Oswald Connoly, Diamond Frost, Emerald Felicia, Sapphire Rode - Central Vale ==> the Music Box
"Well, let's hurry then, time is money!" Diamond said and packed some extra cash just in case. Might as well windowshop on the way and maybe something would catch her eye. Summoning her cane, she dared look in Emmy's general direction: "You ready?" she asked, panning routes to catch up to Oswald if this took too long.
"Let's go!" Emmy said, already heading out the door. She didn't want to be left behind. She started running off towards the air docks, checking her Scroll to make sure she was going the right way.
Diamond smiled and bolted out the window, same way she entered the first night after the initiation. Leisurely walking to the entrance to the dorms, she waited for Emerald to get there. "What took you so long?" she asked after waving her hand cheekily, falling in line and jogging along the Kitten.
Emmy looked behind her, and then back at Diamond. "But I though you were..." It took her a moment to figure out how Diamond had managed to get ahead of her. "You went through the window!? That's cheating!"
Grinning madly, Diamond nodded. "But of course! Resident thief here, hello? I know all the ways in and out as well as how to stay ahead of cops... and confused kittens." she laughed. The docks finally came into view. Diamond spotted Oswald along with another woman, one she recognized. It was the blunette she had a philosophical dispute with over the combat class setup. Eh, civil sort, even if their opinions varied.
Arriving at the air docks, Oswald looked around for Sapphire, first spotting Shiro and Robert with a small ferret, which was running around excitedly. He wasn't particularly interested in getting involved with them at the moment, so instead he continued his search for the leader of Team SASG.
Sapphire arrived at the docks with her fiddle case slung over her shoulder moments Oswald came looking for her. She raised her hand to get his attention the edges of her lips tugging up in a very faint smile despite the fact she could see Shiro not far away with his ever annoying telepathic ferret.
Stepping forward, Oswald jerked his head towards Diamond and Emerald. "They felt like coming along. I figured, the more the merrier?" He gave a half-hearted shrug before noticing her fiddle case. "What's that?"
Emmy gave Sapphire a little wave, this being the first time she'd encountered the blue haired girl, she gave her a good look over. She gave her a smile. "Hey I'm Emmy, nice to meet you!" Her goal of making friends with everyone in the school was at stake here so she tried to be as friendly as possible.
Tipping her hat to Sapphire, Diamond gave her half an apologetic look, as if meaning to say they'd get out of their hair if the evening took that direction. "Blue." she greeted. Not the most original nickname, but the point was to shorten the name anyhow. Good enough.
Sapphire looked between Diamond and the new girl nonplused. By no definitions of the word had Sapphire considered this a date but inviting company along on an outing without asking the other people involved was more than a little rude. But whatever, like most things in Sapphire’s life she took it in her stride. She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Of the group, at least Diamond looked slightly apologetic as she tipped her hat and referred to Sapphire as ‘Blue’. The cat faunus who introduced herself as Emmy was boisterous, energetic and just a little too much like one of Sapphire’s teammates.
“Pleasure.” she said to both of them with the slightest traces of distain in her voice. As the subject turned to the case that Sapphire had slung over her shoulder the girl in blue was more then happy to change the subject at hand. “It’s a violin. The Music Box is mostly karaoke but its set up for real instruments too. Uncle Daniel likes to hear a couple of tunes when I drop by.”
Noticing Sapphire rolling her eyes, Oswald deflated ever so slightly. He'd remembered her mentioning that she liked to practice with her violin....
if no one was around. He wasn't sure what the fact that she'd brought it along meant, but Oswald wasn't going to push it with how much he'd screwed up already. "I'm sure there's a very good reason he likes to hear you play." The comment was somewhat awkward, but delivered with the measured confidence of someone trying to make up for a mistake they'd made with all their heart.
"I guess we should get going, then...?" Turning, he looked over to the airships. "Shouldn't waste too much time, now."
Despite her naivety, Emmy could tell that Sapphire was definitely a little ticked with their unexpected tag along. She felt a bit guilty about it, even if Oswald had said it was okay for them to come along, maybe she shouldn't have asked.
But it was too late to change that now. So Emmy decided to simply keep quiet for now and hopefully not annoy the blue haired girl further. At least until they started the karaoke.
Sapphire nodded at the airship that had docked releasing it's passengers and accepting more. "Well they're loading up, it's best we don't miss this transport or we'll be waiting around for an hour." Leading the way Sapphire boarded the airship and trying to ignore the sound of the word
fun echoing around everyone's head.
Following onto the airship, Oswald looked back at Emerald and Diamond, giving them a small smile. He was hoping that the night went well, and that Emmy didn't end up losing herself in the fun. She reminded him a wee bit too much of Shiro, if he was being perfectly honest.
Emmy entered the airship right behind Oswald, she too noticing the mental
fun going into her head. It made her half smile, though even she had to admit...it was a bit annoying to have words constantly invading your head. Plus it was distracting, it made it hard for her to focus, enough that she nearly bumped into another passenger. Thankfully she was nimble enough to evade it.
