House Log 003: Be Our Guest 2: Vampiric Boogaloo

[payingfordeliverance]

Who: Closed to Pandora House and some wandering RWBYs
What: Two casts alike in dignity are having vampire drama now
When: Somewhere in the midst of all this
Where: Pandora House, which still needs a cooler name

Content Warnings: Probably nothing as we are here for shenanigans, but will tag in subject lines as necessary


Ozpin gets kicked out of his own house for his recent descent into vampirism and one Qrow Branwen has the brilliant idea to bring him to his good buddy Xerxes Break's house for safekeeping. In theory, this is a solid idea. Despite the first impression given off by White Alice's decidedly weird and sometimes violent snow goon sculptures littering the grounds, this house is safe and cozy, and because Break is a Victorian, being abruptly called upon to provide hospitality is something that is simply written into his personality. There are separate rooms available for all three of their guests, and plenty of food around for the taking at all times. The new arrivals are taken in with about the same level of fuss and disruption as there might be if somebody saw a cute critter out in the yard and everybody had to pause and go look at it because critters are neat.

However, this house also has three chaotic darkbloods in it who are all feeling aggressively friendly at the moment, another vileblood who is also named Oz, and sometimes Ozpin's ex's beloved nephew is just there with likewise zero warning for ghost-harassing reasons. So, you know, have fun with that.

Comments

[clocktowers]

Ozpin has spent too many hours in warm silence with Qrow; he does not think to fill it, except for the beat in which he casts an appraising glance around the room and sits back as though satisfied.

"It's a good choice of safehouse," he murmurs. Qrow's small smile, the sweetly open look on his face, is as plain to him as text on a page. After those first tense moments out in the snow, this is a significant shift of tone. Some of the tension has dropped from his shoulders.

This seems to be good for Qrow. It's not really the house he approves of.

[payingfordeliverance]

Break and Baltus are efficient creatures. Off in the kitchen, his omen leans on him until Break is past his initial surge of feelings over having been promoted to "Xerx" again, which takes only as long as it takes the kettle to boil thanks to this month's darkblood urge to be bothering another human being at all times. Then it's a simple matter of gathering up all the accoutrements, all of which are pretty much ready to go at all times because that's just what this household is like, and making his way back.

The omen reappears first, cheerfully carrying a very large potato Break has judged as having too many sprouts to be worth eating; he plonks himself down on a pillow by the fireplace to chew it into little bits. Break follows with a pile of no less than three cookie tins stacked on his head, and a neatly arranged tea tray with his largest pot, three mugs, and a full sugar bowl in his hands. The state of the tray is telling. For one thing, the large stoneware mugs he's brought along are the appropriate colors -- red, purple, and green, respectively. He doesn't know yet the full significance of colors on Remnant, but he has figured out they are weirdly aggressive about it for some reason, which is fair given his own love of purple anything.

For another, that entire sugar bowl is honestly just for Ozpin. Not knowing how much is too much, he's taken the liberty of sweetening his and Qrow's cups already, so as to avoid strain on the contents of the poor sugar bowl. Qrow has never explicitly told him how much sugar he likes, but Break has watched him often enough to have logged this tidbit of information away.

"Here we are." With a graceful squat, he slides the tea tray onto the low table in front of the couch, and sweeps the cookie tins from his head in one smooth motion. Those will go to Qrow while Break pours the tea. "If one is going to have civilized conversation there are certain things that ought to be done properly, that's what I think."

[bolstafir]

Before they have much further time to reflect on Qrow's obvious attachment to a certain someone in this house, Break and his omen have returned and serve as an excellent distraction. Or perhaps, Qrow should say, the cookie tins on his head an an excellent distraction. Even for someone whose very existence doesn't shift probability negatively for those around him, those tins are in a highly precarious position, one slight breeze from an entire cookietastrophe. It would not be inaccurate to say that Qrow holds his breath the entire space of Break's few strides to the couches, though he tries to play off the sigh of relief when everything is set down intact as a cough. Reflex moreso than conscious effort at concealment, considering Break knows that most closely guarded secret now.

Once he's gotten over his own little personal crisis, though, the state of the tray is taken in -- that one of the mugs happens to be green does not escape his notice. He'd only mentioned it in passing once, that Oz's color was green, and he's a little touched that not only did Break remember, but he brought out color-coordinated mugs as something of a welcoming gesture. There's that warm feeling again, and it hits him hard enough that he barely even notices the tea is already perfectly to his taste.

