Monday, December 21, 2015

Part 22 - Sophia and the Open Sea

Part 22 - Sophia and the Open Sea - PDF Version

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The Stories of Bound Friends
Part 22 - Sophia and the Open Sea
By JessBaby
Zainab nearly screamed as a splash of cold water hit her in the face and whiplashed her awake. She looked around and saw she was in the boat still and that Andrea had been just as rudely awakened as she slept beside her.
“So what the hell was that last night?” Sophia fumed.
“I co.. wa..” Zainab stammered unintelligibly. The voice was loud and her head was pounding. She moved her hands up to her temples to try to rub the pain better. A small bottle of red juice landed in front of her, which she very quickly drank in its entirety.
“I’m sorry, are you a little hung over?” Sophia asked condescendingly.
“Yes.. very yes..” Andrea said before she began to drink from her own bottle.
“Well then it’s a good thing, we’ve got that stuff in the little storage thing. Megan showed me this stuff an hour and a bit ago, feeling much better already.” Sophia said in a slightly quieter tone. She took a seat next to Megan sitting across from the other two. “You remember Megan right, the girl you’re supposed to be looking out for?”
“What do.. what’s that supposed to mean?” Andrea asked, squinting her eyes even though it was rather dark inside the cabin.
“Next time you want to tell your girlfriend something, don’t do it with her. Do you even remember what you almost did to her last night.. as a side effect of speaking in code?” Sophia asked. She paused to let Andrea respond but not so long that the silence became awkward. “And you!” she said as she pointed to Zainab and raised her voice again. “You need to be more aware. Every time I turned around you were somewhere else. Do you realize what could happen to me if we get too separated? Do you comprehend? Neither Megan nor myself had phones that work, and even if we did you left your phone in the lockbox!”
“I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean..” Zainab tried to say
“No, I know you didn’t mean to,” Sophia said, calming down slightly and leaning back. “Still doesn’t change the fact that you did. Do you even remember where you two ended up last night? I didn’t get much from that guy who helped you back when I tried to catch him last night, but he said you got into a lot of trouble. And if he hadn’t noticed you, well he said there was the possibility for it to get a lot worse.”
“I.. I don’t really..” Zainab said as she ducked her head into her knees trying hard to remember what happened.
“Well now there’s going to be some new fucking rules ok?” Sophia asked rhetorically.
“When did you get to be in charge?” Andrea asked in a badly failed attempt at humor.
“Rule. One. Andrea, when you’re drunk, Megan’s off limits. She wouldn’t say it in so many words, but we talked about this while you two slept a little longer. She trusts your judgment, she trusts in your ability to read when things were getting to be too much. Last night as you were talking her way into a suitcase, I could see from twenty feet away she wasn’t comfortable with that, and I was a bit drunk too. Why couldn’t you? You know what, I don’t care why you couldn’t, I’m just going to say it. You drink, you lose Megan. Clear?” Sophia said as she put an arm around Megan.
“Rule two. Zainab, I don’t care if you're drunk or not, but you’re never going to leave me like that, alone and without a way to reach you, ever again. I don’t care how small your pockets are, if you have my contract then you take your phone. You take your phone and you leave me with one too, and before we ever go out you tell me that you give me permission to call you for any reason. Is that clear?” Sophia continued.
Andrea and Zainab both leaned back and nodded their heads.
Sophia breathed a sigh of relief and sat forward. “I’m sorry if that comes across as mean, but you don’t understand how panicked I was getting last night. It’s barely been a full day since I got let out of that box, and I had.. I had so much time in there to think about what horrible.. I mean if I get caught violating this contract, they’ll just stick me with something worse. I.. it was all kind of spiraling apart for me last night. If Megan wasn’t here to calm me down.. I don’t even know what. But there was a time I was sure that this was the end of the line,” Sophia explained passionately. Her hands were beginning to shake and it seemed she was on the verge of beginning to cry.
“You’re right,” Zainab said, closing her eyes and rubbing her head. “You’re loud but you’re right. I was so caught up in having you waiting here to be a surprise for them, I shouldn’t be so cavalier. This is serious stuff for you. I should have thought more. And I should have remembered better than to keep drinking. With that flower drink you’re really not supposed to have any more alcohol on top of it.. but.. I forgot to mention that didn’t I?”
“How about..” Megan said sitting forward. “How about from now on you just tell us anyways even if you think you have already and we’ll stop you if we’ve heard it.”
Zainab nodded her head before burying it back into her legs. The empty bottle she had finished off she set by her legs. “So what even happened last night?”
“I don’t know what happened after we split, but the last time we were together we were in that ponygirl tent,” Sophia said a little more calmly. “I don’t know why you were being so into it Andrea.”
“My NESIC was on.. my hands were tied, and I guess despite the brush I had I still like them. But honestly it’s that I was mostly just so into Zee and she was losing her top and.. well that’s about as far as I can think,” Andrea said. Zainab suddenly opened her eyes and went over to Andrea’s necklace, remembering it was probably still on. Andrea leaned her head back and sighed. “Oh.. that’s a lot better. Enough stuff going on in my head I almost couldn’t tell it was on but I can certainly tell it’s off now. I must have really passed out to sleep with that still on.”
“Well that explains you,” Sophia said. “I at least really was not enjoying seeing all these ponygirls. Some of them really looked like they wanted to get out of there.. and I was starting to think I was close.. And with the way things were getting weirder and weirder I wanted to just head back to the boat. I know it was my idea to come to the big party but I was wrong. So I told you that it was making me uncomfortable, that it didn’t seem like fun stuff ahead and we should just cut our losses by going back to the boat. You called back ‘I hear you and I agree. Let’s just go back,’ Then when Megan and I did start heading back we lost you. We tried finding you as we went back to the boat but once it had been a while and you didn’t show up that’s when I started getting frantic. Megan brought me in here and calmed me down, but it was still.. it was still a lot.”
“I’m.. sorry,” Zainab mumbled into her legs. “I’ll get you a phone, I promise. First chance I can.”
“And speaking of..” Sophia said as she leaned forward and set Zainab’s phone on the floor between them. “You got a few missed calls and several texts. I only know like three people and these aren’t any of them and none of the texts are in English. You didn’t actually remember to leave a message somewhere that we took the boat did you?”
“Five more minutes.. Let me just get my head on straight and then I’ll start the begging for forgiveness,” Zainab said as she tried sitting up. “Ok.. maybe more like ten.”

“So how much trouble are we in?” Andrea asked once Zainab had hung up the phone.
“No real trouble.. I think.. might get yelled at a bit but I think we’re good,” Zainab said in a rather relaxed tone. She hadn’t been speaking English, so it had been hard to gauge how things had been going. “Sundar was just.. he’s the guy who kind of runs things over there.. he decided to check the video when he noticed the boat was missing. Figured one of the family members probably took it, didn’t want to make a big deal of it and report it stolen only to have to take it back later. But we need to get back soon or we actually might be in some real trouble. Omid apparently needs to use it today.”
“That ought to be fun, we’re not moving at all and it’s still too fast for me,” Andrea said rubbing her temples. “Feeling up to driving us out of here yet?”
“I mean, I could in a bit at least,” Zainab said leaning back in her chair. “Still not done with this whole hangover.. drug crash thing..”
“Could I drive?” Sophia asked. “ I’ve never driven a boat before.. but this one looked like it had a steering wheel right? I don’t need like a licence or something do I, it wouldn’t be against the law? Do cops even pull boats over?”
“They can, but you’d pretty much need to smash into their boat. The law is.. not so proactive here. As long as you don’t hurt anyone you’re generally good, there aren’t so many cops that they go around writing speeding tickets or randomly hassling people,” Zainab explained.
“Oh, that’s kind of exciting! Is it actually like driving a car or what?”
“With a few um.. differences I guess. Be very careful not to turn too quickly. Try not to let big waves hit you from the side, you should turn into them. And keep in mind boats don’t have brakes, you’ll need to always leave enough room to come to a stop slowly if you need because you can’t stop any faster than just cutting the engines,” Zainab explained without getting up.
“But.. you will be out there to help me right?” Sophia asked.
“Oh, yeah.. we’ll both be coming out right Andrea?” Zainab said, looking back up at her. Andrea let out a half hearted groan. “Come on.. we’ll put vests on to be safe but I say we go join them.”
“My eyes are just getting used to the light in here, and you want me to go get like.. sunshine and stuff..”
“Maybe it won’t be that bright..” Zainab said playfully. “How bad could it be?”
Sophia squinted as she opened the door. The bright sun was a sudden change from the cabin that was illuminated only with a few overhead lights. Megan handed her a pair of aviator sunglasses that they had noticed earlier along with a life vest. Sophia put them on before marching up to the deck and allowing her eyes to adjust. The harbor was noticeably emptier than it was the night before, giving them a clear path out. She also noticed that the white boat seemed to have a strange dusting of something red along one side. Anxiously, she sat down in front of the large steering wheel and waited for the others to come out. Megan had followed right behind also wearing a vest, using her hand to dull the strength of the sun shining down on them. “Are you coming out?” Sophia called inside. After a moment or two, Sophia heard stirring as Zainab came stumbling out and collapsed into the passenger seat across from Sophia. “So what now? I got the keys.”
“Just turn it on like a car,” Zainab said with her eyes still mostly closed. “Then you see that lever by your side? Push down on the buttons at both sides and pull it towards you to put the engine in reverse.”
“This would be after we untie the ropes though right?” Megan said as she took the seat at the back bench of the boat.
“Yes.. yes you can’t go very far still.. still attached to the dock.” Zainab chuckled as Andrea finally emerged from the cabin. Andrea walked around to sit in the seat behind Zainab, gripping firmly to the side of the boat.
Once Megan was back on the boat , Sophia turned the key and slowly put it into reverse. She turned back to look at where she was going. As they were pulling away she saw a sudden stream of colorful water land on Megan’s white dress without warning. The bright orange and purple sprays were coming from two men standing on the dock with what looked like cheap and banged up water guns. They were covered in color themselves and smiled as they began moving on from Megan to douse everyone else on the boat  with their spray.
“What the hell was that?” Megan asked with a kind of excited curiosity.
“New Year tradition, no one’s off limits!” Zainab said. “Just look up at the plaza.”
Megan looked up and saw puffs of colored smoke and arcs of colored water were everywhere. Every color in chaotic disorder, coloring every person she could see in a bright and pastel rainbow.
“Huh,” Sophia remarked when she took the time to look up. “Looks like a whole lot more enjoyable than last night.”
“We could still go up if you want,” Zaianab offered.
“No, I’ve had enough festivities for now. Let’s get you home.” Sophia said as she slowly maneuvered around the massive parked yachts out to the open bay. Once she was out there she smiled and began to turn it up to full throttle. At least for a time, it might have been less crowded than yesterday but it was still more than enough activity to give Sophia pause. As the wind rushed through her hair she felt boundlessly exhilarated and free. “How long till we need to be back?”
“Not right this second, you wanna take it around some?” Zainab asked.
“I absolutely would.”

