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Jaune stretched his arms out as he finished up with the last of the appointments. What was left was the after-hour Aura massage special.
"Hey boss, I'm heading out to get some fried chicken with Elen before heading home. Since I'll be passing by this place again when going home, want me to pick up some chicken for you?" offered Arvo as he put on his jacket.
Jaune pondered for a second before tossing Arvo some Lien to pick him up a number one combo. He had no desire to cook dinner for himself for the day, and he was in the mood for some fried chicken, especially the restaurant Arvo was picking it up from. Not only that, since Arvo had a spare key, he could easily let himself in and drop his food for him before locking up again while he dealt with the patient.
"Let's see, I have a little time to spare now," hummed Jaune as he took a seat inside his little office, "Guess I should use this time to balance out the checkbooks and make sure payments are going on time."
Emerald stood in front of the clinic, unsure whether to go in or not. She cursed Mercury for this prank. The asshole had made an appointment under her name, filling out the information all online. Upon receiving a notification reminding her about her appointment this morning, Emerald's first reaction was to cancel or just skip it. But if she did, then she would be subjected to a 25 Lien cancellation fee. Emerald wanted to just ignore it at first, thinking that they would never be able to find her anyways. But Cinder had ordered them to keep a low profile, especially after that little disaster from before.
'But Cinder also said to keep away from this place,' thought Emerald nervously, looking left and right, 'What do I do? Do I go in or not?'
She was aware that in addition to it being under Junior's protection, there were guards looking over the place. Sure Junior's members tried to disguise themselves as just passing citizens, but Emerald could see them in key areas, helping protect the place. It was locations that she herself had been for surveillance.
'Not only that, but that old geezer might be there,' shivered Emerald, remembering Aureville and the fact had thrown Mercury into the ground, shattering his Aura in one go.
A cold shiver blew across her neck as Emerald quickly looked around in slight fear.
'Right. The mute girl also liked this place too,' gulped Emerald, still remembering the cold blade pressed against her neck. She knew that if Cinder hadn't been there to stop the fight, Emerald would've been laying on the floor with a pool of blood coming from her throat. It was only due to the fact she was still useful to Cinder that kept Neo at bay.
'Should I go in and just create an illusion and have him massage the air?' thought Emerald before dismissing that thought. Though she could create very convincing illusions, that was all that it was. Not to mention on the off chance that Jaune might recognize her abilities, even if it was very unlikely.
'I'll just go in and bear with it,' gritted Emerald as she walked up to the room, 'At the least, I'll get a massage. If the masseur's a poor one or try to feel me up, I can always knock him out.'
Taking a deep breath, Emerald knocked on the door.
"This isn't so bad right now," sighed Emerald as she took a shower, letting the warm slightly soapy water wash over her naked body.
One would think that working for a person whose plan was to overthrow Vale, and eventually all the kingdoms, and had an extensive network throughout the world as well as the funds would be able to finance a room with a good shower. But unfortunately, most of their time was spent in the wilds, stopping only at local taverns that only had beds. It was only since their mission was in Beacon that they had access to beds and a shower.
"But even Beacon's showers aren't as nice as this one," murmured Emerald as she adjusted the water temperature to be higher, "Not to mention I don't have to worry about Mercury using up all the water."
It was to be expected, to be honest. Hosting students from all four academies meant splitting all the water amongst them, and the several public big water heaters could only do so much. Only the professors had separate water heaters for their own shower.
Soon, Emerald was finished with her shower. Humming a small tune, she donned the bathrobe inside the room while slipping into the disposable slippers before walking towards the room. Opening the door, she saw Jaune already finishing up with preparations.
"Do you have any preferences?" asked Jaune, pointing to the selection of spices and oils.
Emerald frowned as she looked over the choices before choosing the autumn leaves oil and pumpkin spices.
Seeing Emerald finish making her choices, Jaune gestured for Emerald to disrobe and lay down on the table before leaving to give her some privacy.
