Chapter 90: Bar Games

Chapter 90: Bar Games

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishment. Anyway on with the show...errr read.

Bar Games

I let Adam into my house and then collected Autumn from Gou to spend a little time with her. I still had the clothes Adam had picked out for me back during the White Whale stuff and I changed into them slowlywell, 'slowly,' at least. I Accelerated myself, after all, burning thousands of MP in seconds to give Autumn a good meal, but I kept my movements as slow as I could despite that, being careful not to tear or break anything around me. In a few seconds, I was dressed and nearly out of MP, but could feel it returning swiftly. While my MP regeneration wasn't enough to keep up with me during a truly intense fight, it was just fine outside of battle, where I could regain the totality of my power in less than a minute and a half. As such, I decided to wait idly for a few seconds, considering myself in the bathroom mirror, making sure everything was in place before letting my gaze trail upwards.

Above my head floated the title of the White Rider, something that had remained even after woke from my sleep. I frowned at it for a minute, simply pondering it for a minute before opening my status screen and tapping it.

This title has no effect while 'On A White Horse He Rides' is below MAX.

I clicked my tongue once. So it and the skill of the same name required each other to function? That made it rather useless to me, at least right now. Later, I might continue to experiment with the Grimm skills I'd obtained during battle, but not today. There were safety concerns to consider, such as the fact that I'd never confirmed whether I could serve as a vector for the disease or not, and I sure as fucking hell wasn't going to test that without some serious precautions. Besides, as soon as I inflicted 'On A White Horse He Rides' on myself, the only way I could get rid of it would be to sleep again and I didn't have the time right now. It'd have to wait. But then, which title should I use?

Taping my new one, I considered the resulting window speculatively.Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

Grimm Reaper

Obtained by killing a Knight of Grimm. You have faced down and slain a true warrior of anonymity! As a true Hunter, walk fearlessly into the night and slay the enemies of Mankind!

120% increase in damage against Grimm.

120% increase in defense against Grimm.

+20 to beneficial status effects while fighting Grimm.

Not bad. Even if all the effects were limited to Grimm opponents, it was undoubtedly a very powerful title, giving me enormous benefits to both attack and defense while also increasing my Affinities. Ignoring the cost decrease, which was steadily becoming less and less of an issue, it was undoubtedly stronger than White Tiger of the West, within its focus. I didn't plan to fight Grimm tonight, but it was still a good thing to have on my sideespecially with the opponents I knew I was going to face eventually. But for now

"Hey, Adam," I asked, carrying the words with Levant instead of lifting my voice. "Are we going back to the club or what?"

"I guess we might as well," He said after a moment's pause. "Junior's not really one to volunteer information and even if he was, he wouldn't want the trouble turning against the White Fang would bring down on him. He's sure as hell not going to say anything while we're in his club. I mean, can you imagine? I doubt either of us has anything to fear from the police force, so he'd need to call in Hunters at the very leastand no matter who wins that fight, he'd definitely lose."

I thought of the air catching fire, of buildings being wrecked by proximity, and then thought of what would happen if such a battle took place inside Junior's club.

"Fair point." I said, bobbing my head once. "The White Fang is still on good terms with the Xiong family, then?"

"More or less," He answered, sounding distracted. "The Xiong don't usually take sides unless something big is happening, but the White Fang has been gaining power recently and they're happy to take advantage of having a working relationship with us. So yeah, good terms, I guess."

"Should I go as Jian Bing, then?" I mused. "We were both on TV when we hit the White Whale and we went to Junior's not too long before that. He wouldn't have gotten a good look at me what with Lenore on, but it's not a hard connection to make, is it?"

"Probably not," Adam considered.

"I can't really be seen with you as Jaune Arc," I continued. "No offense, but if something happens or we get recognized, that would cause all sorts of problems. I could put on another disguise, instead, but it's hard to get much more convincing that JianI mean, I change species, then. And a grow a tail. And nothing keeps me from putting a disguise over that, too."

"Guess not."

"I could tuck the tail away," I said. "Or just use a lower level title, though that doesn't make my face look as different. I'm wearing the same thing as last time, though, which is pretty different from my usual Jian Bing outfit. With my chest covered and my tail away, it's just the eyes and hair, really. I could tame the latter a bit, make myself look a little more civil, and done. Not a lot of people have actually seen Jian Bing, anyway, especially without one of my masks"

"Uhuh," Adam agreed.

I changed my titles and wrapped my tail around my waist before tucking my shirt in. Just changing my titles didn't seem to improve my Disguise skill, despite how different it could make me look, but getting my hair under control seemed to count as part of it. Since most of my MP was back, I Accelerated again, got everything in order in about two seconds, and finished feeding Autumn.

Then I walked back to the front hall and saw Adam holding up Gou and looking into his open mouth.

"Now say words that start with 'b,'" Adam said.

"Bikes," Gou replied, doggy mouth forming the words just fine. "Bananas. Beauty. Birds"

"How do you work?" Adam demanded before turning to look at me. "How does he work, Jaune? Hell, how did he even learn these words?"

