7. Kelli

7

KELLI

Kelli couldn’t help feeling nervous as she stepped out of the changing booth wrapped in a long white towel covered in pictures of Christmas trees and wrapped presents. She had taken off the elf dress and the striped stockings and shoes that went with it, but she’d decided to leave her bra and panties on, just in case.

A peek to her left showed her that Klaus was standing in the corner, facing the wall patiently. Kelli knew the big Kindred was just staying with her to be sure she was safe, but she couldn’t help thinking that he looked like the biggest kid ever to get sent to the corner for being naughty.

The thought made her smile and some of the tension left her. She understood why Klaus wasn’t eager to let the massage robot work on him, but she personally loved new experiences. It was one of the things she enjoyed about working for the Kindred —every mission was different because she was always visiting new planets and meeting new people.

“ Welcome —are you ready for your massage now?” The robot with the brown hair and glowing green eyes asked her. Kelli did wish the massage robots looked either a little more human or a little less like actual people. As it was, they fell squarely into the category of the Uncanny Valley —meaning machines that creeped you out because they were supposed to look human but didn’t quite make it.

But she pushed her unease aside and smiled at the robot.

“ Yes , I am. Should I lay on the table?” She gestured to the massage table in the middle of the room. There was a hole in one end, presumably for her face, and a cushion at the other to prop under her legs.

“ Please , do. Make yourself comfortable and I will begin,” the robot said.

Usually , Kelli didn’t like having a male massage therapist because it made her feel awkward and judged. She wasn’t exactly as thin as she had been back in her twenties. But of course, the massage robot wouldn’t care that she was extra-curvy. And since Klaus still had his face to the wall—(he did, she knew because she’d checked)—she didn’t mind shedding her towel and laying face down on the table.

The massage room itself was nice—it was very dim and the music was a soothing mixture of ocean sounds and flute melodies. From somewhere a lovely floral mist was being sprayed into the room that smelled faintly of lilacs and jasmine. All in all, Kelli thought it was one of the nicer massage experiences she’d had—at least in terms of aesthetics. It still remained to be seen if the massage robot was any good at his job.

“ If you are comfortable, I shall begin,” he said and Kelli turned her head to the side to see him rolling towards her. “ But first allow me to give you this.”

One of his hands that had the long, many-jointed fingers lowered and deposited something that felt like a small, smooth oval in her right palm.

“ What’s this?” Kelli brought it up to her eyes so she could see it better. There were two lit buttons on it—the one on the right was green and the one on the left glowed red.

“ This is your intensity adjuster,” the massage robot informed her. “ If you feel that the pressure I am giving you is too little, please press the green button on the right and I will increase the force of the massage. Conversely , if you feel the pressure is too intense, please use the red button on the left so that I can decrease the intensity. Is that clear?”

“ Yes , perfectly clear.” Kelli nodded and put her face back in the hole in the table. She definitely felt more at ease now that she knew she could change the pressure intensity of the massage.

Too bad you can’t do that back home, she thought. She loved getting massages but she’d had some bad ones. Once she’d had a very nice male therapist who talked about his boyfriend and made her laugh but he pressed her so hard she ached for days afterwards. It also didn’t help that he had a lot of coarse hair on his forearms so that when he rubbed his arm across her back to loosen her muscles, it felt like she was being massaged with a cheese grater.

She’d also had massages that weren’t intense enough. One woman therapist had told Kelli the entire story of her life and how she had written a book that was a best seller and everyone loved her. And all the while, she was barely touching Kelli’s back and arms.

Several times Kelli had politely said, “ You can go a little harder, if you don’t mind” but it was like she hadn’t said anything at all. The therapist just said,

“ Uh -huh” and kept up the barely-there pressure. At the end, Kelly felt like someone had rubbed lotion on her back and that was it.

So obviously she was hoping for a good middle ground between too much pressure and not enough. She kept the remote cupped loosely in her hand just in case.

“ I will begin with medium pressure. Please tell me with the indicator if you wish me to change my intensity,” the massage robot said. And then he started.

Kelli was delighted at first. He was using his many rollers on her and he was using them all at once. Two large rollers on her thighs and calves, an extra large one on her back, three smaller ones on the back and sides of her neck, and two more medium rollers on her arms. All of them rolled up and down in the same rhythm, pressing her muscles in perfect time with each other.

It was a unique experience and Kelli found she was really enjoying it. She could feel her eyes closing in bliss as the robot’s rollers pressed all the stress right out of her.

