Jaune wasn't sure how to categorize his day into Vale. It had several pros and cons within it, which made it confusing for him to feel annoyed or satisfied sine he refused to be one or the other.
Currently, he was very annoyed.
He was able to go to Vale with some of his friends, but none of his own teammates could join him and the friends he went with used him like a pack mule.
He got into a fun fist fight with a capable fighter, but that same fighter ruined his large meal that he wanted to eat with extreme gusto and essentially left him without money or food.
He believes that he made a friend that day, Sun if he remembered correctly, but now he had to haul ass to the air docks because two of the four people he had gone into Vale with got into an argument and weren't going to wait for him.
That last one actually hurt his feelings a bit, but he would forgive and forget if their reason for ditching him was good enough. If not, then he would probably give them the silent treatment… for about a day before he forgets about it anyways.
"Damn, it's getting dark out." Jaune groaned as he noticed the color of the sky had taken a dark blue color as opposed to the orange of the sun going down. Jaune was struggling to figure out where the airship docks actually were, even if he was sure that he was already too late to catch a ride back to Beacon. To him, every single one of the large buildings looked the same, and Vale really didn't have any significant landmarks besides Beacon Academy. Jaune soon found that he had an absurdly terrible sense of direction. Asking people for directions proved to also be ineffective. By this time of the day there were very few people out on the streets, and those that were wanted to return to their homes as soon as possible for safety reasons. So the vague instructions he received were poor at best. Jaune barely had any time to confirm any of the multiple questions he had before the person he would be talking to would be gone with weak warnings to stay off of the streets.
This made Jaune scowl and clench his fists in anger. Had crime really gotten to people this much? Roman and his goons as well as the White Fang gave people a reason to feel fear obviously, but Jaune had no idea that it had escalated to this level within the city itself where people were too scared to walk the streets at night.
Sighing in resignation, Jaune pulled put his scroll and sent a message to his team, Ruby, and Ozpin.
'Kinda got lost looking for the airships in the city. I won't be back tonight. I'll hope onto the first airship I can tomorrow.'
'Jaune'
Jaune tucked his scroll away sat down at a nearby bench to consider his current options. So he was lost in a large city with a very little amount of cash and he was alone. Not the best situation he could have found himself in, even if it was for one night. Jaune ran his hands through his hair and scanned his surroundings. He was currently in a small park, with only a few other pedestrians nearby. Two were a teenage couple that was behind a tree, thinking that they were being discreet, but not for Jaune and his enhanced senses.
Deciding to ignore the couple due to the odd sounds he was hearing, Jaune unstrapped his armor and sword/shield before gently placing them in the space below the bench and laid his body on the wooden bench while pulling his hood up for a bit of comfort and propping his feet up on the arm rest on the other side of the bench. He didn't feel like sleeping in some alley and he certainly didn't have enough money for a hotel room, so sleeping outside seemed to be his only option.
Jaune's gaze rested on the starts above him. It was somewhat difficult to get a clear view of the open sky from within the city, but in this park was fairly open with only a few trees, and none of them were close enough to obscure his vision is any way. Jaune didn't dislike the night, but he did enjoy the luxury of a cushion underneath him. This bench certainly couldn't give him that comfort.
"I guess this'll be like old times." Jaune mumbled, remembering how poorly he lived when he was on his own. Back then, he was fairly efficient when living in the woods, able to gather his own food and find his own water, but here in the city money got you everything. He really did want to eat something, if his growling stomach was something to go by. Jaune idly rubbed his stomach, mentally cursing his lack of cash. He didn't know how he could possibly get cash this late at night. He sighed in resignation, it was only for tonight.
…
…
"I really wish I had some food." Jaune groaned childishly, rubbing his abdomen in hopes that it would sate his hunger problem.
'It's not like a meal is gonna fall into my lap.' Jaune thought sadly.
"Why are you lying on a bench?" A female voice asked.
"Yeah, are you like, a bum or something?" Another female voice asked. Strangely enough both of the voices sounded identical. That was certainly a first for Jaune.
With that in mind paired with Jaune's child-like curiosity, Jaune turned his head to look at the voices that were obstructed by the side of his hood. What he saw surprised him slightly.
One of them was a girl with a white strapless dress and long, straight, black hair. Her accessories include a large white flower hairpin above her left ear, a white feather scarf, a silver pad with cyan and red feathers on her left shoulder, white gloves, a small silver bracer over the glove on her left arm, a bow in the center of the top-most part of her bodice, a silver chained belt, cyan wings on the lower back, and long white boots with thin heels. Her eyes were a bright green, and she had teal eyeliner.
The other was a girl with the same hair and body shape, but her clothes were fairly different. She had the same eyes, but her eyeliner was red, along with her dress. Jaune also found her dress odd, but didn't comment yet. Her dress was red and black, but the material had newspaper articles printed on it. Jaune wasn't sure if her dress was actually made out of newspaper or if it was just the design. Her accessories include large red and white feathers above her left ear, black fur hanging off her shoulders and held at the front by a dark-gray chain, red gloves, a black bow tied around her waist, and long red boots with very high stiletto heels.
Jaune swung his legs over to the front of the bench and sat upright to give the two girls his full attention. He really wasn't very tired anyways so it wasn't like they were interrupting his sleep in any way. He also needed a good distraction to divert his attention away from his empty gut.
Jaune stretched his arms over his head, and then let them rest on his knees as he leaned forward to closely examine the two. His eyes darted from one to the other. The girl in red seemed slightly uncomfortable by the way his eyes shifted from herself and the girl next to her while the girl in white seemed to get more and more annoyed as this went on.
"Why do you look so similar?" Jaune asked curiously, not used to seeing identical twins before.
The girl in red tilted her head in confusion as to how somebody didn't know the obvious answer to his question while the girl in white visibly scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Are you an idiot? What kind of dumb question is that?" The girl in white said, leaning forward to get a better look at the hooded blonde. Unknown to him, his hood concealed a good bit of his face and hair, so only his mouth and the bottom of his eyes were visible.