"Are you still on that?" I asked, sighing before glancing at them both. "Put him down; he's at a higher level than you, anyway."

It was true. Looking about my friend's head, I saw that he'd gotten quite a bit stronger since the last time I'd seen him, but

The Beast

LV44

Adam Taurus

"Oh, what," Adam sounded disgusted, but he did put Gou down, though the talking dog just panted happily at him. "But really, how the hell does he talk, Jaune? Did you know he can whistle?"

Gou whistled obediently when Adam glanced down him, my friend splaying a hand at me as he did.

"I did not," I admitted. "Nor do I currently know how he talks. I suspect it's either because he is my Familiar and gains experience when I do, or because of his rise in level. I thought we were going to go drink, though?"

"I" Adam paused before frowning down at Gou again for a moment before continuing. "Yes. Yes, we are."

I chucked and moved to place Autumn back on Gou, which made the dog's tail wag even faster.

"Take care of her, okay?" I asked.

"Of course," Gou answered seriously. "I'll protect her no matter what?"

I scratched him once behind the ears and then stood, jerking my heads towards the door and then leading the way out back. I'd checked the entire area around my house thoroughly and the camera's Ozpin had once put nearby on my father's orders were long gone, nor was there anyone in a position to see us nearbybut just in case, I didn't want anyone to peak out a window and see two terrorists leaving the Arc residents. As such, I led Adam into the forest instead, walking easily through it despite the cloudy, moonless night, and taking a winding route to emerge a few streets down. Adam had come in the back, too, so it was best to keep things simple and continue to stay out of sight.

Adam caught up in just a minute and fell into place beside me, shaking his head a little.

"I just don't get it," He said. "He seems like a normal dog, physically, but he shouldn't be able to generate such a human sounding voice in that case."

"You're choosing a pretty odd hill to die on in terms of what you'll accept," I noted, smiling. "I know for a fact this isn't the weirdest thing you've seen around me."

"Well, fuck," He said.

"Mm," I agreed. "I guess you can imagine the rest. Iwell, I was immune to the infection, but the others weren't. My mom nearly died several times and came out of it missing three limbs. Most of the others just got infected. Includingincluding my father. And II killed them. A guy on my mom's team that she used to date, a married couple on my dad's, and my own father. I tried to save them, did everything I could, but in the end I failed. I tried so hard and it still wasn't enough, so I ended it myself."

"Shit, Jaune," Adam whispered.

"There's other stuff," I continued. "I learned a lot, really. About the Grimm, about my own power, aboutother stuff. I'll speak to Raven about it as soon as I can, butthat stuff, it's bad butit's not why, you know."

"I know," He answered, seeming to understand. After a moment of silence, he continued as well. "I told you my mother was killed before the Revolution. What I didn't say was that it wasn't by humans."

I raised an eyebrow at that, looking at him in surprise as the pieces fell into place. He smiled grimly at my expression but nodded.

"Yeah," He confirmed. "I guess you wouldn't expect it from me, huh? Given what I am now. But in the early days, Menagerie wasMenagerie was a hellhole. Faunus from all around the world, abruptly shoved into the same room. I guess a lot of people don't think about it, but when you take that many people from that many walks of life and put them together like that, the results"

He shook his head again.

"Even back then, Faunus were a mixed bag," He mused, as if to himself. "Most of us had been treated horribly by humans, but not all. My fatherI don't even remember him, but he wasn'the was a human. My mother spoke of him, sometimes, said he loved her. I guess some people from our town remembered him, too, because word got out eventually andyou know. It was like that for a lot of people, too, even those that weren't like me. We didn't have a government, didn't even have anything like a civilization in Menagerie. People were scared and angry and had no one to take it out on but each other. Even if we're Faunus, we came from all walks of life and all across the world, and for a good while, I thought we hated each other more than we hated humans. At the very least, I hated us more than humans."

He touched his drink but paused when he realized he'd emptied it. I waved down the somewhat concerned looking bartender again, but he topped us off again and we drank again, this time more leisurely.

"After my mother, I was nothing," Adam continued. "A nobody in a world of nobodiesbut I hated the people who'd taken her from me and that kept me going. I got a weapon somewhere, some knife I stole, and practiced every day until I was good with it. I still remember when I caught up with the bastard who held down my motherbut there were others. They called us animals, in those days, and if you'd seen Menagerie, you'd have believed it. Now, I understand why. Now, I know what poverty and starvation and terror can do, what having no defense from the Grimm can drive a man to, what needing to provide from a family in a world out to murder us all can mean. But back then I didn't know and I didn't care. I traveled Menagerie fora year? And I killed people that I didn't think deserved to be called such. I got a reputation, was hated and feared. I was still a nobody, but most of us had been civilians at the time and I was strong enough to be a nightmare for people. And sometimes, that's all I was. I didn't give a shit why we were in Menagerie or whose fault it was; I was just an angry punk, lashing out. Until I met Raven."