“ Mmm , this is amazing,” she sighed. “ Klaus , you don’t know what you’re missing.”

“ I’ll take your word for it, sunshine,” he growled sarcastically.

Kelli giggled—she liked his little nickname for her. She wished she knew why her Protector was so dour all the time. They never talked much about their respective pasts but she had the idea that something bad had happened to him when he was younger. Something that had soured him on life. If only he would tell her what it was, maybe she could help him get past it.

Just as she was getting extremely relaxed, the robot therapist spoke again.

“ And now I will introduce a new level of massage,” he said.

“ Oh really?” Kelli asked, a bit nervously. “ Because I really liked the rollers.”

“ We can return to the rollers in a moment if you like, but my sensors are detecting high levels of muscular stress in certain areas of your body,” he told her. “ I must digitally manipulate you to release the stress.”

“ Digitally manipulate me? That sounds kind of dirty,” Kelli remarked. But the rollers were already being withdrawn and the long, multi-jointed robot fingers were taking their place.

This part of the massage wasn’t nearly as pleasant. The long fingers were really pinching her hard, especially around the tender areas where her shoulders met her neck and the place where her upper thighs met her ass. Kelli wanted to press the button to lower the intensity, but the remote, which was smooth and oval, had slipped out of her hand when she got so relaxed earlier. She finally found it again but because it felt the same on both sides, she wasn’t sure which button she was about to press.

She held off, thinking that she didn’t want to make the massage worse…and then the robot started using the rollers on her again. But not on her body—on the soles of her feet.

Kelli had always had horribly ticklish feet. When she was a kid her older brother used to sit on her and tickle her feet while she screamed with unhappy laughter, kicking to try and get him off.

That was what the massage felt like—like someone was holding her down and tickling her. A snort of unwelcome laughter burst from her mouth and she twisted involuntarily on the table. At the same time, she squeezed the remote, mashing one of the buttons without knowing which it was.

“ You have requested increased intensity,” the robot therapist announced. Suddenly the pinching in her shoulders got harder and she began to feel another sensation too. It felt like someone had grabbed her bra straps in the back and was twisting them, pulling the bra tighter and tighter.

“ Hey !” Kelli gasped and wiggled again. Now she felt the tightening sensation in her underpants as well. The thin fabric was beginning to squeeze her waist and she could feel the crotch being drawn up into the crack of her ass as the panties got tighter and tighter.

At first, Kelly couldn’t understand what was happening but then she realized that the massage robot’s long, multi-jointed fingers had gotten twisted in her underclothes. No wonder she’d been told to strip completely—this was the safety hazard he had warned about! But it was too late to realize that now —she was going to get squeezed to death by her own underwear if she didn’t find a way to lower the intensity of the massage.

She tried to bring the remote up to her face, but her shoulders were being pinned back by the ever-tightening bra straps. Frantically , she picked a button and pressed it again.

“ You have requested increased intensity,” the robot said again.

“ What ? No !” Kelli gasped. “ No , I didn’t mean to do that!”

“ Hey , are you okay over there?” It was Klaus’s voice and he sounded worried.

“ Fine — I’m fine,” Kelli lied quickly. She did not want her huge Protector to see her in this humiliating position. She tried to push the button again but the remote had gotten slippery because her hands were sweating. It squirted out from between her fingers, but not before she pressed the button one more time.

“ You have requested increased intensity,” the robot repeated for the third time. “ Warning —muscle bruising may result at this level of intensity. If you do not wish to increase, please press the red button.”

“ I can’t press any button— I lost the remote!” Kelli said, but the robot didn’t seem to hear her.

Desperate to get away, she tried to roll off the table, but the robot’s long fingers were firmly twisted in her bra and panties. Next , she tried to squirm out from under the pinching fingers, but she couldn’t get away. And now the massage was getting really painful.

“ Stop —stop it!” she begged the robot. “ Can’t you hear me? I lost the remote!” she shouted, giving up on trying to be subtle. “ Please —you’re hurting me!”

“ All right, that’s enough.” Klaus’s voice was closer now and when she turned her head, she saw him striding across the room. His golden eyes widened when he saw the mess she was in. “ What the ever-loving fuck?” he growled. And then he grabbed the robot’s arms and tried to pull it away from her.

“ Ouch , that’s not helping!” Kelli moaned. “ It’s the fabric—its fingers are twisted in the fabric!”

“ Right ,” Klaus growled. “ Then we have to get you out of these.”

