Honestly, Qrow would rather have gone in with one of the kids. It's easier for him to keep his patience with them. There's something about 'young, lost, and in danger' that kicks in his Huntsman instincts and has him taking exploding pirate ships to the back to keep them safe (somehow not the worst of his test with Ryuji). This guy?
Well, this guy looks like one of Jimmy's robots, misplaced and given a paint job by some petty teenagers. The kind of petty teenager Qrow would rather be babysitting than this guy.
But, okay, trauma. End of the world, having to drink Voidfish juice (did he take off the helmet to do it? Qrow hopes), everyone you love and everything you worked for dying. Armour like that would be military, right? Military folks get their duty drilled into them. Losing that would hurt. So Qrow should be able to muster up some sympathy.
Some. Because the helmet makes Wash hard to read, which is annoying to Qrow as someone who really likes to be able to read the people around him (armour = military is frankly a shot in the dark when everyone's world is so different from his) and it makes it hard for him to see a face and expressions. You know, the things that provide empathy and human connection. There's a reason Raven wears that mask when she's going full-on 'I'm The Tribe Leader' bitch.
(Wore it. He spares one moment to be angry with her for making him grieve her death before he pushes that down with every other unresolved feeling about his dead world.)
So Qrow isn't happy about the test, or Wash's age, or his helmet, or his possible military background. There is an undeniably guarded element to his usual 'posture is for sellouts' slouching.
And then he sees the messiness of that cat drawn in. And he hears the thing Wash is trying so hard to speak around, even through his helmet's speakers.
These tests always go right for the throat, huh?
"Nah, not unless you've got a sword that'd laser-target your heart." His tone is still a little cavalier, but some of that guardedness has softened. "If this is going to go anything like the last round, you're gonna have the pleasure of running a stunningly personalized gauntlet of all the things that'll hit you hardest. Only the best harrowings for new recruits, here at the Bureau of Balance."
Softening doesn't mean an absence of sardonic bluntness.
2. Hazing Buddy
Well, this guy looks like one of Jimmy's robots, misplaced and given a paint job by some petty teenagers. The kind of petty teenager Qrow would rather be babysitting than this guy.
But, okay, trauma. End of the world, having to drink Voidfish juice (did he take off the helmet to do it? Qrow hopes), everyone you love and everything you worked for dying. Armour like that would be military, right? Military folks get their duty drilled into them. Losing that would hurt. So Qrow should be able to muster up some sympathy.
Some. Because the helmet makes Wash hard to read, which is annoying to Qrow as someone who really likes to be able to read the people around him (armour = military is frankly a shot in the dark when everyone's world is so different from his) and it makes it hard for him to see a face and expressions. You know, the things that provide empathy and human connection. There's a reason Raven wears that mask when she's going full-on 'I'm The Tribe Leader' bitch.
(Wore it. He spares one moment to be angry with her for making him grieve her death before he pushes that down with every other unresolved feeling about his dead world.)
So Qrow isn't happy about the test, or Wash's age, or his helmet, or his possible military background. There is an undeniably guarded element to his usual 'posture is for sellouts' slouching.
And then he sees the messiness of that cat drawn in. And he hears the thing Wash is trying so hard to speak around, even through his helmet's speakers.
These tests always go right for the throat, huh?
"Nah, not unless you've got a sword that'd laser-target your heart." His tone is still a little cavalier, but some of that guardedness has softened. "If this is going to go anything like the last round, you're gonna have the pleasure of running a stunningly personalized gauntlet of all the things that'll hit you hardest. Only the best harrowings for new recruits, here at the Bureau of Balance."
Softening doesn't mean an absence of sardonic bluntness.