the past, and you're a valuable employee. I'll never get another shoemaker who can make shoes at such a rate that can sell for far more."
That was clearly meant to be a joke, but Cinder didn't feel like a laugh, now or any time really.
"I'll let you know if anything else happens. Do check in if there's trouble," Fay told her before hanging up.
Cinder didn't know what to do. She would have to tell the others what just happened--after all, it concerned them also if the pirates had showed up in Eurus, but it freaked her out because it happened while she was away. It was too strange.
"You might find this a bit intrusive coming from an Atlesian," Royal said, pointedly, "but that didn't sound good. Everything all right with Ms. Fay?"
Cinder was going to tell him to shut up, but then reflected that he knew Fay and could just contact her anyway--especially when he might be concerned. She swallowed her ire.
"Fay got stolen from," she said. "Someone who sounded like one of the female pirates we ran out of Argus...they were looking for me."
Royal frowned at her. "Did they hurt anyone?"
"No. I don't think they'd risk that, without a real target." Cinder glanced at her hands. "But of course if they had one..."
"They're really going to that much work just to find you?" Royal puzzled. "Why? What do you have to do with them? We all busted 'em."
"Firstly, I'm the only one who lives outside the city and isn't well guarded," Cidner said. "And secondly, I make a good prisoner. I always knew this would happen." She rubbed her face. "Someday.... I should have left that stupid shipment discrepancy alone."
"If I were you, which is, of course, ridiculous," Royal said, "I wouldn't be blaming myself for trying to stop something bad just because some creeps can't let it go. And I wouldn't take such a dark view of it. They showed up in Eurus already. You can give them the slip...though in that short a time, you're in a bind. Better ask your friends for help."
"We are not really friends."
"You say that a lot," Royal said. "Seems like the only one who buys it is you."
Silence.
Cinder frowned. "Is this some kind of game to you?"
"Excuse me?" Royal sounded offended. "Where do you get off?"
"You act like this is a joke, like it's that simple, like none of it is a real problem." Cinder was not being real consistent with her complaints here, but she was too upset to think straight.
"I do, huh?" Royal wasn't swallowing this like he normally would. "You've got some nerve dissing on me and my attitude. In case you haven't noticed, lady, I've never been anything but nice to you--well, okay, here and there I said a few things I shouldn't have, but it was in good fun. I'm not asking for any prize or anything, but there's no reason to make it out like I've been the bad guy. And not just me.... If you don't want help so bad, I guess that's up to you, but there's no reason to treat people like garbage just for wanting to be nice."
"I didn't ask you to be nice," Cinder said. "Or for anything else."
"That's the thing about being nice--you don't really ask for it, people just choose to be nice," Royal replied.
Well...that was true...hard to argue with it.
"And not to sound like a whiner, but you've never once thanked me," Royal said. "I guess I don't need my ego stroked by some woman who can't even wear the right size shoes, but it's just common courtesy to show a little appreciation for a small service, that's all."
[Okay, the shoe jab was too far!]
"I suppose you're used to that," Cinder said. "It's easy to feel snubbed just 'cause someone doesn't thank you for something they didn't even ask for? Don't do it then. And why are you offended by me? It's not as if I didn't make it quite clear what I thought from the start."
"I guess you're right." Royal said that in a way that was worse than if he'd said she was wrong. "It sounds like you didn't ask Fay for help either. Or your other friends. For someone whose life is so hard, you know, you get a lot of free help."
Cinder seethed for a moment...but then she thought...that was true.
"Well, the others I understand a little," she said. "It's their cause. They'd do that for anyone...or they have some use for it. You, I don't get it."
Royal stared straight ahead.
"I guess I don't expect you to," he said.
Pause.
"What does that mean?" Cinder said.
"It means...frankly, Miss Fall, I guess sometimes we can't really explain ourselves," Royal said slowly. "We just...know that something makes sense. Some stuff is meant to happen. I'm not...well, I don't know exactly why our paths crossed. I guess this God stuff is new to me. But it seems to me that there's a purpose for things that happen. I was looking for something to set some hope in, and I get assigned to that team, and then you're involved, and maybe I could relate to some of what you said. I suppose you wouldn't believe that a rich kid would have anything in common with whatever it is you used to be...but it's not as different as you think. You're not the only person to ever feel trapped in one role."
That kind of stung.
