Hei's Women Log
Junior nearly snapped as soon as he read the title. But he was able to keep his cool. He decided to open it and see if it is what he thinks it is.
And sure enough. Pages upon pages are filled with names and numbers next to the names.
And when Junior sees a name his semblance activate in response to his strong emotions.
*Ka-Blam!!!*
The book in Junior's hands instantaneously explodes into millions of tiny shreds of paper. The pieces of paper scatter to the floor all around the room and make the dimly lit room look like the first snowfall in the early morning of a late winter.
Junior's gaze remains on where the book used to be. Sure he knew about his fathers women habits. But this was… excessive. The old man had written down the women's name, age, 3 sizes, if they were married, what race they were, if they were a Faunus it had their animal trait, and a bit more information. And he found a name amongst the pages that he remembers from the old Junior. His mother's name.
Just in the middle of the pages amongst the others. Junior had his theories about her, and this was within his expectations. But it doesn't make him feel any better. Just a name and information in a book filled with whores. And a little tick mark next to her name like a few others.
At the first page it had the headers for the various information and columns. Such as: Name, Age, Bust, Hip, Waist, Height, Weight, Race, etc…
And the column where the tick marks were was labeled: Child Bearer?
A damn question mark.
And his mother wasn't the only one with a tick mark next to her name. They were few and far between but it still filled Junior with anger.
Junior is sure that he doesn't have any brothers or sisters. And he's damn sure he doesn't have any half-siblings either. He's done an extensive search for any. And clearly the old man kept track. At the back of the book it had his name, and his name only, under the 'successor' page. It also had some notes about Junior's upbringing and how much the old man was disappointed in his only successor over the years.
With his rage boiling over, Junior goes to the book on the desk. He doesn't just immediately destroy it. While he is mad, he still has his head on his shoulders. When he takes a look at the first few pages he realizes what this is. It's a weird amalgamation of the old man's studies and thoughts over his many years of life.
The first few pages are basically two blank pages, title page, table of contents, dedication…
When Junior gets to the real writing of the weird book-journal he learns to hate his old man even more.
The writing was so tiny that Junior would need a magnifying glass in order to read it. And the dim lighting in this hidden room certainly doesn't help.
Why was this room necessary? Junior could only guess. This is like having a panic room inside a panic room.
Being unable to read the book further he closes it. Junior looks at the bookshelves and goes back towards the stairs. As much as he wants to read the dusty old books, that might fall apart if he isn't careful, he has other matters to attend to.
Specifically, arranging the punishment of Anza and Veronica. It's nothing fancy, but enough to make sure they don't cross him again. It's not so much about what they will have to do, but what Junior will do if they do it again. First time is an accident. Second time is coincidence. Three times and there's a pattern. And Junior doesn't want things to get to being a pattern.
Junior goes over everything that has happened over the past few days. If he's in his office he might as well make sure things are moving smoothly. He also checks his messages.
Veronica and Anza have returned. Rust is dropping off his last target and then making his way back. Frost and Slate are in Vale and making their way to the club.
So after making sure everything is moving forward he exits the office and goes to his office overlooking the club.
He opens the door and walks in. He sees Lavi sitting in a chair across from the couch where Veronica and Anza are sitting and holding hands. Anza has her head leaning on Veronica's shoulder as her eyes struggle to stay awake. Lavi has her feet up on the chair and she hugs her legs as she rests her chin on her knees. Lavi still has her fox hood up with Junior's jacket around her.
All three women turn towards the door and see Junior walking in. There are a few shredded pieces of paper in his hair.
Veronica and Anza stand up from the couch with their arms at their sides and some slight fear in their eyes. Mostly because Junior seems to be in a worse mood than they have seen in a while.
Lavi also quickly gets to her feet and takes his jacket off.
"I'm not going to hurt anyone" Junior says as he walks over to his desk.
Lavi holds out the suit jacket as Junior walks past her. He takes it and puts it on just before he gets to the desk. There is a hint of Lavi's usual scent on it. Considering Lavi was wearing it for hours he would be more surprised if it didn't smell like the fox Faunus. It smelled like a mixture of strawberries and flowers.
Lavi has always been self-conscious about the way she smells. Junior leaves it up to her having fox traits, since fox's don't particularly smell the best. Lavi does make sure to not use strong scents when she goes on missions, since even if she can hide her body people can still smell her. It's usually just a problem with Faunus though since they generally have better senses than Humans.
After he put his jacket on Junior pulls his chair away from his desk. He lets his thoughts about his jackets new scent drift away as he goes back to the moment.
