Dress for Success
She wasn't sure what she'd expected Cinzento to discuss with them after the earlier fiasco, but it hadn't been quite so…underwhelming—not that she minded the difference. As she and Roman entered the study, Cinzento sat at the desk, counting a moderately large stack of lien. Emerald's eyes narrowed in confusion at that, but she tried to shake off her unease as she followed Roman further into the room.
"I suppose you'll want your advance payment, my friend…" the elderly man said as readjusted the spectacles still perched on his nose. "Your typical ten percent should do?"
"Five percent is more than enough to cover my expenses on this one," Roman spoke casually, "In fact, if you could, sort out two thirds of that for expenses, and one third for doll face over here."
At that, Cinzento paused, his gaze slowly locking onto Emerald and making her jolt with further unease. His eyes were still cold and callous, and the frown on his face spoke volumes on his opinion of the idea. "Are you certain on that one?" he replied as his eyes returned to the money on his desk, "If you give a wild dog too long a leash, it will run from you."
Emerald growled instinctively at the comparison, only to retreat behind Roman as the old man's eyes flicked back to her.
"If you don't want me to compare you to a dog, I recommend not acting like one."
"Ahem," Roman cut in, "To answer your question, Cinzento…yes, I'm sure. I agreed to give Emerald a third of our pay, it only stands that she should get a third of the advance as well."
"…Very well…five hundred thousand for any expenses, two hundred and fifty thousand for your new pet."
Emerald shot another glare at the old man, but he ignored her as Roman strolled forward to take the lien outstretched in his hand. "This'll do perfectly," Roman noted with a smirk, "Now then. The job request said that there were some details you would need to discuss in person. Would you care to elaborate?"
"And uh, feel free to elaborate on all of the details," Emerald added, "since someone didn't feel like telling me anything about this job on the way over. Well, anything beyond the price tag."
Cinzento sighed, his eyes flitted between the two for a moment. "I'm hiring you to steal a very old and very important statue from a masquerade being held roughly a month from now. The statue will be the very centerpiece of the display and will only be available during the party, so you will need to be able to steal it out of a crowded room virtually undetected. To my knowledge, your girl Neo's semblance works quite well to that effect."
"On some level. She'd probably have some difficulty carrying it. Isn't it her size or something?"
"Very nearly."
"Hm. That'll be a fun issue to work around."
"In any case, the details I had to share with you here…" Cinzento leaned back in his chair and opened one of the desk drawers. "I do not currently know the location of the party. They usually give the party guests an exact location two and a half weeks before the Masque, but tell us what the celebrated pieces are before then. I was able to snag an invitation plus one for you, Roman. Unfortunately…" Cinzento's gaze veered towards Emerald. "I wasn't aware that you'd have more company."
"You think he's good enough to steal a heavy artifact from a crowded room of rich snobs? With a team of just two people?" Emerald snorted a bit. "Honestly, even with three people, that's pushing it a bit."
"Your vote of confidence is most appreciated," Roman replied wryly.
"Just pointing out the obvious fact that this sounds like a suicide mission."
"Not a very brave girl, is she?" Cinzento commented as he pulled a small card out of the desk.
"Bravery's not exactly a common trait in thieves," Roman replied.
"Bravery and stupidity aren't the same thing. The risk level on this is insane, Torchwick. Do you really think you can pull it off?"
"Provided you play your role?" Roman turned back towards Emerald and strolled towards her, holding out a sizable amount of lien to her with his usual smirk ever present on his face. "Yes, I do think I can pull this off, doll face."
Emerald found herself at a loss for words; she wasn't sure whether to rate his confidence as a sign of his stupidity or…appreciate how much faith he seemed to have in her capabilities. Her thoughts traveled back to other comments he'd made not too long ago. His opinion of her…seemed oddly positive and…informed. Had he really been paying such close attention to her? She didn't know whether or not to be flattered or disgusted by the notion. It had occurred to her in the past hour or so that she hadn't really given Roman much room to be anything other than an arrogant ass—which he was, of course—but it wasn't like she couldn't have paid as much attention to him as he'd paid her.
Emerald glanced between Roman and the stack of lien hesitantly before he leaned forward and spoke softly. "Just take it. Consider it a reward for being competent." Emerald scowled and snatched the money out of his hand, making him chuckle a little as he turned back to Cinzento. "Now with that sorted…I suppose you want me to take that invite now?"
