The Lady in Pink

The story is my idea but it was inspired by things by people grossly more talented than I am

Setting: AU Kingdom of Vale 1920s Prohibition

Chapter 1

The white Ford clacked along the paved street. Roman Torchwick was dressed in a tuxedo with a grey vest, his trademark bowler hat sat squarely upon his head. His unruly orange hair covered his right eye but Roman chose to style his hair that way because he thought it made him "look unique". He took his cigar out of his mouth and tapped the ashes out of the window. "This will be your first party in while, right?" He asked his companion sitting next to him. Neo nodded her head and smiled. Her pink parasol was placed neatly across her lap. A servant at the gate directed Roman to another servant who showed him where to park his car on the lawn of a grand mansion. It was difficult to find a spot of grass among the all the cars parked on the lawn. Roman exited the car and helped Neo out of the vehicle. He slipped the keys into his right jacket pocket before turning to face the mansion. "So this is where the illustrious Arc family lives?" He inhaled, removed the cigar from his mouth and exhaled a large amount of smoke. "Hard to imagine that a couple of years ago I could only dream about affording a place like this." He chuckled a bit putting the cigar back in his mouth. Neo opened her pink parasol and placed it over her left shoulder gripping the handle with both her hands. She tilted her head to the side and sweetly smiled.

The two followed other couples and families entering into the foyer. The house was illuminated by fancy chandeliers and distinguished fixtures along the walls. Butlers and maids made rounds carrying silver platters of appetizers and cocktails for the guests. A band was playing a jazzy tune and some guests were dancing along with the music. "That's the head of the Arc family, Henri Arc." Roman pointed out the tall blonde man with sharp jawline and rounded nose to Neo. "And over there," Roman turned his head in the opposite direction. "is the head of the Schnee family and Collector of the Port of Vale, Walter Schnee." He was a little on the heavy side but not obese and had a fluffy white mustache. "I heard the Arc's only son and the Schnee's youngest daughter were recently engaged so that's why they decided to throw this party."

Neo caught a brief glimpse of Jaune between the ladies swooning over him. He appeared clumsy and awkward yet he wasn't repulsive and his ruffled blonde hair tempted Neo to imagine what it would be like to run her fingers through it. She saw Weiss Schnee politely greeting guests that approached her and her family. To the average observer Weiss appeared to be a dignified young lady but in actually, Weiss was very pretentious and only hide her true feelings to avoid damaging her family's reputation. She secretly hated the men who would offer her compliments about her beauty and grace. She wished she had not been born to an aristocratic family and be forced to live in a farcical world built upon rigid class structure. The upper echelons of society were divided into two camps the "old money" and the "new money". With the introduction of bootlegging and liquor running as a profitable enterprise due to Prohibition a new breed of self-made men wormed their way into high society. Those who had accumulated wealth over generations viewed these newcomers as bothersome and made all efforts not to associate with them.

Roman put his cigar out in a nearby ashtray before helping himself to a cocktail and small triangular ham and turkey sandwich. "Do you want anything?" He asked between bites.

Neo shook her head. I'm fine she signed with one hand. That boy over there, she pointed to Jaune. What is his name?

"Jaune." Roman responded. "And his fiancé's name is Weiss."

'Jaune.' Neo thought. It had a nice ring to it but it definitely didn't suit him. Jaune was also the name of his illustrious ancestor who had bravely quelled the advance of the enemy centuries ago. Every citizen of Vale young and old knew of his legendary feat. To Neo it seemed a bit presumptuous to give the same name to the bumbling young man.

"It would be rude of us to not introduce ourselves so let's go." Roman instructed He set his empty glass on top of a passing platter and they went over to the Arcs. The Arcs had eight children, seven girls and Jaune. Jaune was the third youngest of his siblings and the next one in line to marry. His older sisters had already married into equally prominent families from Remnant and were at the reception with their husbands. The youngest, Mary and Rose (12 and 10 respectively), were clinging onto his pant legs and zealously inspecting the women that approached him and sometimes reminding them he was "already taken". They would promptly apologize and giggle, thinking the girl's animosity towards them was cute rather than malicious. It was then Roman and Neo's turn to congratulate Jaune on his engagement. Roman removed his bowler hat and offered his hand to Jaune and his parents.

