The Odd Block Part 8: Alan's Expertise

Synopsis: After her fight with Donna, Avery goes to get help from Alan with her back problems. It is as confusing as expected
Avery limped up the stairs of the apartment building. She tried to keep her back straight as she walked, because every time it bent even a little, a pain shot up her spine as if she was being jabbed in the back with a hot poker.

She couldn’t even solve it with rest. Every time she tossed in her sleep she felt the same pain, and the sore feeling meant she tossed often. It was a shame, she had plans to try to figure out what was wrong with a bathroom lock down on the first floor, but she could barely stand to stand long enough to get down there.

“You look like hell,” Ivan said.

Avery could see him on the landing, covered by a few layers of coats and a hat pulled down low. He even had one of those medical germ masks on. He walked over to her, hands in his pockets.

“I’m still mad at you,” Avery said with a wince of pain, “don’t talk to me.”

Ivan put his hands up, “What? Come on, that was a few days ago. I’ve even been good like demanded, despite my already squeaky clean track record.”

“Ivan,” She grumbled as she limped past him, “not now.”

“Hey, I’m not the one that beat your ass,” He chuckled, “though I’ve dreamed of it.”

She stopped, and put her head in her hands, “Ivan…”

He stepped forward, “I mean beatin’ that ass up, you know. Not like, hitting you or anyth-”

“Dangit Ivan, shut up!”

He got quiet, took a step back.

Avery took a stiff turn to face him, “You need to realize that if you’re going to spend more time insulting than anything else, maybe we just aren’t meant to talk to each other.”

She could see him recoil, his head going back, his chest puffing out.

“What, like you’re going to give me the silent treatment?” Ivan said with a note of anger in his voice.

Avery wanted to shrug, but thought better of it. She started back toward her apartment, “You can still call me for business stuff.”

“Hey!” Ivan said, too loud, then quieter, “hey, that’s not funny Avery. All this over some playful banter? Now you really are being a b-”

He cut himself off and Avery could hear him shuffling in place, even if she didn’t look back at him.

“Fine,” He snapped, “well Ms. Landlord, not that I care or anything, but maybe you should see your physical trainer friend.”

He was walking away now, angrily even, “Since, you know, you still look like hell.”

She waited for him to vanish down the steps, then took a sigh of relief. The exchange put a pit in her gut, and she couldn’t quite tell why. Ivan was fun, and sometimes even funny, but he was foremost an asshole. After what happened with Derrick and Donna, she didn’t have a lot of patience for it. She especially didn’t need Ivan’s pitiful apologies to take advantage of her moment of weakness.

She went into her apartment, and hobbled to her bed before laying down. The relief was instant, but unsatisfying. She knew as soon as she tried to get back up, the pain was going to come back full force.

Maybe Ivan had a point, about going to see Alan. Not that she was happy he suggested it, but that was no reason to avoid doing it. If it didn’t workout, she could shell out for a trip to the doctor, either way she would hopefully feel better.

By the time she got down to Alan’s apartment, the pain in her back had her desperate for some kind of help. She knocked, and waited for some kind of response.

It occurred to her that she didn’t know if Alan was home. Unlike the others, Alan both liked going outside, and could easily pass for normal in public. How he managed to keep all of… himself… hidden, she didn’t quite know. That was a question she would have to ask one day.

The door opened, and Alan smiled down at her.

It always struck Avery how handsome he was. His face looked like it was stolen off of the cover of a fireman calendar. He was chiseled, a little fuzz, with just the right sheen.

“There you are,” He said.

Was he expecting her? No, likely that was just an Alan way to say hello. He was odd like that after all.

“Hey, Alan, are you busy?” She said as she tried to peek past him. Despite him helping her paint her room, Avery had never been in Alan’s apartment. He never complained about anything breaking, never needed help in, now she was curious.

“Soon,” He said, “You’re coming inside?”

It wasn’t said like a question, but that was how she took it. He moved aside and let her walk into his apartment, following close behind.

The place was, bizarre.

On one hand, it was everything you would expect of a man who worked as a physical trainer mostly so he could take advantage of vulnerable women. There was a large loveseat, potted plants, unlit candles for mood lighting, and a wide television for viewing whatever show would lull a girl to relax. He had a massage table, and several bookshelves that had no books, but instead picture frames and decorative gemstones.

On the other hand, none of it was in the right place. The television was in the center of the room, facing a corner with no place to sit. There was a stool near the center, with a potted plant sitting next to it on the floor. The massage table was right behind the TV, which Avery now realized wasn’t even plugged in. The bookshelves were scattered in random placed, and the couch was right past the entryway, facing toward the door.

