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"Hello, Sir. Ma'am." The waiter said through a polite smile as she and Jaune settled in, Neo tucking a leg under her knee comfortably and smiling at the man. The waiter returned it, but quickly looked to Jaune and ignored her. Smiling politely after a second, he asked, setting a menu in front of him, "Special day for your daughter, Sir? Friday is half-off the daughter's order for father daughter dinners, you know."

"M-My daughter...?" Jaune blinked, turning to her as she turned to him, her eye twitching. She knew she looked young dressed like this, but come on… Jaune did not look that old! Smiling, the blonde knight wannabe explained, "She's, uh, not my daughter, actually. Uh, Sir."

"Oh?" The salt and pepper haired man blinked, turning to her and then back to him. "Ah, Sister, perhaps?"

"I'm going to chop off each of his toes and feed them to him…" Neo warned, signing with one hand and pouting at Jaune, her other twirling one of the knives she'd pulled out of the little napkin wrap restaurants used.

"U-Uh, yeah, sure. That's close enough, I guess, yeah." He smiled, laughing awkwardly and signing at her with a hand while he explained to the man that she couldn't talk so he'd translate for her. "I know it's annoying but it's a good cover story. Just go with it."

He had her there, she supposed…

"Please, forgive my assumption, Miss Arc." That drew a reaction from her, her face warming and Neo herself pouting when Jaune snorted for it. The waiter handed her a menu now, too, and she took the opportunity to hide herself behind it while she decided what to eat. "If I may, I recommend our pepper steak and baked potato. The combination is quite filling and rather well-priced for the taste."

"Yeah, sure, that sounds fine for me." Jaune smiled, turning to her and asking from behind the helpful plastic screen, "What do you think, Sis?" Her foot snapped out to catch his shin, sparking off Aura, and she heard him laugh while she signed, "The same for her. Well done for me, rare for her, and just cheese on her potato. And tea for both of us, please."

"Very good sir, Ma'am." The man smiled as she folded her menu up and handed it back to him, blush gone and a small smile in its place. Tucking it under an arm the man smiled and left to tend to his next table a bit down the way.

"So," Jaune smirked, Neo's eyes already narrowing warningly, "how are you enjoying your evening, Miss Arc?"

She was fairly certain her kicks not at least a tenth of his monstrous Aura off inside the next minute. Jaune only laughed, though, taking it like a man and smiling all the while. After a minute, though, Neo's leg got tired of kicking to no effect and she gave up, pouting in the seat across from her… Whatever Jaune was. 'Meal ticket' sounded about right, for now, since without him ordering her food would have been a painful jumble of asking for a pen and paper or typing on her Scroll.

Not to mention it would be memorable and, if the 'authorities' ever found out and added that she was mute and could disguise herself, would be a problem.

"So, uh, sis." Jaune started when they were brought their buttery rolls to nibble on, along with their drinks. "I was wondering… You're such a good fighter, why don't you just, I don't know, try and get into a Combat School?"

"Too old to get into starting schools." She signed with one hand, parting a roll with the other and dexterously buttering it while she did. "No starting schools, no way to get into the real deal Academies."

"Really." He remarked dryly, both brows raised and a smile on his face, "You're going to play that card with me?"

"...Valid, I guess." She sighed and signed, drumming her fingers on the table while she thought. Finally, she found the right words and signed, "But even if I wanted to try, I'm wanted. I couldn't possibly keep an illusion up forever. Someone would see something eventually and off to prison I'd go."

"Valid." Jaune parroted, chewing on a roll for a moment before asking through sign, "You could try for a plea bargain." Her eyes narrowed and Jaune made the sign for 'patience', before yawning and using the gesture to look around the way she's taught him. Satisfied no one was paying attention, he explained, "I mean agree to be a Huntress in exchange for not going to prison. Your wanted posters don't say you did anything that bad."

