forum The Strangers in the Palace (Closed)(Fantasy)

Started October 31, 2021 by @LovelyRose

tune

Arquis set his mask with his clothes and combed his fingers through his hair, fixing it. When he was done, he looked over to Serenity, who had stopped adjusting the items in the cart. She swept a hand towards the chairs. Arquis awkwardly sat in the one on the left. She approached him, slipping on a pair of thin, sterile gloves. He could smell them from where he sat. Whatever had been used to sterilize them made them smell kind of like butterscotch. It reminded him of the candy at the Palace.

“Perfect.” Serenity knelt in between the two chairs and turned something on at his feet. He hesitantly lowered his legs, surprised to find them greeted by warm water. She patted his calf reassuringly, turned, and then put something in the water. Judging by the fresh, peppermint adjacent scent, it was some kind of bath salt. She put some in the other tub and then stood.

“Alright, while that’s soaking, I’ll be starting on the face massages. Who wants to go first?”

Arquis looked over at Rin. “Um, I think I would prefer to go second?”

Rin cleared his throat faintly, sitting down in the other chair and letting Serenity get to work. "I can go first, then." Rin said, shifting a little in his seat and giving Serenity and Arquis a soft smile. He didn't mind going first, if that made Arquis more comfortable and happy.

“Excellent,” Serenity chirped, pulling the cart to her side.

She picked up a warm, damp towel with a pair of tongs, very gently brushed Rin’s hair from their face, and placed the towel on their cheek. She began to lightly caress his face with it, avoiding sensitive areas like their eyes. When she was done, she picked up a small wooden container, screwed off the lid, scooped out some clear oil, and started to rub it into his skin. Her touch was somehow both soft and firm. She gingerly rubbed their pressure points and worked out a knot in his jaw.

“Has something been stressing you out?” she asked quietly as she lightly pressed his temples. Her tone was motherly. “You seem to be carrying a lot of tension.”

He sighed very quietly as she got to work on the massage, their eyes flickering shut. It was a little awkward, having someone so close to them and massaging them like this, but they did their best to put that aside. "Ah…I suppose I have been stressed recently, but it will be fine." he replied softly. They did not go into detail, not wanting to divulge details and such to this woman that he did not know at all.

She laughed. Her laugh was extremely bubbly. Arquis couldn’t hide a smile. He was glad her back was turned.

“I suppose you’re also probably tense because a stranger’s touching your face, huh?” She patted his cheek and laughed again. “It’s alright, I do this literally everyday. You’re in good hands.”

After another minute of massaging, stepped away and plucked a clear bottle. This one was full of clean-smelling scrub. She pumped some into her cupped hand and began to spread it over their face. It was quite gritty.

“Sorry if that’s a little rough. It’s supposed to exfoliate dead skin, but it can sting a little.”

He let out a quiet laugh of his own, nodding slightly. "Of course. Ah…thank you." he said, wincing faintly when she began to spread it all over their face. Back at home, he had had fancy skin and body care stuff, and if they remembered correctly, they had owned something like this.

With a different damp towel, she washed the scrub off of their face. Serenity replaced it with a smooth, cold, dark purple face mask that she painted on with a brush. It smelled of ripe berries and had little speckles of seeds in it.

“Almost done,” she mumbled. She plucked two chilled cucumber slices out from a container and settled them over his eyes. “There you are. Let that sit for about ten minutes. I’ll take the cucumbers off when I’m done with your husband’s mask and get to work on your pedicure.”

“Husband?” Arquis asked. He realized a second too late that she meant him, and his heart skipped a beat. “Oh! Right! My apologies, we were just married. I am not used to that phrasing.”

She smiled at him. “No need to get embarrassed. You’re here to relax, remember?”

“I-” Arquis cut himself off with a swallow. That was indeed what he’d come to the spa for, but he was struggling with the idea of it. He spent all day walking about; planning everything; giving orders. He wrote letters and calculated finances. He tolerated pain and sleepless nights and ingested enough caffeine to probably do lasting damage. He wasn’t sure he knew how to relax, not fully.

Rin nodded faintly, letting her settle the cucumbers over his eyes and just settling into the chair to try and relax. This was maybe easier for him than for Arquis; Rin knew how to let go of his anxiety and his worries, at least for a little bit. Being a bard and wandering so much had helped with that. It had kept him from sticking at home and dwelling, and gave him other things to worry about, things that didn't damage his mind to dwell on.

Serenity began to work on Arquis. Even though he was expecting it—he’d already seen all of the steps, after all—he was still unprepared. By the time she’d gotten to the actual face mask, he was so tense that he was barely breathing. She paused, the purple-tipped brush dangling over his cheek, and smiled down at him.

“You’re acting as if I’m about to perform surgery.” She was teasing, but her forehead was creased. Her eyes flickered over to Rin, then back to Arquis.

“My apologies. It is not your fault. You are doing a wonderful job.”

“Don’t like being touched?” she guessed. Once again, her eyes darted to Rin, and she frowned.

“Not really.”

“I’m almost done. Think you’ll be alright for a few more seconds?”

“Of course.”