“Move, I’m coming back there,” Andrea said as she slid forward to join Megan on the rear bench of the boat . Looking backwards was making her feel dizzy enough to risk the movement. Megan slid over to make room for Andrea who stumbled clumsily back to the seat before turning herself around to face forward again. “Megan..” Andrea mumbled out as she leaned her head on her friend’s shoulder. “Megan I’m sorry if I was.. bad last night. It’s just bits and pieces coming back, but was I trying to.. like lock you in a box or something?”
“Yeah,” Megan said as she rubbed her arm friend's up and down Andrea’s arm comfortingly. “You were trying to get me locked into this container where men would come by and fuck me and there’d be nothing I could do about it. And it’d have been a stream of them.. out in public.. as part of a game. Was all pretty extreme.”
“I’m sorry.. I really should be more careful.. you trusted me to not.. let things get out of hand like that.. make sure you're still on board,” Andrea stammered out just barely louder than the engine working behind them.
“What’s happening now?” Zainab asked as she shuffled back towards them. Sophia was standing up now, letting her hair blow wildly in the wind.
“Just saying my sorries to Megan.. about being too drunk and too stupid and almost making her do something she’d never want to do.”
Megan blushed, wanting to scream it but only managing to force out a gentile, “maybe not never..” Andrea was a little surprised and caught off guard. “I mean.. I.. Last night you're right, I didn’t want to do that then.. there.. but on the other hand, a lot of it was.. inviting.”
“What.. do you mean?” Andrea asked finally.
“Look, I know my.. my communication problems.. they’re my problems. That why I kind of began to rely on you, I knew you wouldn’t push for something I’d find too much. I could give up control to you without putting myself in danger. You've always been good about knowing how far is too far never doing something I'd later wish hadn't happened. At least until last night.. you never had. But that’s.. know what never mind.. forget I said anything.”
“Megan, what were you just saying, about your communication problems?” Andrea prodded lovingly.
“I.. I’m always just.. you tie me somewhere, you tease me or you don’t.. but there’s never sex there’s never..” Megan began before trailing off.
“Do you.. want that? I thought you didn’t want.. that aspect of things,” Andrea finally replied after a long pause.
“Not from you.. I mean.. I didn’t mean to say.. I.. And now you see why I don’t like to talk.” Megan said before slouching forward, trying to disappear before their eyes. “There’s not the same.. intimacy sounds wrong but, something like that. Sometimes I just.. like I’d just like to find a way to not have to divorce the bondage parts from something sexual.. but just not.. I mean you can’t. I couldn't, not with you, never with you that came out wrong! Look I’m.. and there’s nothing wrong.. but I’m just.. and I mean..”
“You don’t just want it to be a women?” Zainab asked bluntly but with her eyes still largely closed, the bright sun reflecting on the water was not agreeing with her.
“Yes? Kind of? Look I don’t want to.. I mean I still love.. but I don’t want.. I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t want to offend but yeah.. someone not a girl. It’s just not my.. my thing. And I think I was being a bit deer in headlights last night because.. well on the whole I still didn’t want to and thank god Sophia stopped you.. but there was a part of me that just wanted to be held down and fucked.. That sounded..”
“That sounded fine.” Andrea said as she sat up and put her arm around Megan to switch roles and allow Megan to lean against her.

“And just cut the engine right about.. now. Alright then we just glide in.” Zainab said as they approached the small dock that protruded from the compound. They had done a loop up to a small island fort before Zainab insisted they take the boat back. The man who had driven them from the airport had come out to the dock as he saw them approach. “Megan, throw that rope at him.”
Megan tossed the bundle of rope which he caught before calling something into a walkie talkie of some kind. He guided the boat in and tied it off, even helped the girls off. If he was upset they took the boat he certainly wasn’t showing it.
Zainab let out a sort of squeak as she was suddenly hit with a lot of cold water. She looked up and saw her mother standing up at the ledge looking down at her, mid way through the throw of a second water balloon, this one hitting Andrea in the leg and leaving a very yellow color behind. “Could you not?” Zainab mumbled as her friends began to chuckle while still keeping both eyes peeled in case Leyla had more balloons hidden away.
Which left them very unprepared when a stream of red water came shooting out from inside beyond the door. It was such a bright day that their eyes took effort to adjust and see anything at all from inside the dark stone hallway. Again, Zainab seemed to be taking the brunt of it but there was collateral damage and the poor captain simply hid as best he could behind the boat ’s glass. Zainab’s father Farhad came out, largely covered in colorful dust himself and holding the gun that had been dousing them. “What’s wrong, I just assumed since you took the boat without asking you were just caught up in the holiday spirit?”
“Yeah.. but.. I think I.. over-indulged,” Zainab said artfully once her dad had finally lowed the water gun.
“Oh.. so you’re hungover? Or are you still drunk?” He asked with a level tone that was hard to read.
“Don’t worry.. I didn’t let her drive back like this..” Sophia interjected.
“Well that’s certainly responsible of you. I’m sorry, we didn’t get much time to meet yesterday Sophia, but it seemed you had occupied yourself and far be it for me to try to interrupt a group of young girls out looking for fun,” Farhad replied.
“For what it’s worth, she shouldn’t still be drunk just hung over.”
“Oh you’re just a little hungover? Aww.. than we should probably keep our voices down huh?” Farhad said as he wrapped an arm around Zainab.
“What was that?” Layla called down from the balcony.
“I was just saying,” Farhad called up loudly, nearly shouting in Zainab’s ear “We should probably try our best to be quiet. They’re saying she’s a little hungover and I think hungover people don’t like loud noises.”
“But isn’t what you just said already a loud noise?” Layla teased back with a bit of a grin on her face.
“Oh I think you’re right!” Farhad shouted back. “I think, me explaining this to you, and in this loud voice so you can hear it, it might not be very pleasant. What do you think sweaty?” He asked continuing his loud tone before looking down to Zainab.
“I hate you right now,”Zainab said as she bent her head forward and began to frustratingly rub her temples.
“Yes, well Omid’s not all that happy with you either. They needed the boat to go get things ready. He was hoping to do a trip down to Dalhak with everyone and have a swim before it gets too late.” Farhad said as he lovingly placed an arm around Zainab.
“What? I thought.. I thought the big ship was still in drydock.. some kind of.. something or other? We were.. we were going to go take Sophia into town.. get her.. stuff she needs and stuff.. Do we still have time?” Zainab oh so eloquently asked.
“The drydock was actually ahead of schedule for once! The ship’ll be here soon-ish I think. They just needed to go get things ready to bring it in. So if you keep it brief you could probably still make it.” Farhad explained as they all walked up the ramp and into the cool building.
“It’s alright by me, never been one of those.. leisurely all day kind of shoppers anyway,” Sophia said.
“Good, but first I wanna just show you one other thing,” Zainab added.

“So it’s really that simple?” Sophia said in bemusement as she watched the single page scan through the machine. “Just.. two signatures and then you send it off and now Megan has my contract? Just like that?”
“Amazingly.. yes,” Zainab said as she watched the machine to ensure a copy was sent successfully.
“And.. tell me why my contract’s tied to Megan now?” Sophia asked.
“I wanted to show you how easy it is, so switching between contract ownership between any one of us, just that it’s something you can do easily. And with Felix Olsen agreeing to pay the financial part for the coming years, there’s no need to worry about who’s supposed to pay what.” Zainab explained, walking over with the now scanned document to put with some other papers that belonged to her father. “As to why Megan? Well that way when we get down to the shops you can stay with her clothes shopping and I can go look into some other stuff.”
“Ok, last time you went to go cryptically ‘look into things’ you bought Sophia’s contract without telling any of us,” Megan interrupted.
“It’s with me..” Andrea said. “I’m looking into.. some stuff that I kind of want her input on, ok? Me, not her.”
“Yeah.. so let’s maybe take it easy on the accusing me of things?” Zainab said defensivly.
“Let’s not go overboard here.. I’m still a little ticked you didn’t at least tell me what was happening. That trip here would have been a hell of a lot less.. hellish if I knew what was waiting for me on the other side, so no you don’t get off that easily,” Sophia said with a considerable amount of annoyance. “Don’t get me wrong, I love you, but I also a little bit hate you too.”
“You’re right.. you’re right of course. But.. if we hurry now we can get you that phone you wanted and whatever else you need. My head’s stopped spinning, I’m ready to get going, how about you?” Zainab explained, with a little more life in her voice.

Sophia had never been hugely into shopping, not a lot of options in her small town and not much desire to make regular trips elsewhere. But the fact that they only had a short time, the fact that it meant buying a whole new wardrobe, Sophia for about the first time actually was enjoying the experience. It also meant that for the first time, she wasn't really watching the price. She didn't know the exchange rate anyway, and so she simply grabbed what she thought would be nice and avoided any stores that looked like they might not be reasonably priced. The kinds of shops with too much empty floor space, loud music and a faint wiff of snobbery. The phone purchase had obviously come first, but after that, Andrea and Zainab plugged their numbers into her phone and went their own way.
Megan and Sophia were just finishing up at the third store when Andrea texted they were done and on their way back. Megan and Sophia had purchased enough they even took Zainab's advice and gotten a suitcase, both to protect the clothes from the random color attacks but also because she needed a suitcase.
After rushing back, they each went to shower off every bit of yesterday. Sophia showered and changed into a yellow v-neck shirt and terrycloth blue shorts before she briskly walked out to met Megan by the stairs. Only moments later Zainab and Andrea caught up and walked down to the ground floor rather than the basement where they had boarded the smaller boat before. The large stone plaza and garden was quite high above the water, but in the distance at the corner a large wooden sailing ship sat tied to unseen places with a ramp that bent slightly down to reach the top deck.
The ship was absolutely massive, easily stretching a hundred feet end to end. It sloped sharply at the front and back as it approached the water. The deck bowed, dipping in the middle of the ship and angling up in either direction. But even at the middle, the top deck was still nearly 20 feet above the waterline. At the back, there was a raised deck creating a large enclosed room at the height of the main deck. There were two large masts, one coming out of the center of the ship and the other raising above the upper deck in the back. Large wooden beams ran at steep angles, raising higher than the masts themselves and hinting that the sails deploy more as a triangle than a square. At the front, a long bowsprit jetted out extending the ship's length further still with what looked like several triangular sails ready to be deployed from a netting of ropes that connected the end of the ship to the top of the main mast.
As they walked down to the ship, there was an unmistakable shine near the water. The boat seemed to be coated all the way around in a dark brass or copper colored metal at the water’s edge.It was still very obviously a primarily wood hull ship, but the wood seemed to be coated in plates of metal, presumably for some nautical reason.
"Good, you made it," Layla said as she saw the four of them walk down the gangway to the ship. She had a glass of something red and thick like a smoothy.
"I wouldn't want to miss all this!" Sophia said excitedly.
"Well you almost did," Farhad said before pointing back to where people were retracting the walkway they had just used.
“Wow, that was good timing." Megan said.
"It was. Welcome back ladies," Omid said as he seemed to appear almost out of nowhere to their side. "I trust you won't try taking this boat any time soon yes?"
"Sorry.. I hope we weren't being too.. and besides Zainab said it would be fine, blame her!" Megan said, pointing a finger accusingly at Zainab.
"Yeah.. blame her!" Sophia chimed in with a coy smile.
"What did you just say about my little girl?" Layla asked indignantly.
"I.. I mean.. what.. I was trying to.." Sophia sputtered.
"I'm just kidding, I have no trouble believing this was all her doing. In fact I'd kind of assume it was her," Layla said before reaching over to wrap an arm around Sophia to show there really were no hard feelings. "But come there's food, smoothies, enjoy yourself, and welcome to the Bronze Sun."

