Jaune was finally here in Vale with 3 months to spare. Now all he had to do was find someone who could make him fake transcripts. Walking through the city Jaune marvels at the place. So many people and so many things to see and do, but first he needs to take care of business. Jaune walks through the city sword on his hip and his head held high.
The aspiring huntsman finds himself sidetracked by the dozens of different shops he passes, stopping by several of them to browse and look at anything interesting. Several comics, and other things he wants but he won't spend money on anything other than food or bedding until he gets his transcripts.
After hours of window shopping and searching for someone who could help him with his transcripts the sun starts to set, and the presence of the people on the street wanes as the lights in the stores go out. One person still is walking on this street, and still looking for any sign of someone who looks like they would know where to get forgeries for official documents done.
Jaune doesn't want to ask anyone randomly on the street if they don't know someone so Jaune instead keeps walking aimlessly his mind on his plans and not where he's walking.
THUD PSHHH!
Jaune ends up running into a girl much shorter than him who was sprinting down the street. He didn't know what she had but whatever it was was now shattered into a million pieces onto the sidewalk. Jaune tries righting himself before he can fall over, but the girl's body gets tangled up in his legs and the knight ends up crashing to the ground anyways, cutting himself on some small pieces of glass.
The wannabe knight gets up and rubs his head before looking at the girl he tripped over. Jaune sees her slowly pick herself up and rushes to help her. The girl bats his hand away and looks at what knocked her over. The glare she gives Jaune makes him freeze in place momentarily. Jaune feels like the air around him just froze and he backs up slowly.
"I am s-so sorry ma'am I wasn't looking where I was going." Jaune stutters and the girl looks down at the broken object. Her fists curl up and Jaune trips again landing flat on his butt. "Seriously I promise I'll do whatever you want to make up for whatever it is that you lost."
The girl looks down at Jaune, a quite frightening look on her face. A sadistic smile spreads from ear to ear and the small pink and brown haired girl grabs her scroll from her pocket, and types on it quickly before putting it into the petrified knight's face.
u owe me a favor now I'll be by to collect it sooner or later
Jaune looks at the message and feels chills as he realizes that he probably just made a very big mistake by telling the girl that he would do anything. Unfortunately he already had made a promise and couldn't take it back now, and even if he was going to try he doesn't think it would end all that well for him.
"What's your name?" Jaune asks, wanting to know the person who he now owes a favor a little better.
More tapping followed by the girl shoving her scroll in his face again. None of ur business for now just know u will see me and when u do I will be expecting to cash in that favor
Jaune looks at the message, and looks back up with fear and confusion written across his face. "How am I supposed to repay you if I don't even know what you want or where to find you?"
I will find YOU and I will tell YOU what I want I expect no complaints
Jaune can't help but shiver. Even though it's just in text Jaune feels threatened. The girl he had run into really must have liked whatever that glass thing was if she was taking it that serious. Jaune couldn't blame her though he'd be pissed too if some random person broke something of his that was important.
Do u understand
Jaune nods his head not trusting his voice. Neo looks at Jaune with contempt and shakes her head. Jaune slowly gets up to his feet, and rubs his scraped and lightly bleeding hands. Neo's look changes from contempt to curiosity and the blonde backs up slightly not knowing what the girl is about to do. Instead she does nothing which puts the boy on edge even more.
Jaune starts fidgeting and the girl notices and smiles cheekily before shattering into a million pieces. Jaune has no clue what just happened. If he didn't see the still shattered object the girl was carrying Jaune would have believed that he hit his head when he tripped and started hallucinating…
Neo was pissed. She had planned that theft for weeks and now it was all for naught. She planned it to the point where she didn't even bring Hush because of how confident she was. Unfortunately a huntsman that wasn't supposed to be in the gallery was patrolling, and Neo was already in so she just had to take what she could and go.
She didn't even get to do that because she got caught by the huntsman and had to figure out how to escape. She barely managed to do that with only a small obsidian sculpture in hand. She didn't even know how much it was worth, but it had to be worth something, right?
Neo ended up escaping mostly depleted of aura from using her semblance a few dozen times including a moving facsimile of herself that ran towards the door so she could escape through the roof. Now she was here going back to Roman empty handed. She had been bragging all day that she had the perfect plan for a heist and that it was so good she was going alone. She didn't want to go alone and the whole plan was to mainly get Roman to come with her so she could spend some more time with him. Hell, she didn't even really want to rob the art gallery; it was just a ploy to get the master thief out of the house and doing something fun with her.
Instead she was here now empty handed going alley to alley in case the huntsman or gods forbid the blonde wannabe knight was trying to follow her. She couldn't be too mad at him because she wasn't looking where she was going either. Honestly if she had Hush on her she would have stabbed him and got on with her night.
