He couldn't believe it.
He, Adam Taurus, known far and wide throughout the world as the tactical, intelligent, martially gifted, brutal, and ruthless leader of the White Fang…
"That's all?"
Brought down by some no-name human in a backwoods village.
"After hearing about you from people all around, I expected something more. Turns out you're just an overhyped edgy brat."
The bull faunus grit his teeth in anger as the man patted some nonexistent dust off of his untouched jeans, something done purely for the purpose of mocking him.
"I thought you might've been a lead towards what's really happening over in this neck of the woods, and who could've pointed me to the big bad running the show behind the curtains, but turns out you're just some animal."
Adam glared hatefully at the tall, brown-haired man, who shrugged unrepentantly at him.
"What? You think I'm calling you an animal because you're a faunus?"
Adam's eyes widened in shock when a set of scaly, lizard-like wings and tail appeared behind the man. This wasn't the only change, as his teeth and nails grew into veritable fangs and claws, so wickedly sharp that they gleamed under the moonlight. Red scales spread through the back of his forearms and on his cheeks. Despite all of these changes, the one that stuck with Adam the most was in the eyes.
The previously human eyes had become very reptilian in nature, with the irises growing to occupy the majority of the eyes' space. Other than just their size, the irises changed in color as well, abandoning their warm brown bordering on amber, and shifting into a bright green that perfectly backlit the thick pupils, shaped like something between a thick, vertical slit, and a four-pointed diamond.
The man's forked tongue stretched out of his mouth to a shocking length, before retreating into his mouth as every single one of his animalistic features vanished, leaving behind the visage of a human that, other than a greater height, thicker muscles and a purple streak of hair amidst his spiky brown mane, was pretty much indistinguishable from all others.
"I don't look down on the faunus, and I believe that even categorizing them as a species separate from humans rather than having the two as different types of the same species is stupidly convoluted and absolutely moronic.
"The reason I called you an animal is because unlike people, human and faunus alike, whose actions carry some sort of rationale behind them, be it good or evil, selfless or selfish, you act purely out of spite and a desire to sate your bloodthirst, like an animal."
The man gave his chin a few pensive taps.
"Scratch that, most animals don't attack unless they're hungry, feeling threatened, or they feel you violated their territory. You're more of a monster, luxuriating in carnage for no reason other than because you can, rather like the Grimm. Or wasps and hornets, those evil little fuckers."
"I FIGHT FOR THE CAUSE! I FIGHT TO ENSURE THAT OUR PEOPLE GET RIGHTS! A BETTER FUTURE!"
The man scoffed at Adam, waving a dismissive hand at his words.
"Yes, because bombing a preschool or a pediatric hospital is going to be so effective at changing the social perception of faunus throughout the world, nevermind the fact that many of those affected by your attacks were faunus themselves."
"THEY CHOSE TO LIVE WITH THE HUMANS! BREED WITH THEM! THEY'RE TRAITORS, JUST LIKE YOU!"
The man silently stared down at a glaring, snarling Adam, before sitting down across him, confusing and surprising the bull faunus.
"I'm a guy that's really into the idea of freedom. Everybody is born deserving freedom, and they are entitled to it for as long as they don't deliberately and knowingly commit certain very bad actions. Being who and how I am, when I heard about the plight of the faunus and about the White Fang that were fighting for them under the leadership of this Ghira dude, I decided to join up.
"I'd be mostly an honorary member since I'm very busy dealing with some personal, possibly extinction-level stuff, but I wouldn't mind offing any slavers I come across during my travels and directing their victims to Menagerie, something that I was and am already doing to be quite honest.
"So I manage to track down and approach a White Fang base, intent on joining up, except the moment I show up, I'm attacked by them. I figured that they were just startled because I showed up out of nowhere, so I try to tell them that I'm on their side and want to join. You know how they reacted?"
The man leaned forward as if he were whispering a secret to Adam.
"They got even angrier and tried harder to kill me, all the while calling me all sorts of names that were probably meant to be derogatory towards non-faunus. I decided that that base was a lost cause, probably an extremist splinter group, so I took them down, gift-wrapped them to the authorities to ensure that no one else possibly became a victim of theirs, and decided to seek out another chapter of the White Fang.