"I know I'm on the outside, " Royal said, sounding kind of down now, "but even standing that close to this...well, it was better than anything before. The light all of you have, it's like I didn't know I was looking for it, but I knew it once I saw it. I know you all don't really trust me with it. I guess I can't blame you. Enough people might explaoit it if they knew what you could do and why.... Still, it just sucks to not be believed when I say I'm being sincere about this. I don't know what more I can do to prove it."
"Wait a second," Cinder interjected. "You think you have to prove that? That's not the reason. It's that all this is so...it's so out there. [From her? Really, this is out there, ex-terrorist Grimm mage?] People call it crazy, or they laugh at it. Even some people in the original team didn't fully buy it. And how could we claim to have all the answers? Or even all the questions?"
"If that's the case, we're all in the same boat anyway, so what's the harm?" Royal said. "You draw the line, not me."
There it was again.... That was just true.
"It's weird to not think there is a line," Cinder said.
"Maybe...but don't you think destiny sometimes trumps what normally makes sense?" [You know, a Disney Prince would totally say that.]
"Wha--what?" Cinder blinked, as if she'd seen a ghost.
"You know, destiny? Don't you believe in it?" Royal didn't know about Pyrrha's last words to Cinder, as they hadn't told him that detail, and had no idea why Cinder was giving him that look. "That things line up for a reason? I mean, it's too perfect not to be destiny. The one flaw is that you hate Atlesisians and the others don't seem to like them too much either...I guess because of Ironwood...but then, the Schnees are Atlesian. They just must be in the 'in' crowd."
"It's past the time to care what kingdom anyone is from," Cinder said, without thinking that it sounded a little contradictory to her earlier words on the road. "But you think all these...coincidences are destiny?"
"Call it hokey, but I guess, yeah." Royal rubbed his head. "My father used to say everyone carves out their own destiny. But Arch, my tutor, he said that if that were true, they carve it out like a river carves the soil. It shapes it, but it also has to run the same way its whole life, and it might turn and twist and go all the way back around to where it came from, but it'll never flow backwards. I think he meant that you can't change the past, and you can't help being what you are, and where you are, but you can change the spot you're in, bit by bit, till it's where you want to be. Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much.... He was kind of cryptic like that. Your teacher reminds me of him."
That analogy did sound like something Shine would say.
And it wasn't a bad analogy of destiny, actually, to Cinder's current understanding of how it worked.
"The thing is," she said in a very oddly non-aggressive tone for her, "if you seriously want to throw your lot in with us, on all fronts, there's a cost. We gave our lives to this because we had no lives left without it. That's not really true for you."
"No life I'd care about losing," Royal said. "Not that I'm unhappy, far from it, but...my family's gone--so is my home.... Me and a lot of other people are wondering what exactly our future is. I can't do this forever. And living for Atlas is no longer appealing. What do we have left? A lot of people are depressed about it. They might not say so to Commander Schnee--it would be ungrateful...but we don't all share her drive toward whatever vision she has for the future of our old kingdom. Some of us just...lost faith in it after the Fall. But if we do rebuild it, it has to be on better footing. I think you're not understanding how empty our lives can be. If we weren't busy, maybe we'd be as angry as some of those ex-White Fang members still stirring up trouble. Or those people who joined the bandits because they were so mad at the kingdoms. We're not in the bubble we used to be. You can laugh at us for being out of touch with the real world, but it wasn't our choice where most of us younger Atlesians were born, whether it was riches or poverty. We didn't get to choose it, but having it ripped away still left us off balance. I thought you'd get that, actually."
"Me?" Cinder said. "Why?"
"Your other friends all got taken in by the kingdoms right away," Royal said. "Jobs, homes...rocky start for some, but they got in. You disappeared. That displacement, isn't that something you'd have experienced? You might have more in common with Atlesians than you think."
"I've seen parts of Atlas in the past," Cinder said flatly. "It wasn't a pretty picture."
"No one was ever nice, huh?" Royal sounded less skeptical than sad.
"One person." Cinder stared ahead. "But I didn't understand it. I killed him so that he wouldn't arrest me."
Royal shot her a sideways look. "That is cold."
That hurt more than she thought it would. She'd started to take his lack of reaction to anything she did for granted.
But instead of reacting, she leaned back and crossed her arms. "I suppose it was. It was...one of the only people I killed that haunted me."
"Did Nikos?"
Weird question.
"In a way." Cinder thought about it. "I tried to feel like it was an accomplishment, but I think I always knew it wasn't, somewhere. She compares us, but we're not the same."
