Ch. 7 Questions

*knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock* *knock*

"ENOUGH!" Junior shouts. He rolls out of bed and grabs his scroll. He looks at the time and it's 7:30pm. There's still a little while until the club opens.

Junior opens his door and sees Lavi holding her tail around her stomach. "What do you want?"

Lavi pouts. "For you to be a little nicer…."

*Growl~*

"And some food would be good…" Lavi blushes and looks down at the ground.

Junior sighs and rubs his eyes. "Right, we haven't eaten today"

Lavi rocks side to side as she waits patiently. She also sees Juniors muscles. The suit doesn't hide them but now she can clearly see them like it's in HD.

"Let me get dressed and then we can eat. I've got a long night ahead" Junior goes to close the door but Lavi steps into the room.

"What?" Junior is just flat out confused by the girls actions recently.

"I don't want to be left alone!" Lavi states.

Junior can't close the door so he opens it. "So what? You wanna watch me change?"

Lavi blushes. "N-not particularly. I just don't like being alone in this big place. There were a lot of people before but now it's dark and empty"

"So you don't care who is with you. You just don't want to be alone. Fine, come in" Junior lets the small girl in. He couldn't care less if she watches him change. He's proud of his body and he's not about to act all shy.

Lavi walks in. "But I'd prefer to be with you…"

"And I'd prefer a semblance that will save the world. But we all can't get what we want" Junior sarcastically shoots back as he goes towards his closet.

"IS the world going to end?!" Lavi shouts in terror.

Junior rubs the back of his head. "Technically not. But there are evil people trying to do just that. They haven't succeeded in over 1,000s of years so don't worry"

Lavi glares at Junior. "Are you messing with me?"

"No" Junior puts his hands on his hips. "If I was messing with you I'd do this"

He drops his shorts down to his ankles and grabs his suit pants.

Lavi furiously blushes, turns around, jumps onto his bed, and burries her face into her tail. "PERVERT!!"

Junior kicks his shorts to the corner near his laundry bin and puts his right leg into his pants. "Oh shit up. I told you I was changing, and it looks like you forgot the whole 'the world is ending' thing"

Lavi finds her way under the covers and scurries towards the headboard. "I get it already! You were joking! You didn't need to show me your undies"

Junior puts his left leg in the pants and pulls them up to his waist. He looks at his black with red stitching underwear. "Don't call them 'undies' Lavi. Women wear 'undies' and 'panties' while men wear boxers or briefs" Junior finishes putting his pants on and holds his chin. "Hmmm. I guess some guys also wear jockstraps, bikinis bottoms, thongs, and g-strings"

He can't imagine wearing them. A bit too much for him. He won't judge… that's a lie. He definitely would judge any guy that wears those. But it's not like he's going to go around checking every person's underwear.

"Whatever! I'm scarred now! I've gone blind!" Lavi moves beneath the sheets and gets under the pillows.

Junior takes his shirt off and puts his dress shirt on. "I thought you said you were an adult? Adults do adult things. They drink alcohol, party, work, pay bills, have sex, get married. Not in that order but you get the point, aren't you a…" Junior can't help but smirk. "Fully grown woman?"

Lavi's head pops up out between two pillows. "I am! I just…."

Junior pats his shirt before buttoning. "Just what?"

Lavi blushes and her head disappears back into the pillows and sheets. She had seen too much already. "My mother said to only let my husband see me in my underwear. And that applies to you too, you should only let your wife see you in your underwear"

Junior nearly had a heart attack. He thought she was gonna tell him to only let his husband see him in his underwear. Boy is he glad that Lavi changed that bit. Just because it's been a year and he hasn't dated anyone doesn't mean he is gay, he's just been busy. And he's practically married to his job. It takes a lot of work to run an entire crime family.

Junior goes back to buttoning his shirt. "That's if I get a wife, I haven't met a woman like that yet"

"Hey!" Lavi pokes her head out from the edge of the bead and nearly hits her head on the nightstand. "Are you saying I don't count as a woman?!"

Junior looks up at the ceiling. "Are you saying you do?"