"I would," Cinzento held the card towards Roman, and he walked back to the desk to retrieve it, "Keep it safe until the Masque."
"Will do, Mr. Claro."
"Good. I will send the party location and blueprints over to one of your deposit boxes once they are available to me. We'll meet at our usual drop spot after the party, and until then I expect you to stay out of my condo."
"I can't even drop in for tea?"
Cinzento cracked a smile at that. "As enjoyable as that sounds, I do think that Pennyworth might have a conniption if I allowed it."
"Now now, Mr. Claro, you shouldn't give me such good ideas," Roman replied as he turned on his heels, and impish smirk playing at his lips as he walked back towards the door. Emerald turned to walk with him as he reached her, still scowling a little as she clutched what was now a somewhat crumpled roll of lien.
"That's it?" she muttered once they were out of earshot. "He doesn't have any more helpful information?"
"Oh, trust me doll face, that information was more than helpful. It's enough for us to work with for one and a half weeks, at the least."
Emerald's grip on the lien tightened as she brought her hand up to look at it. "…So this is mine?"
"I believe I made that clear a few minutes ago."
"And I could leave now, if I wanted to."
There was a pause in his reply. His smile widened. "…You could," he graced her with a sidelong glance. "but something about that question gives me the impression that you're having second thoughts about doing so."
"No," Emerald retorted, faltering only just as she locked eyes with him. "N—No. Just…curious about what you'd have planned next if I didn't leave."
He chuckled as he opened the front door and they stepped out into the hall. "Well, I was thinking we could start with some team building exercises."
oooOOOooo
"I hate you."
"Mhm."
"I hate you and your bad plans."
"You don't say…"
"This is a bad idea. This is a fantastically bad idea. Why did I let you talk me into this?"
"Curiosity, I suppose? And, not that I don't generally love our chats, doll face, but I am trying to pick a vault lock right now, so if you would be kind enough to keep watch as planned…"
"Mm, right make sure the guards don't see us, okay, sure. We're literally robbing a bank in broad daylight, how has anyone not noticed us?"
Roman sighed and looked up at Emerald. "Because I used my semblance to get us back here and disabled the cameras on the way? Now if you could just keep watch…" He supposed he should have expected this a little. He hadn't gotten Em fully on board yet, but with her curiosity (and amusement) piqued by the concept of team building exercises, he'd taken her here for a…surprise job.
"You disabled the cameras?"
"Yes. Of course, they'll only be out for five more minutes…aha. Vault's open." Roman grinned at her as the round metal door between them began to open. "Now wasn't that easy?"
"Not as easy as getting out of here better be."
"Oh don't be a spoil sport, doll face, you know it's more fun if it's a challenge." Roman walked into the vault and looked around. He glanced back at Emerald, who was standing hesitantly in the vault doorway. "Well, doll face? Are you going to help me out here, or are you just gonna enjoy the scenery?"
She scowled before following him in. "So how exactly were you planning on cleaning this place out in less than five minutes? We don't exactly have bags on us."
He snorted. "Clean it out? Please. We don't need to draw that much attention to ourselves. Just stuff a few stacks into your pockets so we have some pocket change."
"I think your idea of pocket change might need a little editing, moron," Em muttered as she stomped forward towards a shelf.
Roman smiled, his teeth clenched as he bit back the urge to insult her back. He needed to play nice, win her over. He watched her shuffle through the stacks of lien for a moment before smirking and sauntering over to her. She flinched as he leaned over her and examined the two stacks of lien. He smirked a little wider before plucking one out of her right hand and appraising it further. His smirk faded softly as he locked eyes with her again. "I suppose you would be…brilliant enough to pick out the one stack of bugged counterfeits."
She flustered severely, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly ajar, before she snatched another stack and shoved it into her pocket instead. "Sh-Shut it."
He chuckled as set the stack down and leaned into her space once more to grab some lien of his own. "Make me, doll face."
"Don't tempt me," she growled.
"Ohhh, is that a threat I hear?"