"No, but I can't say I think what she did was much better." Royal frowned to himself darkly.
"Ozpin dropped that idea into her head," Cinder surprisingly came to Pyrrha's defense. "Nikos would never have come up with anything so sick on her own. And the gods started it."
"I gather that it's complicated. It's just unnerving," Royal said. "You think you know what people are capable of."
"So she made one mistake," Cinder shrugged. "Most of us don't stop at one."
"So you blame her for trying to kill you also?"
"I would have if I were her. I was just stronger...I can admit now, not in a fair way. Magic is a curse, but I didn't know that then. The power was intoxicating."
"Magic is gone now, right?" Royal sounded nervous.
"Mostly," Cinder said vaguely. "At least not in the form of the Maidens. Likstar says that there's probably still other kinds of it, but it wouldn't be so strong."
"That's reassuring..."
Another pause.
"Maybe I do understand some of the Atlesians' problems," Cinder finally admitted. "But some would say they deserve it for what they did."
"And we always get what we deserve?"
"Not that often, actually." Cinder shook her head. "You took what I said personally."
"You directed it at me," Royal pointed out again saltily.
"Well, Mercury was right, I say things like that to get under people's skin," Cinder said, with some clarity. "But if they're true or not, it's irrelevant. Why should my opinion matter?"
"You know, for someone who got on a soapbox and passed judgment on Atlas on live TV, you sure seem to be surprised when people ask you why you think that way."
Pause.... Again it was hard to argue with that.
"Well, I was insane," Cinder protested.
"The insanity plea? Really?"
"It's true, isn't it?"
"So what are you now? Certified sane?"
"I...don't know. Why does it matter?"
"Can I trust what you're saying?" Royal pressed.
Good question.
"I've always hurt people so that they can't get to me," Cinder said slowly. "It's what I do. I don't...hate every single person in Atlas, I suppose. But it all seemed to lump itself together, looking at the city, with its pompousness and how they hoarded all the power. Now that it's all been torn down, it's not really making it right. What I know now, that I didn't then, is that pure destruction isn't really satisfactory. If there's nothing left to make up for the damage, then all you did was cut off more necessities. I guess what angers me now is that all of us, on all sides, were so stupid. But who can you really blame for that? Most of the people at the heart of it are gone now. We're stuck with their mess."
"Frankly though," Royal pointed out, "don't repeat this to Cordovin. but I'm glad to be out from under Ironwood's boot, personally. Though it was a shame he had to die for it.... Then again, he was going to bomb our under city."
"Ironwood went insane, but I helped push him over the edge," Cinder said. "I was involved more than you think."
"He was waiting for it, be realistic. And the dust embargo, the isolation of Mantle, I'm afraid that's all on us." Royal shook his head. "And that's really what did it. And it's just as you said--all of us were so stupid. We left it wide open for that Watts lunatic and the other loon, Callows, to tear us apart. In the end, it sounds like Salem herself knew better than we did that it was all useless fighting."
"You are a rare Atlesian who'd ever admit that Atlas had any part in this." Cinder got as close to a compliment as she was likely to get.
"Yeah...and you're a rare former villain who'd admit that they were wrong," Royal shrugged. "So?"
Cinder finally started to understand.
It had taken a long time for it to sink in, as she'd been very stubborn about not buying it, but she'd seen more sides of Royal in all this time, unwillingly. He wasn't incapable of anger or grudge holding.
So he did really just differentiate something here, between her and Watts and the other nutjobs working for Salem.
Well, that was flattering in a way...a weird way. At least for once someone didn't think she was stupider than Watts.
Maybe he was serious about needing the light.... Maybe it wasn't so far fetched to think someone, even who had a respectable job and status with people, could feel lost.
Technically, she'd had the same thing for the last few years, and it had only made her feel less sullen, not really any more valued or purposeful. Not that she didn't enjoy her job in a way, but it was tame for her. She knew that.
Perhaps, after all, there were more similarities between her and this guy than she thought...in a very weird way.
She wasn't really looking to make friends, but...
She was going to need help if she was going to shake those pirates, and she didn't have that many options.
Royal took her silence as her dropping the subject, so he changed it. "You're going to be stuck in Argus, aren't you?"
Cinder blinked. "Oh? Yeah...it looks that way."
"Well, shouldn't you let them know that?" Royal pointed out. "Commander Branwen won't like that surprise."
That was just a nice way of saying that this was a really weird situation.