After the large triangular sails were put into place by the furious work of a rather sizeable crew, the ship slowly got under way. The girls had not eaten anything and took full advantage of the buffet as soon as they were under way. They had managed to take one of the few tables in the back room directly beside a window. Mind if we join you?” Layla asked with Farhad by her side, each holding only a small plate of pastries. The girls all nodded their heads and Layla and Farhad tried their best to squeeze in without making things too crowded. "Did you get a chance to get in contact with anyone back home yet?"
"No.. no I haven't had an opportunity yet. Zainab got me a phone just before coming here, but.. I just haven't had the time yet," Sophia replied.
"I'm sure this is all a little jarring still. My brother shared that your trip here was.. less than optimal. And I understand you've been basically stuck in that resort now for months? I know those things are huge, but that must have been maddening nonetheless," Farhad said. "I'm sure there's got to be a part of you that still hasn't quite landed back to earth yet."
"Yeah but at the same time, I think that because it's just such a total change that it all seems more easy to accept. It's like a total clean break. Like, when I was just out.. Zainab pointing out that building there was from the 1800s, oh that one's from the 1700s, oh that small island fort thing, that was started in 1458 and I'm just like.. whaaat! And now this ship? She said this thing’s from like the 1860s or something? That your family used to build ships like this and you try to take it out at least once a year, but I almost feel like I need a sword and a talking parrot to be joining you on it. In a weird way it's kind of made the whole thing easier to take in, like it's just all hit a reset button," Sophia extolled not being able to help herself but grin as she did.
"Well that's good to hear, I had hoped this wasn't all too abrupt. I'm sure we'll get along just fine," Layla said before finishing the last of her food.
"I'm.. what do you mean by that?" Sophia asked.
"Had Zainab not filled you in on things?" Farhad asked.
"I was getting to it I swear," Zainab said a little defensively.
"Well when the rest of us all fly back we weren't planning on just leaving you here with my brother. You'd come live with us in DC. We'd keep your contract to us.. or more accurately mostly my wife. And then you'd have a place to live and we can always transfer the contract back to Zainab or Andrea from time to time when you'd rather be out with them. Did you think you'd what, hide under my daughter's dorm room mattress?" Farhad asked rhetorically.
"I guess I hadn't given it any thought really, Zainab had mentioned that I'd be coming back to stay, she neglected to mention it was with you but that makes sense I guess. So.. and this might be a delicate question then but.. how.. how much do you know about my.. contract?"
"Well we have some very clear guidelines, some things approved by ICB lawyers that should be as minimal as possible while still keeping inside the letter of the law. I'm not about to start asking you to join my wife and I all of a sudden," Farhad replied with an awkward chuckle.
"Well I would hope that's not on the table, but it's still good to hear that out loud. Though just to be clear.. I wouldn't.. I mean it’s not just both of you off the table right? You aren't asking for like.. one on one.." Sophia cautiously asked almost semi-rhetorically.
"No that's not what we meant at all! My wife and daughter might just castrate me in my sleep and they’d probably be justified in doing so. Besides, I have no interest in cheating on my wife, least of all with one of my daughter's close friends," Farhad explained as he put his arm around his wife and kissed her cheek.
"Then how.. I mean how did you find a workaround? I assume you found one," Sophia asked.
"Well, we realized a new way of approaching things, and when we outlined it to the ICB they were amenable. Firstly, and let me apologize for not filling you in on the details before hand, but I assume you've showered and in the shower attached to your room?" Layla asked.
"Yes, a few times.. why?" Sophia cautiously said.
"Well, there is a video stream from that shower saved to a private server. I know you've got a bad history with incriminating videos, but this is something that only a few have access to. For our purpose it will only be a small universe of potential contract holders, so anyone who holds your contract will have access to these videos at any time. I’ll get you girls those details if Zainab hasn’t done so already. But the fact that you are essentially producing daily videos of you naked and showering, viewable to anyone who holds your contract, well that can go a long way. I hope this isn’t too invasive.” Layla explained.
Sophia gulped but shook her head. It was a little strange but she simply thought, if a tree falls in the forest.. if a camera recorded her showering and no one mentions it, did it even really happen? “So is that all there is?”
“The ICB said it isn't enough by itself, but there are two other ways to do things. One is you get involved in making decisions regarding the sex life of whoever holds your contract. Did you remember to do that last night by the way?" Layla continued before addressing the last part of the question more quietly to Zainab.
"Yes, I got to that.. I made her pick some things.. from a place.. I'll keep the details out of an afternoon chat with my parents, but yes we made sure to do that last night," Zainab replied.
“So.. will it always be that direct? Like it was last night?” Sophia asked Zainab.
Zainab reached into her purse and pulled out three black business cards. The writing seemed to only be on one side, so all Sophia saw were three blank cards. “Pick one of these,” Zainab said. Sophia thought about it and pointed to the one in the middle. Zainab took that card away from the other two and put them all back in her purse in separate areas.
“So what did I just do?” Sophia asked.
“Potentially? Fulfilled your obligation for the rest of the day,” Zainab explained.
“Wait that’s it? That’s the whole thing?” Sophia asked in amazement.
"Well, in certain circumstances, which I don’t know exactly what my daughter has planned but yes potentially it could be ‘call it in the air,’ and then Farhad and I would need to have a coin flip determine something.. sexual for us that night. The other option, since that first one is not always available every single night, if you clean for us or do other domestic chores for us on camera.. naked or fetishly dressed, which we also got them to go into detail describing what counts in that regard.. and do that for at least a half an hour that could be enough when added to the shower filming. Don't ask me why those are the lines they drew but we have the documents from the ICB arbitrators saying that if we stick to those you will be fulfilling your contract in their eyes. No need for anything more. All that in writing. So.. if you don't mind the occasional house cleaning in the nude.. I think this could be well.. certainly better than what you did have," Layla said, finally taking a pause to get a reaction. Sophia had stopped eating altogether and was holding both hands over her mouth.She simply let an empty silence grow as she heard out the details for the first time. They were overwhelming at first, and more than enough reason to nearly break into tears. "Are you alright?"
"You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.. how much.. that.. this is.. that’s really all I have to do now, and I’m not in any danger? I don't even know what to say!" Sophia said.
Layla leaned forward and clutched Sophia's hands from across the table. "Doesn't that really say it all?”

With a bit of wind and more than a bit of work from the crew, the ship leisurely glided along the shore. They were being passed on all sides by motorboats, but it didn’t matter, they were in no rush as the girls watched the sails bluster in the wind. When they did finally seem to leave city behind, they approached a circular cove dotted up and down by tall, thin trees. The formation was a perfect circle, only leaving a small opening into what looked like it had been a former volcano. The land that surrounded the bay was steep, almost sheer and covered only in occasional trees clinging dearly to the side of the rock. The water graduated to larger and darker blue as it got further and further from the sides.
In the dead center was a small floating platform with several slides and a diving board. People crowded what seemed like every inch of it, waiting their turn for something or simply seeming to take a respite from the water. Some wore full outfits, some down to just bikinis, but a fair number were in even less than that. There were many people unashamedly topless and a scant few wearing nothing at all. A circle of buoys surrounded the platform, and the many ships parked around the bay seemed to keep to the outside, parking themselves just beyond it. Andrea and Zainab sat and watched as the crew pulled frantically on this rope or that, bringing down the sails as others turned cranks to drop anchor.
“So what’ya say, feel like going native? Strip all the way down for the swim?” Zainab asked as she placed an arm around Andrea.
“I.. it’s.. What are you gonna be wearing?”
“Are you uncomfortable if I were to wear nothing at all?” Zainab quietly whispered back.
“I think I can manage,” Andrea replied before gently kissing Zainab.
“Hey you two.. I assume this is the public swimming place you were talking about?” Sophia said as she came out from below decks having changed into the blue bikini she had so recently gotten. It sat low on her hips but was modest, covering her ass completely and it gave very little cleavage. “You still need to change?”
“Well.. yeah not really. I’m just wearing my bikini underneath all this,” Andrea said as she shrugged and went to remove her shirt to reveal the cream and purple string bikini top she wore underneath. She shuffled off her shorts, stepping out of her flip flops to allow the shorts to come off. Megan came out to meet them just as Andrea was folding up her clothes. Megan offered up her bag as a place for Andrea to set her clothes.
“Well, I’m strippin’ down. Feel free to not but that’s how I’m going,” Zainab said before quickly removing her one and only layer of clothing. As she bent over to retrieve her shorts she caught a strange look from Sophia. “Ok.. hands up anyone of you who hasn’t seen me naked and who I haven’t also seen naked,” Zainab said sarcastically before looking around as none of the three raised their hands. “That’s what I thought, now come on it looks like they’ve already got the rope ladder down.”