"The same thing happened to me at this other chapter. And again, at the one after that. And again. And again. When I finally found someone willing to answer my questions, they explain to me about a change in leadership. The new leader is apparently a very strong, very scary man, who chose to change organization policy so that non-faunus couldn't join up anymore. Rather, any that found the now-mobile White Fang camps were to be eliminated. After that… Was the first White Fang bombing."
The man's eyes narrowed angrily at this point, the pupils slitting once again and his lips curling back to reveal his sharp fangs, causing Adam to cringe as something within him blared red klaxons before curling up in terror.
"I was nearby when it happened. Helped with the rescue efforts during the crisis itself, and with the corpse recovery efforts afterward. Had to dig up the broken, burned, and otherwise mangled corpses of over a dozen children."
Light flashed behind Adam's eyes, a consequence of a backhand much too fast for his eyes to track. He felt rage and indignation surging within his chest, but both feelings died a swift death under the terrifying contempt-filled look he was subjected to.
"I have children of my own, each of which I love with every single fiber of my being. The mere thought of losing them results in unimaginable amounts of sadness and wrath burning inside of me. Imagining any of them as I carried those small bodies to crying families… You have no idea just how much I absolutely loathe you, Adam Taurus."
Adam watched as the fingers of the man's right hand changed back to their clawed, scaly state, before dense sparks of electricity manifested from his wrist down to the tips of his claws.
The man's gaze was seemingly blank and bland, as was his voice, yet Adam could still easily feel all of the contempt behind them as he raised the sparking hand over his head.
"I am going to enjoy thi-"
CRACK!
A sound akin to cracking glass made the man stop his thrust right as the sparks dancing around his claws were about to reach Adam's eyes. He faced the sky with a look of frustration and disgust, before snuffing the lightning sparking around his hand by making a fist.
He stood back up, this time patting real dust off the back of his jeans, before giving Adam another look of disgust.
"You have no idea just how lucky you truly are, you little bastard. Tch."
Adam could only watch with a mixture of resentment and shameful relief as the man walked away from him, the air around him warping as if crushed by the power of his very anger.
From that day on, his nightmares were plagued by crackling lightning and burning green eyes.
-X-
The elevator trip to the headmaster's office was a tense affair for the present members of teams RWBY and JNPR, both as a consequence of their expectations for the actual meeting, and the disapproving looks from the Vice-headmistress Glynda Goodwitch, who was riding in with them.
Yang wasn't the only one envying Weiss at this point in time for having successfully - if unknowingly - avoided this whole affair.
Ren and Nora seemed to be the only ones unaffected by the mess of a situation, the male leaning against one of the elevator's walls while dispassionately staring off into the distance, while the girl hung over his front by the neck.
This seemed to annoy the vice-head, who pursed her lips while bending her riding crop with both hands.
The elevator slowed to a stop, before its doors split open with a ding, allowing the students to get their first glimpse of the headmaster's office.
The office was mostly the stereotypical headmaster's office, with paintings and book-stuffed shelves lining walls some of the walls, with the others bearing a series of evenly sized windows.
Ozpin, their headmaster, was seated behind a desk located on the far side of the room, close to the wall opposite to the elevator, and that bore only a single, oversized window.
While everybody else watched the office in curiosity and wonder, Blake couldn't help but notice the gear motif that permeated every part of it. There were gear-shaped designs on the floor, on the ceiling, on the headmaster's desk, and even atop the elevator.
"I have them here, headmaster."
The students' focus turned towards the man behind the desk, who spent a little while longer silently reading through and signing pieces of paper, before setting them atop a tidy pile to his left. He picked up the steaming mug of - based on the smell - black coffee, taking a good, long sip, before finally turning his focus to professor Goodwitch.
"Thank you, Glynda." He proceeded to turn towards the teens that had, without any input from himself or Glynda, lined up in front of him. "Teams JNPR and RWBY. The, in my opinion, most talented group of first-years to have enrolled into Beacon during my time as headmaster, and possibly in all of the institution's story."