"You can never go wrong with tea and cookies."

It's a strange sort of deja vu, in a way; being sat down with cookies and a warm drink in a safe place when there was something of importance to discuss. Once again, he is quietly glad for the choice he made in bringing Oz here, and he settles in, waiting for Oz to start things off. Qrow himself does not know the details, after all, not beyond the basic concept of "vampire" and drinking blood.

[clocktowers]

An impressive display at hosting indeed. He does not telegraph the slight tension as he waits for the cookies to fall; he can sense it in Qrow out the corner of his eye, and it does not help to stoke that anxiety. When the cookies don't fall, Ozpin exhales a breath that is nearly a laugh and leans happily in over his knees.

"I couldn't agree more."

He waits for Qrow to pass him a cookie, and lets that pause be his cover as he thinks on how to begin. He nods his thanks to Break, and settles in.

"The trouble is ultimately, I hope, something of a misunderstanding. Our dear friend Willow, and the companions from her home world, are used to a particular threat: a creature without human conscience, which kills to sustain itself on blood."

He spreads his hands here, as though placating.

"Happily, the similarities of this situation are entirely superficial. I suspect I have run up against an... unusual confluence of blood type and seasonal changes. In Deerington, I might have called it a curse, and expected the effects to pass within the span of a month. Here, I'm afraid the situation seems to persist at a lower level and for a longer time."

He does not look to Qrow as he says this. He knows the tension of betrayal will hurt to see, and it is better to keep his tone smooth and warm.

"This is all rather beyond my expertise, but the appearance of similarity bothered Willow terribly, all the same. We are spending some time apart to let heated emotions settle somewhat."

[payingfordeliverance]

Break does know about Qrow's semblance and it's a mark of confidence not just in him, but in himself too, that for the most part he is going about his business as usual. After all, Qrow successfully hid the matter from him for months, and Break likely still wouldn't have caught on yet if unrelated Pthumerian interference hadn't given him a clue smack to the face. Break has taken this to mean that between the two of them they are most excellent at dealing with the consequences of that semblance, and his part to play is not to attempt to accident-proof himself or his house. Rather, it's to keep his own irritatingly cunning eye on Qrow's understandable penchant for seeing disaster in everything, as it seems to him like managing Qrow is going to be much more necessary than joining him in worrying about useless things like broken cookies that Break would cheerfully eat anyway.

This, he is still sorting out. After all, it's only been a couple of weeks. In this case, reading the way both of them breathe out at the safe delivery of the cookie tins, Break makes a mental note that this is a tell to pay attention to. He decides not to acknowledge it otherwise, outside of electing to curl up in his armchair like a gremlin to project an air of ease instead of bothering with a truly polite formal perch.

Qrow's semblance is an every day concern. That he has turned up on Break's doorstep with a "vampire" in tow is the much more immediate problem.

"The monsters from this lady's home must be terrible indeed, for her to react so to someone so capable of holding polite conversation," he observes when Ozpin is through. "The sort that catch prey by way of skilled deception, I imagine. Even so, it sounds as though her overabundance of caution has wrapped around into making things much more difficult. Mm, I'm guessing she is very young?"

He would certainly have a strong reaction if he thought for an instant a Contractor was roaming around in Trench. And the absolute last thing he would do in that circumstance is let that person out of his sight. This Willow person is definitely still a rookie if she's letting this guy run around doing heaven knows what. Break, meanwhile, decides he is not going to verbalize this.

"More importantly, that you say it's something persistent strikes me as the far greater concern here, right? I'm no Deerington veteran, but so far, everything I've observed here that doesn't fade away within the month seems as though it's a stepping stone into something much worse."

[bolstafir]

Qrow does not generally expect others to notice when he gets like this, but nonetheless, it is likely good for Qrow's peace of mind that his relief goes unremarked upon. It's something of a short-lived moment to relax, though, given the topic of conversation shifts back to difficult matters.

It strikes him that he had not thought too deeply on the matter of Ozpin's issue lingering past the initial month mark. Now that it's been pointed out, he cannot push it from his mind again, but even as Break's implication is clear...some part of him still wants to deny it. Perhaps, somewhat selfishly, because if it is indeed Corruption -- ah, their habits of giving each other space when dealing with painful things may no longer be tenable in the long term, but also... he doesn't want to admit that Willow had a point about having let things slide too long, that he should've checked in with Oz sooner.