As the four began heading towards the side of the ship they were suddenly cut off by several members of the crew, including the driver of the other boat who had met them at the docks. “Now just hang on a second,” Omid called out from a distance. “Get that boat thief ready for her punishment!”
The crew circled around Zainab, grabbing her arms and easily holding her still. Zainab felt so many hands, she tried to pull and yank but she was half the size of just about any of the men around her. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be, cooperate and it’ll be over a lot sooner,” Omid called out. Zainab still couldn’t see where he was, but after a few more defiant huffs she relaxed and stopped resisting.
Zainab’s hands were pulled behind her as someone wrapped rope around her wrists. They didn’t cinch it closed, but i was wrapped enough times around her wrists to do a reasonably good job securing her arms. The rope was thicker and slightly more itchy than what Zainab would usually use, but this ship had miles of rope and she was sure that must be where it came from. Once that was secure they began wrapping another rope around her chest, pinning her arms to her side. The wrapped it alternatingly above and below her breasts but again did not cinch it tight, tieing it off at her side. Combined, the two ties kept her from gaining enough movement to wiggle out of either one of them meaning even these almost amateur ties were more than enough to keep her secured and helpless.
No one was grabbing her any more, or even touching her. But as the group began to walk, Zainab got the cue and began to walk forward with them with Andrea, Megan and Sophia following close behind. When the men stopped marching her forward they began to dissipate, giving Zainab a first look around at how the majority of the boat was now looking at her.
“Well well, it looks like you were getting ready to go for a swim won't you?” Omid said as he leaned against the railing at the side of the ship. “Come here..” he said as he waved his hand over. Zainab tried to look straight ahead as she walked over to him, but couldn’t help but look around at how it seemed the ship had simply stopped everything to watch. Normally she wouldn’t feel self conscious with her nakedness, particularly when she was heading for the water, but somehow the ropes made this a little more sexual. And all the eyes, watching her naked bound body, they likely weren't seeing it that way but Zainab had started to and it was enough to make her blush. Not that it was very visible behind her dark skin, but her face certainly felt warm.
Omid placed an arm around Zainab, holding her close but looking at everyone else. “Did you know that we nearly called in the theft last night?” Omid asked rhetorically. “And stealing a boat, that’s serious you know.Do you know what one of the puishments use do be if someone was caught stealing someone else’s ship? They would whip them publicly, travel one hour from shore and then make the thief swim back. So if they tried to steal a fast ship, chances were a lot better that they wouldn’t quite make it back.”
Zainab’s eyes went red as a man in a hood appeared with a large bullwhip in his hands. She began fidgeting and looking up at her uncle, not wanting to say no but certainly not wanting to go where this was seeming like it was going.
“Zainab.. be truthful.. you stole the boat yes? And remember we have video,” Omid said, finally looking down at Zainab.
“Yes.. I’m sorry.. I did it just please don’t..” Zainab meekly stammered.
“Whip you? Of course I’m not about to whip my own niece!” Omid said jovially as he led her back across the ship to the side that had the rope ladder. “No, I’m simply asking that you take a swim,” he said as the crowded around him began to part, revealing a long extended wood plank sticking out over the ocean.
“In this?” She shrieked as she tugged again on her ropes.
“Yes, just as you are.” he said as he led her to the edge of the ship. “You’re a resourceful girl, it shouldn’t be that bad.”
Zainab looked back, then up at Omid before stepping onto the slightly raised plank of wood. She nervously swallowed as she walked forward, now no longer over the ship but over the water. She couldn’t make herself look down, she knew the fall must be at least 20 feet. It took all her concentration to keep walking and hoping this was all some kind of prank. She looked back and saw Omid who was now standing on the plank at the edge of the ship, blocking her way back. She was trapped, helplessly and precariously. She tried shuffling her arms around, but the ropes didn’t seem to be immediately coming off even though they were not particularly tight. She saw over by one side, Andrea, Megan and Sophia watching slack jawed at what they were watching.
As Zainab was turning back around to face away, the board began to bounce, somewhat unexpectedly. When she instinctively tried to put out her arms to try to steady herself it made her balance become even more off. She stepped to one side to try to correct and stabilize, but half her foot was off one edge of the plank. The rest of her foot slipped and she began tumbling sideways. Time stood still as she began to fall.

Andrea’s heart stopped beating. She stopped drawing breath. At least that’s how it felt. As she watched Zainab stumble over she shrieked. Before there was even a splash, Andrea saw eyes on her because of the outburst. She did not think, she only saw Zainab in her mind, floundering and in danger. She climbed over the railing and jumped into the water.
The fall tingled her feet as she hit the surface. It was not as cold as she had feared, not warm but not overwhelmingly cold either. She paddled her way to the surface and was startled by how limited her view was. The small waves that were everywhere made it hard to see anything at the surface more than a few feet in front of her. She saw the ship to one side and began blindly swimming towards where she thought Zainab might be.
Without warning, her outstretched arm hit something hard and metal as she was mid way through a stroke. The surprise disoriented her, and as she tried to right herself to see what she just hit she ended up kicking someone  wearing some kind of wetsuit. She couldn’t see much of his face behind his mask, but he was dark skinned and wearing scuba equipment. He looked just as confusedly at her as she did to him.
Andrea looked back up at the ship. It finally registered that her friends had been shouting her name. As she looked up, they both pointed to one side. Nothing they were saying registered, but hands pointing did. She began swimming over towards where the plank was, noticing that there seemed to be a lot of inflatable somethings in her way. She couldn’t tell what they were, and she couldn’t see over them, but she was sure she needed to push past them to find Zainab. As she got to one, it seemed too big to easily swim under, so she began to climb up, hoping not only to get past but to see a little clearer.
It seemed to be only partly inflated, and as she grabbed and climbed she began to bend and warp the thing rather severely. Another man in scuba gear, or perhaps the same one she had bumped into earlier, tried to pull her off, but  only made Andrea grip tighter. As the large flat thing began to raise up at the other end, she heard another splash. The man in scuba gear instantly let go of Andrea, which caused Andrea to see what exactly had happened.
There, between two scuba divers who seemed to be holding her above water, was Zainab. A third diver seemed to be fetching a small inflatable raft they lifted Zainab up and into. Andrea leaped from her position and towards the raft, seeing if Zainab was alright. She began trying to climb up and into the boat, which was much more rigid than the other thing she had been climbing onto. Eventually she felt someone help her up, holding the boat steady and allowing her to get in and wrap her arms tightly around Zainab.
“Are you alright.. oh my god, I can’t believe that happened! I was so worried,” Andrea began to extol. One of the divers tried to push Andrea off and Andrea lashed out, shoving his hand away with the one plastic ore that was in the boat. She began paddling them away from the divers and towards the boat.
“You have a strange way of helping,” Zainab finally said as they nearly reached the ship.
“I’m sorry I didn’t get there faster, I kind of.. I don’t know. Instinct took over. I wasn’t thinking.”
“And you’re so sweet for caring like that,” Zainab said tenderly. “But what I actually mean is.. I wasn’t in any danger until you showed up. I mean, I didn’t look down, but did you not either?” she asked in a more serious tone. Andrea shook her head after giving herself time to think about the answer. “See that big blob back there? They had set that up under the plank. That’s what I fell into, and there were people all around to make sure I landed safe. They were actually mid way through untying me when you started to climb up on it and shifted the weight around which is what finally tossed me in the water.”
“Oh my god!” Andrea gasped as she put a hand up to her own mouth. She looked back, sitting up in the small boat to see that people were indeed flinging themselves off the plank and onto the blob with glee on their faces. As one landed, another who was sitting at the other edge was flung up and forward, splashing into the water some distance from where he had started. She looked up at the ship and saw Megan and Sophia leaning over the side with their hands over their mouths trying to contain a laugh.
“Excuse..” one of the scuba wearing men said. “Would you like assist?” he asked in a thick accent as he pointed to Zainab’s ropes.
“No, thank you.” Andrea said, in her feeble attempt to save face, at least save face according to her own logic she likely couldn’t explain if pressed. She took the ore and began to paddle the small two woman boat around to the back of the main ship. The ship angled up at the back so sharply it created a blind spot where she could hide for a moment. Allow all the conflicting feelings the privacy to battle it out as she held Zainab.
“You know, with the ropes wet they might be harder to untie,” Zainab said quietly.
“I don’t.. I can take care of it alright?” Andrea barked. Zainab decided not to push the point any more. As they approached the back, Andrea found the anchor chain and tied the small rope lead of their ship to it, holding them firmly in place and allowing her to lay back down and hold Zainab. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“It’s fine,” Zainab said, as she repositioned herself as best she could to close what little difference there was between them. Andrea smiled and responded by tightening her grip on her girlfriend’s naked, wet and bound body.

