Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

[maximoff_girl]

Who: Wanda Maxiomff, Kate Bishop, + Anyone who wants to show up
What: Club HQ's grand opening
When: January 31st
Where: HQ (Across the road from house 14)
Summary: Kate and Wanda finally unveil their Nightclub.
Rating: PG to PG-13.


[After a lot of preparation, opening night for Luceti's newest club is finally here. The music is loud and insistent, the kind where you have to shout a bit to be heard above the noise. Flashing, moving lights above reveal the purple decor, mostly devoid of chairs, and plenty of room to dance. A well stocked bar should be able to provide liquid courage to anyone too nervous to shake there groove-thang sober, while a patio out back affords a space for anyone wanting to have more intimate (or just quieter) interactions. There's also a coat room, for anyone looking for a warmer spot for intimate interactions.

The doors open at seven, and will stay open until two am-- plenty of time to drink, dance, talk and generally have a good time. When the DJs aren't spinning, a house mix is put on, so there's never a quiet moment.]

Comments

[reviling]

[he knows she's looking for information, but he doesn't mind telling her a few things, given that she's by far been the most helpful person they've met here. Still, Levi doesn't really like to talk about himself. Ever. At all.]

.../about 5 years./

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

/That's not very long./

[Honestly, it surprises her. To be fair, a lot can be learned in five years and in a world where the main threat is Titans, five years is probably a good amount of time. Still, it's less than she thought.]

[reviling]

[Levi considers his response, realizes that he doesn't know a certain word, so he writes:]

How do you say 'recruited' ?

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Ginia looks at his note. Ah. She taps her chin as she thinks on the sign. When she remembers, she signs the word for recruit.]

[reviling]

[he practices it a couple of times until she gives him approval that he's got it down]

/I was recruited later than most people./

[by "recruited" he means "blackmailed," but details. It's also been closer to six years instead of five.]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Ginia gives a small nod. Going off Marco's words, most recruits started when they were around twelve. Levi looks... mid to late twenties, but she had a hunch he was older.]

/Five years and already a captain. Impressive./

[reviling]

/It's not a real title./

[in as much as the rank doesn't technically exist in their order. It's become a name that was applied to him, one he'd 'earned' rather than one assigned or achieved. But it's a bit difficult to explain.]

/I have a special...group./

[he writes:]

Special Operations Squad

/Most people don't live for five years/

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Special ops. Best of the best. It certainly explains his fighting skills and even why he'd be working so closely with Erwin. She nods again, smiles slightly, granting a little more respect.]

/I imagine not./

[The same could even be said for hunters. The rash ones, the dumb ones, the ones seeking glory or just in it for violence, those were the ones taken care of quickly.]

/Any regrets?/ [Ginia signs the word for regret, then fingerspells out the word, then signs it again.]

[reviling]

/No./

[The response comes immediately. Despite everything that's happened recently, he doesn't have regrets. He can't, not if he wants to keep going.]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[It's admirable he can easily so quickly; she certainly can't when it comes to her life.]

/Is E-R-W-I-N the reason you joined?/

[reviling]

/You could say that./

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

/Recruited you?/

[reviling]

[there's a pause as he glances to the side, sips the drink, and signs again:]

/You could say that./

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Definitely looks like there's a story there, but Ginia decides not to press her luck.]

/What were you doing before the military?/

[reviling]

[Levi looks at Ginia for a moment, debating how much about himself he wants to reveal. It isn't as though his past is a secret in his own world, and it doesn't seem to be anything that Ginia can hold against him, considering her own profession.

He doesn't know how to sign it, so he simply spells out:]

/c-r-i-m-i-n-a-l/

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Criminal. Ginia shows him the sign which is really just CRIME+PERSON.

But he's right; it's nothing she can hold against him and she doesn't even judge. She can put the pieces together; that is her job after all. Erwin said he was willing to work with bounty hunters to accomplish his goals, why not criminals too? If Levi was recruited by Erwin, it would explain his short time yet strong skills.

And here she was the opposite. A simple bartender who went into a life of crime.]

.../I was a bartender./

[reviling]

/Surprising./

[his face will have to set the tone, because it's not exactly easy to do sarcasm silently.]

/He forced me./

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[The sarcasm reads. Ginia rolls her eyes. Yeah, it was an obvious statement. But she's in the weird middle ground of not being a civilian but not being a soldier either. She just... is.]

/Join me or go to jail?/

[reviling]

/Yes. Forever./

[what he means is "for life," but it's close enough. He would've never been free again, ever. Subservient and caged by force, rather than having the opportunity to truly be free. He follows Erwin as faithfully as he does now by choice.]

/I wanted to-/ [pauses, thinks for a moment.] /m-u-r-d-e-r him./

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Ginia signs the word for kill for him. His words don't surprise her, it's natural.]

/And now?/

[reviling]

[he half quirks an eyebrow at her. She's clearly observational and intelligent, so he doesn't understand why she's bothering to ask how he feels about Erwin now. It's not exactly difficult to puzzle it out.]

/What do you think?/

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Always worth checking. She's lying if she says she doesn't care if Levi tried to kill Erwin, but if that was still his intent, would she be able to stop him? Who knew.]

/So my C-H-A-R-M-S won't work but his will./

[reviling]

[he looks at her for a long moment, almost unsure how to even respond to that.]

/C-H-A-R-M-S don't work on me./

[which is entirely the point. Erwin hadn't won him over by trying to appeal to him, necessarily. It had been a conclusion that Levi had come to on his own - which, in the end, is one reason why he trusts Erwin as much as he does. Because Erwin hadn't worked especially hard to earn it or appeal to him, but it had developed nonetheless. People who try to persuade him so obviously have less of a chance of actually succeeding.]

[whiskytraitorfirefight]

[Ginia studies him just a little bit before deciding it's probably true. He's too smart for that, which is why she hasn't tried. Directness, honesty, earning respect, competence, those seem more along the lines of getting on Levi's good side. Hell, it's one reason she even likes him.]

/Apparently not. More flirting for E-R-W-I-N then. He's the only one I can flirt with anyway./

[reviling]

/Like I said, he enjoys it./

[It's not even a little facetious; Levi doesn't doubt that Erwin actually enjoys flirting with women, even if the end goal is to have access to their money or influence or whatever else it is. He's well aware that likely Erwin's slept with a few of them as well.

Erwin flirts with Ginia, and she flirts back, and it's clear that they enjoy the game with one another. But Levi wonders if either one of them will ever drop the game when they get what they want out of each other, or if they end up as friends and not just allies regardless. A way to keep distance and yet be close at the same time.

It isn't that he's worried about romantic inclinations developing (not on Erwin's part, at least, though he doesn't know Ginia well enough to guess at that, though he suspects she'd try to fight them if they're anything alike), but attachments don't have to be romantic, and the lines here are considerably more blurred than what they usually deal with. She's not a subordinate, but unlike other mercenaries Erwin may have dealt with, it's not as though she's going to leave once the job is done. This isn't their home, where goals are clearer. They're all here indefinitely with undefined boundaries, and that's where things get messy.

As many people are painfully aware, Levi doesn't like it when things get messy.]