Chapter Text
Scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one sided and easily processed.
Yet every misshapen spark's unseen beauty is greater than its would be judgement.
The night wouldn't have been a bright one, alone. It was exceedingly rare for the moon to hide its face, but its fragments only caught so much light when they were brought to the fore. But cities never sleep, and are content to make their own light.
Not unusual in the least.
The drone of a shamelessly loud engine cut short, giving way to a rising beat rendered in electronica not nearly as eager to let black-feathered wings or sturdy brown boots take center stage. An imposition, maybe, but a welcome one and so one unchallenged.
Imposition - that was a good word, actually. It really did capture the way gold flared first in the flickering spotlight, radiant almost of its own accord - the way eyes turned to her, then down as she surveyed her kingdom. A young woman in brown and yellow, the barest hint of a cocky smile on her face, who took in a room painted in black and white in a single casual sweep and began down the stairs with all the air of owning the joint.
It was the first tip - molten fire gleaming bright with each pulse of the music, careless confidence untouched as the room dipped into ruby red - that put men in iconic black on her tail, sliding out of the anonymous crowds with easy precision. White and red surged over each other as the masses parted in perfect time, a path carved out by sheer presence; more and more black-hats showed themselves from the crowd as her path paralleled three others, letting the fourth turn at a calm trot for the exit, opting to get while the getting was good.
Black, white, and red sat in a little line at the bar, and the first misstep of the dance that yellow had begun - a fourth seat filled up just a little too quickly. Two cocked eyebrows, one for each of the leads. The backup dancers didn't react a moment longer, but the sudden off-beat drew their attention just as surely in the end.
"Dealer's choice, thanks. No ice." the interloper murmured, voice carrying easily through wordless lyrics as they began to fracture. A pause, just momentary, as the leads reassessed.
"Aren't you a little young to be in this club, four-eyes?"
(Test the waters, and-)
"Aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?"
Imposition was an excellent word for her, in fact. Still off the beat, Hei 'Junior' Xiong couldn't help the twitch in his eye as the blonde slid seamlessly back into rhythm - and the next seat over.
"I suppose he ought to speak first, then." the boy in the black coat mused tonelessly, glasses flashing opaque as the club's lights caught them from the filled shelves behind the bar. "If we're being polite."
"I've already spoken to your boss, kid." Junior fired back, because Torchwick was polite enough to make him want to knock out some teeth. "I seriously doubt you've got any other business here."
"Strawberry Sunrise, no ice." as a glass full of swirling blues and reds slid into place in front of the frizzy-haired kid. The barkeep paused, knowing the flow well enough - "Oh, and one of those little umbrellas."
"You know, it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you." The usual disinterest didn't quite land - the Malachite sisters still hadn't caught the new rhythm. Little bit slower, a little bit jazzier maybe... Junior let it wash in for a moment, flashing the usual signal to the barkeep.
The distinct clink of glass on wood, and the down-beat of the strobe exposed grey eyes lit with a dangerous kind of amusement. "Age before beauty." the kid replied smoothly, the barest hint of a smile flickering over a jaw soft with youth. "Figured I'd let it play out."
Four glasses hit the bar in clean succession, matching to the subtle shift of the rhythm as the track changed. The DJ had finally picked up on it, then - Junior didn't recognize the music, but the clean beat was a much better choice to lower the tension.
"Not everyone's got time to burn, y'know." the girl with the orange scarf advised, that same cocky near-grin on her face as she swirled her artful little cocktail into a colorful mess. "Or's willing to, anyways..."
"A little bit of arson is good for the soul." the interloper shrugged, before leaning back from the bar. "Something I'm sure you understand just fine, Miss Xiao-Long."
Interest flashed in the blonde's violet eyes as Junior took note of the name and a drag of his drink - he had a terrible sort of feeling he was going to be hearing it a lot in the near future. Those same eyes met his own for a moment before Xiao-Long turned her attention back to her own glass, leaving him almost indignant.
But you didn't stay a successful information broker by passing up free shots, even if you shouldn't need to be given them in your own damn home. "Should I even be insulted?" he grumbled, letting the sweet burn of imported whiskey soothe his ego; "It's hard to feel threatened by someone barely out of preschool."