Looking between the three girls with him, Oswald sighed upon the realization that some people might take this the wrong way if they saw it. Thankfully, he didn't particularly have the mannerisms or general feel of a ladies' man, so he wouldn't get too much ribbing about it if he was lucky. "So, Sapphire, what's this place like? Good food, I hope."
Sapphire went to stand by one of the windows. The view over the lake below Beacon was breath taking. Oswald, Diamond and Emmy came to stand next to her some moments later. As Oswald inquired about there destination Sapphire thought about how to describe it. The Music Box was nice and she'd always felt at home there but it wouldn't qualify as first class by anyone's standards.
The food was good, the classic dishes of course, burgers, fries, poutine, soda. If you were willing to pay more there were other more expensive dishes. Sapphire had always liked it because if she got up early and spent time practicing her violin for Daniel in the early hours before customers started coming he'd make her waffles.
"It's classy, food's well done. I don't have the menu memorized but most things you can find at other restaurants are there too." Sapphire looked out over the horizon as the airship moved from Beacon to central Vale. "They've got a wide range of songs so whatever you like singing should be there unless it's real obscure."
Emmy listened intently as Sapphire went over some general information about the sort of goods they offered. She looked out the window as she did so, it was a rather pretty view. She had a slight urge to leap off the airship, she always found leaping off extreme heights pretty exhilarating. She resisted it however, it wasn't the time for that.
She felt her mouth start to water a bit as she thought of a pretty important question. "What kind of fish do they have?"
Oswald couldn't keep in his sigh at Emmy's question. "Well, that much was to be expected. I swear, is it something in the Kingdoms' air, because I do not remember anything like this absurd level of animal affinity back home." Looking out the window, he felt his stomach turn a few times before looking away.
He was still getting accustomed to air travel. It was one thing to sit down and wait, but staring out the window of an airship made his body do all sorts of screwed up gymnastics.
Sapphire rolled her eyes at Emmy's question. Was it possible for the little cat faunus to ramp up the stereotypes any further. It was empty headed energetic cat faunus and violent predatory bear faunus fueled people's discrimination.
Not that it was Sapphire's business telling Emmy how she should be acting, still it was questionable exactly what went on inside her head. If Sapphire had to guess she would have said 'very little'. Much like Shiro there was a direct line between think and do with no room in between considering whether it was a good idea or not.
"I'm sure Daniel has a wide variety of fish for you to sample." she said barely disguising the condescension in her voice. More than likely it was true but Sapphire had never been a huge fan of fish so that part of the Music Box menu had remained unexplored.
There it was, the sigh, the rolling of eyes. If they thought that didn't catch her notice they were mistaken. She behaved carefree and energetic, and she could get distracted, but very little escaped her ears, or her eyes. She was sharper than people gave her credit for.
"Let me tell you something interesting..." She started, sounding rather level and calm. "...I was raised in a rather small Faunus village, not exactly a 'rich' community, maybe lacking in technology and resources, but we managed. In terms of food, our choices weren't really all that diverse, being well away from any large bodies of water seafood wasn't exactly the something you could get on demand. So when we did get it, it was a really big deal. So yeah, I like fish, don't care if it's 'expected' of me or not." She then silently looked out the window again.
Diamond spent the time observing either the landscape or the interactions of the others, making mental notes on each of them. Most new information was about Sapphire, who seemed to be rather abrasive, but given what happened to their own team on Friday, she was willing to give her the benefit of a doubt and blame it on having a shitty day.
Right up until her and surprisingly Oswald's minds to dropped straight to the racist gutter. She didn't need to know Emerald for too long to gather it took effort to get her tone to sound so flat. "Wow, rude." she chuckled dryly. Following Emmy's explanation though, she gave the faunus a raised eyebrow: "Since when do you care what other people think?" she inquired curiously, trying to figure out where the border lied between admitting to slamming one's head into the ceiling and liking fish.
Oswald took a few steps away from the others to collect his thoughts before speaking, turning to Emerald. "Looks like we've got a lot in common then. Two hundred or so miles southwest of the borders of Vale you'll find a small village called Brookeborough. About twenty-six hundred people. Walls nearly a hundred feet high, triple-lined. Wood, Steel and Brick. We mined a decent amount of our own dust. Not much, though. Can't do much without Schnee support. Had to get a lot of their equipment for the refining processes. Damn expensive, especially for a village that practically doesn't exist."
Oswald paused for a moment, looking between Diamond and Emerald. "I don't know if she told you what happened on our mission, but...well, it wasn't pleasant. Take my comment as you will, I meant it as little more than a playful jab. Our exasperation has to do with the fact that we've both had the misfortune of dealing with someone you remind us of. Make no mistake, Emerald: it's good to be jovial and carefree. Seeing this side of you means there might be more to you than there is to Shiro, who has shown little more than a flighty lack of focus and a blissful naivety that results in little other than battlefield casualties."
Anger and bitterness started seeping through Oswald's voice, reminding him of the purpose of taking this outing in the first place. "People die when we make mistakes in our line of work. People are brutalized and tortured, and sometimes when we're not focused, we screw up. That's what happened on our mission. We made the wrong decision, and a lot of people died. So I apologize for offending you, but I'm looking out for more than your feelings. I need to know that I can trust you to act like more than a bemused house cat, so that you don't end up like that one-eared girl from the mine." His piece said, Oswald took a slow, steady breath before turning back to them.
