I Gather

Guidelines

Biography

Would any of you be interested in joining my RP server? 

Tumblr’s been really irritating as of late, but I still want to RP.

“I’m hardly one to be judging a thousands-year old body hopping wizard, but it would be really nice to know everything going on behind the scenes so I have the best possible idea what to look for and what to avoid. How your dad managed to learn all this is beyond me, but it might be better if Ozpin didn’t find out about that. At Best, everyone in your family would be inducted into Ozpin’s Inner Circle and it’d be better not speculate on what his Worst Case would be. Hell, I still don’t know why you and Taiyang weren’t inducted-that was always something nagging at the back of my mind back when we were still Team STRQ.”

“Ozpin might have also thought about bringing Ruby and Yang into the Inner Circle, though the context behind that specific mess, I’d prefer to explain in his office, with him present. I’m already telling you a lot more than Taiyang knows and a lot more than anyone in the Circle should ever be saying out loud and I’m trusting you not to say anything to any of them, much as I’d love to bring you both to Oz and drop the ceremonies so I stop feeling like I’m going behind someone’s back by opening my mouth.” As much as Qrow wanted to bare his soul to Summer, as much as he trusted her, it was clear he was still loyal to Ozpin through all the deceit and the omitted truths.

“Wao. Never took you for a guy who valued authority so much, Qrow. But I’m not gonna pry much if you’re not comfortable with sharing more secrets.” 

She let herself relax in the chair again. 

“You are still hurt, so you can’t blame yourself for not helping. I don’t think anyone else would want you getting hurt…”

His lips thinned a bit as he pulled out his flask, taking a small sip from it. He tried to keep the past behind them, but knew it was hard to do when it was the reason she was recovering.

“At least you didn’t have to experience it…” He mumbled a bit as he glanced to her. “It would be best coming from you, honestly…” He placed a hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. 

She gazed up at the ceiling, the last day and a half having taken a lot out of her. Frankly, all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep the year away. But she knew that such actions wouldn’t fix anything, in fact they’d probably make them worse. 

She reached down and pet Zwei, who was currently curled up on her lap. 

“I’m tired” she mumbled. “Tired of forcing our problems on our kids. As much as I want to just lay around, I want to get out in the field even more.” 

“I think . . . I’ll take Ruby to meet her grandparents.” 

She realized just then that she likely dropped a huge bombshell on Qrow.

“Yeah, She has grandparents. My mom is even a Silver Eyed Warrior herself, and unlike me, she’s mastered them entirely. If anyone can help explain them to Ruby, it’s her. I didn’t bring them up before because I . . . kinda ran away from home to be a Huntress. I didn’t like their idea of remaining neutral. So uh, I never finished my training.” 

She sheepishly glanced to the side, a bead of sweat running down her face.

Qrow looked down a bit when she looked away, eyes closing to force the tears back. He had lost it again. Brothers, he didn’t want to do that again. Yet his rage of seeing what happened - as well as partly knowing who knew - he just lost it. He had let himself go. Was he not strong enough anymore?

He looked back up to her, eyes glassy as his hands shook on the handle of Harbinger. He took a small breath, trying to calm himself.

He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, a rogue tear falling from his cheek. “Trust me…I won’t let that happen…and you touch my alcohol, expect all your capes to become pink.”

He scrunched his nose a bit at her joke. Brothers, he had missed her sass.

He raised a brow and shook his head, hooking his bloodied sword to his back. He’ll clean it at home. “No…don’t apologize, Summer.” He bent down a bit to pick her up, holding her close to him. “I was already planning on carrying you anyway. You don’t look in any shape to travel home.”

Looking down to her his lips thinned, smile fading. “I…It’s been…about ten years since we last saw you…” Her casual tone kind of stung him a bit. How much had she been hurt? Who else was behind this? Whoever it was, just thinking of more being possibly out there brought a new wave of rage, his eyes filling with hints of it.

No. Don’t lose it again, Qrow. You can’t. Not again. You just got her back after years of looking. You can’t risk it again.

Summer’s heart shattered. 

“T-Ten years?” she croaked. “I-It’s been ten years?” 

He looked older, sure. But, had she really been a prisoner for ten years? Confined in that dark cell, given only minimal food while being beaten every day if she didn’t comply? Had she really become so numb that ten years had passed so easily? 

She gripped his shirt, almost like she didn’t believe any of this was real. 

“T-They took . . . ten years from me. I-I didn’t . . . get to see my baby girls grow up. They . . . didn’t have a mom.”

