(Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY, the franchise, IP or series, only this fanfiction (plus Dizzy and any other characters, companies, gun brands, etc, that I made for this book) ((I mean obviously I own Dizzy, he's just a barely-disguised self-insert I put into this book as the main character, and I'm pretty sure I own myself)), RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth, all rights to the original series are reserved to them, yadda yadda yadda, other legal jargon I need to put here as to not get sued to high hell.)

First Person P.O.V.

Thursday, 07:10

I wake up and instantly feel drool on my chin, lifting an arm up and wiping the drool off with my sleeve before getting out of bed.

Checking my Scroll, the current time is '7:10 A.M.' Guess that means that I slept through the entire rest of the day yesterday, nearly slept for a whole 24 hours, I don't really get to do stuff like that anymore, nice that I was able to again.

Oh shit, new text from Yang.

"Oh shit, forgot Yang has my number, haven't talked to her since we met, wonder what she wants?"

[Yang]

[Yang: Heyyyy there handsome, I'm bored and feeling talkative.]

"Monty, why did she message me at two in the morning? Doesn't she have anything else to do?"

[your attraction act still aint working, what are you messaging me for anyways, we havent talked since we met four days ago]

[Yang: I'm bored. Can't a girl just wanna chat?]

She responded quickly.

[i guess, dont you have anything else to do at 7 in the morning though? not that i have an issue with talking to you, just wouldnt expect talking to some dude you met by chance in a club and tried to scam a drink out of to be high on your list of people to talk with in the morning]

[Yang: Eh, I don't really have much else going on right now. Classes don't start for a few hours and the rest of my teammates are all either still asleep or talking to each other so there's no one to hang around for now.]

[teammates? do you go to a combat school? honestly not surprised after seeing the shotgun-gauntlet thing you pulled out a Junior's a few days ago, surprised youre strong enough to fire that thing without breaking your wrist by the way]

[Yang: Yup, Beacon Academy. One of the premier combat schools not just in Vale, but in all of Remnant. And hey, don't question my strength, I may be lean and sexy but I'm stronger than I look.]

[way to stroke your own ego, you go to a combat school, obviously youre gonna be strong, youre a huntress-in-training after all, basically everyone ive ever met or seen that is training to be a hunter is way stronger than any civilian ive ever met]

[Yang: Eh, it's part of the job description of being a huntress in being strong, so I'm not gonna deny it. And what, you got a problem about ego boosting? It's my job to be as hot and badass as possible, so deal with it~]

[i am pretty damn certain thats not your job but okay i guess, shouldnt you be getting ready for your classes right now?]

[Yang: Actually I should, but I'm still debating whether or not I want to skip out on class to sleep in.]

[its august, the school year barely started, you should probably save the skipping for the end of the year when teachers dont care as much, anyways your teammates are probably gonna drag you to class anyways]

[Yang: Ugh, true. They'll literally have to drag me out of bed if I don't get up to go to class. I really should be getting up, but this bed is so comfy...]

[stop being a dingus and get up, youve got things to do and so do i, cant spend your time trying to ignore your classes by talking to me, i mean you can try but it wont work]

[Yang: Ugh, fine... but I am coming back to bother you as soon as I finish my classes. Hope you have fun doing... whatever it is you're planning to do today, I guess.]

[whatever you say yang]

I close our conversation before putting my Scroll away and exiting the barracks, heading out of the warehouse and walking towards the landing area where I put the Bullhead yesterday, the Bullhead itself is still there but the Paladin isn't, they probably moved it to a more secure part of the warehouse, might as well look for it.

Well, none of the rooms inside besides the entrance are probably big enough to hold it, and I didn't see it in said entrance, so it might be outside or something.

Walking away from the Bullhead and over to the back of the warehouse, I spot a door I haven't seen before being guarded by two other acolytes, armed with MM-78 rifles (we have a lot of those, dunno why that gun in specific, maybe they're really easy to steal or remake?), I can hear the very faint sounds of talking coming from somewhere past the door, with the guards themselves talking about some lieutenant being transferred and stationed at our facility to help us with future operations cause of the larger-scale crimes we've been committing recently.

