"Yo, over here!" He could already hear Rex calling to him, and considering he'd just passed out into the club, he supposed the guy must have been waiting for him. Partially a little groggy, he began his walk over anyways.
Having witnessed such a strange dream had put him on edge, and despite his best efforts, Jay couldn't get back to sleep. Eventually he decided to just suck it up and leave the room, hoping that one of the others may be willing to spare some company. While not really having anything particular he wanted to talk about, he figured it was better than just rotting away in his own disturbingly frequent nightmares.
"Hey, you..." Whatever he was going to say was sullied by an expected silence. "Are you... feeling alright man?"
"I'm good. Just a bit tired." A lie, and he had a feeling Rex knew it. Still, the guy didn't say anything particular for a bit, so he assumed his friend was just going to let it go. Melanie apparently wasn't though: she had no problems pointing out how sour he was.
"You look like you've just crawled from a hole in the ground."
As if he needed to be told. Really, he didn't have a rebuttal for that one, and settled instead into a finicky silence. She stared for a bit as he did his best not to hold eye-contact, and apparently getting fed up enough with his quiet, chose to just return to her drink. Meanwhile, smack dab in the center of it all was Josh, who found within himself that all too familiar desire to pull his buddy out of whatever bad thoughts he may have drowned himself in at the moment.
"So... what do we do around here besides getting blasted?" He liked liquor as much as the next guy, but that couldn't have been all there was to this club. Sure, there was dancing and all that, but Jay wasn't one to dance much, unless he was drowned in alcohol. Josh wanted to avoid getting his buddy thrashed though; too much booze brought out some... less than pleasant sides of his friend.
As bad as it felt, keeping Jay from showing that facet of himself was better for everybody.
"We're a nightclub; what do you think?" Melanie wasn't putting up with his attempted tomfoolery though, and Josh was very quickly realizing he'd need to up his game if he wanted to avoid a blowout. But that was fine; he always did like a challenge.
"Strippers?"
Melanie's disgust was immeasurable, and her patience was thin.
"I said nightclub, not strip joint."
"I mean, is there really much of a difference when you're drunk enough?" Josh would be pulling at his collar, had he not been too afraid to raise his arms. Melanie though, she seemed to be experiencing a special variation of perplexity, which resulted in a flatline.
"You know what?" She asked nobody in particular, raising her glass and downing a solid gulp: taking about half the glass in one go. Placing it back on their table, she sighed with a longing look. "Sometimes I wish they'd just let us castrate the customers."
Josh stifled a chuckle; not a playful one, but rather a wary one. Swallowing hard, he leaned over to Jay and whispered.
"I think she's upset."
You think?
Rex always was one to try and put the square block in the round hole. Back then though, he had the strength to force it in. No, they weren't childhood friends: Rex got drunk at a party and someone gave him one of those children's toys, which he then proceeded to solve completely and utterly wrong. Thing was, though: the brittle plastic of those toys were nothing compared to the woman he was trying to chat with, and brute force would not work for her.
"Hey guys." Miltia came in with a partial save however, twisting on a curious look as she sat by Jay. Curling a brow towards her dreary faced sister, she looked to him and questioned the scene. "Did I miss anything?"
"Sorry." Jay meant it too. "He has a habit of saying the wrong thing, all the time."
"That is completely untrue. I am brilliant when it comes to saying the right thing!"
"He also has trouble with wording."
Miltia felt a smile tug at her cheeks, and did her best not to laugh. Jay, despite looking down, still managed to toy with his friend. When she'd found him, she never considered he might have had other equally strange friends. She'd been through Junior's files, and knew for a fact she'd never seen a Rex on any of those papers, and neither did she see a Josh. Nicknames were fun though, and she wondered if she'd get to have one eventually.
"I'm sure he's just shy." She was most certainly sure that was not the case, but it looked to trip him up anyways. While Miltia may not have been as hard as her sister was when it came to conversing, she still liked to poke fun from time to time. Besides, Josh seemed like a man who could take it, so what was the harm in a little teasing?
"Augh!" He dramatically waved his arms up high, pulling them down with all the finesse of a three-legged deer. "And even the good one is against me!"