Jaune, not one to enjoy being insulted for anything, stood up tall and pointed his finger at the girl in white, "Hey, who are you callin' an idiot?!" Jaune asked with an almost furious expression on his face. That's another thing to chalk up for the 'con' list of his day, getting insulted by two girls that looked alike. Well only one had insulted him so far, but still. They looked the same so he could say that they both insulted him.
"You that's who! What kind of idiot doesn't know what an identical twin is?" The girl in white asked in a condescending manner and smirked, not backing down even though Jaune was almost a foot taller than her.
Jaune felt his eye twitch at the remark, "Well sorry, but I don't know those kinds of things. If you're going to just insult me, then leave me alone so I can sleep." Jaune demanded, sitting back down on his bench, waiting for the girls to leave before he lay back down onto the bench fully.
Jaune saw the girl in white about to retort with something, but the girl in red, who had been impassive until now, whispered something in the other girl's ear. They whispered back and forth to each other until the girl in white took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The girl in red smiled and kneeled in front of Jaune.
"Sorry for my sister, she can be a bit rude when she wants to be. Which is basically all the time," The girl in red said casually, ignoring the 'Hey!' she heard behind her, "My name is Miltiades, but you can just call me Miltia. My sister is Melanie." The now dubbed Miltia gestured to herself, and then her sister who crossed her arms and looked away.
Jaune smiled and removed his hood, "Well I'm Jaune Arc! I already like you better than your sister." Jaune said, outstretching his hand for a handshake.
Miltia, a bit surprised at how young and admittedly good looking this guy was, took a few seconds before returning the gesture. Miltia looked back at her sister, and through a silent exchange, the white clad sister begrudgingly approached Jaune and stuck her hand out.
"Look, sorry for what I said. I'm just so used to dealing with idiots by yelling at them." Melanie said, looking away from Jaune, but keeping her hand extended.
Jaune looked a bit skeptical and irritated, but Miltia reassured him by whispering in his ear, "This is probably the best apology you'll get out of her."
As Miltia leaned back, Jaune looked between, and then smirked.
"No worries, idiot isn't the worst thing I've been called." Jaune said, giving her hand a few shakes before letting go. Now Melanie had turned her head slightly so she could actually see Jaune up close, even she had to admit that he was good looking. His blonde hair, blue eyes, and pretty boy face were all rare things to find on one person. Although his clothes weren't up to par on impressing women, he was still handsome in his own way. Melanie almost felt bad for what they were luring him into.
"Mind if we have a seat?" Miltia asked politely, standing straight up and holding her hands behind her back. She leaned forward and pushed her chest out a in a sutbly seductive manner, and Melanie followed suit. Miltia felt a bit better about using subtle seduction on an attractive guy rather than some other unappealing idiot like she's done a few times before. It was all for the profit after all.
If Jaune were any better with social behaviors, he would've at least known that this was a start of something that was too good to be true, but being the oblivious guy he was he nodded and moved to the middle of the bench to make room for the two of them.
Jaune soon found himself in a bit of a cramped position. He had a girl on both sides of him, and the two seemed fond of leaning towards him, pushing their breasts against his arms. Even though Jaune lacked space at the moment, he was oddly comfortable. It was a bit cold previously, but now with the closeness of the girls next to him he was warm.
"So what are you two girls doing out so late? Most of the people I've talked to at this hour seemed terrified to even be on the streets." Jaune asked curiously, leaning back and resting his arms on the back of the bench for additional space. This didn't exactly work in his favor because now both of the girls were laying their heads on the outside of his chest. Since he didn't have his armor on the girls weren't uncomfortable. In fact they were impressed when their heads pressed against hardened muscle. Miltia blushed slightly while Melanie thought he was just flexing to impress them. Melanie kept a close eye on his face to see if he was exerting anything, but found his expression remain the same, rotating his head every so often hoping to get an answer out of one of them.
"We just wanted to stretch our legs. Our workplace is so cramped sometimes." Miltia said with a pout, resting her hand on Jaune's knee. Jaune turned his focus on her, seeing as how she answered his question.
"So you aren't scared of what has been happening recently?" Jaune asked with mild concern for his new friends.
"Nah, we can defend ourselves from any common goon." Melanie said confidently, using one hand to play with his hair. Jaune didn't bother to stop either of the girls and their odd actions to him.
Jaune turned his head to the white clad girl and raised an eyebrow, "Oh? You two fight?" Jaune asked with a slowly widening grin plastered onto his face.
Melanie smirked at his question, "Yup, self-taught and everything." She said proudly, twirling a lock of his hair. Jaune ignored the odd mannerisms of his new companions in order to appease his newest interest.
Jaune at this point had a full on grin, "That's awesome! I'd love to see you two in action." Jaune exclaimed, before a loud rumble interrupted anything else that could have been said.
Both girls looked to the source, which happened to be the stomach of the blonde they were sitting with. Said blonde scratched his cheek softly and laughed.
"Sorry 'bout that. I haven't eaten in a while. My last meal kinda got ruined." Jaune admitted, another grumble leaving his empty gut as remembered all of the wasted food. He would be sure to destroy the next meal he saw Sun with, if he ever saw him at all after this that is.
The twin beauties shared a look with each other, a mischievous glint present in their identical eyes. They both looked up at Jaune with small smiles. It was really messing with Jaune how similar these two girls were. If they had identical clothes he wouldn't be able to tell them apart at all.
"Well here's an idea. How about we kill two birds with one stone?" Melanie began, peaking Jaune's interest.
"I'm listening." Jaune said, eyebrows raised.
"If you come with us to our workplace, we can get you some food on the house and maybe we'll let you see us in 'action.'" Miltia said, rubbing her hand up and down Jaune's thigh.
Jaune didn't catch the obvious hint, but he most certainly caught the 'food' part of it, especially when it's on the house. "No foolin'? You two would get me some food?"
Both girls couldn't help but frown at his response. They thought it should have been obvious that they were hinting at actions that didn't involve fighting, but he seemed more interested in food. No matter, they had a job to do and they would see it through. It should be easy considering that Jaune was an idiot.