Someone by the name Razzmatazz I think?

I walk up to the two.

"Hey guys, can you, uh, let me in?"

The person I spoke to looks me up and down for a moment before turning to the other guard and back to me.

Guard 1: "And why do you wanna go in there?"

"Cause I'm one of the people who helped steal the thing in there that the two of you are helping guard and I wanna get a look at it."

The other guard decides to butt into the conversation.

Guard 2: "Prove it."

"Motherfu-"

I reach into my pocket and take my Scroll out again, pulling up the news report video showing the short clip of me in the train car the Paladin was being held in before shooting out the camera recording me and showing it to the guards, who both turn to look at each other for a short while before turning back to me.

Guard 1: "Alright, you can go in, then."

I put my Scroll away and walk past them, entering the room, the Paladin is, in fact, in there, disabled and in the middle of the room, propped up by a bunch of machines I don't know the names of using hooks and stuff keeping it all upright, probably for inspection to see what it can do or something like that, there's also a hell of a lot more guards stationed around this room, probably in case anyone tries to break in.

Roman: "Like what you see?"

"Oh damn, you're here too, the answer to that would be a yes, came here to try and get a look at what kind of weaponry this thing has, maybe I can get some inspiration for some of my own creations from it."

I turn to look at Roman after I finish speaking, he's smoking another one of his seemingly endless supply of cigars as he looks up at the disabled Paladin, continuing after letting out a puff of smoke.

Roman: "Yeah, I was told to come guard this thing by Adam himself. Said he wanted to make sure no one sneaks a peek at this thing before the time was right or something like that."

"Hell of a responsibility, but he has a point, this is the kinda thing you need to host an assembly over."

I take a few steps closer to it as I look it up and down.

"Do we know what it can do yet?"

Roman: "Well, according to Adam, the tech team has found a lot, the thing's arms can be swapped out for automatic guns and Dust cannons, it has rocket launchers, you can kick or punch things with it, and it has tons of sensors as well."

"There is not a single part of that sentence that I didn't love, except for the Dust cannons, Dust is basically our main resource, you see how big this thing is, it probably fires TONS of the stuff! Why would we want one of the mech's main weapons to be loaded with the very thing that we've been robbing places non-stop for?"

He shrugs his shoulders.

Roman: "You're not wrong there. Although from what I understand, this Paladin was designed primarily to combat Grimm so I suppose they thought they needed the firepower."

"Firepower my fucking ASS, if they want firepower, if WE want firepower, get rid of the damn cannons entirely! Scrap whatever we can and sell or re-purpose it to replace the cannons with something better, OOH, something explosive!"

I turn away from him and start to talk to myself, slouching over and rubbing my hands together like a villain straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon in the process.

"What if we take the design of that old Bofors 40mm autocannon from the 1930's and mess with its loading mechanism and a buncha other stuff so it accepts and fires 40mm HEDP! Oh, that would be AWESOME!"

Roman: "Damn, where do you get these ideas from?"

I turn to look at Roman again and stop rubbing my hands before responding to him.

"Probably some mental thing I never got diagnosed with, plus an obsession with guns I got as a kid, anyways that's not important right now, what is important is that I get this idea over to the tech team so they can get to work on it."

He lets out a quick laugh before responding, the smell of smoke from his cigar starting to fill my nostrils, smells like spices.

Roman: "Yeah, good luck with that. Those tech nerds think they know everything, they're probably gonna reject your idea immediately."

"Sir, I am already dead-set on this idea, if they try to reject it for being stupid or something like that, I WILL strangle someone."

He rolls his eyes, rude.

Roman: "And let me guess, you're the kind of guy that always gets what he wants because you're relentless and hard to deal with?"

"No, it's because I'm annoying and prone to commit theft, also I have the blade of a sword I found a few days ago in my pouch to use as a shiv for threats and bargaining."

