[Soothing Waters] Body and Mind

[Gunho Ma]

Winter 30, 511 AV A masseuse's work not only ended with his hands, that was only one dimension of their work. The client's mind was as much a target of the therapy as was their body, clients who were burdened with heavy thoughts were the least receptive to massage. The challenge here was knowing when it was smart to instigate a conversation. Many customers didn't want to engage in idle chatter and Gunho was not a person whot talked while he worked, he often had his hands full with the work and reading into the feedback he felt from his fingers that he preffered silence. But there were times that this wasn't an option. There would always be a time when his hands weren't enough. When his client needed more than a hand to release the tension in their body, when they needed someone to help ease their mind. This was one such instance. His client, a woman far older than he who looked unimpressive but was by no means unattractive. She was as ordinary as they came and had the look of a bonafide Syliran. There was nothing odd about her, save the troubled look on her face and the tension he could feel. It was there, right beneath his hands. Her flesh was firm, tense, a knot of resistance that trembled even when he didn't touch it... the same resistance he could feel all over. She wasn't yielding to his touch, she was guarded against it... he'd inspected her body already. His eyes found nothing strange and his hands noted no deformities beneath the skin, nor was her body's temperature unsual. Simply put, they would not be able to go anywhere. Not until he was able to begin prodding at the root of the problem. "Ma'am... I do not mean to intrude, but I must ask you a personal question... but only if you permit." he gave her a moment to put her thought to words but his hands did not relent. They continued snaking about her shoulders, gliding from the depression formed by her spide, plowing into muscle as it squeezed the trapezius sliding up towards the neck and fingers trembling with intent as they snaked down, gradually releasing pressure. There was a sharp intake of breath, a brief delay before she spoke. "...You have permission. Ask the question."

[Gunho Ma]

"Please do not misinterpret the meaning behind my words... but why have you come here Miss?" Gunho's question was deliered softly, he kept his voice low and calm. "Its Missis," the woman's correction was thankfully not delivered harshly, but her voice was probing all the same. "Isn't it obvious." Gunho couldn't repress the rise of his brow and the smirk that formed on his lips. It was perhaps lucky for him that the woman was lying on her back with her gaze upon the floor... if she even opened her eyes. "Not quite." a bold statement from the man and often he would end it at that... but he would press on, such was that demands of this profession. "This massage works on most of my clients but I feel resistance from you ma'am. There is something on your mind and it's preventing you from giving yourself to this therapy." "And you would listen to the lamentations of an old wife?" Gunho chuckled at that counter, he didn't understand why mature women called themselves old, she looked as attractive as any young maid. His laugh was sincere, if short-lived. "Ma'am, you are not old by any stretch of fantasy and I'm not simply saying that. Its my job to help you relax, if speaking your mind will help you relax then please vent out whatever it is that's bothering you. The door is closed, the walls are thick and I am bound by professional duty to forget this discussion by the time you leave through that door." The woman seemed to contemplate on his offer. While Gunho waited for an answer he kept showering her back with attention. He shifted from using his palms to applying focused pressure upon the thickest clusters of muscles of her back with his fingers and he drove those digits through the muscle in line with it's natural contour to promote blood flow, release tension and simply impress an unsual but pleasurable sensation upon her thoughts. "Alright... but on one condition." her consent came with strings... but wasn't that true for every woman he'd ever met. "If you're willing to listen you have to listen to everything, I won't let you off the hook easy if you find my story annoying." Gunho smiled. "My ears are yours, tell me your story ma'am." "Ma'am makes me sound old." there was a tired sigh right there. "Call me Kate."

[Gunho Ma]

Even while the woman talked, Gunho's hands were hard at work on the woman's back. He stood on one side of the table, both thumbs alternately sliding down from close to her spine climbing up towards her neck while he attentively listened to her speak. He did his best to inject his assent or wonder, but wouldn't say anything yet, not until he heard the entire story... Finally, after ten minutes she seemed to be wrapping up and at the same time Gunhow as finishing up on the left side of her back. With a final squeeze of her shoulder she moved around the table to the other. "...and that's my story." she finished with a tired sigh. "What do you think I should do." Well that wasn't an easy topic to talk about... Gunho didn't know where to begin here. He'd never even considered a life as a father, worse that she believed that she might be pregnant with the child of someone other than her husband. Still, it hadn't been more than a few days since she missed her menses... maybe she was being paranoid... but then, how could he go about this. "I think..." Gunho strained his head and his hands automatically assumed their position and began their work without him noticing. His elbows were locked in place, like he always put them when he wanted to exert power into his massage by leaning in part of his weight into his palms. "You should first make sure that you are pregnant, before you make a decision. This could be a false alarm, it hasn't been more than two days and you did tell me your menses were irregular." "You have a point..." she purred in reponse to the soft but rapid kneading he was performing on her back. In essence, he was squeezing what flesh fromm her back he could get a pinch on and he dragged them up, pinching them lighting from side to side before allowing them to settle back before he moved to the next piece of flesh an inch or two above the last with impressive speed. "And if ever this does turn out to be a false alarm you have to make a choice. This could happen again, if you're too lonely its not unlikely you'll make the same mistake. You have to confront your husband about this, personally I think its his mistake for leaving you alone, if you'll tell him the truth is your discretion." he paused for a second as she shifted the attention of his kneading from her back to her shoulders. Now he had to work his thumbs that were sliding from the back to the anterior of her body while the rest of his fingers dug deep, anchoring his hand but at the same time providing deep muscle penetration to stimulate warmth and blood profusion close above the collarbones. "I don't know crap about knightly quests, but your husband has to make a choice - you've already made yours. You don't want to be the woman who waits patiently for your husband at home. He has to know that, he has to know what you want and you have to force him into making a choice. Otherwise you'll just both end up hurting each other."

