Doing The Job [Open]

[Deleted]

Begin at the beginning. Center your breath, clear your mind. You are floating on a white cloud. You watch the water cascade down a fall. Good, calm, happy. You may begin to stand up. Slowly, easily, gently. Carefully stretch your limbs. We don’t want any cramps or pulled limbs. Good. Stretch your body completely. We want to be good and limber. When you are done, center yourself and prepare to do your daily yoga routine while we play soothing music for you. This was what Yao was listening to, as he was massaging a client’s back, working out the kinks and dislocations. His hands were gentle, yet strong, kneading out the aches of the person on the bed. The person was blurrily talking about mindless gossip, as the calm voice and soothing music played from Yao’s CD. Yao listened, but he didn’t respond, except occasionally. The occasional responses were just small acknowledgements like ‘shi’ or ‘aiiyaaah’. He didn’t really care what the woman was going on about, but a big part of the business was letting the client feel safe with the Chiropractor. After all, the person was dealing with the correction of their bone placement and so on. Each session usually only takes about half an hour, this one was going to take an hour though, as the woman had also ordered an acupuncture treatment. So half an hour in, he was done fixing up her body’s alignment, and now he was set to put the pins in at specific points to help clear up the woman’s chi. Chi was very important, so he was always very careful about acupuncture, and it was also one of the things he offered because of this fact. He offered a few other things as well, that went a long with being a Chiropractic. An hour after the session had began, it was finally finished. The woman signed a check and Yao slipped it into his desk to turn it into the bank at the end of the day. He walked her out the door before grabbing his planner out of his office and glancing at the last patient for the day. This person would also be a longer session. They had ordered a normal treatment to fix their body’s alignment, an acupuncture treatment, and run under the machines after to see how their body was as far as the Chiropractic business cared. He didn’t bother to call the clients name. They were the only person there. The last patient of the day. Instead, he stood in front of the door and held the planner in front of his chest, tilting his head and giving a small, sweet smile, “Come in, shi? We make all better, get rid of aches and everything be fixed.” He turned and walked into the room, inquiring for the client to shut the door behind them and got everything ready for after he finished the massage and getting the clients back fixed. First he would fix the back, then the acupuncture treatment, and then check the person’s x-ray to see if everything is aligned well and healthy. tag: someone ▪ words: 519 ▪ ooc: First post

made by kei at GS

[Alfred F. Jones]

it's a

revolution

Word count: 607

Tags: @chi

Notes: Sorry it took a while. Tell me if I got anything wrong!

Alfred didn't want to be here.

He stood before the chiropractor building, hesitating to go in. Chiropractor Healing Arts or something like that. It seemed like a nice place, but it wasn't really somewhere that Alfred would go, had he not basically been given an ultimatum by his regular doctor.

Alfred remembered the man's words clearly. "Mr. Jones, as part of our agreement I never question your activities too much," the old man looked a lot angrier than the previous times Alfred had requested his services, "but I sincerely doubt you're doing anything good to your body." Alfred winced as the man slammed his black briefcase shut. "I can tell you're getting plenty of exercise, but your eating habits?" The man's brow furrowed. "And don't take me for an idiot, I clearly see you've been ignoring my suggestions. The state of your back makes that all too obvious. What did you do to yourself this time?"

Alfred scratched the back of his head with an apologetic smile, trying to think of something. "Um..."

Well he'd been knocked out and sort've beaten up, but that was besides the point, wasn't it?

The old man shook his head. "Don't bother. Now, this time..."

For the first time, Alfred actually bothered to listen. The doctor would ramble on and on about Alfred's state of health but it was only at the end where the rambling mattered, when he told Alfred what he had to do.

"You are going to go," the man said, scribbling something on a piece of paper, "to see this chiropractor. He-"

"Wait, wait, what?" Alfred felt confused. "A chiro-what? And Doc, why do I have to see him? You know I don't want you--"

"Referring you to other doctors, yes, I know," the man huffed impatiently. "Though I have no idea why. This man is a very well-practiced chiropractor, Mr. Jones, very polite and good at what he does. His sessions won't cost you too much and he's very respectful. A trustworthy man. With luck, he'll have you back in shape fairly quickly."

"But Doc—" The man shot a very well practiced glare at the American.