Roman: "Heh, and now I suppose you're gonna tell me that it's the deadliest, most powerful weapon in the universe, can cut through absolutely anything, and could effortlessly end my life with just one swing, right?"

"I'm a criminal, not a chuunibyou, maybe if you asked me that when I was seven you'd get a different answer from me, what the hell compelled you to ask that?"

Roman: "You'd be surprised how often I have to deal with people who are so full of themselves that it's hilarious. I mean, people who actually believe they can go toe to toe with a full horde of Goliath's, that they could actually go blow to blow with some of the strongest Huntsmen alive, and a whole bunch of other dumb crap like the stuff I just mentioned just now. Force of habit I guess."

"Eh, it's alright, I suppose I get where you're coming from, anyways, I have to go pitch my idea to the tech team now, I'll be back in a few."

I walk away from Roman and start looking around for the tech team, which doesn't really take that much time, not like they're trying to be discreet or anything, the R&D room is right next to us, just a straight shot to the right of where Roman is standing at.

Opening the door to the room, I am greeted to the sight of around ten or so people, mostly men, either sitting in front of computers and working on them or talking to each other while looking at what seems to be a set of blueprints, or at least that's what they WERE doing until I abruptly entered, causing everyone in the room to go silent and turn to me.

Guess I have the floor now, I take a step forward and raise my hands in the air.

"Everyone, stop what you're doing and listen to what I have to say, I have come up with probably the best modification for the Paladin we stole, at least regarding cool factor."

They all just stare at me with blank looks, well, two of them have blank looks, the rest just look confused to various degrees, it takes a bit before anyone decides to actually speak up after I finish talking.

R&D Member 1: "What exactly are you talking about?"

I lower my hands and point at them.

"I'm getting to that."

I recap the idea I came up with earlier to them, bringing up the issue with the Paladin's Dust Cannons and how they will probably cost us a lot of Dust in the long run, and my idea to replace them with modified Bofors 40mm autocannons, being loaded with and firing 40mm HEDP grenades, which would probably be cheaper and definitely cooler.

I seem to have managed to gain the interest of a few of the researchers here with my initial pitch, the guy who initially spoke to me earlier speaking again.

R&D Member 1: "Did you seriously come all the way down here to propose this idea to us because you wanted to make the Paladin 'cooler?'"

"And more effective, grenades do a hell of a lot more damage than Dust projectiles from what I've seen, also buying and/or making a bunch of them is probably more cost-effective than loading the Paladin with the main thing that makes us money."

He seems to mull over my words for a moment, looking down at the floor (Oh yeah, forgot to mention, these guys have the exact same outfit on as the rest of us, just minus the masks, more comfortable to work without em on I guess) for a moment before looking back up at me.

R&D Member 1: "Let's assume we can actually implement your idea: how the hell do you plan on loading the guns?"

"I was thinking of something like the really old Alofs reloading magazine for single-action shotguns, where when the trigger is being pulled, one grenade is fired from one gun and then a grenade from the other, the casing of the grenade being ejected in the process of the other gun firing, the ejection mechanism tripping a latch or trapdoor-type thing that is connected to a large reserve of spare grenades, dropping a new grenade into the gun's loading breech thing until empty."

He mulls over my words once again.

R&D Member 1: "If we're able to modify the guns like that, it could work. That being said, modifying the guns would be a bit of a pain in the ass, not to mention actually getting the materials and manufacturing the needed parts is going to be a whole other problem in of itself."

"You could scrap the Dust cannon for parts, re-purpose them for some of the parts of the autocannons, would save time on having to buy or make the parts from the ground-up."

R&D Member 1: "That's actually not that bad of a point you've got there. If we do that, it could save us a lot of time and effort trying to source the parts elsewhere when we can just repurpose them ourselves. You've thought a lot about this, haven't you?"

"Not really, kinda just spitballing whatever I think will work and rolling with it, so, think you can add the modification?"

Once I finish talking, he turns around and regroups with the other people in the room, all of them quietly discussing with one another for a few moments before he steps away from them again to talk to me.

