Fate - First Reply Massage Time!: The Plague's Parlor

[Eberis Shodo]

The sun shined far overhead, it’s warm rays promising a beautiful day. It's beams bounced off of the pristine buildings and set a nice light upon a small building, a sign in front of it making it's purpose somewhat more specific. "Shodo...Clinic is...finally open." the very man himself muttered, inwardly hoping nothing would come up this day. He had for a long time since devoted himself to keeping peace and the violence that came with that, but the skill that came with being a medicinal expert seemed like a good thing to maintain on days when he did not have to get his hands dirty. The building was actually rather big, being wide and two stories. He couldn't exactly preform life-saving surgeries with what he had been given, but this would be enough for most physical operations. Last but not least in the slightest was his favorite spot in the building, the massage parlor upstairs. Up a very pretty set of mahogany stairs it rested, a bed inside a room fitted with a cup of burning sticks that gave off the scent of flowers and burned wood that mixed entirely too prettily for it’s component parts. It wasn't much, but like all truly great things, he hoped his skill alone spoke for him. He found that many places held true to this theory, such as small businesses. Maybe all the advertising they had amounted to a sign much like his own, but their food or clothes or services easily outmatched certain bigger competitors. Everything was just so much more...genuine.

Finally, in this place he got to wear a different uniform than the black he usually donned, a shiny light blue button-down jacket and sterile pants replacing those rather drab articles. Only his hooded mask remained from the original outfit, given there was no need to scare anyone away. One might think it would be slightly saddening to contend with the knowledge your face is rather unpleasant to view, but for Dr. Shodo it was simply another truth like all realities were, and therefore not worth worrying about. Hopefully his mastery of his form of art by way of medicine kept to the same quality as those of his master's. I have never forgotten you, Miss Lanae. Your memory will live on in my work and the pride I take in it, whether that be silencing those that seek to take what is undeserved or healing those hurt. In her will, he had been left her books and notes, one of which was on massage therapy exercises as well as techniques. Decidedly bored that week, he commited the entire book to memory and his own notes, then used them to fix a child's slightly irritated back. It was very fun, he had begun to find out. Doctorial work tended to be grave and slow, which made sense, but that was because of the pressure and scale of what often needed to be done. As opposed to that, Massage was much more relaxing and quick, with the ability of precise hand movements and anatomical knowledge that came easily to him being all that was seemingly required as a prerequisite to learning the techniques associated. He did not have many clients for this particular side of his work, but those that did partake of his services had no complaints afterwards. There were a lot of things treatment more serious than a massage were required for, but common stress was certainly not one of them.

Taking the piece of paper he left out for sign-ups off the stand, he would retreat up to the parlor for a relaxing read amongst the flowers. Taking a seat, he would quickly find something to rest the paper on. "Hmm, looks pretty busy...actually. That's a...surprise. Nothing I can't handle...though." Shodo stated, smiling beneath the wickedly pointy bird mask he wore out of habit in medical situations. Looking out the window, he barely caught a person crossing below the awning of his shop. No, no longer just a person. A customer. Opening the door and going downstairs, the sound of a knock on wood played like music to his ears. In truth, he was rather excited. Opening the door, that excitement would change rather quickly to surprise. "Oh, hello. What...brings you...here?" he asked in his own broken way, his forced gruffness ringing out slightly.

 

[Akiza]

Akiza was having some difficulty in adjusting.

Far more accustomed was she to living on the periphery of any given place. If it was a tight-knit village, she found some place in the wilderness nearby. If it was a town, then often there were attics, basements, mayhap even a lonely soul who could use her company and who could keep a secret. If it was a city, all the better, for these offered the most room for maneuvering. In all cases she was the outsider. She never integrated into the society—she kept it at arm's length. She never let herself become too attached, not to the place, not to the people in it. This enabled her to leave at a moment's notice, without the chains of longing or regret weighing her down...too heavily.