Alan walked away from the door, and Avery turned back and said, “Privacy, please.”

He stopped, nodded, and went back and closed it and locked it.

Avery took a stiff look around, realizing that most of his decorative choices seemed to focus on keeping things away from the walls. She remembered Alan’s one question about his apartment being if he could also paint, to which she told him no. Instead, he had long pieces of paper draped at different points, all decked out in strange symbols. It was like art. Maybe it was just his writing, she had no easy way to know.

She winced as she sat down on the couch, and Alan’s eyes lit up.

“You are in pain,” Alan said as he walked up, his hand going toward her shoulder.

Avery put a hand up, “Just training today, okay?”

Alan frowned. He was wearing a long sleeve brown shirt, with one of those deep cut chests that revealed well shaped pecs underneath. She caught one peek one of one his extra limbs, a fleshy tentacle, as his hand reached for her. It receded, and Alan put his hand on her.

“That’s your choice,” He said, “though feeding might be painful for you in your current form.”

It was Avery’s turn to frown, “Tell me about it.”

“The physical stress on your body would cause reactive pain throughout your central column,” Alan replied as he maintained a stare right at Avery.

“I…” Avery sighed, “I was hoping you could help. I fell hard, and my whole back got messed up. I haven’t been able to sleep right for two days, and it hurts to stand.”

Alan let her go, and stood, “Take off your clothes.”

Avery’s mouth opened, and she waited for him to explain more.

“This is a medical request, right?” Avery asked.

Alan walked toward the kitchen, “I’m not a doctor. The requirements are time intensive.”

That was a yes. Avery stripped off her top, and slipped out of her shorts. At least the door was locked. She left on her underpants, as a blatant reminder of her earlier request.

She grimaced as she stood, but limped her way over to the table as Alan poured some stuff in his cabinets into a bowl.

“Should I lay down?” She asked.

“It would remove a lot of extra steps.”

She got face down on the soft padded table. Instead of having a hole at the top, there was a pillow, so she laid with her head facing off to the side. It lead to her staring at one of those designs hanging from his walls. It was like little symbols, with lines drawn between them. The pages were longer up and down, with the flow drawing her eyes downward, many different symbols, pointing to fewer and fewer, sometimes going around others. It was hard to think what it could all mean.

Alan carried a stool and a bowl, and came into the edge of her vision at just above crotch level. She tried to ignore the view as he prepared by dipping one of his hands into the stranger water.

“What is that?” She asked, “Some kind of oil?”

He nodded.

The oiled hand touched her low on her back, just above her panty line, and instead of the warm ticklish sensation left by Alan’s touch, it was cold. Avery’s back flexed in surprise, then she gasped in pain.

“Cold!” She snapped.

“It will warm up,” He said before the oiled hand pinched at the meat of her lower back. It was sore, but there wasn’t an immediate pain reaction. The area that was hurt was a little higher, and she had a feeling he knew that.

His hands wiped just above her buttocks, then went around her sides, before traveling up one edge and coming back up at her shoulders.

“Are you just avoiding the issue?” She said with a chuckle.

He continued to wipe the cold oil around until he had a big circle around the areas on her back that actually did hurt.

“There’s some damage, I can feel it,” He said, “Did you remove who did this?”

How did he know it was a someone?

‘

“She is gone,” Avery said, “Derrick beat her up.”

“Good,” Alan said, “That’s one wound healed. Still, there is a lot of damage here. This will still require time to pass.”

Avery looked up at him, “So you can’t help?”

He turned his head down, “I will.”

Then she felt a strange touch on the center of her back, warm, stiff, but definitely moving. It slid across her back, leaving a strange warmth in its path. His other hand had a tentacle sliding from beneath his sleeve, it was one of the exploring ones. Just thinking of her first encounter with them, the strange texture of them as they wandered her body, slipping into her shirt, tweaking her nipples, fighting for access to between her legs.

Avery shivered.

Another tentacle appeared, and this one made a bee-line past the cold oil circle, pulling up the elastic of her panties as if to take a peek inside.

“Alan,” Avery whispered.

“I’m sorry, there was just,” His voice faded, “Your emissions can be distracting.”

Avery blushed as the tentacle retreated. She shifted her hips a little to confirm what the tentacle already knew, the whole experience had her a little excited.