Fortunately though she didn't have her weapon and the wannabe knight bowed down and cowered to her to the point she felt satisfied. Then he one upped himself and offered a favor. A favor could be a very useful thing especially in Neo's line of work. Once you owed a favor whether you realized it or not you were in some serious debt. Putting yourself in that kind of debt was never a good idea unless it was your only option. The boy probably didn't even realize it but he had made a major mistake in offering to do anything for the small assassin, and she was going to collect.
Jaune was lost. He had been lost for the last two days. Who would have thought that coming to a strange new city without any clue of where to go or what to do would get you lost? Jaune refused to go around the streets asking where to find someone who made illegal and forged documents, so that left him here wandering around looking for anything or anyone shady.
Jaune walked around waiting for night to fall. He'd probably have a better chance at finding someone who could lead him to someone useful. If he didn't find someone by the end of next week he could kiss his dream of Beacon goodbye.
Jaune's best bet at finding someone would be going to a club or a bar. So that's what Jaune does. He finds a club and dances and sits around doing his best to blend in and listen for anything useful even going as far as trying to get drunk patrons to talk which was much easier than expected. Unfortunately they usually didn't have any good information and he just learned a lot more about some strangers than he would have liked.
After a while Jaune finally catches a mention of a name from a couple people who walk in and talk about talking with Junior to get some information on security at a bank. This was perfect. Jaune finally found someone who could at the very least point him in the right direction. Now all he had to do was hope he had enough money. He should, seeing as he worked on and off for several people in his small town for 4 years in preparation for this, hell he even sold some of his most valuable possessions to make sure he could follow this dream.
At the end of all of it Jaune was able to scrounge up around seventy thousand lien; his budget for the forged paper was fifty grand and then he'd live off the remaining twenty until he could find a temporary job to keep him afloat for the remaining time. Jaune was desperate, sure but who wouldn't give up everything for their dream.
The two men talk to the bartender for a solid five minutes ordering a couple drinks and talking quietly with the man before the two leave. Jaune waits around and dances around for another couple minutes and the knight moves over to an empty seat and sits down. Soon the bartender comes over and the knight asks his question.
"Can I talk to Junior?" Jaune asks with as much confidence as he can
"Junior is a busy man" The bartender says "If you want to meet with him you'll have to wait in line, or have good information to offer."
Jaune sits in silence thinking if he's heard of anything that a man that important wouldn't have heard. Jaune, not being able to think of anything, tells the man that he can wait until Junior has time. Jaune sits at the bar for around five minutes before the bartender tells him that unless he's buying drinks he can either leave or go dancing. Jaune buys himself a cheap beer and drinks slowly trying not to make a face. After he is done Jaune goes back on the dance floor, and continues until his legs start to get too sore.
Jaune asks for another cheap beer and nurses it until the bartender comes back over. "What do you need to see Junior for?" The bartender asks while wiping down the counter next to Jaune. The knight looks up from his beer and remembers why he was still here at all.
"I heard that Junior is the guy to see if I wanted to find someone to do some paperwork" Jaune says emphasizing the last word.
"Kid, you don't need to use code words for something as simple as forgery." The bartender sighs. "It also sounds dumb when you say it like that."
"O-oh. Well can I talk to Junior about finding someone who can make some decent forged records."
"You're talking to him, what kind of records are we talking about?" The bartender asks and Jaune's jaw drops momentarily.
"I want records that could get me into Beacon." The young knight says and this time it's Junior's turn to have his jaw drop.
The man gets his composure back fairly quickly and tells Jaune to come to one of the VIP rooms with him. Jaune feels pretty nervous but agrees and follows the man. As the two leave a man in a black suit with a red tie takes over for Junior at the bar. Jaune is led to a smallish lounge with a circular sofa. Jaune and Junior sit on opposite sides, and Junior speaks up first.
"I have never had someone come into my place and ask me to help them break into a huntsman academy." Junior tells Jaune.
"I wouldn't consider it me trying to break into Beacon. I'm just trying to become a student."
Junior looks at Jaune with a dumbfounded expression. "You're telling me you plan on trying to get into one of the most guarded places on Remnant with fake papers? Did you get kicked out of one of the prep schools?"
"No, I wasn't allowed to go. My dad didn't allow it." Jaune's shoulders slump
"Did you at least train with him or apprentice with another huntsman?"
"My dad didn't train me and didn't allow me to train with anyone else."
"So you're a complete amateur." Junior says flatly causing Jaune to wince. "Do you at least have aura?"
"What's aura?" Jaune asks, confused. Junior sighs and rubs his head before getting up to leave.
"I'm sorry kid I can't help you." The man says, and Jaune scrambles to his feet before begging to the man.
"Please, I sold half of my belongings and stole a family heirloom. Can you please just lead me to someone who can. I'll give you everything I have left except my sword."