"Could be a blood power thing, too," he offers, though he winces at the realization that such a state of affairs may possibly be worse. He and Break both know what it is to have a dangerous power not fully within one's own control, after all.

[clocktowers]

"I'm coming to suspect it's a combination of all these factors," he says, a little ruefully. "Willow is quite young, but she tends to be one of the more insightful among our number."

He leaves it unspoken that tends to be is not in play right now.

"I'm certain we'll smooth things over once the initial surprise has passed. I do not relish the thought of facing these issues indefinitely, but I was bothered by no such compulsion in the first few months of my arrival. I still hold some hope that it's a quirk of the season— we are nearly to the end of 'Bone Season,' as it were."

[payingfordeliverance]

Indeed, Break makes a terrible face at the notion of blood powers making one want, or need, to drink actual blood belonging to other people. Fantastic. If that's true, with his luck, sooner or later his household will accidentally drop itself into its own pocket dimension and nobody will ever know what's going on in Trench because they won't be able to escape their own whimsical illusions, or something.

Freaking darkblood.

"Well. I suppose in a world where blood is everything, it's no surprise that people may end up struck by such an urge. But if that's so, you can't possibly be the first to suffer it."

Meaning there is probably already information available about it somewhere, but Break stops short of saying there is probably already a solution. It's not as though the locals have managed to sort out the blood pollution and corruption issues at the root.

[clocktowers]

"I wouldn't be surprised to learn of such a history," he says, politely noncommittal. "I may yet see what a bit of digging in the Archives will turn up. In the meantime, the issue is manageable."

He flicks a glance to Qrow, and his smile pulls tight and brittle.

"Should that change, there are those who would not allow the situation to erupt too far out of hand."

After that first bloody October, watching Qrow's body flake away at his own sister's hands, he perhaps even believes it.

[payingfordeliverance]

Break, being both practical to the point of paranoia and the meddlesome sort to boot, makes a mental note to come up with a list later of various vampiric eventualities he might need to be ready for on the sidelines should "not allowing the situation to erupt too far out of hand" become more immediately relevant than offering up a guest room. This list will range from extremes like "provide backup to vampire hunters should this guy start murdering civilians willy-nilly" down to "be diplomatic at vampire hunters so Qrow doesn't kill them if this guy isn't actually murdering civilians willy-nilly" and even "get a hold of some red meat to cook with if Qrow starts looking weirdly pale". Let's be real, he and Qrow are alike in many ways, and there are a couple people Break would absolutely allow to chew on him a little if it kept things under control. Blood grows back, it's fine.

"I imagine doing such research now, while it is manageable, is much more prudent than waiting to see if it simply clears up at the end of the season," he drawls, perhaps just the eensiest bit judgmentally. And hypocritically, given his persistent lockjoint problem he still insists he doesn't need a blood minister for. Oops. "In any case, having you here for the moment isn't a worrisome thing. My kids are all creepy. I saw one of them blow up a demon for speaking out of turn, once."

Perhaps now is the time to figure out how to translate Pandora's sealing spell to blood magic...? He'll set Dipper Pines on the matter later. Honestly, that little dweeb would probably have written instructions in his hands come morning if Break put the problem into his head tonight --

[bolstafir]

Blech, research. Technically, Willow's got that angle covered, but he's currently still salty at Willow so he doesn't bring her up. Honestly, he doesn't have very much to say here at all, given that his only objective was to bring Oz here and get Break's permission to let him stay for a bit until things got sorted out, and there's little need for him to do more at this point than munch on these delightful cookies and sip at his tea. Even so, that old urge he used to have to defend Ozpin's actions still lingers in some traces, despite the aggressive reality check he'd gotten in Remnant and through the process of working through their issues in Deerington. Somewhat without even really noticing he's doing it, he speaks up again--

"It's still a little weird to be able to research these things at all. Back in Deerington, they'd just kind of happen and there was nothing you could do about it. There was this one time Oz randomly grew antlers."

Little does Qrow know how quickly he is going to regret bringing this up.

[clocktowers]

Ozpin tries very politely to pretend that didn't sound like both threat and warning. He smiles a bit tenuously.

More tenuously still when Qrow makes mention of that incident.