"We're not kidding, don't you worry." Miltia said sweetly, standing up in sync with her sister. The twin's outstretched their arms to Jaune for him to take. Jaune clasped their hands, not wanting to seem rude to them for wanting to help him stand up. When Jaune was raised to his feet he did a few stretches. He hadn't noticed how stiff his limbs were now that he was free from the confines of the twins who sandwiched him on the bench.
"Hold up, just gotta grab my stuff." Jaune said hurriedly, kneeling down to grab his supplies. Jaune was, not surprisingly, eager to get a free meal.
Both girls watched calculatedly as Jaune tightened some light weight armor onto his body and clipped a sword within a sheath to his hip. Patting the sword on his hip twice, he turned back to the twins and grinned, "Alright, I'm good to go girls."
Miltia and Melanie scanned his equipment, which they weren't sure he had until now, with caution.
'This might be a problem. We just assumed he was some lonely guy sleeping in the park, not some weapon wielding teenager!' Melanie said, looking to her sister.
Miltia on the other hand, was looking at the brighter side of things, 'If he's an actually trained to use those weapons and we are able to convince him… We might see some more cash in our future.'
Miltia looked to her concerned sister with a confident smile, before turning back to Jaune.
"Okay let's head out then." Miltia said sweetly, walking up to Jaune and gently looping her arms around his right arm.
"Uh, why are you clinging to my arm?" Jaune asked simply. He was fine with following people, but he didn't like getting dragged to places, which he assumed she was doing.
Miltia frowned at Jaune's obliviousness, but came up with a good reason when a cool breeze swept through the park, "I'm cold, and you're the only one here with a sweatshirt to keep you warm, so I'm improvising." Miltia said, resting her head on his lower bicep.
"I can give this to you for now if you want?" Jaune asked, already reaching for the bottom of his sweatshirt, but a voice to his left stopped him along with an additional weight on his left arm.
"But what about me? It's not nice to pick favorites with twins." Melanie said, copying her sister and resting her head on Jaune's arm.
Jaune, not entirely sure what was going on, was about to comment, but his rumbling stomach interrupted him. Without thinking or a care, Jaune said, "Okay then, off to… wherever it is that you two work at."
"We work at a nightclub. In fact, you could say that we're the bouncers in a way." Melanie said as the trio began walking.
Jaune cocked an eyebrow, looking down at her, "Really? That's cool!" Jaune exclaimed, but then looked confused, "Wait, what's a nightclub?"
The girls almost face faulted when they heard that. How could any teenager not know what a nightclub was?
Before Melanie could call him an idiot again, Miltia kindly interjected, "It's basically like a party, except it happens at night, all night." Miltia informed, pressing herself closer to Jaune because it was indeed cold, and he radiated a comfortable amount of heat. The heat wasn't overbearing, rather it was a heat that lightly touched her skin.
Jaune looked to the sky in thought, "Huh, that's neat. But I've never been to a party before either." Jaune said, laughing awkwardly.
Both girls looked at him in disbelief.
"Are you serious?" The girls asked in perfect sync.
Not sure which girl to turn to for his reply, he simply looked straight forward. "Yup, I've only moved into the city a few years ago and I spent my time training mostly. Didn't really have friends of my own until I got into Beacon." Jaune said, admiring his surroundings as they continued to walk. He hadn't really taken the time to notice, but the city actually looked pretty during the night.
To their credit, both of the girls held good poker faces and stayed at their same walking pace towards the nightclub, but on the inside it was a different matter.
'A hunter! There's no way he'd want to work for us!' Melanie mentally raged, but then a thought came to her, 'Although young hunters tend to be easier to convince… This may work.'
Miltia had similar thoughts, but they were at a different angle, 'I can't even imagine just how much cash we could earn off of this guy! If he's even remotely well trained he'll bring us in even more profit than selling the suited idiots off to Roman.'
"Well you'll enjoy this party, don't you worry." Melanie turned her confident smirk to Jaune, who smiled in reply.
"I'm sure I will." Jaune replied. He was actually feeling excited with the way these girls were hyping this nightclub up.
So now both girls held confident smiles as they led Jaune closer and closer to the nightclub. As they went into the more downtown and popular part of Vale, Jaune noticed that there were a lot more people walking around at this time. He also noticed that the gazes of the men lingered on him and his company for longer than he was comfortable with. Their eyes held something akin to anger, but it was more subdued. Some of the ladies scoffed in disgust at what they assumed was a display of prostitution. It's not like it's every night that you see two twins hanging off of one guy.
After another minute of walking, Jaune was able to pick up the sound of the loud bass of some techno style music. The closer the three got, the clearer the music was for him to hear. He never got into music with his free time. He just thought of it as more noise, but he had to admit this kind of music gave him a sort of electric energy. It made him think that if he were to listen to music like this while fighting, he'd kick even more ass than he normally does!
"We're here." The twins announced, leading their charge through the doors. The current bouncer didn't even look twice when he saw both of the girls, nor did he care that they were bringing someone in with them. This sort of thing was almost routine at this point.
Jaune's acute senses were assaulted all at once. It was much warmer in here, and the smell was a mixture of deodorant, perfume, sweat, and something he didn't quite recognize, but it was a very strong and slightly burning scent. Jaune wanted to cover his sensitive ears from the annoyingly loud music. It was so much better listening to it from the outside of the nightclub. The room was mostly black and white, with hints of red, but what irritated him were the random colored lights that flashed all around the room, one of which shone right in his face for a second.
Jaune turned to the two girls, and neither of them seemed affected by these new changes.
'They must be used to it.' Jaune thought.
The girls did not release their holds on him until they reached the bar. The trio took bar seats, and while Melanie was trying to get the attention of the bar keeper, Miltia decided to find out more about Jaune.
"So where did you grow up? You saw you moved into Vale only a few years ago." Miltia asked, resting her head in her hand that was probed up by her elbow on the countertop.