The twins giggled obligingly, though the usual viciousness was lacking. Not because they were still off-balance either, no - that would be good for his blood pressure. They were just too interested to back him up properly.
Honestly, all he asked for was a little respect.
"Different circles, different names." the kid offered, leaning forwards onto the counter as messy hair fell over his eyes. "Nothing to worry about, really. Transferring in isn't that important."
Out-of-towner, someone with Torchwick's group or the new batch of Beacon hopefuls - considering Torchwick had just left, that meant Huntress-in-training. Very unpleasant confirmation, since messing with her meant bringing that old coot in the tower down on his head now, even if he got his ass kicked in the process.
Damn. He really was cornered here. And now he owed the kid for giving him a heads-up.
"Bah, whatever. What's your problem then?" he grouched, slumping a bit in his seat. "Candle Man forget something?"
"Not my department. I just heard about the smoothies here from a mutual colleague," and Blondie Xiao-Long paused mid-drink at that - not quite as clean a whistle as they liked up at the lighthouse, huh? Something to keep in mind, "and figured we'd both benefit from a meeting."
...damn. There was a hell of a lot in that that Junior really didn't want to unpack.
"Smoothies, huh?" Blondie cut in. At least she was straightforward about things - about five seconds from wrecking the joint, depending on answers given. Easier read than the menu his barkeep slid to the kid, and he wrote that code - "What flavors are we talking, exactly?"
"Cool your jets, sweetheart. Best we got off rotation is on the flip side of the menu." Junior told her, signaling the barkeep again. "Most regulars order from the limited list."
The set of the blonde's shoulders loosened slightly, though it took a mutter of "There's a strict policy against nightshade." from the kid to put the carelessness back in her smirk. Junior didn't know why, exactly; Melanie and Miltia were sitting right next to him and they'd murder him without hesitation if he allowed that sort of shit to go on in his club.
Seriously, did people just assume that criminals would do anything these days?
Not his department - speaking of which, he did have to deal with what the kid was telling him at some point. No matter how much he'd rather hide and let it sort itself out. Independent action was such a goddamn pain...
"So what is this, then? You looking for a job, kid? I don't hire strays."
Two black triangles perked up from the mass of curls atop the kid's head, and Junior took a moment to rattle off every curse word he knew. Inside his head, obviously - Miltia's quiet huh was all that needed to be said aloud.
"Well, I wouldn't say I'm a stray exactly..." the kid mused aloud, so obviously unbothered by the whole thing that it had to be an act. "Ah, that's right. I forgot to introduce myself."
A bitter sort of confidence underlaid the mellow smile that the cat faunus wore - experience, then. That explained a lot, at least. "I suppose you'll know me mainly as Joker. Pleasure to meet you."
"Took you long enough, kid." Junior groused, some of the sudden tension in the air unwinding as the flint-grey of the faunus' eyes softened. "Hei Xiong. Blondie," over the kid's shoulder - she started, clearly surprised. This was why he hated dealing with kids - honestly he had no idea how much of that she had picked up on - "you got a first name?"
"Uh, yeah. Obviously." she immediately shot back - good, wasn't the type to let an uncomfortable situation trip her up. "Yang. What about double trouble over there?"
"Miltia." "Melanie." they replied in bored unison, before knocking back their drinks. At least they were content on the sidelines for this one, then. Junior shook his head, drawing the visitors' attention back to him, clearing his mounting headache a little, and signaling the barkeep to keep back from asking for their orders just a moment longer.
You had to be able to multitask to survive in his business.
"Alright, I haven't had anything to eat in hours and I'm not going to discuss business over dinner with kindergarteners." he declared, drawing a languid chuckle from Joker and a challenging grin from Xiao-Long - they were both going to be trouble, wonderful. Truly the youth of today brightened every tomorrow and all that bullshit. "Blondie, what do you want."
"Not much." she replied cheerily, pulling her scroll from inside her brown jacket. The little rectangle of glass and plastic lit up immediately, displaying a small image in black and white of... wonderful, a woman facing away from the camera. Just great. Like identifying her wasn't tough enough already. "Just everything you know about this person."
"Probably some kind of Huntress from another continent, if this is the best you could dig up." Junior replied offhandedly. "Other than that, I got nothing. Whoever she is, she isn't local."
