Chapter 4: Instincts

A/n- yeah, this one's a little short, consider this a nice bit of filler/exposition (like most of the other parts so far actually)

With Qrow's semblance always a factor into his daily life, whether it be accidentally making someone trip, knock over a glass, fall off a building (yes that actually happened once), and just in general have a bad day, it was always hard to be around people, so having a family? Damn near out of the question. Though, looking down at the two little girls, both clinging onto his arms in appreciation, Qrow couldn't help but wonder what might have been. If only had hadn't discovered his semblance, hadn't been raised by bandits. The two girls, Neo and Velvet, both looked up at him, smiling. "Well, uh, we should probably be getting back to the park now. My parents will be worried." Velvet said, suddenly getting a worried expression on her face. Neo's eyes flashed brown as she nodded, seemingly saying, 'Mine too.'

Qrow stood, stretching as he tossed a card of lien at the man behind the counter, just enough to pay for his drinks. "Keep the change." he said casually before walking towards the door, the two girls noiselessly following him out past the two unconscious thugs. Qrow shielded his eyes as he walked outside, "God I hate sunlight after drinks. Hurts like hell." he thought as he looked out at the streets. There wasn't anyone nearby, no sign of the tough guys Neo and Velvet had ran from. He looked back at the two, "You said the park right bunny girl?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder. Velvet blushed, but nodded, "Yeah. It's that way." she said, shyly pointing off the way they'd come. He nodded, walking forwards, the girls having to jog to keep up with him.

It was quiet for a little while, until a little voice spoke up, "Mister Qrow, can we stop for a minute? My feet hurt." Velvet said, pouting towards the man as he looked over his shoulder. He sighed, "Fine, we'll stop here." he said, walking over to a conveniently placed bench. He sat down, Neo scrambling up on his right side as Velvet did on his left, both of them waving their feet with looks of concentration on their faces as they tried to get on the seemingly tall bench. "Oh for the love of…" Qrow muttered as he reached down, picking up the two girls as if they were only baby's, setting them next to him. The two girls leaned back on the bench, both of their heels resting on the edge of the bench as they smiled in content. After a moment Velvet pulled back her feet, sitting cross-legged as she lightly rubbed her feet, trying to sooth the aching pain she felt. "Tryin' to get lucky little freak?" a voice said.

Velvet's ears went rigid as she looked up, her eyes widening as she saw a car parked right next to the bench, stopped in the road with the engine running. The men were pale white, and clearly needed to get more sun, both with sunglasses and what looked almost like blazers, a plastic cup in one of their hands. Velvet looked down, blushing as she stopped rubbing her feet. "Aww, she's gone all shy." one of them said. The other smirked, "Maybe it's the heat, hold on, I can help."

SPLASH!

Velvet looked up, blinking, her entire face caked in some kind of white substance. She felt her lip quivering as she looked down, seeing it getting on her new shirt too. "ALRIGHT GET OVER HERE!" Qrow yelled, drawing his sword and dashing at the two men. The two were quick to panic, driving off as Qrow started yelling some choice words of his at them, the sound of their engine thankfully saving Neo and Velvet's virgin ears from hearing them. Meanwhile, Velvet just kept her eyes shut, trying to keep the substance from getting in them. Neo leaned over, placing a finger on Velvet's cheek and wiping away some of it, licking her finger. Vanilla. "*sniff*, my… shirt..." Velvet looked down, tears welling up in her eyes as she saw her outfit stained by the offending beverage. Velvet was a second away from bursting into tears when she felt a light pressure on her face, her involuntarily shutting her eyes as it moved around.

"Just hold still…" Qrow said, wiping away at the vanilla milkshake with the napkins he'd 'borrowed' from a nearby cafe. A few seconds later Velvet had been cleaned up, though, her shirt now had a large stain on the front. Velvet sniffled, a few tears running down her face. "Why me? What did I even do?" she thought. Suddenly, she felt a pressure on her side, pulling her over. She looked over, seeing Neo hugging her, trying to comfort the saddened faunus. Velvet didn't question it, wrapping her arms around Neo and just crying, letting out the tears she was trying to keep in not moments ago. Neo shut her eyes as she lightly pat her back with on hand, her other lightly rubbing the space in between Velvet's ears. "Shh…" Neo said, quiet enough that it didn't hurt her throat worse than breathing, but loud enough Velvet could hear it.