'She' has a name! Diamond thought, but dismissed that with a mental grunt. For gods' sake though! Weren't they supposed to be taking a day off? Why did he had to bring that up now of all times. "Wow, way to kill the mood before it was even born." she grunted for herself.
Her jimmies got rustled though when Oswald continued. "Who's 'we'?" she barked, not realizing Oswald probably meant hunters as a whole rather than the team, "we both know that most of the casualties were the doing of one bloodthirsty lunatic who was already checked out and most of the rest is on the head of our wannabe military leader giving up after the first thing went wrong." Diamond said, her tone sounding a little bit as if she was trying to convince herself as well.
"Can we just talk about anything else than school and work? Isn't there a law prohibiting that on Sunday?" she joked, wanting to actually have a nice evening rather than spend it brooding over things she was powerless to change.
Sapphire looked the cat faunus over appraisingly. If she was being honest she hadn't actually expected the girl to notice or if she did Sapphire was expecting her to lower her ears and tail and not say anything for the rest of the ride. The fact that she knew when she was being mocked and how to defend herself was a good sign. It marked that in some ways she was different from Sapphire's annoying teammate. She was a bit bubbly but clearly she had a brain in there somewhere.
As Oswald went on his long and brooding explanation of there behavior Sapphire turned back to the window. This was their day off, couldn't he let the huntsman stuff go for a few hours. Then again he'd admitted himself that he had no other hobbies and from the sound of the village he'd lived in this was about all he'd known his entire life. He probably didn't know how to relax.
"Oswald, were here to have fun, leave the office stuff at the office." They were right over Vale now and the ship would be docking in the city's airdocks shortly. "Come on, we'd best get to the doors if we don't want to be trapped in the crowd."
Emerald was silent as Oswald spoke. She could tell he was haunted by what happened during that mission. And the more details that she learned about it the less she wanted to hear, especially now. Both Diamond and Sapphire voiced the point that it was Sunday, and they were supposed to be
relaxing and having fun, she agreed.
"We can talk about this another time..." She said, looking at Oswald. "For now, listen to us girls and forget about that. Put a smile on your face!" Grinning, she poked at Oswald's side.
There were a dozen things he could say. He could explain how the whole team shared their successes and their failures. He could have mentioned that nobody outside of Beacon would bother to differentiate between the team members, just that two of them had left after a massacre had occurred on their first mission.
He kept quiet, though, because he knew they were right. They were here to have fun, not brood on the nature of their job and the problems they'd encountered along the way. Besides, Emerald was poking his side. There was no way he could be stoic in the face of such audacity. "How
dare you! There shall be consequences for this! Sometime. Just not yet."
The music box was only a couple of blocks away from the airdocks. Sapphire took the lead seeing as the others didn't know the location of there destination. The place that Sapphire eventually stopped at didn't look like much from the outside. There were no flashing lights or brilliant colors.
The Music Box was a simple building along one of the streets, the kind of place you could walk past a hundred times and not notice. It had a sign proclaiming it's name with notes streaming out of the M in the title. It was not exactly well known among the wider community but a good number of hunters treated it as there personal bar. Daniel
was after all formerly among there ranks having been Jaunus Rode's partner years before.
Sapphire stopped just outside the door.
"Before we go in I should mention something, a number of hunter's frequent this bar, some you might even recognize. I would ask that you don't start gawking. Most of them come here for some privacy and to have a good time, not to answer questions about their jobs from nosy teenagers." If that sounded a bit old fashioned it was probably cause it was almost word for word a lecture that Daniel had given Sapphire herself a number of years earlier.
Sapphire pushed open the door and entered the club. They were in a corridor which at the end branched off into a coat room. Beyond that the room opened up past a very fancy looking security gate. Sapphire stepped through the gate and immediately a blue grid appeared in the gate illuminating Sapphire's shotguns through there holsters as well as two knives she kept in her combat boots. A man in a black suit seemed to materialize out of the shadows and held out a hand to her. His name was Odo, he was from Atlas. As far as she knew he’d been here ever since the bar opened.
“You know the rules Miss Rode.” He said and though his tone was stern there was a sort of spark in his eye almost like a smile. Sapphire smiled back before unsheathing both her shotguns and depositing them in his hands, moments after she pulled the knives. He vanished back into the shadows presumably to store her weapons somewhere safe.
The room past the security gate was set up much like a dinner theater, in fact every couple of months Daniel rented out the stage for traveling actors. The stage lined one wall, with a spotlight illuminating a middle aged man singing an old tune called
"Mandy". The bar with a number of rare vintages set up on shelves behind it lined the wall directly opposing the stage so that anyone sitting at the bar could spin there seat around to watch. Between the bar and the stage a number of tables had been set up so that people could watch others singing karaoke as they ate. Waiters and waitresses whisked through the maze of tables delivering dishes and removing empty plates.
There was of course private rooms too down a hallway next to the stage for those with large groups that didn’t want to wait in line for the stage but that cost extra. These were of course all soundproofed and a number of servers were periodically going up the corridor to check on those rooms that had been rented for the evening.