As Junior is about to sit down he notices something floating here and there through the air as it falls towards the ground. He catches it before it can get too far away and he notices it's a piece of paper. A piece of paper from that damned woman log his father kept. Junior crushes the paper in his hand and runs his other hand through his hair and feels a few other pieces. He gets as many out of his hair as he can while he sits down.
Lavi teleports the chair back in front of the desk and stands beside it. Veronica and Anza walk up to the desk and lower their heads.
The first person to speak is Veronica. "How is your left arm doing?"
Junior throws the paper pieces in his hand into a trash bin beside the desk. "It's doing fine"
"That's…." Veronica nods. "…good"
Anza opens her mouth but the words struggle to escape on her first attempt. But when she opens her mouth again her quiet voice can be heard. "W-we will take whatever punishment. We didn't mean to do anything. But we understand it is important you know where we are. We are sorry"
Veronica bites her bottom lip. She doesn't want to drag Anza down with her on this one since she is the one responsible for this. But she knows trying to debate this will only cause the situation to get worse for the both of them. She just has to make up for this with Anza later. "We're sorry, Boss"
Not knowing what to do, Lavi just stands on the other side of the chair. Her hood is off, showing her slightly messy red hair. She just looks between Junior and her friends. She's confused about this situation but decides to keep her questions for later.
"That makes this easier then" Junior rests his elbows on the armrests of his chair and interlocks his fingers. "I don't care where you go or what you do most of the time as long as you follow the rules. But when I ask for your ETA and for you to tell me when you arrive I expect you do exactly that. I don't ask because I'm nosy. I ask because that information might impact my plans and decisions. If you two had bothered to tell me you were here I would have changed some plans. But there's no use crying over spilled milk. Take your punishments and make sure this doesn't happen again"
"Yes Sir" "Yes Boss Xiong" Veronica and Anza respond respectively.
Junior grins sadistically. "You two will be cleaning this entire place. I have arranged the necessary materials to be readily available to you. I want to see my teeth sparkle in the glasses at the bar. And don't forget to clean the rooms that have been recently vacated. Your attire for the duration of this punishment should be in your rooms at this point"
"When you say clean this place…" Veronica starts.
"Do you mean this entire building?" Anza finishes.
"I specifically want the club to be cleaned first. You will not be cleaning this office or any other room that people are currently using. I'll send you the room numbers you will be cleaning" Junior narrows his eyes as his grin grows lopsided. "Oh, and the club should be cleaned before we open back up for business"
Both Veronica and Anza freeze and look out the glass wall. The club is huge. And if they were to clean it with only the two of them… it will take a while. A loooooong while.
"Erm" Veronica's brain begins working again. "When exactly will the club be reopening? Sir"
Junior also looks out the window. "In as little as two days, 48 hours, from now. I would like to start bringing in money as soon as possible"
The whole point of this crime family is to make money after all. And he did just spend quite a large sum to help Vale and it's citizens.
Lavi winces upon hearing the punishment. She's explored the club quite extensively when it is less busy or empty. She's also watched the cleaners from up here time to time while Junior was busy with work and she was free. And in 2 days no less… it normally takes an entire crew of people to get the club cleaned in a day.
"You said something about attire?" Anza asks. Now that she, unfortunately, understands her task she remembers this bit of information.
Junior nods. "Yes. You won't be cleaning in your suits like the usual cleaners. Unlike them, your suits cost a bit more and don't respond well to cleaning chemicals. So I recommend you go to your respective rooms, get dressed, and start sooner rather than later. The clock is ticking"
Both Veronica and Anza give their goodbyes and then hastily exit the office and make their way to the first floor towards their rooms.
Lavi holds her hands together behind her back. She doesn't move from her spot and watches the two girls power walk across the club. "Uhm…"
Junior leans back in his chair as his grin shrinks but doesn't disappear. "You can speak freely Lavi, it's just the two of us now"
"I understand you need to punish them" Lavi says and rocks from her toes to her heels. Her gaze leaves Veronica and Anza as they pass through the doors leading towards the various first floor rooms and turns her head to Junior who is grinning up at nothing. "But why did you specifically punish them like this? I wouldn't exactly call this harsh punishment, but it does seem a bit… excessive"
Junior swivels his chair left and right. "You know how punishments are usually fished out around here right?"
"Mhm" Lavi sadly confirms and nods her head.
Junior watches Lavi look at the floor. "I don't want to impact them physically in the long term. They still have work to do in the future. I could take their fingernails but that doesn't benefit me. It will only cause trouble not only for me but also Veronica and Anza's relationship"
Lavi looks up at Junior's serious expression. She understands what he means, even if he doesn't say it. He could punish them physically, but it wouldn't achieve anything other than cause people to fear him in a bad way. And physically harming them would only make them go from assets to liabilities since they wouldn't be able to perform their tasks optimally. People already fear him without him needing to physically hurt them. But that fear is respect. If you respect someone enough, you fear them. It's a bit of a stretch to compare them, but it's not too big of a stretch.
