Makarov was not all that surprised when Qrow Branwen became a constant pestering presence in the guild.

While refusing offers to become a member, his frequent visits enabled him to be entrenched in their community of mages. Though, for some strange reason, every brawl that came his way either ended in a spectacular series of mishaps or he had beaten everyone. Pretty weird. And suspicious.

Natsu, unsurprisingly, kept pushing for a fight and ended up the same way when he tried to challenge Gildarts. Grey, unfortunately, had a more difficult time recovering his shed clothing even without Juvia even attempting to hide them.

Erza and Laxus regarded him with some contemptuous respect at least and Makarov could detect their subtle attempts at scrutiny for whatever the man was hiding. The rest were a mixed bag. Macao and Wakaba found themselves an admirable drinking buddy in Qrow...when he wasn't busy trying to flirt with the girls or trying to outdrink Cana.

Interestingly enough, Wendy had a certain touch to him. Her youth and timidity somehow cracked through his shell to bring to the fore a personality that was akin to a father helping a child ride her bike. It was cute, homely, and adorable.

Finally, though he would not admit it outright, Makarov himself found good company in the bird-shifting man. There seemed to be a lot of things they actually had in common: alcohol, women, and taking care of unruly brats.

"You have kids, Qrow?" the aged guild master asked during an empty day.

"Nah. I have two nieces though."

"How old are they?"

"One's sixteen and the other's eighteen. Wonderful kids." Qrow downed his tenth shot of the day. "Even if they both still play heroics in a world that's too real for their fantasies."

"Mages?"

"Heh, I wish."

So far, Qrow had been an amicable companion. Drinking with them, partying with them, and on occasion traded blows with them without himself being inducted into their ranks. All while being dodgy about whatever he was. Shapeshifter? Bird-man? Mage? Nobody knew.

Though Gildarts gave a hint. Or something close that.

"Hang up a rabbit's foot somewhere," was all he said.

No one took him seriously.

Makarov raised his brow after First Master Mavis disclosed a minute observation she had made. The old man flashed a glare when Gildarts discreetly admitted the same thing. Though cryptically. Even Laxus, Freed, and the ever astute Levy began to cast wary glances.

The guild was slinking down in the dumps. Again.

Jobs would flounder more often than not. While it was common for the younger riffraff like Natsu and Grey to absolutely screw up a job—yes, including the simplest ones with Lucy and Juvia chaperoning them—it came as quite the surprise when Erza and Laxus returned downtrodden, their tasks clearly gone sideways and more.

Fairy Tail was losing money, clients, and soon enough their reputation was taking a serious hit. Again. It seemed as though a curse had befallen them, akin to a bad luck charm unfortunately strung up their walls.

Through it all, Gildarts remained oddly nonchalant. Makarov suspected the grizzled veteran was hiding something. And damn it, if it was detrimental to Fairy Tail, he would have his head. And Qrow's if it came to that. For now, he'd wait. After all, he needed the full picture before he could act.

It had been another day of lackluster effort for the guild. Everyone knew it by now. Their fortunes had made a complete reversal. Things were, simply put, shitty. All the while, Qrow drank in blissful ignorance of the doldrums. Though he did make for some fine conversation to lighten the mood. It was mostly small talk, dirty jokes, and occasional ribbing.

Makarov listened in, of course, along with Mavis. The more Mister Branwen drank, the more they learned about him.

Other than the fact that he came to Magnolia searching for his twin sister Raven—who, everyone in Fairy Tail guessed correctly, could turn into a raven.

"Any leads?" Mirajane inquired.

Qrow shook his head. "Nothing. She's always like that. If she doesn't want to be seen, she'll disappear for however long she wants."

"She's the mother to your nieces, right?" chimed Cana.

"One of them. Heh. Real mom-of-the-year. Come to think of it...I may have forgotten to tell the kids where I've been for the past couple weeks. Whoops."

Makarov both frowned then sighed. He nudged a thumb at the storage room behind the bar. "You can use the lachryma in the back."

"Eh, no need." Qrow eased off the bar top as the half the guild turned their heads to the door where a girl in long, wild blonde hair stood. More notable, however, were the yellow gauntlets she had on her wrists, lined with the bright red casings of...buckshot?

"Uh, hi?" she greeted.

For some reason, Makarov could sense a headache coming.

From her perch atop the bar, Mavis curiously yet gleefully followed the exchange.

Many of the men in attendance enthusiastically welcomed her...and her chest. The ladies smacked them on the heads and apologetically ushered her through the door.

"Fairy Tail, huh?" the blonde girl remarked, eyeing up the hall and everyone else in it. Seeing how she still had their attention, she barked, "Yo! I'm looking for my uncle. His name's Qrow Branwen. I heard he comes here often!"

And then the hall fell quiet. So quiet, one could hear a fly fart. Then heads turned to the bar as said uncle thudded his boots on the floor.

"Over here, firecracker!" he called back.

"Oh my gosh, Uncle Qrow!" she squealed excitedly, rushing over to him. "I've been looking all over for you! Ruby and I have been worried sick!"

He waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. Just like Tai. Wouldn't stop worrying."

The girl frowned. "We really need you to stop drinking so much."