Sapphire turned to look at the entrance that her companions had yet to walk through expecting at least one of them would set off the gate. Likely Diamond, she never seemed to be without a weapon or some kind of dust.
Diamond rolled her eyes. "Weapon and dust detectors in a bar, really? Can't we go somewhere not pretentious tryhardy?" Diamond snickered and walked through. The beeping she expected didn't disappoint, nor did the 'remove all metal things' talk. "I have dust in my nerves, the hell am I supposed to do, rip them out?" she barked at the man at the counter. Odo seemed to take her word for it, though he still gave her a suspicious look.
She followed after the blunette, getting a look on the main stage. "Ah. Why can't the Grimm invade places like this? With
proper lighting?" she asked rhetorically, observing the multiple light sources, "I am a GOD here!" she said, two black daggers appearing in her hands and no less then four tendrils creeping from the floor around her legs. As soon as they appeared though, she let them dissolve before anyone but their company could notice. "Bouncer needs to get fired by the way, he sucks at his job."
Nodding, Oswald walked through the detector, mentally patting himself on the back for not bringing his equipment. Turning to Sapphire, he gave an approving nod. "I like it. One question: how strict are they about liquor? It's been a while since I had a hard one." He wasn't exactly looking to get drunk, but he found that a drink or two of something hard eased him out of the bitter shell he developed in the face of tragedy.
He looked to the bar, trying to take stock of the selection, before sighing and shrugging. "Eh, even if I can't get anything, no big deal. I'm sure a few good rounds of song will help kill this funk I'm in." Pausing for a beat, he turned to Diamond. "I never did thank you, I think. For saving me on Friday. Thanks, Diamond." It might have been a heartfelt moment, but in the wake of Diamond casually dismissing the bouncer's abilities, he was halfway between a laugh and a sigh at the moment.
Emmy walked through the detector with ease, she hadn't brought anything with her that would set it off. In a place like this she really didn't expect to need a weapon, even if something dangerous unexpectedly happened, she could still use her semblance defensively. She looked around the establishment curiously, taking in all there was to see. "This place is neat."
Sapphire watched Diamond summon up weapons with her aura and discount Odo's skill with disdain. Odo might not have attended Beacon but he was former Atlas Military and more than capable of handling anyone that decided to put up a fight. On the rare occasions when he couldn't Uncle Danny still kept his huntsman gear behind the bar for emergencies.
"Odo's been here since the bar opened. Be nice. And I'd stop that before the host sees you." Sapphire said motioning to Diamond's shadow tendrils. "The results might be
unpleasant." It didn't seem necessary to explain to Diamond exactly what she meant by that. She'd find out soon enough if Uncle Danny saw her using her abilities to make weapons.
"I've never been too much for liquor..." she said in response to Oswald's question giving an imperceptible shudder remembering the bottle in her father's hand. "But more than likely Danny will let you have the soft stuff. He doesn't like to serve hard alcohol to people under twenty. Come on." she turned around and walked towards the bar where just as she'd expected her Uncle Daniel was sitting in his usual seat watching the performance.
Moments later the song ended and the lights came up. With the newly brightened area Daniel was able to see Sapphire properly. A smile spread across his face. "Sapphire, long time no see."
Sapphire smiled as well, the first real smile she'd had in a very long time. It was amazing how much her face was brightened by it. "Uncle Danny." The two embraced before Sapphire broke the contact and turned to her three companions. "These are some of my classmates, Oswald, Diamond and..." Sapphire couldn't remember if she'd heard the cat faunus' full name so instead she just said. "Emmy."
Nodding at Sapphire's response, Oswald followed the girl over to the bar, a soft smile crossing his face while the two embraced. This was the kind of thing that warmed his heart no matter the circumstance. It reminded him of home, of his family. He hadn't seen them in what felt like forever, but realistically was only a few months.
Turning to address Daniel, Oswald gave a half-bow, his torso bending about forty-five degrees before he returned to a regular posture. "It's a pleasure and an honor to meet you, sir."
Diamond looked at Sapphire with perfectly faked horrified expression: "Oh no! Really?" She acted out, way too well to be taken seriously in the slightest. "Just because I didn't technically attend high school doesn't mean I'm an idiot, thank you..." she rolled her eyes.
When the conversation switched to drinks, her eyes darted over to Emmy. "No." she said with a stern expression that however changed into an amused grin: "I don't think I could keep myself on a leash if that morning was to repeat." she smirked, shifting her gaze to the bar shelves to see if there was something worth getting a bottle of.
The pain that was a hangover was still fresh in Emerald's mind, she really didn't want to feel like that in the morning again, especially when she had to go to classes the next day. She was going to try and avoid alcohol if she could. On top of that, what Diamond said was making her blush. If she woke up in the wrong bed again she'd die from embarrassment.
At any rate, they were being introduced to Sapphire's Uncle. She hadn't realized it till now, but she'd only given Sapphire her nickname. She was fine with being called Emmy, but she liked to give people the choice.
She gave Uncle Danny a friendly wave, "Hello, I'm Emmy, or Emerald if you prefer."
