[The Red Room] That Hits the Spot (Xen)

[Traverse]

Rayls watched carefully as the male placed the rock along the spine, just a bit further down where she had placed hers.

"Good, now three more and she will be content." The constrictor drooped a bit against her pillar, eyes gazing thoughtfully upward.

"So you know as much as a snakeling knows of muscles then? I suspected as much. Muscles are how you know your body is fit, they will tell you your health, and knowing them, how to work them, yours and others' will give you considerable knowledge." She did so like to brag.

"When you are finished with the rocks come over here and I will show you." She pranced over to the customer whom she had laid down vertically, her back to Xen as to hide her movements as she began to massage until he approached her to see what she was doing. Rayls was a prideful creature, but she loved divulging her craft, always confident in her superior massage capabilities that she was never worried about giving up trade secrets.

[Xen]

“”

Xen nods in response to Rayls. He clacked the tongs together and crouched down towards the water to grab another stone. Xen was starting to like this! He could learn about the bodies of other living creatures and make a few friends. Xen couldn’t forget about the fact that he could learn more about the constrictors as well as the mysteries of Zinrah and its secret locations—should he excel in the work he does.

Xen knew it was a good idea to come to this place but knew that he was a long way from being an expert at anything. The viper crouches down towards the hot pool of water and picks up two stones while he was in the process of trying to obtain just one. Xen showed a puzzled expression, he shrugs his shoulders and turns to the constrictor that was enjoying the treatment she was receiving. Xen cools the stones with a breath of air and carefully places them onto the constrictors back.

He places each stone just an inch from the other while making sure that they were even and straight. Once he was done, Xen turns and repeats the process again. A feeling of triumph washes over Xen. The final stone was now in his grasp and now, he places the last stone onto the constrictors back. Xen lifts his head and notices that Rayls wasn’t beside him.

“Eh, where’d she go!?”

Xen turns around and notices Rayls had her back turned to him. Xen now remembers that Rayls told him to go over to where she was now when he was done. He facepalms, reminding himself about his lack of concentration and walks over to where his instructor was. Xen almost slips and quickly regains his composure. “ Hope, nobody saw that.” he thought as he finally reaches Rayls’s side.

[Traverse]

Rayls waited patiently for Xen to join her, rotating her head slightly, and glancing back at her resting patient, the hot rocks steaming upon her back. "That will do."

"Now watch asss I do." Rayls turned back to her constrictor customer and first began kneeding the heels of her palms between her shoulder blades. "You have to be rough with your work, essspecially when they are in Dhani form, or they are like to feel nothing. Mosst knotss you will find will be around the neck and shoulderss. You will not sssense them at firsst, but as you get a feel for what thisss area should feel like, you will know when someone hasss tightened mussscles or knotsss. They are eassiesst to find on guardsss and huntersss." She moved her kneeding down along the patient's spine, then back up, the scales rippling under her touch. When her hands arrived back at the female's shoulders she held onto either side of her neck and dug her thumbs into the flesh just above the shoulder blades slowly massaging the skin out and away.

"There are many wayss to massage a patient, both upon the back, armsss, handss, even feet for the few that come here in human form, here take her hand." Rayls grabbed one arm form the Constrictor, heavy and clawed and passed it to Xen.

"Thiss iss where you can be gentler, as the hands are more ssenssitive, ssimply use both thumbss and massage her palm."

Rayls continued kneading her customers back, occasionally glancing up to see how Xen would do.

[Xen]

Xen watches Rayls’s hand movements, fluid movements with zero interruptions or pauses like ripples in a pond. Xen knew now he couldn’t disappoint Rayls, his teacher in the art of massage. Xen moves around the table, rubbing his hands along the way. He pauses to watch how Rayls was moving her arms and hands. Xen places both his hands on the constrictors left shoulder and copied Rayls calm movements. He felt smooth scales underneath his fingers and firm muscles lying placid in the palm of his hand.

Xen wasn’t accustomed to touching others, always feeling that an individual should never touch another unless there was a situation that called for it. Xen, he knew he couldn’t allow his humbleness to impede his performance and decides to relax. Xen attempts to apply some balance to his form—nervousness getting the best of him. Xen spreads his fingers apart and focuses on his fingertips while pressing down a little on areas where there were tight muscles present. In the process, Xen follows Rayls’s movements as best as possible and barely manages to grasp some flowing movements down the constrictors spine and then back up—he’d have to become familiar with raking motions.