"I guess..." Perks of how society worked, no matter how you shook it, Roman got pinned with the worst of their crimes while Neo got caught in the small, pettier ones. A small, mute and frail looking woman couldn't possibly be a hardened criminal, after all. Still, "I won't ever leave Roman, though."

"I wasn't trying to suggest that!" He murmured, the words coming faster than his fingers could think to sign. "I just," he swapped back to signing, "I guess I was curious if you ever considered being a Huntress. Outside the walls, maybe."

"I don't have a license."

"Fake one." He sighed and shrugged, watching their waiter walk by with someone else's food and frowning for it. Still, he went on, "Or just take jobs people don't ask for a license for. In Ansel, we had people come through all the time who did jobs without a license. If you had proof of the job being done, you'd get paid."

"Really?"

"Outside the Walls, if someone does work, you pay them." He shrugged, "Doesn't really matter if they're licensed for it or not. Dead Grimm are dead Grimm, and a deer hide is a deer hide."

"Makes sense I guess…"

"Maybe keep it in mind, in case things ever get bad?" He smiled but it turned almost sad in a way Neo couldn't quite describe after a moment, and he added. "It would mean I probably wouldn't get to see you again for a while, but… Out there, you'd both be safe, so as much as I'd miss you, that'd be fine. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah." And she couldn't help the smile or warmth she felt at the way he'd said that. So sad not to see her - not them, but her - but willing to deal with it for their sake… "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind and if things get bad, I'll make Roman do that."

"Make him, huh?" Jaune laughed, swapping back to words as the waiter closed in and smiling widely in a way that Neo knew by now meant nothing good. After the waiter had served them, and ignoring the narrow-eyed glare she had given him the whole time, Jaune asked loudly enough to be heard, "How do you plan to make him do anything, though, Miss Arc?"

Fuck it.

She could eat her steak while pummeling his kneecaps under the table.

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The next morning Jaune woke up to two things. His aching, bruised shins that hadn't quite healed all the way up overnight. And the door to the living room of the little apartment, where he slept on the weekends, opening and closing. Heavy but purposefully soft steps came around to the edge of the wall that separated the entry hall from the living room. Quietly, Roman poked his head around the corner to see if he was awake and he could pass through, into the kitchen that adjoined it.

"Sup." Jaune groaned, sitting up and yawning. Absently, his hands snapped up to catch the apologetic McGronald's breakfast sandwich the man hurled his way, peeling it open as the man made his way to the kitchen. "I keep telling you, Roman, for all you try and be quiet coming in you never take your boots off and that always wakes me up."

"Yeah, well, shoot me, I guess." He sighed, popping open the fridge to grab an apple and taking it with him to collapse onto a chair. Taking a bite out of it he sighed, asking around it, "How was y'alls night?"

"I think Neo broke my shins…?"

"Yeah, well, you probably deserved it." Jaune only shrugged at that. He had kept teasing her… "Besides that, though?"

"It was, uh, nice I guess. The steak was damn good, actually, I would recommend it if you wanna send Neo out." He answered with another shrug, yawning but getting up now that Roman was talking to him. Setting his sandwich on the floor for now, on top of the wrapper so it would be fine, he set to work folding up the little blanket and set it and his pillow at the other end of the couch. Settling in and ignoring Roman's smirk at his pajamas, he reached for his sandwich again, "How was your night?"

"Spent it ordering animals around, loading high explosives, and making Lien." He shrugged, taking another bite of his apple and shaking his head agitatedly. "My absolute Dust damn bitch of a boss was about nine hours late to telling me where to take the goods, too. So I've not actually turned in yet."

"Sorry to hear that, Roman." That explained why he hadn't gotten them coffee and a sandwich for himself, then. Taking a bite from his sandwich, Jaune paid the man a nod in thanks and grunted, "I hope you get some rest soon, then."

"Yeah, yeah, me too, kid." Roman sighed, staring tiredly at the fruit in his hands before giving Jaune a long, calculating look. "You know, kid, I wound up not gettin' all my shit done last night thanks to Cin-" He cut himself off with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Thanks to the bitch. And you'd best forget you heard anything else, Jaune."