“You two alright?” came the voice of Megan, startling Andrea back to the present.  She bolted up and saw Megan holding on to a long pink strip of foam.
“No, we’re both fine here,” Andrea said, laying one hand on Zainab to hold herself up.
“Sorry for.. like almost laughing. But in our defence you were.. I mean did you really not see the big blue floating blob they had positioned under the plank?”
“Clearly I didn’t,” Andrea said. “I saw how everyone was looking at Zee, and I saw how she accidentally slipped, and I guess I just went into panic mode.”
“Well do you want any help at least?” Megan asked. “Did you ever get her untied?”
“No need, did that a while ago, I’m just kind of.. hiding I guess. So if you wouldn’t mind..” Andrea said dismissively.
“Alright, but if you change your mind you really should try getting launched by that thing. It’s pretty fun.” Megan said before turning and paddling away.
Andrea looked around to see if there was anyone else, but it seemed that with Megan leaving almost everyone else was once again out of sight. She looked down again at Zainab, who looked back up at her curiously. “I’m just not ready yet.. I need a bit more time.”
“Did you hear me say anything?” Zainab replied. “I’m not exactly looking forward to the possible awkward apology from my uncle after my mom tells him that it’s maybe not appropriate to have me specifically tied up while naked. That it might lead to some.. unintended side effects.”
“Your mom..” Andrea asked delicately.
“Oh she only knows the broad.. the very broad strokes. I had more than one too close a call as a teen to keep it all hidden from her. You leave the wrong thing out in the wrong place often enough and she’s bound to accidentally stumble upon it. She’s never confronted me.. but she knows I’m pretty sure. Like.. 97% sure. Which is more than Omid knows, or he might have reconsidered his latest prank. Oh god that’s.. that’s not going to be fun.”
“So does that mean.. you were turned on?” Andrea asked with a slightly wicked grin.
“I.. what? No I mean just.. like in theory..” Zainab stumbled, feeling flushed again as she tried badly to lie.
“You’re extra cute when you’re flummoxed you know” Andrea said before laying back down, this time on top of Zainab rather than beside. “And you’re not going anywhere till I get a straight answer missy!”
“No.. stop get off me I’ll never tell!” Zainab practically whispered in phaned protest.
“Oh.. but I have ways of making you talk,” Andrea whispered into Zainab’s ear. She shifted one leg over to straddle Zainab and leaned forward to cup her girlfriend’s cheeks in each hand. Zainab stared intently and wiggled slightly, shaking the boat a little side to side. “You know, it’s weird being on this side of things with you,” Andrea said as she sat up slightly and rested her hands on Zainab’s shoulders. “Usually I’m the one down there and you're the one with all the power. I bet it’s a little weird for you too. But this is one of the few times I have the power.. I kinda like it.”
“You’re kidding right?” Zainab asked skeptically.
“What, I’m not allowed to like it? Like having my mistress all helpless under me?”
“No, not that! I mean, do you really not feel like you have power over me?” Zainab asked suddenly with a touch of seriousness. “Do you realize how.. how much I.. what I do for you? How much.. you.. you own my.. like down at a deepest level how much of my life now.. how much power you have over me?” Zainab mumbled out. She was interrupted only when Andrea moved in for a soft, tender kiss.
“Poor choice of words,” Andrea teased before locking lips one more time. “But I think you probably knew that didn’t you?” she said, still holding herself inches from Zainab’s lips.
A bashful smile consumed Zainab’s face before she moved her head up to close the last few inches and return the affection. “You’re right, I just wanted to make you sweat..” Zainab whispered as she allowed her head to collapse back onto the soft air-filled floor of the boat.
“And you wanted an excuse to pour your heart out again, because you’re just so in love with me,” Andrea replied as she lay herself down to Zainab’s side. Pulling the leg that had been on the other side in one leg to let it intertwine with Zainab’s. “You’re turning into such a ball of mush you know.”
“Shut uuup..” Zainab moaned as she rolled her eyes to the back of her head.
“It’s ok, ball of mush or not I love you too.”
Zainab smiled before looking over and coyly muttering “I know.”
“You know.. if I didn’t know any better,” Andrea said as she began to slide a hand in a slow gentle circle around Zainab’s stomach. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re trying to be smart with me.”
“Well I’m always smart, you just happen to be with me now,” Zainab shot back.
“Well, if I showed that kind of attitude,” Andrea said slowly as she moved one hand over Zainab’s mouth while moving the other up from the stomach to breast. She gently made a circle around the nipple, getting Zainab to mumble pleasantly into her hand. Then without warning she flicked the nipple hard, causing a very different kind of cry to be muffled against her hand. “If I were showing my Mistress this kind of attitude you’d have me punished. It’s part of why I keep doing it,” Andrea continued, leaning on her elbow to sit up slightly while still remaining on her side.
Andrea slid her free hand down, slowing only as she eventually approached her girlfriend’s ass. Zainab let out another mumbled groan of approval. She intertwined her leg with Andrea’s, pulling it in closer and seeming to take a more active role. She swiveled her hips to the side, pulling Andrea’s leg in forcefully. Andrea ran her hand over Zainab’s wet ass, feeling it tense up occasionally as Zainab tried to pull the two of them closer.
A sharp sting surprised Zainab and got her to cry out into Andrea’s hand. Andrea’s other hand meanwhile moved in for a second and finally a third hit on Zainab’s wet skin. She then rubbed the area, feeling an added warmth both from the place she had been hitting and from her own hand as well. “You never really answered the question,” Andrea said as she slowly circled around the point of impact with a pair of fingers. “Did getting tied up like this turn you on? You can answer if you promise not to yell,” she said before removing her hand from Zainab’s mouth.
“You spanked me!” Zainab said the moment the hand was away.
“I know, I was there,” Andrea said as she raised her hand back up again.
“Ok please! Just stop!” Zainab pleaded as she scrambled to try to put her bound arms into some kind of guard. “Yeah.. a little. Big public display? Ropes? Naked? You were right over there.. yeah it’s not over the moon wildest fantasy but it wasn’t nothing either.”
“Aww, it’s because I was there? You didn’t actually like it yourself?” Andrea asked as she began to run her leg slightly up and down against Zainab’s crotch. Zainab moaned in response, beginning to slightly gyrate her hips to try and enhance the stimulation she was feeling. “I don’t know that I quite believe you..” Andrea whispered before pulling her leg away.
Zainab tried to stop her, but with her hands behind her she had almost no leverage. “I’m serious.. I’m just a kinky.. person.. and as soon as I had a chest harness on I started thinking of you,” Zainab said as she tried to regain her hold. After their wrestling rocked the boat, Zainab became much more restrained, remembering the precarious position she was in. She gritted her teeth but otherwise did not offer resistance as Andrea flipped her over onto her stomach.
Andrea pulled Zainab up by the hips, sliding her own feet under Zainab and giving her a perfect view of Zainab’s ass. She had to fold her legs awkwardly to still fit inside the boat, sitting up and looking down at Zainab who’s ass was now her most elevated part. With one hand, Andrea held Zainab’s arms to one side and with the other she slid them between Zainab’s legs. She slid them along Zainab’s sex, causing her to roll her eyes. “I believe you.. you’re exactly the kind of hopeless romantic that would do that aren’t you?”
“Ok.. one quick one.. but only because you’ve been such a cute little tease so far,” Zainab mumbled before biting her lip.
“Oh.. so insistent,” Andrea complained, before nevertheless proceeding. She found Zainab’s clit and began to circle it. She let go of Zainb’s arms and moved her other hand in to relieve the first, giving that hand the ability to start probing deep into Zainab sex. Zainab closed her eyes, ignoring the wet puddle by her cheek or even how itchy the ropes had become after so long. She was simply enjoying the bliss, the joy of someone who knew her well enough to know exactly which buttons to hit. Exactly when to graze a wet finger past her asshole, teasing and hinting even if it never had any intention of going in at that moment. As she got closer and closer she began to open her eyes again and try to look up. Andrea brushed the hair out of her face, giving her a clear line of sight. Andrea looked down and slowly stopped.
“Wha.. I’m.. I’m not there yet..” Zainab pleaded with sad eyes.
“And how many times has that excuse worked on you?” Andrea asked with a smile. She began to untie the knots in Zainab’s ropes, enjoying the silence as Zainab had nothing to respond with. “Relax.. I know how much cumming usually makes you yank your limbs about, I just wanted to get you untied first. Those ropes are starting to leave some really red marks, I bet they’re getting real annoying.”
“Yeah.. yeah they are.. I just.. hadn’t.. said much I guess.” Zainab finally replied as she felt some of the pressure being loosened from her chest and then her hands.
“Now, where was I?” Andrea said, after she had untied the knots and loosened the ropes but without unraveling them all. “Oh right, I’m at this part!” Andrea said before flipping Zainab over onto her side, still in the boat but no longer on top of her legs. Andrea brushed Zainab’s wrists, helping the coil foll off before she stood up and jumped into the water. The boat rocked back and forth a bit, but with her hands free and with the ropes loosened, Zainab easily got the ropes around her chest off. By the time she had she looked around and saw Andrea was already half way around the ship and back out towards everyone else. “Come on, we’ve been hermits long enough now, let’s go try that blob bouncer thing? Put a pin in our last little conversation till later.”
“I’ll.. put a pin in you!” Zainab threatened half heartedly. She rubbed her wrists, and for a moment considered finishing herself off. But as she saw Andrea treading water looking pleadingly back at her, she stood up and dived in and began chasing after Andrea and back towards everyone else.

The afternoon passed quickly, even as the moments seemed to last forever. Everyone was feeling a little salty from the ocean, wishing this boat had a shower hidden away somewhere. Andrea and Megan had each snagged a long floating mat, and seemed more than content to simply lay there while Zainab and Sophia enjoyed a more rigorous form of recreation, racing from place to place, taking the dive off the ship trying out the slides on the main platform. It seemed that the boat because as much a public space as the central dock, with streams of people swimming over for their turn to be launched into the air. Andrea and Megan by comparison lay back on their floating mats and held hands, keeping themselves from floating apart as they both lay there with their eyes closed enjoying the warm sun beating down on them.
“Megan, can I ask you something? Or are you enjoying the silence too much?” Andrea asked.
“Not much silence to be had with all the screams and splashes around. What’s up?” Megan replied.
“So that whole thing, you said back this morning about wanting.. something more sexual, is that still.. a thing? You want or was it kind of.. in the moment talking?” Andrea asked somewhat uncomfortably. “And I’m not suggesting like.. me. I mean.. would you want me to.. would you enjoy.. would you want me to help set something like that up?”
“You’d be there?” Megan asked turning her head to face Andrea and opening her eyes. “Like.. around and in charge? Make sure things don’t.. that I actually like it?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t abandon you so haphazardly.” Andrea said. “So if I found someone safe.. who I knew would get it and stop if I told them.. in theory would you be.. open to that?”
Megan sat thinking about it for a moment. She tried to picture someone grabbing her, being forceful.. using her. She vaguely smiled at the thought. She shrugged her shoulders and nodded her head, “I mean.. sure it depends on what the guy does.. but, yeah. That could potentially be nice.. occasionally.. in theory. I mean.. you’d be around and you know.. basics and...”
Megan’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a loud bell. Andrea and Megan looked over to see it coming from the rear of the ship, like some kind of announcement. They saw the inflatable blob being deflated and noticed an increase in the number of people heading back towards the rope netting to climb back onto the ship.
“I’m assuming that’s telling us we need to get back,” Andrea said stating the rather obvious. “But anyways, what were you saying?” Andrea asked, looking over to Megan.
“Look.. you.. I put my trust in you for a reason. Asked to be your slave for a reason. I.. it would be nice to get fucked.. really be helpless feeling about it.. don’t know.. I mean just.. use your ju.. your sober judgment. I still trust you,” Megan finished nervously.
“You’re sure.. I could try and talk this out more with you.. make sure the details..” Andrea added.
“I.. you don’t need to do all that. Just.. just be there to keep things from going overboard and.. yeah, I guess I just trust you to work that out. But I’m not getting left behind so,” Megan said with more confidence, rolling off her float  and tipping Andrea off hers as she resurfaced. “Race ya!”