"I lived in the woods when I was younger. I was just a drifter until I was taken in by… a really nice couple." Jaune covered, remembering what Ozpin told him about stating his direct affiliation with him.
"Oh? That's nice. I couldn't imagine living in the woods for that long, especially if I were that young. My sister and I both grew up in the city, and haven't really gone anywhere since then." Miltia said, letting her eyes roam the room to see just how many people had turned out tonight.
Jaune was thankful that the music was a bit quieter by the bar, or he would be having a tougher time trying to hear what Miltia was saying than he already was. Before he could say anything more, a large plate of gourmet-looking food was placed in front of him with a loud clank.
"It's on the house." The black and red suited barkeeper said gruffly before turning to attend to more customers.
Jaune looked at the barkeeper's attire, and felt himself become slightly angry for some reason. 'Where have I seen that outfit before?' Jaune thought, but shook himself out of his thoughts as he looked back at his food.
"Whoa, this stuff looks great!" Jaune shouted happily and throwing his fists into the air, causing Miltia to giggle.
Melanie smirked at his over-the-top reaction, "Well this place is primarily a nightclub, but we also serve pretty decent food here, so eat up. Like that guy said, it's on the house."
Jaune gave her an excited 'Really?!' look before grabbing the silverware that came with his meal and prepared to dig in, but remembered something that Glynda had told him once during a social etiquette session. That had been one of the most terrifying moments of his life.
"Jaune, if you happen to find yourself in the company of women, you need to not eat like a starved cannibal." Glynda said sternly.
Jaune tilted his head in confusion, "Why should it matter how I eat?" He asked. Why should it matter how he eats? As long as food gets into his mouth everything was fine, right?
Glynda glared at Jaune that made him shiver in slight fear. Her eyes hinted of pain that would be brought his way if he did not obey, "You will eat with manners if you find yourself in the company of females, am I clear?"
Jaune was quick to salute her, "Y-yes ma'am!"
"Good, we shall practice now. You are not leaving this room until you get this right."
Jaune cringed a bit at the memory. Needless to say he was there a while, and had sported several red marks on his hands afterwards. He would do anything to avoid the wrath of Glynda, even if there was no way for her no know that he was about to eat like a man who had recently disbanded from a hunger strike. This was now making him reevaluate how he should have been eating around team RWBY and the two female members of his team.
'I'm taking no chances from now on!' Jaune mentally shouted as he slowly cut up a piece of meat, he thought it was steak, and calmly placed it in his awaiting mouth.
Both girls looked at Jaune expectantly, 'Well?" They both asked.
Jaune chewed a few times, letting the taste settle on his tongue, before swallowing and smiling contently. "This is great!" Jaune said joyfully, cutting another piece and chewing it.
As Jaune moaned at the taste of his food, he noticed that Melanie had gotten the attention of the bartender once more, this time ordering something for herself and her sister. He didn't recognize the names, so he assumed that they were specials or something.
To his confusion, the bartender returned with two drinks of identical color in his hands. The color of the drinks was red that faded more as the color reached the top of the glass. Both drinks had a lime wedge on the rims.
"What is that?" Jaune pointed to both of the drinks as the bartender set them down and walked away.
"It's called a Razz-Jito, do you wanna try it?" Melanie asked, offering her glass to Jaune.
Jaune , always eager to try new things, took the glass of red liquid from Melanie's hands and took a testing sip. It was sweet, that much was obvious, but there was a strange burn that lingered in his throat after he swallowed the drink. It was like drinking a liquefied form of those candies that initially taste good, but then realize that it's cinnamon flavored.
"What the hell is in this, hot sauce?" Jaune asked, coughing slightly as he handed the drink back to its owner, who proceeded to take a large sip of it and let out a satisfied sigh.
"The good stuff, that's what's in here." Melanie said, spinning her glass so the liquid and ice cubes inside spun in a circle. "Don't tell me you've never gotten in your daddy's stash of alcohol?"
Jaune shifted uncomfortably at the mention of his father, but remembered that the only family he had told them about was a nice couple, and that was all, "Can't say I have. I don't think I've ever had alcohol before. Can't say I like it too much."
Hearing this, Melanie waved the bartender over once more, who looked annoyed at having to run back and force constantly, but didn't voice his annoyance in fear of pissing of one of the Malachite twins.
"What'd ya need miss?" He asked, hoping the respectful tone in his voice didn't sound forced. He really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the woman's heel blades. He had seen what happened to the last guy who annoyed her into using her deadly weapons.
"Get my friend here something light. It's his first time." Melanie said, patting Jaune's chest plate.
"Coming right up." He said before turning to mix a drink together.
Jaune was now confused, "What did you just order for me?"
Melanie smiled sweetly at him and took another sip of her drink, "I ordered you something to drink. Is that so wrong?"
Jaune shook his head, "No, but if it's anything like what you're drinking, then I probably won't like it anyways."
Melanie patted his head, like a mother would to a child, "Poor, innocent Jaune. We don't drink alcohol for its taste. We drink it for its effects." Melanie giggled as she withdrew her hand after one final, prolonged stroke of his chest armor and took another sip of her beverage.
'He's almost too innocent to try to convert, but that's what makes this more fun.' Melanie thought challengingly.
The bartender returned with Jaune's drink in hand, and placed it in front of the blonde.
Jaune took a moment to examine this one. It was, strangely enough, a pretty blue color. The color almost matched his eye color. Jaune sniffed the drink and almost flinched when he felt his nose start to burn.
"What is this?" Jaune said while rubbing his nose.
Miltia, no longer wanting to be silent, decided to answer, "It's Blue-Raspberry Vodka. Drink up. This one is a bit easier to put down."
Jaune stared at her skeptically, but eventually found the glass in his hand. It seems that his curiosity got the best of him once more.
"You say you drink it for its effects, right? What would those effects be?" Jaune asked curiously.
"You become calmer and looser. You lose some of your pesky inhibitions that you might possess. So you pretty much feel great the entire time. Just don't drink too much unless you want to not remember anything and get sick." Melanie said, downing the last of her drink, Miltia following her.