Qrow just watched from the sidelines, slightly confused. "Uh, what's the adult supposed to do in this situation? God where's Raven when I need her… oh, right." he thought, suddenly remembering where his sister was spending her days now. Hundreds of miles away. Before he could think much deeper on this, he heard Velvet speaking. "Thank's Neo." she said, leaning back and smiling at Neo, a single tear running down her face. Neo leaned in, her lips lightly nudging against Velvet's cheek in what had to be the most innocent kiss Qrow had ever seen, wiping away the tear that was falling. Velvet, who understood a bit more of what that meant than Neo, felt her face turn bright red, and she had no doubt some of it might have even gone off her face into the background if that was possible.

"Man I wish I had a camera right now." Qrow thought, smiling at the two children. Neo jumped up, standing on the bench, though, it seemed Qrow's semblance was up to it's old tricks, causing the bench to break under Neo's (albeit light) weight. Velvet gasped as she reached down, "Oh my gosh! Are you okay!?" she asked, her face showing her concern. Neo, on the other hand, just held up her thumb from beneath her bench, showing she was alright. "Alright, you two ready to keep going?" Qrow asked. As fun as it was to watch the two's interactions, their parents were probably worried sick by now. Velvet jumped off, Neo rolling out from under the bench, standing up and brushing off her skirt before she walked over, grabbing onto Qrow's right hand. Velvet took the hand, grabbing onto his left as the man sighed. "Can't go anywhere with you two huh?" he muttered. He started walking, the two girls silently following next to him. Though, after a while, Neo seemed to be tired of walking, and just jumped up, latching onto his arm and just riding it. Velvet saw, and did the same, smiling over at her new friend, a smile that was quickly returned.

Meanwhile, Roman Torchwick stood, "What're you doing Roman?" Peach asked, looking around for any reason Roman would have gotten up. Roman looked toward the sandbox, "It's been twenty minutes, and Neo hasn't come back for her shoes, I'm getting worried." he said. Peach stood, "Maybe she's having too much fun with her new friend to care?" she suggested. Roman shook his head, walking through the mulch and heading for the discarded pink shoes. "I don't think so." he said as he leaned down, seeing the clean pink shoes, as well as the slightly sandy gold one's belonging to the rabbit faunus Neo was playing with. He looked around, seeing something he hadn't noticed before, a greenhouse. He also saw two people walking towards it. One of them was a short woman with rabbit ears, the other, a tall man without them. He started walking towards them, Peach following behind him. "You think they went over here?" Peach asked. Roman simply nodded, striding up to the taller man and shorter woman.

"Pardon me, but have you two seen a little girl? About yay tall, yay wide, bright pink, white, and brown hair. Talks with a notepad… know anyone like that?" he asked, looking towards the man and gesturing with his hands for the 'yay' bits. The man just shrugged, but the woman was far, far more vocal. "So it was your daughter with my baby! Did you see her!? Ears like mine, but, you know, shorter, brown hair, adorable, carrot on her shirt, did you see her!?" she asked, walking over to Roman and shaking him by his shoulders as she spoke. The man put his hand on, assumingly, his wife's shoulder and shook his head. She took a breath, breathing out. "You're right honey. I should just calm down." she said. It was at this point that Peach noticed the woman was trembling, not like she was nervous, but that she just couldn't stand still. "Anxiety maybe? Hmm, hard to tell." she thought.

"So your daughter was the one with Neo huh? Well, I don't know. There shoes are still there, I think they went in… here." Roman said, opening the door as he noticed the other side of the wall, containing the obvious Neo and Velvet shaped holes, a few drops of blood on the ground from the tough guy's nearly broken nose. Neo's net was nearby, laid casually on the ground. The woman and Peach both covered their mouths in shock as Roman and the man's eyes widened. Everyone's eyes looked between each other, before the woman and Roman both shouted out, likely as loud as they could.

"WHO TOOK MY DAUGHTER!?"

