7,902The troll is back and imitating me and others in the reviews, this time trying to make it look like I'd attack my own reviewers because obviously that's a thing I'd randomly do from a guest account. Ignore the nonsense.
Cover Art: Mystery White Flame
Chapter 62
"Where is the fall maiden?"
"Pyrrha's on a mission with her team."
"What are they doing?"
"It's a mission."
"What is the nature of the mission."
"Retrieval."
"Of…?"
"Things."
"Jaune." Ozpin said his name slowly. Purposefully. The old man in a young man's body didn't quite cut as imposing a figure as he might have liked, especially when his attempts at looming forced him to look up to Jaune even when he was sat down. "Why do I have the feeling you're being evasive?"
"Because you've become paranoid after centuries of warring with Salem and now have deep rooted trust issues."
Ozpin opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds. "Okay, yes, admittedly, but I was looking for something a little more specific. Why am I suddenly paranoid around you whom I have otherwise before now never felt such unease over?"
Jaune's pen hit the desk, hands slapped down. "You trust me that much?"
"The question, Jaune. Stop dodging the question."
"Even when you first hired me and I was just a fraud pretending to be a teacher?"
"It is a good evasion, I will admit-"
"You have no idea how much hearing this means, Ozpin."
"-but I am not fooled."
"All this time I've been filled with doubt."
"Throwing in `the feels`, as I believe the kids call it, won't help you either."
"To know that after all these centuries, I can evoke such trust in someone as jaded and paranoid as you…"
"Nor will attempting to divert my attention by being passive-aggressive."
"This calls for a toast!" Jaune declared, pulling a thermos out from under his desk. It clonked down and the scent of ambrosia wafted from the unscrewed cap, carried wonderfully to Ozpin's nose.
Ozpin gulped, straining with himself not to lunge for the coffee. It was Beacon's special coffee, so rare and valuable after the fall. Much of Ozpin's hidden stash had been in the tower that had fallen when the battleship struck. In a way – a way only Ozpin thought – it was as though the coffee had aided in the defence of the school. Of course, Glynda had almost taken his head off when he expressed that sentiment.
To use even this to distract him. Jaune truly was a monster.
"I think our trust and emotional moment deserves a cup," Jaune said magnanimously. He poured two. "A toast to our cooperation and this moment we've shared." He gave one to Ozpin and then each breathed in deeply of it. A tear ran down Ozpin's face. "Cheers."
"Cheers," he echoed, drinking deep.
It was everything and nothing, the beginning and the end, heaven and hell and all the world's wonders in between. Ozpin heard the greatest music and the finest poetry, the simple joy of a blade of grass rustling in the wind accompanied by the satisfied gasp of someone solving the world's most complex mathematical equation. He aged a thousand years. He was born anew. His taste buds, virginal in this new body to the wonder, danced and tingled in delight.
As ever, it lasted just long enough and yet nowhere near, and all too soon did the wonder fade, replaced once more by the harsh cruelty of the real world and Oscar's dazed voice.
"C-Can we do that again? I want to taste more…"
"You are my greatest host, Oscar," he whispered, wiping away an imaginary tear. "Never have I bonded with someone as I have you."
"We're having so many moments today!" Jaune interrupted, putting his own cup down. "Look at us. I should leave you and Oscar to have your moment together, or since this is my office you should leave and have that moment."
Ozpin's eyes narrowed. "You are still avoiding the question."
Jaune winced and then smiled. "What question? I don't hear any question – aside from the one I just asked." He paused suddenly. "Is it me or is it cold in here?"
"It's you."
"Welp." Jaune stood up. "Better go visit the infirmary and make sure I've not come down with something!"
Ozpin's hand snapped out, cane preventing Jaune's movement. His eyes were flat. "No one – and I mean no one – willingly visits Tsune."
"Glynda does…"
"No one except Glynda," he amended. "And only then because she's about as oblivious to Tsune's medical malpractice as you are to a woman's sexual interest."
"I'm not that bad."
"You are, but we're not talking about that." Ozpin's hands met the desk, slapping it. "Where is the fall maiden?"
Jaune's eyes met his. "On a mission…"
"And what," he stressed, "is the nature of the mission."
"Retrieval."
"Of…?"
"Cigarettes."
Ozpin's brain hurt. "You sent a team of huntresses out for cigarettes?"
"Yes. And to be fair, Ren only looks like a girl. He's actually a guy."