"Oh trust me, I'll be delivering on it real soon if you don't shut your godda—"
Roman covered Em's mouth as a shout and the static sound of a radio drew his attention outside the vault. He smirked as he heard the hasty footsteps approaching the door. Two sets. He locked eyes with Emerald and pressed a finger to his lips before sneaking over to press his back against the front wall and motioning at her to join him. She frowned at him before following his lead, and then they waited. A few seconds passed. Then two guards crept in one looking scared, and the other, determined. Roman grabbed onto Emerald's wrist as they came in, utilizing his semblance as soon as they walked in. He waited for them to clear the door. Slowly.
Once they'd gotten to the middle of the small vault room, he bolted out with Em in tow, and began pushing the vault door closed. Emerald caught on quick and began to help him, and he grinned at her as it latched closed before sliding over to the panel he'd hacked to get in. The alarms sounded as he did, drawing his gaze upwards for a couple seconds before he returned to his task.
"What are you doing?!" Emerald shouted. "We have to go, now!"
"One second, doll face…" he let out a breathy chuckle, "If I'm going to do a crime as juvenile as a bank heist, I simply have to include a little juvenile prank…" Roman fiddled with the keypad a few seconds more, then grabbed her by the hand and ran down the back hall just as another group of security guards rounded the corner.
"So what was your genius plan on getting us out of here?!"
"Easy!" he laughed. "It's just two rights and a left!"
"I wasn't asking for directions!"
"Just trust me, doll face!" Roman turned right down the hall, smiling at the empty hall. He'd studied the security measures in this bank before, and this hall was always the weakest link.
"Torchwick, I didn't trust you before you dragged me on your crazy bank heist!"
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and rounded the second right before dragging them both under the lowering cage of a service staircase to their left. "Come on, we've only got a few more minutes before the garage doors are done closing."
"We're going out through the car park?"
"I mean unless you have a better idea," Roman grinned up at her, and she flustered again as they ran down the steps.
"I—I could have, you know."
"I'm sure, doll face. Now hop to it, our window is closing."
"Stop yanking me along, I can run on my own!"
"Yes, but can you have invisibility on your own?"
"I—" Emerald cut herself off for a moment, and he couldn't help but glance back at her. He could damn near see the cogs turning in her head. "Wait, you're still using your semblance?"
"No, the guards are just really inattentive," he answered.
"You aren't gonna win me over with sarcasm!"
Roman laughed as they ducked under the garage door and kept running down the street. They turned into a back alley, and turned down another, and the next, and the next until the police sirens sounded like they were miles away. Roman slowed his pace and let go of Em's hand, leaning his weight on the building behind him as he caught his breath. Emerald followed suit and leaned on the building across from him. He watched her for a few moments, noting the way she looked in the direction of the police sirens and grinned. He laughed softly, catching her attention as he did. "So are you gonna admit it?"
"Admit what?" she asked, her smile fading entirely.
"That this was fun."
Em tilted her head, her eyes trailed back towards the police sirens. Her head turned again, as if she was considering if further. She smirked softly as she looked back at him. "I suppose it was alright." She crossed her arms. "So what now?"
"Oh?" he smirked. "Does this mean I actually have won you over?"
"It means I'm reconsidering the job," Em corrected, "If you tell me what's next."
"Well…we just fell into a bit of money, so…" Roman straightened up off the wall and leaned towards Emerald. "Let's go shopping."
oooOOOooo
Emerald was starting to curse her own curiosity. Sure, the bank heist had been fun, but having Roman drive them back to the uptown markets and following him into a dress store, of all things? She did not look like she belonged in this store. She knew it, the saleswomen knew it, and hell, Roman probably knew it too. He'd, of course, had the option of changing—apparently it wasn't prudent to wear what you wore at the scene of a crime you committed less than an hour ago—so he'd ditched his bowler hat and coat in place of a form fitting, burgundy long-sleeved shirt. She was left in the same attire, and ratty green capris and a worn tank top weren't the sort of thing people wore into this store, but it was too late to just…wait outside. She hugged herself as Roman looked through the dress racks. He glanced her way for a second, then chuckled.
"And what are you so nervous about, exactly?"
"What are we doing here?"
"Buying you a dress for the masque. Maybe some…nicer clothes for later, if you want."
"I'm not big on dresses."
"Well that's a shame, but the masque it a formal, so I will need my plus one to be properly dressed."
"Your plus one?" Emerald frowned in confusion, and as Roman picked a black floor length gown off the rack and held it up to her, his meaning finally clicked. "Wait. You wanted me to be your plus one? What about what's her face?"