But all it had done was remind Cinder that she should start contacting some of the team, because she did need to do that before he landed, preferably.
"I suppose." She opened her scroll again resignedly.
But before she even got that far, Shine got a scroll call herself and stood up, on the plane.
"You're sure?" she said. "Okay...well, are you at the hospital? Clinic, whatever.... Yes, tell them we'll be there soon.... Oh, it went as well as can be expected. Only I think we have to drop Cinder back at her town."
"Actually, you don't." Cinder looked back tightly. "Something's come up, I'll explain later."
"Who's in the hospital?" Emerald asked Shine, worried.
"Check your scroll," Shine said.
"It's dead." Emerald had not let it charge in the sun enough.
"What the heck are all these messages?" Mercury pulled his out. It had been on silent.
"Shine?" Wally tugged her. "Come one."
"I'll call you back," Shine said, then hung up. "Well, that was Raven. She was just telling me that Winter started to have some signs of going into labor.... Could be a false alarm, it happens, but the doctor said to come in anyway and get checked."
"But I thought she had another couple months," Emerald sputtered.
"Well, she's having twins," Shine explained. "It's not guaranteed, but early birth is very common with twins...not this early usually, but if they're large, especially...and she's on her first time. It's more common with your first time."
"How do you know all this stuff?" Mercury asked.
"I went to college, Merc," Shine said airily.
"So she could actually have her baby today?" Emerald almost squeaked.
"It would be tomorrow, more likely," Shine said. "If it's the real deal."
"Did you say she's having twins?" Cinder looked back. "Early?"
"Aren't premature babies a bad thing, though?" Mercury said.
"Uh...well, it's between 7 or 7 and half months," Shine said. "In my world, there's a good chance they'd still be fine, with good medical care. Do you have that here?"
"The Argus clinic has a lot of advanced medical care compared to most cities," Emerald said. "Pyrrha's been doing research on it, just in case. A lot of early babies do survive there. But...well, it's still risky, isn't it?"
"We should pray," Shine said.
"Do you think Qrow is okay?" Wally asked.
"I wouldn't count on it," Shine said.
* * *
She was right. When they all came hurrying into the lobby, most of the Argus team members were already there. Even Raven had called off work early.
And she'd brought Ruby, Tai, and Oscar there, per their request.
"What did we miss?" Emerald blurted once they were past the front desk.
"Nothing yet," Tai said. "It's only just started. The only reason we're even here is because the doctor was a little concerned about it being premature."
"So it's confirmed then?" Shine said. "This isn't a false alarm."
"Afraid not," Tai said.
"Why did I have to be here?" Cinder had been dragged by them.
Royal had presumably gone home, but he said to give Winter his best wishes.
"We didn't exactly have time for any other arrangement," Shine said. "But I admit, I don't want to sit here all night."
"Maybe we should go home," Pyrrha mused. She looked tired herself.
"Why are you here?" Ruby asked Cinder. "Didn't they drop you off?"
"Yes, I'm not actually here, Ruby." Cinder was cuttingly sarcastic.
"You could be Neo, if you hadn't just talked," Oscar pointed out.
Neo and Roman were the only ones not there.
"Where's Qrow?" Wally asked. "With Winter?"
"Ouch...no," Tai said.
Raven had her arms folded, but she shrugged and rolled her eyes. "My little brother is convinced he'll jinx something if he's anywhere near that wing. He's in the parking lot."
"Could he jinx it?" Emerald asked uncertainly.
"Hard to say." Jaune rubbed his head. "Qrow's had his Semblance under control for a while, mostly. But when he's really stressed, sometimes things happen that he doesn't want. I think he's afraid he's too stressed to control it this time.... I can see why. I've been imagining what this will be like for me."
"I'm sure you'll be fine." Pyrrha patted his arm.
"Mother is in there," Whitley said. He was there. "Weiss won't be able to fly in till tomorrow."
"Geez, Raven, bond with Weiss so she can be here," Wally joked.
Raven glared at him.
"There's no need," Shine said. "I can manage that. I'll just go in an empty room...as long as there are no cameras. On second thought, maybe a closet or back alley.... I'll be back."
She left.
"I guess you can't bond with everyone." Ruby glanced at Raven. "I mean, you never have with me."
Awkward silence.
"It's not something you can just do," Tai tried to cover it.
"I guess we just don't talk anyway." Ruby put her foot more firmly in her mouth.
"Ruby..." Yang hissed.
