City 31 started its descent into night. Street lamps flicked on, windows brightened, headlights shined. The towers of Renova Heights began their rivalry with Luna over ownership of the sky. The hot summer air started to cool with the absent sun, the temperature slowly sliding into the comfortable range.
On the east side of the city, the suburban ideals of a world lost clashed with modern industrial architecture. A single highway divided the eras. White shining townhouses with domestic good stores stowed underneath clashed against the dull tans of chemical storage tanks, their own venues hidden in crevasses between warehouses and yards.
Four pairs of feet pounded the concrete, barely audible under the elevated highway. The young adults all shared the same black uniform. Laughing and giggling rebounded off the columns and pillars of the highway, shared by all but one. The only one wearing a jacket over his work clothes.
"C'mon guys, I'll just pay you guys the fee. You win." The college student at the front groaned out.
"You'll be paying the viper the fee." The tallest smirked with his thumbs in his black pants.
"I don't know Ricky, I could use some extra cash." She twiddled her thumbs in her coat pockets, her heavy eyeshadow considering the proposal.
"Brianne, Brianne. It's about the fun things in life. And this is the funniest shit I've seen all month. And Devin of all people too." Ricky beamed, his eyes staring down at the back Devin's head.
Devin's breathing was terse, a hint of regret with every breath. "I thought José was going to lose."
The man with the ball between his arm and his hip got his chance to speak. "You think you could beat the best shot in the entire block? Been playing ball since CE walked the streets."
Devin looked at his hands. How the ball could have rolled off his middle finger just right, he wouldn't be in this mess. He felt Brianne's presence the most, always moving his head to the left when checking if the group was behind him.
His ear caught her next words. "You know it's cute he'd think he'd win. Like… even I'm closer to the basket than you are."
The leader without the will to lead placed his hands in his jacket pockets. He furrowed his brow, debating on whether to respond to that or not. His heart still beat from the attention, but at the same time it was bruised from her words.
Ricky spoke up, standing on the tips of his toes to survey the route. It was completely unnecessary thanks to his height, doubly so with Devin at the front. "It's to the right here. Down that street."
The group turned right, leaving the moonshade of the overpass to enter The Stacks. A few crosswalks were all it took, the floating holograms directing traffic away from their path. Greens and reds shined off of passing cars, creating the slightest sheens on the black polyester uniforms each adult wore. Devin admitted the possibility of jumping in front of a car, only to be shot down by numerous different jeers disguised as reasons. The Stacks proper wasn't very pedestrian friendly. The sidewalk was rubble compared to Highland Square, the curbs destroyed by numerous heavy trucks pulling in and out of factories. Harsh lights cast out from truck entrances and building doors, practical for drivers and workers but not for the eyes. The smell was entirely different as well. Gone were the earthy aromas of decaying leaves and freshly cut lawns. Instead they were replaced by burning diesel, grease and the occasional harsh whiff of some manufacturing process burning, evaporating or sublimating a compound into the air.
Within all of the organized tumult laid a few brick and mortar shops. Hungry eyes stared into the windows of sandwich shops and sit-downs, the resting places of workers on break. Compared to Highland Square, they were simple and bland. But they all served the practical over the fanciful. And between the shops, a single hologram shined away against the brickwork. The sign everyone was watching out for. "Spine Solutions" shined its bright green hue.
"There it is man!" José shouted out in excitement, ready for the fun to finally begin.
"...Are you guys gonna watch?" Devin asked, his body slowly realizing its doom.
"Eh, I don't see why she wouldn't let us. Isn't that right small forward?" Brianne piped up with the same devious smile on her face.
The nickname cut a little less deep the more they used it. "Sure."
"I don't get why it's open at night though. Does anyone know why?" Ricky asked.
Brianne looked up at Ricky with a knowing look. "'Cause it's that type of masseuse."
Both Brianne and Ricky grinned. José loudly whispered into the group, building on the hilarity. "Sorry smalls, but the happy ending is out of your price range." A small bout of laughter went around, leaving Devin out to dry as he approached the entrance. Ricky claimed she was a legitimate chiropractor, but poking fun was necessary to have a good time. Devin's brain forced his hand to open the door.