"Yes! And you've met me! Are you saying you haven't met any other women?!" Lavi shouts, barely even understanding what her words could be implied as.

"I've met many women. Some strong, some weak. Determined towards a goal. Searching for a goal. Some completely lost. Some uglier than dirt, others more beautiful than any diamond or gem. Some taller than Derek, and some shorter than you. I've seen a bunch of women in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Some have better asses while others have better tits. A few had great thighs. But alas, they all had shit personalities" Junior shrugs. He's experienced a lot in his last life, nothing like a player, but he's had his fair share of dates. But in the end nothing really worked out. He's actually surprised he can talk so easily with Lavi.

The red-head's face tries to match her hair color with how much she is blushing. Her hand pokes out from the sheets towards Junior. "Pervert. Dirty pervert. You Junior… I forgot your last name….. are a real pervert"

"Call me what you want darling" Junior pops his collar and takes his tie. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words don't. And you are the one that just HAD to come in here. I tried to warn you"

Lavi goes back to the sheets and pillows. It really smells like Junior, and it's not unpleasant. It's just weird smelling him all around her.

"And I told you my name in the alley. It's Hei Xiong. I just prefer Junior because it's easier than my real name" Junior gets his tie settled and puts his collar back down.

"So it's a nickname?" Lavi asks, but her quiet voice is ver muffled by the sheets.

Luckily for her, Junior is still able to hear her. "Basically"

"Is that similar to why you called me darling?" Lavi asks. She hasn't had many friends in the past so she isn't really sure. Her mother gave her a few nicknames in the past… But others just called her Lavi in the past.

Junior puts his vest on. "No, I just like to keep my words from getting stale. I call other women darling, love, etcetera. If I wanted to give you a nickname, it's a little obvious and stupid, it'd be Vixen. Do you even know what that means?"

"Unfortunately…" Lavi says.

Junior figured that her mother had to have been a Faunus. Considering Earl was an old perver human. The dock probably bought Lavi's mother and shipped her out after he was done with her. Really ticks him off. He's already got people looking into this issue to get some idea of Lavi's family situation.

And he figures that Lavi has already paid him with the information she has given him. While not directly from her mouth, she made him question some suspicious things. The questions he's thought of because of Lavi are much better than he had initially expected. And he's already got some results.

Whether it's coincidence or not is up in the air. But he's discovered a lot of shady businesses. Most he was already aware of, but a few were new. He may be at the top, but that isn't stoping others from trying to take what is his. And they will always be waiting to try and one-up him.

Okay… a bit philosophical for his tastes.

He takes a deep breath and comes back to the room. "I'll admit you're cute Lavi, but that's about all you'll get from me"

"Well you aren't getting anything from me! A-and… I'm not trying to prove anything to you!" Lavi switches the tsundere on a bit.

"No? But earlier when I showed you your room you held me so tightly. And I must say…. Nah. Nevermind" Junior keeps the fact he felt her body to himself. Her bust when she hung from his neck and nearly the entire time he held her. And her bottom when he carried her. He did his best to ignore it, but he is a man at the end of a day. And he admits, she is definitely 18. It's just the giant hoodie hides it well.

"Are you done yet?" Lavi attempts to change the subject. And it's been a while since she had something to eat. And she already had all her suckers.

"Basically, and why are you hiding under the sheets? Is it some sort of Faunus thing?" Junior immediately realizes how racist that sounds, but it's a genuine question.

Lavi moves in circles at the same spot. "I dunno. Maybe? It's just fun. Have you done it before?"

"No. Can't say I have. Beds have 2 purposes to me. One is to sleep and the other is sex" Junior throws his jacket on and walks over to the bed. "Do you have your shoes on?"

"You have a basic mind Junior. And I am not an animal. I took them off" Lavi says in a slightly higher pitched voice.

Junior looks at the floor but doesn't see her shoes. Only his. "Oh yeah? Where are they?"

The mound under the sheets scurries to the other side of the bed. "Over here"

Junior wonders how much time she has spent screwing around with the bed. Earlier she wasn't able to tell which direction she was facing or where the edge of the bed was. He checks the side and does see the shoes. And they seem to have been there before Lavi came over.