He pushed his mug aside.
"Imagine my surprise to receive a very angry call from one of the academy's main suppliers of training equipment, claiming that a group of teens matching your descriptions caused a ruckus in their store, damaged one of their products, and then fled while pushing the responsibility onto my lap. Did you know that he thought of banning Beacon students from going into his store?" The man gave the arrayed students an inscrutable stare, holding it for long enough that even Ren found himself sweating nervously. "Luckily I managed to convince him not to, otherwise we'd be having a completely different conversation."
They all sighed in relief at that, something that did not escape the headmaster's notice.
"Do not think yourselves free of the consequences of your actions. You will be punished-"
"It's my fault, headmaster!"
Ozpin wasn't the only one surprised by the interruption from the blond leader of team JNPR. The headmaster leaned forward with his elbows resting on his desk, his hands steepled in front of his mouth and his eyes covered by his small, round shades, before speaking up.
"You chose to interrupt me mid-chastisement, Mr. Arc. I hope that whatever you have to say is worth listening to, as well as worth the consequences of such an action."
The young man unhesitatingly took a step forward, bringing him closer to the headmaster, before speaking up, his voice steady and his back straight.
"I was the one who broke the weapon, headmaster. My teammates and team RWBY did nothing wrong, so I should be the one being punished, not them."
The other members of Team JNPR and Ruby seemed to be gearing up to speak as well, but a single look from the headmaster stopped them in their tracks. The man turned his gaze back towards Jaune, an eyebrow raised as he commented almost idly.
"What you're admitting to being guilty of isn't something particularly minor, Mr. Arc. Your actions almost harmed Beacon as a whole. Are you sure this is all you want to say, even knowing that you might face harsh punishment?"
The blond nodded, getting a sigh out of the grey-haired man.
"Under these conditions, expulsion would be a very reasonable choice." Those words got grim and worried looks from the other teens, but Ozpin's focus was purely on the stone-faced Arc as he spoke. "However, seen as the worst-case scenario did not come to pass, that option has been taken off the table for now. Do not celebrate, however, as that does not mean you are free to go just yet.
"First of all, you will be writing an apology letter for the owner of the Emporium. Second, you will be paying back the store for the cost of the damaged merchandise from your own personal funds. Third, you will be attending some extracurricular lessons with Professor Goodwitch, to give you some measure of control over your aura."
Seeing the look of confusion in the blond's eyes at the last condition, Ozpin decided to clarify.
"Aura can be channeled into a huntsman's weapon to improve its innate properties, as well as to increase its durability. Get good enough at it and you shouldn't be breaking any more weapons in the future."
Jaune's eyes widened, his mouth sounding out a small "Oh.".
Pushing the resulting amusement aside, Ozpin continued.
"You have three days to write up your apology letter. Unaided, of course. The timeline for repaying the damaged goods will be left up to Arnes himself, so I suggest you do your absolute best with the letter to ensure he's in a charitable mood, Mr. Arc.
"As for the extra lessons with Professor Goodwitch, the scheduling shall be left to the two of you."
The headmaster kept his gaze on Jaune for a while longer, before letting it move along the rest of the teens.
"As future hunters and huntresses, I expect you to not fall into the habit of creating messes that others have to clean up. Dismissed."
The headmaster and vice-headmistress kept their focus on the students all the way until the doors to the elevator closed and it started its descent.
"I believe you were too soft on them, headmaster." Ozpin turned his focus towards Glynda, watching her adjust her glasses before following up with her thoughts. "Harsher punishment would have served to impress upon Mr. Arc and his friends the fact that huntsmen and huntresses must be very careful about the actions that they take, and that rather than allowing them to get away from punishment, their status will instead bring upon them harsher scrutiny and stricter standards. What's more, that last part at the end could be willfully misinterpreted by him."
"I meant it."
"Excuse me?" The green-eyed blonde witch blinked owlishly. "Headmaster?"