"What do you mean good one?" Melanie heard that; oh boy did she hear it. Miltia smirked, fully on board with watching her sister tear into the guy. Jay didn't seem too bothered by his friend getting told off, and to be completely honest, said friend didn't appear too upset either.
The table was shadowed by a pleasant mood, but the same could not be said for the owner of the club, who while watching from across the room, was currently in the midst of a tense scroll call.
"I've already let you see him. I've told you what I know."
"I know I know." Roman's tone was as slimy as ever, and Junior could only wait and listen. "Trust me, I don't want him either, but my employer is quite insistent he join us in this little shindig. She's running me ragged here."
"And how is this my problem?" Junior was fairly certain he didn't owe Roman a dime, and last he checked, the orders given to his staff were his and his alone to dish out.
"It's not, but trust me: she'll make it your problem." To be fair, Roman actually lost a tinge of his usual spunk there. "She's bad, real, real bad. When she says she'll do something, she will." Roman sighed after that, sounding both tired and even a little desperate. "Look, she's got the entirety of the White Fang in her pocket, and so much money I can't even get a trace on any of it. She's paid for everything she needs, and dust, she's even paid me personally quite a few times. I'm losing money with every excursion, but I can't leave her. She's not only paid me back exactly what I lost after each job, but I've seen what she does to people who even have the balls to question her. News flash, it ain't a pretty sight."
"If she's so powerful, then why doesn't she do these jobs herself?"
"You think I haven't asked her that myself?!" Roman took a deep sigh after that, and the tone shifted into a more reserved whisper. "All she's ever done is laugh and play coy. Cinder isn't someone you can just ask for things: she's a puzzle. If you want something, you gotta catch her in the right place, at the right time, in the right mood, and say the right words. Otherwise, you end up dead."
Cinder Fall; perhaps one of the most elusive individuals he'd been made aware of, other than Jay and his friend that was. Junior's files on her were worryingly short. At best, he knew she was real, and working with the White Fang. She had two lackeys by the names of Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai, who were with her wherever she went. That was all; he had nothing more on her. He didn't like having elusive characters in his territory, and with the annual gathering on the horizon later this year, it made for trouble. An uncategorized element presented weakness, which not only gave the other families a chance to react, it pretty much mandated it.
Weakness would not be tolerated, which was what made the pair of seemingly innocent - although contradictory - boys so important, and if Cinder wanted them… That spelt trouble for just about everyone.
"Has she mentioned anything about the 'other one'?"
"She doesn't know he exists yet... or, I think she doesn't; I haven't told her about that one yet, and I don't plan on it. Regardless, she only asked for Jay, and nobody else. Look, I didn't expect her to want anything so quickly either, but here we are. Just work with me here, please; she'll pay you, and I'll have someone keeping him out of trouble, so it's all good. Everyone gets to keep their skin, and you make a little money on the side; it's a win-win."
Scoffing to himself, Junior wondered just how much of a mistake he was about to make. Sending the lad into the White Fang for a single mission, even if short, was like sending the elk into the lion's den; they'd tear him apart if they could. Although, with Cinder requesting this herself, he doubted her little dogs would take such a risk. Roman was horrified by her, and from the sounds of it, she actually found him useful - Junior shuddered to think what she was like to the other normal goons.
"Fine." Slowly he turned, tapping one of his boys on the shoulder and nodding his head. The man would hold his position as bartender for the short time he was gone, and so started out from behind the bar and carefully towards the group. "But you're picking him up."
"I've already got someone on the way." With that, the call cut, and Junior slid his scroll back into his vest pocket.
Activity in the club was starting to pick up, which was made apparent by the increase in customers actually having a decent time on the floor. With the lights above flashing their usual array of smoothly changing colors, the partygoers were able to twirl and shake, in what the new age of kids called dancing; he couldn't see it, but then again, Junior himself grew up in the times where they followed the trend of slow, professional dancing, which was usually meant to melt the hearts of those special ladies in their lives.
These people were just slapping themselves every which way across the floor.