Sapphire turned to look at her companions as they each introduced themselves and greeted Daniel. Sapphire didn't exactly know how to react in this sort of situation. The happy family stuff had never been a strong suit of hers.
Daniel on the other had was more than happy to receive some new faces. Right before he greeted Emerald his eyes darted up to her faunus ears, scanned her body very quickly, paused for a second on her tail before coming back to her face. It happened so fast that unless you were really focusing you might think you'd imagined it.
Daniel took the cat faunus' hand in a good natured shake. "It's good to meet you Emerald." Then he turned to the other two, it was pretty clear that he'd scrutinized them also but there was a lack of the full body scan he'd done when he'd seen Emerald.
“You must be Diamond and Oswald. My name's Daniel but most people call me Danny. So did you come here to sing or to drink? Or where you just looking for some small talk with old Danny?”
Chuckling, Oswald gave a short nod. "Correct. Oswald Connolly. I would suppose I'm here for all three, really. It's a night out to get the edge off after our first missions. Have a little fun, ya know? A bit of drink, a lot of song, and some chatting to make a few good memories."
Emerald followed Daniel's eyes as he looked her over briefly. She couldn't be completely sure where he was looking but it wasn't hard to guess, it was hardly the first time someone had given her a good look over. It made her a little curious, but she didn't really worry about it.
She nodded in agreement with Oswald. "We came to do all those things!"
Daniel smiled, "If that's what you came for than that's what you shall have. In my business we're supposed to keep the customer happy. Why don't I get you all a couple of drinks and you can decide which of you wants to sing what first."
Sapphire stood behind her uncle feeling slightly uncomfortable. She knew that Daniel was going to ask her to play something on her violin and when it was just Oswald... well she wasn't exactly comfortable with it but she'd power through.
These other two however, she didn't know anything about them. Her fiddle was something precious that she didn't like to share with people she didn't know well unless she never planned on seeing them again.
She'd let one of the others go first, wait for one of them to do a particularly bad job, then hers wouldn't look quite so terrible. In the mean time she could go for a burger and fries.
Daniel showed the four to a table close enough to the stage to watch but far enough back that the door was easily accessible. "I'll be right back with some drinks, while you're waiting look through the menu, find something you like."
While they'd been talking four particularly old people had gotten up on stage. It was clear they'd had just a bit too much to drink as they started to sing a butchered version of
"We are the Champions".
Chuckling at the group on the stage, Oswald gave the menu a look. He already knew what song he would be singing, so all that was left was to order food and a drink. Turning to his companions, Oswald was immediately greeted with the sight of Diamond practically drooling over the selection of alcohol Daniel had in stock. "Oh no..." He could tell that it wasn't going to end very well.
Regardless of that, though, Oswald made his order of steak and a Mistralian beer. Turning, he jerked his head in the direction of the stage, indicating that he'd be next. Once the four older people left the stage, he made his way up and grabbed the microphone. After a moment, the song
"What If" came on.
Oswald was by no means a great singer. His voice missed highs and sometimes lows, and he sometimes sang a bit too fast or too slow. But the three girls sitting together would have noticed something in the sound of his voice that rarely appeared: joy. Unadulterated, pure joy. As he looked out over the people in the bar, he gave a warm smile to his three companions as the song finished.
Walking back to the three, Oswald's smile didn't fade, but the moment he took his seat, his face screwed up in concentration, before he looked at the trio of girls again and giving an even larger smile. "Thanks, Sapphire. I needed this."
When Oswald finished, Emmy clapped, giving him a round of applause. She though he did very well, it wasn't like anyone was expecting perfection after all, it was just to have fun. Oswald seemed to be in a better mood because of it and that was good.
Emerald had taken care of her order while Oswald had been singing. Salmon patties with a side of fries, along with a glass of red wine. She was curious about the wine, and she figured one glass wouldn't hurt.
Now however, it seemed that it was her turn to get on stage. Diamond seemed busy looking at the all the alcohol, and Sapphire didn't appear to be ready either. She was a little nervous, but this was what they came for! She took a few sips of her wine before getting up on stage. She took the microphone and gave a nervous smile before
"I Want You To Know" started.
Now Emerald wasn't a professional singer by any means, however you couldn't say she was bad either. She more or less stayed on key as she began to sing, getting into the beat of the sound and bouncing a bit as she did. She couldn't let Oswald outdo her, so she put her heart into it.
The song was over before she realized it, and she quickly stepped down from the stage, heading back over to the table and sitting down, taking deep breaths. "That was... fun!"
Daniel returned personally to deliver the orders to each of his niece's guests. After they started eating he stood awhile by there table listening to two of their number sing, one after the other. The boy, Oswald was decent but he could use a bit more energy, even if the song looked to have done him a world of good. The girl on the other hand, Emerald the cat faunus was almost bouncing all over the stage. She looked almost surprised when the song came to an end and she had to return to her seat. Daniel smiled somewhat. She wasn't much different from a house cat he'd owned when he was younger. He wondered vaguely how she'd react if he got out a laser pointer but decided that might give the wrong impression.
