WHO: Elaine Mallory, Thor Odinson WHAT: Meeting, massage WHEN: Weds 4/1 WHERE: Evergrace WARNINGS: Brief nudity in a professional context
After Monday’s little accident, Thor had found himself beaten up but not actually hurt. Still and all, his boss sent him to a local masseuse, telling him to get relaxed, or else. And so it was that Thor showed up for an appointment at the massage parlor, hoping this would actually help him relax and not be something silly.
Elaine was both surprised and flattered that Thor Odinson was coming to see her. It wasn’t that she was one of those fangirl types, but Thor’s name was becoming rather well-known, and she was quite certain that his studio could easily have paid for someone to work with him on the set. Perhaps all the social media networking she’d been getting into was starting to pay off, and Evergrace Massage was becoming a household name among the Valarnetters. Whatever the case, she would do her best to provide him with the same restful, healing experience as anyone else she welcomed through her door.
Thor smiled as he stepped into her door, and looked around. “Thank you for having me, Elaine Mallory.” He spoke softly and bent his head slightly as he walked. He was unsure what to expect.
“Thank you for coming in, Mr. Odinson,” she said, rising to greet him as he entered. “I just have a brief intake form to go over before we begin, so you’re welcome to have a seat. Can I offer you any water, or tea?”
“Water would be fine.” He settled to sit and took the form. He smiled as he filled it out. “How are you today?”
Elaine got the water, and returned to take a seat on one of the armchairs nearby, setting the glass on the coffee table between them. “I’m well, thank you. How are you feeling?”
Thor smiled as he rested, sipping the water, filling out the form. “Well, except some aches and pains from a recent accident. Seems I tensed at the last moment just right to not get hurt, but now I’m having trouble untensing. It’s been like this for several days.”
“Can you point out the problem area?” she asked, “And how would you describe the quality of pain--is it a sharp pain or more of a general ache? Does it inhibit your movement at all?” She waited for Thor’s answer, then asked a few more questions based on his description; inquiring about the actions that had led up to the injury, and assessing his range of motion. Only once the intake was complete did she formally, humbly ask permission to touch his body.
He replied, showing her where he had been hurt, but certified by a doctor as not actually damaged. He explained how there was pain lashing down his side and across his shoulders. He had been hurt during a stunt gone wrong. and only his stunt coordinator’s quick actions had made it not go worse.
He of course gave permission, sitting there.
Elaine thanked him, and stood, gesturing to the treatment room, explaining her draping procedures and indicating that he should disrobe to his comfort level and lie face down, covered with a sheet. “I will give you a moment to get settled before I knock; just let me know if you are ready.”
Thor followed her and nodded, following her instructions, grinning, and beginning to strip then and there. He had no body shyness. He slipped under the cover and rested, groaning as he shifted, trying to get comfortable.
Shy or not, Elaine made a point to turn away and pull the door closed between them as Thor began to undress, stepping into the restroom to wash up and run her hands under hot water. As promised, she knocked before re-entering the room and offering a bolster for beneath his ankles. Some people liked them to ease the tension in the low back; some people did not. She also adjusted the face rest to place his neck at a more natural, relaxed angle.
Finally, once everything was comfortably arranged, she placed her hands on Thor’s upper back and drew a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she felt his ribcage rise and fall. And then the massage began.
He took the bolster, curious, and relaxed, or tried to, as she moved. He was tight, and knotted severely. His whole body tense, despite his best efforts to relax. Thor was hoping she could do what a doc, sex, and resting had not.
She could feel the thick cords of solid muscle even through the sheet, and knew that she might have her work cut out for her. She could practically see the tension as she folded back the sheet and spread warm oil across his back, and greased her forearms to the elbow. As she smoothed the oil over his skin with long, smooth strokes, she sent a whisper of energy through her palms to warm up the musculature and help her contact and release the tension.
The table was low enough that she could bend at the knees, working from her core rather than simply from her shoulders, and allowing for contact the full length of her forearms. As she rocked forward, arms gliding along the length of his spine, she cupped her hands, then turned her palms downward--as if scooping water and pouring it over his lower back. There, she rotated her wrists, making a heart-shaped stroke just above the swell of his glutes, and closing her hands, kneading with her knuckles in a circular motion; then opening her hands again and drawing her arms back upward along his sides--gently rocking his spine from side to side to loosen muscles and sinew--and repeating the kneading motion at the upper trapezius where his neck and shoulders joined.
Her voice was soft and soothing, even maternal as she asked, “Is this pressure too deep?”
He could feel something happening, an energy flowing across him from her touches. A groan came out as he felt a small kernel of relief. "It's good. Feels very good. You have an incredible touch. "
“Good,” she echoed, turning to one side of the headrest to trace her forearm down the opposite side of his neck and shoulder, bringing her elbow back up toward his occiput. She repeated this stroke about three times, then moved to the same side of the table and repeated the motion thrice more with the fleshy part of her forearm. Then she began to work her way along that same side of his erector spinae group, rotating her arm with more hand-scooping motions as she ironed out the muscles down the length of his back.
The slow spiraling feeling of warmth was helping. His tension was still there and painful, but there was a growing sensation of wellbeing. He sighed softly, smiling. This had been a good idea.
Switching arms for better leverage, Elaine shifted her stance and continued working his lower back. She placed a palm at his sacrum, holding the sheet in place above the gluteal cleft, but nudging the edge of it aside so that she could address the glutes and hip themselves. Then she smoothed the sheet back into place and worked her way back up to circle his scapula, repeating the process on both sides of his body,
Thor felt some of the tension slowly bleed away, not all of it, by far, but some, and he groaned as relief flooded those areas. He sighed and nodded. “It’s helping, whatever you’re doing.” Even that little bit helped, a lot. He felt relief and some hope that more work could relieve more pain.