Jaune didn't bother with tasting the beverage, if he was just trying to go for the effect then he should just get it over with. Jaune took a deep breath and chugged down his beverage.
Jaune quickly drank the entire glass of vodka with little difficulty. He expected a large burn to follow, but only a mild irritation was all he felt in the back of his throat.
"Huh, that wasn't too bad actually." Jaune said with a smile, turning his head to both girls to see their reactions.
Miltia seemed happy while Melanie smirked.
"That was only light stuff compared to what we serve here. You'll have to drink something stronger if you want to impress us." Melanie challenged, leaning forward to Jaune.
Jaune returned her smirk with a smirk of his own, "You're on Mel!" He declared, slamming his hand onto the table.
Only slightly surprised at the new nickname he gave her, Melanie waved the bartender down once more, who this time wasn't currently busy serving someone else.
"Yes?" He asked, pushing up his red sunglasses.
"Give us the Under-The-Table challenge. We got a tough guy right here." Melanie said, thrusting her thumb towards Jaune.
Jaune laughed confidently and punched his fist into the air, "Hell yeah! I'll take whatever you throw at me!"
The bartender didn't bother asking why a first time drinker would want to try 'that' challenge, but didn't question it. He just turned away to fetch the challenge beverage.
Jaune took this opportunity to observe his surroundings. This place must be fairly popular if there were this many people here on a weekday, but he also noticed a bunch of guys in black and red suits scattered around the room. The suits were familiar, but he just couldn't place them anywhere.
'I'm sure It'll come to me.' Jaune assured himself. An audible clearing of a throat alerted Jaune of another presence close by.
"Miltiades, Melanie, who is this guy?" A deep and authoritative voice asked from behind Jaune.
Jaune spun his chair to meet this newcomer, and was his first observation about this guy was that he was tall, slightly taller than himself, and much wider.
He had short-trimmed black hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His attire was different than the other workers of the nightclub. He had a white button down shirt with a black vest and a red tie. He also had black comfortable-looking pants and expensive looking shoes. On his face was another pair of red sunglasses, not unlike what every other worker in this place had, sans the twins.
The twins each took ahold of his arms and smiled.
"He's Jaune Arc, our new friend." They both said teasingly, leaving Jaune under the scrutinizing glare of the large man. While Jaune wasn't one to be easily intimidated, but this man held an aura that demanded authority, not that Jaune would respect it willingly of course. The only authority he respected was Ozpin and Glynda.
"Sup, old man." Jaune greeted with a two finger salute.
Due to the red sunglasses, Jaune couldn't see the twitch of the man's eye at the inadvertent insult, but if the twins were planning what he thought they were planning, he'd have to tolerate it… for now. It did unnerve him that the blonde kid had a weapon on his hip though.
The twins waited patiently for their boss's reaction. Mostly because anyone who insulted him in any way got kicked out of the club harshly, or something worse. To their surprise and amusement, the large man took a deep breath and forced a smile to Jaune.
"The name's Junior, that's all you're going to call me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a club to manage." Junior said gruffly, practically stomping away muttering something about beating up annoying blondes with a bat. Jaune ignored it in favor of the large bottle and two small glasses that appeared in front of him and Melanie.
"Whoa, I can smell it from here!" Jaune complained, squeezing his nose shut and cursing his superhuman senses. It felt like the hairs of his nose had just been fried. The twins laughed at his seemlingly overdramatic reaction.
"This'll be an easy win then, if you can't even handle the smell you won't be able to tolerate the taste." Melanie taunted, filling up her shot glass with the brown liquid.
Jaune's head snapped in her direction, a challenging smirk on his face, "You wish. I don't lose, and that's final!" Jaune declared loudly, holding his glass so Melanie could pour the liquor into it without having much of a problem.
With both glasses filled to the near brim, the two combatants held their glasses to their mouths. Neither backing down and the only other spectator watching intently.
"Bottoms up!" Melanie shouted before swallowing the contents of her glass easily. Jaune followed suit, but being the inexperienced drinker that he was accidently drank the shot glass in two sips. This forced him to taste the contents of his glass more than he would have if he downed his shot glass in one go.
Attempting to save face, Jaune forced a shaky grin and looked at his opponent. "That's not so bad." Jaune claimed, before breaking into another coughing fit. Jaune shook his head quickly and held his glass once again, ready for the next round.
Melanie was all too eager to refill their glasses.
"Try and drink it all at once. Trust me it's easier than what you just did." Melanie advised, before swallowing the burning liquid in her glass. Jaune took her advice and swallowed the shot in one go. It turns out she was right.
This process repeated multiple times, both drinkers becoming more sluggish as the minutes passed. Melanie and Miltiades were honestly surprised that Jaune hadn't thrown up yet. Jaune himself was having a great time. Everything felt so… intriguing and fun! Jaune swayed slightly in his chair as the effects of the alcohol began to take him in full force.
Jaune watched with drunken interest as the glasses were filled again, albeit at a much slower rate. For some reason, very little things became fascinating for him, but they also became much more difficult to focus on. He concentrated on Melanie's face, but his eyes would drift elsewhere until he realized that he wasn't looking at his intended target.
Jaune looked to his left to Miltia, and then to his right to Melanie, and then gently placed his head on the counter and groaned lowly. This was really difficult!
Miltia, who hadn't been drinking and was merely the silent observer the whole time, looked to Jaune with amusement in her eyes and a smile on her lips.
"Something wrong, Jaune?" She asked innocently, leaning close so she could hear what he would say in case he mumbled out his words.
Jaune slowly raised his head to look at her, but his eyes trailed away from her own from time to time. "It was already hard enough to focus on the two of you, but now there are FOUR of you!" Jaune exclaimed sluggishly, throwing his hands up in the air in annoyance. He almost fell out of his chair in the process. If Miltia hadn't caught him in time, he would've taken a rough tumble.
Jaune laughed loudly, and then laid his head and chest on the bar with a goofy grin on his face. Melanie went into a loud giggling fit at seeing Jaune being clumsy, but Miltia shook Jaune to get his attention once again.