"You sent a team of huntsmen and huntresses out for cigarettes," Ozpin repeated. "Despite not smoking."
"It's for Roman. They also went for ice-cream. That's for Neo if there was any doubt."
"There wasn't."
"Good. You know, despite living with her for over a year now I've had maybe one scoop of ice-cream. Well, two if you count the time I was drunk, but all I remember of that night is an umbrella catching the side of my face."
Ozpin massaged his temples. "The mission, Jaune. The mission…"
"It's an easy one. I sent Jinn with them."
"Why?" Ozpin blurted out. "She's useless."
"Meat shield." Jaune shrugged. "And it gets her out my hair for a few days. It's not like she's much use without any questions so there's no risk of anyone getting hold of her, she can be summoned back to the Relic if we need to and in the meantime she makes a convenient chew toy Team RVNN can throw to any Grimm."
"That is…" Horrible. Cruel. Vicious. "A rather good use for her actually. I'd never thought of it."
"That probably speaks well of you."
"True. Or that in over a thousand years I've been rather boring. I did try running the criminal underground once, both to spice things up and see if it couldn't turn out useful in some way. The `become headmaster` thing had grown a little old by then."
"Really? How did that go?"
"Oh it was quite fun actually an- no. No, no, no. The subject is not being changed on my watch, young man."
"You're fourteen years old."
"Mentally a young man!" he snapped. "Mentally! We have Salem marching on Vale, Qrow, Peter and Bart out there in the line of fire, Shade in shambles – more shambles than anything in Vacuo usually is – and Atlas scored higher on the midterm exams than we did!"
"Hey, we got a high pass rate. Is that a big deal that Beacon came second?"
"YES!" Ozpin shouted. "James will hold it over my head until the day he dies! But no, we're not talking about that. Fall maiden. Pyrrha. Danger." He punctuated each question with the slam of his hands on the table. Where. Are. They?"
"Behind you."
Ozpin's jaw dropped.
"Heya Jauney! We're baaack." Nora waved happily as she stomped into the room and slammed a hefty wooden box down onto his desk. Jaune removed it quickly and without opening it, sliding it under his desk.
"Good job Team RVNN. Oscar was worried about you."
"I-I…" Ozpin panicked. They'd heard him express it so he couldn't hide the fact and yet it had to be suspicious as to why. "I, well, yes. Team RWBY were… that is…" He looked desperately to Jaune for an excuse.
"Oscar has a crush on you, Nora," Jaune said.
"Yes. Yes, I do- what!?"
"WHAT!?" Nora's shriek was louder, as was her reaction. Before Ozpin could even think to escape, she'd wrapped him up in her arms and was crushing him. "Oh Oscar, that's so sweet! I didn't know!"
"Hrk. Nora. C-Can't breathe."
"But it wouldn't ever work out," she wailed, shaking him left to right. "I'm together with Renny. Well, not together-together but we've been together forever. I'm so sorry! Please don't tell me I've broken your heart."
"I'll live!" Ozpin wheezed. "L-Let go of me."
"Nooo! Don't try and be cool and silent if I've upset you. We can still be friends – the best of friends! I'll even be your wing woman. There are so many more fish in the sea, Oscar. Don't give up."
"I'm not-"
"It's not that you're not handsome or funny or sweet. I'm just saving myself for someone." Absolutely no one missed how she looked to Ren. "Not that I'm saying it's Ren or anything…" Everyone rolled their eyes, including Ren. "But you'll find someone who loves you as much as you do them, Oscar. I promise it!"
"Gak. Ack!"
"Nora, perhaps you should let him go," Pyrrha said kindly, moving forward to add her hands in prying him away. Ozpin was quick to escape when given the chance, panting for breath, and shooting Jaune a hateful glare.
Ren chuckled and said, "Team RVNN reporting back. Was there anything else you needed, sir?"
"Nothing. Well done, Team RVNN. We'll mark this down as a successful operation. Feel free to swing by the cafeteria if you want something to eat. Breakfast is over but if you tell them I sent you, they'll let you have an early lunch."
"Thank you. Come on, Nora. Let's give Oscar some space."
Nora held up a hand to her ear and mimed `call me` as she was dragged out the office. Jinn remained, a shit eating grin on her face. "What kind of excuse was that?" Ozpin snapped.
"One that worked."
"What's in the box?" he asked.
"Cigarettes."
Ozpin turned to Jinn. "Are there cigarettes in that box?"