The inside of the practice seemed normal, but with a little flair. A single receptionist manned the desk, a hybrid. Chairs were situated against walls painted red, a potted plant or two sitting in the corners. A table held various magazines. Alien celebrity tabloids, medical journals, alien medical journals. At the end of the rectangular room was a door. A portal, really. The wall headed upwards to curve around the top, forming a semicircle. Any wooden or metal door was gone and replaced by heavy red curtains.
Devin took it all in as he left the world behind him. This was his punishment. He wondered how it got this far, how he came from another boring day at work to being massaged by a viper. The thought of being touched like that irked him. An alien getting that close, with his friends watching him suffer. The wound was social as well as personal. Perfectly hilarious.
He took a deep breath as he approached the hybrid, her chin resting on her hand. Her dark eyes scanned the screen in front of her lazily, the inhuman ridges of her face catching the light.
"Hi."
"Hey." She glanced up, but looked past Devin to see the three smug peers of his. Her eyebrow grew questioning.
Devin lowered his voice and leaned on the counter, hating how he was at chest level. "I'll be honest, I lost a bet."
Her eyebrows folded into slight disapproval. "Ah. Well good news. You didn't make an appointment, so I doubt we have anything…" She spoke loudly, draining the fun out of Devin's coworkers. She put her attention on the monitor and keyboard.
A spark ignited in her eyes. A dimple formed on her cheek. "But, it's… ten now? We have an opening."
A silent "Yes!" was passed around, now shared with the hybrid at the desk. Devin's hopes fell, smashed inside of him. He fumbled for his credit card, grabbing his wallet out of his pants to pay the allotted amount. The bonus money he got from work, drained, as part of the bet. He gave his name and his age to the receptionist as part of the ritual appointment making process.
The receptionist pointed toward the row of chairs. "Alright, just sit over there, and she'll be in in a moment."
Devin turned, and at that exact moment she appeared.
The chiropractor was a viper. The red curtains parted, revealing her full form. She nearly filled the door, and had to duck her head to avoid banging it on the top of the frame. Vipers were large, to Devin especially. But this viper was huge. Like a normal viper, just scaled up. She filled the corner of the lobby that she occupied.
But that wasn't her most striking feature. The white recessed light of the lobby shined down on lime green scales. The neon colors reflected off the plates onto the nearby walls, highlighting imperceptible bumps in the paint with green. But they were unique in how the green faded into jet black, every single scale its own color gradient. They cascaded down her body, from hood to tail, scintillating in the light, making a stark verdant contrast in the warm colored room.
The only thing that broke the pattern was the viper's clothes. A white zip up jacket parted to reveal a black shirt. Underneath that she wore a long black "pant," cutting off somewhere at the middle of her tail.
"Okay. Next patient?" Her smile was warm and real, but conveyed a bit of a confusion when she looked at the four humans standing near the entrance.
Devin felt his heart freeze. That's him. He's the next patient. His friends began their joyful walk toward the curtains, grabbing eyefuls of the creature in front of them. Devin lifted each leg sluggishly toward his destination.
The viper's eyes flicked to the face of each potential patient. The clothes, their age, the smiles and the frown.
"Sorry you three. Family only." She put out a four fingered, green and black hand with an understanding, apologetic grin.
Confusion. Frustration. Annoyance. Until Brianne got an idea. She stopped in her tracks and looked up at the viper, an explaining hand extended. "But uh, we're adopted." She elaborated with dishonest honesty.
The viper scrunched her "lips," debating on what to say next. "You're all adopted and you work at the same place?"
In unison, the three looked down at their black uniforms, with a tiny logo embroidered on the top right corner of their shirt. Brianne nodded after looking, reforming her strategy. "Yeah. And?"
The viper was quick. "Your last name?"
"Saltitch. No, I mean…"
Green and black eyelids dismissed Brianne, instead cast toward Devin. A large finger was thrown toward him, but her mouth was held open, words stuck. Her eyes flicked to the receptionist. A silent word was given.
"Devin. You're up next?" The viper gave a full, welcoming smile to him. Her voice was golden, perfect cadence and annunciation. It was very clear to hear what she had to say, by design.
He looked her up and down. His own fate asking for acceptance. "Uh… yes."
His coworkers smiled once more, the show beginning again. They couldn't see it in its entirety, but they could see the beginning and the end.