The large ship lumbered back slowly. It seemed to be going against the wind as it zipped back and forth catching what it can to propel itself. Zainab and Sophia had gotten dressed back into the shorts and shirt they each wore earlier, Andrea and Megan didn’t bother to do the same. The sun was lower but it was still bright enough out that it felt warm against the skin. They ate some more food, but mostly they just appreciated the view and the breeze. The coastline changed from wild rocky shores and tall thin trees to dense city very suddenly once past the cove formation almost like a perfect line. The sheer variety of buildings were evident between the tenements and shacks that lined the hills and the high stone and glass buildings that lined the shores, every single one complete with some kind of boat parking. A particularly tall tower seemed to sit almost on stilts over top of what looked like a massive covered boat garage for its inhabitants.
“So does just everyone have a boat then?” Sophia asked as the four of them leaned against a railing watching everything go by.
“No, obviously not everyone, but they’re super handy. Building your regular kinds of bridges might choke off boat traffic, and we’re right at a fault line between two plates making a safe and tall bridge very expensive and underwater tunnels are right out. Plus cars are expensive, gotta import them, park them, use car ferries which are slower and pricier, most people just don’t bother. That pretty much leaves boats. Which is kind of how it’s always been here. Boats and the ocean are kind of.. I guess inseparable is the best way to put it,” Zainab explained before slightly trailing off a bit.
“So what’s the plan when we do get back?” Megan asked. “Is there one?”
“Right.. yeah so it’ll still be a good bit of time still till we’re back. I don’t know what speed we’re doing but feels like we’re going against the wind so.. a while still. But by then it’ll be evening here.. which will make it Saturday morning back in your neck of the woods.” Zainab explained before turning to Sophia and grabbing her hands. “I know our flight’s just a week from today on the 29th, but I thought you might want to use your room’s TV and webcam to call your parents. I didn’t tell them anything else, but I told them to be free for the possibility of a call. If you’re.. feeling up to all that.”
Sophia’s eyes went wide. She yanked Zainab forward by the hands that were holding her own before wrapping Zainab in a big hug. “So is that a yes?” Zainab finally asked.
“Of course that’s a yes! Oh..that’ll be...that’ll nice. And long!” Sophia chuckled. causing Megan and Andrea to each get a smile from the contact happy. “You.. fine if I just leave you for a while?”
“Are you kidding? This is a long time coming! Huh.. and I guess since I’m your contract holder right now.. I wish this went without saying but I give you permission to make any and all calls you need or want or whatever for as long as you want,” Megan said cheerfully. “Felix really never let you?” Sophia simply shook her head. “That’s no problem,” Megan said as she decided to join the hug from behind Sophia. “You’re with us now and we won’t be so cruel. Call whoever you want.. call Zainab if you want us back, I’ll make sure her phone never leaves me. Call up anyone you want, anyone you might want to talk to.”
Suddenly the group hug ended as Sophia let go of Zainab and leaned over to the railing. Sophia had a realization as she began to smile and eventually nervously laugh.  “Oh my god.. Rob!” she said before continuing to laugh.
“I don’t get it..”  Zainab said once Sophia began to regain her composure. “Is this.. like you’re worried about him? I think I have his number we can call him first if you want.”
“Hell no,” Sophia scoffed. “After what he pulled? God, when I was getting shipped, after what he pulled.. oh god no. Oh I was so pissed, but then with everything else I kind of just.. forgot about him.”
“What exactly happened? I mean he did seem kind of squirrelly when I was trying to fill him in, I don’t even know if he heard me. Or at least, I’m not sure if it registered. What did he do?” Zainab asked, feeling like she was a few steps behind.
“That little shit.. tried to tell HR that I was trying to seduce staff to give me better assignments, and suggest I be re-assigned back to where I was. You know, so I’d be available for him to rent out on your dime some more. What’s the icing on top? The guy he says I was trading sexual favors with is gay! And when I asked him if there was something bothering him he didn’t say a goddamn word. I was just trying to hang on and get by however I could. But because I wasn’t there when he felt he needed me, that clearly needed fixing.’” Sophia explained.
“Shit.. I didn’t know. I thought.. well I thought he’d be an alright guy who’d kind of do whatever it is you needed. Clearly I misjudged him.” Zainab said, sounding apologetic.
“I mean, it’s a bit of a mixed bag with him. I think he never really stopped to think about my side of things, it was always his. What can he do for me, what can I do for him, not really thinking about things that might not involve him. I maybe should have sent up a red flag or two after he gave me his little ‘gift’ that.. really kind of came out of nowhere. I mean he said you oked it, so I figure.. whatever. Not worth throwing a fit over a little chastity cage,” Sophia said as she began to lean up against the wall and stare towards the ceiling.
“What was that about a chastity cage?” Andrea asked.
“Yeah.. you know, back for my birthday? He bought this really expensive looking chastity belt, and he kind of just.. had it on and showed it to me as one of his ‘gifts.’ He also made this beautiful drawing as well, and he had all your gifts.. but he said that Zainab you gave him some money for that? I wasn’t exactly going to make a big stink about it.”
“That fucker.. he said it was for some jewelry. I thought it was a little pricy but he seemed really sure so I didn’t want to refuse. So he didn’t actually give you any jewelry? He just spent it all on some chastity belt for himself?” Zainab said flabbergasted.
“Yeah.. and it was an expensive looking one too. Custom fit, only opens with a thumbprint, totally escape proof.. oh shit! After we last met he mentioned he put on the cage with the spikes!”
“So.. there’s no code?” Zainab asked.
“No! The only override is from the company if he shows proof I’m dead or.. that I lost my finger or something. Point is.. oh man he’s trapped in there. Trapped in inescapable spiked chastity unless I let him out in person.” Sophia said as her eyes darted around clearly rushing through thoughts.
“You.. are going to let him out though right?” Megan finally asked.
“Not right away I’m not.” Sophia quickly blurted out. “I mean, chances are yeah I’ll probably forgive him eventually, but that’s not going to be for a long long time. He chose to use it, he used your money under false pretense to buy it, tried to pass this thing of his off as a gift to me, and he tried to get me demoted so he’d have more excuses to be near me. I don’t know exactly what it will take, but it’s going to take a hell of a lot for me to forgive him for all that. Of course.. on the other hand maybe I just don’t.”

“And you’re sure all four of us aren’t gonna like break it?” Megan asked a second time as she slowly tried to relax in the admittedly sturdy feeling rope net that extended from the front of the hull to the edge of the bowsprit.
“I’ve seen it hold a dozen easily, we’re fine,” Zainab said, not even bothering to pull her head up from Andrea’s bare midriff to respond.
“This is so cool,” Sophia mused as she looked down and watch the water split between the ship as it trundled forward, creating wakes to either side. Sophia looked over to her side and saw them beginning to pass the open market they had been to the other night. “So.. about last night.. you say you don’t remember much?”
“No.. not really,” Zainab replied calmly, still with her eyes closed.
“Then you don’t remember your little confession at the end of the night? About a certain.. Ravi?” Sophia curiously asked as she spun around to look back at her other friends. Zainab’s eyes bolted open but she didn’t yet move. “Right before you passed out, you even called him your ex-boyfriend,” Sophia continued.
Andrea shot up, forcing Zainab up as a reaction. “Boyfriend? I thought you’d never had a serious relationship before?” Andrea asked.
“Yes.. fine, he was my boyfriend once upon a long time ago. But in my defense I was a very different person back then,” Zainab began to explain. “When I was a real young teen, I still hadn’t ever been anywhere but here. My world was a lot smaller back then, and I wasn’t very sure of myself. My dad had just gotten his first overseas posting, but me and my mom stayed here. She figured it’d be easier on me to lose my dad and keep my home than keep my dad and lose my home. Ravi was just this kid I knew. Ok.. more than that.. he was a really close friend. His family is rich too, and we have the same birthday just one year apart. His dad was away a lot too, so we kind of had that extra thing in common with each other. We spent a decent amount of time over the years together but it wasn’t till my dad left too that I started really going over to his place a lot. He kind of had his own area of his house. His stepmom didn’t care much what we did, she was kind of a trophy wife off in her own little world, so we could go and it’d be where we could talk about whatever without worrying that some adult or worse some parent might overhear us. Made it like our own little secret place. I felt like I could tell him anything,” she continued to explain but with a momentary and inexplicable smile.
“Well, we both kind went through puberty around the same time. Soon our talks started getting a lot more sexual. He’d tell me about girls he liked, I’d tell him about boys I liked. Then we started kind of.. asking each other stuff which.. well things kept building up. Eventually we started like.. experimenting. Sexually. Neither of us knew what the hell we were doing, this was all totally new to both of us, so everything was like.. really exciting. Eventually, that experimenting led to outright sex, which.. brought everything to this whole other level. Then he started calling himself my boyfriend. I was a little uneasy.. but as a young girl without any real base of comparison I wasn’t sure what else to call us. We got more intense as the weeks went on. Started trying roleplay, he tried tieing me up and that was really hot to me, every time we’d try something once or twice he’d have a new idea to try the next time. Went on for months, past the school year and into summer. Without classes we could spend even longer together, I started sleeping over sometimes even, sneaking back in to try to pretend like I had been there all night.”
“Now you got to remember I wasn’t always as headstrong as I am now. I wouldn’t say I was ever shy but I certainly wasn’t nearly as assertive or confident in myself. And for where I was at that moment in that time.. he just got me. He got me and we were trying all the fun things, things I’d never even known I liked. He must have just.. picked up on something I didn't know at the time, I was more than happy to just go along for the ride. There were things that weren't as fun as others, but he was so rapid fire going through stuff that was alright. I can’t remember where I got this idea from, but I had this vision in my head of surprising him as he came out of the bathroom and cuffing his hands behind him like he’d do to me sometimes. He did not like that. He fought and I thought it was just play, but he didn’t stop. I let him out and then he started getting really rough. Not like.. in a violent way just.. ok maybe a little, but in a passionate kind of violence. I kind of liked it actually. It was pretty clear he wanted to be the one in the driver’s seat, and he was sure enough for both of us I guess.”
“Summer was coming to an end, and once my dad got back I didn’t have as much time. Ravi would write me these long emails, want to send me goodnight texts, stuff like that. My parents sat me down, I can still remember that conversation, when my dad was leaving for his next posting we were going to come with him as a family. I was kind of nervous, kind of excited but also kind of sad. Ravi really didn’t like the news. He said though that we shouldn’t try to keep it up long distance, that he’d rather I just leave than try to make that kind of long distance thing work. We’ve seen each other only a rare few times since, I’m often here for the local New Years and then our shared birthday is just a few days after, but we haven't seen each other much.”
“Really I just usually keep that part of me.. well that was a very different me back then. And if I’d have stayed I’d be a very different person today. For all I know I’d still be with him, my parents first met around that age so it’s not impossible. But that didn’t happen, I left and I changed, and then you roped me in,” Zainab said trying to reassure Andrea and not really sure how to read her face.
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about all this,” Andrea said in a voice of slight concern.
“I was going to tell you.. some time.. some time before our birthday, when you were supposed to actually meet him for the first time. I just didn’t think we’d run into him earlier than that. I hope you’re not like.. mad,” Zainab said in a slightly hushed voice.
“That’s fine.. I get it,” Andrea said as she gripped Zainab’s hand and brought it up for a kiss. “Besides, I don’t remember him from last night at all, it’s essentially the same as never meeting him right?”
Zainab smiled and kissed Andrea again before the two settled back to where they were, allowing the warm breeze to rush past them.

