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Neopolitan took a deep breath as she prepared for her appointment. She had to make sure she didn't expose herself to Jaune, otherwise that would open a whole slew of questions that would raise suspicion, and ultimately, could hamper Roman's escape. But how could she resist Jaune's massage, especially when it was dangling right in front of her? So ultimately, she chose to come to her appointment.
Neo made sure her hair was properly brushed and dyed black as well as tying pigtails to differentiate her usual look. She blinked as she looked into the mirror to see her green contact lenses were still on. Neo would've just used her Semblance to disguise herself, but she didn't trust herself to keep her disguise while getting an Aura massage.
And finally, to make sure that Mercury didn't screw her over….. she sent the fake blackmail photo to Emerald. Just to make sure Mercury didn't barge in.
With that in mind, Neo took her steps into the office.
Meanwhile…
Mercury was cursing up a storm and hoping some of it would work against Neo while being chased by Emerald.
"Get back here! I know you went through our drawers!" shouted Emerald as she fired guns, "Neo took photographic proofs!"
Mercury cursed once more. Sure he had entertained the thought of taking the appointment for himself, showing up before Neo did and explaining to Jaune that the appointment had been meant for him, not Neo. Since they were on the same team, it could hold merit.
But it was just a passing thought! Who knew Neo would be so vindictive and petty?
He also forgot that Jaune was a person that he had tried to kill, and Neo wasn't one to forget. If it hadn't been for the plan and Cinder, Neo would've long buried Mercury in the ground the second she had the chance for attacking her favorite masseur. So she could only be content with sicking Emerald on Mercury.
Back to Neo
Neo took another deep breath before entering the room, where Jaune had just finished washing his hands.
"Ah, you're the next Aura massage patient, right?" asked Jaune, "Miss….Trivia Vanilla. I see it here."
Neo nodded, using her false/real name. Her 'birth' name had been Trivia Vanille, though she purposely switched the a to an e, but she never considered that to be her. She took on the name Neopolitan after that incident, and used it ever since, considering it to be her real name. But she couldn't exactly use that name while undercover at Beacon.
"Alright, looks like it's your first time. So if you haven't washed up, you can use the shower over there. Bathrobes are already provided unless you brought your own," explained Jaune, "Go ahead and wash up while I get everything prepared."
Neo so wanted to tease Jaune, but if she did, she might spill her real identity. So she refrained, as much as it hurt her. Finishing her shower, she made sure to keep her pigtails up before heading over to the bed and lying down.
"Got a choice of oil you want?" asked Jaune.
Neo glanced over at the choices before pointing to the chocolate one. While she would prefer her Neopolitan flavored oil, she couldn't do that, so she chose what was closest.
"Good choice, this makes it easy on the skin and promotes good blood flow," hummed Jaune as he warmed up his hands, "Now then, since it's your first Aura massage, you might feel a little tingle, but that's normal."
Neo merely nodded, eagerly waiting for her massage. Jaune took that as a confirmation as he finished warming up his hands and pressed down.
Neo instantly felt her whole body relax, her eyes threatening to roll up as she took in the therapeutic massage. She had missed this treatment, and would much prefer if Jaune became her personal masseur. Too bad she knew she had to share him for now, and then after Cinder's plan, there was no guarantee that she would see him again.
'That reminds me,' thought Neo, 'How to get Jaune out of Beacon safely before the whole plan goes through?'
Beacon, and in extension Vale, would be a danger zone. Especially Beacon, if what Cinder was implying. Though Cinder did value Jaune's massage, his safety was not a high priority. Whatever was in Beacon was, and Cinder made sure to enforce that it was the highest priority of all, even if it meant sacrificing all her pawns.
'Maybe I can somehow convince him to go on a trip somewhere?' thought Neo before losing her train of thought. Jaune had begun pouring Aura, making her brain become rather scatter-minded.