"Mr. Arc, Mrs. Arc, Jaune, my heartfelt congratulations for your engagement." He shook each of their hands. "This is my niece, Neapolitan." Neo held her pink parasol with one hand and extended the other one. She shook hands with Jaune and his parents as well.

"And who are you? I haven't seen you around." Henri Arc inquired.

Roman put his bowler hat back on. "Roman Torchwick, I'm an entrepreneur. I own a business called the Round Robin down on Hubbard Street. It's a swanky place where people come to forget their troubles and find happiness for a few measly dollars."

"Oh ho." Henri rubbed his chin. "I like self-made men. I find that kind of resilience charming." He slapped Roman's shoulder and winked. "Maybe I'll come by and find some happiness too?" He said winking.

"I'd be delighted if you did." Roman gave him a knowing smile.

Their coded conversation was lost upon Jaune who was too busy trying not to embarrass himself in front of Neo. "Thank you for coming." The words tumbled out of Jaune's mouth. Neo covered her mouth and snickered. Jaune's cheeks turned red. He had never seen anyone as pretty as Neo before. She was petite and doll-like. Her silky hair was dyed pink in the front and left naturally brown in the back. She had tied her hair into a bun and let a few loose strands caress her delicate cheeks. Her cheeks were rosy and blissful. Her soft lips the same color as her cheeks. She had a cute button nose and long thin eyelashes. Her eyes were different colors but it did not distract from her beauty rather it heightened it. She was wearing an exquisite knee length pink dress that captured her radiance and brown opera gloves with pink tips. Her white bead bracelet around her right wrist and a brown and white alternating necklace were gifts given to her by Roman for her 16th birthday while her small brown earing that adorned both earlobes were given to her on her 18th birthday. Her pristine pink slippers were unblemished and appeared brand new.

Roman and Neo bade the Arcs farewell and went over to greet the Schnees.

"Big brother, you're the worst!" The youngest sister snapped, clearly disappointed in the amount of attention he gave to Neo. "You're engaged and yet you're thinking about other woman!"

"Stop it, Rose!" Jaune straightened his tie. "It's not like that. I was just thinking that she looked nice and so does Weiss."

"Hmm?" Mary didn't seem convinced. "I don't know you were looking at her kind of funny."

"I look at all pretty girls that way." Jaune tried his best to mimic the same reaction he had to Neo's beauty while staring at Weiss. His sisters exchanged glances and shrugged their shoulders. They decided to let their brother off the hook this time but next time he would be in for an earful.

Roman offered the same congratulatory remarks to Weiss and her parents on behalf of himself and Neo. Weiss's sister, Winter, and her husband were not at the party because they were out of the Kingdom on a business trip. Neo signed something for Roman to interpret.

"She says you are very pretty Ms. Schnee." Roman relayed. Weiss was unaffected by the compliment but appreciated it.

"Tell her that I think she is very pretty as well." She gently smiled at Neo.

Roman passed on the message through sign language. Neo signed thank you to Weiss.

"She says thank you."

"I don't believe I've seen you around before. Who are you?" Asked Mr. Schnee.

"Roman Torchwick, I'm an entrepreneur. I own a small business not too far from here."

"Oh, so you're one of them then?"

Walter snobbishness irked Roman but he calmly responded, "I beg your pardon but what do you mean by that, Mr. Schnee?"

"Just because you have lots of money now you honestly think that you are equal to someone like me or Henri. Your kind pollutes our esteemed peerage with dirty money and you understand nothing of how high society functions. My Weiss will be marrying into the Arcs a noble family with a long history of military service to Vale. I'd sooner die than see her marry someone like you who thinks he's one of us after making a few quick bucks."

Roman gritted his teeth but chose not to engage Walter. If he started any trouble he would look like the bad guy. Roman and Neo bid farewell to Weiss and Mr. and Mrs. Schnee. Weiss felt ashamed to hear her father say such things straight to Roman's face. How dare he talk about equality and dirty money when he accepted bribes and handed out favors to his friends in politics. Roman and Neo mingled with the other guests of the party exchanging laughter and toasts. Jaune couldn't help but gaze at Neo from afar. She would occasionally look in his direction and smile. Every time she did so Jaune's cheeks would ripen. At around 11:00, Jaune was finally freed from having to receive guests as was able to traverse the party by himself. His sisters had retired upstairs and gone to bed giving him the opportunity to approach Neo without being scolded for it. He tapped Neo on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned around and saw it was Jaune.