"If you would prefer that I do not refer you to a local hospital or confine you to bed rest for the next two weeks, you should go see this man. If things go well, you'll be back to normal–well as normal as someone like you gets–in just a little while." The man waved the paper in front of Alfred's face, which he took a little unhappily.

The doctor started heading out of the door before turning back towards Alfred. At first, Alfred thought that the man was going to scold him again. To his surprise, he found sympathy in the older man's eyes. "Learn to take care of yourself, will you?" the man said gruffly. "You get into trouble a little too often."

"I will," Alfred replied cheerfully.

"No you won't." The man shut the door behind him.

After the doctor left, Alfred did his research. He checked on the chiropractor that the doc had given him and found nothing in particular to complain about. He researched chiropractics, which seemed to be pretty safe. Alfred supposed he could deal with it.

At any rate, Alfred had finally decided that maybe coming here was the best thing to do. Still, in front of the building, Alfred felt extremely hesitant.

Better now than never, right? And he really didn't want to be stuck like this.

Alfred pushed the door open and walked up to the receptionist. "Hey!" he said with a smile. "I'm looking for a Mr. Yao Wang?"

i suppose

by Worldie for Leia

[Deleted]

Yao opened the door, letting his last patient of the day out with a goodbye, though, he had a slight look of surprise on his face when he saw a man talking to his receptionist. He was sure that was the last client of the day, but nonetheless, he went behind his Receptionist. Leaning over her shoulder, he flipped open his schedule book. It was, but then it dawned on him. A colleague, a doctor of a different sort but a good man, had called him at some point, about referring a young man to him. As the man’s back was in dire need of fixing. Yao wrinkled his nose, viewing the man. He could see it all to well, without even feeling the man’s back. The way the man held himself, it wasn’t straight at all. Yao circled around the man to get a closer look at his back, “Hold still.” He ran a hand up and down the man’s spine, the vertebrae was definitely not straight. This could cause all sorts of health problems, aches and pains, migraines and headaches, the list could go on and on. He moved back in front of the man, taking one of the man’s wrists in both his hands, messaging the wrist, though not taking care of it just yet, he was feeling the bones in it. They were definitely all sorts of out of wack, out of alignment and out of time. Lastly, he leaned down to feel the man’s legs. Normally he didn’t do this kind of invasive check up -at least not until after calling them into the room, but he wanted to see if this boy needed it bad enough for him to stay over time. And without a doubt, this kid was in serious need of some tlc for his bones. They were a walking mess, literally. His colleague had been right to send the boy to him. He stood straight with an impeccable posture -as a chiropractor, and a man of a firm and traditional family, it was only natural. He gave the boy a sharp glare, though it was surprisingly one of his more ‘motherly’ chastising worry ones, rather than one of his ‘god I hate you’ ones. He let out a sigh and looked to his receptionist, “You go home, good work this day, aru.” He turned his attention back to the boy, taking one of the man’s wrists in his hands again, his small hand and the petite, lithe fingers showed surprising strength as the wrist made a cracking pop, he then did it to the other one, “You doctor, you best thank. He say you come in banged up lots, if you doing dangerous stupid stuff, anymore with no fix bones, you easily snap, aru.” The jist of what the Chinese man was saying? ‘Thank your doctor for referring you to me, your bones are so out of order that too much force against them could even break the spine.’ He made a motion with his hand for the man to follow him into the room, “Shut door behind.” He picked up a replica of the spine -this one was unaligned, much like the boys. He held it up, though it would have to be some one who knew what they were doing- like him, he showed a demonstration of what he meant. With two direct fingers, he hit a certain spot of the replica spine, it snapped further out of place with the cartilage barely holding it together. He sat it down and directed the man to lay on the table like bed on his stomach, “You rotate wrist or grind any bones too much, it break down cartilage. Cartilage what make bones not scrap together painful. You not take care of bones and cartilage, they get out of place, you in pain, you break cartilage down, you screwed. You no careful, you end in wheelchair, aru.” He picked up a tool used to massage the back with vibrations to relax the person so there isn’t as much fight when re-aligning the vertebrae, “I make better, shi?” tag: Alfred F. Jones ▪ words: 686 ▪ ooc: Sorry for delay!

made by kei at GS

[Alfred F. Jones]

it's a

revolution

Word count: 816

Tags: @chi

Notes:

The door opened and two men walked out. One of them, most likely a client, waved goodbye to the receptionist before heading out the door while the other one walked behind the receptionist and glanced over his shoulder.