The man stood up from his chair and made his way to the large window placed behind his desk, his acute vision allowing him to keep track of the teens that had just vacated his office, with his focus alternately lingering on Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune.
"That last part, about them not making messes that I have to clean up. I meant it as I said."
The man did not need to be looking at Glynda to know that she was staring at him in confusion. Training his gaze on Jaune's back, he spoke.
"I was rather impressed by Mr. Arc. Despite running as a first instance after making a mess, he did not hesitate to step up and take responsibility for his actions when necessary. He made sure to repeatedly highlight the fact that he was the responsible party, as he did not wish to see others have to deal with the consequences of his actions. He did not hesitate or try to blame shift at any point in time; not when I made up the fib about Beacon possibly losing training materials, not when I brought up the idea of expulsion… Not even when I exerted pressure with my Aura.
"The others froze up under it, incapable of saying a single thing, but Mr. Arc… He looked as if he didn't even notice."
The headmaster looked at his right hand over his shoulder.
"Mr. Arc is not the type of person who would abuse his status as a huntsman later down the line for malicious reasons or personal benefit, but rather the type that would willingly put himself in harm's way to safeguard the innocent.
"He does not need to have moral lessons hammered into him as others do, but rather, he needs someone to instill some semblance of common sense into him. He needs to be made to think more before acting."
Glynda adjusted her glasses before cutting in.
"So you tell him he can make a mess as long as you don't have to clean it up."
The grey-haired man shrugged.
"Between who he is and the company he keeps, it is a certainty that he will be getting in more messes than the average huntsman or huntress candidate. What he needs to do is learn how to properly navigate through those situations so that both his mistakes and his good deeds do not result in innocents getting harmed."
The blonde pursed her lips.
"I still don't like the thought of implicitly giving a student a free pass."
Ozpin smirked devilishly at her.
"Of course you don't, Glynda. You're the responsible one, after all. You have to do the paperwork if something happens."
The woman sighed in resignation, already dreaming about the bottle of vintage whisky waiting for her at home at the end of this exhausting day, only for the headmaster's next words to catch her by surprise.
"Mr. Arc is very gifted, Glynda. We saw that when he took the qualifying test for those without combat school transcripts, during the initiation, and even in the security footage of the Emporium that was forwarded to us. Even Arnes was impressed with the skills at show, despite the damage to his merchandise.
"He just needs proper direction and a good example, which is why I want you, more than anyone else, to mentor him."
"I…" The woman floundered for a moment at the headmaster's candid words, falling back onto her habit of adjusting her glasses whenever emotionally off-center, before clearing her throat. "I will do my best."
"That is all I can ask of you. Feel free to take the rest of the day off, Glynda."
The blonde nodded, before making her own way down the elevator.
All the while, Ozpin could only think about the troubles he could see in the horizon for the young Arc.
'I expected Miss Rose to be the core of the fight to come, and Amber's situation has me considering making the unfortunate choice of bringing Miss Nikos in as well, and much earlier than could or should ever be expected of her as well, but… Between your strength and your heroic desires, you shall be making many waves, Mr. Arc. Even if I tried keeping you out of the conflict, the other side would likely not be content with leaving you be. I just hope that you're ready when the mistakes of my past come knocking."
-X-
"What did you say?"
"I don't own any money." Jauned shrugged at his shocked teammates and team RWBY. "It's no big deal."
"Considering the fact that you have to pay for what you broke?" Blake spoke up, still in her characteristic sardonic tone. "It is a big deal."
"Well…" JNPR's leader sheepishly scratched his cheek, before giving Blake a hesitant smile. "I'll figure out some other way to pay?"
The cat faunus had to focus extremely hard to keep her 'bow' from twitching in response to the words much too familiar with a certain line from the last issue of 'Ninjas of Love' she had been reading.
The images of Shy, blushing Yuko sliding her kimono off her shoulder with one hand while the other one undid her obi were replaced with Jaune slowly, hesitatingly lifting his shirt, revealing the built body that she had not paid much attention to the last time she saw it due to the fact that it was bruised, cut and burned, but that for a while now she'd been picturing in place of the various male characters of her favorite book series.
