Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 19

They watched the lights and the nightlife of Mantle pass them by as the taxi navigated the roads. "I haven't really had much of a chance to soak up any of Mantle's nightlife," Jaune mused aloud gazing at the various clubs and bars lit up in stark contrast to how he usually viewed them in the day when he helped escort the kids to school, "I really should try coming down more in my off hours."

"Oh you should," Neon told him, "take it from a local this city never sleeps so you can always find something to do."

Jaune nodded, "well I look forward to seeing it for myself tonight," he said flashing a smile in Neon's direction, she returned it with an ecstatic grin.

The taxi parked on the street in front of the nightclub and Jaune took in the sight of it. Beats as the glowing multicolored neon sign read above it with holographic projectors showing the image of amplifiers pulsing with a rhythmic beat.

Stepping inside past a muscle bound bouncer and through a soundproof door Jaune's senses were assaulted. The loud techno music was the first thing that struck him, it was like being submerged into pure noise, and the bass was especially heavy rattling his teeth and bones.

The flashing multicolored lights illuminated the dance floor where an army of clubbers were already at work. They looked like a writhing mass as they crowded the area and the bar was no different with a crowd of people packed around it trying to get a drink.

Neon turned to him with a grin and said something he couldn't make out over the overly loud music.

"WHAT?" Jaune yelled to her, barely able to even hear his own voice over the oppressive din of techno music.

"YOU KNOW HOW TO DANCE RIGHT?" she repeated again but louder for him.

"NOT LIKE THAT." Jaune answered looking again at the crown moving.

Neon grabbed his hand, "IT'S EASY, I'LL SHOW YOU."

He let her take the lead as she led him directly to the crowded dance floor. It felt like being pulled into pure chaos for him as everywhere someone was moving to the beat. Neon faced him and started moving with the music. She was very clearly in her element, the close proximity of the other dancers and the smell of their sweat clearly didn't perturb her like it did him.

Jaune had no idea how to move to this kind of music. He'd learned to dance thanks to classes he took with his sisters but that was different. That was ballroom dancing and he had no idea how to match this. He took a moment to observe her movements and mirrored them bouncing his shoulders with the beat.

He found himself getting into a rhythm with her and while it wasn't his type of dancing or music he at least was able to get a feel for the movement. Neon was at least right that it wasn't hard to get into this form of dancing, it wasn't so much the dance itself that bothered him but the atmosphere.

He felt a few people bump against him and while Jaune never considered himself claustrophobic or whatever one called a fear of crowds but this was certainly testing his comfort levels. It seemed that Neon at least saw that he was having trouble getting into it.

His date stepped closer still moving to the beat. Jaune couldn't deny that she was quite enticing to watch dance, she flowed with the DJ's tune better than anyone around her and the way the frill of her skirt swayed drew his eye as the colored frills seemed to glow beneath the neon lights and her cat tail swayed in time just as much as any part of her. She put her hands on his shoulders and danced intimately close to him.

"You're doing good," she praised him. She still was having to raise her voice to be heard over the deafening music but this close at least he could hear her somewhat normally. "You're a little stiff though."