"Very not local. If that's who I think she is, she's based in the wildlands of Anima." Joker cut in, and Junior groaned aloud, putting his head down on the counter.
"Seriously, kid. You don't cut in on a man's business in his own damn home."
"I just figured she had a right to know." he replied innocently, albeit with a bit more of an undertone this time - resentment? Oh, that couldn't spell anything good. It'd be just his luck for this kid to suddenly about-face and start a fight out of nowhere. "Seeing as she's her daughter and all."
"Y'know, the all-seeing eye routine is charmingly quirky and all, but you keep letting personal details slip and eventually you come off a little creepy." Blondie finally piped up, dangerous tones sidling into her voice as well. "Why, exactly, do you know that?"
"You dig up a couple things when people keep mistaking you for the spawn of an infamous rogue Huntress." the kid shot back, tone flat. Blondie blinked, clearly caught off guard, and he continued, gaze losing focus somewhere above the scotch shelf as the club's lights began to pulse blue in time with the shifting music. "Raven Branwen, leader of the Branwen Tribe - a nomadic tribe that calls Anima their home - and former member of Beacon Hunter Team Strike, that's S-T-R-Q. One known child with teammate Taiyang Xiao-Long, that's you. Lots of enemies. And, unfortunately, I've been told I resemble her fairly closely."
His ears flicked in the air.
"Aside from being, you know."
"A guy?" Yang replied, voice just slightly distant, clearly absorbing the information that had just been given to her. Whatever - anything that eased the tension in the air was a lucky break for Junior, because it meant less of a chance that a fight would break out.
Then Joker's eyes locked onto a particular bottle on the shelf.
"Yeah, more or less. Raven Branwen is nothing but trouble, trust me - and lots of it."
Miltia immediately slid off her seat, slinking into the crowd with the ease of long, long habit. Melanie took a bit longer, stretching her arms into the air with a loud yawn before cocking an unimpressed eyebrow at the two kids who had invaded his sanctum; "Well, good luck with all your family talk or whatever. I'm going to go find something more interesting to do."
Sometimes he remembered why he kept those two on the payroll. Sometimes they reminded him, and he resolved to rush that order of the brandy they liked. Blondie obviously didn't pick up on the subtext, too occupied with absorbing the information on her apparently deadbeat mom, but Junior was willing to risk a small nod to Joker for the heads up, and was pleased to have it returned.
Yeah, he could work with this kid.
"Well, sounds like I got that from her at least." Blondie concluded, a weak attempt at her earlier confident mien painting itself over her face. "Trouble's my middle name."
"Trouble's not exactly welcome in my club, brats." Junior piped up, finally feeling at ease enough to signal the barkeep back towards them. "You gonna cause any?"
"Wouldn't dream of it." Joker replied, smooth as glass and twice as transparent, as Yang's grin shot up to Maximum Cockiness, before something a little more honest entered his expression. "Not over food, at least. What's the biggest burger on this menu?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth." Blondie agreed, spinning the little umbrella around in her empty glass. "Make that two burgers and refills, thanks!"
"Three." Junior tacked on. "And make it quick - I missed lunch."
The barkeep nodded quietly, red shades flashing in the blue strobe, and headed off as the music picked up again. Joker pulled his glasses off, producing a rag from somewhere inside his coat - the same red of Junior's tie, actually. Annoying, if he'd chosen black and red as his 'signature', but it was such a simple style Junior couldn't exactly lay claim to it.
"By the way, Yang. Those bracers you're wearing... those are shot-gauntlets, aren't they?" the kid asked, evidently content to continue distracting the other brat for the time being. Weapons were a pretty safe topic among Hunters and Huntresses, but hell, Junior was interested too - kind of his job, and all.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Ember Celica's my pride and joy." she replied easily, flicking her wrist in just the right way to activate one of the damn things. The bright yellow bracer immediately transformed, opening and expanding into a forearm gauntlet with a barrel held just far enough above the arm not to scorch it with Dust rounds - pretty standard stuff, but Blondie's comfort with it and its easy transition was somewhat unusual. "Made 'em myself!" Well, that explained it.
"Did you know that - well, the first functional mechashift prototype was a rifle-spear, actually, but the first factory model was an early version of the shot-gauntlet?" Joker asked, putting his glasses back on with a slight grin. "Nothing like the one you have now, naturally, it was more like an entire armored sleeve with a retractable glove."
"I did actually know that spear thing, yeah." she replied, giving first her weapon and then the kid a considering look. "Not the gauntlet thing. Are you sure about that?"
"He's right, Blondie." Junior put in, a little more interested despite himself. "That's practically ancient history, though. Mechashift tech's existed for ages - why does a kid like you know that?"
"Weapons are important. You can tell a lot about a person by the nature of their weapon." Joker replied, almost defensive. "Studying up on them is just good sense."
Yang giggled, shifting her weapon back into the passive bracer state with an easy flick. "You sound like my little sister." she teased. "You sure you're not part of the family somehow?"
Joker blinked. "I-"
"Yaaaang! What are you doing here?!"
Junior, personally, believed you could learn a lot about a person by how they responded to surprises. He, personally, was the kind of guy who really didn't appreciate things coming out of left field; that was why one hand went for the holdout pistol he kept on him when he wasn't carrying his actual weapon of choice around, even if he didn't actually pull it out as he jumped out of his seat.
Blondie, on the other hand, was the kind of person who usually did the surprising. He could tell by the way she froze up for a moment before responding, clearly shocked - and with good reason, she and the kid looked just about old enough to sneak into bars but whoever this new girl was, she looked about halfway out of daycare, even with the big lump of metal hanging behind her waist.
And Joker...
"Ruby! Why - what are you doing here?!"
"I asked first!"
"You're not even supposed to be in here! This place serves alcohol!"
"Well then you're not supposed to be in here either!"
...Joker had disappeared entirely between one breath and the next, and Junior wasn't even sure why he was surprised. The kid was apparently as jumpy as he was irreverent, though it irked him that someone could so easily vanish inside his own home.
Probably a Semblance, all told, but it was still irritating.
"Hey! I'm seventeen, and I ordered a non-alcoholic drink!"
"Well I haven't ordered any drink, so I still win!"
"That's not how anything works!"
Well, at least the twins were having fun. He could see them coaxing a clearly confused Huntress into a corner booth way over on the other side of the crowd - looked like she hadn't been quick enough to guard her hair from Miltia, judging by the difference between the wild mane from the photograph and the unnaturally neat braided ponytail she was now wearing.
Those two scared him sometimes. Hopefully that whole situation wouldn't go down in flames, but he wasn't about to put money on that.
"Well even if it isn't, you still shouldn't be here! What would Dad say?!"
"Nothing, because he will never know!"
"He'd ground us both forever!"
"But he won't, because-!"
"Blondie!" Junior barked. The increasing glow around Yang - a Semblance at work, probably something explosive knowing his luck - cut off as he shoved a bag into her arms, leaving her blinking blankly at it. He made a mental note to give his barkeep a raise.
"There's your food. Get out and take your sister with you."
"Uh. Thanks?" she asked, and Hei Xiong's eyes narrowed.
"You can thank me by getting the hell out of my club. Drama makes a bad impression on my customers." he told her. "I've got a business to run here."
"Thank you mister vest person, Yang come on!" the new brat in red exclaimed, both arms wrapped around her sister's as she tried to pull her away. "Let's go!"
The beat dropped out, and a momentary absence of music gave Yang's helpless chuckle all the space it needed. Then the keyboard line kicked in and she grinned up at the information broker who ran the joint, violet eyes mirthful.
"Thanks, Junior. I'll settle my tab later, then?" she joked, even as she allowed herself to be pulled towards the door by her little sister.
"Consider it even if you stay out!" he shouted after her. The crowd parted again to allow the sisters their exit without further complication; Junior watched long enough for them to make it to the steps, then turned away, sitting back down at the bar.
"This batch of brats is an interesting one, huh boss?" the barkeep asked quietly, just loud enough to be heard through the music.
"I give it a month before the entire city is burning rubble." Junior replied.
An entire bottle of the good stuff hit the counter next to his burger in place of the barkeep's agreement, and Junior made a mental note to give the man a bigger raise.
Then he started in on his dinner, because he was god damned hungry.