"I'd not realized Oscar had spread that story around." There's a note of suspicion to it, half a question. It had been an uncomfortable day in more than one sense, and the pair of them had weathered it together— well, until Stanford's arrival, and then the whole thing had gone a bit differently out of hand. He skirts hurriedly away from the memory. "That, I am glad to say, lasted only one day, though the changes were more... acute. Qrow is correct that there was often little rhyme or reason to the presentation of such curses."

[payingfordeliverance]

It's more a legitimate warning than a threat, but Ozpin is correct in thinking the comment does have shades of both. For the most part, it's simply a note that even if Qrow is wrong about the severity of the situation, the other reason Break is confident here is that everyone in his household can either defend themselves or quickly reach someone who can. If Ozpin and whatever blood cravings he's suffering from should end up crossing White Alice in particular, Alice is not the one Break would worry about, and given how exactly Break lost his eye he is actually being polite in letting this guy know that danger exists at all.

On the other hand he sees no reason whatsoever to specify which kid in particular is the especially dangerous one. Let him assume it's all of them. Ozpin said he was willing to talk about the situation, but so far he has given only a couple of concrete details that he's immediately brushed away in a big pile of fluff about how it's surely a misunderstanding and surely something that will resolve on its own and definitely definitely nothing to be concerned about, hoho, just a silly blip in their silly lives in this silly place with its silly curses. Break knows a wall when he hits one, and truth be told he can't be bothered to try and get past it today, so. Let Ozpin wonder which of Break's brats is the especially explosive one. That will be best for everyone.

"Well. Having only been here a few months myself and missed Deerington altogether, I'm certainly no expert in the matter," he says, dropping the subject. "Perhaps more importantly, is it going to kill you if I make garlic bread to go with dinner?"

[bolstafir]

".....Well--"

There is no good way to end that sentence, is there. Qrow's expression does a rather comical twist as though searching for a way to not admit he'd happened to fly by Oz's window that evening and got perhaps An Eyeful more than he bargained for when he became "Ozpin's eyes" twenty years ago. Ahem.

--Yeah, he gives up.

"Heeee, uh. Didn't."

Look, we don't have time to unpack all that, let's just throw out the whole suitcase! And talk about baked goods instead.

"...But man, I hope not. Garlic bread's too delicious to become vampire-allergic to."

[clocktowers]

Ozpin blinks, briefly owlish— then startled, offended— then trying to rein it in and save face in present company. They will certainly discuss whatever ill-advised spying Qrow has been doing. At length, and later.

"... No, thankfully, I am not that sort of vampire." He says the word with deep and profound reluctance. "And I should hate to impact your plans. Again, I do thank you for the hospitality."

It is going to be a long day.

1/2

[payingfordeliverance]

For a brief moment, Break makes the vicious, gleeful face seen on every kid who has ever watched another kid get in trouble instead of them.

2/2

[payingfordeliverance]

"But of course, but of course."

Unable to completely contain his mirth, Break is obliged to translate it into cheerful hand-flapping. He would have absolutely believed Oscar had run his mouth as that child is a shiny, earnest little troublemaker, but Qrow accidentally tattling on himself just too good. Baltus may or may not be snickering over by the fireplace.

"Then, I'd best get back to the dinner preparations. Mister Qrow, you should join me in there when you have a moment. Something interesting has turned up that I wanted to show you."

[bolstafir]

Mistakes have been made here on this day.

Certain doom by way of embarrassment is certainly waiting for him down the line, but Qrow is grateful for the reprieve that arrives in the form of something interesting coming up. Qrow raises an eyebrow curiously.

"Something interesting, huh?"

The fascinating thing about this household is that such a descriptor can encompass literally anything he could possibly imagine. Break has had his eyeball ripped out, traveled through time and space, had a monster built for him for the express purpose of killing other monsters at the cost of his life force, and needed to save the world from being rewritten by a man who was an entire hivemind of souls. Similarly, the house itself runs the gamut of containing a ghost in the form of a disembodied hand to a particularly disgruntled goose to an entire horde of batcats.

All of this to say, Qrow is rapidly losing any kind of perspective as to what constitutes 'interesting' anymore.

"Wouldn't wanna keep it waiting, then. Lead the way."

[payingfordeliverance]

"Mm. Baltus, keep our guest company, would you? Let me know if he needs anything."

Certain doom by way of embarrassment may well hit him sooner than he thinks, depending just how much emotion of any sort that Qrow is prepared to handle when they get to the wonderful cherry Break is about to hurl like a grenade at the wild disaster of a sundae this day has been.