"Y-Yeah." He'd said Jaune, not 'kid', and so he knew that Roman was deathly serious in his warning. The man gave him a long look and Jaune smiled weakly, reassuring him, "I didn't hear anything, Roman. An S or a C maybe, but who knows how many people have names that start with that? Or if you were going to say a normal name?"

"I guess…"

"Just… You don't have to worry about me, Roman." Jaune nodded, taking a bite from his sandwich and turning to stretch out on the couch. After a moment, Roman nodded and took another bite from his apple, the two eating in silence until Jaune offered, "If, uh, you need anything not illegal dealt with, since you're so behind…"

"Kid, what part of 'not wanting you involved' have you failed to understand? Like, come on, kid." Roman sighed, pitching the apple core across the room and into a bin with the kind of skill only a Huntsman could hope to show off. "I know I haven't said it outright, not really, but I don't want you fuckin' around in my kind of business."

"Yeah, well, as much time as I spend around you, I'm probably up that creek already. Sans paddle, too." Roman raised an eyebrow and Jaune sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms in what he hoped was a way that didn't make him look like a petulant teenager. "If you get busted, your protection over me is gone. How many people have seen me wandering downtown to see you guys?"

"Plenty."

"And how many would mention me in interviews if you and Neo got caught?" Jaune asked, the man meeting his eyes and then sighing, letting his head roll back to rest against the chair. Knowing Roman had seen his point he pressed again, "I'm just saying that helping you out, in legal ways mind you, isn't any worse than what we've been up to. If I get caught out for false papers at Beacon, I'm, you know…"

"Going to jail..." Roman nodded, pinching his nose and sighing. "I see your point."

"Okay, so… Was what you needed done important to you?"

"Yeah." Roman nodded, "Me and Neo both, in fact. Really damn important, actually. Enough that I wonder if the Bitch got in my way on purpose, to keep me from doin' it."

"Then if it's legal, let me do it." He shrugged, "If I'm able to, I mean. I just don't want anything bad happening to you two."

"Yeah… And if this doesn't get sent, somethin' bad could happen." Standing, he sighed and fished an envelope out of his pocket and held it out to him, eyes hard and clearly exhausted. "Probably gonna regret this when I have sleep in me, but… Head to The Club and hand that to one of the mooks. Wait around and you'll get some Lien. It's nothing but a letter so technically, shit's legal."

"I can do that, yeah."

"And," Roman warned, snatching it away at the last second, "don't expect any more jobs, don't expect me not to change my mind, and don't make it obvious you're runnin' my letter for me."

"Got it."

"And don't say shit to Neo." Roman added, handing him the simple looking little envelope. "She'd break my kneecaps if she found out I was even givin' you this inch. Only doin' it 'cus I'm tired and you don't drop it anyways."

"Got it." He smiled, standing and turning to get his clean clothes out of his bag. "I'll head out now, then. Maybe she won't be up by the time I get back. And if she is, I can bribe her with something sweet I'll get on the way back. Ideas?"

"Pancake House." He grunted, sliding his coat off and laying it on the chair. "Cinnamon waffles with chocolate chip. Have 'em hold the butter and syrup. Makes 'em soggy and we have our own."

Nodding, Jaune smiled and left while the man dragged himself off to finally crash.

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So.

Good boi Jaune caught Roman exhausted and pushed him, so Roman gave him a job. Good boi was worried, after all. I had a bit of trouble writing a tired Roman, and the Jaune in this is a bit different from canon for probably obvious reasons. But I hope you all enjoy my slow setup for the plot.

I mean plot? What plot? No plot here, nuh uh.

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Dr Killinger :

She does seem the type to want to be praised. This entire sequence actually comes from V7 where Cinder doesn't praise her and she gets upset.

Journeys End 1 :

Feel free to borrow from mine! I won't mind, just drop a note about me.