"Speak for yourself, kiddo."

"At least I know my limit."

"Yeah. One. For a lightweight."

Miss Firecracker stomped her boot on the floor. "I am not a lightweight!"

Her uncle smirked. "Yes, you are."

"Ugh, come on!" She grabbed his arm and proceeded to tug him out the door. "We have to go. Ruby's across town. She hasn't eaten her cookies because she kept thinking the worst happened to you."

Qrow pulled out his flask and scowled. He yanked his arm, pulling his niece back and proceeded to return to the bar. "Hold on. I need a refill."

"Uncle Qrow!"

"Be with you in a minute, Yang."

Gildarts was enjoying the awkward show being played out down below. He would never outright admit to Qrow though that he was blessed with fine kin. Much like his Cana except younger and wilder. He took a sip from his tankard as the rest of the guild fell into muted whispers and hushed conversation to which the Qrow's 'firecracker' picked up on. And the poor girl couldn't help but be a little embarrassed by the attention.

For about three seconds.

Then she struck a confident pose. "Like what you see, boys?"

Gildarts had to stifle a laugh. Firecracker, indeed. Some of the girls reacted accordingly to that. Thinly veiled envy, perhaps? He was sure some of them borrowed a page from Juvia's book of obsession-driven insanity with how this Yang kid was laughing at the stares and glares she was getting. And technically, she was legal. But he was too old for that. Hell, his own daughter was older than that.

"So I heard some of you guys are really good with fire," Yang started. "Which one of you can show me the ropes?"

"That'd be Salamander," barked Gajeel who threw a disinterested thumb at Natsu who looked up from his plate of food with a muffled 'what?'

"Awesome. I've always wanted to try my hand at a fire wizard."

Now Gildarts chuckled. The look of excitement on Natsu's face was complimented by the sudden abject abhorrence Lucy sported. Of course, Natsu was oblivious to all that, responding with, "You want to go? You sure about that?"

Yang pumped her gauntleted fists. "While I'm still in town, maybe we could meet somewhere open where we could, you know, spar."

It was at that moment that Qrow finally stepped in—or swayed in, to be more precise—to block Natsu from even closing the gap. "Hold it right there, kid! I ain't lettin' you touch my kid, kid."

"Come on, Qrow!" the Fire Dragon Slayer protested. "I can touch her wherever I want!"

And Gildarts was laughing. Oh, Natsu's complete ineptitude with words never failed to amuse. That and Levy was trying to talk down a not-so-strangely catatonic Lucy. He leaned over the bannister and caught the mischievous glint in Yang's eye as she smirked.

"Yeah, Uncle Qrow! He's old enough to make his own decisions. He can touch me anywhere he wants!"

To the surprise of many, even Gildarts himself, Qrow swirled on his feet with an expression of pure horror. He raised his finger at his niece and slurred, "Now, you listen here, young lady! I'm your uncle and I'm telling you that you can't"—hiccup—"go screwin' around with some flame-brain who can't even melt that popsicle over there!"

Natsu jumped. "Hey! What do you mean I can't melt that ice princess!?"

"Who're you calling an ice princess, spark plug!?" Grey hollered.

"You wanna go!?"

"I'm ready to go!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yang recoiled as fire and ice collided into a one-on-one. She held onto her uncle who waved it off and started walking towards the exit, taking her with him. Poor girl's confidence splintered the moment the brawl happened in front of her face. "Does...does this happen a lot?"

"Eh, it's not a normal day without those two idiots beating each other senseless," Qrow replied.

Yang nervously chortled as she helped to carry her intoxicated uncle, her free hand waving at the rest of Fairy Tail who weren't involved in the dust cloud rampaging in the middle of the hall. "Uh, thanks for taking care of him! He can get really, uh, rowdy sometimes."

"You're welcome!"

"Don't mention it!"

"He's a cool dude!"

Gildarts downed his tankard and headed down to the bar where he heard Makarov grunt, "Well, can't say I'm going to miss him much."

"He won't be gone forever," the grizzled S-Class mage said.

Mavis, Makarov, and even Mirajane, Cana, Laxus, and the Thunder Legion craned their heads towards him.

"Yeah. He'll be back before I'm off on my next job. Trust me on that."

At that moment, the glass Mira was polishing slipped from her grasp and shattered into pieces on the floor. They all stared at it.

Gildarts shrugged. "You may want to hang up a rabbit's foot somewhere, though."

Makarov groaned. Mavis grinned. Everyone else sighed as they saw Qrow and Yang out the door.

The next day, Natsu scored a big pay-out on a relatively simple job. The reward had been a rare gemstone that was believed to fetch a moderate price but a closer appraisal yielded three times the amount. Enough to feed the Fire Dragon Slayer, cover damages incurred by said Dragon Slayer, and still have enough left to cover Lucy's rent for the next couple months.

"Man, what a stroke of luck!" Natsu declared to his dumbfounded guild mates.

In the back, Makarov let out a strangled noise while scowling deeply at the freshly-severed rabbit's foot that he forced Laxus to nail into one of the support beams that morning.

ORIGINALLY DRAFTED: September 20, 2018

LAST EDITED: December 9, 2018

INITIALLY UPLOADED: December 9, 2018