She had been holding it together, trying her best to remain strong. But she couldn’t anymore. This revelation was too much. The waterworks had begun and she covered her face with her hand spare him the sight of her looking so weak. 

“It’s my fault . . . If I hadn’t trusted them . . . If I hadn’t been so fucking naive!” 

“I’m a failure! A pathetic failure!” 

She wasn’t making much sense, but when you had gone through what she did, it was to be expected. All of the pent up emotions of the last ten years were spilling out and she couldn’t do anything to stop them.

“I hated it, Qrow! Every waking moment! I was seen as an exotic pet because of my silver eyes! These cursed eyes! I hate them! I hate this legacy! I never asked for it!” 

Her fist was clenched so hard that it drew blood.

“I should just claw my eyes out! I’d rather be blind!” 

The memories of her captivity were painfully clear in her mind. 

“Look!” she screamed as she yanked up both sleeves, revealing all the scars that had been left on her. “Look what they did to me because of my eyes! And you haven’t even seen my back!” 

She bit her lip, trying to get her emotions under control, but it was a fruitless endeavor. 

“A-And now . . . my daughter has the same curse.” 

Qrow looked to the camp as well. Some of the tents were aflame, bodies everywhere. He honestly didn’t remember anything that had happened. All he remembered was finding Summer in this camp and a Grimm, but after that was all a blur. 

Looking at his sword he saw the blood streaking it, his hand beginning to shake. He had sworn not to kill anyone anymore, but…he just lost it. It reminded him too much of how he was before graduating Beacon. He knew he had missed Summer dearly, but he knew what he had just done was the fault of those who had harmed her.

Glancing over to her he felt the gravity of what had happened hit him. Tears began to sting his eyes as she spoke. “I…I’m sorry, Summer…I-I just…I don’t know what happened…”

He walked over to her and hesitantly reached to her, hand resting on her arm. Even if he had just did what he had, he knew he had to get her home.

“Then let’s get you home…”

She averted her eyes for a moment, not wanting to look at him. It wasn’t as if she thought lesser of him for what he did, no. She fully understood why he did what he did. And it was because of her that he had to go so far. That he had to sully his hands with blood once more. She hadn’t been strong enough.

She finally turned to face him, doing her best to steel her nerves as she did so.

“I won’t blame you for what you did. But if you ever do something like that in front of Ruby or Yang, I’m taking your alcohol away forever.” 

At least she was well enough to joke. 

She then extended her arms. 

“I don’t want to seem like deadweight, but I kind of smashed my right knee real bad. And I’m still wearing this stupid aura cancelling ankle bracelet. So if you could, you know, carry me, that’d be great and stuff.” 

“First things first, though. How long has it been, Qrow? I kind of . . . lost track in between the torture sessions.” 

Faustus Rose gets his name from Faust, the man who made a demon deal with Mephisto Pheles.

Cassandra Rose gets her name from Cassandra, the woman in the Greek myth who could see the future. 

Edward Rose is the older brother of Summer Rose and a pirate by trade. Leaving home a few years before Summer, he turned to a life of piracy after hearing about how the huntsmen system had failed his younger sister. Embittered by her supposed death, he began to plunder Atlas ships at sea and became feared as the White Warlord of the Sea, as he had donned a white cloak much like his younger sister’s.

While he’s on the opposite side of the law, he is more than willing to cooperate with the authorities when it comes to apprehending those far more villainous than himself. He’s a pirate, not a monster.

Upon hearing of Summer’s survival, he’s ceased his pillaging of Atlas ships, but still claims to be a pirate and is often found sailing the seas in search of adventure. There’s a bounty on his head, but so far none have been able to capture him.

This is because of his semblance: Good Fortune. (Disclaimer: Edward was created before Clover was even a thing.) 

One could say he’s the exact opposite of Qrow in this regard, as he’s been blessed with a near endless amount of fortune. No matter what the situation, things always seem to go his way. If he needs to escape, nature itself tends to bend backward to make things easier for him.

But because his semblance only affects himself and not those around him, it almost seems like he’s spreading bad luck to other people while it’s more that his absurd luck just makes them look unlucky by comparison.

Cassandra Rose is the mother of Summer Rose and a Silver-Eyed Warrior herself. She’s a very soft spoken woman who gets uncomfortable in social situations very easily and thus leaves most of the talking to her husband, Faustus. Don’t underestimate her just because she’s shy though, she’s a force to be reckoned with and will quickly snap if you dare mess with her family.

