Not For Such As You And I
by JGM
Pairing: Qrow/Winter
Rating: G/PG

Part One

/Planted. Should be able to receive a feed now./ 
Qrow sent the message quickly, before slipping his scroll back into the 
cloth over his arm.  He still wasn't sure what it was for, if anything, but
he wouldn't need to figure it out now.  Picking his serving tray back up, 
he balanced it on his covered arm and cracked open the door to the study, 
careful to leave it no further ajar than it had been when he entered.  The
hallway was empty, as he'd expected it would be at this time of night --
this late into the party most guests would be too drunk to care what the
servers were doing wandering, so his exit had gone unnoticed. 

A tall, pale girl stepped out from a statue nook down the hall, and he
resisted the urge to sigh.  Things had never gone so smoothly before, he
thought, why should they start now?
It was the elder of the daughters, that much was obvious, but in that
moment he couldn't recall her name.  He noted with mild interest the dark
blue of her dress, a stark difference from her former style of clothing, 
and an interesting statement for such a casual party, if any event held 
here could be called casual.  The tension between Jacques Schnee and the
council was worse than ever at the moment, and he would see the costume
for what it was meant as.

Of course, it was also a very nice dress, and he let his eyes trail up her
figure as he moved to meet her eye.

When he did, neither of them spoke for a moment, and he briefly wondered if
she would care anymore.  And then she spoke, and he didn't have to wonder.

"I've never seen you around here before," she said, and her face was a 
perfect mask that he'd practiced often enough himself. "Father won't be
happy if anything goes missing." She speaks only of theft, but the way 
she's eyeing him, he can tell she suspects something else is happening.

"Nothing is missing," he says, though it's untrue.  He'd stolen some little
ornament on the way out, hidden in somewhere easy to find on inspection so
if he was caught he'd have an alibi. 
Pretty terrible alibi, he'd tried joking while being briefed, but he'd 
received nothing more than a mild glare from Glinda.

She nodded sternly before turning on her heel and striding off back down 
the hallway.  He breathed a sigh, not of relief, but annoyance -- Jacques
Schnee for a father and Ironwood for a mentor had created a real bitch, 
that was for sure. He'd have to report on her possible suspicions, too. 
More work, just for the sake of nothing they'd ever tell him about.

He followed her back down the corridor into the hall after a moment,
returning to the party. As when he left, nobody paid much attention to him
when he slipped back in, and he returned to serving drinks as if he'd never
left.

Though she shot him a few suspicious glares during the rest of he night, he
kept his face neutrally polite, and eventually she lost interest and joined
in a conversation with some councilman or another. Qrow couldn't care less
for the minor members, or frankly any of the politicians that didn't
affect him directly. Drifting around the cavernous room, giving out and
collecting glasses from them, they cared nothing for him either.

=-=-=-=-=-=

"Thank you, Agent Qrow. This has been very helpful," Ozpin said. Qrow had
just returned from a six hour flight, and had no interest in dealing with 
his vague talk.

"Don't suppose I get to know what it's helping you with?" He offered. Ozpin
shook his head. 

"I'm afraid not. Rest assured, we would not go to such measures outside of
extreme circumstances, so I hope you understand why it would be a security
concern."

Qrow nodded, and stood in silence for a moment as everyone avoided making 
eye contact with him. 

"Thank you for your time in this meeting," Glinda finally offered.

Nobody spoke again in the time it took him to turn and leave, and Qrow 
opened his scroll the second the elevator doors closed.

=-End Part One-=