By the time the  ship had finally docked, the sun was nearly gone entirely, painting the sky a dim red. The ramp was extended out just as it had been when they boarded, but the girls were not in any rush to make it to dry land. “So what happens to this ship when you’re not using it?” Sophia asked as she stood at the wheel.
“Most of the year it’s parked down by the national palace as a kind of museum, we try to take it out once a year at least to not let it go into disrepair, but we usually..” Zainab began to explain before being suddenly interrupted by Omid who cleared his throat right behind her.
“May I.. talk to you in private for a moment?” Omid said sheepishly, seeming like it was actually a question and not simply a command phrased as one. Just in the distance but watching carefully was Zainab’s mother Leyla, who tried to pretend she wasn't looking when Zainab cast a glance in her direction. Zainab cleared her throat and pointed on to say she’d follow behind.
“So, do I need to do anything to call out? If this is gonna take a while and all..” Sophia asked to Zainab as she began to walk away.
“I don’t think so,” Zainab said “Check with someone if you have trouble, but I don’t think I’m gonna be that long.”
“Yeah well everyone’s left practically, so I think I’m gonna start the call. Who knows how long I’ll be and I’m getting kinda antsy since you mentioned it to be honest,” Sophia explained.
“Then go, enjoy, say hi from us,” Megan said. “We’ll just wait here for Zainab but should be back inside long before your call’s over. Andrea’s got her cell, so does Zainab, call us if you want.”
Andrea and Megan walked down the stairs Zainab had just walked down, bringing them to the main deck where it seemed only one or two crew members and Leyla were still around. Andrea leaned back against the railing, taking a position near the center of the ship right beside Leyla. The two looked over at each other and then back to the door which Zainab and Omid had gone into. “Is that about what I assume it’s about?” Andrea awkwardly asked to fill the silence.
“As her mother, I’m just sure I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Layla said in a very diplomatic tone. “But yes, it’s likely about exactly what you assume it’s about.”
“So then you..” Andrea began to ask before trailing off deciding she didn’t want an answer.
“I notice things even when I do not say them. I’ll leave the conversation at that,” Layla said keeping her eyes on the door in the distance. When the door opened, she began to walk briskly over, Andrea and Megan staggered themselves behind her. Zainab and Omid both emerged looking a little docile and reserved. “So are we understanding each other a little better now?” Leyla asked.
“Yes, I.. well I’ll be more careful when um.. well you know it wasn’t my intention..” Omid stumbled through the conversation’s highlights for Leyla’s sake.
“And.. again? Yes I know your intention.. it was just.. series of bad timings on a lot of our parts,” Zainab said, trying but barely able to look her uncle in the eye.
“So good, talked through, lessons learned. Now we never again need speak of.. what has been shared here.” Leyla said deftly trying to remove the awkwardness that surrounded them anyway.
“I don’t think I got the chance to say it personally, but thanks for letting us come, this boat is pretty out of this world,” Megan complemented, adding her contribution to the effort of moving things along. “Almost too bad it’s over,”
“Well it doesn’t have to be,” Omid said. “It’s not moving tonight, it’s hard enough to maneuver around the boats in the day, so it’s going to just park here for the night,” he continued as he began to dig around his pockets for something. With a loud jangle he pulled out a very large set of keys, filled with both modern looking and ancient looking keys. “Please, least I can do.” he said apologetically as he placed the set of keys in Megan’s hands.
“So like, the whole boat? Just to ourselves?” Megan asked.
“Sure thing, just lock up when you leave,” Omid said, this time addressing Zainab. “Actually, they're going to be retracting the ramp, just call Sundar when you’re ready to call it a night,” he added before looking over to Leyla. She shrugged her shoulders and the two turned to leave up the ramp which was retracted soon after them.

“So Zainab, do these keys go anywhere special?” Megan asked as she handed the keys over.
“Well, there’s all the lower deck, they always lock that off when they open the ship up to anyone like they did today,” Zainab explained as she already began heading for the stairs to go down.
“You showed us down there already,” Megan said as she and Andrea followed Zainab down the stairs. “Sure there’s that one part that’s locked off but we still spent some of the sailing down here on the lower deck.” Once the three were down, Andrea closed the door behind her and began to look around. She rushed from side to side, looking up and down the long continuous room. “What are you looking for?” Megan asked finding it impossible not to notice Andrea’s pre-occupation.
“Well, looks like we are actually alone,” Andrea said once she was satisfied there was no one left behind. “Slave, do I need to spell this out for you, has it been that long?” Megan had everything suddenly click and quickly began to untie her bikini top and bottom. A small contented smile took up a corner of her lips before returning to stoic calm. “So Zainab,” Andrea asked, looking past Megan entirely. “What was so cool about the lower deck that you didn’t already show us?”
“Well, everything really, because this is only the middle deck, there’s a whole level below this one. Here,” Zainab said before passing Andrea the keys. “I’m not going to give her an order, but one of you are going to have to do the boring job and figure out which key it is that opens that hatch over there,” Zainab explained as she pointed with her eyes first to Megan then to the hatch that sat near the base behind the stairs. “Excuse me for a second, need to ask my uncle one more thing about those keys…” she said before ducking away and making a quick call not in English.
Andrea handed Megan the keys with a raised eyebrow. “Let’s hope you’re faster at this than you were at recognizing your place when it’s just us,” Andrea explained.
Megan took off with renewed purpose, rushing off to look at the lock and try to find its mate. The hinge seemed old, but that still left a dozen or so possibilities. She was focused, trying one key after another, finally letting out a satisfied grin as the eighth key made a clicking sound. The door hinged at the base of the stairs, and seemed to be designed to hook onto the stairs themselves. Only when it was up did Andrea and Zainab come over to join her. Zainab bent down and flicked a small electric switch placed discreetly by the hinge of the door. Soon, the darkness was washed away as dozens of LED lanterns bathed the lower deck in a yellow glow similar to the one they were currently in.
Megan followed as Zainab and Andrea led the way down the steep staircase. The room was taller, and the curve of the ship much more obvious. The room angled to a point at the bow, making it seem like the whole room bent up and into a single thin line. There were a decorative assortment of furnishings, barrels, shelves, displays and at the far distance cages.
“Yeah, this is where all the cool stuff gets kept. Usually the ships locked down as a museum, but whenever we take it out, especially when we let anyone and everyone climb aboard like we did this afternoon, they just close this room off. This stuff here’s irreplaceable,” Zainab explained as the other two seemed to bolt in random directions to check out whatever it was that caught their eye first. There was a bronze telescope encrusted with small gemstones and intricately carved patterns. A green rusted cannon whose label claimed it was the last remaining gun from a battle that narrowly prevented Portugal from conquering Surda in 1581. All manner of beautifully made bronze, opal, mother-of-pearl, and more seemed to cover nearly everything that were under display cases. Until they reached the back, which had much less decorative displays of cages and metal bunk beds.
“Well, this ship also used to be a merchant ship once upon a time. The two things we traded back then in great abundance were spices.. and slaves. That’s why these are here,” Zainab explained as the other two seemed to pause at the ship’s rear. There was barely more than a foot between where one flat bed started and another ended, stacked that way from the ceiling down to just about two feet from the floor of the ship. This was also the first thing to not be hidden behind glass, and neither girl could help but reach out and touch it. The metal was rough and cold. A pair of metal loops that seemed connected below each bunk held a pair of shackles trapped, one pair at the head and one by the foot. They could shuffle some, allowing the chain to rattle back and forth, but lowering one pulled on the other and so the two hands could never meet.
Beside it was a much larger but completely enclosed cage. It had enough headroom to sit up and had a smoother looking floor than the rough grates beside it. Inside were a much more decorative looking set of shackles. The other shackles were dull, black and heavy. These seemed to be bronze, thinner but much longer, looking like they sat above the wrist or ankle joint. A chain connected the cuffs all together along a central chain that hung off a bronze collar.
“This was for the ‘ruta’ slave. Every sailing, a few slaves would be chosen, usually women since the crews I guess figured they’d be less likely to mutiny. That and.. well crews could find more uses for the women than the men on long trips. Anyway, they would have the responsibility of cleaning up after the rest of the slaves, shoveling shit and piss and feeding them just enough for them not to die. But at the end of it, they got a more comfortable room, more and better food, and more freedom of movement than everyone else who would never leave the flat bunk from the moment the ship sets sail till it reaches its final destination. And any girl who didn’t want to work, well a few days into a sailing, there were always others who would beg to take their place.
“So.. is that a real one?” Megan asked as she opened the door and reached in. The cuffs were smooth, hinging close and locking with a pin that would screw in to the other side. “Like these were actually ones that were used?”
“Yes, as were those,” Zainab said pointing up to a chain dangling freely from a block and tackle device. A pair of heavy metal manacles dangled from the chain, currently held far out of reach. The rope from the pulleys that made up the block and tackle ran over to the side wall, connected to a winch crank that could be used to lower it or raise it even higher. “When the crew wanted to make an example of someone, they would hang them by their wrists for a while, let them dangle back and forth as the boat rocked. If they were feeling extra cruel, they’d put weights like this on their feet first,” Zainab explained as she pointed to a large triangular lump of metal connected to a chain. At the other end of each were sturdy metal cuffs.
“Tell me,” Andrea asked, after feeling the heft of one of the weights. “Would it be insensitive if we.. tried some of these?”
“It’s very possible,” Zainab said before beginning to lower the chain down for the ceiling. “But who are any of us to judge? I certainly won’t.”