“ Okay, use both thumbs and massage her palm! ”


Xen grasps ahold of the constrictors hand and pauses for a moment—he had no idea how to do a hand message. Xen improves; he places his thumbs in the center of the constrictors palms and moves them up and down in raking motions. He couldn’t help but notice how rough the constrictors palm was, having him wonder what kind of life this one constrictor led. Xen grins at his thought and continues to massage the constrictors palm. Xen finds himself performing clockwise massaging strokes with his thumbs, he remembers Rayls telling him to apply some pressure on area’s with tense muscles.


“Alright! I think I’m getting the hang of this…kind of. ”

Xen thought with partial triumph.
“ ”

[Traverse]

Rayls was busy slowly pulling the knots apart in her customer's back, so it was a long pause before the female constrictor gave Xen a second glance. Her dark eyes focused on his work witht he utmost scrutiny, neck craning forward somewhat.

"Hrm, not...terrible." It was hard to tell, but it almost looked as if her lips twitched.

"Now to the other hand, male." She rose and went over to the steaming pool of water, slowly pulling the hot rocks from their warm womb and proceding to set them upon the serpent's back now that she had worked out the stress there, keeping her eyes on Xen all the while, she would let him experiment for a while, after all, that was how one learned...

[Xen]

Xen felt Rayls’s dark eyes on him, staring with uttermost scrutiny. He looks upwards and smiles slightly at his teacher, allowing his actions to speak for his words and show his appreciation through effort. Xen places the constrictors hand on the side of her body and walks around to the left side of the table. He crouches a little and takes the constrictors hand. Xen could feel the constrictors solid muscles through her arm—constrictors were heavy creatures. He needed to eat more and build more muscle, if he was going to be massaging and healing the bodies of constrictors in Zinrah.

Xen opens the constrictors palm, it was rough and worn. The scales in the palms center had the texture of sandpaper, having them become the center of Xen’s focus. He places both thumbs in center of the constrictors palm and massages in this area. Xen applies a mild amount of pressure to message deeper into the tissue, as it was difficult for him to sense and feel the smaller knots within the constrictors palm. Xen enjoyed this—helping others; through massage, it was a good way to learn about the anatomy of other living creatures.

Xen moved his thumbs upwards and backwards, raking was a movement he was becoming quite familiar with. When he felt that he had massaged the area enough, he starts moving his thumbs in circular motions to loosen and sooth the lowers joints of the fingers. Xen thought he was doing well; he was becoming somewhat familiar with massaging muscles but he still felt awkward with his hands and those knots were always eluding him.


“ Mmmhm… ”


Xen was beginning to understand that knots were problematic. These knots felt like tightened muscles to him and noticed that ‘raking’ didn’t always work; rubbing in circular motions seemed to work in loosening them. Xen wasn’t entirely sure and believed that further experience and research would help him out.

“ ”

[Traverse]

"Good, good." The voice suddenly came from over Xen's left shoulder, and though there were no 'ssss' in the words it still seemed to slide into his ears like a hiss. She pulled Xen away from his work, and as his eyes turned to assess Rayls, he realized suddenly how perfectly naked she was. Her hair was a strange color of red, large dark kohl lines upon her eyes, skin quite pale, as befitting a species that didn't go often into the light of day.

She grabbed Xen's hand and pulled him across the room. "They will be fine for now." She said in way of explanation, then lay face down upon a smooth rock seat, her back exposed.

"Now massage me." One hand pulled her hair to the side, exposing a flawless porcelain pallete of flesh.

"Start with the neck and shoulders and work your way down." In her mind Rayls was wondering why she hadn't thought of this sooner. What better way to test prospective employees than to test their skills first hand. Her eyes closed shut, and a small smile erupted on her lips, waiting to see how the male would perform under pressure, for the next few chimes could determine if he actually had a job or not.

[Xen]

Xen jumps in surprise after Rayls’s voice shatters his concentration yet after hearing her voice, he realizes he has passed this test and was ready for the next one. Xen, as he stands to face Rayls, was taken by the hand and in this action, he notices the bare body of his teacher. Xen, if he was drinking something, it would have exploded from his mouth right now. He felt his blood rush to his head and shortly afterwards, his cheeks turned bright red. Xen has yet to adapt to nudity and the sensual nature of his race—the dhani and lowers his head out of embarrassment and shame, as a male, his instincts were having him react.

Xen swallows a breath of air and watches as he is brought to his next test. Xen, unsure of his teacher’s intentions, wonders if this was a test of massaging skill or a test of his pure innocence. Xen whips the accumulating sweat off of his forehead then brushes his hair backwards. He did not need his teacher noticing him fluster in response to nudity in this sort of manner. Xen responds in the calmest and most polite manner he could muster while fighting against the embarrassment and nervousness within.