R&D Member 1: "As long as we have the parts, it should be well within our ability to pull this off."

"Cool, I'll let you all go back to what you were doing now."

I shoot the team a quick thumbs-up and walk away, exiting the Research and Development room and going back to the main room with the Paladin, walking back to Roman, still smoking the same cigar.

Oum, his lungs must either be made of steel or charred black with how often he smokes.

Roman: "How'd the pitch go?"

"Well enough, pretty sure I sold them on the idea of replacing the Dust cannons with the Bofors 40mm HEDP autocannons I thought up, just gotta wait for them to make the modification."

Roman: "Glad it worked out. I was half expecting one of the tech geeks to just tell you to buzz off with no consideration for your idea. Sometimes the tech crew can be bastards when they have a project to work on and get interrupted."

"Well that thankfully didn't happen, anyways, now I need to find something to do to spend the next 12 hours or so."

He seems to finish his cigar by the time I'm done talking, tossing it onto the ground and stamping it out with his shoe before looking back at me.

Roman: "There's a bar around the block if you're up to going in. I could use a couple of drinks after our little escapade yesterday."

"Alcohol's always nice, let's get going, is Neo or anyone else coming with us, or is it just us?"

He starts walking out of the room and motions for me to follow him out, which I do.

Roman: "Well, Neo's usually not much for alcohol, so I'll leave it up to you if you want her to come along with us. As for anyone else, they're all probably off doing something else by now, so it'll definitely just be you and me."

"Oh, she's one of those, good enough I suppose."

I follow him closely as he leads us away from the warehouse and over to whatever bar we're going to, taking off my White Fang uniform and mask, stuffing them into opposite pockets and speaking up after a bit.

"Are you sure it's a good idea for you, a well-known criminal, to just be walking out in the open?"

Roman: "I do like a bit of a risk every now and then, and I'm pretty good at taking care of anyone that decides to make things difficult for me in particular, so I'm not particularly worried about it. Besides, I already have a few spots where I can lay low if it gets to be too much and I need a quiet place for a bit."

"Works for me."

It doesn't take us very long to reach the bar in question, the place looking fairly average, the outside walls being painted a rather dull color, like a really weird gray (Or grey, whatever), three small light fixtures being placed right above the bar's sign, featuring it's name and logo, and the door to the bar being right under that, the door itself being a metal shutter door, the only person inside the bar that I can see from here is the bartender himself, which is nice, a bit of quiet is always appreciated from time to time.

"Oh hey, the Crowbar, I've been here once, took all the free peanuts I could, shoved them in a bag and left."

Roman glances at me for a moment.

Roman: "I'm not even gonna try to dignify that by making an actual response."

"Understandable."

We both walk inside of the bar, with him sitting on the first stool he can, propping one leg over the other as I sit down next to him, waiting for the bartender to reach us, which doesn't take long at all, we are the only people here besides him, after all.

Just wanna say, he has a nice mustache.

Bartender: "What can I get you both started with?"

Roman: "I'll take the finest bourbon you've got behind the bar."

"Huh, never took you for a bourbon guy, but I can see it, can you give me a bottle of Monsriff? Preferably raspberry flavored."

The bartender gives us both a nod and walks off, coming back with two bottles of our requested alcohol and two glasses, setting them in front of us and pouring us each a glass, Roman instantly reaching for his and taking a sip from it as soon as he's done pouring.

I grab my own glass and toss all the liquid in it into my mouth, drinking it all in one go before turning towards the holographic screen of the TV they have here, currently playing some news program talking about something I don't really care about before the section comes to an end and switches to a new one on recent suspected White Fang activities in Vale.

"Oh hey, they're talking about us."

I nudge Roman's shoulder and point at the screen, grabbing the bottle of Monsriff in front of me and pouring myself another glass of the stuff once I grab his attention, hearing him let out a small scoff as I take a sip of my drink.

Roman: "Of course. They always have to report on our activity and blow things out of proportion."