After both Oswald and Emerald sang Sapphire was more than a little aware that her time was fast approaching. Diamond looked so engrossed with her food that she'd not even bothered to pick a song. Just as she had thought, moments later she felt her Danny standing behind her. "Come on sweetheart, give us a tune. Try that old one, the one your mother always liked."
Sapphire glanced back at him. "
Fairie Queen?" she asked. Daniel smiled. "That's the one." Sapphire shrugged nervously, a trait she typically didn't display at school and ascended the stairs. Daniel followed after her and pickup up the mike. "Ladies and gentleman, we have something of a treat tonight. I think some of you might remember my niece," at this there were some cheers from four or five of the Music Box regulars who'd seen Sapphire play here when she was much younger. "This is
her the fairy fiddler herself, Sapphire Rode."
Daniel disabled the karaoke system but left the mikes active as he descended the stage. Sapphire's face turned bright red when he called her the
fairy fiddler it was a nickname he'd given her when she was eight years old and she'd hoped to high heavens that he'd completely forgotten about it.
Sapphire opened her fiddle case, removed her fiddle and fitted the base of it with a rest to help it balance on her shoulder. She brought the fiddle up under her chin and extracted the bow from her case. She turned towards the audience and played three long drawn out notes just to make sure everything was in working order before she launched into the song. Fairie Queen was fast, the kind of music that got people's feet tapping. It also meant that she had to play it mostly by instinct and muscle memory because the moment she consciously thought of what the next note was she was three notes down the road.
Oswald gave a few loud cheers during Emerald's performance, laughing at the seemingly boundless energy she gave off. Diamond also gave a few cheers when she didn't seem to be intrigued by the alcohol. He didn't see much wrong with enjoying a few drinks, especially in their line of work, but he had a feeling that Diamond was going to have a hell of a morning.
Soon, Emerald's turn ended, and Daniel prodded Sapphire to go on stage and play. He was excited to see her go at it, especially after hearing about her musical inclinations after their missions ended. Apparently, the blue-haired girl was called the "Fairy Fiddler" and at least had some renown here.
Sapphire's embarrassment made Oswald laugh even more, though he did his best to keep it reigned in. He was only somewhat surprised at the skill with which she played. There was a certainty to her movements that told Oswald this was far from her first, or even her hundredth time playing this very song.
After introducing Sapphire Daniel came back down the stairs and took her seat at the table. He'd requested Fairie Queen partially because he liked it but mostly because it was long and he wanted a chance to chat with Sapphire's friends. "So," he said nonchalantly looking up at his niece on the stage. "Which one of you did she actually invite here?"
Daniel's arrival at the table and subsequent question made Oswald nervously chuckle and rub the back of his head. "That would be me. She....saw me in a less than ideal position after our missions ended, and invited me here to help deal with the fallout. Especially since my idea of dealing with it would probably have been 'more training, more tactical evaluation, more combat prep.'"
Once the attention was no longer on her, Emmy had begun to dig into her food. She let out a small purr as she tasted the salmon. She wondered idly if maybe she really did like fish because she was part cat, but she dismissed the thought. It didn't matter, she liked fish and there was nothing anyone could do about it!
She did pause in her eating when Sapphire began to play, her sharp hearing allowing to hear just how good Sapphire really was, it seemed to be flawless. Emerald thought it was very pretty, easy to get lost in her own thoughts as she listened.
Daniel's question brought her back to reality though as her head quickly turned to the conversation. Her cheeks became slightly tinted, as it was her who had more or less invited herself and Diamond to accompany them. She took a sip of her wine to make it less noticeable.
Daniel looked at Oswald at he affirmed that he'd been the one Sapphire had originally invited to the bar. The girl wasn't consistent on many fronts but one thing he'd always been aware of was that she disliked crowds. It wasn't surprising that she'd only expected to be in the company of one. Even more interesting was the fact that the boy she'd asked had brought two other girls with him.
Daniel smiled at Oswald showing his teeth, it was the sort of smile that a shark might give a fish before devouring it. "So Oswald tell me about this 'fallout', how did your first mission go?" There was a lot you could tell about someone, especially a hunter from the way he fought. Even if in a million years his niece would never admit it she clearly liked this boy. With her father so far away it was Daniel's job to look into her
acquaintances.
Sighing, Oswald looked between Daniel and his drink, before brutally downing the latter and giving the former a forlorn look. "The...simplest way to describe it would be 'Technical Success.'" Letting go of the glass, Oswald took a deep breath to calm himself. "The more accurate term would be to call it a massacre." Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Indeed. Go on." "...We both caused and had to clean up after."
Even a blind person would be able to sense the outright hatred and anger in Oswald's body at the moment. "Schnee bastards were treating the workers like they're worthless. We gave up three weeks of rations and medical supplies to those people. Wasn't nearly enough, but considering that they were quite literally sitting with most of their bodies overlapping, it was probably a lot better than they were used to."
Pausing again to take a breath, Oswald lowered his voice. "I was the only one lucky enough to see it all. The impending death. The abuse. The pain and suffering. The... the person they sent out to deliver a message to us at first only had three ears. I think you can guess which one was missing. Long story short, some folktale Grimm was controlling a horde of vile bugs. Workers blamed the Faunus, went full-slaughter mode, Faunus fought back. We showed up, killed a bunch of both sides in the chaos before everything got settled, killed the Grimm, and rounded the Schnee jackasses up to rot in hell."
Finally finishing, Oswald shook his head and took a bite of his meal.
Emmy listened to Oswald's story of his mission, having just joined the team, she'd been fortunate enough to have avoided that mission altogether. She visibly grimaced when she heard about the girl missing an ear, her hand subconsciously reaching up to her own. As excited as she was about going on a mission herself, she really hoped it didn't turn out like that one. "That's awful..." Her ears drooped a bit.
Daniel nodded. It was a dismal story and Daniel got the impression he didn't have all the details but the boy at least was a fighter, and assuming the girl with the bowler hat was his teammate it might explain why she was drinking herself into oblivion.
“A tragedy to be sure.” Mistakes like that of course happened and even now twenty years after the faunus wars people were still treating them like gutter rats. Daniel decided to change the subject. “So tell, how long have you and my niece been seeing each other?”
"What." Oswald immediately discarded any self-pity and depression as Daniel asked his question. "Wait, we aren't...who told you we were dating!? We just met a week ago!" Oswald turned in his chair to look at Sapphire. While he hadn't particularly thought of it, Sapphire wouldn't have been a bad choice. She was tough, in good shape, and a hell of a fighter. Turning back to the older man, Oswald continued.
"Listen, Daniel, I think you've got it wrong. Sapphire just wanted to help get me out of a post-mission depression. I can't imagine she's been feeling too well after she lost the daggers her mother designed, too. This was just something to put us in better spirits, not a date or anything. Though I am starting to question whether
she thinks of it that way..."
Emmy was feeling more and more awkward. If she'd realized before how much this looked like it was supposed to be a date between Sapphire and Oswald she wouldn't have come. She couldn't really talk to Diamond because the older girl was busy with a bottle of whiskey, and she didn't have anything to add to the increasingly uncomfortable conversation. She'd eaten her food, so all that's left was her wine. When she found it was empty she had it refilled. One more glass couldn't hurt, she was only feeling a little tingly, and she needed something to distract her.
Diamond noticed the occasional look in her direction. “Oi, would you stop thinking I’m a drunktard? Unlike a certain cat faunus I know my limit.” she smirked, giving Emerald a brief wink as she saw her reaching for the glass of wine. Not that it applied, she wasn’t drinking the whole time she spent at the bar. She was picking long and hard to get something
worthwhile. The Karaoke bar apparently made it's name by the first part, because the best thing she could find was some of this wimpy Vale imitation of whisky. Bourbon they called it. It tasted like the leftovers Altesians did not want, but it had the desired effect.
Oswald’s sudden epiphany made her giggle. For all the skill and insight into a situation on a battlefield, the guy was hilariously dense when it came to common things. His saving grace was that he admitted so much himself. “Well, if you need the dorm empty after we get back, I’m sure that can be arranged.” she said with a sly wink before shutting her eyes and listening to the blunette play. “Mighty fine and nimble fingers on that gal. Too bad most of those are straight.”
Daniel smiled slightly at how uncomfortable Oswald has suddenly become. “No I’m certain she doesn’t think of this as a date. That’s not really the issue though. The fact that she trusts you enough to bring you here is a miracle in itself. Watch yourself, fairies have a way of ensnaring boys who aren’t on guard.”
It saddened Daniel slightly to hear that Sapphire had lost her nightmare blades. She’d always cherished them and though the azure haired girl would never admit it to anyone Daniel knew the loss bothered her.
Sapphire’s song was coming to an end. As she played the final note Daniel stood up. As he past Oswald he leaned down and whispered in the boy’s ear. “If you ever hurt her, just remember one thing. I’ve beaten Goodwitch in a duel.”
Daniel straightened up and walked on stage. He took the mike and said. “Ladies and Gentleman, Sapphire Rode!” There was applause as Sapphire descended the stage. Daniel followed her down after. “Hey kiddo, I’m sorry to hear about your weapons. I know they meant a lot.”
Sapphire glanced back up at her uncle. Most likely Oswald had told him about Morpheus and Phobator. “It’s not a big deal. I’ll have new ones made from Mom’s old blueprints.”
Daniel looked down at her. “Now we both know that’s not true. But don’t worry, I won’t tell your friends. Now I’ve got some other patrons to attend to. You have yourself a good night.” Daniel ruffled Sapphire’s hair to which Sapphire shook him off and returned to her seat. Looking at everyone Sapphire got the distinct impression that the mood had shifted since she’d left. “Did something happen?”
Oswald, to say the least, was utterly baffled by what Daniel had told him. He wasn't so dense that he wasn't aware what the man meant, but he simply hadn't seen any remote signs of anything more than camaraderie from the blue-haired girl. Daniel's declaration that he'd beaten Goodwitch in a duel sent a shiver down Oswald's spine. He didn't even know what Sapphire wanted from him now; how in the hell was he supposed to avoid hurting her if he wasn't positive of what
would hurt her?!