"Hey Jaune, I have a question for you." She asked.
"Wah." Jaune replied, turning his head to her with a slightly agape jaw.
"How do you like this club so far?" Miltia asked, reaching over to Jaune to rub his left shoulder.
Jaune laughed while scratching the back of his head, "Is' pretty fun!" Jaune replied, feeling a tap on his other shoulder, he saw Melanie had refilled his glass once more. Jaune happily took the glass, but spilt a little bit on his hands in the process, and downed the liquid inside.
Miltia had him buttered up now, in a sense. This was the time to go in for the kill. It was now or never.
"Well," Miltia said, regaining his attention once more, "Why don't you work here? We could hang out like this every night, plus with some added benefits that I know you'll love." Miltia offered, putting emphasis on the work 'benefits.'
Jaune raised his head and placed one hand under his chin and scrunched up his face, almost like he was expressing extreme thought. After a full minute, Jaune shook his head. "Sowwy, I gots other stuff I gotta do. Can't really do those things workin' here." Jaune said with multiple slurs.
Both of the twins looked at Jaune with disappointment. They were really hoping he would work with and for them, but he wasn't as easy to convince as other goons. He actually had obligations to keep, unlike the other idiots that were scattered around the bar.
"Unfortunately we don't like taking no for an answer." Miltia said with an almost unnoticeable malice. Jaune was too intoxicated to see the subtle danger in her words, as well as the slight movement from Miltia's hands that were under the bar. Jaune did however hear a 'click' before Miltia moved to retract her arm from underneath the bar.
More words would have been said between the three, but they were interrupted when an overzealous dancer stumbled out of the large mosh pit of dancers and rammed their elbow into the back of Jaune's head. Jaune's face slammed into the counter hard, but thanks to his drunken state it hadn't hurt. Unfortunately, it did piss him off.
"Hey, what the hell are ya doin' ya jackass!" Jaune spat out as he stood on his unstable legs, wobbling to and fro. The man looked to Jaune and saw that he had clearly been drinking, so he tried to simply back off. It wasn't a good idea to deal with drunks.
"Sorry about that dude I-," The man said, but was abruptly cut off when a forehead slammed into his nose and sent him back several feet, unconscious.
Jaune leaned his body back up until his back was arched, but was now bent at an uncomfortable looking angle, "Thas wright, you betta run bitch!" Jaune hollered, pointing in the direction of his 'attacker.'
Melanie made no move to stop Jaune due to her drunken state, but Miltia had already stood up and was about to attack Jaune from behind to subdue him when Jaune's attention was drawn by another source.
"We're going to have to ask you to leave." A suited man said, getting so close to Jaune in an attempt to intimidate the blonde into leaving. This had quite the opposite effect however.
"I ain't leavin'! I'm just startin' to have fun!" Jaune declared with a large, goofy smile. He was having the time of his life! He hardly ever got the chance to really cut loose, and he felt like he had the ability to do anything without any restrictions.
"That's not an option." The man replied seriously, reaching his hand into his cheap suit and gripping the handle of the hidden red machete that lay underneath.
Jaune was now irritated that this guy was trying to ruin his night, so he reacted in the only way his tipsy brain knew how.
He punched the man, very hard.
To onlookers it appeared as though Jaune threw his entire weight into the punch, which wasn't far from the truth. When the fist connected to the man's jaw, the man flew backward while spinning at nauseating speeds. Jaune stumbled forward when he overextended his arm, but held firm. As firm as a drunk could.
"Who's next?" Jaune challenged loudly, pumping his fists into the air with excitement. His blood was pumping now!
As if to answer his call, Jaune found himself surrounded by men in black and red suits. There were only slight differences between them, but one stuck out more than anything. One was a girl, in a red dress, with sharp looking claws on her arms.
"Miltia? When did you turn into a crab?" Jaune asked as he pointed at the girl in question, swaying side to side but not falling down.
None of the goons dared to laugh. They knew that the girl was already annoyed that she had failed to convert her newest catch to join them, and they had more important things to focus on.
"Jaune, this is your last chance. Join us and we'll forget the damage you've already done. I really don't want to hurt you if I don't have to." Miltia requested. She wasn't about to beg, she wasn't that low, but she did want Jaune to join the club. Pun intended. Not only would Jaune make a good worker, but it would be nice to have someone else to talk to that wasn't her sister or another idiot goon.
"Will ya fight me if I don't join?" Jaune asked curiously. Unknown to the girl in red Jaune was getting pumped up for the fight he was promised earlier.
Miltia nodded, and the goons readied their various weapons.
"Then I'm not joining! I wanna see how ya fight!" Jaune declared, grinning like an eager fool. He did want to see how the twins fought, even if he only saw one within the crowd before him. And those suits had been pissing him off all night, it was time for some payback!
Miltia's eyed widened, but her hands were tied. Since Jaune wasn't going to join, he would have to leave before he caused more damage.
"Attack." Miltia commanded, pointing one of her claws at the unstable Dragon Slayer.
And with that, the chaos began.
One overly cocky goon rushed Jaune before the others could even step forward. The goon raised his red machete over his head and swung down hard with a massive grin on his face.
Only for the grin to fall immediately as Jaune lazily sidestepped out of the way of the attack and stuck him in the ribs with a backhand. Normal Jaune had very little restraint as it was, but this drunken Jaune had absolutely none. When the fist connected, even the crowd was able to hear a sickening 'crack' of the cocky man's ribs as he sailed past over their heads and into a nearby pillar.
The grunt crumpled to the ground faster than a sack of potatoes. This didn't put off the other goons from attacking as much as it should have. Most of them reasoned that Jaune had only taken out one guy so far, excluding the other people he had already knocked out.
Jaune attempted to focus as several black blurs rushed towards him. Jaune moved his body in odd and unpredictable ways to dodge incoming attacks, and he wasn't even aware of it. His body seemed to move on its own.