There was a tearing sound and suddenly the painful sensation of fabric cutting into her waist eased abruptly. Her Kindred Protector had literally ripped her panties off! Kelli had fantasized about that, but never in this context.

There was a cool breeze on her ass and pussy, but she barely felt it—she was too busy trying to get out of her bra.

Luckily , Klaus was really strong. He tore the straps right off the bra and then somehow managed to get the back strap open as well. Kelli gasped in relief as the searing pain and constriction in her lungs eased at last.

“ Come on, baby—roll towards me,” she heard him say. He was on the right side of the table and the robot massage therapist was on the left. Blindly , she rolled towards the sound of his voice and he caught her and snatched her away from the table.

Cradling her to his broad chest, he looked down at her anxiously.

“ Hey , are you all right? The fuck was that thing doing to you?”

“ I … I don’t think it meant to hurt me—its fingers just got twisted in my underwear,” Kelli panted. Which made her realize that she was now completely bare. “ Oh !” she gasped, and tried to cover herself with her hands. Unfortunately , there was a lot to cover and her hands weren’t that big.

“ Don’t worry about it, sunshine—you look beautiful,” Klaus growled. “ Right now I just want to get out of this room. Look at that thing—it’s still going.”

He jerked his head towards the massage robot, which was still working on nothing but air.

“ I hope you’re enjoying your massage at the maximum intensity setting,” it said happily, just as though Kelli was still on the table. “ Soon it will be time to flip you over and massage your front.”

Kelli shivered at the idea of those long, pinching fingers working on her breasts or nipples. Thank goodness Klaus had been in the room with her to rescue her!

“ My God , that thing is awful,” she breathed, shivering as she looked at the robot.

Klaus shrugged.

“ Not gonna say I told you so…but I did kind of tell you so.”

“ Yes , I know.” Kelli sighed. “ Can you take me back to the dressing room so I put on some clothes?”

“ Sure .” He carried her back across the room and deposited her in front of the changing booth.

As she got dressed, Kelli noticed that there were red marks on her shoulders, back, thighs, and waist. They were painful, but she knew it could have been much worse.

The elf dress fit differently with no bra on under it and it felt strange to wear the striped stockings with no underwear on beneath them. She was glad she still had the fur coat she could wear to cover herself.

When she came out of the changing room, the robot massage therapist was still twiddling its long fingers in mid-air. Remembering that the disembodied voice had asked for her input, Kelli spoke up.

“ Hey —you really need to work on this aspect of the Christmas Village ,” she shouted into the air. “ It’s dangerous! You either need to hire real massage therapists to work here or you need to reprogram your robots to listen to verbal cues—not just use the remote.”

“ Who are you shouting at?” Klaus asked, frowning.

Kelli shrugged.

“ I’m just giving feedback—you know—like the floating golden sparkle voice asked us to.”

He snorted a sound that was suspiciously like laughter.

“ The ‘floating golden sparkle voice?’”

“ Well , what would you call it?” Kelli put a hand on her hip.

He shrugged.

“ I guess that’s as good a description as anything else. Okay , are you ready to go back to the ship now?”

“ What ? Go back to the ship? I don’t think so!” Kelli exclaimed. “ We’re supposed to stay the night in one of the cabins—remember?”

He frowned.

“ You mean to tell me you still want to stay, even after everything you just went through?”

“ It was one bad experience,” Kelli pointed out. “ The rest of Christmas Village is really nice. We haven’t even tried the ice skating pond or Rudolf’s Hot Chocolate yet.”

“ I’ll make you a deal,” Klaus growled. “ We’ll look at the pond because I do not know how to ice skate and I’m not in the mood to learn. Then we can get some hot chocolate and then go back to the ship.”

“ Klaus , don’t be like that,” Kelli pleaded. “ We don’t have to ice skate, but I’ve really been looking forward to the cabin!”

He raked a hand through his thick, black hair.

“ All right, sunshine. You get your way. But if there’s anything weird about the cabin— I mean anything at all—we’re leaving and going back to the ship. Deal ?”

“ Fine , but we both have to agree that it’s weird,” Kelli said. “ It can’t just be you pointing out that you don’t like their carpeting choices or whatever.”

“ All right, we both have to agree.” He sighed. “ How do you always get your way?”

“ Because I’m adorable.” Kelli gave him a bright smile which he returned with an irritated grunt.

She had no idea that very soon she would be wishing she had agreed to go straight back to the ship.