With his omen left to babysit -- it's a genuine act to tend to Ozpin's comfort; the fact that Baltus's presence means this guy will be watched in Break's absence is a secondary perk -- Break leaves the tea tray and the cookie tins behind for Oz to root around in as he pleases and starts off down the hall. He brings his own mug of tea with him, and the good long sip he takes from it covers his silence until they're out of earshot. When he does speak, his voice is low, though his tone is more amused than anything else.

"So that's your Ozpin, hm? Rather a tight-lipped sort, isn't he? All those words and all I really heard were variations on how no one need worry about it."

[bolstafir]

Qrow is never truly prepared for having emotions, honestly. They're very inconvenient!! Especially when he has them all the time and it's so many of them. The worst.

And although it's not embarrassment exactly, there's an awkward beat when Break comments on Ozpin's caginess. Qrow no longer places the man on a pedestal; it was a hard-earned process of rebuilding their foundations to stand on a level playing field as equals for the first time, and yet to actually talk about this with someone who didn't go through it with him when he no longer holds onto the bitterness of it is another story. He rubs at his neck.

"...Yeeaahh, he's like that. Not that it isn't a pain, but he does -- he's got his reasons."

It's a long story; he's told Break some of it, although with Oz's name held back for his privacy, but there's more he hasn't said. And he can't help but feel a certain unease at the idea of leaving Break with a sense of actual distrust for the man while he's here, even one that he is willing to set aside for Qrow's sake.

"Did I ever tell you about how Grimm are drawn to negative emotions, back in Remnant? The more intense they are, the more people feel 'em, the worse it gets. And Oz is -- he's had to manage that kind of thing on a pretty wide scale, as the Headmaster of a Huntsman Academy."

As the only thing standing between the world and certain destruction for millennia. It feels a little dishonest to downplay it now, but he doesn't want to open Oz up to additional questions and scrutiny when everything is already so fraught. Still, he thinks Break would understand. There are probably skeletons his Rainsworths have that he wouldn't be so willing to offer to Qrow on a silver platter, either.

"So he's got a bad habit of feeling like it's his job alone to keep other people from stressing out about bad shit. Doesn't make it any less frustrating when it happens, but...I get it."

Honestly, this brings up some shit for him that he hasn't really talked about since he and Oz made amends last May. It's harder than he thought, dredging it back up again.

"And he's--working on it. Even if he won't talk about details or tries to make it sound like it's not a big deal, he's not...he wouldn't tell me he's got it under control if he didn't. He promised back in the dream he'd face whatever came at us from then on by our side."

There's conviction in his voice, and he doesn't waver -- but Break may be able to note that it is not the unshakeable faith of someone who has never had occasion to doubt. There is effort required in this trust, and it has the quality of a healed bone to it. At no risk of imminent injury, but with weak points that may not withstand as much pressure as they used to.

[payingfordeliverance]

As usual, Break is currently scooting perhaps more pieces into place in his head than Qrow is aware of. The horrific monsters of one's world being attracted to negative emotions is a great reason to do your damnedest to numb your own in any way that you can find, for instance, when your life is such that you are deliberately putting yourself in the path of such creatures on the regular. And, while Break was aware that Ozpin had been the headmaster of a huge school, this additional note adds an enormous layer of context to what it would have meant to stand in that position.

"Scared or anguished kids will look to the adult in the room, and if that adult is calm, they're more likely to follow suit...essential if you've got a whole pack of them to protect if monsters are sniffing you out. Right?" This is the part of his current line of thought that Break says out loud. "And, when everyone is one of 'your kids'...you protect them all whether they need it any longer or not."

It's a kind way to translate Ozpin's behavior, and one that may not be entirely true; for all Break knows the guy really is just cagey and does not wish to talk about himself regardless for zero noble reasons whatsoever. But he knows that whenever he himself kept things from Sharon, it was because he didn't want to upset her, didn't want her to cry. Whenever he withheld information from Gilbert, it was because Break couldn't help but see him as a spoiled brat right up until the very end, and he didn't trust him not to take things poorly and do something incredibly stupid. Looking at the whole situation from that sort of perspective, well. The discovery that Ozpin has a vampire problem seems to have set off this Willow girl and gotten him thrown out of his own house and now Qrow is in a massive tizzy over it, so there's his validation on that. Break would be quietly keeping tabs on him regardless, because the fact remains that he has blood-sucking impulses and is currently existing in Break's home. But he can't quite blame the guy for having a long-standing habit of leaving the kids out of the loop when he himself has done the same so many times and would probably do it again to avoid exactly this, too.