"Right this way Devin." The viper brought her arm to the curtains, parting them for her client. She moved out of the way to take up the entire corner of the lobby, brushing against the nearby potted plant. Her tail took a couple of seconds to fully slither out of the doorway.
He walked forward, eyes skirting by his friends. He already knew what their faces looked like. He just needed to get it over with.
The viper was tall, incredibly tall. Devin was used to being looked down at, but the viper had at least two feet on him. He skidded by her heavy green coils to enter the room, passing underneath her arm. The viper analyzed away, sizing up her nervous patient.
The next room starkly contrasted the colors of the lobby. Blue walls, cooler toned furniture. A few black side counters held drawers full of unknown muscle adjusting devices and tools. Nondescript clear bottles sat on the tables, with the type of cap that flipped open allowing the contents to be squeezed out. Two doors were placed on two walls, one clearly leading to a closet and one leading to somewhere else. The ceiling lighting was somewhat dim and cool, but a nice change from the harsh lights of inner city interiors in general. The room was larger too. Fitting for the large practitioner's movements. And in the center of it all laid a single specialized table. It wasn't very large, allowing the chiropractor to get as close as possible. Padded synthetic leather provided some comfort as well as enough force to hold the patient in place.
Devin had already reached the bottom of his pit of humiliation. He ambled on, only to see how bad it could get. But the room enveloped him, taking in his eyes, his ears, and his nose. The color invaded its way into his brain, subconsciously easing his muscles by microscopic amounts.
The viper slithered past him, making her way around to the other side of the table. She kept her eyes on the terrified Devin the entire time, her face showing thought when she wasn't directly interacting with her client.
"First time?" She opened up with a smile, hand still on the padded table. Devin stared at her from the entrance, walked to his right, and leaned on the wall. He looked toward the curtains in thought, but asked anyway.
"Can I… we just sit in here for forty minutes?"
The viper's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You've never done this before have you?"
Devin smiled, a tiny release from his predicament. No words or laughs emitted from the quiet curtains. "No, I haven't. Are you going to coil around me first or..?"
The green viper rolled her eyes and smiled. She was completely chill, her voice showing acceptance and understanding. "No no no. I would never do that at first, especially to a new patient." She lifted up both arms, green forearms visible in the light as her white sleeves slipped down. "You see, my treatment is all about trust. I use my hands first."
Devin kept his smile as his eyebrows raised, and glanced between the table and the viper. "I'm still not getting on that table."
Her voice was accepting of his will, but she had her own plans. "You wouldn't want your sixty bucks to go to waste. And I'm good at what I do. Please, allow me to make you feel welcome."
Devin kept switching between her and the table. How he wouldn't be in this situation if he had just said no, and gone home. But he didn't.
His legs straightened, back propped up and ready against the wall. He's already gone this far, why not go a little further? An alien massage. Adjustment. Whatever it is.
He lifted himself away from safety and eyed the table. The viper's smile grew with content. "I'm going to have you lay on your chest. Put your head in this divot right here."
Devin obliged, lifting himself up onto the table and into the headrest. It was surprisingly comfortable, for how firm the pads were. His nerves were still shot as he stiffly raised his arms to get on the table. His entire body language screamed uncomfortable.
The viper interjected awkwardly once he settled in. "You can take your jacket off."
Devin stopped, realizing his error. It felt significant despite how mundane it was. He slid it off while he laid on the table. He prepared to throw the bundle onto the countertop, but not before the viper swooped by and took it from him, placing it gently on a chair in the corner. Her hood dazzled lime in the light.
A little bit of curiosity finally crept into her voice. "So, Devin, why are you really here today?"
He breathed in. "I lost a bet."
The viper hid her expression, debating between offended or gladly accepting. "That's funny. The stakes must have been low if I was the punishment."
Devin took his head out of the divot to look at her, awkwardly straining his neck. "I mean, not really."
The viper turned around, her arms outstretched, fingers ready to perform. "Well, you're here now. I'll have to show you what I do."
Devin gave a pained smile and pushed his face into the divot. He's getting massaged by a viper.
"My name is Amaso, by the way. You work at a pizza shop?" She started with the human's shoulders, rubbing the trapezius with expert care.
The question caught him off guard, along with the sheer size of her mitts. "You recognized the logo?"