Jinn smiled. "I cannot answer that question."
/-/
Qrow paused on the windowsill and cocked his now human head to the side, staring at Headmaster Jaune Arc of Beacon, currently hiding in Glynda's office of all places. The woman in question was missing, which raised the question why he was there.
"Hiding from Glynda?"
"Ozpin actually." He laughed awkwardly and stood up, scratching his head. "He's been on my ass about… well, I guess that's not important. Have you had any luck locating Salem?"
Qrow hopped down and closed the window, helping himself to Glynda's seat since she wasn't there to complain. He pushed it back and twirled a little, then sat still and felt the material, bouncing up and down. It was a comfortable seat! Not as nice as Oz's old penis chair, but soft and supportive. Leaning back, he kicked his feet up onto the desk, something he wouldn't have dared try if she were around.
"Salem?" Jaune repeated. "Have you found?"
"Huh? What? Oh right, yeah. I found her."
"That easily!?"
"Trust me, it's not hard right now." Qrow pulled out his scroll and angled it out, letting Jaune see the pictures – aerial shorts with some blurring around the edges showing a huge migrating horde of Grimm. The shots were too distant to make out Salem specifically. "I confirmed she's there by flying lower. Couldn't get shots of that, though. Probably for the best if we don't want people to know she exists."
"I'm more impressed a bird can operate a scroll…"
"It can't. That blurring is me approaching terminal velocity."
Jaune raised both eyebrows. "You transform back into a human at however many thousand metres, plummet down, pull out your scroll, take pictures and then turn back into a bird again?"
"Yep."
"Do I even want to know how or why you learned such a skill?"
"Team STRQ things," he replied evasively. "Raven challenged me to a game of chicken falling from height and seeing who'd chicken out of turning into a bird first. It wasn't our best moment." Qrow puffed up suddenly. "Though I won! Showed that arrogant bitch I'm no chicken."
"How long were you in the hospital?"
"Three whole weeks!" Qrow announced proudly. "Anyway, that big mass of nastiness is halfway between Vacuo and Vale right now, in the expanse of forest and mountains by the border. We've got, oh, three days before they reach the city. Probably."
"Probably…?"
"It'd be three days given Grimm don't need to rest, but I don't know if Salem, Tyrian and Hazel require it." They were or had been human, but then the Grimm could maybe carry them while they slept. If that would work. "Might be longer, but I also wouldn't put it past them to just not sleep for three days, march here and let the Grimm defend them while they sleep off the exhaustion. So… yeah, I can't give specifics. Not without tracking them and reporting back real time."
Falling and snapping photos was one thing. Falling and making a scroll call was another. Normally, he'd just land for that, but landing anywhere near that mess was asking for a murdering. He was just lucky Grimm ignored animals and for some reason never sensed he wasn't one.
"It'll be three days at the earliest. Might take one or two longer."
"We'll assume three then," Jaune said. "Good work. Are Bart and Peter coming back?"
"Port is. Vacuo's Council begged Oobleck's help to look after the students left behind from Shade. It didn't feel right to leave them and even worse to drag them all the way here for another doomed fight against Salem."
"Alright. Bart is probably the best placed to help there. Other than Ozpin, that is. Maybe we can help them once this is over."
"Once?" Qrow had to ask. "That's an army of Grimm led by the big bad armed with the Relic of Destruction. I'll be honest, I'm loving the confidence, but are you sure it isn't a little misplaced here?"
"To paraphrase your daughter, nope."
Qrow laughed. "Care to share your secret? I could do with a little hope right now."
"Sure." Jaune held out the box. "Here. Hold this."
Qrow took it. The thing wasn't heavy, but something rattled inside when he gave it an experimental shake. Jaune wouldn't have handed it to him if it were fragile. "What is it? Anything spicy?"
"The Relic of Choice."
The box slipped from his nerveless fingers. It dipped and Qrow swore, diving off the chair after it, fumbling it in his haste, and then knocking it up. He tripped and hit the floor face first, rolled over, squealed like the little girl he'd never been and lunged out with both hands, catching it before it could hit the floor, break, and probably doom the entire Kingdom.
Jaune leaned over Glynda's desk to look at him. "You okay?"
"The fuck is wrong with you!?" Qrow half-screamed, half-wheezed. "The actual fuck!?"
"What? You're the one who dropped it."
"Take!" Qrow stuck his hands out above him. "Take it! Take it!"
