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Grace’s back was killing him. The double gravity on Erid (compared to Earth) was brutal on his flimsy human joints, and his spine took the brunt of the effects. But as much as his bones were affected, his muscles had to compensate, and his thorough routine of stretching and exercising could only help so much.
Hence why he was digging around in the medical supplies brought down from the Hail Mary to see if there was anything that could soothe his aching back. He debated asking Rocky for a massage, but honestly he didn’t fully trust any Eridian to not immediately crush his ribcage if he asked them to apply pressure. He had learned that Eridians couldn’t tell how much pressure was needed for different materials as intuitively as humans could, most likely due to their solid skin lessening their sense of touch. They sort of just assumed everything would be hard and tough like they were. Once, Grace had asked Adrian if they wanted to help him make mashed potatoes, and Adrian had “mashed” so hard they shot pulverized potato across the kitchen, shattered the bowl, and dented the countertop. Adrian had been shocked less by the amount of force they had used, and more by how squishy the potato was and how fragile the glass bowl was. Rocky, Grace had learned during their years of living together, was particularly clumsy on top of that, and when he had first made his more form-fitting xenonite suit it had taken him a long time to learn how gentle (relatively speaking) he had to be with Grace’s squishy body.
All of this to say, Grace wasn’t too eager to get a massage from a guy made of rocks who handles everything like it’s also made of rocks. Also, Armando didn’t have a massage function (yes, he asked), so he was more or less on his own when it came to relaxing his tense and cramping muscles.
He dug through the bins of medical equipment until he came across an unmarked white box, about the size of a shoebox. He opened it, hoping its contents could be useful. Inside was an array of small plastic cups of various sizes, shaped like hemispheres with a wide lip and a little plastic nub through the apex, and what looked like some kind of hand pump, shaped like a gun with a handle made for squeezing.
Yes! Grace had heard of cupping therapy before, but never tried it, and at this point he was willing to try anything. As he sat up from leaning over the box to celebrate, his muscles seized and blinding white pain tore its way along his spine, forcing his back to arch. He lay curled on his side on the floor until it passed, and then got up to do some research on his new discovery.
The next time Rocky visited, Grace asked him for help, since there was no way he could place the cups correctly on his back himself. Rocky had readily agreed (“Would do anything to lessen my friend’s pain”), which is how Grace found himself on his stomach on his bed, Rocky perched over him with a cup in one hand and the hand pump in another. He shifted his weight back and forth between his remaining three legs nervously.
Don’t know what I’m doing. Don’t want to hurt you, he sang, his voice wobbling a little.
“You won’t,” Grace assured him, “I’ll talk you through it.” He reached his arm back from where it was pillowing his head to pat one of Rocky’s legs reassuringly.
Okay, Rocky finally said, settling into his position tripoded over Grace’s back. What do I do?
Grace easily slipped into Teacher Mode as he explained the process to Rocky.
“You should place the cups along my… let’s see… my erector spinae and my latissimus dorsi, one at a time.” He found it easier to use the technical terms for human body parts with Eridians, who, thanks to their perfect memories and echolocation, could tell the exact locations of, even if Grace couldn’t. “Place the cup over the muscle, and that nub on the top should fit into the nozzle of the hand pump. Squeeze the pump… let’s say three times to start?”
Rocky followed his instructions, placing the first cup at the base of his left erector. Grace felt his skin and muscle get sucked up into the cup as he heard the ascending shk, shk, shk of the hand pump. It didn’t feel like a pinch like he was expecting, more like someone had grabbed a firm handful of his muscle and was gently lifting it up. There was a bit of a stretch, and a bit of a squeeze, and his skin tingled as blood pooled under it inside the cup.
Grace felt Rocky’s weight fling off of the bed abruptly, and he landed on the floor with a crash, wailing in high, shocked tones.
Disgust disgust disgust!!! Supposed to do that??? Skin stretching far far far!!! Blood vessels breaking!!! Hurts???
Right, the image of his skin distending as it was suctioned up into the cup would be pretty unnerving to someone whose skin was literally made of stone, wouldn’t it? Grace was suddenly very glad Rocky couldn’t see color, because the sight of his skin turning red and purple inside the cup would definitely add to his freakout.
“No, no, it’s okay! Okay okay okay! The suction pulls my skin and a little bit of muscle into the cup to increase blood flow on purpose. It’s supposed to help the muscles relax and loosen. I promise, it doesn’t hurt! It feels pretty good, actually. Maybe a little weird.”