[Gunho Ma]

"I think I'll do that." she breathed as Gunho turned her supine upon the bed, lifted her head and slid a pillow underneath. "Thanks... venting out helps... Doesn't get rid of all of the tension but it helps." Gunho smiled and took up an elevated chair so he could sit in a position where he could look at the woman's face from above. He cleaned her face with a lukewarm towel, dabbing it instead of brusquely rubbing away until he was sure that her face was clean, then he draped another towel over her hair so it wouldn't get in the way. Now he was peforming a massage meant to ease the mild headache she'd complained about when she arrived at Soothing Waters. This was a simple massage, though because he could no longer put in his body weight to apply pressure... and because he had to take extra care because the facial structure was far less stronger than the dense muscles on the back. He drew his fingers until their points touched each other at the edge of the woman's chin and used his thumbs to firmly, but in a controlled manner massage the muscles of her cheeks. He slid his fingers in small circles, alternating between going counter-clockwise and clockwise and then he drew his thumb from her cheeks towards the top of the bridge of the woman's nose in a nearly heart-shaped ascent from the cheeks, around the corners of the eyes, over the brow until it sank above the ridge of her sharp nose. Then he palpated for the muscles that he would attack and with practiced gentleness started slowly, dragging flesh and liberating rigid fixed tissue from their stationary place for moments as he drew the fingers out... before gliding back in. The process was time consuming, but the serene look on the woman's face was reward enough to the masseuse. The talking had done it's part, it was his hand's turn to relieve her of what little burden he could take off her shoulders. So he stroked her cranium lightly, fingers tracing paths all over the woman's forehead, sometimes resting at a point to rotate and drive in presure, sometimes sliding under the chin and drawing up. It was a complete assault with no focus and eventually his fingers found their place on her crown, digging through scalp to enchance bloodflow ever there. It was hard work, and he was rarely appreciated because his services were paid for but Gunho always felt a sense of accomplishment whenever he managed to get this far. His client had finally allowed him to do his work freely and the soft rise and fall of her chest was in indication that he was finally going to be able to finish his work smoothly.

[Gunho Ma]

A day's work never truly ends it seemed. The woman who'd he'd helped had long since left and Gunho had just finished cleaning up his station. He'd folded the unused towels, folded the ones that he considered soiled into a pile and cleaned the table with soap and water before rubbing it try with another towel. Exhausted he slumped over the stool he worked on and he allowed his body to relax and the pain in his arms to wash over him. There was a price for everything and relieving his clients of their stress meant putting a burden on himself. But he had the advantage of knowing what to do in cases like these. Self-massage was something he'd learned to do early on and it helped fight the worst of the muscle pain that came with doing a masseuse's work. He used his right hand to treat the left first. He pinched a place on his wrist near his left thumb with the right thumb on the posterior side of his forearm and the index and middle finger on the anterior side. Then slowly, with wide purposeful movements he swept his fingers up in line with the body towards the joint where the forearm could fold. He kept stroking, kneading where he felt knots of resistance and only when he felt like his other arm felt relatively relaxed did he stop. He allowed this left arm minutes to bask in that afterglow before he traded places with the other arm and massaged that too. It was an endless cycle, to infuse the arms with blood, to prevent the onset of muscle soreness as best as he could do given the circumstances. It was something almsot all competent masseuse were aware of and he couldn't afford to think he was going to be an exception. After that, he used both hands on each other, lacing them together to overextend the fingers then he proceeded to massaging each other's palms. When it came to the fingers he paid attention to them by squeezing the fingers in a spiral motion that allowed the thumb, index finger and middle finger of the other hand. After what seemed like minutes of self-massage he stood up, squatting for a few repetitions then he turned from side to side, jogging in place, trying to get his heart racing slight faster and when he had shaken off most of the stress from his last session he headed out back to the staff room where he would take a short break.

[Emblem]

Congratulations! You Get Glorious Experience! Gunho Skills Massage- 5 XP Rhetoric- 3 XP Observation- 3 XP Lores A Strangers Tale Advice for a Client Helping Others is Hard Work Comments : Short but an entertaining read nonetheless. I realize massage isn't exactly the most exciting topic to write about, but you do very well with it. Also go ahead and add 3 GM as a tip from the lady. If you have any questions, shoot me a PM!