The Ranch

Masseuse June (2)

Blood seeps down Tih's expressionless face. He follows his memories and arrives at a building in the central market. Walking in, the strong scent of medical herbs enters the nose.

"Tih? Did you miss me that much?" A familiar voice speaks from behind the counter. "Are you alone this time? I don't see your little bodyguard?" She walks around the counter and walk to Tih. She takes his hand," Come come, lets go to my office and get you patched up."

The walk through a corridor," The room you were in last time is more like a community doctor's office for sudden injuries," she waves her hand, explaining.

They pass a couple other closed doors. Steam is escaping from one, and the strong smell of herbs is coming from another. The enter a clean smelling room.

Tih sniffs around. There's a few herbs and nice smelling liquids in a cabinet, but none have been used recently.

June pulls Tih up onto the massage bed that's taller than the boy. She inspects the cuts on his face before nodding to herself and grabbing tweezers and tissues.

She's about to warn the child but remember the child doesn't respond to pain and starts pulling out pieces.

"This ones quite a doozy." She pulls out a small rock in his eyebrow. "A little closer and it might have nabbed your eye."

Tih remains silent, but June isn't used to quiet customers, so she starts looking for a conversation. "Hon, I was thinking about this last time, but I believe you'd make a pretty good therapist. And, knowing mental stability most of the islanders have, you'd make a killing. I would know, I could be considered part-therapist."

She goes to explain in detail," A lot of these people have trust issues, they come to me because they trust that everything they tell me is confidential."

"...I didn't want to become their confidante, happily listening to complaints every day, solving others problems while mine....hun, you gotta believe me, it's absolutely exhausting.

"But, half a doctors license isn't an uncommon job 'round these parts, either because of financial problems or the plain reason that the classes were too hard and they dropped out."

June chuckles to herself, but reverts to being serious once more," Anyways, it wasn't pulling in enough customers, so in desperation to find something that would make me stand out from the others I became sort of a listening ear. Somehow, my reputation blew up among a specific group of people that are to this day, frequent customers. As more people started rolling in, others started to assume there was something about me that made me better that the other half-baked doctors."

"This wasn't true at all. My skills are on par with about anyone else, with maybe a little more practical experience? In the end, I sort of became the go-to cheap doctor. It's a little ironic. I became popular for my therapy, but I actually specialize in meridians."

In a jolt, she freezes. June realizes she just blurted put her entire life story and is questioning herself. She's never been the type to listen to others. She's always been the  shoulder to lean on that won't lean back. Something to burden your problems with, with no thought of doing it back.

June takes a moment to herself to acknowledge what just happened. She looks at the expressionless child with a weird expression," You...you're a good listener dumpling." She wanted to ask something but decided against.

She takes a good long look at the boy," Now I'm even more interested in you darling, so enough talking about me, let's talk about you."

She's knows Tih doesn't talk, so takes to role herself," I'm sure most people, myself included, can feel that ominous undertone emanating around you. It's quite intriguing, actually. There's no obvious killing intent, yet you can't help but feeling wary...uncomfortable."

June realizes she might be worrying the child," Of course, that isn't the strangest characteristic I've ever seen. Everyone on this island is unusual in one way or another. It's what brought them to this island."

"But usually...they're aware of their specialization and make use of it-" she pauses to smile at the anomaly," But that's what I like about you. You see, you're doing it unconsciously, you're not even trying to hide it or make use of it."

June tries to read the boy's expressions but can't directly see anything. Tih is attentively listening to the conversation, but in a way that's as if it's unrelated to himself.

She concludes," You don't even understand what I'm talking about right now. There's no emotions written on your face, but I can somehow get an understanding of your emotions. Your confused. It's cute." It's almost as if she can feel what he's feeling without him directly expressing it.

"And the fact that you sitting down, obediently listening to me, ahh~ you really would make a great partner. You're naive, a good listener, and also cute... but those wont help you in this place." She seems to think of something.

She gets serious once again," You're special, I can tell. I have an eye for these things. I like you so I'll tell you a little something."

June lowers her already low voice, "Please don't do anything that would catch people's attention. The strong are...desired, monitored. Don't let 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 take notice, otherwise-"d

At this moment, Kai barges in, asking how badly Tih was injured with obvious worry. A frown sets on face when his eyes land on the small distance between the two. He speed walks between the two, creating some distance. He blocks Tih with his arms out and faces The masseuse with a glare.

June looks at the pout on the guard dogs face and answers his first question," His injuries aren't serious. Just relax hun. Theres no need to get all uppity and bothered, no need to get your panties in a twist, right?" She messes with the boy that barely reaches the top of the massage bed.

Not trusting second-hand information, Kai turns around to check Tih himself. He has to look up slightly to see the child's face. Small band-aids are covering one side of his face, none of them are too big.

June narrows her eyes at the small annoying puppy, "Welp, you're all patched up and ready to go! Remember to find me next time your free." She leans over the shorty and kisses Tih's cheek. "There's eyes everywhere, be careful." The whisper travels into Tih's head.

Kai shivers in disgust as he gets a front row seat of the intimate touch. The watch dog quick pulls Tih away and leaves the room in a hurry. June gazes at the back of the boy with slight concern hidden under a smile. She mutters under her breath," truly unusual..."