It didn't matter: they were paying, so they could do whatever as long as they didn't break anything. He smoothly passed between several groups in his short journey towards the poor sop in the distance, no different than the shadows cast both upfront and away by the shifting light. Coming to the group, he let his eyes immediately lock onto the boy, and prepared to send him out into the fray once again.
Jay was the first to spot Junior as he pulled up, and became curious as to why his face appeared so... stern.
"Kid." He saw the man's shoulders slump just a little bit, and for some reason, Jay could pick out what sounded like pity from his tone, mixed with something else he couldn't quite identify. "Sorry to say, but I'm about to ruin your night."
Jay didn't say anything, instead just looking up at the man. Something about it just felt... weird, to say the least. Sure, Junior had so far been a hell of a lot more tolerant of him than he'd initially expected, but there was something strange about the way he stood. He had this almost indecisive twist to his brow, which while minor, had been something Jay was more than used to seeing.
"How?" He noticed that everyone else had quieted down, which was weird for Rex, but the guy knew when to shut his trap anyways, so it wasn't too far fetched. More concerning, however, was the way Miltia gripped his hand atop the table. He hadn't been sure when she took hold of it, but said hold was starting to cut off his blood flow, and yet it didn't quite go so far as to cause pain.
"Well, I've got a special request from a client of mine. He wants your help."
Help? What help could he possibly provide? Jay wasn't exactly all that good at things, and yeah, he'd had a few flukes so far, but they were just that: flukes. More importantly, who else knew about him, other than...
No way!
That couldn't be possible, could it? Ruby knew about him, sure, and so did Yang... and Weiss... But even then, how would... Actually, no, Blake had probably heard of him by now; why would the main three keep his existence a secret from her, especially with Yang holding such a chip on her shoulder? And besides, she always was a bit more friendly with Blake, before outright hooking up with her, but that was a year or two away; again, if things went as they should have, and this wasn't some alternate Remnant, which was very much looking to be the case so far.
He had to clear his head for a second, forcing himself back on the main concern. Team RWBY had no reason to go through Junior to request anything of him, but there was someone who always had little issue operating outside the law to get what he desired: someone who would figure out his existence, even if the girls never mentioned him.
And that man was Ozpin… Okay, there was also Qrow, but he was just a pawn of the main man, and it was that 'main man' who called all the shots. So really, it was Ozpin.
"W-what does he need help with?" It came out of nowhere: pure, unfiltered, fear. It didn't make any sense; of the two individuals who could have sought him out, Ozpin was by far the better choice. Ozpin, at the very least, should have made him feel comfortable, but there was this internal sting that terrified him at the thought.
"Nothing too bad." Junior's voice remained gruff as he spoke. "Basically, you'll be babysat while everyone else does the work. And no, I'm afraid you don't get to turn it down either; there's already someone on their way to pick you up."
"Well, that sounds like a load of bull." Rex really didn't know when to shut up, and Melanie must have done something to him, because not only did she scowl and shift, but Rex himself grit his teeth and wheezed; perhaps a kick under the table?
"Trust me, I know how unfair it is, but that can't be helped." Apparently, Junior didn't take too much offense from Josh's outburst, and instead set his eyes back on Jay again. "Listen, you work for me, remember?"
Jay nodded, calming himself down a little. If this was Ozpin, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. And still, even the name made his skin crawl. Junior relaxed his shoulders a bit as he continued.
"Good. I know you wanted some rest, and brothers know you deserve it-" Another pang of emotion welled up inexplicably in Jay, but this time, rather than fear, he felt... irritation? "But I've got my hands tied here as well. You're not the only one upset about this, but business is business, and sometimes we need to do what we don't want to do." Junior chuckled a little after that, and a sharp look adorned his eyes. "Although, I know for a fact you've already got that down to heart. I haven't forgotten what you did for my girl, intentional or not, and I always reward those who do me good, so hold out for that."
Jay couldn't think of anything else to do but nod, and returning it, Junior took his leave.
"Well… That was weird." And there went Rex, stating the obvious. "Hey, uh, isn't he like, a big wig or something?"
"He's the owner of the club, so yes, he is." Melanie explained a little less hatefully than before, or, at least enough to leave Josh with the courage to carry on with his questioning. "Okay, but I meant-"
"I know what you meant, dipshit, and yes to that too." Rolling her eyes, she took another sip of her drink. Josh was ultimately unfazed by her anger, again, and so had no troubles tossing out his questions.