'I'll think of something later,' thought Neo with the last dredges of her thinking power before it dispersed, "I still have time.'
While Jaune was massaging the disguised Neo, he hummed in thoughtfulness. Something about this Trivia seemed familiar. He wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was because she was mute like Neo, or perhaps her body shape was similar. The hair and eye color were different, so Jaune had his doubts. But what seemed most familiar was her Aura. It felt like he had massaged her before, but he certainly didn't recognize the name.
If Jaune was more familiar with Aura techniques, then he would've known that each Aura signature was unique to a person, with the only exception being twins, and even then there were some differences. And he would've recognized Neo's Aura signature, considering he had massaged her with Aura plenty of times. But since he was still a novice on such a thing, he didn't even realize it, though he somehow knew where to massage Neo and where her knots would constantly be.
'Feels like I'm massaging Neo based on how she's basically reacting to the same spots that Neo likes,' hummed Jaune to himself as he pressed down a spot he knew Neo liked, only to get the same reaction.
Jaune ended up dismissing it as mere coincidence as he continued his job.
Neo stretched her limbs, taking in the comfort as she made her way back to her dorm. It was getting closer and closer to the Vytal Festival, meaning she only had a period of time to find some way to get Jaune away. Not even bothering to look at the smoking Mercury who had just made it back to his bed after being 'disciplined' by Emerald and finally Cinder, who decided to end the charade. Though Cinder knew that Neo had photoshopped the blackmail photo, it would do well to ensure that Mercury obeyed her orders and stayed away from Jaune.
No, she was not thinking of the masseur's safety, she clearly did not want to risk having their identity exposed.
Speaking of Jaune, she couldn't help but ponder why Jaune's name was in Ironwood's personal file. Try as she might, she couldn't see how his abilities would meld into the Atlas army. In the end, Cinder had no choice but to send the information to her hated comrade, Dr. Arthur Watts.
Cinder had informed her master and savior, Salem, about her improved abilities in controlling the Fall Maiden's power after a certain incident, causing her to be very interested. Salem ordered Cinder to provide them with any updates about the situation, no matter how small, while also ordering Arthur to take all information seriously without any backtalk. Both agents complied while keeping their complaints to themselves.
As Cinder despised doing so, she knew the man had more insight into the Atlesian science division, having been a disgraced scientist from Atlas and yet still able to hack into its security system as he helped create a good chunk of it. Still didn't feel better though.
'I need a massage,' sighed Cinder as she looked at her own appointment date.
In the depths of the Land of Darkness
Within the land where Grimm roamed wild, Salem sat on her throne in the Evernight Castle, her base camp for everything. She sat there, her eyes closed while she meditated over her plans. The Vytal Festival tournament was drawing closer, and her plans to take the Relic of Choice into her hands. As well as letting Cinder completely inherit the Fall Maiden's powers. A shame, as it should've been hers earlier, only for Ozpin's agent to intervene. But no matter, she had all the time in the world, being immortal thanks to the curse she was given.
Her meditation ended when she heard Arthur enter her chambers, holding a Scroll in his hand.
"Seems like our esteemed spy has sent some news in regards of her location," said Arthur with a sarcastic tone, "Honestly, why would this information be even relevant to our operation? Does she even know discretion, or is burning things all she can do?"
"Arthur," said Salem with a chastising tone, "I told Cinder to send us any and all information, including irrelevant information. It does not hurt us to have it, otherwise we may be blindsided by something that was deemed irrelevant. And I do not want the fact her mission failed because there was something that we missed."
"Apologies my lady," said Arthur with a quick bow, "I was merely voicing my opinion before realizing that I said it out loud. But the fact that James Ironwood has an interest in this Jaune Arc, who's just a masseur that was recently hired by Beacon, makes no sense nor relevance to her mission."
Salem hummed as she took in the information. While Arthur was correct about Atlas taking an interest in a mere masseur not making sense, he was incorrect about the relevance to the mission. Any additional staff hired to Beacon was necessary information, no matter how small it was.