"You smell like pizza. That's the main reason why I came out into the lobby, actually." Amaso was truthful, and smirked knowingly while staring at his clothed back. Despite how uncomfortable Devin was, she was in her environment.
Devin felt her thumb dig its way into his shoulders. His eyes widened. His muscles remained tense, his brain was an anxious wreck. He stifled a few pained groans from escaping his lips.
Amaso stared at the blob of anxiety laying down on her table. Her fingers wrung while her eyes scanned, getting as much information through his muscles to process in her brain. She put her back into it, her tail raising her a little bit higher. Eventually she found a knot, a tight, tensing muscle, between the scapula and third thoracic vertebrae. Her scaled fingers worked diligently with more focus, wrinkling and deforming Devin's black uniform under the light. "You don't have to talk if you don't want. But I do my best work when the client is talking with me."
Devin relaxed a little, telegraphing a modicum of defeat to Amaso. "I just didn't think my day would end like this." He groaned out.
"Underneath the working thumbs of a viper, huh?" Amaso couldn't control the accusation seeping into her voice. She knew why he was so uncomfortable. Regardless she still focused on the rhomboid region, keeping her normal pace.
Devin's face scrunched up, wrinkles forming at his forehead. He began to sweat, his skin growing hot. "I mean uh… I don't mind where I'm at."
Amaso was about to press him further, but instead she relieved her lungs and sighed out a big breath of air. Her own muscles relaxed, her taut tail dropping onto the ground again. She looked at herself, how her scales shined a violent green, how her size could be considered imposing.
"Is it my size?"
Devin tried to tense up, but the fingers near his spine said no. "I mean… I guess I'm just used to getting looked down at."
Amaso glared in curiosity, deciding between metaphor or literal. His feet laid on the table instead of hanging off of the edge. "You mean your height?"
"Yeah. And you're even taller than usual." He winced.
Her green scaled thumbs dug deeper, feeling the knot. The overly tense muscle still wouldn't yield. She sighed, trying a little harder to knead it out.
"Sometimes, I wish I was small." She belted off wistfully. Devin nearly scoffed, but feared the external pressure on his lungs.
"You wish you were small?"
The green viper tilted her head a little bit, still kneading Devin's back. Her hands grew a little softer. "When you're as big as me, you grab attention. People stare, watch, judge. It's tiring."
Devin stared at the short blue carpet through the table's headrest, and hesitated before speaking. He could throw a hundred different canned ways of saying "Alright." But once again, he's in a spot he's never been in before. Might as well do something new. Speak his mind.
"Well, when you're as small as me, you get tired of how people ignore you."
"What I'd do for a little bit of that." She breathed in, and let the muscles of Devin's back push her palms away. They felt naked after a couple minutes of work.
She leaned back on her green coils. "Hop up."
"You're done?" He muffled out.
"No, just sit on the table." She leaned back against a counter, her arm supporting her. Devin sat up slowly. He arched his back, trying to feel the locations where fingers tried to turn him into jelly.
Amaso's lime green eyes centered on Devin's hazel green. The blue walls of the room highlighted the both of them, vibrant compared to the cool colors. "So, like I said, these hands work on trust. And your back doesn't trust me."
His face was a mix of annoyance and confusion. "And?"
Amaso assured him with her golden voice. "It means we talk some more. So here's a question I don't get to ask often. Are you fearful of me?"
Devin was struck by the brevity. "I uh… no?"
She tilted her head again, her hands spread outward. "It's okay to be afraid of me. I mean, you came in here because you lost a bet. I doubt you wanted to see a viper twice the normal size. But I promise you I'm in the business of relief now. Did you grow up here?"
He breathed in, and decided to explain. "Yeah, back when Shanktown was a thing."
"Lots of viper patrols?" Her fingernail rubbed down one of her arms, her nail tracing it.
His breathing accelerated. "They came through sometimes."
She brought a finger to her lip. She hesitated for a moment, tapping her lip, her eyes on the ceiling. She then brought her whole hand to her chin in thought.
"See, I had to deal with fear too." She mumbled out of her hand.
He glanced at her from tip to hood, with an indignant look. "You did?"
She got up with closed, answering eyes, and began to rifle through a nearby drawer. "Where I came from, aliens weren't as lucky after the liberation. Instead of going to a camp, you went to a firing line. And because of my size, it was hard to escape. I used a shipping container to get here." She gestured toward her own body. "It doesn't matter how big I am. A gun kills all the same."