She hopes Veronica and Anza are able to make the deadline. It wasn't said what would happen if they don't, but they all knew it was implied it wouldn't be good.
"Gah!" Junior grumbles as he takes another piece of paper from his hair.
"Do you want some help with that?" Lavi asks as she sees Junior flick the piece of paper into the trash bin and nearly send the bin across the room.
Junior checks his scroll before leaning forward enough for Lavi to be able to reach his head.
Without needing to hear a confirmation Lavi walks over to Junior and begins combing his hair in search of more paper. "Where did these come from?"
Junior decides that a change in topic isn't a bad idea. "It's from a book. Turns out my semblance isn't just destructive to my body"
Lavi pulls out a tiny shred of paper and adds it to a pile on the desk she has made. "You did this to a book?"
"Yeah" Junior remembers the way the book just exploded. It was a weird feeling to say the least. "That book should have been burned, but I let my emotions get the better of me"
"What was it about?" Lavi carefully asks as she moves Junior's hair around.
"It…" Junior uses his right hand to rub his temples. "… was about my father and mother"
Lavi pauses for merely a few seconds before continuing. "Do you think… do you think Derek wrote about my mom?"
The room is silent except for the club music playing but it sounds distant after hearing Lavi's question.
Junior prays to the 3 Gods he knows that Derek didn't make his own Women Log. Even if he knows Derek likely didn't, reading his old man's was enough to make him worry about others making their own.
Junior lifts his head up and looks into Lavi's worried yet hopeful eyes. "I'm sure he did. I just don't know how much he would have written. He made it sound like he knew her briefly. But he wasn't the type of man to smash and dash, so I'm sure you'll find something in those journals or whatever they are"
She finds Juniors current hairstyle quite funny. His hair wasn't swept back like it usually is since she had combed through a portion of it. But she appreciates his reassurance. A small smile appears on her face and she closes her eyes. "Thanks"
Junior can practically feel Lavi's mood improving. It might have something to do with her bright and sweet smile. He lowers her head, which still has Lavi's hands on it, and goes back to planning for the future. Specifically on how he can train Lavi's semblance. But his ideas mostly involve repetition. If your semblance is truly like a muscle, you need to push it for it to grow.
After 4 or so minutes pass and Lavi has thoroughly gone through Junior's hair.
"How did you only get the paper in your hair?" Lavi asks as she begins moving Junior's hair back to its usual look.
"That's…" Junior grabs her wrists and sits back up. "… a good question"
In the end, he chalks it up to living in a fictional world. If he's going to question this, then shouldn't he also question how it's biologically possible for people to have various animal traits? It's easier to just not worry about both.
Lavi's wrists are freed and she scoops the pieces of paper into her hand and goes over to the trash bin that was moved across the room a little. After dusting her hands off from the paper she Carrie's the bin back to Junior's desk.
Not being able to hold this question back any longer she asks it. "Who was that woman you were happily talking to?"
"Who?" Junior asks as he comes out of his thoughts. He was picturing Lavi being able to teleport around an enemy and bash them around with her greatsword. It was actually amusing to picture. And if Lavi used it right it would make her one of the best fighters in Remnant.
Lavi places the trash bin beside the desk and sits on the end of the desk near the glass wall. "The woman who took the vanilla folder. And the one you personally escorted out of the building"
"Glynda Goodwitch?" Junior realizes what Lavi is talking about. He can multitask, but he needs to be prepared to do so. "She is a teacher from Beacon Academy and a Huntress"
Lavi raises an eyebrow. "Was she here because of Jet or Desmond?"
An unamused look grows on Juniors face. He brings his left hand up and flicks Lavi's forehead lightly. "You know those two are there secretly"
The Faunus girl rubs her forehead with both hands and fake angrily glares at Junior. "And that's exactly why I asked"
"Fair" Junior nods. And then as soon as Lavi lowers her hands he flicks her again.
"Why~?" Lavi complains.
Junior leans back in his chair and runs his right hand through his hair to get it looking like normal. "Because that talk would not have been as pleasant if Glynda was here due to her finding out I faked papers for Jet and Desmond. Although I'll say that you almost had a valid reason to ask that question"
Lavi closes her eyes as she rubs the spot Junior flicked. "Then why was she here?"
"Glynda was here due to some cops being lazy…" Junior gives a slight shrug. "That's what she told me at least, but I'm fairly certain her surprise appearance was brought on by some paranoia or curiosity from the Headmaster of Beacon"
"Why would the Headmaster be paranoid or curious about you?" Lavi carefully lowers her hands from her forehead.