This will make even more sense when Oscar spills certain other details later and Break discovers that in Ozpin's view literally everyone is a whippersnapper at best.

As to Qrow and his refusal to let himself be uncertain, Break is hearing shades of Gilbert in him again, in his defensiveness. Trench has given Break a great deal of time to consider Gilbert in particular, and how different everything looks now that the truth of who Gil was supposed to become is out. But certain things have remained just Gilbert, and one of those moments is the time at the opera house when Gil complained about having been at Break's side ten whole years without Break ever truly starting to trust him. At the time it had been one of the dumbest things Break had ever heard, given the context was the reveal of his past as an extremely executable serial killer. Held up against the time Gil barged in on a fight Break was losing and scolded him for refusing to rely on him, well.

Break is too respectful to trespass on Qrow's relationship with Ozpin even in his own head; they've had too many talks about the almost sacred nature of the love you hold for the person who showed you that you could be something better and then made you want to try. But Qrow is one of Ozpin's kids, and it would not shock Break to learn that Oz, too, still has a scared little boy with no sense that anyone could want him hanging out in the back of his head whenever he looks at the grown man, just as Break will never lose the memory of the wounded little boy crying in the woods. If Qrow feels the need to explain this much, if he meets the notion of Ozpin's withholding with but he promised, they may still be in the middle of getting that sorted. Break isn't going to dig there.

But, as they complete the short walk to the kitchen, he reaches to rest his hand briefly on Qrow's arm in the same way he can no longer reach out to settle Gilbert.

"You'll find the thing I mentioned by the window," he says, giving Qrow the chance to let the subject drop. "It struck me as rather bird-sized."

And indeed, what Qrow will discover by the window is a very small door that definitely was not there the last time he was over. It's a properly gothic thing, with an arch and miniature spiraling iron work and everything, fit for a spooky old castle -- and, most importantly, it has no knob or handle, but a ring that a bird of the appropriate size could easily grab in his beak and pull open and shut all on his own.

[bolstafir]

Honestly, Qrow is the sort of person who forgives readily but never really forgets. He carries along with him the entire catalog of all the times he's been hurt, an inventory of scars upon his soul. Even with the trust Qrow has rebuilt with the man, there may always be some part of him that remembers the pain.

So perhaps it's for the best when Break assures Qrow that he understands...and lets the matter be.

"Yeah...that's about the size of it."

More than Break knows, even. The hand on his arm is comforting, too, and without thinking on it too deeply, finds his shoulder bumping lightly with Break's in return. The change of subject makes for a suitable distraction, at any rate, and Qrow wanders over to the window curiously before 'bird-sized' registers, just in time to see the new door built into the wall.

Qrow's red eyes go suddenly wide, and he stares at it for a very long moment. Runs a finger down its length and hooks it into the little ring, pulling the door open and closed. There is already a lamp here; in terms of practicality, this wasn't strictly necessary for him to come and go at will. But all he can think about is what Break said to him last time--you are welcome in my house, where having a weirdness about you only means you'll fit in just fine.

This isn't about convenient access to the house. This is ... his. A part of the home carved out for him, like the bedroom doors with their little hanging charms that Break had used to navigate while he was blind. A visible marker that says, this is your place too, you are wanted here.

Qrow is not a stranger to being overwhelmed. He regularly gets that feeling like he is neck deep in water and sinking, desperately casting out with his limbs for any kind of purchase to keep him afloat. Usually, the emotions that bring him there are painful. This, meanwhile ... it's a little like the best parts of being drunk, a strange giddiness settling funny in his chest as he processes that this is real and not some kind dream that's found him instead of his typical nightmares.

His voice seems to escape him, and he just ... finds himself fiddling with the door again instead, letting it close and open over and over as he tries to remember what coherent thoughts feel like.

"...How...who did this?"

[payingfordeliverance]

Break was expecting some sort of amusing reaction, but nothing so hefty as all this. When he'd found the door himself, he'd thought it cute and charming, and moved on assuming Qrow would be similarly tickled. Perhaps smug and preening, as he'd been that very first night Break brought him home and he'd ridden around on Break's arm as a bird, pecking jokingly at a closet door that still bears those petty little marks and has refused to lead to anything but a linen closet ever since. This feels much heavier in ways Break can't really guess at. It gives him pause, and other than taking a moment to give Scrabbles a fistbump as the ghostly hand, unafraid of Qrow, emerges -- Dipper Pines taught him this -- he sets his cup on the counter nearby and lingers there instead of diving back in to the bread-related mess he left behind.