"Okay. So if he's the big shot, then why did he talk with us out in the open?" He then scratched at the back of his neck, leaning on his other hand's open palm, which was propped up by his elbow on the table and right next to his own drink; in the glass was water - he wasn't getting wasted so early in the night. "Shouldn't he have, I don't know, asked us to go somewhere else?"
"Why?" Melanie apparently had no issues with what just happened. "He asked your buddy to do his job and help out a friend. What's so wrong with that?"
It took him a second, but Rex looked to have caught on. Sometimes, hiding things in plain sight worked a lot better than shadowing yourselves away; it's much less conspicuous to talk with some friends in a club, as it is to pull one or more aside into a backroom. Besides, it wasn't like Junior said anything super incriminating, and with the alcohol looking to settle in for most of the other club attendees, Jay had a feeling that even if someone had overheard, they wouldn't quite remember, or even question, what had happened.
Really, Jay was more concerned with who was coming to 'pick him up'.
As if prompted by this concern, there was a small shift in the light, and really, Jay only noticed this because he made the terrible mistake of looking out at the club, only to have it obscured by a short woman. A halved split of pink and brown, with dashes of white; there wasn't anyone alive who wouldn't recognise Neo on the spot. At least of those who'd watched the show... or worked with her he supposed.
Okay… so it wasn't Ozpin who wanted his help; he could put that fear behind him now, all the while embracing a new one.
The very sight of her spooked him to the core. He hadn't expected - nor wanted - to come across Neo, period. Of all the people to stare him in the eyes with a soft maniacal smile, he'd wished for anyone but her. Neo was a fan favorite, and while her specialized brand of potential psychopathy - nobody knew for certain, unless you counted the 'out of series' books - was a turn on for far too many people, he himself was content never to meet this character.
Yang beat his ass, yeah, but she had morals; Neo was the epitome of chaos.
"Oh, hey again!" Rex waved out, and all that worry he had about their safety was tripled. Dying wouldn't be so bad, but Neo would make her victims suffer, and not only that: Rex would experience it too. His best friend didn't deserve that, and to see him call out so casually to the one woman most likely to rip your eyes out and play with them like marbles had Jay more than concerned... Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but could anyone blame him?
Hold on. Did he just say 'again'? What did he mean 'again'?
Neo waved back, much to Jay's terror. It was short, sweet, and relaxed; somehow being both very, and not at all, Neo.
"Come on!" Josh scooted over closer to Melanie, much to her discomfort, and nodded his head to the now empty space on his side. "Sit with us. We're just chilling."
Neo giggled, or rather, she mimicked giggling; being a mute kind of made the action impossible, or so Jay had always assumed. Nobody ever heard a word from her, so everyone just assumed she couldn't speak, period. But even so, there were times during the more comedy centered side content where she alluded to, or came close to speaking. Was there a chance she could Talk and just didn't want to? Maybe, but Jay wouldn't bet on it. Right now, he was only entertaining those thoughts in his head so he wouldn't have to accept Neo's presence.
It didn't work, as along with shaking her head no, she pointed right at him, and then at herself, finally finishing it off by nodding her head towards the front exit. Jay wasn't an idiot... okay, he wasn't stupid when it came to RWBY - as sad as that was. He could put two and two together: Neo was most likely the one sent to 'pick him up'.
Miltia made this more than clear when she leaned in a little closer, speaking low, but not fully whispering.
"I think she's the one."
Jay himself gulped.
"I know."
Author's note
...
And it's already happening. To be quite honest, I suspect some of you may have seen this coming - the 'Jay being pulled into bullshit' portion, not that Roman called for it. Cinder hasn't been all that active so far, so it figures she'd try to get info on Jay as soon as an opportunity presented itself. And with Roman having finished seeing him earlier, what better a time to strike than when someone was currently available?
Is she perhaps overreacting? Probably, but as you'll come to see, Cinder isn't one to leave an element out of play. Besides, it's one guy, so what's the worst that can happen?
Anyway, I'll catch you all later.