When Summer was presumed dead, she had to be stopped from laying waste to Vale for failing to protect her and when she heard Summer was alive, she still had to be stopped from laying waste to Vale for failing to find her for all those years.

Besides her Silver Eyes, which she has proven to be a master of, her semblance is Speed, something that her granddaughter inherited. The color of her rose petals is blue, no doubt an extension of her timid personality.

Cassandra rarely fights, but when she does she uses throwing knives infused with various different kinds of dust. Her aim is impeccable and she was once able to knock a cigarette out of Faustus’ mouth from over 50 feet away without harming anything other than his ego which was injured when he screamed like a little girl.

Faustus Rose is the father of Summer Rose and the one who taught her everything she knows about combat. He’s always been overprotective of her and when he found out that she had inherited the silver eyes from his wife, he became even more vigilant. He told her that the silver eyes are not to be taken lightly and that they should never fight for one side over another, always remaining impartial to the laws of the land.

Unfortunately she didn’t see it that way and left him behind. The next thing he knows, she’s apparently dead and his other child has ran off to become a pirate. Can you blame him for turning to alcohol?

If it wasn’t for the support from his loving wife, he might have just broken down entirely.

That said, now that he’s heard Summer is alive, he refuses to go see her. Call it pride, but he wants her to return home and apologize first. Even if he does want nothing more than to hug the stuffing out of her.

His semblance is Hellfire and he uses it to great effect. Be it something as simple as lighting a candle or something as big as starting a forest fire, he can do it as naturally as one breathes. He claims his fire powers are even stronger than the Fall Maiden’s, but it’s unknown if that’s just his ego talking or if he really does have the bite to back up his rather loud bark.

His weapon is a black and red scythe that he’s deemed Hell Fang. The blade is patterned after a flame and he used metal that could withstand absurdly high temperatures to forge it. This allows him to wreathe his weapon in flames, creating an incredibly destructive fighting style. His weapon doesn’t transform because he claims that he who relies on multiple forms rather than just mastering one will always be at a disadvantage.

“There’s a lot of things Ozpin hides from me. If we’re being cynical, it could be that he’s keeping the Silver Eyes close to his chest, it could be he wanted leverage on me he didn’t have before, but I’m pretty sure he just saw the potential Ruby has. We were Top Shelf Huntsmen and Huntresses-in fact Taiyang and I are still ranked best of the best and Yang was accepted on her own merits. It wouldn’t be any surprise if Team RWBY had graduated at the top of their class either. There’s also… something else he may be looking at them for.” He reached for his flask, again stopping himself and again clasping his hand. She could read him well enough to know this time he wasn’t reaching out of habit, but he was still trying his best to ween off of the habit.

“Summer, do you know the Tale of Seasons?” He waited for her answer. If she didn’t know, he’s recall it-with less finesse than Ozpin would say it, but the story wouldn’t change much. If not, he’d continue. “Well, it’s a tale all right, and truth. Magic exists, and four women in the world have power that even makes Silver Eyes look like one of Atlas’ walkers… threatening, but nowhere near what an experienced Huntsman is capable of. Ozpin is the old man in that tale, and an immortal, body-hopping wizard that gave me and Raven the ability to change into birds. All of that is nothing compared to the reality that all of that exists… because the Grimm are lead by the Baddest Bitch Death has ever Spurned, complete with Literal Immortality.”

For a moment, Summer was a little girl again, listening to her father ramble on about the stupidity of the world and how it wasn’t their place to meddle.

How some old wizard caused a lot of trouble for people because he and his ex-wife were having a fit. But she wrote it off as his drunken ramblings.

But as Qrow began to tell his story, she realized that maybe her dad wasn’t entirely wrong. Maybe he was right.

To her own surprise, and maybe Qrow’s, she accepted this as truth.

“I always thought something was off about him, like he was hiding something from us. My dad would often ramble about things like magic and a cranky old wizard, but I blew him off. Guess he knew more than most would.”

She wondered, for a minute, if her father having such knowledge would make him a target of interest for Ozpin.

“Secrets breed distrust, Qrow. Though I don’t agree with her, I can certainly see why Rae Rae was always so cynical toward Ozpin. The man should be more honest with his allies.”

She suddenly didn’t feel all that confident in his ability to keep Ruby and Yang safe.

Qrow came to the porch, looking to Summer with his flask in hand. He takes a single drink, then corks the cap back on and puts it away to sit. He had taken a shower in the evening, so the smell of alcohol was faint. He may have drunk during the evening it seemed, but he was definitely restraining himself with her around. The smile on his face seemed to be the reason why.