Roman smirked and leaned in uncomfortably close to her face. She tried to back away but he caught her by the wrist. "Easy, Em," he whispered, "I'm only putting on a show for the audience." His one visible eye flicked to a saleswoman to her right before returning to her. "I have an idea of what to do about Neo that I'll happily share with you later, does that sound good?"
Emerald bit her lip and fought the urge to glance over at the saleswoman. She paused before feigning a saccharine sweet smile. "You not touching me would sound a lot better," she whispered back.
"Atta girl." Roman straightened up and examined the gown he'd held up to her. She continued to smile sweetly as she looked down at it as well, and she heard him chuckle as he lifted it off. "We'll mark this as a maybe," he folded the gown over his arm and returned to the rack. "You truly are a natural, doll face."
Emerald watched him for a moment, then looked away, idly fingering through a few of the dresses. She stalled on a mint green satin gown with a large skirt before looking back up at him. "Did you mean it?"
"Did I mean what?" Roman pulled another dress off the rack, this one a wine-colored silk garment with thin, golden detail work.
"Those things you said to your boss. About my skill level."
"Hm," Roman held the dress up to her for a moment before draping it over his arm with the other one and pulling the mint gown she'd paused on from the rack. "Why would I not mean it?"
"Because you're a liar."
"Well I am, but why would I lie about you?"
Emerald frowned as he held the mint gown up to her. "…I…I'm not following."
He leaned in close again. "I wouldn't have offered you a role in this job if I didn't think you had the chops to pull it off, doll face. You have all the necessary skills for our line of work, and even a few…extra assets. All I did was make an investment in your potential."
Her eyes traveled across his face, and then she finally realized how close he was. She fought back the urge to scowl and put on a soft yet false smile. "You know how to make everything sound creepy, don't you?"
"I aim to please."
"Hmm," Her smile widened, "Now get out of my personal bubble. Before I bite you."
"Kinky."
"Gross," Emerald's nose wrinkled in disgust as Roman grinned and straightened up, his attention returning to the ball gowns. "Didn't you say I was too young for you, old man?"
"Slightly," Roman cast her a sidelong look of bemusement, "but I can never resist a good quip when I see one. Hmm…this should be enough for now…see any others that catch your eye?"
Emerald glanced back at the rack, shuffled through a few dresses and paused at a deep forest green gown. It was strapless, with a shaped wire pattern trailing up each side, cupping the bust of the gown and ending just above the top hem. It was…pretty. Roman leaned obnoxiously close to her again to get a look at it, he tilted his head, checked the tag and nodded his approval. "Elegant. It seems you do have some taste after all. Now then." Roman picked the gown off the rack. "You'll need to try these on."
She withered a little. "Do I have to?"
"Well considering we don't know how they'll fit, yes."
Emerald groaned. "This is why I hate dresses."
oooOOOooo
"This is stupid."
"Mm. I hadn't gathered that. Not like it's the fiftieth time you've said that or anything."
"I look stupid."
"I'll be the judge of that. Now open up," Roman rapped his knuckles against the dressing room stall, sighing a bit to himself as he did.
"Let me get the zipper up first, dammit."
"Language, darling."
"English, asshole. This looks dumber than the last one. And the last one didn't fit."
"Actually, the last one fit perfectly. It's not my fault you don't think you can pull off skin tight red."
"Oh I know I can pull it off, I just like being able to walk."
"Well you know what they say, practice makes perfect. Now open up."
"Fine…"
The door to the dressing room creaked open, and Emerald shuffled out in the mint colored dress, which could only be described as the puffiest, most shamelessly princess style ballgown he'd ever seen. He failed to withhold a snort. "Wow, you…you could not be a Cinderella. Ever."
"Oh, thank you for your stunning vote of confidence," Emerald smiled sarcastically. "I'm taking this disaster off now."
"Last dress," Roman reminded her in a singsong-ey voice.
"Thank god." Em slammed the dressing room door behind her. And Roman leaned his head back on the wall. This venture had gone far longer than he'd expected it to, and he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something, but other than that, everything was going smoothly. Emerald seemed willing to play along now, he'd paid off the clerks to keep quiet a moment ago, now all that was left for today was to return home and go over the job details with both Neo and Emerald.
"Huh."
Roman snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the door. "What?"