"He's more chivalrous than I thought," hummed Emerald as she disrobed her robe as she laid on the table with nothing but her green and white striped panties that she had covered with a towel, "Mercury would've just stayed in the room to watch, the pervert."
Jaune knocked on the door, signifying that he was about to enter the room. Emerald merely grunted as she placed her hands in front of her face, using it as a pillow for her face.
"All right, this is your first time getting an Aura massage, right?" asked Jaune as he began to warm up his hands, "Now you may feel a slight tingling sensation that should fade off fast. As a general precaution, you have your Aura unlocked, correct? Otherwise, it's going to feel really weird from what I've been told."
Emerald rolled her eyes for a second before nodding in confirmation. Using Aura for a massage? Sounded like a waste of time to her, but she was prepared to just go with it.
'Oh Oum, this feels heavenly,' moaned Emerald inside her mind as Jaune's hands roamed across her body.
It was like Jaune was a conductor, and her body was the orchestra playing a beautiful symphony that soothed everything. She had to keep her lips sealed to prevent herself from moaning out loud to add to the accompaniment.
'No wonder Roman and Neo are so protective of this place,' thought Emerald as she peacefully let her mind ponder, 'With massages like this, they'd make a pretty Lien. Not only that, but this place could be a potential goldmine for information. If his customers are Huntsmen and Huntresses, and if we can have access to that information, then it'll make the plan much easier!'
The only problem was how to access the information. If it had Roman's seal of approval for security, then it would mean it would be hard to hack in. As much Emerald detested Roman, she knew the thief had connections everywhere that he could use to help Jaune. The thief was also very private, and trying to dig any information about him wasn't easy. In fact, the only reason they could get his cooperation was through brute force and Lien, not blackmail.
'I'll ponder about that later,' thought Emerald as she felt her mind slipping, 'Just for now, I want to enjoy this.'
Emerald didn't even complain or flinch when Jaune began to massage her inner thighs, letting his hands roam around her body. The massage, combined with the gentle Aura sweeping through her body to help relax her muscles, proved too much for her to bear before she started to be lulled to sleep.
'Wow, she really is tense,' thought Jaune as he went over her olive brown skin, pressing down on her back muscles once more to find some lingering tension remaining, 'She must've been stressed for a very long time. I think the only person who could match this is Vice'
Still, Jaune continued on, even when Arvo dropped off his food, ensuring all the time was spent getting rid of the most troubling of knots.
"Whew, got rid of most of them, if not all of them," grunted Jaune as he rotated his shoulders a bit, "I'll let her nap for a little."
Gently dimming the lights and closing the door, Jaune left Emerald in the room while he went to go heat up his dinner a little.
It was about five minutes before Emerald snapped her eyes open. Her living conditions made it so even when she was sleeping, she would always have some slight awareness of her surroundings. Yet the massage had completely made her relax her guard to the point she had really been asleep during the majority of the massage.
"Shit, I haven't been that lax since….," trailed off Emerald, remembering her childhood when she was still so young… so innocent….. so happy.
Emerald immediately shook those memories off. They were memories of weakness that weren't needed. Stretching, Emerald took the warm wet towel that had been placed by Jaune earlier, which was currently being heated by fire Dust, before wiping off the spices and oil off her body.
After finishing that, she quickly dressed up once more, getting ready to leave when she stopped for a second.
"Should I just trick the masseur into thinking I paid?" thought Emerald.
If she used her Semblance, she could make Jaune believe that she handed him the correct amount of Lien, then she could've gotten this massage for free. Now that she was inside, it wasn't like Junior's goons could sense her using her Semblance, nor could they see.
Emerald instantly nixed that idea, though. Though she could do that, she wouldn't put it past Roman to have installed hidden security cameras. She could trick people, but tricking video cameras was past her level. If someone reviewed the camera footage, it would show her walking out on her bill, and a certain mute woman would be on the hunt for her head.
Though it pained her to give up Lien, it wasn't really her Lien, but rather Lien that she had pickpocketed from some other people earlier.