Junior stops by the door, the man desperately trying to keep his soft side for kids at bay. The young blonde behind Junior keeps begging and pleading, and Junior can hear his voice start to crack. Junior turns around and sees the knight standing, his shoulders slumped and his head down still asking him not to leave and to just give him one chance.
Junior sighs and gives up. The man gives Jaune a stern face telling him he could get someone to forge his documents, but only if Jaune promises that if he's caught that the blame will only go onto himself and that he won't rat them out. Jaune quickly agrees, thanking the man before pulling out his wallet, and trying to hand Junior a lien chip. The man looks down at it and shakes his head.
"You don't have to pay me but I will probably need a janitor and you can work off your debt that way." Jaune looks confused at Junior who sighs and tells Jaune "A normal janitor. The most you'll be doing is dealing with the vomit from patrons and occasionally taking them out to the street so we don't have to deal with them. You won't have to worry about stopping fights or any other of our other business ventures. Your job is just to clean up since the last guy broke a leg both arms and his back slipping on some vomit after a huntsman had too much to drink."
"Is he going to be alright?" Jaune asks. "Did the huntsman get banned?"
"I can't really ban the huntsman from coming back because it wasn't really his fault that the guy landed wrong. To answer your other question he's going to live but he will be out of commission for a while and I have to pay for it so I need someone to do the work. Which is why the job is going to you."
"I hope he ends up alright." Jaune says.
"So do I. Now I expect you here by 10pm, I will provide you with a fitting outfit as well as supplies for cleaning. Your shift will end an hour after closing time which is around 6 in the morning." Junior explains to Jaune.
"That's great. Do you need me to do anything else?"
"That should be all." Junior says a few moments of silence pass between the two before the older man speaks again. "Where are you staying in vale?"
"A cheap motel on the other side of the city."
"You should probably find one closer to here. I don't think you want to walk that far every day. There's an apartment building that I own nearby. I can rent it out to you for ten thousand a month. It should leave you with a decent amount if you get in and if you dont should be cheap enough that when you have to get a job after you don't get in that you'll have a place to stay."
Jaune can't help but flinch at the man's honesty about his transcripts but he's more than thankful for his generosity, so Jaune keeps his mouth shut. Junior tells Jaune that he'll be starting tomorrow, and leaves the room attending to business with other patrons, occasionally taking them back to a room to talk about whatever business they needed to in private.
Jaune spent another hour in the club mostly on the dance floor only coming to the bar for a cheap bear and a rest. Soon Jaune exits the club walking down the dark streets of Vale a little dizzy and nauseous but no worse for wear. His hour and a half long walk up and down the streets helps with the dizziness, and he feels fine as he unlocks the door to his room.
Jaune's energy starts to run out in the shower and the knight starts to feel his eyes get heavy halfway through. Quickly he rinses and dries himself before getting into his onesie and falling asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.
Jaune wakes up with a slight headache and very dehydrated. Rolling over to the edge of the bed Jaune grabs a bottle of water he stuffed in his bag a couple days ago, and gulps down the drink. After he finishes he realizes he should probably check what time it is and sees that it's nearing eleven in the morning. Jaune is a bit surprised that he had only slept sixish hours seeing how much energy he'd spent the night before as well as his several drinks.
Jaune lays in bed for another twenty minutes debating with himself if he really has to get up, or if he can just sleep for a while longer. Junior wouldn't be expecting him until around 8 or 9 for anyways. So Jaune rolls over in the bed and falls back asleep.
After an extra 4 hours of sleep Jaune wakes up and gets ready for his day. Packing up his things into his backpack and returning the key to the man behind the desk before leaving and heading across the city to Junior's club. Jaune takes his time checking out some stores along the way to make sure he wasn't there too early.
Jaune eventually gets to the club around 5 where he finds its doors open but pretty much no business. Walking inside with no trouble at all Jaune sits at the bar and asks a different bartender if Junior is here yet. The man shakes his head and Jaune asks when he gets to the club usually Jaune leaves, heading out onto the streets in search of more small adventures…
This is a test chapter. I only wrote a half chapter because I want to see how people feel about the concept. It's not going to be a Jaune gets involved in the criminal underworld as much as it is Jaune owes Neo a favor. Neo is going to use that favor to "train" him and work out her frustrations until he either taps out or she's satisfied with the beatdown she's given him.
I almost wanted to call this Friday Nights with Neopolitan, but I think I'm just going to call it Favors instead. I wrote this in like two nights (a few hours in total), and I might still end up calling it Friday Nights with Neopolitan anyways. I guess we'll find out when I post it what the title will be. If I get anyone who says they want the title to be the other I guess I could test it out.
I hope you enjoy it because if you have gotten this far I would guess that you have read it. As always, I thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a review especially on something like this so I know how people feel about something like this.