As the program continues, it eventually switches to an interview with a VPD officer, talking about the failed Dust store robbery we took part in a few days ago, well, it's more like Roman was the leader of the attempted heist and I was just there to help steal stuff and protect him, but still.

"Yup...speaking about us being talked about on news programs, thank fuck the security camera footage of us that was publicly uploaded yesterday didn't show my face, you're already a known criminal so it doesn't matter and I don't think anyone knows who Neo is so she's fine, but I like to go places, I'd be fucked."

Roman: "That's just how it is when you're a criminal. You do what you have to do and take the consequences that come with it."

"I guess you have a point."

And now they're talking about the two of Junior's men that were hired as backup for us, apparently they got arrested some time after we left, probably cause they were knocked out, sucks for them I guess.

I drink the rest of my glass and pour myself another one, drinking some of it before speaking up again.

"So how long are we just gonna sit around here and drink for?"

Roman sips some of his bourbon before looking over at me, a new cigar is his hand, a bit of wispy smoke coming off the end of it.

Roman: "Just until I'm done with this cigar and drink."

"Alright then, wow, there is really NOTHING to do today, is there? I guess not having to worry about going on a job and painting the place's walls with my grey matter is nice."

I finish the rest of my glass before pushing it away and just grabbing the whole bottle of Monsriff, taking a hearty swig from it, Roman watching me during the process.

Roman: "You're a pretty chill guy, aren't you? You don't seem that worried about getting put in a body bag from some of the things that you do."

"I mean, with the kind of work I do in this organization without even having my Aura unlocked, I'm bound to end up in a shallow grave eventually, best to come to terms with it early so I won't be freaking the hell out in case I ever get into an especially deadly scenario in the future."

He sets his glass down and takes a drag from his cigar before speaking up.

Roman: "You know, you really ought to get your Aura unlocked. With the kind of work we're going to be doing to pull this off, you want to be ready for anything that might come your way or things could get messy. Speaking from personal experience here."

"I knoooow, but then there's the whole issue that to do that I need someone with Aura to unlock it for me, and I don't really know anyone that would be willing to help me and take time out of their day to do that, so I've never bothered to try."

He takes another drag from his cigar before shooting a smirk at me.

Roman: "Well, I just so happen to have a little trick I can pull to open up your Aura, if you're willing, of course."

"I mean, I'm not opposed to the idea, and being able to take a hit or two without getting some part of my body mangled or broken does sound nice."

Roman stamps his cigar out on a nearby ash tray before leaning in a bit closer to me.

Roman: "Alright, this is going to feel a bit weird, but don't let it freak you out. Just relax and go with it."

"You sound like my old doctor, or dentist, mix em up sometimes."

I turn my body to face his as he places a hand on my chest, closing his eyes in the process, a sort of tingling sensation spreading across my body as he keeps his hand on me.

"Woah, weird."

I look down at his hand as I notice a silver sheen/glow now coating his body, a similar one coating mine now, although instead of it being silver, it's a sickly green, well, at least it's a color that I like.

"Neat."

A bit of a surprised expression appears on his face for a moment before he opens his eyes and looks down at me, removing his hand from my body, the sheen leaving his body soon after.

Roman: "Yeah, it has quite a weird feeling to it, trust me I remember the first time I had my Aura unlocked for me."

He looks at me, or more specifically my Aura, for a bit before continuing.

Roman: "Your Aura is a bit...odd."

"What's odd about it? Is it odd in a bad way or a good way?"

He pauses for a moment.

Roman: "Well, it's definitely not in a good way. Results vary when it comes to how much Aura a person has, some have more than others and some have less, but they usually all it least have a decent amount of the stuff, you have the lowest amount of Aura I've ever seen a person have, probably only good enough to take a few hits from a baseball bat or something before breaking."

"Oh, well, fuck, as long as I can tank a shot or two that would otherwise be lethal, I don't mind having a low amount of Aura, I've gotten this far without having the stuff at all, even having a bit of it can probably be pretty useful."

He shrugs.

Roman: "Yeah, fair enough, as long as you're able to take a few hits I suppose you should be fine for most things, except for Grimm though. You're gonna wanna be careful around them."

"Obviously, I've been doing my damndest to avoid getting in a fight with any type of Grimm for years and so far it's worked pretty well, I can handle fighting other people but not so much giant, armored, essentially roided up animals."

He snickers a bit at my words before responding.

Roman: "Yeah, they tend to be pretty damn hard to deal with if you're not careful, especially if you happen to be the type of person who doesn't have any form of training. Although, you seem pretty capable from what I've seen so far."

"Thanks, had to make up for my lack of Aura and mechashift weaponry through firearm and melee weapon prowess, also cheap, bullshit tactics if need be."

Roman: "Ahhh, going for a jack-of-all-trades type. Not a bad thing though, as you said, you've managed to make up for lacking the fancy gear and flashy powers."

"I made due, anyways my drink is about done, wanna head back to the base?"

I chug the rest of my raspberry Monsriff that's left before setting the empty bottle down on the bar, with Roman doing the same before getting up from his stool.

Roman:"Yeah, we've been out for long enough, the others are probably wondering where we are by now."

"Yup, more so you than me though, probably, you are one of our higher-ups after all."

I fish around my pocket before pulling out the required amount of Lien to pay for our drinks and putting it down on the bar, leaving said bar right after and starting to head back to the warehouse with Roman.

Roman: "Yeah, I suppose you're right about that. Neo seems to have taken a liking to you. It seems Emerald has as well, at least from what I could see."

Damn, really?

"Really? Huh, feels nice to have someone like me around here, never really bonded well enough with the others here to be friends with them, at least I probably have Emerald as a friend if you're wrong about Neo."

He raises an eyebrow and looks down at me, speaking up after a moment.

Roman: "You don't have many friends, do you?"

"Ehhhh, I've had my fair share of good friends in the past, drifted away from them all eventually though, for various reasons, usually left on good terms with them at the very least."

Roman: "Hmmm, I see, and here I thought you were a social butterfly after the way you acted back at the bar."

"I can be a bit of an extrovert at times, although keeping to myself, being quiet and just being on my own can have it's perks, always nice to have someone to talk to every once in a while, without that it's just me and my annoying hallucinations."

Roman: "Hallucinations?"

"Pretty sure I have schizophrenia but was never diagnosed, been seeing shit since I was a kid and I've only been seeing more since then, they used to scare me in the past but now they're more of an annoyance, had this really weird one a few days ago, woke up at the middle of the night and went to get something to eat, saw the face of that girl with the red/crimson-tipped hair and the giant scythe from the Dust store robbery we did a few days ago."

His eyes widen slightly after I finish talking.

Roman: "You saw the kid from the robbery?"

"Yeah, this hallucination was weird though, usually the people or things I hallucinate say something to me, usually taking a dig at me to try and make me feel bad or something, she didn't, she just...stared at me, making permanent eye contact with this wide, unnatural smile, it creeped me out, took a step towards her and she just sped off, keeping eye contact as she retreated, it was weird."

Roman: "Do you often hallucinate about people you meet?"

"Not really, guess she was different somehow, anyways enough of that, lets just get back to base."

He nods, and we do just that, reaching the base after a bit and walking back inside, I make sure to put on my uniform and mask before entering, being met with the sight of various pieces of weaponry and equipment being moved around once we enter, various people moving back and forth between places as they move our supplies around.

"Huh, guess they're organizing or something, anything you need me to do sir? Cause if not then I'm gonna go back to the barracks."

Roman:"Nah, it's fine. Rest up or whatever, since you're gonna need all your energy for tomorrow."

He walks away and I do the same, heading into the main sector/living quarters part of the base and then into the barracks, walking over to my bed and flopping down onto it, pulling out my Scroll and checking for anything new, the only thing of note being a new message from Yang.

"Oooh yeah, forgot she said she'd message me once she finished her classes."

[Yang]

[Yang: Hey, you still awake?]

[yeah, whaddya want]

[Yang: Well, I just finished my last class for today and had nothing left to do for the rest of the day, so I thought I'd get around to messaging you.]

[makes sense, what did you wanna talk about anyways]

[Yang: Nothing in particular, I just wanted to talk about anything really. What are you up to?]

[just laying down on my bed, was gonna sleep but then i remembered you said you were gonna talk to me once you finished your classes]

[Yang: You on your bed huh?]

[Yang: Got anything on?]

[what the fuck kinda question is that, yes, im wearing something, i dont sleep naked]

[Yang: Just making sure :D]

[i dont think you needed to make sure, what im wearing probably wouldnt have affected our chat]

[Yang: Maybe not, but it's still nice to know at least, right?]

[Yang: So anyways, what kind of clothes are you wearing then?]

[i am not having this conversation with you right now]

[Yang: Why nooooooot?]

[describing what im wearing to you right now would make me feel like those women on old adult phone lines that would have erotic chats with whatever guy was willing to pay them by the hour]

[Yang: I guess that makes sense. I didn't think that's how it would come off as.]

[Yang: Still kinda bummed that you didn't wanna tell me though :( ]

[yang im not gonna tell you what im wearing right now, i am nowhere near intoxicated enough to consider doing something like that]

[Yang: So does that mean if you were drunk enough you'd consider telling me?]

[maybe if you got me to chug a good portion of a bottle of absinthe i could be swayed]

[Yang: I'll keep that in mind then ;) ]

[that was a joke man]

[fuck]

[if i somehow get drunk with you and wake up with any part of me feeling sore or tampered with im stealing your wallet]

[Yang: Damn it I was actually excited about that :( ]

[Yang: Don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you, promise. I only do that if given permission]

[hopefully, im already easily bribe-able, oum knows what i would be willing to do if drunk]

[Yang: Wait, you're easy to bribe? As in all it takes is some cash to get you to do something for me? Now that sounds like an interesting prospect ;) ]

[dont get any ideas, ill only do anything within reason, youd need a hell of a sales pitch plus a bribe to convince me to do anything too extreme, if you need help enacting some petty vengeance or smuggling something into your school though, im your guy]

[Yang: Oh my gods, you're my dream person then. If you're that good at pulling off little tricks and revenge pranks, I got more than enough Lien in the bank, and I know lots of people that would get a kick out of seeing this revenge plan go off.]

[lien, food, primarily baked goods, vodka and burn dust are all valid forms of payment in my eyes]

[Yang: How did I manage to find the one guy who has the exact same weakness as me. Honestly, you're really hitting it off with me right now, I'm already excited to see what you can do in the near future.]

I take it she's talking about the alcohol.

[im not, im already starting to regret offering my services to you, i mean as long as you give me enough alcohol im pretty sure ill be able to drink the regret away though]

[Yang: Oh come on, I'm not that bad. I don't even know how you could think any less of me than you already do, unless you actually do think I'm annoying or something.]

[annoying, no, pushy and overly flirty, yes]

[Yang: Okay, now I take offense to that. I'm not that bad when it comes to flirting or too pushy. At least I haven't tried getting you to come over to my place for some late night fun, right?]

[you did try to scam me out of a drink by eluding to that, didnt work, honestly if you wanna hang out and get a drink i wont mind paying, youre somewhat of a friend of mine so it aint really much of an issue anymore]

[Yang: I kind of like the sound of that, so I'm okay with hanging around with you after a while of getting to know each other more. You're alright in my book, looks like you know how to handle yourself in a fight, good head on your shoulders, so I think a couple drinks over the next couple weeks sounds like a nice time to spend together.]

[well, ill be looking forward to it]

[Yang: Alright, it's a deal then. I'll definitely make sure to hit you up when I get a few minutes to myself then.]

[okay, see you then]

I close my conversation with Yang and put my Scroll away, glancing over to my right side, looking at the SDC-owned box that I yoinked from that train car when we stole the Paladin prototype.

"Should probably turn that in to Cinder...eh, I'll get to it later."

And with that, I turn over onto my stomach and fall asleep for the night.