Jaune leaned back as three blades slashed at his torso. Each blade missed by about an inch. Jaune leaned back until he was balanced on his hands, and kicked off the ground so he was doing a handstand. Jaune then did a horizontal air split and kicked one goon with each foot, sending them back with a surprising amount of force.
Jaune was far from over with his strange new fighting style. Jaune twisted so he was facing another grunt and moved his legs so his knees were bend and his feet were pointed towards the goon.
His feet became a blur as they rapidly kicked the man several times. With one final kick, Jaune gripped the man's head with his feet and swung his legs so that the man's head crashed into the ground and Jaune was lying on his back.
Not wanting to slow down and give his opponents the advantage, Jaune propped himself on his hands and feet in a crab walk position. Dodging a hatchet that landed near his head, Jaune threw his body back up and used the momentum to throw a powerful punch at his assaulter. The punch landed squarely in the man's face and just like the rest he went down fast.
Jaune felt several pricks on his back. Slightly irritated he turned his head in the direction of the attack as he still felt the small pinches touch his skin. It turned out to be the DJ, who was up in his booth with a Thompson-like machine gun and a stuffed bear head covering his neck up.
Thankfully Jaune's aura kept him protected from the bullets themselves, but the force behind them still affected Jaune. Jaune's anger flared as he realized that this man was being a coward and not fighting him on the ground.
"Get down here an' fight me like a man!" Jaune demanded as he threw his head back. He stumbled back a few feet, but eventually caught himself and took a deep breath. The surrounding grunts watched in shock and horror as Jaune began to glow an ominous white color. The DJ took this moment to reload his gun before Jaune could do anything, but it was already too late, or so he thought.
"White Dragon's Holy-!" Jaune began, but suddenly clutched his stomach and leaned forward. His cheeks puffed up and his face turned slightly pale.
"Oh god…" Jaune moaned, right before he began to throw up the mean he had eaten not even two hours ago. Two grunts saw this as an opening and charged at Jaune. When they were within slashing distance, both goons raised their weapons up and went to slash at Jaune.
Either by extreme luck or drunken instinct, Jaune stumbled out of the way of the blades. The goons, having put all of their strength into their swings, also stumbled. Unfortunately they stumbled forward and at fast speeds right into the pile of brownish vomit. Their shoes slid across the thick, grotesque surface of the vomit which built up even more momentum and they crashed into the bar, unconscious and slightly covered in the vile substance. Melanie, who was seated nearby, laughed loudly and dumped her drink on one of their heads, staining his suit even more.
Jaune spit the residue vomit out of his mouth and took another deep breath. He repeated this process with hopes that he wouldn't vomit again. Deeming himself good to go, Jaune looked back at the DJ, who had his gun aimed at Jaune, and smirked.
"As I was sayin'… White Dragon's Holy Breath!" Jaune shouted, the glow returning onto his body and a large beam on light leaving his mouth. The beam traveled at rapid speeds, but an almost safe distance away from the DJ. It seemed that while Jaune could still fight close quarters, his aim was still way off.
But it wasn't like he needed to be right on target with that attack, right?
The beam hit the wall about seven feet away from the DJ. Before the DJ could even sigh in relief, the beam condensed and proceeded to explode. The radius covered the DJ's booth, and inevitably him. The goons and even Miltia watched in terror as the DJ fell to the ground. Surprisingly alive, but badly injured.
"Did I get 'im?" Jaune asked, turning his head back to Miltia.
The girl in red couldn't even believe it. Like really, what had even just happened! The drunken blonde in front of her just shot an exploding laser beam form his mouth! That was just a ridiculous semblance.
Even with that display of power, it was obvious that he needed a few second to charge it in his drunken state, so if attacks were constantly thrown at him he wouldn't be able to do those lasers again. All she had to do was beat him, and despite what she had seen already it shouldn't be too hard. The goons really weren't a good indicator of someone's strength. She had speed and power, and from what she had seen all he had was power. Even if her sister was too intoxicated to do anything, Miltia could manage without her.
The remaining five goons weren't nearly as confident as their female comrade. They had seen what had happened to the others that had thrown themselves at Jaune, and they weren't about to be added to that pile of bodies. So they did the only thing they knew how to do besides swing a sword and steal candy from children.
They ran.
Even as Miltia shouted at them and threated to kill them herself they didn't stop moving. None of them wanted to face the dragon that challenged them. Let someone who actually knew how to sue their weapon deal with that crap.
"Whatever, I can do this on my own." Miltia said, waling cautiously up to Jaune. Jaune was staring at the slowly approaching girl with growing anticipation. He was finally going to get the fight he had come here for!
"Wheneva you're ready Mi… Mit… Mil…" Jaune tried, but failed to remember her name. He tapped his chin in thought, but still couldn't recall her name.
"Miltia." The claw user said plainly as she was within five feet of Jaune.
"Ah! Thas right, Miltia! It's a good thing I remembered." Jaune said, punching a fist into an open palm and laughing loudly. Miltia scowled, but didn't argue as she raised her arms in a ready position. Jaune eagerly followed suit, but suddenly found a fascination with his fingerless gloves.
Without the DJ and his booth, the music had ended, leaving the two fighters in silence. The only noises being the groans of unconscious goons and the mumblings of Jaune.
Miltia decided to try her luck at attacking the seemingly unready Jaune. She took two quick steps and slashed at Jaune with a downwards arc. Jaune noticed this last minute, and with a surprised shriek stumbled back. He could've sworn he had seen a few of his hairs cut off there.
Miltia did not stop her assault. She swung at Jaune with arcs from various directions. To her dismay and growing annoyance he dodged each one somehow. His movements became unpredictable and odd, bending his body at uncomfortable angles to avoid one swing, and suddenly standing right back up to avoid the follow up swing.
Eventually Jaune attacked back. Miltia stabbed forward, aiming at Jaune's head, but missed when he tilted his head just enough to avoid the fatal attack. Before she could retract her claw, Jaune head butted her. Miltia shrieked and clutched her aching head. Her aura had protected her from some of the force, but that was the terrifying thing. If her aura absorbed some of the force, then how hard did she just get hit!