She needed to distract herself from Alan’s strange tingling sensation spreading over her back.

“Alan, what is that anyway, writing?” She said with a nudge of her chin toward the closest hanging paper.

Alan turned to look, his twin tentacles still lightly massaging his own natural slime onto her.

“That?” Alan said, “That is a map.”

“A map?” Avery replied, “What, the symbols are places? Seems a little bare for a map.”

“Not when you’re mapping time,” He said, turning back to her, “All you must know is what has been, and where to go next.”

She couldn’t tell how much of that was Alan speak, but she had a suspicion it was all of it.

“I don’t get it,” She said, “But maybe I just won’t.”

Alan chuckled, and the sound just made her blush deeper. Usually he was too lost in conversation to be amused, but in this case she was the one stepping outside of her comfort zone.

“See it like this,” Alan said, “At the top is home, it is a start, moments that caused action. It is where I come from, many moments independent that became one.”

“Like,” Avery stopped as Alan’s hand joined the tentacles, and kneaded into her middle back, “Like your birth?”

“Creation, yes,” he snapped with a little excitement, “though not every map starts with conception of a being, it is a valid point. I was there at the top, and then I did many actions that took me further. As we map moments, we find there are less paths that lead to the end we desire, many stretching off for eternity on winding ways of no use to anyone.”

Avery gave a nervous chuckle, “I think you’re just talking about time in general, like, history.”

“History,” Alan said the word as if it was unfamiliar, “No.”

“As the one from around here,” Avery said, her breathing a little heavy from all the attention, “I’m pretty sure you are.”

More tentacles were joining now, and it was hard to even pay attention to his rambling as smaller tentacles wrapped around her torso. It was a little ticklish as they wrapped down and around her stomach to come back up, some of them reaching far enough up that they shifted the wire of her bra. She ignored it, instead taking deep breaths as her chest was enveloped in the odd heat of Alan.

It was already summer, and Alan didn’t even understand the concept of AC as far as she could tell. The room was going to leave her sweaty before his strange touch was involved. Now she could feel every wriggle of the tentacles on her body, and when his hands pressed into the tissue of her back she felt little aftershocks in the circled area on her back.

“Take your injury for example,” Alan said, “It is part of many paths. You reached it through choices, some wise and some not. Your destination is to be free from the pain, but to do that you must travel carefully, blind as you are.”

“Blind?” Avery hissed as she focused in on him.

Alan ignored her, “To get better, you should leave behind paths that further the pain. Anger, frustration, tissue trauma, bound up within the you that is now, and slowing your progress to the you that is then.”

Avery was starting to understand all the decorative crystals, it sounded like Alan spent some time reading some spiritual detox guides.

“Oh yeah?” Avery said, “And how do I do that?”

Alan shrugged, then pressed hard into her back. It was deep enough that she thought she felt a little tug in her muscles, and a sharp pain went through her whole body.

Her shoulders pulled back, and she tried to adjust, but the pain stayed. She let out a long sharp howl. She tried to move her arms back, but it was in a spot she couldn’t reach, and the pain just kept coming. Even worse, because of Alan’s touch, it felt more intense than any pain she had felt before. It was like she could feel every muscle spasm, every nerve reacting, all screaming in pain.

“Oops!” Alan gasped, “There are 33 of those.”

“Ah, ah ah!”

Alan pressed her upper back down to the table, and then put his elbow down into her back, pressing and pressing until the pain alleviated.

“Sometimes,” Alan said, “we must face bad moments to get rid of the past. When it builds up, when it takes control of us, instinct fights back. Instinct is foolish, base, primal. It wants temporary relief, it has no sense for maps.”

“Damnit Alan,” Avery gasped as she tried to get over the terrible stab of pain.

Except, within seconds, the pain was gone. In fact, her old pain was lower now too, her back felt a little looser.

“I can’t heal all of this,” Alan said, “Because I can only extract the physical, and alleviate the rest. The last of it, you must do, or it could return.”

It felt idiotic, but she kind of understood where he was going.

“So,” Avery said, “What lead you here, to us?”

Alan paused, his tentacles going absolutely still.

“If you don’t mind me asking.”

He turned toward the diagram on the wall again, “That’s what that map is. How I got here, to you. It is important, so after I kept it.”

Avery let out a small sigh, a little louder than she expected. The thought was cute. She looked down it, realizing that at about 2/3rds through, the paths as he put it, all converged on a symbol that was crossed out, then it branched back out.

“What’s that,” She said, “Why is that marked out?”