This must have been the Yao Wang that Doc had referred Alfred to and he took a moment to survey the man. Not very tall, but most Asians weren't. The man flipped open some sort of book on his desk before circling back over to where Alfred was.

"Hold still."

Hold still? What? Alfred's eyes widened a second before the man began to run his hand up and down Alfred's spine. Alfred jumped a little, tensing and shifting uneasily from foot to foot. He didn't know this man at all and he felt far from comfortable standing here. Alfred's eyes flickered back and forth, trying and failing to keep the chiropractor in view. Only the Doc's warnings and his (however muddled) common sense kept him in place. The man moved back into sight, taking one of Alfred's wrists in his hands. Alfred fought the instinct to jerk it out of the man's hand. This guy was a doctor of sorts, after all. He probably knew what to do better than Alfred did. And the massage that he was giving his wrist did feel good.

The man leaned down, checking Alfred's legs. Alfred was trying desperately to keep his doctor's words in mind but couldn't this be done in an examination room somewhere? It was just...very uncomfortable standing here as the man examined Alfred. God, he wasn't in that bad of shape, was he?

Alfred held back a sigh of relief when the man stood up straight. He shot Alfred a pointed glare. What had he done wrong this time? At least he'd showed up. The man sighed before turning to his receptionist. "You go home, good work this day, aru."

What was that accent? Chinese? Yes, that sounded about right. The receptionist nodded before packing up her things and Yao Wang turned his attention back to Alfred.

He took Alfred's wrist again. Yao's hands were small, but he was either strong or very well-practiced, inducing a cracking pop in Alfred's wrist. Alfred winced a little at the sound but no pain accompanied it so he let the man do the same to his other hand.

“You doctor, you best thank. He say you come in banged up lots, if you doing dangerous stupid stuff, anymore with no fix bones, you easily snap, aru.”

Alfred blinked as he tried to determine exactly what the man was saying. The only thing that really needed deciphering was when the man said that he would easily snap. His bones? They weren't that fragile, were they?

Before Alfred could speak up, Yao was already heading towards the door he had come out of earlier, motioning for Alfred to follow. "Shut door behind," the man said. Alfred followed him into the room dubiously, doing as the man told him to.

There was a replica of a spine in the room, which honestly sort of freaked Alfred out a little. Maybe he was just being paranoid—it wasn't unreasonable that a chiropractor would have a random spine in his room...right? The Chinese man hit a spot on the spine with two fingers and Alfred watched as it snapped out of place until it was barely being held together. Alfred flinched at the sound. Was that what his spine was like? Not possible, right?

The man patted the table-like bed, indicating that Alfred should lie on his stomach. Alfred looked at the table (or was it a bed?) with apprehension. It looked comfortable enough, yes, but...

“You rotate wrist or grind any bones too much, it break down cartilage. Cartilage what make bones not scrap together painful. You not take care of bones and cartilage, they get out of place, you in pain, you break cartilage down, you screwed. You no careful, you end in wheelchair, aru.”

He really had to put aside this lingering paranoia. And he really did not want his spine to snap like that. Or end up in a wheelchair. So Alfred sat down obediently and lay down on his stomach.

"I make things better, shi?"

Finally, something Alfred could actually respond to. "Yeah," Alfred laughed lightly, "I hope so." He craned his neck to look at Yao. "I don't think I introduced myself," he said brightly. "I'm Alfred. And you're Yao, right?" As he grinned at the man, he noticed the object in Yao's hand. ...Best to ask, right? "Hey, what's that you're holding?" Alfred gave a small laugh. "I don't really know anything about this, sorry. What are you gonna do, exactly?" He'd read some stuff about chiropractics, but honestly, he was still a little confused as to exactly what it had to do and if it could help at all.

i suppose

by Worldie for Leia

[Deleted]