Turning to Sapphire as she appeared, Oswald's face betrayed his confusion. "I think your uncle just threatened me if I hurt you. Because apparently... no, never mind. Just... forget it. It's not important." There was no reason to further his own embarrassment and confusion, or to include Sapphire in it.
"And no, Diamond, I will
not be needing the room empty after we get back."
Emmy reluctantly put her glass down, but what Diamond said reminded her of how much she did not want to get a hangover... again. She was already feeling a bit more than tipsy, she could tell, but she wasn't gonna let them know that, or try not too.
"Well... we were talking about... depressing stuff..." That seemed the best way to put it. "Oh, but I really liked your violin playing... it was really pretty!" She meant that from the bottom of her heart. Next thing she did was turn toward Diamond, give her a big, stupid grin, and then sluggishly glomped the other girl. "Hug timeeee..."
“Oof!” Diamond gasped, not realizing in time what was about to happen. The two of them half tumbled off of the seat before a hastily molded cane saved them from falling to the floor. amazingly, not a drop of bourbon was spilled, the glass perfectly stabilized in Diamond’s hand.
Note to self: No booze for Kitten. Period. Awkwardly returning the hug her face turned a shade of pink as the morning scene and her earlier problem came back with force. Great, just as she managed to get her mind somewhere else. She eventually wriggled out of Emerald’s grasp. “Well, my turn I guess.”
Now it came to the real reason she was drinking. It wasn’t to forget the mission - as far as she was concerned, she’s seen worse mess - no the real reason was she didn’t do well with a crowd focusing all of it’s attention on her. For a thief, that was an antithesis for crying out loud! Diamond was used to not being seen at all! Even with the booze softening her nerves up, she was still taking her sweet time going to the stage. At least she knew the song she wanted to perform. In her mind, art only had meaning if it carried a message.
Thankfully the set was connected to the net, so finding the song her drunk brain and confused heart felt was appropriate was easy. Her palms got a bit sweaty as she grabbed the mic, acutely aware of every pair of eyes turned her way.
No worries Dee, shut your eyes, they aren’t there. she did as her mental self told her as the song
"Tell me where it hurts" picked up.
As she ended, she walked off the stage, not curious about any reaction. She only let the breath she was holding out after she reached her seat.
Sapphire sighed. She loved Daniel, even though he wasn’t technically a part of the Rode family she loved him as though he was. He could get over protective though. She remembered the look on the face of the last boy she’d dated as he was telling her he couldn’t see her anymore. Daniel meant well but a lot of the time he was seeing things that weren’t there. Oswald and her were barely comrades, saying they were friends would be presumptuous, dating was completely off the board.
“Don’t worry about it Oswald, I’ll protect you.” She said with a condescending if good natured smirk. Sapphire raised her eyes when Oswald told Diamond they wouldn’t need the dorm room when they returned to Beacon. Sapphire could guess exactly what the thief had said while the girl in blue was singing and she rolled her eyes.
A genuine smile replaced Sapphire’s smirk as Emerald complimented her playing, even if she could tell the cat girl was drunk. Sapphire snuffed the smile out almost immediately and she was certain the neither girls saw it as Emerald tackled Diamond to the ground in a rather clumsy hug.
Sapphire made a mental note to tell her uncle that Emerald shouldn’t be served alcohol at his establishment anymore. Diamond, looking more than eager to get out of the situation, chose this time to go up on stage.
Her singing was a lot better than what Sapphire hadn’t expected. She wasn’t a pop idol but Sapphire could appreciate her voice. As she descended the steps Sapphire clapped with everyone else before continuing to eat her meal.
Oswald chuckled in reaction to what was happening. Emerald was more of a lightweight than he'd have imagined. He decided to file away that little tidbit of knowledge, along with a few other things he'd noticed tonight. Grunting when he finished his meal, Oswald took a large breath and looked up to the stage. "We've all gone, I guess. Unless anybody is up for another round, it might be time to get dessert?"
Emmy had watched Diamond sing for a while, but once it was over she found the table to be a good resting place for her head. She looked at Diamond sideways as she sat back down. "Good job Deedee! You've got the voice of a..." she hiccuped. "...angel..." She slowly sat up, looking a bit alarmed. "Noooo the hiccups got me!" She wailed.
"Aw, its nothing special..." Diamond said, trying not to blu... since when did she blush when being complimented?! She chuckled when the hiccups threatened to make Emmy's tears spill. Sighing, she reached up and put her hat on the faunus' head, hoping to distract her with it. "Yeah, I think some of us have had enough. Nice place though, thanks for the not-invite." she winked at Sapphire, "My turn next time."
"Thanks I suppose," said Sapphire slightly taken aback. She wasn't used to this much company. It sort of unnerved her. "You're more than welcome to come back. It is a hunter's bar after all." Sapphire finished off the last of her fries. "Dessert sounds good, Daniel makes an excellent milkshake."
Sapphire, Oswald, Emerald and Diamond stayed at the Music box for another hour or so before they decided it was time to head back to Beacon. They boarded the airship to return them to the school. Diamond had to help Emerald back to her bed as she was still inebriated from their night out. Sapphire parted ways with the others while the three members of Team CODE returned to their dorm rooms.