She was afraid Raven would say something to make Ruby cry.
Raven looked very uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to know what to say.
"So why are you here?" Jaune asked Cinder. "You decided to visit after all?"
"Maybe her boyfriend talked her into it," Mercury said.
Cinder took her knapsack and hit him with it.
He rubbed his shoulder but shut up.
"To answer your question, Arc," Cinder said pointedly, "I've been forced to vacate my home for the time being.... Apparently someone was looking for me there. Someone familiar. "
"Like how familiar?" Neptune asked.
"Like same bunch of people who abducted Oscar and me familiar," Cinder said.
They all winced.
"I'm sorry to hear it," Pyrrha said. "Why would they look for you there?... No, I suppose I see why."
She shook her head.
"I have to wait till they give up before I can go back." Cinder sounded incensed by now. "Which is horribly unfair, but, no choice."
"I guess you know how that feels now," Raven said.
Cinder cast her a look.
Then remembered suddenly that, of course, the Bandit camp...
Was Raven still mad about that?
What a question--of course she was.
Raven perhaps regretted her own bitter words though. It wasn't very classy of her. She shook her head.
The others must only just then have remembered that. Somehow it was hard to remember that incident. Maybe because most of them hadn't seen it.
Or maybe that they associated it more with Salem's bidding than Cinder's, though this was hardly accurate.
"It is interesting, though," Wally said. "What were the odds that we'd ask you to help us out on the same day that some woman would come to your town?"
Cinder had been wondering this herself.
It did seem...almost Providential.
Fay had called it that.
Not unlike how Raven had been persuaded by them to leave her tribe only days before it had been ravaged. As if there was a purpose in it.
To be on the receiving end of that was odd. But then, Shine would have said that God did not play favorites.
Wally didn't seem to think so either.
"Well, I thought it was cool," he said, when Cinder didn't answer him.
"How did your...trip go?" Yang changed the subject, oddly.
Mercury looked dark. "Fine, if you don't count the Grimm that showed up."
"We torched the place," Emerald said. "So that was fun."
"That's cool," Yang said. "Wish I could have helped."
"Why would you want to commit arson?" Neptune asked.
"Oh please, it's not like anyone was living there," Yang said.
He gave her a weird look.
"I'm kidding," she said.
"No one can live there now," Raven stated.
"Give it a rest." Mercury was irritable again.
Raven wisely dropped the subject.
Weiss and Meridian walked in from the back door of the clinic suddenly.
They looked at everyone.
"I take it we didn't miss much," Meridian said.
"It could be another 10 hours," Tai said. "Maybe more."
"She's okay, right?" Weiss said.
"So far, she's fine," Whitley said, "Mother says, anyway."
Despite his word, he did look worried.
Weiss, in a rare moment of thinking it wouldn't be awkward, went to sit down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"This is really happening," she said. "We get to be a real aunt and uncle now."
"Hey!" Ruby said.
"Well, it would be nice to have a niece who was young enough to actually treat us with some respect, Ruby," Weiss pointed out.
"Yes, they'd look up to us," Whitley said.
"You're ambitious," Yang snorted.
"This is exactly why you don't count," Whitley said.
"Fine with me. I never wanted to be your niece," Yang said.
"Raven, what about you? You get to be an aunt for real too," Weiss said.
"If they look like me, maybe I'll buy that," Raven said. "But knowing you all, they'll come out looking like Schnees. "
"They could be half and half," Wally joked. "Like this other kid I know.... Hey, where's Shine?"
"She said she was going to check on Qrow," Weiss said. "I guess he's in the parking lot?"
"Do you think I should too?" Wally asked.
"Honestly Qrow's better with women," Tai said. "I tried to talk to him and he just glared at me."
"Tai, you said, 'It'll all be fine, I'm sure,'" Raven objected. "That's the worst thing to say to someone who's freaking out."
"I didn't see you offering any comfort," Tai said.
"I said it was statistically likely that it would turn out okay," Raven shrugged.
"That's not comfort, that's...science," Tai said.
"Please don't fight right now," Ruby said. "Come on, we should all be supporting each other."
"Easy for you to say," Raven said. "Wait until you have to push one of those things out. It's like lasers piercing your abdomen."
Weiss winced.
"Please don't be so graphic." Whitley looked green. "I'm so glad I'm not a woman."
All the girls glared at him, and Weiss shoved him off his chair.
[Well, I think every man thinks it at least once when he learns what labor is like.]
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