Ignoring this and her headache, she charged again at Jaune. She stopped in her tracks, however, when she saw Jaune on the floor with his eyes closed and his breathing even.
Miltia just stared, dumbfounded that this happened within seconds of her getting struck. Not one to miss a chance of attack, she quickly made her way over to him and raised a clawed arm upwards. With unwavering resolution she stabbed downwards at his head.
And her claw was imbedded into the ground.
She was sure she couldn't have missed a target at this range and unmoving, so what had happened? She turned her gaze to the blonde once again, and found him lying on his side still sleeping peacefully.
Miltia growled, but didn't let this get to her too much. She stood over Jaune once again, and raised her claw once more. She stabbed downwards once again, intending to end her target.
And just like last time, she missed by mere inches.
She stared in disbelief as Jaune had, within a millisecond, rolled over to his opposite side to unconsciously avoid the attack.
Now thoroughly annoyed, Miltia began stabbing at Jaune. Each claw intending to end his life by headshot.
Each stab missed by a hair each and every time.
Somehow Jaune was dodging in his sleep, and at such a rapid speed as well. Miltia frustration grew until she finally made to slash at his chest.
Unconsciously Jaune did a reverse crunch and brought his feet above his head. The blade struck the ground just under his buttocks.
Miltia, still bent over and looking at the ground where she had just slashed, didn't notice Jaune's feet coming back down to the earth. She didn't have any time to move as both of the feet landed on the back of her head and slammed her face into the ground. The sudden and powerful blow took her completely by surprise and she lost consciousness soon after.
After a few seconds, Jaune opened his eyes and rolled to his side. As if he was performing a step by step process Jaune slowly got to his feet. First by planting his palms against the ground, second by pushing himself up, and third by sliding his feet underneath himself and pushed his sluggish body up.
Jaune took a few seconds to scan his surroundings. He wasn't sober yet, not even close, but he could still appreciate the chaos he had caused. There were various bodies all over the place, one of which was at his feet. Not bothering to see who it was, Jaune made his way to the exit. Jaune waved goodbye to Melanie, who waved back awkwardly and rested her head on the bar.
Jaune was only a couple of feet from the bar when he heard a booming voice pound into his ears.
"Don't think you can leave after what you've done! I swear I'm going to enforce a 'no blondes' policy once this crap is over!" Shouted Junior as he hoisted a red rocket launcher onto his shoulder. Junior was stood on the second floor, completely overlooking the destruction that had befell his bar. Someone was going to pay, and it was going to be the one that caused it. Maybe the goons as well just for the hell of it.
Jaune barely had any time to react as several rockets were fired at him at once. The only thing he could do was cover his face with his arms. Each rocket connected with his body and pushed him into a nearby wall and even further into the wall itself, imbedding him inside of it.
Junior waited impatiently as the smoke began to dissipate, and when it did he saw Jaune pull himself out of the vertical crater and dust himself off. Jaune looked up at Junior and grinned a grin that just screamed 'bad move.'
"I can do somethin' like dat too!" Jaune shouted, excitedly bringing his hands to his waist, twisting his torso and touching his wrists together in preparation for his next attack.
Now what came next happened in two different ways. One of these ways being in Jaune's mind.
In Jaune's mind, he had exclaimed confidently, "The light of the White Dragon purifies all!" and followed up with, "White Dragon's Holy Ray!" What followed was the total dissipation of the building and its inhabitants. Truly it was an epic moment, and one Jaune would not soon forget.
In reality it was different.
Jaune charged up his attack, the orb trapped in his hands increasing in size by the second. Before he shouted the name of his attack as per tradition, he shouted something else. Something far less elegant and poetic than what was in his head.
"Imma blind a bitch!" Jaune shouted with a mad cackle, shoving his hands forward and spreading out his arms to give his attack room to fully expand. "White Dragon's Holy Ray!" Jaune shouted, firing off multiple rays of powerful light at his opponent.
In his haste, Junior fired off more rockets in an attempt to stop the incoming light barrage. Unfortunately for him, he had only six rockets in his clip, and the ones that connected with their targets were quickly snuffed out and overtaken by the superior attack.
Junior and his establishment felt the impact of the powerful attack, and both crumbled under the sheer force of the light salvo.
Jaune watched as the building slowly caved in around him, and within a few minutes he was back under the stars. Jaune, thoroughly satisfied with how his day had ended, stumbled out of the rubble, ignoring the people that stared at him with wide eyes and jaws agape.
Jaune didn't know exactly how it happened, but he managed to find his way back to the park where the twins had found him. He even managed to find the same bench he was sat upon hours before the events at the bar had taken place.
So just to recap Jaune's day…
Went to Vale with friends, but not his team and was forced to carry multiple bags and go into boring clothing stores.
Got into a fun fist fight with a monkey faunus, but said faunus had ruined his meal and inadvertently left him broke and with nothing to show for it.
Made a friend with the faunus, but missed his flight back to Vale.
Found a nice park, but was insulted by look alikes.
Look alikes turn out to be pretty fun people and lead him back to a club where he was able to eat. The club had loud music and he didn't like the suits. He still didn't know why they bothered him, but whatever.
Got to fight goons and one of the look alikes. Wasn't able to fight both look alikes at once like he wanted.
Got shot, shot back with interest.
Got salvoed, salvoed back with massive interest.
Found park where he was in originally…
So far nothing bad has happened after that.
Unfortunately for him, a hangover was going to squeeze its way right into the con section of his 'stuff accomplished' list.
But now wasn't the time. Now was the time for Jaune to sleep, which he eagerly accepted.
Drunk dialogue is hard.
Sorry for not updating in forever. School and crap. And sorry for those who were expecting the re-write for my other story, Master-of-Arms, to be up. I'm working on it, but I want it to be as perfect as possible so I'm taking time with it.
Also this is the longest chapter I've ever written, and there are probably some grammatical mistakes near the end.
This started as a joke, and now it's a chapter and new fighting style that may or may not be touched on in the future. Can you guess where I got it from? Probably.