Qrow suddenly stumbled, Velvet climbing up and sitting her legs over his shoulders, her ears twitching as she looked in the direction of the park. "You heard that right?" she asked. Qrow frowned, "Uh, no." he said simply. Velvet smiled down at Qrow, "Come on! I think my parents are at the park, we have to hurry!" she said. Qrow rolled his eyes, but kept a light smile as he moved his hands around, cradling Neo in his arms as Velvet wrapped her arms around his neck, falling back down over his back. Velvet had to shut her eyes as Qrow started sprinting, the wind howling past as the three suddenly became a blur, aiming for the park. Velvet opened her eyes, only to see her parents standing only a few feet away.

Roman didn't know what the heck had happened. One second, he was looking around wildly for Neo, then, all the sudden, there was a little girl in his arms. She was about the same height as Neo, but once Roman got a better look at her, he noticed it was the girl Neo was playing with, the lack of shoes fortifying that fact. When she opened her eyes, she glanced at Roman in confusion. "Umm, hi?" she said, almost confused. He looked up, his eyes widening as he saw Neo in the taller man's arms, both of them looking at one another in a similar way Roman was looking at the girl in his arms. Though, neither of them talked, so it was a bit more awkward. Roman and the man's eyes met for a second before, without a word, they exchanged children, Neo in his arms and the faunus girl in the taller man's arms.

Neo smiled as she wrapped her arms around Roman's neck, leaning in as she felt his warm embrace calming her, the same way it normally did. She looked up, smiling as she saw a crow fly onto the roof of the slide nearby. "Thanks." she thought, hoping to convey a message with her eyes. The crow, who was fairly confident was 'Qrow', seemed to understand, and nodded, giving her as close to a smile as was possible for a bird. Just after that though, the moment Roman looked over to see what Neo was looking it, at just flew away. Neo turned around, smiling over at Velvet as her mother wrapped her in what looked like a bone crushing hug, swaying her left and right. "Oh my poor baby! What happened!? How did you end up like this, and more importantly, how did you get here?!" she asked, looking down at her child in worry.

Velvet started telling them everything that happened, including the bit with Qrow, though, where he went, she didn't say. Mostly since she didn't actually know, she hadn't seen the crow as Neo had. Her mother seemed to take it as 'such an active imagination', like most would. Peach and Velvet's father seemed to be the same way. Roman, on the other hand, had another suspicion. "So, Qrow saved them huh? Guess he wasn't as drunk as usual." he thought. He'd of course heard of the nearly legend status 'team STRQ' at this point. A lot of people in Vale did, after they took down a crime boss that rivaled Junior, one Roman had worked for at one point.

"Oh! We should have a playdate Neo!" Velvet said, smiling at said girl. Neo tilted her head, giving Velvet a confused look. Velvet couldn't help but giggle, "You know, you come over and play! We have some fun and stuff! Or I come over with you!" she said. Neo, knowing somewhat how Roman was, had a feeling he'd refuse. "I think it's a good idea." so she was surprised when that came out of his mouth. She looked up at Roman in surprised, at that rate, so did Peach. "Well, how about this weekend? Me and Marron are actually heading out of town for a while. Her aunt will be watching her, so maybe she can stay over one of those days." Velvet's mother said, smiling at Roman. Roman nodded, "That sounds great. Or maybe Neo can stay over at your place. Not sure which yet." he said. The man nodded, smiling the same smile as his wife. Speaking of, his wife spoke. "Well, we'll see you soon then mister?" she said, clearly not knowing the man's name.

"Torchwick. My name's Roman Torchwick." he said casually. The woman nodded, "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Mister and Misses Torchwick. You too Neo. See you later!" she said, turning around as the three of them started walking away, unaware of the growing blush on Peach's face. "Bye Neo!" Velvet said, smiling as she waved over her dad's shoulder. Neo waved back, smiling at Velvet as the three Scarlatina's walked away. "Weird she didn't say bye to you Velvy." Velvet's mother said when they were out of earshot. Velvet shook her head, "No, it's not weird. Neo can't talk." she said. Her mother nearly stopped in her tracks when she heard this. "What was that sweetie?" she asked. Velvet just repeated what she said. "Sweetie what do you mean?" she asked. Velvet pouted, "I mean she can't talk! That's it! She just writes on her little paper-thingy!" she said. Velvet's mother smiled at this, almost as much as she had during the Qrow story.

"I wonder how that play date's gonna work out?"