As Emerald was left pondering about that, she felt her body was actually much lighter now. Quickly shaking her limbs, Emerald felt so much lighter and free than before. Stretching her arms, she discovered the knots that had been plaguing her were gone.
"Wow. I can kind of see why the stupid thief really likes this place," hummed Emerald before leaving, making sure to pay for her massage.
Emerald hummed a tune as she made it back to the room Beacon had provided them.
"So, enjoy your massage?" asked Mercury with a dark chuckle as Emerald entered the room.
"As a matter of fact, I did," replied Emerald with a smirk, causing Mercury to blink, "I can see why it's so highly recommended."
As Emerald began to walk away to change her clothes, she stopped at the bathroom door, "By the way, I wouldn't exactly be smirking right now, since you tried to trick me there."
Mercury was confused until he suddenly felt the chill of cold steel pressed against his neck. Mercury slowly looked to his right to see Neo in her disguise, her black hair tied up in pigtails, and her eyes looking pretty murderous.
The reason being was that Mercury had actively given Jaune another customer, which meant he now had less time for her! She was already limited in her time to tease Jaune, but the fact Mercury had gone out of his way to 'make' an appointment that took up a timeslot meant he would be busier, and it would be harder for her to get an appointment! She would deal with Emerald later, but Mercury was the priority target right now.
Emerald could only smirk as she heard Mercury yelping in pain, yelling "Crazy bitch!".
Pyrrha sighed as woke up on a Saturday. Today was the day of the dance…. and she hadn't mustered the courage to ask Jaune if he wanted to go with her. Usually it would be the boy who asked, but considering Jaune didn't even know about the Beacon dance, he wouldn't have asked.
"Not to mention he's probably too busy working," sighed Pyrrha as she brushed her hair, "Should I even bother going?"
Though she said this, she knew she had to go. Her agent would make a fuss if she didn't show up to a dance where all students of the four academies were attending. The only ones not attending were possible upperclassmen who were on missions or had personal reasons. The chance to network beyond one's own Academy was a chance not many people would miss.
As Pyrrha got up to take a shower, she missed the glint in Nora's eyes and smirk. Had she learned from her mistake by kidnaping Jaune into coming to the trip to Forever Falls? Certainly!... Up to a specific point.
'This time it's different!' grinned Nora, 'This time, I actually have a plan! A well-thought-out plan that Ren helped me make!'
Indeed, Ren had been pulled into this scheme, unwillingly at first before reluctantly agreeing to help. Not only that, but Nora managed to even get Jaune's whole staff onto the plan! She had double-checked with Glynda about this, too! And though Glynda was unwilling to admit, Nora had indeed found a nice little loophole for this plan. Not to mention, since Jaune wasn't being pulled to any dangerous location, Glynda allowed it, much to her own frustration and shock.
'Then again, if I can somehow convince Jaune to be pulled into the Beacon staff as an auxiliary member, that would mean massages paid out of the Beacon funding instead of my own pocket,' though Glynda with a gentle smile, though she did not show it.
Jaune sat at the bench in a park in confusion. His own staff had somehow managed to convince him to take the day off, as he had been working six days a week for the past few months.
"I'm not even sure how they convinced me," blinked Jaune as he took a sip of the milk tea he had bought.
Going through his finances, he was doing relatively well that taking a day off wouldn't hurt him even after deducting the costs of his staff, supplies, and rent.
'Why do I feel like someone is trying to do something?' thought Jaune to himself, 'Is it a plan from Nora?'
Before he could deduce that his thought process was on track, he was interrupted by his thought process.
"Jaune! Oh good, you're here!"
Jaune turned to see Yang forcefully dragging Blake by her wrist.
"The staff said you were taking the day off and went to the park, so I decided to come here," grinned Yang, "Anyways, I need your help! Blake hasn't been sleeping all that well, so we need your massage expertise to get her to nap before the dance!"