Yao wasn't a fool, he could easily tell how wary the person was. Knowing a person's body was his jobs, and though his work seemingly required no knowledge of anything psychological, it would be wrong to assume that. A person's alignment can have a heavy affect on their mood and psychological well-being. Not to mention, people's body's act accordingly to their feelings. Tensing obviously indicated uncomfortableness. And when it all came down to it, knowing your client's feelings and being able to put them at ease is what determined if the sessions were successful or not. That's why Yao always made a point to talk to his patients, even if he did not care for them or the conversation. When the man asked what that was, the thing Yao was holding, the Chinese finally forced himself to drop the decorum he seemed born with and gave a small chuckle with a smile. He turned the thing on to show the man the vibrations the thing made. He put a hand onto the padded part which would go on Alfred's back to show it didn't hurt or anything, "Easily put, this thing help relax you. If try fix bones while you tense, can have negative effect. I know this scary for first timers, but please give trust, aru. I just want help, it shame if such young boy lose mobility. Is why doctor sent you, he obviously care for you. Most doctors just prescribe pain-pills, or send people to chiropractor who no fix problem, just tell you what you already know. He sent you here because I no...," the Asian paused trying to think of the right English word, "screw round? I get straight problem, aru." Yao put the device on the man's back, starting at the lower spine and working it up in round movements as if he were carefully cleaning something. His usually distant honey-golden eyes held a deep concentration for his work, though showed he would still give conversation where fit or if the other talked first. He would know when the man was relaxed but he'd speak it before going forward just to keep the man in his comfort levels. When he determined the man was 'laxed enough, he turned off the thing and sat it aside, "I going fix now. May be some discomfort, but I promise it make back feel much better. And other aspects too, aru. Unaligned spine can cause migraines, aches, and other nasty symptons, so fixing make you feel the better lots, aru." He started at the man's feet, holding them together as straight as he could, "very out of align, you no notice you walk lopsided, aru? One leg longer than other from disalignment, aru." That was one of the things that would be fixed upon completion of this session if Alfred would relax and trust himself to Yao. Yao moved up to the bottom of the man's spine, his fingers barely pressing just a bit below the other's pants line before moving up in that same precise and tender, yet strong manner. He was working out the little kinks along the spine before he would get rid of the big ones. Yao then redid this, though now with his hands fully pressing down to snap out any disalignment in the spine. He finally moved up on one side of the man, "lay on left side, aru," Yao waited for the man to turn to his left side, this part would help with the shoulders, he would crack out the kinks in the man's shoulders before moving onto his neck and then head. tag: Alfred F. Jones ▪ words: 602 ▪ ooc: Sorry for delay and the suckyness.

made by kei at GS

[Alfred F. Jones]

it's a

revolution

Word count: 705

Tags: @chi

Notes: Not at all, don't worry about it!

It seemed, somehow, that Alfred had finally said something that had clicked with the Chinese man. Yao chuckled a little, the formality in the room dropping a little. Thank goodness. Alfred really didn't like to be formal when he didn't have to. It was much easier to relax when you weren't concentrating on being too polite.

Yao seemed to notice Alfred's discomfort (not that he was doing much of a job of hiding it) and he pressed his own palm up to the vibrating tool thing. "Easily put, this thing help relax you. If try fix bones while you tense, can have negative effect."

Okay, that made sense. Alfred was tense, that he could certainly sense. Anyone would be able to tell, really. He had to get a grip. Still, it was difficult, forcing his body to relax.

"I just want help, it shame if such young boy lose mobility. Is why doctor sent you, he obviously care for you." Did he now? Old man seemed much more frustrated with Alfred than caring. "Most doctors just prescribe pain-pills, or send people to chiropractor who no fix problem, just tell you what you already know."

Admittedly, pain pills would be easier. But even Alfred knew that it was important to get his problems fixed for good. Alfred shifted and continued to listen.

"He sent you here because I no..." Yao paused. "Screw 'round? I get straight problem, aru."

Without saying anything more, Yao began to massage Alfred's back. He started near Alfred's waist and moved up slowly, the vibrations running along Alfred's back. Now, Alfred didn't usually like massages. But as he lay there, he could feel the tenseness in his muscles ease out. Alfred closed his eyes, allowing himself to relax a little. He hadn't even realized how stressed he had been all this time. Maybe it was good that the Doc had recommended he come here.

Yao turned the device off. Alfred was a little disappointed, but he shifted to his side, trying to get a good look as to what Yao was doing now.