“I’m just getting warmed up,” she said, pausing to give some light traction at the base of his skull. She’d go back over some specific points she’d found, and try a few different techniques to help release as much of the tension as she could in their remaining time. “Just let me know if the discomfort gets too intense at any of your tender points.”
Thor whimpered, and shuddered and rested as much as he could. “O-okay.” He breathed slowly, and smiled. “I do believe I’ll be back here again.”
“I would certainly appreciate it,” Elaine murmured, as she continued working.
Intuitively seeking the areas that needed the most attention, Elaine did what she could, watching and listening for cues from Thor, so as not to tax his tolerance this first go ‘round. After attending to some of the specific problem areas, she made sure to do a few general strokes to make nice before she moved on to the rest of the massage.
She definitely made him feel better, and he relaxed slowly, some. He felt definite hope in her actions. “You are a wizard of massage...” He groaned as she worked the rest of his muscles, less tense, but still affected.
Elaine couldn't help but laugh a little at Thor's assessment. He'd hit the nail right on the head. But she refrained from making any hammer puns in the middle of a session. Wrong place, wrong time. However, she did acknowledge his discernment with an, "As a matter of fact, I am. Though even a wizard might need to see you more regularly to keep up with all the hard work that you put your body through, sir. Doing your own stunts feels like it must be a pretty gruelling job."
Thor smiled a little, relaxing a bit more under her hands. “I think that can be arranged. How is later this week again?” He hmmed about this. “And this time was a little more than a normal stunt work. But yes, it can be pretty intense. I love it, though.” He smiled. “I could definitely use regular work, if this is what your work does, the first time.”
“I think I have some time available later this week,” she said, nodding. She let her right hand hover over his injured side, and let her magic suffuse along the muscles and connective tissue. If he’d been doing more than normal stunt work, perhaps he needed more than normal healing.
“Good. I will gladly book it.” He paused, then grinned. “And with hands like those, time for my fiance as well.” It was sort of a secret, but why not? Thor shuddered under the feel of that energy, and he groaned, eyes going wide.
“Ohhhh. Now that is... amazing.”
It wasn’t as if Elaine was going to sell his secrets to the press. Anything he said within her healing space was kept in confidence--unless of course, he spoke of harming himself or others, but that was another matter. She smiled as she sensed his energy respond to hers, and his muscles follow suit, and continued on that course. “Have you ever had energy work done before?”
Thor had a feeling he could trust her and he smiled wider. He nodded and relaxed, more yet, feeling the power within her more vividly, now that he was paying attention. “No, but I have done it for others, in a way.” he raised a hand off the table, still laying there otherwise and offered it to her.
Letting the magic disperse, she glanced from Thor’s smiling face to his offered hand, then placed her hand in his. She was not entirely certain what to expect--though she recalled from her dreams that a wizard could sense the powers of another when they clasped hands. Thor’s energy, however, had a very different sensation than Harry’s.
Thor smiled and then let just a tiny portion of his essence touch hers, flow to her, energy, warmth, and acceptance. And he nodded as it touched her and slid to her. His power was lightning, and thunder, and the slow roll of it, deep, like an ocean, but not bottomless.
Elaine felt that energy crackling between them like lightning jumping from cloud to cloud, and rolling back like thunder. It was the power of summer storms; a force that, when channelled, could light a home, or change sand into glass. Elaine's own magic was touched with a similar power, though Thor's was undoubtedly stronger than her own, it was tempered in such a way that she was not overwhelmed. She inclined her head in acknowledgement of a kindred spirit, and offered a warm smile. "Well met, son of thunder."
Thor smiled softly back. “And well met to thee, daughter and friend.” He could feel her connection and the words felt right. She drew on the power that now filled him from dawn to dusk, that his body made as if making it were normal, and perhaps it was? He did not know. But the way she drew it, the way she manipulated energy, made him grin. She was, in some ways, like both he and his brother, kin to thunder and to magic.
Still holding his hand, she raised her other to reach across the table and touch his opposite shoulder. Her bare feet pressed against the tile floor, grounding her, and she let her eyes close as she let the healing energy flow into him. When she felt a sense of completeness, she gently withdrew, and bowed her head again. “I would invite you to rest for a moment, and get up slowly,” she said, “I will meet you outside with water, and we can talk more.”
Thro felt like his whole body and mind were shifting and as energy flowed along him and into him, he groaned. Slowly, slowly, everything fell into place and he felt the tension release in an almost painful way. There was still pain and a little bit of tension, but it felt like she had broken most of it somehow, or simply washed it away. He nodded slowly.
“Okay. Thank you.”
Elaine excused herself to wash up, and to jot down her notes about the session, and what might need attention next time. She had no doubt, now, that there would be a next time--even if Thor’s schedule and the OC’s shenanigans might take some perseverance to work around. She had a glass of water with a splash of lemon and a drop of food-grade lavender essence in it waiting for him when he emerged--along with a small jar of muscle rub with marjoram and clove oil in case he wanted something to take home for the lingering ache. It might be something both he and his fiancee could enjoy.
Thor came out and then gave her a hug. “My thanks, milady. Twas an amazing session and one I will be back to repeat.” He nodded.
Smiling, Elaine returned the hug, and nodding in agreement. “I will certainly look forward to seeing you again. And I hope you feel much better.”
“I do. And I will call with an appointment time soon.Thor smiled as he nodded to her, paid and gifted her with a tip. Then he was gone.