Jaune shrugged and accepted the box, tossing it down onto Glynda's desk. The Relic within rattled and Qrow sucked in a breath, tensing and waiting for the end of the world. It didn't come. "It's just a Relic. I don't think it's any harm if we don't use it."
"You think? Does Ozpin know you have this."
"No." Jaune cringed. "And I'd rather it stay that way if it's all the same to you. He's not going to be happy when he finds out."
"When?" Qrow asked quietly. "W-Why did you say when and not if?"
"Slip of the tongue."
"That wasn't a slip! You said when he finds out!"
"He's a clever man. He's bound to find out eventually."
Qrow's eyes narrowed. "You're planning something."
"Who? Me? Qrow Branwen, I am shocked by the insinuation!"
"Hello. Is friend Jaune here?" Penny paused in the doorway looking in, saw him and brightened immediately. "Salutations friend Jaune!" She bounded in with a long object wrapped in brown packaging tape.
Qrow choked on the very air he was breathing.
"Hello Penny," Jaune replied. "How are you?"
"I am combat ready! And delivery ready." Penny held out the long package. "General Ironwood says that if this comes back in anything less than the perfect state he is lending it to you in, then not even Salem herself will stop him flaying the skin from your body." The threat was delivered with a cheery smile. "He also wishes you good luck and reiterates that you are insane."
Jaune twirled the object. "He's probably right." Satisfied with its weight, he tossed it over his shoulder.
Qrow lunged over the desk, catching it before it could hit the ground but tripping over and slamming down himself. He rolled into a corner of the room before hitting the wall, groaning as Penny and Jaune both leaned around the desk to look curiously at him.
"Is he okay?"
"I don't know. He's been acting strange all day."
"I'm strange!?" Qrow yelled, standing up and waving the package before remembering just what it was, cringing and placing it delicately in the corner of the room. "I'm the strange one? That's the Relic of Creation!" He pointed at it. "Tell me that isn't the Relic of Creation!"
"Okay. It's not the Relic of Creation."
Not since Raven first left had he wanted to punch someone so badly. "Tell me honestly!"
"I am. It's a broom."
"It is a broom," Penny confirmed. "Hiccup."
Qrow's entire body trembled. "Why would a General of Atlas be sending the Headmaster of Beacon a sodding broom!"
"My office is dirty. Atlas makes the best brooms."
"This is true," Penny said, bouncing on the spot. "Atlas' newest manufacturing methods produce sanitary equipment with the highest proficiency. Chivalric Cleaning Ltd is at the forefront of mop and vacuum cleaner technology and rigorously employ human testing to make sure their products are-"
"Thank you, Penny," Jaune said. "I think Qrow gets it."
"Okay. I'm going to find friend Ruby and discuss makeup. Bye!"
"That girl," Jaune said, watching her go. "And I don't think Ruby knows anything about makeup. Then again, Penny is a robot so maybe she actually means cosmetic engineering, in which case Ruby is the resident expert."
"JAUNE!"
"That's my name. S'up Qrow?"
"Relics!" Qrow spat, pointing to the box and the package. "Why?"
"They're not Relics. I was teasing you. The box has cigarettes in it."
"You called it the Relic of Choice."
"It's a metaphor for the choice we make when we start smoking and the great consequences of it?"
Qrow heaved a deep breath. "I will pick up this desk and throw it at you if you don't start making sense right now."
"I wouldn't." Jaune nodded to it. "Relic of Knowledge is in the top drawer."
Qrow wrenched the draw open, paled, slammed the drawer shut and then hysterically considered how little help closing it would be if the Brother Gods wanted to come crashing back down to Remnant for some celestial judging.
"Three Relics!" he rasped. "Three Relics in one room. This is a bad idea! An awfully bad idea!"
"It's only a problem if it's all four."
"And the fourth is coming to Vale! It's on its way right now!" Qrow heaved a deep breath and collapsed into Glynda's seat once more. "I can't handle this. If the four Relics are brought together, it's pretty much the end of the world. You realise that? The whole divine judgment thing hinges on Ozpin and Salem accepting their mistakes or some such shit."
"You don't think they have?" Jaune asked curiously.
"NO! Salem hasn't and to be honest neither has Ozpin – and I don't blame him! From what he's told me about them, they're total dicks."
