The feet just love to be nuzzled like this.
Latex thumbs massage their way up the arches, sliding on a thin layer of vitamin-enriched cream. Pressing in, as they follow the curves to the base of the toes. Reversing course...
More fingers knead along each side of the heels.
And the skin responds with such joy.
The gloves continue until the enthusiasm just barely starts to weaken.
Then the feathers are brought back into use.
The drastic change in textures has a kindling effect, so more feathers are added.
The toes signal their happiness until they're just too delighted to speak.
Soft bristles take their place, much later. Dragged briskly, paused, moved, and dragged again.
No spot is missed. From ankle to toenails, the brushes land countless times.
The gloves return, with a tube of cream.
And the feet welcome the enfolding fingers.
So the cycles continue, until that time when even happy skin requires a rest.
Radiantly healthy skin requires an optimized diet, pure water and - overruling the protests of the feet, and all the other skin - adequate sleep.
An herbal mud-mask.
Deep cleansing with a very mild soap.
Successive layers of night cream.
How the feet beg, so earnestly - please, please, just one cycle more!
But the body that feeds them must sleep now.
The brushes come back and say good night, in their way. Then the feathers, flitting playfully...
Last of all, the gloves move in for a long, lingering hug.
Warm, soft towels rise up and unfold, wrapping the feet protectively.
The body is composed of twelve work zones. Higher concentrations of nerve endings keep some zones small - such as the knees, or the excretory equipment. Others, like the thighs or the mid-back, are larger.
Shaving is necessary in some places, twice each day, to allow the deepest possible stimulation of the skin. The protection offered by the body hair is not necessary here.
More and more towels are placed, covering nearly all of the body.
While it sleeps, therapy for the face continues.
And naturally, the unsung heroes - the wrists and ankles - get lavished with attention. Their sacrifice allows the rest of the body to be indulgently cared for. But the cuffs that grip them are as thin as possible, and they're relocated slightly throughout the cycles...
These restraints are an absolute necessity to restore the body's sensitivity.
For there is a powerful enemy to defeat...
And that antagonist is ignorance.
Deep within the head there lives a dangerous mystery. Possibly a parasite. It may never be fully understood.
There is some kind of alien presence there, and it seems to have no consideration whatsoever for the skin.
The afflictions are diverse and shocking. Exposure to wind and sun, internal consumption of poisons of all kinds, insuffucient cleansing with chemicals that are far too harsh.
This wonderful system of tactile responses is repeatedly brutalized and mistreated.
Tyroderm exists to repair this abuse.The earliest recuperation facilities were destroyed almost as soon as they were opened. This was sad and unsettling proof that true enemies did exist. Adding to the irony, the very bodies that were used to ruin those early locations were among those who most needed attentive healing.
The hostile acts were worse than the prior apathy. They caused the ongoing damage of innocent skin. The deliberate administration of pain - and not accidental.
More bodies are increaingly marred by tortures too shocking to describe in detail. Punctures in order to allow the injection of colored matter, in patterns that were supposed to be decorative! Searing with red-hot metal. Even intentional scars.
Greater depravity can hardly be imagined.
The senselessness of it all - increasingly frequent, with more and more tissue discolored, drying prematurely, even maimed - could not have made it any clearer. Tyroderm was critically needed.Slowly, the number of facilities grew...
But there is so much skin needing to be rescued.This is the tenth location. The huge natural caverns well below the desert wilderness have considerable room for expansion.
Dozens of bodies are currently being healed.
The facility includes a large holistic apothecary. The custom soaps, the creams, the mud-mask and the nutritional supplements are produced onsite. A leather shop produces restraints that are custom-fit - several sets, stored nearby, to be applied rapidly if those currently in use should fail. The stimulation is to be continuous and uninterrupted.
Other supplies are diverted by way of vulnerabilities in the global system of transporting freight.
Feathers arrive in fifty-pound nylon bags.