In Gild, however, things would be different. She liked to think of it as a "change of strategy". Gild represented the perfect spot for her to hide—a shame she hadn't discovered it sooner. She would have preferred to have remained undiscovered by the Gildans, but this is where said change of strategy came into play. The woman Nemeska and that Regulator Boesarius, far from executing her (though they would have been happy to), offered her a job. She wasn't a fool. She took it. And that meant following a set of rules, yes, but a set of rules that would allow her to stay in Gild.

Part of that set of rules meant living a "normal" life. A facade during the day, a devil during the night. She could do that. Even if the second part was easier than the first part.

Akiza had taken some time in her settling in to acquaint herself more openly with various locales around Gild. The Shodo Clinic happened to be just such a one, and for a specific reason. Beneath the awning outside, it felt good to be out of the sun's direct gaze. And soon enough, her knocking was answered.

Presently, she wore a simple black dress and long-sleeved gloves, holding her hands demurely in front of herself. She had about her ankle the anti-magic anklet that Penitents wore.

The bird-like mask of the man who answered the door did not bother her.

"Hello," she said, unfamiliar still with Gildan customs so instead bowing in the Aetochan way of greeting. "Is Doctor Shodo available?"

Eberis Shodo

 

[Eberis Shodo]

"The doctor is...I, Penitent." He stated, a bit shocked. What other than the strange but beautiful foresight of Regel but to test him with a criminal? Most of the time, he would be a bit apprehensive, but this challenge he welcomed. After all, she was a customer as well. "However, I fear such...a title as Penitent...can get bothersome...to say or...hear." He turned, his pace visibly unhindered by her presence, walking a bit farther in and gesturing in a sweeping motion outward towards the interior of the shop. It was a message that he wanted her to come inside, rarely un-gloved fingers flicking inwards. "I would prefer...that you...continue to refer to...me as Doctor Shodo, but...I should then extend...the same courtesy to...you. What name would...you like me to...use for you, Miss?" He asked, going to a shelf and picking up a jar of what seemed like sticks, perusing the label.

Akiza

 

[Akiza]

Though the mask did not bother her, Akiza did—very briefly—have the thought: was this the sort of fashion common among Gildan apothecaries and alchemists? She would have plenty of opportunity to figure that out, as well as the whole host of Gildan customs, during her time here.

Akiza stepped inside the clinic, shutting the door after herself and internally reveling at the further sanctuary from the sun found within the interior.

Penitent. It was part of her story, the one Boesarius designed for her. He had warned her that though the Church prescribed that faithful Jurists should not malign Penitents, still there would be some who would. This conversation was going well enough, however.

"My name is Akiza," she said, opting to bow again to punctuate her introduction. "Please forgive any affronts or mishaps my ignorance may cause, Doctor Shodo. I have come from a distant land, and have only recently resettled in Gild. There is much I have to learn."

The best cover stories were the ones that were, for the most part, true.

Eberis Shodo

 

[Eberis Shodo]

"Lovely name. I tend to be...partial to ones...with sharp corners. I don't exactly...know why." he said with a dry, throaty chuckle as he observed the woman through his ridiculously pointy bird mask, signalling that he had made an attempt at humor. It was an only somewhat unsettling sound to most people, so it seemed like the way to go. At the idea she had caused him any issue, he would have actually barked out a laugh if that didn't hurt to do. He had gotten used to not being recognized at first, so it was no big deal at this point. "However, do take off your shoes at the front door. That is a rule at most places, methinks." He said, walking toward her. "Pardon me..." he said, walking around Akiza and observing her.

"Have you ever had a massage before? Do you know what it entails?" Judging by her easily ditchable clothing that seemed to be the case, but it was a courtesy to ask, and he considered being courteous just a manner of course. See, the techniques involved repetitive if slight touching and some people simply did not like being interacted with that way, whatever the subtext. Oh, perhaps it was his admittedly odd mask, but the alternative, he had come to believe, would not fare much better. "I don't want to take on the drag one does when they gain a 'reputation', one might say. Rest assured, I am completely trained, but some people...well, they prefer to be informed to a rather startling degree, if I might be so bold as to say." He finished, his iron-grey eyes slightly sparkling and reflecting inside his mask from the little sunlight coming in.