"Hard agree," Jaune said, sitting on the corner of the desk. "I mean, grieving woman comes to you for help, you bring back her dead husband, and then once you realise you made a mistake by doing so, you kill said husband in front of her and damn her to immortality alone, never to see him again? I can't tell if that's wantonly cruel or just plain stupid."
"Exactly. We can't have those assholes back. Remnant is better off without them. Hence why it's a bad idea to have all the Relics this close."
"Yep." Jaune grinned. "I know that. And you know who else does…?"
Qrow's stomach sank. "Salem. Oh fuck. Oh no. You cannot be thinking about playing a game of chicken with Salem using the fucking Brother Gods as the car. You absolutely cannot be thinking this!"
"Bit ironic of you to say that after what you and Raven did."
"I smacked face first into the ground at mach ten! That was dumb. I admit it. But I was eighteen and stupid!" Qrow watched Jaune's eyebrow rise. "And you're eighteen too, yes, I'm remembering that fact now. Me being an idiot and nearly pancaking myself is more forgivable than what you're suggesting, though!"
"The consequences of my failure are higher. If Salem comes here on foot with the Relic of Destruction, we're screwed. How much do you think Atlas' army is going to do against it? We held off there because of that and two maidens, but that was without Salem directing the army and having that weapon at her disposal."
"We don't actually know what the Relic does. It might not be that bad…"
Jaune stared at him. Qrow looked down. Yeah, the excuse felt weak even to him. It wasn't going to be called `The Relic of Destruction` if its special ability was making the best coffee this side of Beacon.
"If Salem knows as much as Ozpin does, she won't want the four Relics brought together any more than we do." Jaune said it far too calmly. "And if she's insane enough to want it anyway, anyone nearby is going to get judged and probably killed, her included, making it thing a moot point."
"Including the city," Qrow pointed out.
"No. Because we're going to go out there and meet her."
Qrow's jaw dropped. "You what…?"
"If we fight at the city then not only do we risk everyone if the Relic play goes bad, but we expose Salem to the world even if it goes well. People will know the Grimm are being led and they'll know about the Relics."
That'd be bad. It wasn't just the panic and the fear but the less scrupulous people who would try and use the Relics. The Council might want to hoard them causing a diplomatic incident with Atlas, while criminals would long to get hold of them and eccentric collectors would try and see them put in museums instead of vaults. That kind of power was best left unknown.
But to go out against Salem on their own?
"You're insane."
"I'm desperate," Jaune said. "There's a difference."
"Too desperate. This is reckless."
Jaune whirled on him, eyes wide and lips peeled back. The ignorance and the teasing was gone, replaced with a wild and crazed look. "What would you have me do then? Salem is on her way with an army. The students are exhausted from Atlas. Even our huntsmen numbers are dwindling since some died and others are in recovery for injuries sustained. The same for Atlas. And yet now the army marching against us is led by Salem herself armed with a weapon of mass destruction!" Jaune punched his fist down into the desk. "What do you want me to do!?"
"I don't know." It hurt to admit it. "Listen to Ozpin. Side with him. We can work something out."
"Like what? Ozpin is hoping we'll be able to hold her back at the city. He's betting everything on our defences being enough."
What else could they do? Qrow didn't have the answers and realised with a sudden sickening sensation that not only did Jaune not have them, but that he and everyone else were expecting him to. The kid was Yang's age and yet here he was, weighed down by all this, with the world watching expectantly.
It wasn't right. Hell, it was enough to have Qrow questioning Ozpin's hand in all this. It would have been better to put Glynda as headmistress and Jaune as Deputy. Give the kid a break before he actually did break.
Like he had now.
"You plan to go alone, don't you?"
"Pretty much." Jaune's smile was weak and desperate. "No point sending an army if this does go wrong. I'll go in, face her with the three Relics and see what happens. Either she backs down before the risk of the Gods coming happens, or they give me the power I need to beat her."
"And if it doesn't?"
"No real difference, is it? If Salem wins here, she'd get the Relic of Knowledge anyway, and from there it's just ninety-nine years until she can ask where the other two are. If that. Salem already knows the Relic of Creation is in Atlas. She knew where the Relic of Creation was too."
"How? Ozpin didn't hide it in the vault!"
"And Cinder didn't care about the vault, did she? Her goal was to come to Beacon and kill Amber. Now, don't you think that if Salem were prepared to alert Ozpin to her movements like that, she'd have made sure she knew where the Relic of Choice was first? Not much point having the power to unlock the door if you don't know where the door is."
