The Beauty and the Beard
Another empty night, Junior mused as he observed from behind the counter of his bar. Then again he shouldn't be too surprised; this specific branch of his never really caught much traffic or attention. It was for that reason he even set up his office here rather than his main shop in the down town district, he wanted to see if it was worth keeping or if there was anything he could do to boost business. But as it was now, it seems like this place was just on a one way street to bankruptcy and he was better off cutting his losses.
He sighed to himself as he continued to polish the hardwood counter. He had thought opening a bar near the airship port to Beacon Academy would be good business, what with students and all needing someplace to kick back and forget about the stress of academics and Hunter training. He wasn't aware that Beacon actually has a strict curfew for their students, and that they weren't allowed to take the airships anymore after a certain hour. And with his target demographic out of the picture, his bar was only home to the few people that lived in this district and the occasional staff or faculty from the Academy.
"Maybe I should close early tonight. I'm starting to realize just how bad an investment this place was and it's making me tired," he said to himself. But as soon as he had said that, the front door opened slightly. He paused in polishing and readied himself to greet his potential customer but the door remained where it was, just slightly ajar. He stood in silence staring at the door thinking that perhaps the wind had pushed it open. But as he tilted his head to the side, he could barely see the fingers of a person's hand gripping the edge of the door.
"Are you going to come in or what?"
The fingers gripped the door just a tad bit tighter upon hearing his voice, surprised that they had been noticed. At first it seemed as if they were going to turn and leave, but eventually gained the courage to push the door further and enter the establishment. In came a student from the Academy, if the uniform she wore was any indication. She had a slender build and somewhat pale skin. Straight brown hair reached her waist and framed her face in an, admittedly, cute way. Though her most striking characteristic were the two rabbit ears that stuck out of the top of her head, telling anyone that saw her that she was a faunus.
'Human, faunus, a customer is a customer as long as they can pay,' Junior thought to himself as the rabbit girl nervously looked around the desolate bar. She slowly walked to the counter and took a seat to Junior's left, but said nothing.
Junior waited for her to talk, even if it was just to order something. But she just sat there, staring at the floor with the occasional nervous glance to him. After a minute of silence, he sighed and spoke.
"So, what will you have to drink?"
The girl jumped in her seat.
"O-Oh. U-Um. Just a glass of water please. Uhm. To start," she managed to get out.
Junior sighed again for the umpteenth time this night. He really couldn't charge her for a glass of water. 'Might as well humor her, not like anything else is happening tonight,' he thought as he reached for an empty glass below the counter. He filled it with some water from the tap and dropped a few ice cubes in it before place it in front of the girl.
The girl reached for the glass and took a meek sip, before returning to staring at her feet and saying not a word.
"So you're from Beacon? Thought they had some sort of curfew out there," he said to break the silence.
Whether she answered or not was no skin off his back, he just wanted to make the time go by a bit faster, maybe even convince her to actually order something that had a price. She said nothing at first, but soon enough she gave a hesitant and quiet reply.
"They really only prevent us from leaving Beacon after curfew. I came here earlier today and just...didn't come back," she said with a sad tone in her voice. Sad? It was only then that Junior noticed the redness of her eyes and some streaks on her face.
"So why didn't you go back yet? You don't seem like the type of girl to be out in a place like this." And it was true. Even in the short moment they've talked to each other, Junior could feel a peaceful and homely nature radiating from the girl. Not the usual kind of person that would favor a bar like his. He usually had miscreants and troublemakers, and from time to time a terrifying blonde.
"Did something happen?" He continued to ask. Why did he ask? He wasn't entirely sure himself. He felt like he needed to help this girl in whatever issues she had. Maybe some sort of Bartender's Honor that he felt needed to be upheld.
The girl, on her part, wasn't sure why she felt compelled to answer. This whole day has just been terrible for her and she needed to let it out on somebody, anybody. She took another sip of water.
"Today was supposed to be the day," she started, "the day I finally told J- uh, the guy I like," she corrected, "that I liked him. I knew he was going into town today and I had planned on finding him somewhere quiet and private and confessing!" she gripped the glass in her hand a bit tighter before taking another sip.
"I eventually found him sitting alone on a bench in some empty street and thought that it'd be the perfect place to do it," she paused and took a few breaths to steady herself, "but then she showed up out of thin air like some sort of ninja or something and and and-" she broke down into tears, spilling her glass in the process, unable to even finish her sentence.
Junior took her glass and refilled it as he waited for her to continue. "I-I mean, I know I never said anything but I thought she knew! I didn't think she of all people would be the one to take him from me, especially since we're the same!" she continued. "After that I just ran, making sure they didn't see or hear me. I couldn't think straight and before I knew it, it was already dark. I didn't want to go back to Beacon. I can't. Not with them there. So I went in the first place I saw: here." She continued to sniff a few tears back as she ended her story. Junior handed her a clean handkerchief and she muttered a quiet thanks.
After a few more moments of silence, she spoke again. "Sorry about that outburst. I needed to get it all out. You must think I'm pathetic, crying over a guy who didn't even know I liked him."
"Not at all," Junior replied, surprising the young faunus, "a person shouldn't feel pathetic for crying when they're in pain, and heart break is one of the greatest pains someone can go through. The important thing is what you do after the pain. It might sound harsh, but life goes on even if you don't want it to. And the only thing you can do about it is decide if you're willing to move on with it," He commented with an almost sage-like wisdom.
The girl stared at him for a while, letting his words sink in. After a while her eyes changed, steeled with new resolve and determination. She wiped her eyes one last time with the handkerchief.
"Thank you. I'll keep your words in mind. I think I should be headed back to Beacon now," she stood up from her chair and headed for the door but turned at the last moment, "I never got your name by the way."
Junior let a small smile grace his lips, "Hei Xiong, though most people call me Junior."
She giggled at his nickname, and the sound of her mirth was much more fitting than her crying from earlier. "Velvet Scarlatina," she replied, "Thank you again, Junior." And then she left.
The smile never left his face as he picked up the glass and handkerchief. He still wasn't sure why he said all that, but he felt good about it. As he went to place the glass in the sink, he could hear the faint shouting outside.
"Oh! And I'll be sure to actually pay for something next time!"
Next time? Hm. Maybe this place was worth keeping after all.
AN: First story and first fanfiction and all. Review any comments, criticisms, the usual. I'm planning to make this a series of stories that deal with the idea of the RWBY characters having interactions based on their voice actor counterparts. Some will be significantly less serious than this one and I might even try my hand at writing some fluff. Who knows. Thanks for reading.