Junior gestures all around him with his arms outstretched. "I'm not exactly the most inconspicuous person in Vale. And I'm sure he was one of the first people who heard about my generous donation for the recent events. Wouldn't you be surprised if you heard that I, Hei Xiong, offered to pay for the repair of the affected buildings from the bombing and paying for any hospital fees or funerals also in relation to the bombings?"
"That does sound weird…" Lavi looks to the side. Junior isn't one to worry about spending money, but he doesn't just spend this much outside the family without a reason. Yet she can't think of a reason why he would do it.
*Flick!*
"Owwwie~!" Lavi falls back against the desk and holds her forehead in both hands. She rocks a little side to side while trying to alleviate the pain from the third flick in the same spot.
"No need to be so genuinely surprised" Junior turns his chair to face his desk and scoots forwards. Now Lavi is on his left and laying next to where he usually does his paperwork. She normally sits, or lays, there when nobody else is in the room.
Lavi stays on the desk and pouts. Her fox tail twitching every few seconds and hitting Junior's side.
After feeling the tail hit his side for the 5th time Junior reaches over Lavi's face.
The red haired Faunus girl flinches, anticipating yet another flick.
Instead of feeling the sting from a flick, Lavi feels Junior brushing some of her bangs off her face. Her left eye opens a little and she can see Junior's big hand just above her face.
Junior is carefully moving the bangs messily covering her face. "If you want to go through Derek's things you can go do that now. I'll also have a list of everything he owned around and outside of Vale. I had his Will looked at earlier today and turns out he already left everything to you. Saves me the trouble of forcing that part"
Lavi takes her hands off her forehead and closes her eyes. Her arms lay at her sides and she stops flicking her tail. "I… I'll stay here for now. There's plenty of time later when you are busy to go through his things…"
Junior finishes moving the last red strands off of Lavi's face. He knows Lavi understands that he will be going back to the office if only to clean the mess he made earlier. He lowers his hand onto Lavi's face and moves her head around.
"Ehhhhh~" Lavi tries to complain. She grabs the sides of Junior's hand and tries to remove it from her face but she isn't successful. Not that she was getting hurt or actually tried, it was more like how a human can play with a pet by grabbing their face.
Junior kept his hand on Lavi's head. He was barely moving her head before, but now the Faunus girl was moving her head around to try and escape his grasp. His hand was large, he could hold a basketball in one hand. He stops his hand and Lavi pauses as she listens to him. "You will have less time than you think. I was serious when I said you will train your semblance. I don't want you to be a liability in a fight. If I'm in trouble or other are, I want you to be able to defend them. Not just teleport one person away at a time. While that ability is useful, in the future you will find yourself in a tough spot. There are many other reasons why you should train your semblance as well Lavi"
"Will I be more useful to you?" Lavi's muffled voice asks from beneath Junior's hand.
Junior takes his hand back. "You will become significantly more useful"
"Then I'll do it!" Lavi says with determination and sits up. Her tail moving happily.
A small smile grows on Junior. "Keep that hope up Lavi. It won't be easy"
Lavi brightly smiles and shows off her teeth. "If I can help you I'd do anything!"
Junior nods. He knows Lavi would even kill for him. "Go get the door Lavi"
"Huh?" Lavi tilts her head.
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
After hearing the knocks Lavi looks between Junior and the door over and over as she tries to figure out how he knew someone was there. He had been looking at her and hadn't been looking out the glass wall.
"Go" Junior motions towards the door.
Lavi hops off the desk and lands on her feet. She studies Junior for a few seconds before lightly running towards the door across the room. Her arms and tail move behind her as she runs.
Watching Lavi run reminds Junior of a kid. He doesn't know why she doesn't use her semblance but in the end he determines it's so that she can use her almost limitless energy she has most of the time. And the fact Fox's enjoy running around and playing. Junior wonders why Faunus act so much like their animal traits. Perhaps it's something they do unconsciously, like their instincts just do it to them without them knowing. Like how Blake was afraid of Zwei and how she acted like a cat at times. Granted it was for comedy and was just a show, but he's seen plenty of Faunus have traits from the type of animal they get their traits from. Lavi is just the Faunus he spends the most time with.
Lavi stands in front of the door. She forgot to check who it was when she ran to the door. And she was too short to use the peephole on the door. So she opens it.
Standing outside the office is a certain man with light blue eyes, dark redish-oarange hair, wearing a tank top. The man is also standing at attention while saluting. As soon as the door opens he starts his act: "Rust Emert reporting for- oh, what up Lavi?"