Alan didn’t look, instead he got back to his massage, “That’s a point I can’t return to, no matter how much I wish to.”

His voice was so somber, Avery could tell she hit a sour note.

“So it isn’t always good to get rid of the past then,” Avery said. She wasn’t asking, just taking her own moment away.

Alan sighed, “Not every door goes both ways. Some you wish would stay open, but they always slam shut. It is possible to erase pain, to erase memories, to erase people from your you. Choose wisely, because some paths seem wise until you’ve taken them, and realize the pathways have shifted, and there is no going back.”

“That’s a real nice metaphor,” Avery said, “Thanks Alan.”

Alan gave her back a light slap, and while Avery gasped in anticipation of some sort of pain, there was none.

She sat up, and felt a bit sore when she moved, but she could tell she would at least be able to walk up and down the stairs.

“Wow,” Avery said with a smile, “That is a miracle. You’re amazing Alan.”

His tentacles receded, but he smiled and washed his hands in the oil as the tentacles finished their disappearing act.

She tried to stand, and a strange wave of sensation went up her body. She forgot how much of her body was covered in his odd discharge. Without calling it pleasureable, just taking a step sent waves to parts of her body that she had to fight to ignore.

When she looked up, she realized Alan was watching her intently.

Avery smirked, “Still wobbly I guess.”

“That will pass,” He said, “Especially if you…”

She nodded, “Get rid of the other wounds. I think I’m getting it. Still, this was caused by a crazy spider-woman attacking me, not by some stress thing.”

Alan huffed, and shrugged, “I’m guessing you exacerbated it. The actions surrounding the moment set you up for what happened.”

She had to think. Could he mean finding out about Donna? Leading her to Derrick? That did stress her out, but now that Donna was gone, Derrick seemed to feel better. There was the whole fight that lead to Derrick running off.

Ivan. He got in a fight with her, that lead to Derrick storming out and her getting so pissed. It had her riled up before she even got down there. It was no wonder she was willing to slap a woman she knew could transform into an unimaginable creature.

Considering everything that had happened recently, a lot of her stress came from Ivan. Maybe, in his own way, Alan was right. Maybe it was time for her to cut out Ivan.

Avery nodded to herself, “I think I can heal the rest then.”

Alan frowned, but stood tall, waiting for her to move.

She stepped in, and wrapped her arms around him. It felt strange, just hugging. Especially with that tingle going up her spine, rebounding off every part of her body. She still felt like she was in a sauna, and she knew from experience she would until either she let Alan ‘feed’, or she took a shower.

Despite herself, she wanted to hold to her guns. Like Ivan had said before as an insult, Alan was a bit like a dog. If she didn’t reinforce boundaries, she was going to end up covered in tentacle goo at every turn.

Still, he was large, and warm, and her body didn’t 100% agree with her social stance. His heat echoed in her loins, and when she looked up into his eyes it was like a hook dug into her heart.

Avery got onto her toes and kissed him. His lips were as soft as she remembered, his breath as hot. She made a mistake.

Alan hugged her in return, his arms sliding over her sensitive skin, every texture of his hand sending pulses of pleasure through her body.

Her feet went stiff, and she hugged harder as she let out a short haggard moan in his mouth.

Then she ended the kiss, flushed, and ashamed at what he was able to do to her with just a hug.

“I should get dressed,” She said as she walked away.

“Okay,” Alan said, “If the pain returns, then I can help erase more pain of the past. No question, I owe you.”

Avery shook her head as she slipped on her pants, “You already help a lot Alan.”

“It won’t be enough,” He said off hand as he took his bowl back to the kitchen.

More strange Alan speak. Still, all his talk of time, it made her wonder just how Alan saw the world around him. Did he maybe, see the future? Then she remembered how he greeted her when she arrived.

Avery put on her shirt, ignoring the touch of the fabric to her stomach and back.

“Alan,” Avery said as she went to the entryway.

“Yes?” Alan replied.

“How did you know I was coming to see you today?”

Alan turned in the kitchen, his face blank and untroubled by the strange question.

“Ivan stopped by and told me you hurt your back in a fight.”

Avery’s eyes went wide, “Oh.”

“He said,” Alan then deflated a little, as if to take on Ivan’s height, “Either fix her ass up, or take her broke ass to the hospital, because she got destroyed.”

Her amusement at Alan’s perfect Ivan impression didn’t stop her anger, “What the hell, we won! That asshole.”

Alan shrugged.

Avery shook her head, and headed for the door.