"Give up on that thought process." Weiss scoffed derisively. "I doubt any form of payment other than lien will be accepted."
"That's easy then!" Nora exclaimed, getting the whole group's attention. "Fearless leader just needs to find a job!"
"Yeah!" Ruby shouted with as much enthusiasm as Nora, before quizzically tapping her chin. "What job could he do, though?"
Everybody stopped to think, before Ruby spoke up once again, her eyes shining with delight.
"Maybe he could work at an ice cream parlor?"
"Ooooh!" Nora's eyes gained an unholy gleam at the suggestion, before something even better came to her mind. "What about a bakery?"
Yang was the next one to interject.
"Bartender?"
"Oh no, can't do that one." Jaune shook his head. "My teacher told me that me drinking would make things dangerous for the people around me."
Everybody turned worried gazes towards the nonchalant Jaune after those ominous words.
"Anyways." Ren cut in. "How about personal trainer?"
Looks were traded all-around at that suggestion, most of them carrying some degree or another of agreement, until Weiss spoke up.
"His master's training methods had him locked in a cage with an Ursa in his underwear."
Ren looked at Jaune, then at Weiss, before turning back to Jaune.
"Not a personal trainer then."
The group fell back into silence as each of them tried to think up some sort of job Jaune could do on the side.
"Masseur?" Blake's tone was the slightest bit less sardonic than usual, and, if one squinted really hard, they might even see a hint of red on her cheeks. "Maybe there are people in Vale willing to pay well for a good massage?"
"A good massage? From him?" Weiss scoffed, again, not noticing the way both Ruby and Pyrrha looked at her as she kept talking. "It'd be a surprise if he even succeeded in not breaking someone's back."
"There's no need to be so harsh." Pyrrha spoke up with a frown that was mirrored by Ruby. "How about Jaune tells us what he can do and we go on from there, instead of us just wildly speculating?"
They all turned towards Jaune at that, who shrugged lightly.
"Actually, Nora and Blake's suggestions were great. I've been great behind an over since…" Something that might've been a frown flashed through Jaune's face too fast for the others to be sure, before he proceeded with a smile. "For a long time, and I've been told I'm alright at giving massages."
He raised his hands at that, before counting on his fingers as he spoke.
"I can also sew, hunt, fish, forage for edible nuts, berries, mushrooms and herbs, cut trees, give first aid, clean, cook - which is different from baking, no matter what anyone tries to tell you-" Ren and Ruby nodded in agreement with that. "Do laundry, construction work, and haggle."
Everyone stared at Jaune in shock, with even Ren raising a single eyebrow before asking the question the whole group had.
"...How do you know all of this?"
"I spent a lot of time with my teacher walking around, sleeping in the woods, helping around small villages and stuff." He shrugged. "I needed to sew so I could fix my clothes and didn't go around naked if we spent too long without finding a store that sold clothes in my size. I had to hunt, fish, and forage in order to have food, chop down trees to set up camp and for firewood, clean and dress wounds so I didn't die of an infection, clean so my weapons and gear didn't pick up dust, dirt or rust, cook because my teacher can't be trusted not to burn water even though he made the best pancakes ever somehow, do laundry because stinky clothes are no good, and haggle because I had to make sure that the little money we got lasted us until we got more.
"I learned construction work by helping some frontier towns and villages rebuild after bandit or Grimm attacks."
"Damn, Pyjama boy!" Yang cut in with a smirk. "Housebroken already. You'll make a fine Mrs. someday."
The Xiao Long didn't think about the possible repercussions of her words until she noticed the fact that Ruby and Pyrrha started smiling at one another, something that Ren reacted to by putting a few strides of length between himself and the rest of the group.
Nora seemed a hair away from banging on their table while chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!", while Weiss facepalmed and Blake zoned out.
Images of a certain blond wearing nothing more than an apron flashed through the catgirl's mind, forcing her to focus on keeping her ears still.
"Well…" Jaune spoke up, causing an immediate cessation of all hostilities, and getting everybody's focus back on him. "I could try the jobs Ruby, Nora and Ren suggested and see if they work. If they don't, I could try something else. Maybe a tailor, seamstress, or hospital needs someone capable of applying a good stitch."
The others looked at one another, before shrugging in collective approval at the idea.
"Sure."
"Sounds good."
"Don't see why not."
Jauned decided then and there to follow that course of action as soon as possible.
-X-
The most popular ice cream parlor in Vale was the Ice Queen, a store in the richest district that had made a reputation for themselves by making their ice cream from the purest ice available from the Atlesian peaks, and wild fruits picked by hunters in Grimm-rich regions, allowing anyone with enough money to experience those exotic flavors.
The head of staff there took a single look at Jaune before kicking him out.
This rejection was followed by the next best, and the one after that as well.
Rejection after rejection ultimately resulted in Jaune making his way to N-Ice Dreams, a mid-range parlor in a nice part of the town, but not the gourmet type that charged their customers an arm and a leg, thus attracting the rich and the famous who were likely to give the best tips.
The place was a rather homey affair, with most of the building being made of wood with a varnish finish, and decorated in warm colors that made one feel comforable. The owner was an old, rotund man named Walther, whose thick mustache and good cheer made him seem like a friendly walrus.
After having talked to Jaune for a while, the man didn't hesitate to bring him on as a part-timer for the after-school period, and he did not regret it for a moment!
Sure, Jaune was prone to a small social mishap once and again and was utterly oblivious to flirting from many a girl - and even some boys - resulting in disappointment for them, but he was a nice, friendly, hard-working young man. All-in-all, the young man impressed in his two weeks of work.
There was one big problem, however.
Her.
She was a short girl, standing at around 4'10", dressed mostly in whites, browns, and pinks, had two-toned hair - left brown and right pink - with a reversed color scheme for her eyes, and she was mute as far as Walther knew.
To be fair, the girl was a frequent customer who had done nothing worse than flirt her way into free treats that ultimately came out of the pay of his most susceptible part-timers, but… There was just something about her that made Walther feel as if he could never relax or let down his guard in the girl's presence.
It'd been a while since she had shown up - and truthfully, Walther was genuinely hoping that she never returned - but she was finally back, meaning that Jaune would be getting exposed to her for the first time.
The older man's watchful gaze never left the girl from the moment she set foot in the store, something that she apparently found amusing since she gave the man a mocking 'butter would not melt in her mouth' smile, before her eyes fell upon the newest face behind the counter.
Seeing the way her eyes widened in interest, Walther regretted not having managed to provide a uniform in Jaune's size, and instead saddling him with one a single size smaller.
The girl skipped up to the blond teen, who greeted her with a genuine smile before asking for her order. She pointed at some of the different flavors of ice cream before signaling amounts with her hands.
Jauned asked her to confirm her order, prompting her to mime to him the fact that she did not speak - though Walther to this day doubted whether she couldn't, or simply chose not to - to which he responded by signing something with his hands.
The girl's eyes widened before she excitedly signed back at him. He smiled and responded in kind, and soon enough they were having a full-blown conversation, with the girl sporting the most genuine smile Walther had ever seen from her.
It gave him the creeps.
The girl's body language became more flirty for a moment, but Jaune, as usual, completely missed the signals, something that resulted in her mood falling the slightest bit. She seemed undeterred by his obliviousness, however, and kept flirting with him for as long as she could before leaving with her treat, paying full price for the first time in months as she didn't have a horny and hopeful teen to swindle.
After watching that series of events, Walther chose to approach Jaune at the end of that workday, his tone reluctant as he spoke.
"Jaune… I think it's best if you did not return here."
The blond stared at the man with wide eyes, his tone concerned.
"Did I do anything wrong? I hope I didn't make things harder for you, Mr. Walther! "
The boy's earnestness simultaneously made things easier and harder for the man.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Jaune. You were a lovely employee to have, actually. Your coworkers liked you, the customers liked you… You're a good kid, Jaune, which is why I'm sending you off with your 2 weeks' pay. Believe me when I say that I'm doing this for your own good."
The blonde took the not insignificant amount of lien before leaving, a cloud of confusion hanging over his head, while Walther nodded to himself with the knowledge that he had made the right choice.
The girl showed up the following day with a scroll in hand, only to leave in disappointment the moment she was told that Jaune no longer worked there.
She never showed up there again.
-X-
Jaune was well and truly vexed. After having been let go from N-Ice Dreams, Jaune had tried to find part times in other places, with… Confusing results.
His needlework managed to impress a seamstress enough to convince her to give him a trial period in the back room with the others tasked with sewing, but she ended up sending him off with a confusing "Flirting girls aren't stitching girls".
The cook at the restaurant he tried applying to took a single bite of his food before telling him that "His humble establishment was far too small a stage for the exhibition of such magnificent genius", whatever that meant.
The lady at the bakery took a single bite of his teacher's chocolate chip pancake recipe before saying something about "God" and "Worship", which creeped him out so much that he left on his own.
Which left him standing in front of a heavy wooden door in an area that, while not in the shady part of town, was certainly close.
He looked down at the print-out he got from an employment website saying "Handsome, Physically fit Masseur wanted". He certainly was physically fit, that was something he was rather proud of, and he didn't think he was ugly, but what he really hoped for was that his skills managed to get the employer to overlook any flaws from him.
"Well, here goes nothing."
He knocked on the door, standing awkwardly for a few minutes as he waited for a response of some type. A slat opened on the door, revealing a pair of cloudy grey eyes before a muffled voice sounded out.
"What do you want?"
"Err…" The blond cleared his throat, sheepishly scratching the back of his head before finally managing to speak. "I'm here for the interview?"
The eyes looked him up and down for a few minutes before the slat closed. The sounds of metal grinding against metal came from behind the door, prompting Jaune to curiously approach it, only for the door to open the slightest bit, before a hand yanked him through, catching him so thoroughly by surprise that he didn't really have the time to react.
By the time he recovered his wits, Jaune was already speedwalking after the owner of the grey eyes, a beautiful - if rather stone-faced - woman, with green, neck-length hair and wearing a dark blue dress that started below the shoulders and ended around mid-thigh with a slit on the side.
"You fit the visual profile that we've been looking for." The woman said as they walked past a series of closed doors. Noises similar to the ones he remembered coming from his teacher's room whenever they managed to stay at an inn were all-around him, except they sounded quieter, and just… less. He pushed those thoughts aside as the woman kept speaking. "Now we just need to figure out if your other skills will make you worth keeping around, or if you're just going to be a disappointment, like the others before you."
The two of them walked down a series of corridors before the green-haired woman waved another woman over.
This new woman had purple hair done up in a messy bun held by a pair of chopsticks with two bangs framing her face, dark-purple eye shadow, wine red lipstick, and a wine red dress that showed more than it hid, with it looking more like it was painted on her body than worn. The dress started right over the woman's breasts, barely hiding her areola, had a plunging neckline that stopped a ways below the belly button, and the hem stopped at around half the length of the green-haired one.
"Ara Ara~" The purple-haired woman gave Jaune a look, before turning to the green-haired one. "Whatever might you have called me over for, Midori?"
"You know what this is about, Lette." The green-haired woman, Midori, pointed a thumb at Jaune. "He wants in. You're testing him."
Lette, the purple-haired woman, turned towards the blond, who tried his best to give the woman a genuine, non-awkward smile.
"Nice to meet you miss Lette. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, the ladies love it." His eyes widened in shock as the introduction just chose to bypass any filter of his and make itself known. "No, wait, uh… I'm… Uh…"
"Oh my~" Lette's eyes widened as well, though rather than shock, it was a wholly different, much hungrier emotion behind them. "That was so… adorable. Ufufufufufufufufu~"
She covered her mouth with her hand as she laughed, all for the sole purpose of allowing her to hide her predatory lip-licking. Midori reached into her cleavage before tossing a set of keys to Lette.
"Room 112's just been cleaned, so the two of you can use it. And Lette, try not to scare this one away."
"Follow me, Jaune~ "
The purple-haired woman took the young man's hand in hers, linking their fingers together as she guided him to the vacant room.
As soon as the two were out of view, some of the other men and women that had watched the scene spoke up.
"Welp, there goes another victim."
"That kid is about to lose 15 pounds worth of water weight."
"How long do you think it'll take?"
"I say 5 minutes."
"5? That's way too much, I give him 2."
"Did you see the same person I did? That kid is totes a virgin. It wouldn't be a surprise if he didn't make it past 15 seconds."
"Mhhhhhmmm~"
"Heh, seems like it's started."
"Someone set the stopwatch."
-X-
"Mhhhhhmmm~"
Lette stretched, showcasing as much of her assets as possible without outright taking off her clothes. Noticing the fact that Jaune - if that was even his real name - was nervously taking in his surroundings, she decided to make herself more comfortable by shucking off her shoes, taking the chopsticks off of her hair, which allowed it to fall loosely to her shoulders, and pull up the zipper on the side of her dress just the slightest bit.
"Jaune~" She purred at him from the bed. "I'm ready~"
His focus finally returning to the woman, the blond nodded lightly, before gulping nervously.
"A-alright, Miss Lette. Just… Just…" 'Come on, Jaune! You can do this! It doesn't matter that every other place rejected or let you go, you can get this job! You just have to use that technique, and mix it with what you learned from the ScrollNet!' "I need you to lie down on your belly."
The woman raised an eyebrow at Jaune's words before a predatory grin spread through her face as she, without ever having it mentioned, pulled the zipper of her dress the rest of the way up, only to lied down on her stomach before Jaune could've seen anything sensitive.
"A-alright, now I need some massage oil."
"Ooh~, this sounds interesting~" She pointed a hand at a see-through cabinet with a many gels, creams, lotions, and many rubber, plastic and metal objects in a variety of shapes, some manual, others battery-operated. "The big red plastic bottle."
The blond nodded at that, ignoring everything else in the cabinet only to take the bottle, before standing over Lette.
'Alright, first you squirt a generous amount of oil into your hands.'
A couple of squeezes and both of Jaune's hands were covered in oil, all the while Lette watched the earnest, nervous, and slightly confused look on the naive young man's face with mounting hunger.
Jaune, still locked in his own thoughts, had absolutely no chance to notice the woman's looks.
'Then you rub your hands together to warm it up.'
He did so, stopping only when the oil felt appropriately warm.
'Now… I do the thing.'
Jaune's hands slowly went down, closer and closer to Lette's back, until they made contact…
-X-
"MHM!"
"Seems like Hurricane Lette has made an appearance." A bald man with a trimmed beard said with a smirk. "Let's see how long he can handle it for."
"AHN!"
One of the women giggled.
"His moans sound pretty girly. So cute~"
"IYAN~"
The bald man's eyes narrowed.
"Wait a second… Doesn't that voice sound like… Nah, no way."
"Huh?" The woman tilted her head. "What are you talking about."
"I just thought of something impossible, just forget I said a-"
"OH OUM!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock, before the woman slowly spoke.
"...That was Lette's voice, wasn't it?"
"AH! OH! OH LORD! RIGHT THERE!"
Those present could only listen in stunned disbelief as Lette's voice kept climbing in both pitch and volume, before a shrieked "YES! YES! OH MY OUM!" was heard throughout the whole establishment.
It wasn't any real surprise when Midori stormed into the room, before dragging out a nervously smiling blond.
"T-that was… 15 seconds… Right?"
No one dared answer that question.
The woman that had been conversing with the bald man picked up enough courage to open the door to room 112, only for the sight of Lette, the famed most voracious woman of 'The Blooming Lotus' lying in an insensate mess of sweat and her own juices, her body spasming in extremely powerful aftershocks, eyes rolled both inward and halfway through to the back of their orbits, and her tongue out and lolling while a pool of drool built up under her face, to permanently burn itself into the memory of all those present.
On that day, Jaune secured himself an extremely well-paying job as a masseur.
-Chapter End-