"Good" Junior goes and grabs his socks and shoes. He returns to the bed and starts putting them on.

"Junior" Lavi pops her head out from under the sheets next to him. She's laying on her back and her body is still hidden.

Junior puts his socks on. "What is it now?"

Lavi is getting more and more used to Junior's rough way of speaking. At least it isn't as mean as some of the guys she met in the past. "I want to know something"

Junior puts his shoes on. "Depends on what that something is, but I'll do my best to answer"

Lavi's tail bumps against Junior a bit even when it's under the sheets. "How can I help you?"

Junior stops tying his shoe. "You don't owe me anything Lavi"

Lavi frowns slightly for a second before smiling brightly. "But I still want to know what I can do to help you! My mother said nothing is free. And something about lunch… but I don't remember that one too well"

"The lunch thing is a saying. 'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch'. Do you know why it's a saying?" Junior is tempted to poke Lavi.

"Hmm" Lavi furrows her brows as she deeply thinks. "It's because food always costs money?"

"Did you ever pay your mother for food she provided you?" Junior takes a risk on this one, but he's banking on her mother being at least a decent parent like Lavi has said her to be.

Lavi shakes her head. "No"

"Exactly. Some things are free, but there are motives as to why they are free. With your mother it's because she loved you that she did things for you. The reason I get free things is because I am a very important person and people want to be in my good graces and they want me to owe them something. Or they owe me and want to make their debt less" Junior finishes his shoes.

"Then why have you done things for me?" Lavi gets Junior's examples, and she's surprised at how highly he views himself. But he does own this large place so he must be important to some degree. And he has a huge crime family, not that she fully knows what that means.

Junior rests his arms on his thighs and leans forward. "That's the correct question to ask" Junior likes that Lavi isn't brain dead. "I might not be good, but I'm not fully bad. I heard a scream and went to check it out. The idiots were attacking someone on my turf and that makes me look bad. After that I wanted information from you, remember?"

"Yeah… But I haven't told you anything important. Or at least I don't think I did" Lavi knows Junior is super smart, so she's not sure what information she can give him that he doesn't already know.

"You didn't, but you made me think of some unique questions that have already bore fruit. You may not have directly given me information but in a way you did. I just had to do the heavy lifting" Junior watches as Lavi mills over what he said, or her hunger is getting the better of her.

Lavi's eyes slightly widen like she realized something. "Can we go back to the free lunch thing?"

Junior lets his head drop into his left hand out of exasperation. Perhaps he overestimated her brain earlier. "What about it?"

"What if I did something for you but don't want or expect anything from you? I just do something nice because I can" Lavi watches the dull gray color in Junior's eyes.

"That's very rare for someone to do. And it's super rare for a complete stranger to do that to another stranger. In this scenario, the thing you did for me is because we're friends. And sometimes they do nice things. But there are a million things that can be implied or misinterpreted. Honestly? It will hurt your head and my head if we try and go through this thoroughly" Junior is a bit surprised by Lavi, she's much better than 50 of his goons. She actually gets his brain to think, the goons just try not to offend him and get in his favor. Is this perhaps his first real friendship in Remnant? Derek doesn't count due to obligations and the family.

"Oh… I guess nothing is really simple" Lavi says and pinches her chin.

Junior stands up and messes with Lavi's hair. "Except you"

Lavi tries to push Junior's hand off her head but he's too strong. His bicep is thicker than her thighs, which rather surprised her. So she does what she can to get away, she goes back under the sheets.

She sits in the middle of the bed and lets only her face be seen while the bed sheets are wrapped around her. It reminds Junior of the Otaku's in anime.

"I am not simple! I am a complex woman!" Lavi states with all the seriousness her tiny figure can muster.

But to Junior it's just cute and funny. Even her voice makes it hard to take her seriously when she wants to be serious.

"Yes ma'am" Junior walks towards the door and waves over his shoulder. "Now hurry up, it's food time"

"Food?!" In a split second Lavi appears next to Junior with sparkles in her eyes and her shoes already on.

"How the…" Junior opens the door.