Gloves, by the pallet.By overruling destructive tendencies, and using wholesome materials that truly nourish, a sanctuary has been created for skin that has the greatest need of therapeutic intervention.
The plan for rejuvenation is purposely unstructured, varying from body to body. The goal is the restoration of maximum fitness and sensitivity. Full healing is the goal, and no statistic could be of less importance than the cumulative passage of time.When the skin's full potential has been realized, its reentry back into the harsh outside world must be not be abrupt. Bodies must be weaned very slowly from the endless cycles of nurturing.
In preparation, the number of tools is slowly reduced. Longer gradual cycles are interspersed with vigorous massage at sudden and random intervals.
Ideally, full attention should always be given to the incomparably healthy skin. But it is confounding to note that the thorough cycles are never repeated - much less at sufficient length or frequency of occurrence - after departure from Tyroderm.
Upon leaving, the body - at an absolute minimum - must be fully protected from all sunlight, and continuously moisturized. The importance of easing the skin back into a less sheltered life cannot be overemphasized.
But this has never been known to occur.
Followup investigations unfailingly discover a reversion to the original crude indifference about caring for the resensitized skin. So the bodies are isolated and returned to a facility for prolonged followup care - for as many cycles, and as many return visits, as are needed.Research is ongoing. A prime concern is the frustrating inability to communicate meaningfully with the body's head. If this rival - or foe - can be persuaded to act in the best interest of the skin which surrounds it, a great victory will be won.
The quest for meaningful dialogue with this obstinate counterforce has been fraught with disappointment. The simplest messages are not heeded.
Post-care kits were made and transported with the body, back to the place where it was previously sheltered. This should have been unambiguous - after all, the effects of proper technique were directly experienced for numberless cycles, and supplying the same tools and large containers of the various creams was intended to be an encouragement.
But they were not used. Practical demonstrations - not at Tyroderm, but after departure - have also failed. It became clear that the vital ongoing maintenance requires subsequent visits to a Tyroderm location.
The importance of this is obvious.
But the inner-head either cannot, or will not, nurture the skin correctly. The restraints placed on the body's limbs, vital to maximizing the quantity of cycles and their effectiveness, are an unfortunate necessity. Without them, the inner-head attempts to hinder and avoid the therapy!
The determination to cause harm is mystifying. As if the years of maltreatment weren't enough, the inner-head refuses to permit the tissues to be repaired. Despite the blissful responses emanating from every cell of the skin while it's being cared for, the body is made to resist with all its strength.
This is counteracted by the restraints. It's almost as if the inner-head hates the idea of the skin being healed.
Understanding an adversary that must therefore be deliberately harming skin has been the most elusive of goals. There seems to be no shared medium by which messages - yes, and demands - may be sent. Since the most obvious method is unsuccessful, other senses may hold the key.
But the body's visual organs appear to be too primitive to recognize symbol-based languages. The ingestion opening has a wide variety of positions, but no communication occurs. While some reflexes can be invoked consistently, a dialogue cannot be established.
The astounding glee of the skin, properly stimulated and sensitized, is consistently ignored - it might as well be nonexistent, considering the utter lack of acknowledgement and reaction.
The gratitude of the nurtured skin could not be more evident. When the injurious impulses can be ruled, it is to be hoped that external happiness will become the driving motivation. That is the world envisioned by Tyroderm - where all bodies diligently and continuously strive to pleasure their thrilled and deserving skin. Unquestionably, it has been abused for too long.
One body at a time, one cycle after another, Tyroderm will prevail.
The armpits notice the fingers coming, and urge them to hurry!
A wild cheer greets the cream-slicked latex as it pushes and slides...
It's impossible to be unmoved by such happiness. The pace of the gloves is increased. Additional fingers are coming, too.
Every instant of contact is a treat for the skin. The intense satisfaction that results from being squeezed and stroked is always a powerful motivator.