Rocky seemed to relax a little at his words, but he was still emitting a high-pitched drone of worry which made him sound a little bit like a mosquito. Careful not to move his back too much for fear of dislodging the cup, Grace reached his arm out towards one of Rocky’s, grabbing his hand.
“I’m sorry, buddy, I definitely should have told you what was going to happen. I didn’t even think about how freaky it would look to you!”
Is okay. Sure it doesn’t hurt?
“I’m sure. You know how stretchy human skin is!”
Okay. Will continue. Rocky clambered back onto the bed with newfound determination, reaching into the box of cups by Grace’s hip.
“Are you sure? You really don’t have to, I know it’s probably really gross for you, and-”
No, Rocky cut him off sternly. Grace hurt, Rocky fix.
Rocky made quick work of the rest of the cups, placing them in a line along either side of his spine and out into a T across his shoulders, perching up next to Grace’s head once he finished. Grace’s whole back felt tingly, and he could feel his tenser muscles trying to grip against the gentle suction of the cups.
How long should they stay on? Rocky asked as he settled down, folding a few legs under himself.
“Around 10 Earth minutes,” Grace said.
Okay, will count. How does it feel? Rocky asked, curious, Describe.
Grace couldn’t look at Rocky without craning his neck uncomfortably from this position, but he brought a hand up to tap along one of his legs as he spoke.
“It feels nice, very tingly and warm. It kinda feels like someone’s grabbing onto my muscles and pulling them away from my bones, very gently, like a stretch. How does it look?” Grace asked, equally as curious.
Very strange. Disgust. But also fascinating. Skin is so… moveable. Sounds very painful, but you say no pain! Incredible, He said, moving to tap on one of the cups. Grace could feel the vibrations, but the cup didn’t budge.
From Rocky’s perspective, Grace probably looked like he was getting tortured. His skin drawn tight and stretched between the many cups, blood pooling right under the skin and muscle fibers slowly giving way to the suction. Grace was once again very very very glad that Rocky wouldn’t be able to see the circular bruises the cups would almost certainly leave. But, on the other hand, he thought Rocky would probably be fascinated by the way his skin turned purple, then blue, then yellow and green as the bruises healed. Eridians didn’t really have an equivalent to the impermanent, surface-level damage of bruising. If their carapace cracked, it stayed cracked, whereas Grace’s skin could eventually knit itself back together even if it was torn to ribbons, and bend to accommodate impacts instead of chipping apart. Rocky loved to tease him for his squishyness, but it was his squishyness that allowed him to do things like this. Rocky would never get to experience a massage, or a nice gentle stretch, or this strange sensation of skin being pulled away from muscle and bone, and that made Grace a little sad. On the other hand, he knew there were plenty of things special to being an Eridian that he would never get to experience, so he guessed they were even. And besides, their constant cultural and informational exchange was so much fun. Even though he desperately wished that he could touch Rocky without being burned, give him a real hug and feel the carapace of his best friend on his skin without any barriers, he wouldn’t change anything about their biological differences even if he was given the chance.
Grace hadn’t even realized he zoned out until Rocky tapped him on the head, pulling his mind back down into his body.
Time’s up. How do I take these off?
“Hold on, I wanna try something,” Grace said, slowly pushing himself up onto his hands and knees. Moving with the cups on was really weird. He could feel the activation of his muscles so much more intensely, but they wouldn’t activate as much as they normally could.
Grace could hear Rocky making noises of disgust as he moved through cat-and-cow. The cups clinked against each other as he arched his back, and the stretch and pull of them intensified exponentially as he curved his spine the other way. He moved through the positions a few times, relishing in the new sensations, before flopping back down onto his stomach.
“Just push the nubs at the top of the cups down and they should release,” he explained.
Disgust disgust disgust!!! Rocky trilled, moving to perch over Grace’s back again as his hands released the cups. So much worse when moving!!!
“Sorry, buddy,” Grace said, laughing.
The cups had felt nice while they were on, but as they released their hold on his muscles a wave of relief washed down Grace’s back, settling over him like a warm blanket. Even after Rocky had put all of the cups back into the box, he stayed facedown on the bed, relishing in his newly relaxed muscles.
Helped? Rocky asked, settling above Grace’s head again.
“I feel like a new man,” Grace replied. “Yes, it helped. I don’t think I’ve ever been this relaxed in my life.” He sighed, nuzzling his way further into the mattress. He felt so relaxed, he didn’t want to force his muscles to hold his body up again just yet.
Stay here, then, Rocky said, and Grace felt the comforting weight of his favorite blanket drape over his back. I will watch.