“People say you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, but even when I dreamed of you walking through those doors, the reunion wasn’t near as happy in the dreams as it is now, even with you putting everyone in their own time outs.” Qrow chuckled, certain she had her own kind of punishment planned for him. He didn’t even want to imagine it, but now that he knew this was real, he didn’t want to imagine what it would have been like if there wasn’t a punishment for his drinking. “I’m not buying more alcohol for this flask though, promise. I’ll ween out on what whiskey stores I have left, and then the only alcohol I’ll buy is at a bar.” He held out his balled hand, the pinky sticking out. Seemed like Ruby rubbed off on him if he was willing to do pinky swears.

“Your cooking’s a lot better than I remember by the way, might just be the old man talking but I remember a time when your cooking left the bathroom perpetually occupied. I’m glad that memory was either fake or aged poorly.” He said, looking out to the forest, deep in thought. “There’s… a lot of things Ozpin didn’t tell you two about. We don’t have to talk about them right now, but we will have to eventually. I did promise to catch you up, so where do you want to start?”

After making a pinky promise with him, she couldn’t help but scowl at him saying that her cooking used to be bad.

“It was never bad, Qrow. I purposely made it bad that one time because you broke my favorite piggy bank while celebrating your birthday with Tai. So I got a little payback. But we can talk more about petty revenges later, you said you wanted to help me catch up? Then you can start with the elephant in the room.”

Qrow brought both of his hands together and rested his chin on them when Summer began recalling her past. The muscles in them tensed and clenched as she went on, describing depravities no creature save Man/Faunas was capable of. He came from a Bandit Clan, he of all people would know just how far humans could slink, but even that didn’t match what he was hearing.

“You’re right about one thing… if I knew anything about those bastards I’d hunt them down to the last, but I get the impression even if I did know, chances are I’d be finding graves instead of perpetrators. You misinterpreted me though… I didn’t ask for the reason why you were gone, I just said I need time to process this. Ten years is a long time to be gone Summer, especially considering you were the adhesive keeping us all together. I’m not asking you to leave, I just need to accept this new reality that you’re here. You of all people know I’ve got plenty of skeletons in my closet and some of them like to try clawing their way out to drag me with them. Give me a day, then we can catch up on everything, including the stuff Oz didn’t want to tell you.”

Over the next day, several things happened. One was that Summer immediately broke her promise and started working in the kitchen despite her injuries. She said something about wanting to make sure she wasn’t rusty and if the reactions of Ruby and Yang were any indication, then her food was definitely a step up from Tai’s despite the years of inactivity. 

Then she got mad at Tai for neglecting the girls for a few years, even if he had a valid reason to do so. She didn’t slap him or anything. She just banished him to the couch for a few nights.

And then there was the time she got furious at her crutch for tripping her and aggravating her right leg even more. She would have snapped the thing in two if it hadn’t been for Ruby calming her down.

And now? Now she sat on the porch in the morning, sipping a cup of coffee. It had been a long time since she’d enjoyed a calm morning like this and she was going to make the most of it. Even if it was difficult to get on there swinging bench while only having the use of one leg.

          A few friends is sometimes better than having mountains of them, especially if the few you have are loyal and true. Nothing, in Sun’s experience, was much worse than finding yourself stabbed in the back by someone you put your trust in.

          But Ruby would never have to worry about that from him, at least.

          “Well, she should be attached to her weapon,” he reasoned with a shrug, feeling a little proud of himself. “We both know your weapon can be your best friend out there.”

          And he DID know. Growing up on the dangerous streets of Vacuo, the broomstick he wielded had saved his hide and the hides of his street rat companions on many occasion. It was what had inspired the staff form of Ruyi and Jingu Bang, feeling familiar in his hands once he’d been sent to the Academy. 

          “Learning to fight with your weapon without relying on it over yourself is important. Balance is everything, you have to be a weapon yourself. Ruby’s small but she’s fast and she can use that to her advantage.”

“And hopefully with your teachings, she’ll be able to reach her true potential. After all, a staff is closer to a scythe than my twin axes are.” 

She leaned against the wall behind her and let out a sigh. 

“Can you do me a favor, Sun? Can you make sure Ruby doesn’t overwork herself? She’s always been determined to live up to her expectations and because she’s younger, she pushes herself twice as hard as anyone else. There have been nights where she called me at 3 am because she had questions about her weapon. And it’s just, I’m worried about her.”