He was right. Salem must have figured it out, either by Lionheart or through the Relic of Knowledge in a previous generation. Qrow swore. "It doesn't matter. It's here now and… I wouldn't call it safe, but it's out of her hands." Qrow shook his head and fixed Jaune with a damning stare. "And that's where it will stay."
"I have to do this, Qrow."
"You don't!" he spat. "This is stupid! It's madness! You're talking about going out there alone to face her. You'll die."
"Better me than everyone!"
"Better no one!" Qrow roared. "I've dealt with that attitude before and I'm not losing someone to it again!" Harbinger came out, snapping into place. Qrow's chest burned as he hefted it. "You're good, but you know you're not on my level. Stand down. We'll fix this. Ozpin will come up with a plan. You don't need to sacrifice yourself on some hairbrained scheme."
"Qrow…"
"No. Don't `Qrow` me. You're staying right here." Qrow pointed with Harbinger, reaching for his scroll with his other hand. "And I'm calling Ozpin. We'll hide the Relics again. New places. Even if Vale falls…" His throat clogged. "E-Even if it falls, there'll still be a chance for those that remain."
Jaune Arc sighed. "I knew you'd be like this, Qrow."
"Yeah well, you should have expected this."
The young man smiled. "I did."
Qrow froze, thumb on the button. His eyes widened as the crackle of a mirror sounded behind mere fractions of a second before electricity arced through him. Qrow howled and dropped to his knees, scroll sparking and frying and ultimately bursting in his hand.
Neo kept the tazer to him until he collapsed and twitched, not unconscious but with his muscles locking up and failing to respond. He lay on his front, shaking and trying to move, trying to reach for Harbinger.
"Sorry Qrow," Jaune said. He picked up the staff, the box and took the lamp from the drawer. The door opened, Roman and Jinn entering with sombre expressions and Neo's pet Nevermore in tow. "Tell everyone sorry for me when you wake up," he said. "I don't expect they'll accept it, but know I'm doing this to help. I'm doing it to protect them."
"K-Kid," Qrow managed. "Don't. P-Please…"
"And if it does fail, if I die…"
Jaune closed his eyes and turned away.
"Tell my family I'm sorry, and that I love them."
"No." Qrow reached out a hand, fingers twitching and closing on nothing. "N-No. Damn it. You argh." He gritted his teeth. "You're going t-to get your ass killed!"
He didn't listen. The damn bastard didn't listen. He closed the door and swept away with the Relics, with the loyal crooks and Jinn. Qrow hunched on the floor, the pain only a footnote as he fought the spasms and dragged himself to Glynda's desk and the comms device imbedded into it.
Have to tell Ozpin. Have to stop Jaune. Save him. Before he-gah! Before he gets himself killed. Qrow's eyes burned. It was like watching Summer go all over again. Watching some well-meaning huntress rush off to save the world, to make it a better place no matter what it cost them.
And yet again, he was too fucking weak to save anyone.
Qrow's body screamed in agony as he dragged himself up the desk, spasming and shaking and with his legs giving way entirely. He only held on with upper arm strength, clutching the desk and hauling himself painfully up it. His hand slapped out, hitting a mish mash of numbers. He hoped it would be enough because taking his hand off the desk caused him to fall and crash back to the floor.
A call rang through.
"Hello. This is the infirmary; Tsune speaking. Is there a problem?"
"Glynda's office!" he yelled. "Q-Quickly!"
Oh Jaune, what are you doing now?
I have to take my pet puppy to the vet today to have the staples removed from her lower jaw. As some may have heard from other fics, she got kicked by a horse and got injured, splitting her lower lip badly and knocking some teeth out of place. Had to have her wound stapled shut – and I thought it'd be like wire staple, but it really is just three metal staples. Anyway, she gets to have those out today and they'll look at the wound again to make sure it's okay.
On a related note, spent 6 hours yesterday nailing some metal wire mesh to every horse's fence. Painful work, but it's that kind of metal netting (not sharp or painful or electric) that'll stop my puppy getting in the horse's field again. Massive pain because I used metal fencing that wraps up into a tube for storage, so as I was trying to unravel and place it flat on the fence to nail in, it kept trying to wind up on me from behind. Probably should have been a two man job but well, social distancing! Hard to just call someone over to help.
Meanwhile, Kali watches from nearby with a curious "Why are you doing all this work" look on her face. It's because of you!
Next Chapter: 11th June
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur
