"Ugh... this place is so dull." Mercury lamented as he walked the mostly quiet streets of Vale.
"Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture…" said Emerald as she ambled alongside her partner-in-crime.
"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket." Mercury grinned.
Emerald came to a stop and grinned "That's every city."
"Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!"
Emerald just glared at Mercury.
"Ugh... you're no fun today." Mercury slumped his shoulders in defeat before resuming his casual pace through the city.
After a few more minutes of walking, they made their way into a bookstore, looking around at the shelves. Behind the counter was a somewhat chubby man, resting his chin on his hand as he leaned against the counter. He raised an eyebrow at Emerald and Mercury. "You miss the 'Out for Lunch' sign hanging in the door?" he asked them, clearly annoyed at the two.
Looking back at the door, Mercury shrugged, walking over to one of the floor shelves and began looking at the books. "Guess we did. We're just such avid book lovers, it's easy to miss something like that," he replied, flicking through the pages of whatever book was currently in his hands.
"Uh-huh. Anything in particular you're looking for?" Max asked, standing up and stretching his back a bit.
"Well, would there happen to be any copies of 'The Thief and The Butcher'?" Emerald asked, slowly walking up to the counter, Max noting that she appeared a bit annoyed herself at Tukson not being here alone.
Max scratched his head, before pointing at a shelf near the counter. "Two copies, hardback, on that shelf there. There's a handful of paperback, too, somewhere over by your friend there."
"That's fantastic," Emerald gushed with a nod, Max cringing internally at the acting.
"Mmm. Any other titles?" From behind him, Max heard something drop behind the door. "You okay back there?" he called, checking on Tukson, who was currently doing a final inventory on his stock.
"Everything's fine," came back Tukson's voice.
Another look between Mercury and Emerald, Max noted, quite certain the two were figuring out if that was their target in the back or not and the intricacies of silencing two people rather than one now. "So, anyways, any other titles you might be looking for?"
"How about some comics?" Mercury asked, putting down what was his third book that he pretended to look through.
"Look to your right, you're standing by the holders."
"So I am." Mercury took a look at the rotating stand, while Emerald seemed to be thinking about another title.
"How about…'Third Crusade'?" Emerald asked, fishing for a reaction now.
A loud voice called from the shelves on the opposite side of the store "DEUS VULT".
"Wha? Atin? What the fuck, we sent you to pick up lunch an hour ago, have you just been hiding in the sci-fi section this entire time?!" Max shouted, looking for the nearest object to throw at his friend.
"Well no. I was waiting in the back for Tukson's order, but he never gave it to me, so I got bored and wanted to see if I could anything worth reading. So I haven't been hiding over here the entire time."
"And you didn't go ask him because…?"
"Well A. I did, but he was busy, and B. I haven't read a good book in a while. So sue me."
Max sighed, banging his head on the counter. After a moment of contemplation, he stood back up to address Emerald's question. For Mercury and Emerald's part, they didn't pay the exchange much attention, apparently now working on the most effective way to handle three murders. "Anyways, no, none of that in stock. And don't start on the store slogan, I didn't pick it and it's closing today, anyways."
Atin yelled into the back, "Hurry up back there, I gotta get back to the school, I got class in like, an hour!"
"Hold your horses, I'm hurrying best I can!" Tukson yelled back.
Meanwhile, Max had pulled out his scroll, typing something out. "Aaaand, there, two more students checked in. Thought you two looked familiar," he said, sending a quick message off to Ozpin to let him know he and Atin would be back at Beacon before the end of the day with the new school librarian in tow.
"Do you kids not realize that your schools did in fact pay to get you here? You didn't have to stow away on a Cargo ship. Or a fishing boat. Or a cargo bullhead. Or anything else."
This got a double take from the assassin and thief. "Come again?" Mercury blurted out, dropping the book in his hand.
"What, you think that you're the only group that did this? You have no idea how many complaints we've gotten from the port authorities. Or the TSA, the dockworkers union, and several assorted cargo pilots. You are far from the first group to show up early. In fact… you two are the… twenty-third group to arrive early and unannounced." Atin continued flipping through his scroll.