"Um Neapolitan, was it?"

Neo nodded to confirm he was correct.

"Would you care to join me for a dance? I would ask my fiancé but she seems to be preoccupied at the moment." Weiss and her parents were still greeting guests. Neo enthusiastically accepted. She closed her parasol and handed it to Roman for safekeeping. Jaune and Neo joined a few other guests in the middle of the ballroom and began to move in time to the music. They danced for what seemed like an hour before Weiss cut in. Neo waved, thanking him for dancing with her, and then returned to her uncle's side.

"She's very pretty." Weiss remarked as she took his hands and started dancing with him to the up-tempo beat of the band. "I can see why you fell in love with her."

"W…what are you talking about?" Jaune stuttered. Weiss's comment, although true, caught him off-guard.

"I saw you two exchanging glances the entire night." She revealed. "Don't worry I'm not angry. It's very obvious between us that we don't want to get married however we cannot go against our parents' wishes." Jaune felt the similarly. He recognized his duty as the only son of the Arc family but at the same time he did not wish to marry Weiss. It wasn't that he found her unappealing it was he did not love her like he loved Neo. It was expected that Jaune and Weiss would produce a son or daughter to carry on the family line. So long as they did that they were free to lead their own independent sexual lives. In reality a lot of marriage partners were unfaithful to each other but it wasn't something you brought up to your spouse or in public even if it was blatantly obvious that cheating was occurring. The band concluded its performance and received an ovation from the dancers.

"Mr. Arc, Ms. Schnee." The two turned and saw Roman with Neo.

"We had a spectacular time tonight however we must return home and prepare for tomorrow's anticipated crowd at my establishment."

"It was a pleasure meeting both of you." Jaune told them.

"We are glad you were able to attend." Weiss said on behalf of her and Jaune. The four exchanged handshakes before going their separate ways. Neo looked over her shoulder as she was leaving and smiled. Roman took a fresh cigar out his left interior pocket and his lighter from his left pants pocket. The lighter had a miniature guillotine built into the design so that you could cut and light the cigar using one tool rather than carrying a pocket knife and lighter or biting off the end of the cigar like a thug and then lighting it. He expertly cut off the end of the cigar exposing the compressed tobacco inside and lit it. He took a long inhale of the cigar and then exhaled expelling a plume of smoke. Once they reached the car he helped Neo back into the vehicle and then went around to the other side and got in the driver's seat. He retrieved the keys from his pocket and started the car. "So did you have fun?" He asked his niece.

I had a great time. She signed. That Arc boy is really cute. It's too bad he's getting married to that snobby rich girl otherwise I would take him for myself. Just kidding. She winked and stuck out her tongue playfully. Roman ruffled her hair in response. "Slow down kiddo. It'll be a hundred years before I let any man marry my sweet little niece." He joked. The roar of the party faded into the distance as Roman and Neo drove further and further away back home.

AN:

- Roman doesn't have his cane because in my story it's not an integral part of his character and even if I did include it, it wouldn't function as anything except a cane (meaning it wouldn't have a hidden blade or double as a gun)

- Ford was the most popular make of car during the 1920s so that's what everyone will be driving although the colors will differ

- Collector of the Port of New York was a federal officer who was (the position was abolished in 1966) in charge of the collection of import duties on foreign goods that entered the United States by ship at the Port of New York. I thought it might be a good job was a stuck up rich asshole like Mr. Schnee

- My goal is to make this sound a little bit like The Great Gatsby which I used as a point of reference for the time period and plot of the story

- I would like to apologize if anything sounds repetitive. I try my hardest to not use the same word or term over and over but there are not many acceptable synonyms for what I want to convey

- In case you're interested I imagine Jaune, Neo, and Weiss are 20-25, Roman is 30-35, and the parents are 50-55. I know in the earlier version of the story I put specific ages but I realized that it doesn't really matter as long as the characters are approximately around their canon ages.