"I going fix now. May be some discomfort, but I promise it make back feel much better. And other aspects too, aru. Unaligned spine can cause migraines, aches, and other nasty symptons, so fixing make you feel the better lots, aru."

Really? It did? Alfred couldn't quite keep the dubious expression off of his face. Of course, Yao would know better than him (Alfred's brief experiences with human anatomy involved him knocking a human skeleton over and being sent to the principal's office), but still.

Yao held Alfred's feet together and looked at them disapprovingly. Alfred shifted his feet uneasily. Gosh, what was wrong with his feet? Hell, what was wrong with...well, basically his whole body? He was pretty sure he wasn't that out of whack...

"Very out of align, you no notice you walk lopsided, aru? One leg longer than other from disalignment, aru."

Alfred laughed uneasily. "Uh...really?" he said. "No, uh, never noticed." He frowned. "Are you sure? I run a lot in the mornings and I've always been fine..." Alfred's voice faltered. He wondered if he'd been like this for a long time and simply never bothered enough to care.

Yao pressed his fingers along Alfred's back. Alfred seriously had no clue what he was doing, which he wasn't exactly happy about. It made him a little nervous. "Lay on left side," Yao said. Alfred shifted onto his left side obediently, wondering what Yao was about to do next.

Perhaps before everything had happened, Alfred would have been comfortable and trusting of whatever Yao was about to do. However, Alfred couldn't quite keep the nervousness out of his mind.

"So, Yao," Alfred said brightly, attempting to make conversation and stall. "Where are you from? China?" China certainly seemed reasonable. He did sound and look Chinese. Not to mention China wasn't far from Russia. "Why'd you come over to Archadia?"

Alfred blinked as he came up with another question. "How long have you been studying...uh...chiropractics?" It didn't seem like the sort of specialty one would just randomly decide upon. At least not to Alfred...but he'd never been that sort of person anyways.

i suppose

by Worldie for Leia

[Deleted]

The boy was very chatty -it was obviously from nerves. Which didn’t phase Yao, a lot of first timers were like that. Humans naturally distrusted what they feared and they feared what they didn’t understand. Chiropractics was a very important career. It wasn’t one many thought of, but it was just as important as any other doctor. Any doctor could prescribe pills, but only a Chiropractor could take his tools -his hands- and straighten out the alignment and bones of another person without snapping them or having to cut them open. Sure, just anyone could try, but people didn’t realize how much they took their bodies for granted, how easy it truly was to lose your mobility and the cartilage in between your bones. How easily you could truly injure them. A regular doctor mends bones that have been snapped apart, a Chiropractor mends bones that are unaligned which makes snapping them so easy. People think drugs can handle everything, but if they’d stop to respect their body, they’d know how much bone alignment can hinder or help your health. The man’s chatting didn’t stop Yao from his work -he was use to multi-tasking it. People always wanted to talk through the process, it made them calmer about the whole thing. He moved to the boy’s back, moving the boy’s arms into crossing together across his chest in an x, answering the questions without missing a beat, “Shi, I from China, out of own want, and rude ask person things that able indicate age, aru.” Just as he finished answering, Yao pushed forward on Alfred’s hip and back on his crossed arms, popping the bones into place before going to the other side and forcing Alfred to roll onto his right side, repeating the same process. Honey-Gold eyes seemed completely focused on their work, but they were surprisingly keeping tabs from the corner of his eyes how the young man was doing comfort-wise. He may seem cold, but he wouldn’t have gotten into a job that requires desire or willingness to help others without caring for others. If it was all just about the money, he could have stayed home and became the heir his father wanted. Became the perfect pawn to his parents hierarchy scheme. He wanted to do something more useful with his life and the time given to him to be on this Earth. When he was done with that, he moved up to Alfred’s head, forcing the boy to roll onto his back again. He pulled up his seat and sat, starting with massaging the boy’s temples and then moving down to massage the sides of the boy’s nose between his eyes and then he took the boy’s neck with his hands, very tenderly yet firm, “I know you no trust me, but try not fight or flinch, I not going break neck, aru.” With that said, Yao snapped the boy’s head to one side and then the other, cracking the kinks in the boy’s neck out before he leaned back, crossing one leg over the other and folding his hands in his lap very eloquently. Showing Alfred he was done, “Any questions, aru? You should find self in much better feeling.” tag: Alfred F. Jones ▪ words: 536 ▪ ooc: Sorry for delay and the suckyness.

made by kei at GS

[Alfred F. Jones]

it's a

revolution

Word count: 813

Tags: @chi

Notes: I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, I'm sorry.