She finished putting the mask on him, but when she went to put the cucumbers on, he shook his head. He could handle a lot, but the thought of neither him nor Rin having their vision alarmed him. What if someone came in? What if this was all an elaborate trap? He needed to have his sight clear in case something bad happened.

Serenity shrugged, though there was something dark in her expression. She went over to Rin and plucked the cucumbers from their eyes.

Rin listened quietly to the conversation, wishing he could see but knowing they could take off the cucumbers in a moment if they needed to. When she took them, they opened their eyes, blinking up at her. "Thank you." he said softly, eyes flickering to Arquis and hoping he was alright.

Arquis had never been so unrelaxed in his life. He was staring uneasily at the water swirling and bubbling around his ankles. Everything about him, especially his posture, radiated anxiety. It was as if he was a frightened animal in a corner. He wasn’t about to snap or lash out, but he couldn’t hide his nerves.

Serenity fixed her expression. She spread a clean towel on the edge of Rin’s miniature tub and knelt down in front of him. Before she took one of their legs out of the water, she reached back, changed into a new pair of gloves, and retrieved a small object. It was a dark stone with a porous surface. A pumice stone, she explained as she patted his feet dry and went to work on his heels. Though the rock scraped, her movements were calculated so that it only rid him of dead, calloused skin. After finishing with that, she put on some other liquids and wrapped his feet in hot towels.

“Is there a color you’d like for your nails? We’re not quite there yet, but I always think it’s best to plan ahead,” she told Rin. “You can get a different one for your hands, if you don’t want them all to be the same.”

The mention of hands made Arquis startle. What had he agreed to? Had he signed them up for a manicure? That wouldn’t work at all.

Rin hesitated for a moment at the question about their nails, his gaze flickering over to Arquis for a moment. "Oh. Well…I think we are going to skip the manicures today, if that is quite alright?" they asked, not wanting Arquis to feel alone in refusing the manicure. "Unless A– my husband would like his nails done, in which case I will as well, but if he does not, then I will not either."

Serenity pulled away, giving Rin a look that was at first unreadable and gradually became displeased. Her curls bounced as she tilted her head and pursed her lips. She moved over to Arquis, but her eyes never left Rin.

“Why the sudden change? Is there something wrong with his nails?” Her eyes finally moved, this time to Arquis’s gloves. She’d apparently noticed that he hadn’t taken them off, just as Honey had. “His hands?”

The question was clearly loaded with meaning. Arquis couldn’t decipher what that meaning was, exactly, as he was suddenly sinking into an ocean of panic. This was his fault. He should have been more careful in what he’d planned.

There was a hand on his knee. He pressed himself flat against the chair, terrified, and lifted his arms in front of his face. When he saw that it was just Serenity, he dropped them and tried for an apologetic smile. It felt like a grimace.

Rin's eyes flashed back and forth from Serenity to Arquis, suddenly catching on to what Serenity was thinking. "Oh. Oh dear." he said, sitting up all the way. "No, you misunderstand, I have never hurt my husband, Serenity." his voice was soft and quiet, but not in a threatening manner, just in a calm way. They didn't know what else to say.

“Hurt me?” Arquis echoed, then, finally catching on, aggressively shook his head. He shook it so hard that it almost made him nauseous. “No! No, no, he has never done anything of the sort.”

“Maybe we should have this talk in private,” she suggested.

“No, truly, Serenity. I promise that they would never lay a hand on me. Not in that way.” He frantically looked over to Rin. Things had taken such an unexpected turn.

“May I see your hand, then? I just want to make sure. We have a very strict policy here about this kind of thing, and I need to ensure that you’re safe.”

There was no good way out. If he kept the glove on and protested, she would assume the worst. If he took it off, she would think she’d been right all along. A muscle worked in his jaw as he looked at her. He could feel every breath he drew in, every pulse of his heart. Slowly, he removed his glove. The scars looked worse in the spa lighting. The old ones seemed fresher, as if they were vying for attention, while the newer ones stood out angrily against his pale skin.

“I see,” was all she said. Her fingers squeezed his knee, and she got ready to stand. He stopped her with a much slower shake of his head.

“Please do not go. I need you to listen.” He looked directly into her eyes and summoned every scrap of courage he could. “He was not the one that wounded me. The person that did is far, far away. We eloped to escape them. If it had not been for my partner, I would have died. I nearly did. They saved me. And that is why it is very important that you do not tell anyone else about this. Because the person that did this to me is still searching for us, and if they find us, they will kill me.”

A long moment of silence crawled by. Serenity finally broke eye contact with Arquis to look at Rin. “I’m sorry. I assumed the worst, and I didn’t give you a chance to defend yourself.”

Rin let Arquis handle the talking, wincing faintly when Arquis had to take the glove off and shaking their head. When Serenity looked over at them, they inclined their head. "It is alright." he said softly. "I am not upset. You made a conclusion based on what we were saying and acting like. I'm…I'm glad you were proactive like that. Even if nothing is wrong now, it could be for someone else."

“Still, I acted unprofessionally. There are much better ways to handle that kind of situation. I would not blame you if you wanted to switch to another masseuse. Though…” She cocked her head thoughtfully and re-examined Arquis’s hand. “I actually might have something to help with that, if you would like.”