"Yang! I don't need one, and it's Jaune's day off," said Blake defiantly, "Plus, I promised you I'd relax already, so there's no need to drag him into it."
Jaune looked over to Blake and saw heavy bags under her eyes and immediately made his decision.
"Follow me, we'll use my room. Can't do the massage out here," said Jaune as he quickly stood up, tossing his drink away to the trash in the distance, only to miss. Sheepishly, he quickly picked up the drink and properly disposed of it before leading a chuckling Yang and a slightly unwilling Blake.
As expected, Jaune's staff were slightly unhappy that Jaune came back even after pushing him out to relax. However, they accepted that Jaune was doing a favor for a friend, and the said friend was even willing to pay double for someone who had clearly not been sleeping well.
"I don't need -," started Blake, only for Yang to push her into the shower.
"Don't worry, I got Ruby bringing in a spare change of clothes, and Weiss has team CFVY helping out with the last of the preparations for the dance," grinned Yang.
"Dance? Oh yea, Pyrrha did mention something about that," hummed Jaune as he scratched his chin.
"Hey since it's your day off, you should totally join!" grinned Yang before faltering, "Though I don't know if it's open to civilians like you. Maybe if someone invited you?"
"I'm assuming it's formal wear?" asked Jaune, to which Yang nodded, "No dice. Even if I wanted to go, I don't have any sort of suit or tuxedo. No way I can get a rental before the dance."
"You could if you tried?" asked Yang, though her voice wavering at that. There might be a few, but they were most likely ugly rentals or crappy second hand ones.
Jaune merely shrugged, "And who'd invite me? Are you?"
Yang faltered for a second before quickly regaining her footing, leaning forward a bit to let Jaune get a good glance of her window as she pressed a finger onto his chest.
"Oh? You think you have what it takes to handle this?" asked Yang with a flirtatious tone, "You better have the stamina to back that up cause you'll be in for a long ride."
Jaune blinked before muffling a chuckle at the attempted pun with her last name before waving her off, "Does that mean you're inviting me? Cause I assure you, With my skills, I can at least last a long arc."
Yang blinked before she leaned back, stuffing her fist to her hands to prevent herself from laughing on that pun.
The two of them stopped when Blake stepped out of the shower, still slightly grumpy but unwilling to let a chance to experience Jaune's Aura massage go to waste.
Soon, Blake's moans began to fill the room, which was quickly replaced with her snoozing.
"Seriously, thanks again," thanked Yang as she bridal carried Blake into a taxi, who was still asleep, though in her clothes thanks to the efforts of Yang and Ruby, "Your Aura massages are a lifesaver. I don't know how, but even the bags under her eyes are almost gone. I thought I'd have to use some heavy makeup to make that disappear before the dance."
"No worries. I can't leave a friend in need," smiled Jaune. Though he was curious why Blake hadn't been sleeping and was most likely stressed, it wasn't his place to ask.
"Next time you have a day off, we'll hang out at the bar. Drinks will be on me," grinned Yang as she waived Jaune goodbye.
"You don't have to," said Jaune hurriedly, only for Yang to shake her head.
"You refused to take the extra lien, so I gotta pay you back somehow," replied Yang before the taxi driver took them away.
Jaune could only sigh as he decided to head back inside, and maybe play some games.
Jaune whistled as he went to get some office supplies around 3 pm. Arvo had told him that they were running low on staplers and pens, so Jaune decided to purchase them himself, using it as an excuse to walk.
Suddenly, Nora appeared in front of Jaune, holding some rope in her hand while grinning.
"Uhh, Nora? What are you planning?" asked Jaune warily.
"Oh nothing," grinned Nora, "I'm only going to tell you that I'm here to kidnap you to Beacon in your face, so don't resist, alright?"
"Wait, what!?" blinked Jaune, but before he could fully process that statement, Nora had already bound Jaune up before carrying him on her shoulders, cackling as she ran towards the nearest Bullhead that had been preplanned.
Surpriseee! Here's Nora!