Alfred couldn't help but wish that Yao would talk more. Talking came much easier to Alfred and he couldn't help but feel tense. Sure, he believed that Yao knew what he was doing but did that mean he had to feel completely at ease? No.

...Alright, he had to admit that as Yao did...well, whatever Yao did (Alfred was still very much confused as to exactly what that was), he felt better. He wasn't completely sure what Yao had done, but he seemed to be able to pick out the little things that Alfred hadn't even noticed to be bothering him.

It was still rather awkward, having someone he barely knew so methodically examine him so. Yao was obviously very used to and accustomed to doing his job. He didn't seem to hesitate long enough for Alfred to make some sort of excuse or delay the entire process. He spoke little during the entire thing which didn't do much to ease Alfred's tension.

For most of the time, Alfred had no clue exactly what Yao was even doing. He had Alfred cross his arms and then roll onto his side and really Alfred had no clue what he was doing. Right now he was only riding on the faith that Yao was doing something. It felt like something...but was that just his false perceptions? Alfred didn't know.

At the very least, Yao did answer his questions, though the man didn't choose to elaborate on them much. "Shi, I from China, out of own want, and rude ask person things that able indicate age, aru."

It took Alfred a moment to fully translate the man's sentence in his mind. Geez, this guy really wasn't much for talking, was he? Not that Alfred blamed him too much, but he wasn't asking for personal details or anything.

"Aw, c'mon, don't be a party pooper," Alfred said, keeping his tone light. "Alright, then tell me this. What's China like? I've never been." China had always sounded fascinating. Or at least the food had. Chinese takeout food had always been the best takeout food.

Yao forced him to roll onto his back again, which Alfred did a little unwillingly. He was still rather uncomfortable at the chiropractor's office. Of course, Alfred was aware that Yao was attempting to make him feel alright but his mind couldn't quite seem to process that.

Yao massaged Alfred's temples for a moment and while Alfred wasn't exactly relaxed, he had to admit it did feel good. When Yao moved towards his nose, Alfred tensed a little again. His eyes shifted and he nearly went cross eyes trying to keep Yao's hands in sight. When he began to massage Alfred's nose it felt alright, but the slight pressure still remained.

After that the man moved towards Alfred's neck. Alfred stiffened a little, trying not-so-subtly to move to a position where he didn't feel quite as vulnerable. Yao seemed to acknowledge this, saying, "I know you no trust me, but try not fight or flinch, I not going break neck, aru."

...Wait, what?

It was lucky that Yao managed to go through with the procedure too quickly for Alfred to react, because if it had been any longer Alfred might've sat up in the middle and left. Still, he heard a crack as Yao quickly snapped Alfred's head from one side to another, one that made him wince ever so slightly.

He sat up immediately after that, as did Yao, who folded his hands in his lap. Oh. So they were done. Thank goodness. Which Alfred might feel a little bad for thinking, but so much of the whole process had been so unexpected that he was just a tad bit on edge.

"Any questions, aru? You should find self in much better feeling."

Alfred rubbed the back of his neck a little. The weird thing was, he did feel better. Still confused as to what exactly made him feel better, but he certainly felt it.

"Nah, I don't think so..." Alfred said, scratching his head. It wasn't that he'd felt bad in the first place, but now he felt good. Chiropractics were weird, but they weren't quite as terrible as he thought they would be. "And yeah, I feel a lot better!" His cheerfulness returned as he shot a grin at Yao. "Did I keep you late? Sorry." He laughed a little. "But hey, it wasn't half as bad as I thought it was going to be! So um, thanks!"

He offered a hand to Yao. Was this it? So no pills, no follow ups (or at least, he hoped not. Alfred didn't like doctor visits much)... Man, this wasn't too bad at all. But he should probably double check...

"Is there anything else I should know?" Alfred asked. "Or is that..." Alfred gestured vaguely at nothing in particular, "...just it?"

i suppose

by Worldie for Leia