“Help in what way?”

She rummaged around in the cart for a moment until she found a wooden bottle. It was a decent size and had what looked to be a rather tightly sealed top. She wiggled the bottle in the air, listening to its contents, before giving him a smile.

“This stuff can reduce redness, inflammation, and scarring. It’s not a miracle cure, but it might make your hands less uncomfortable.”

Arquis clutched his glove to his chest. It was all a bit much. He felt burnt out and angry at himself, and he felt extremely tired. How was it possible to be so young and feel so old?

“I do not like people touching- touching-”

“Your partner could put it on instead of me?” She smiled cautiously at Rin. “If you wanted to, of course.”

Rin shifted forward, gaze staying mainly on Arquis. "I can put it on if he is comfortable with it." he replied, gaze finally moving over to Serenity again. "He is not comfortable with people touching his hands, and I am not going to breach his boundaries unless he tells me he wants me to apply it."

“I understand,” Serenity responded. “And I really am sorry for crossing some of those boundaries, I just, well, like you said. Wanted to be sure. We’ve had people in here before that have been just atrocious to their loved ones, and even though we promise privacy, we promote safety even more.”

Arquis swallowed and ran his gloved fingers gently over his bare skin. The wounds that had opened just a few days prior were healed, but they still stung slightly. He traced over the ridges of older scars that ran across his palms—ones on his palms had faded more than the ones over his knuckles and down his wrists, which had something to do with new cells—and let out a sharp exhale, almost like he’d been punched. The fact that even one of his hands was on display was making him anxious.

“You would not mind?” he asked Rin softly, unable to meet their gaze. Something in his voice was sad yet accepting; though he’d heard his words, he was still anticipating rejection.

Rin nodded at Serenity's words, then looked at Arquis again. "I would not mind, love." he said, their voice soft and gentle and sweet. They knew how afraid of rejection and how uncertain Arquis was about his hands, and wanted to reassure him. Rin didn't know where the scars came from, or how they happened, but he was not going to be repulsed by them.

Their tone made Arquis all choked up. He closed his eyes, hiding the faint glisten of tears, and nodded abruptly. Then, without giving an explanation, he pulled the glove back on. He adjusted it with a few pinches before letting his eyelids flutter open. Though he was no longer at risk of crying, there were tiny, almost unnoticeable beads of water clinging to his dark eyelashes.

“Later, then,” he managed. There was only so much he could handle. Showing his hands had already made him vulnerable, and though he knew the secret of them would have to be exposed someday, he couldn’t bare any more eyes on them in the present.

Serenity shifted hesitantly from foot to foot. “Should I continue with the procedure, then? Or would you prefer to end it for today?”

Arquis looked at Rin. He was fine to keep going if they wanted to—really, he was—but he wasn’t sure what he would say.

Rin reached out to gently brush his hand against Arquis's forearm, trying to reassure him a bit more. "We can continue if, ah, my husband is comfortable doing so." he replied softly, looking from Arquis to Serenity and then back at Arquis.

The touch made Arquis relax, though just barely. Without thinking, he shifted so that their fingers were entwined and gave Rin a weak, appreciative smile. He kissed all five of his knuckles before bringing their hand to his own cheek.

“We can proceed,” he agreed, giving his partner heart eyes. Adoration for them had flooded him; he wished his legs weren’t in a bucket so that he could show it.

While Arquis was busy admiring Rin, Serenity got to work on his pedicure. She followed the same steps as she had before. By the time his feet were wrapped in hot towels, she moved back to his face to wipe off the face mask. She lightly rubbed in some sort of cream, then went and did the same to Rin.

“You know,” she started as she knelt to remove Rin’s hot towels, “you two are different than a lot of the couples we receive here. Not to say that that’s good or bad. Business is business, and people come here because, well, this place has a reputation. And we love that reputation. But you two really aren’t here for that sort of thing, are you?”

Rin smiled at Arquis, gaze still resting on him, but when Serenity spoke up again, he looked over at her. "Ah…not really. If you mean the sexual aspect of this place, well…my husband and I have been taking that part a bit slow. I have some bad history regarding sexual matters, and neither of us wanted to rush into it. We mostly came here for the secrecy." they said, one hand moving up to run through their hair.

She nodded. “It’s kind of sweet, the way that you two look after one another. Not to say that there’s not a balance between that and the other side of things, but I guess when you work at a place like this you kinda forget about romance. I guess I miss it, sometimes.”

For some reason, that made Arquis think of Honey. The young man had been so prepared to use his body to get an advantage over them. He’d been so pleased to receive even the smallest of compliments. Arquis wondered for a moment how long people like Honey and Serenity had worked at The Cecilia Rouge. Long enough to get used to the services they provided. He wondered how often things turned sour, and that thought made his stomach hurt. As complicated as they all seemed, they did appear to be good people. They didn’t deserve to be threatened or used. He remembered the natural makeup Honey had been wearing. That pang of sadness grew.

Serenity moved on with Rin’s pedicure. She did all of the necessary steps, applying about two or three different products before gesturing for him to pick a polish color.