He may not be able to detect aura at a long distance yet but when he's in the same room he can tell if someone has their aura unlocked. And that feat of speed is ridiculous. But Junior just chalks it up to this being an anime world.

"Yeah, food" Junior pats his pockets and realizes he left his scroll on the nightstand. "Can you grab my scroll? It's on the night stand"

Lavi looks at the bed. "Hmm hm Hmmmm hm hm HMMmmm" She hums a tune as she goes to the nightstand and pick the device up. She continues to hum as she saunters back over to Junior with a pip in her step.

When she gets up to him she holds it out and gives him a large smile.

"Do you like music?" Junior takes his scroll, now he knows that she knows what it is. Or maybe she just grabbed whatever was on the desk that she didn't know what it was. But she is the type to just ask when she doesn't know something. Gods, he really is getting to know Lavi. And pretty fast at that.

"Yeah! Although I rarely get to listen to it. The music in the hall is really interesting!" Lavi's tail looks like a bag in the wind it's moving so fast.

"Well, you'll enjoy the club then at least. Now let's go get something to eat" Junior steps out of his room with Lavi behind him.

Junior walks down the hall while Lavi skips next to him. They walk past a few men, but those guys just move to the side of the hall and stand straight with their arms at their sides. But it's like Lavi doesn't even notice.

"What do you want to eat? Pick something that won't take long to make" Junior asks along the way.

"Chicken!" Lavi slightly jumps into the air.

Junior is fairly certain they should have some chicken that just needs to be heated up. "Very well"

"What will you have?" Lavi wonders what kind of food a guy as big as Junior eats.

"You'll see" Junior takes his scroll out checks his messages. He just has some updates about a few things.

"And what can I do to 'earn' this meal?" Lavi asks, she doesn't want to be a burden.

Junior is already reaping the rewards from what questions he asked from being with Lavi. "What do you think you can do for me?"

Lavi stops skipping and stands still.

Junior stops and turns halfway towards Lavi.

The red head looks at the floor blankly, and Junior wonders if she's scanning it for an answer.

"I-I can't do anything now…" Lavi looks to Junior with determination as she clenched her fists. "But I can help you gather information in the future!"

Junior raises his brow. "Oh? How so?"

"Nobody treats me like I'm important besides you and my mom! So they are more likely to tell me things than they are to a big guy like you. And I'm small, so I can hide and listen in on conversations I'm not supposed to listen to. I've done it a lot in the past…." Lavi kinda putters out towards the end when she remembers some of those conversations. Some between her mom and men. Some between her mom and other women. And some between the strangers in her 'house'.

Junior folds his arms over his chest. "Now that's how you bargain"

He walks over to her but doesn't kneel down to her height. "We can discuss this further later. But I have to ask, do you know what aura is?"

Lavi comes out of her thoughts. "Who doesn't?"

Junior thinks of a secluded blond boy with 7 sisters. "You'd be surprised. Anyway. Do you understand what it means to wear your soul on your sleeve? To have your aura protect you and have powers beyond normal people?"

Lavi is a bit confused but goes with it. She just doesn't want to be left to her own thoughts right now. "The evil monsters will hunt you and your family down. The fairytales said so. And aura will protect you from normally lethal blows and allow you to keep fighting. But I don't think I've ever heard about wearing your soul on your sleeve"

Junior waves it away. "Just another one of my metaphors. And it's permanent. Once you unlock your aura you will always be hunted by those scary monsters called Grimm. Even if you don't want aura anymore. And you must train, harder than you would ever imagine. Now Lavi"

"Yes Junior?" Lavi looks at Junior and her eyes widen as she sees a black aura surround him and his eyes no longer look dull. She can see his burning ambitions, the gray looks like the still burning ashes of a fire.

"Do you want to be of use to me? Do you want to be able to protect yourself and others? To be able to decide if a person lives or dies by your actions? Do you want live a normal life? Or do you want more? Do you want to learn the truths of the world? Do you want powers you could only imagine of? To have the potential to gain everything, but put your life on the line and risk it all" Junior narrows his eyes. "Lavi Bole, do you want your aura unlocked?"