"For a dress, I think I actually like this one."
"Oh?"
"I still don't like it, so don't get your hopes up or anything."
"Too late, doll face, I am positively brimming with excitement."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
She groaned loudly. "I'm coming out."
The door swung open again, and he locked eyes with Emerald for a split moment before his eyes trailed down to her dress. And…it looked far more elegant on her body than it did on the rack. The dark green embroidery hugged her curves in all the right places, and the wire in the top supported her breasts and the thin layers of sheer fabric covering them, before it curled up to the skin just shy of her collarbone. The dress thinned at her waist, leaving her sides and her back naked to the air until the fabric wrapped back over her hips and connected in the back, leading into a flowing translucent skirt that teased with the outline of two very pretty legs. The sort of legs that Roman didn't tend to see on a teenager. His eyes returned to hers, and he tilted his head impassively. "You look like you're in your early twenties in that."
She frowned. "…Okay. Is that a compliment or an insult?"
Roman shrugged. "Compliment. If you'd been wearing that when we met I might have offered to buy you a drink."
"Gross."
"Oh, don't worry, doll face," he grinned, "I know better now. Any complaints with that one?"
"Hmm…the back's a little cold."
"You'll have a shawl at the masque, so that won't be a problem."
"You want me to show off all this gorgeous skin just to cover it up?"
Emerald smirked as she spoke, and Roman grinned wider in turn. "My my, someone's modest."
She exaggerated a pout. "It's not easy to look this good, not that you would know."
"Excuse you," he retorted with a laugh, "I'll have you know that this is a winning face on both sides of the aisle."
"Mm…I don't see the appeal."
"Oh shut up."
Emerald grinned ear to ear at that. "Make me."
He sighed. "I suppose I walked into that one."
"You think?"
"Don't push your luck, doll face," Roman smirked. "We're getting that one and the red one, by the way."
She scowled a little, her shoulders drooped as she stomped back into the dressing room. "Party pooper," she muttered as she closed the door. "and I'm not gonna wear the red one, why are we taking it?"
"Practice."
"Like hell I will. It's just gonna collect dust in your closet."
"I was thinking dance practice," Roman clarified. He heard the clattering behind the door quiet as Emerald paused. "I'm not wrong to assume you don't have any experience with ballroom dancing, am I?"
"Why would the red dress help with that?"
"Well I figure that if you can dance in that you can probably dance in any other dress."
"I feel like your logic is flawed." The door to the dressing room swung open again to reveal Emerald, now dressed back in her normal clothes with all four dresses draped over one arm. "Or that you're just an old creep that likes playing dress up with girls who are way too young for you."
Roman twitched at that, but did his best not to scowl. He really hated being called old. "Nice try, but no."
"Could've fooled me," she shrugged as she walked over to hang up the black and mint gowns.
"Sure, doll face," Roman stood up off the wall he was leaning on and walked up behind her. "Sure."
"Standing directly behind me is not helping your case."
He managed a tight smile in response. "Just pass me the dresses so I can pay." Em looked back at him in confusion, and he held a hand out to her impatiently. She frowned further, but slowly held the dresses out to him, which he snatched from her rather forcefully before striding over to the register. He let out a heavy sigh at the register, earning a similar look of confusion from the store clerk before he masked it with a smile. "Long day," he murmured as he pulled a few large lien notes from his wallet and gave them to the clerk. He stuffed the change into the tip jar and took the bagged dresses, followed closely by a now very confused Emerald. She didn't say anything until they got out to the car, and even then, it wasn't a question about his sudden shift in mood.
"So…what next? Are you gonna take me home now?"
"…No," he replied after a beat.
"…Where are we going then?"
"Back to my place," he looked at her briefly, "We have to have one more coworker to brief."
oooOOOooo
Gemthief trash Peeves reporting in and…yeah, I know, I've been gone for a year. If it's any consolation I made this chapter super long to make up for it. So…a lot's happened in a year. I had two six class semesters, I kinda…stopped watching RWBY (volumes 1-3 will always have a special place in my art, except for 3-11, that fucker can burn) and I had some really severe writer's block for a while. I know, excuses excuses, but it's the best I can do. I'm gonna try to release a chapter for this every few months but I really make no promises. So yeah…stay tuned. I'll be back.
Gemthief trash Peeves out until next chapter.