'Curious,' hummed Salem as she had Arthur pass over his scroll to take a look at Jaune's photo, 'I believe that Cinder mentioned to me about a masseur who inadvertently increased her connection to the Fall Maiden power while harming the Grimm parasite I had personally crafted.'
Aura certainly was a curious thing. Even with her long life experience, there was always something new about Aura. Though she had never heard of someone using it to massage a person. It also made her wonder if she could experience it. She didn't exactly have Aura, having fallen into a Grimm pool in a desperate suicide attempt, transforming her into a Grimm hybrid. Not to mention she was from the first humanity era, where magic was prevalent versus the second era, where it had been replaced with Aura.
"Still, it would be nice to have a professional masseur look over me," said Salem to herself. Although Tyrian was a fanatical servant who would cater to her every whim, the man was not a masseur. He would probably faint of having the honor of touching her back.
Arthur didn't seem the type, nor did Hazel. And while she was an immortal Grimm hybrid, it didn't mean she didn't get muscle aches every now and then. Sure she ignored it or used her magic to deal with it, but it wasn't the same.
Salem closed her eyes as she remembered the last time someone massaged her back, which was thousands of years ago. She quickly shook that memory away as she recalled just who it had been doing it.
Making up her mind, she decided her next step. She would be, of course, accompanied by one of her loyal followers. Salem hummed for a few seconds as she dismissed Arthur before making a decision.
"Hazel, please come to the throne room. I have a special mission that requires your touch," said Salem to a Grimm seer, summoning Hazel to her court. She would also have Cinder make arrangements for the massage, outside Beacon of course. Surely it wasn't that hard to do so.
Jaune hummed to himself as he was finishing up his last appointment before pondering about something.
"Maybe I should do some house calls," thought Jaune, "It would be a shame to lose all those patients I had before. Maybe a temporary location as a thank you for their support from before. I'm sure Junior could set something up."
Especially all the Faunus customers that he had. He had a lot of Faunus patients that had come in due to some recommendation from another Faunus patient he had treated.
'Now I think about it, it started from Droy from the docks. Wonder how he's doing?' thought Jaune.
In the docks
Droy huffed as he finished unloading the last of the boxes, stretching his back.
"Damn my back is hurting again," groaned Droy.
"Why not see a masseur?" asked a coworker as she dropped her package down, "You were bragging about one months ago."
"Yeah, but he had to stop due to the Breach," sighed Droy, "His shop ended up getting destroyed, and hasn't opened up since."
'Not to mention he was the target of that Winchester brat,' growled Droy to himself.
When he saw that video of Cardin bragging about withholding financial aid to Jaune, he could proudly say he was one of the first ones to throw tomatoes at Cardin when given the chance. It was also the few times he was proud of the radical White Fang for raiding the Winchester storage facility.
While that was said and done, Droy was hesitant to find another masseur. Either they weren't as good as Jaune, or did not want to touch Faunus in general.
'Give me a sign when you come back, so I can be first in line,' moaned Droy as he prayed to the heavens.
Back with Jaune
Jaune looked over his storage and found the portable massage bed that had been given to him, and one of the few things that he had been able to salvage out of his old clinic.
"Maybe I can put up an event to draw back the old crowd at a specific week. Business has been getting a little slower with everyone going on missions and/or studying for their classes," murmured Jaune. It had been busy for a while, but it was slowly petering off, letting him have time to devote it to studying to becoming a student.
"I'll have to ask Headmaster Ozpin, but I'm sure I can swing it. It'll probably have to be returning patients only, and maybe new patients at the last two days," said Jaune out loud.
He could also make it a bodyguard mission as well. As an auxiliary member of Beacon's staff, he wasn't allowed to create missions, but he could request one be created, and he would be on the higher priority list due to his position.
With that in mind, Jaune began composing on why he should be allowed to do this.