“ The…. the neck on down, right. ”


Xen’s thoughts were chaotic afterwards…


“ The neck on down: what location does she want me to stop in!? Maybe, above the waist—yeah that’s it… that has to be it. Unless Mrs. Kihlissorayls… thinks I’m handsome and would make a good mate. Aaaarggh!? All these weird thoughts!? I need to concentrate! ”


Xen rubs his hands together: to ensure the softness of his hands returned and places each of his hands onto his teacher’s shoulders. Xen’s hands bent over Rayls shoulders, his fingers touching upon the constrictors smooth skin. He allows his thumbs to rest on Rayls back as he moves them in circular motions. Xen applies a mild amount of pressure to penetrate the firm muscles his teacher possessed. He could feel some tension along Rayls’s shoulders; he expected this much—seeing as she had been massaging the bodies of other constrictors before his arrival.

Xen travels downwards and massages in between Rayls’s shoulder blades with long raking movements. He concentrates on areas of the back that felt tense to him; especially around areas where the shoulders blades met one another. Xen, after changing motions once more, massages Rayls’s shoulder blades in wide circular motions with the palms of his hands. He keeps his fingers raised, preventing them from touching Rayls’s back. Xen manages to maintain the pressure he exerted during his massage and moves his hands downwards in smooth raking motions. He moves upwards and downwards with both hands moving in sync with one another.

Xen massages right back up Rayls’s back once he realizes that he was going a bit too far down. He hides a bashful expression behind one of his greatest poker face, as he makes his way up his teachers back.

[Traverse]

The constrictor lay there, taking in the enjoyment of being a patient and not the caretaker. Now she could feel the hesitation in his hands, and he was being a bit too gentle, but the instincutal movements and patterns his hands made, those weren't bad.

If she noticed the Viper going down to far for her liking, there was no indication of it. Rayls kept her eyes closed, the only piece of advice she offered was. "You can be a bit rougher, male. I may look like a fragile woman now, but you ssshould know better." She wiggled her rear for him too, perhaps sensing his awkwardness at the situation.

She rolled her shoulders once then returned to her motionless state before speaking, her voice soothing, but witht he hint of a knowing smile.

"Sso, tell me why you came to Zinrah, viper." She punctuated the last word, making sure her knowledge of Xen sunk in, when he had never told her that particular factoid.

"Oh don't be surprised, everyone knows everyone in Zinrah, newcomers can't escape knowledge. What were you hoping to find here that wasn't in your other nest?" A massage and a personal interview in one? She was too good at this.

[Xen]

Xen intensifies his session and adds more focus to his technique. Xen flattens both hands onto Rayls back and extends the thumb of his right hand outwards while he raises and folds the fingers of this hand. He then allows the whole of his right palm to roll up Rayls’s back with his left palm following in pursuit. Xen presses downwards on Rayls as he massages with some of his upper body weight behind his movements. The process of massaging was starting to become familiar to Xen; it was similar to martial arts in a way—using one’s hands to sooth the blood and functions within another individual’s body.


“ I had no other place to go… ”


Xen said those words in a mournful tone. He didn’t have a nest to call his own; he never found a place to settle in with his group. There was always something that needed to be done. So, he was never able to know the true story behind the reason his parents left him in Zinrah. Xen always thought that his parents left him in Zinrah to keep him away from the life they lived. However, He never questioned them, knowing that the true reason—the truth, wasn’t something he could handle right now. Xen did not break his concentration; he makes his way in-between Rayls shoulders blade and strokes in this area—repeatedly moving upwards and downwards

Xen was adapting to the feel of bone and muscle but those knots…damn them. Xen was able to discern the difference between tense muscles and knots by the way the two felt. The knots felt as one would figure them to be like: a lump or hard spot beneath the skin. Xen describes the sensation of tense muscle feeling like tightened leather. Xen wasn’t surprised that his presence did not go unnoticed—he has been an inhabitant of Zinrah for seven years.

The life he lives in Zinrah was not easy, dangers were everywhere and some of the constrictors made their disdain of him known. Xen didn’t live a luxurious life but he never hated the constrictors…not once. There was a debt he felt that he owed to the all constrictors of Zinrah and until he was strong enough too able to defend Zinrah, leaving was not an option. Xen dedicates every hour of training—every drop of sweat and blood to his home. However, he never makes this known or mentions this to anyone; he would simply endure and grow strong in his silent cause.

“ The only place that iss closssesst to a nesst to me iss Zinrah. I never was lucky enough to have a nesst with my own kind. Ssso, there isn’t much that I’m looking for right now—all I can ssearch for iss sstrength and ssurvival in order to protect what I can in my home. ”