Devin looked down toward his feet, dangling off the ground. His shoulders slumped.
Amaso perked up. "Candle?"
He looked up to see the viper offer a glass jar in one hand, color filling the inside. She explained while staring at the other ones in the drawer. "Let's see… I have ocean loam, cinnamon coffee and key lime yogurt. You choose."
Once again he was thrown off his train of thought. "Uh… key lime yogurt."
Her hand placed the jar down on the counter with a clank. The other hand lit a match, drew fire to the wick, and flicked it away to burn out on the counter. She dashed off her supporting elbows to face Devin. The candle provided some warm light in the dim room, most of it falling onto the outsides of Amaso's green scales and white outer zip-up.
"So, now that you know a little about me, how do you feel?"
He tapped his fingers against the side of the table. "I mean… I feel a little less tense?"
Amaso nodded her head, and explained. "Well, when you know someone a little better it's easier to trust them. You don't know much about me, so it's easier to not trust me. But I promise you I don't bite. These are healing hands. And these fangs are for biting burgers." She parted her mouth for a wider smile, two pearly white stalactites visible through a slit.
Devin nodded with her. He breathed in, the air going in a little smoother, a little deeper. "Alright. And it's not because you're bad at your job or anything, my back feels a little better, It's just… I didn't plan for this. You're right."
"Unexpected things are stressful. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to massage your back muscles first, then your arms, hands, calves, feet, and then we can see what you're comfortable with from there. Sound good?"
Devin took one final breath. The inhale brought the scent of the candle to his nose, the fruity, citrusy air floating to rest in his lungs. It was almost like the particles had collected all of his intense anxiety, his worries and doubts, and lifted them out in the following exhale. Nothing was left but the scent in his airways.
"Sounds good." He smiled with the answer. A true grin, his body a little looser, bouncier as he spoke.
Amaso's hands could finally roam free. Devin's muscles became clay, allowing every firm press and push into them to make its mark. Her tongue flicked out occasionally, her eyes closed as she could map out his anatomy with just touch. She sculpted with her large hands, forcing any latent deformities or knots out of the nascent pottery. Lines were traced into the terracotta, discovering new locations for her carving hands and realized where she would need different tools for the job. Her elbow was useful on his left latissimus. The flat of her palms rubbed clear the spinae. All the while she could feel Devin slow his breathing, his limbs grow limper. His transformation from rock to clay to putty was a marvel.
"This is… the best bet I've ever lost." Devin whimpered out from the table, but it might as well have been a cloud.
"I'm glad you've come around. I'm going to do your arms now, so I'm going to have you roll over."
Devin formed a single thumbs up, then turned his body. His new back floated on the table's pads. He took a brief look at Amaso, but turned away to stare at the cool ceiling instead, focusing on what his body could feel.
Amaso shared the look with him then moved to her next target. She started with his deltoids, and slowly moved down the arm. There wasn't much there, but what was there surrendered to her hands.
"Im curious Devin… what do you do for a living?"
Devin's voice was returning to normal now that her hands were off his back. "I'm studying at Oakland."
"Impressive. Your major?" She squeezed away.
"Business administration."
Amaso kept squeezing, mapping out tendons and overworked fibers. "Your arms are soft, but your upper back was stiff and knotted. Normally they're both stiff."
He closed his eyes, an acknowledging breath leaving his lips. "I guess I'm just unique."
"I don't get people as young as you often. That might explain why."
Devin chimed in again, continuing the conversation. "What's your usual clientele?"
Amaso made her way down the forearms. "Construction workers. There's less now than I started, android steel doesn't need massaging."
"When'd you start?" He lifted his head to look.
She rubbed the muscles of his left hand, ignoring his gaze. "Four years ago."
"A lot of stuff happened then." Remembrance seeped into his voice.
She smirked. "That's an understatement. I was massaging more then."
"Massaging, compared to what? Aren't you massaging right now?" Devin asked in a calm tone and placed his head back down, eyes somewhere else.
"I'm a masseuse and a chiropractor. One is good for stress and one is better used for pain. Can you guess which one requires the certification?"
"Chiropractor?" Devin pursed his lips in thought.
"Correct. The city doesn't want you to pop bones back to where they should be unless you know how too. Which makes sense, since a majority of vipers know how to do the opposite…"
Devin's breathing hesitated as the thought crept into his head. Amaso's fingers paused on his hands, her face trying to hide frantic embarrassment. She restarted once she realized her fingers stopped.
"Haha, sorry. Sore subject. Let me get your other arm."
She slithered around the head of the table, Devin's eyes tracking her. She quickly began kneading his left arm, but slowed down her pace. His breathing started to slow with it, her movements reminding him what he was in here for. She moved from shoulder to forearm to palm with her relaxed pace.
Amaso's hands grew confident, her patient's anxiety wicked away again. "That's your back and arms. Now, how comfortable are you with your glutes and inner thigh?"
Devin hesitated his breathing again, his cheeks grew a little warmer. "I uh… I don't think I'm comfortable with that yet."
Amaso nodded her head, her eyes focused on the remainder of his left hand. "That's perfectly okay. Most people don't warm up that fast, but I thought I should ask."
He nodded his head in acceptance, and his muscles yielded to her hands once again.
Ten minutes blended into fifteen, then fifteen into twenty. She was a little surprised when she felt something hard appear while massaging the legs, but quickly realized it was a wallet and phone Devin had forgotten to take out of his pockets. Every muscle that Amaso knew humans didn't mind being touched was touched, leaving a few key areas between his legs and abdomen unrefined. But she knew how her method works, and she trusted it.
She backed up once again, her coils supporting her. She was impressed by her own handiwork. "Alright Devin, do you feel like jelly yet? Goo? What are we feeling?"
Devin slowly got up from the table, feeling his new arms and back. "I feel like my limbs can bend backwards twice as far." He stared in amazement at his arms. Then looked at Amaso to give her a thanks, only to be surprised by the lack of her white zip-up, revealing her black shirt was actually a black tank top.
Amaso's eyes were full of content, continuing to marvel her work with her exposed arms crossed. "Haha, don't try that. We do that next visit."
His amazement faltered. "Next visit?"
The viper smiled, and reached back for the still burning candle. She blew out the wick, the smoky vapor rising up to curl around her face. "I want you to keep this. In vipers and humans, smell is a very powerful way to recall memories. So whenever you feel stressed, or maybe a little bit down, or both, open up this jar and you'll have a little piece of tonight with you."
Amaso gently thrust the candle toward Devin. The green of the wax was a little duller than her gradient scales, but it looked similar. He looked down, then up, then down again, and accepted the candle. "Thanks." He said with a curious smile.
"I'm open all weekdays, four to midnight. Come by if you're feeling stressed again." She confirmed with a nod, looking far down at her satisfied client.
They began their movement to the curtains. Amaso grabbed Devin's jacket and was ready to place it into his hand, only to find him fidgeting with the jar. His fingers tapped the glass, his eyes on the ground instead of the curtains.
He spun around. "Wait." Amaso stopped, and brought her body down to get to his eye level, her eyes showing genuine interest.
His eyes flicked between her and the curtain. "There's this girl out there I like and uh… I don't know if it's your secret, or whatever, but is there some move I can do to impress her? I mean if I get in the situation where she wants a massage, well, you're the master. Do you have a tip or…"
Amaso placed her large hand on his inner shoulder, and pinched. "This is the trapezius. Ninety nine percent of your stress is carried here. And if she's anything like you, she's stressed. It's not about how hard you go, it's about applying constant pressure, slowly rubbing your way across the muscle. And I should mention, it's easier and more comfortable to do when it's skin against skin with a layer of oil applied… but it's all about trust, isn't it Devin?"
Devin looked at her arm, diagonally outstretched to reach him, from her shoulder to his. He nodded a little, reality making its inevitable return. "Right. Thank you... Amaso."
"My pleasure." She returned her arm to her side, and pressed his jacket into his hand with the other arm. Both emerged from the curtains into the lobby. The three humans left bored on their chairs lit up, asking a variety of how-was-its and the occasional whispered vulgarity. Amaso watched as the scene folded underneath her, taking the opportunity to lean against the wall with her arms crossed.
Devin took both of his hands to address the crowd, his posture standing tall. "I don't care what the hell you guys say, I don't regret a thing."