"The house itself, I think. You've noticed it's a little shifty. Closets wandering off and such," he answers, calm and easy about how weird his home is. "The paler of my Alices assures me it has proper feelings. She is entirely accustomed to life in a realm that rearranged itself in an instant to suit her whims, you know? So, I suspect between all the blood that awful mad ghost spilled here and having so many darkbloods in it now, it's developed a life of its own...and, according to her, it's pleased we're here."

He's on his way to the correct answer, but not quite all the way there yet. Mostly, he's assuming the bulk of the active shifting is actually a result of White Alice, and that it's her influence that has been waking the house up in this way. In this case, though, it's Break's. Having decided the kitchen is his domain, this room in particular is a reflection of his desire to create a safe, loving place for his kids to shelter in. This room is also where he and Qrow have had certain terribly important conversations, wherein Qrow has said things like I believed no one would ever want someone cursed as me and Break answered you're exactly the sort of person I want at my side and you are welcome here.

He doesn't fully understand it yet, but his own darkblood magic is based on belief. He has declared in no uncertain terms that Qrow is wanted. The house has answered accordingly. It's his whim it's following.

"I first noticed it after I was telling Baltus about a recipe I was thinking of trying out next time I had you over for lunch," continues Break, oblivious. "We figured it was hoping to avoid another window-chewing incident."

[bolstafir]

Perhaps if Qrow wasn't quite so rattled by the current situation and the way that Willow had unintentionally tapdanced all over one of his deepest insecurities, one he'd so recently confessed to Break, this wouldn't hit him quite so hard. But honestly ... people don't just -- do thoughtful things for him, out of the blue. It's usually his sort of thing, and even then he's too typically uncomfortable with sentimentality to actually talk about it or accept thanks directly. To have had Break tell him to his face that he was welcome in his home and then find this waiting for him when he'd gone out on a limb to seek the man's home out as a safe place to go ... it touches him more than he knows how to express.

He's a little surprised, honestly, when Break tells him the house itself was responsible -- he'd almost thought ... that Break was doing the kind of thing he does, acting like some helpful thing just. Appeared. Out of the blue, on its own, as though it had sprouted legs and sentience enough to anticipate its recipient's need. Yet, he doesn't think Break would simply lie about it to save face, either, and so he's confronted with the notion that the house ... has positive feelings about his presence? That's a new one, even for him.

"Heh. Would've thought I'd have pissed it off by now, with all the shit I break in here."

He rubs at his neck, awkwardly, giving a nearby counter a pat.

"...Thanks, house. Uh. Is that what I oughta call it? Can it--you--even hear me???"

Perhaps he can inaugurate this birdie door by flying through it and sinking into the ground in embarrassment, holy shit.

[payingfordeliverance]

"You've come over here simply to check on us, in the past. I imagine it's also noticed you care. And it's not as though we don't make plenty of our own messes without you," Break points out with an easy shrug. "Truthfully, it pleased me very much to find that door. What if you ever need to come here from a place that hasn't got a lamp, or the lamps fail, and nobody's able to let you in?"

Being the anxious sort, Break can think of all sorts of horrible reasons for that. Maybe Qrow gets a horrifying vision of one of the people here horribly injured wants to check on things again and there's some actual crisis and breaking into the house slows him down, causes him to lose crucial seconds when he could be helping. Maybe Qrow is the one in trouble, and needs to be stealthy about getting into a safe hiding place. Today is proof enough that that could be a concern later. Yes. He definitely feels better with Qrow having a birdie door, because Qrow is somebody he's come to rely on and trust, and so he gives Qrow a pat of his own as he turns away to start getting a handle on the kitchen mess.

"As to what to call it -- Miss Alice tells me it's still considering a name for itself, and that she'll let me know as soon as it tells her," he continues. "I couldn't tell you how much of this sort of talk is the house is actually speaking to her, and how much comes down to that girl being deeply strange."

Meanwhile, the house waits until Break's back is turned before the birdie door opens all by itself and waggles cheekily at Qrow in what is obviously meant to be a friendly wave. It quietly shuts itself again before Break sees it. The house so enjoys having people to play with.