"Twenty-fourth, got another kid at, like, two this morning, remember? Tried to sneak up the cliffs in the forest. Good thing Port was on patrol," Max corrected, poking buttons on the register.
"Oh yeaaaah. Good kid, terrible use of pitons. If you're gonna climb a cliff, double check that you have enough rope. Also, make sure the local nevermores aren't awake. Write that down you two." Atin glanced at the bewildered pair.
"And since you're here anyway, I don't suppose we could talk you two into helping us packmule some objects of interest for Beacon's new librarian? Ozpin managed to find a moving company that got, er, some, and I use that term loosely, of the items out of this store and up to Beacon."
"In fact, you don't have a choice. In order to compensate your school for wasted funds, you work for us now. Get moving. Chop-Chop, I don't have all day, and neither does Max." Atin tossed a folded up cardboard box at Mercury's face. Mercury caught it easily enough, though the two would-be murderers now seemed more confused than anything else, perhaps a bit frustrated that they had been easily identified and checked into a system they hadn't even been aware of.
"The moving van gets here in about twenty, so just grab whatever books you think might grab interest at Beacon, maybe snag a few for your personal collections. Bit of compensation for Atin's immediate conscription of your time." Max, meanwhile, walked into the backroom to make sure Tukson hadn't decided to suddenly run out on the two TAs.
Atins scroll began vibrating in his hands "Hurry up you two, I have to take this outside." The door to the bookshop swung closed with a cheerful tinkle. Despite that, both Emerald and Mercury could still hear the outraged voice quite clearly. "They did what? How? In 5 minutes? How is that possible? And why were they armed? What the hell do you mean they did it with food? It is physically impossible to destroy a concrete beam with a goddamn watermelon Glynda!" Atin stuck his head back inside the door "MAX. GET OUT HERE. WE HAVE TO LEAVE. NOW. THOSE IDIOTS BROKE THE SCHOOL. AGAIN."
Max came out of the backroom. "What? We can't leave, we've still gotta help Tukson and make sure these two actually show up at the school to help as well. What happened?"
"Oh yes we do. They broke the lunchroom. With a literal foodfight. They somehow managed to use watermelons, loaves of bread, and my personal favorite, exploding soda cans. So we need to go convince Glynda that they A. need like, a months worth of detention and that B. she should make them clean it all up. Now let's go. These two troublemakers can finish helping Tukson."
"Let me see the scroll?" Max asked, holding out his hand.
"Sure, go nuts." Atin underhanded the scroll at his friend.
With an almost impressive catch, Max put the scroll to his ear. "Hey, Glynda, this is Max. Yes. Yeah, I got the gist of it. Yes, yes, I'll talk to Atin about yelling into the scroll like that. Look, don't do anything, have them clean it up. They need to learn actions have consequences and this is a damn sight better than last month when we had the police involved. No, I don't care what Ozpin is saying. Glynda. Glynda. Glynda! Atin and I made a fucking presentation on this, don't make us come back to the school to show it to you and Ozpin. Glynda!" He looked at the scroll. "She hung up. Guess who's getting a presentation, Atin?"
"Wait, do you want the quick one, or the one that looks like it was done by a spastic ten year old that just discovered MS powerpoint effects? 'Cause I have both." Atin motioned for the scroll back, Max tossing it back.
"Oh, they get a double feature. Emerald and Mercury, right?" Max now turned his attention to the criminal youth. They looked at him, apparently accepting at this point that there would be no murder this day. "Atin and I have to head back a bit earlier than expected. Do be dears and help Tukson finish up? I think the moving van might be here early, actually."
"By the way you two, I will be asking Tukson if you actually helped him later. And for your sake, you better hope he gives a glowing report, because boy oh boy I am itching for some more idiots to put in line. Now, we're gonna get going. Try to not cause any property damage, murders, or general criminal activity for like, five minutes, okay?"
And with that, the two TAs walked out the front door, passing the movers on their own way in, who immediately moved into the backroom as Tukson came out. "Where'd Max and Atin go?" he asked, noting Emerald and Mercury, both now holding full boxes.
"Some kind of cleanup at Beacon," Emerald sighed, unbelieving that she and Mercury had gone from tracking down a rat to helping said rat move to one of the most secure locations in Vale.