"What happened?" I asked.

He took a deep swallow and then a deeper breath.

"She kicked my fucking ass," He said. "She was a Hunter, even back then, and a certified badass. I didn't even have an awakened Aura at the time and I fought her with a rusty knife. I think it was over in less than a second, but I don't actually remember how long it took her to knock me out. I remember being surprised I ever woke up, though. But Ravenshe spared me and then she did more than that. She saved me, took me in. I don't know if she pitied me or saw something in me, but I was just an animal before her, and she taught me everything. Ravenshe made order from that chaos and I followed her for years, helping people instead of hurting them, saving people instead of killing them. Things got better and I began to see in others what she must have seen in me. I never forgave the people who took my mother, but I stopped letting it turn me against others, and I began to see what had been done to innocent people. When the time for the Revolution came, I fought for them, not because they were my people but because I believed I shouldand I never turned back."

I nodded to him once and we both took another drink. As I removed my glass from my lips, though, I had to sigh.

"Fuck," I said. "And there's my bad luck, acting up again. I hate to do this, but"

"What?" Adam asked, the beginnings of a slur finally touching his voice. "What's wrong?"

"Don't look now, but it's that one asshole," I said, tilting my head slightly to the side. I didn't look his way and I didn't have to, instead watching him in the dozens of reflective surfaces around the club. I wasn't one to forget faces and I recognized this one even though I'd only seen him once, months ago. Red hair, white suit, grey scarf, and a black bowler hat, he stood out, if only to me. Adam had mentioned his name once, called him 'Torchwick.'

Despite my words, Adam did in fact look, eyes sharp behind red sunglasses.

"Ignore him," He said, sounding annoyed.

"You sure?" I asked. "Last time we met, he kind of screwed us over. You especially."

"I know," Adam said with a grunt. "But the White Fang has business with him, supposedly. For now, we're to leave him be and there's talk of more than that."

I considered that, frowning slightly. Even if nothing came from it, even if it may have actually save me in the end, I couldn't really say I was fond of a guy who'd program robots to attack randomly as a distraction.

But then, Adam had been the one to stand between those robots and innocent people, even at risk to himself. And I didn't really want to start a fight right now, especially not in a crowded and relatively confined space.

I sighed and nodded.

"Very well, then," I said, shrugging even as I listened into him hiring men from Junior. I settled for not looking at his reflection, at least, though I did track him with Levant. "Another round?"

"Please."

I waved down an increasingly worried-looking bartender and watched him for a moment. He made to open his mouth, probably to say something about 'drinking in moderation' and 'alcohol poisoning' but seemed to think better off it. Adam and I continued to enjoy our drinks and in a minute I felt Torchwick moving away and tried to remove him from my thoughts as well.

It turned out to be pretty easy, as something else drew my attention mere moments later.

"Hey, Adam," I said conversationally even I focused back on the reflections around me. I absently rolled the half-full glass in my fingers, feeling contemplative. "Someone appears to have our host by the literal balls."

Adam looked again, focusing on the flash of blonde that stood out in the bar's mirrors. From the current angle, I couldn't see her face and I was trying to decide if I cared enough to do anything. I saw a bunch of men in black suits that I recognized as Junior's lackeys approach the scene, but

My friend blinked once behind his glasses and closed his eyes for several seconds, as if trying to focus his way back to sobriety.

"Seems like," He said at last, actually sounding pretty focused. "Does she seem familiar to you?"

The girl let Junior go and the two began to move away. As they did, I turned towards them, catching sight of the girl's profile from the side and from several dozen gleaming surfaces. Looking at her, it was easy to make the connection, even before I saw the words above her head.

The Sun That Chases the Night

LV 42

Yang Xiaolong

I recognized the name, though I'd only heard it once. Taiyang Xiaolong, a man who'd been on the same team as Raven Branwen. My grandmother had mentioned something about them before but I hadn't really considered it beyond thatto be completely honest, I just hadn't had any interest in who Raven had been with in the past, since it hadn't done much to make her less terrifyingly dangerous in the present.

Still, she looked just like her mother.

"Come on, let's kiss and make up, okay?" I heard her say, smiling brightly at Junior. The older man seemed surprised at the suggestion but also seemed to accept it. A moment later, both of them were leaning towards each other.

Well, if it was good enough for him, I guess that was that. Shrugging slightly to myself and resolving to leave Raven's business be, I turned back to my drink and lifted it to my lips.

Behind me a glass pillar shattered as Junior was punched straight through it, the people on the dancefloor abruptly starting to scream and run away. I finished my drink, put the glass down, and looked at it quietly, while Adam watched the scene with a frown. I waited for the rest of the civilians to run out of the building and then sighed deeply.

Then I rose from my seat.

"I guess we should go do something," I told my friend. "Are you sober enough to give a shit right now?"

"Sadly, yes," Adam said and tilted his head slightly. "And there goes the bartender. Wonderful."