"You're going on a huntsman mission before the dance?! What are you going to do?!" Ruby hangs off Chris's arm after jumping on him. Chris laughs and pats her head, earning a pout.
"Oz wants me to go help kill a big Grimm which could potentially become a threat. The usual." Chris shrugs nonchalantly.
"Your first huntsman mission and you're only a first year..." Coco honestly looks kind of jealous.
'It took our team a whole year just to even be considered for grunt work. To be offered a Grimm extermination request... he must be seriously strong.' Velvet looks at Chris in awe.
"Well, I think that's enough about me for now. Team CFVY is about to leave for their own mission, so let's wish them goodbye Team RWBYY!"
Team RWBYY follows his suggestion, wishing each of them luck and waving bye to the departing bullhead.
"Alright, now that that's settled, let's go over plans for the Vytal Festival."
"Oh, right. We haven't even talked about that yet!" Ruby smacks herself for forgetting.
"As a team of five, one of us will not be allowed to compete in the tournament. We will need to pick who sits out." Weiss reminds them.
"I know, and I think the choice for that should be easy. Me." Chris states it so confidently, which baffles the rest of the team.
"You?/?!" All four yell in unison.
"Well yeah. Who'd you think was gonna have to sit out?"
...
All eyes fall on Blake.
"What?! Why me?!"
"Yang is the powerhouse, Ruby is the fastest and the leader of Team RWBYY, I have the most utility with my glyphs and if Chris was competing than he might singlehandedly beat everyone. Sorry, Blake." Weiss states the facts sheepishly.
Chris laughs at the indignant face Blake makes, before putting his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sitting this one out, because I never planned on participating. I've been training you all expressly for this tournament."
Blake sighs and rubs her head.
"Leave it to Chris to put us through that torture he calls training, all with his hidden intent being to help us prepare for a tournament..." despite her words, she smiles and shakes her head to herself. Chris laughs at that, releasing his hand from her shoulder and standing next to Weiss and Ruby. Weiss latches her arms around Chris's shoulder while Ruby hugs Chris in a death grip, face buried in his shirt while his free hand strokes her back. Both girls giggle at their double team. Chris rolls his eyes with a good-natured grin and spoils the two with affection, much to their enjoyment.
"They look so happy, I'm almost jealous." Yang laughs and pulls out her scroll to take a picture.
"Say cheeeeeeeeese!" Yang snickers at Weiss's horrified face before taking a picture.
'Be at J's in half an hour.' Chris's scroll chimes, receiving a text from an unknown number.
'J's? I assume that means Junior's club. I can't ignore this, even if the number who sent it is unknown.' Chris doesn't know who sent it but assumes that it's either Junior or someone connected to him. He heads to Vale on the next bullhead, not wanting to draw suspicion from Cinder by suddenly disappearing. He makes sure he isn't being followed before heading into Junior's bar, the two bouncers from his last visit looking at him with a grin.
"Why, hello boys. I assume I don't need permission this time?" Chris cheekily grins and they nod, stepping aside to let him go in. He sits at the bar and waits for Junior to recognize him, wanting to see if it was really Junior who called him here. Junior looks up from mixing drinks to see Chris, and with a smile on his face he points to the back.
"I'll be in soon. Let me close up for the night."
Chris nods and goes to the room he and Neo used last time. What he doesn't expect when he enters is to find her there, grinning.
"Neo?"
'Hey Chris, I assume you got my message?'
"Huh? That was you? Why did it say unknown number?"
'Silly. I use a burner scroll for important things which can't be spoken about through text. Do you really want Cinder or someone else to see we contact each other?'
"That's... actually a good point." Chris facepalms.
Junior then walks in, just having served his last customer for the night.
"Alright, I asked her to contact you to let you know the progress of your new home. It should be finished within the week, they're putting the final touches on it."
"Excellent. I promised extra to you and your men if you got it done quick, so that's what you'll get. How many men were involved in the construction?"
"Normally, we work in crews of about eighty but to get construction projects done quick enough for your deadline we hired double that."
"Smart. I'll give you an extra three hundred twenty thousand lien to give to them as a bonus. Each man receives two thousand, don't forget. You're receiving one hundred thousand lien as a tip." pulling out another briefcase filled with lien. Junior counts it down to the lien, the briefcase containing exactly what is promised.
"Kid, you've singlehandedly made me more in a month than I have in the last five years. I can expand my territory even more now! Know that you'll always be welcome in any place I own for this. Free drinks too." Junior reaches his hand out to shake, which Chris accepts.
"I thought we agreed this never happened?" Chris questions with a teasing grin. Junior grins back.
"This never happened."
Neo just shakes her head and gives up trying to understand.
'Chris's thought process is incomprehensible to anyone but him.'