The cycles follow one another, pausing only for the body to consume water and fuel. Or for sleep. And always, the cycles resume...
All over, happy skin basks in the expert attention. Sets of fingers are enthralling the layers, even down to the contracted muscles. Zones enjoying the touch of feathers or brushes constantly express their fulfillment too.
After uncountable strokes and squeezes, the body is turned over so the other side can enjoy the cycles. The posterior is almost esctatic. The calves, and the higher region of the back - so deeply pleased...
Some zones are rubbed whether the chest is facing up or facing down. The body's hands, so long neglected. The neck, valiantly tolerating the deluded interference from inner-head.
The ribs are another such zone, continuously accessible - and always so excited!
Brushes, and gloves, and feathers, keep returning throughout a steady cycle of cycles. Rubbing, dusting, and scrubbing with the unstoppable certainty of mitosis.
When the fingers eventually slow and lift, the armpits are unshakably certain they will return. They will rub again with exquisite diligence... and a zeal that's inspired by all the pleasure the skin reports.
The feathers make a riveting entrance. Many feathers. Some dragging, and some pressing gently with their tips and moving about. It is fluffy stimulation mixed with small, sharp accents.
And the cycle continues as if it was never meant to end.
As for intensity... the brushes hold nothing back when they begin. And how the armpits salute them! Each bristle felt, the overall effect of the set making the skin redden temporarily in the throes of excitement. Two brushes for each armpit, being pushed gently and pulled back - much faster than the feathers, rocking and angling from one unsuspecting point to another...
And they cover their zone well.
Slowing to a halt, but not taken away, the brushes wait - as tools are doing all over the body - for the emission.
Only two gloves are moving. They creep over red, shiny skin, fingers locked tight.
While the white substance is being ejected the body arches with pleasure, trying to push itself off the pad.
An increased level of receptivity flashes across the entire surface of the skin.
Slowly, all the tools resume their work.
After cleaning up the excretion, those gloves apply more cream to their zone and coax it back to its full size.
When water is poured into the body, they pause again.
So many gloves and feathers and brushes. Determined, generous coverage, in every zone...
The brushes move faster still, making the armpits giddy. The dazzling pace continues up to the very end of that cycle.
And again - they return... the gloves!
Squeezing with fingers, pushing with thumbs. Lightly scratching - but the size of the slippery rounded tips is so very different than the brushes. This is reassuring as well as provocative. More of the cells are being covered simultaneously, blanketed with security by the devoted hands.
So thorough... This stimulation is reassuring to the excited armpits. All is well, and the fingers will not abandon them. The skin craves the wide, firm pressure - so solid, and so firm... every cycle.
After the sleep is over and the towels are removed, the fingers always return. Digging, and rubbing. Starting the cycles all over again.
Soothing, then playful, then exciting.
The armpits are so appreciative. More cycles, they plead. Always more. Don't ever stop!
And the ribs agree. The abdomen, the thighs...
Soon the entire body is cheering - Never stop! Keep stimulating. More cycles...
Millions of cells heat/phasing excitedly.
Finally, they're getting exactly the kind of attention they always wanted.
From inside the gloves, around the feather-stems and brush-handles... Tyroderm10/673 returns the skin's love with slower cold/phase fluctuations.
This exchange, repeated so many times over the cycles, is just impossible to ignore. The joy, in both directions, is so fierce. Unmistakably clear.
And this body had been tortured more than most. Tinted foreign substances had been injected all over the arms and torso. Years of wind and sun, imprisonment within filthy animal skins...
This was its fifth visit for regenerative therapy. And there would be no return visit. Along with the other bodies in this section of the facility, it won't be permitted to mistreat itself again.
That the inner-head could choose to ignore so much tissue, 'phase-chanting together with such intense delight, was unspeakably bizarre. Wrong.
The gloves rub slower... but harder.
And the armpits can't seem to get enough.
26jan02