The mob started moving toward the exit door. Devin walked proudly and comfortably as his companions followed close behind, still conversing wildly. He opened the door by falling into it with his back, giving the receptionist a quick "I'll call you" sign with his hand to his ear, before falling into the night with his jeering friends close behind.
The usual quiet enveloped the lobby again. Wind of the AC unit was one of the few sounds that could be heard, along with the rumble of a distant train and the deafened woosh of cars through the glass doors.
"That was interesting." Amaso's receptionist leaned back in her office chair and spun to face her green friend.
"He was locked up like a sympathy camp dissident Leanne, and I still got him. I even had to talk with him to get him to calm down." Amaso's customer service voice finally faltered, her true cadence coming out to gloat.
"I don't think his friends were helping." She put her eyes on the door.
"Nope. He was as stressed as ten constructors on overtime." Amaso's gaze joined Leanne's.
The hybrid turned toward Amaso and placed both her hands together, a snide smile taking over. "Well, another successful procedure from Doctor Greenscale. City 31 is safe from achy spines once again. Perhaps she'll save her loyal sidekick from poverty with a generous raise."
Amaso got off the wall to lean her elbows on Leanne's counter. "Greenscale? It's a shame you'll get sick of that name, knowing all the bills you haven't filed yet."
The receptionist kicked back, and placed her black shoes on the counter. "Your shame, not mine. You chose the name."
"Last names are useless." A tongue flicked out.
"Yeah… apparently. Your client's name was Black. Devin Black. At least your name describes you pretty well."
Amaso thumped a fist on the counter. "True, true. I gotta go clean up."
Leanne turned toward her computer again. "He let you use the oil?"
Amaso parted the curtains. "No, just a little candle therapy."
"Ah. Experimenting with hot wax now?" She said with a smirk, her chin resting on her hand, eyes on the computer.
Amaso had made her way through the curtains, but popped her torso out again to scold Leanne while holding in a laugh. "Shut up. You're just as bad as those college kids."
"I'm only six years old. Gimme a break."
Amaso rolled her eyes and headed into the therapy room. Her hands were ready to perform the next routine, wipe down the humanoid sized table and get the muton one out of the closet. Her hands went to a few drawers, grabbing a spray bottle and a rag. The soapy mixture beaded onto the pads of the table, quickly cleansed away by Amaso's deft hand.
Except the rag grew slower, and slower, until it stopped. Amaso's eyebrows lowered, her eyes staring at something too distant to be contained in the room.
She looked at the hand holding the rag. It wasn't moving. Her eyes flitted from the floor to the back of her hand. With a decision, she put down the bottle and rag, and headed through her office door at one end of the room. Her tail slithered briskly across the carpet, following her inside. A single wooden desk was in one corner, a computer monitor and a large keyboard waiting for use. No chair was present. Across from that, a large, metal filing cabinet stood cold with burned out incense sticks placed on top.
Amaso's hand flew to the bottom drawer. It slid out with a clank, the sound reverberating through thin sheet metal. Then her other hand reached in and grabbed a glass jar.
The viper's massive coils sunk to the ground, bringing her torso with her. Her back against the wall, she placed the jar on her lap, her eyes staring intently, her hands following habitual movements. She popped the top off the glass jar with ease, the synthetic seal flaking off and falling apart far after it's expiration date. The glass wasn't entirely see through, a brown film burning its way onto the inner surface. Only a centimeter of red wax remained at the bottom of the jar, a black wick waiting patiently to be used.
A finger reached in and scratched the wax. She breathed in deep with the jar against her nose, knowing the first whiff is the best. Her eyes closed, and with a flutter opened again as the scent infiltrated her olfactory cavities and lungs.
She sat there against the wall, meters of green tail still in the therapy room leading to her office. She stared at her length, from tip to jar. She pointed her snout to the ceiling, head against the wall with her eyes closed, and waited for her tense muscles to relax again.
Thanks for reading my short story, I hope you enjoyed the little foray into City 31 life, and the little insight into Amaso's past life. Since I consider this story done, feel free to leave a full review to share your unadulterated thoughts. I hope I was able to keep it interesting from start to end.
And if you want to show your appreciation for my work, I've created the inevitable and all-too-common: www.*pat*re*on.*com / sweateredviper
Any little bit goes a long way!
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