Megan’s hands trembled slightly as Andrea screwed closed the shackles around each wrist. The shackles gave her only a foot or so of slack, but the middle link was connected to the chain that hung from the pulleys, preventing her from lowering her hands below about her breasts.
“Now remember slave, no matter what happens, remember you can still say stop. No fancy safewords, just stop. Do you think you can handle that?” Andrea said as she gripped Megan’s chin to make her look her in the eye.
Meagan began breathing heavier and licked her lips, eventually nodding her head slightly to respond that she had understood.
“I’ll be watching closely, but you need to know that you still can stop everything that’s happening even if you find it hard to do. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings,” Andrea continued as she walked over to the winch. She began to turn the crank, clicking as it went, very slowly raising the chain that Megan was now locked into. As Megan began to stand ever so slightly on her toes, Andrea stopped, deciding this was the optimal spot to make her feel helpless without going into a full suspension. Megan’s bare breasts stood proud and exposed, no longer covered by her bikini and with no way to be hidden. Megan pulled at her restraints gently, taking the chains into each hand as more of her weight was taken off her feet by the effort. She let out a low moan as she felt no give, no fix. The release was against the wall, she was totally helpless, a position she rather liked.
“This may hurt some,” Andrea whispered into Megan’s ear before backing up slowly to one side. Megan looked over but was snapped back as a long straight sting climbed across her ass. The crack of the whip only registered after. Megan lifted her legs as she recoiled slightly from the hit, biting her lower lip as a rush of electricity went rushing through her body.
“And in case it isn’t clear enough, she’s still not in charge right now I am,” Andrea said as she paced around to stand in front of Megan. “I don’t want you to worry, I’m always your Ega, and you are my slave, no one else's. She is simply a little better with the whip,” Andrea continued before slightly nodding her head causing Zainab to strike at Megan again with the single tailed whip. This time it wrapped slightly around Megan’s side, landing almost as much on her abdomen as her back. This time Megan was much less subdued with her moan. The sting was real, but it only added to the sensations that seemed to be tickling her insides from her outstretched hands down to her pointed sole.
“You’re a very weird kind of slave, you know that?” Andrea said as she walked forward keeping eye contact as she did. “You trust me enough to be more than happy to get tied by me, be naked, hurt, even cum in front of me, but just so long as it’s not me touching you that makes you cum. You like being a slave, but a straight one. Isn’t that right?” Andrea asked as she grabbing Megan’s chin. “This wasn’t a rhetorical question slave.”
“Yes Ega.” Megan managed to mutter.
“Zee, phone?” Andrea said, holding her hand out for Zainab to hand Andrea’s  phone over. Megan began to shiver as she looked down and saw Andrea opening up the NESIC program on her phone. Andrea turned it on at a setting of two, high enough to be felt but not much higher. Megan openly moaned as she slid her legs against each other. “Here’s how this is going to work slave. I set this to two out of ten, you’ve been whipped twice now it seems only fitting. Gradually over time, it’s going to decrease naturally. If you want me to turn it up, you’re going to have to earn that by begging for it.”
Megan felt a wave of anticipation at the delema. It tied the pain to reward, and forced her to be the one to ask for it. She outstretched her fingers uncontrollably as she felt a tingle at the back of her head and between her legs. “Please.. whip me.. whip your slave..” Megan stuttered out.  She braced herself for the lash but without knowing where it was going to land that proved impossible to do. The whip cracked across her back, leaving a nice diagonal mark from shoulder blade nearly to hip. As it landed she felt her NESIC turn up at the same time, clashing as to which more strongly got her attention. Another blow struck her,causing her to bite down as a sudden sting fell around the side of her body and to her front just below her breasts, making some noise somewhere between a scream and a moan.
Megan’s head fell limp onto her chest, allowing herself to go cross eyed as she cleared her mind, letting it all go blissfully blank. She had no ability to get out, no ability to cover herself, she was merely a passenger. Her job was simply to enjoy it, and she had every intention on doing so. She was already drifting off into a pure pleasurable space. Which is how she didn’t hear someone coming down the stairs.

“And what exactly do we have here?” came a deep commanding voice. Andrea and Zainab looked back and saw two men descending the stairs, both wearing pure black outfits, heavy boots and leather gloves. Megan turns herself around to look back as well just as Zainab walks quickly back to Andrea. Megan pulled on the chains holding her wrists, she felt a blush of embarrassment at how little of her nakedness she could hide from these approaching strangers.
“It would seem these girls are having a go playing like slaves. Is that what you are girl, are you a slave?” The other man asked Megan rather directly. Megan’s eyes began to dart back and forth between the two men. The first one down had a square, cleanly shaven face with short locks of curly hair and piercing blue eyes. The one who had addressed her directly had a more pointed jaw with a dimpled chin. It was covered in day old stubble and shaved nearly as short across his head. His green eyes scanned her up and down before he cocked a weary smile. “Our understanding was that this boat and her treasures would be vacated by now, but this is a welcome surprise.”
“Are those keys in your hands?” The first man asked Zainab. Zainab hustled Andrea over to the open cage and pushed her in. Megan watched as she seemed to lock the door and throw the keys inside with Andrea just fast enough to avoid the man with the curly hair who was walking over to her. The man was quickly there moments later to grab Zainab by the wrists while she was still low to the ground, nearly sitting. He pulled a wrist shackle hanging from the lowest of the metal beds and placed it around Zainab’s wrists. He fitted nylon zipties through the hole where a lock would usually go and tightened them enough to ensure the cuff wouldn’t open. He did the same to Zainab’s other wrist before standing imposingly over her while she was forced to stay seated.
“If you just go, we’ll call it even. We’ll tell people we never saw your faces, you don’t have to do anything to us just because we actually did.” Zainab offered.
“What kind of men do you take us for? We may come ready to restrain, but that is the worst thing that will befall you tonight,” the first man said as he brushed some hair out of Zainab’s eyes before ignoring her entirely and returning to focus on Megan. “We never hurt anyone, least of all a beautiful slave such as yourself,” he continued as he approached Megan seductively. He seem preoccupied by her, enjoying every delicate inch he could see.
“We came here expecting not to have any keys, we are however good at adapting. And right now the more pressing concern to me than your keys is this lovely sexpot you so kindly set up for our arrival,” the second man said as he began to walk slowly around Megan. “You do not have anything to fear from us, though girl. We take things without asking, we do not take people that way. What is your name girl, and why are you chained up like a slave? Are you a slave?”
Megan swallowed hard, feeling the dual pairs of eyes examining her without restriction. They were both rather tall, and while it was a little hard to tell under their black turtlenecks, they both seemed very strong and muscular. Yet there was still something gentle about their voice. Perhaps their vague accent, it was impossible to place but it was there for both of them. “My.. Mu.. Megan,” she finally managed to sputter out.
“Well Megan, as far as you can be concerned, my name will be Frank, and this is my associet Bob,” said the first man with the curly hair. “And why Megan, are you chained up like this? Does this turn you on?” He said as he began to close the distance between them. She could feel “Bob” doing the same behind her.
Megan was breathing hard, and could feel their closeness to her from either side. Their warmth was minor, but it was felt, radiating out across her exposed skin. Megan looked over to Andrea, huddling in the cage with Zainab. Andrea sort of shrugged her shoulders, telling Megan she wasn’t sure how to answer that question either. She looked behind her, seeing Bob hovering behind her. She looked forward and was entranced by the blue eyes staring back down at her. Her mouth stood slightly agape, panting in a way she was sure was giving away her true desires. These two tall strangers could do whatever they wanted to her, there was nothing she could do, nothing she could even cover. She was a helpless naked slave at their mercy, even if her NESIC were not on she was sure she’d be feeling deliciously awash in desire.
“Let me try to hazard a guess then, and you tell us if we’re wrong. No words, just nod or shake your head for yes or for no. This is not your first time tied up,” Frank said as he leaned forward, capturing Megan’s doe eyed gaze. He waited for a moment before Megan nodded her head. “Than since you have been tied before, it was by one of those two wasn’t it. The short one?” he asked. After getting no response, he tried again by saying “no, no she looks like she’s from here, and your pale almost-starting-to-sunburn skin looks like it is very much not from here. it’s the other one isn’t it? The one in the bikini?” This time Megan replied with a very small head nod.
“Would you call yourself, her slave?” Bob asked from behind. Megan turned to look behind her before looking back towards her front and nodding her head fractions of an inch at a time.
“Do we frighten you Megan, the slave?” Frank asked calmly and almost compassionately. Megan looked up into his almost hypnotising eyes, unable to reply and biting the side of her lip. “I see you have whip marks along your back, where you being whipped?” he asked, getting a very slight nodding response. “Are you afraid we will hurt you like that, or are you more afraid..” he said before leaning in to whisper into her ear “that perhaps.. we will leave without hurting you like that.”
A chill ran down Megan’s spine. Her hands shook in their bindings and she stretched out her legs, which in the position she was in meant pressing her ass against Bob who had given her almost no gap between each other.
“That is what I thought,” Frank said in a satisfied tone. He placed his palm onto Megan’s check, the leather glove he wore was soft and supple. The touch was unexpected, but nonetheless welcome. She nuzzled the hand, leaning into it before looking back up at the hand’s owner. He leaned in, closing the distance between their faces until it was almost the only thing she could see. He could feel his breath on her face, but he seemed content to stay where he was, studying her reaction.
Behind her, Megan felt Bob pressing himself against her. His gloved hand worked its way around to the front of her torso, pulling hiself tighter against her. She could feel a bulge still concealed in his pants as his hips pressed up against her own. Megan felt his other hand take ahold of her hair and yanked it backwards, forcing her to look up at the ceiling and the chains holding her while he talked into her ear “As my.. friend said, we do not take women the way we will take their things. But I believe that you may want this, don’t you Megan the Slave?”
“Unless of course.. you are not that kind of slave. Perhaps you do not really like men. Of course if that were true I don’t believe your chest would be heaving up and down quite so rapidly. I think your body gives away too much for you to be attempt denial,” Frank said as his hands began to travel down Megan’s side, simply teasing without touching anything too sensitive. Megan felt her hair stand on end as this man’s leather covered hands began approaching her hips. His hands slowly worked around, beginning to cup her ass and pulling himself in closer. Megan could feel a bulge now from him as well pressing against her. Her own arousal began to build, suddenly feeling quite confined between the two men, each one grabbing some part of her to hold themselves closer to her.
“So what do you think, Megan the Slave?” Bob asked, repositioning his grip on her hair to tug her around to look at him. He moved his other hand up from her torso, grabbing instead onto her left breast, kneading it around in his hand. He twisted and teased her clear nipple ring, getting the extra response that usually got from her. Megan let out another low moan as she closed her eyes. She could start to smell their musk as every breath she drew became more and more enveloped in their presence. She found herself slowly leaning forward, finding a leg placed squarely between her legs. She put pressure against the front of her crotch, allowing her pussy to rub gently against Frank’s leg.
“Look at that wet streak,” Frank said as he backed up enough to give Megan a view. There was indeed a rather visible line, wet and reflective especially in contrast to his very unreflective normal clothing. Bob let go of her hair and she turned her head away in embarrassment. Frank backed up slightly and began to remove his pants. He slipped out of his pants and set them flat along the floor with the stain facing up, because of their thickness without needing to remove his boots first. He then removed his turtleneck top revealing nothing else underneath. He now stood wearing only his boots and a pair of grey boxer-briefs, with a very large and semi hard cock clearly shown in the outline. He was in amazing shape, his leg muscles were actually well defined, each individual ab was plainly visible, and each arm thick arm rested calmly at his sides.
“You do not get to be in our line of work for very long if you do not stay in shape,” He explained as he walked back over to her. “You see, if someone does not want you taking their things, you must be able to run and climb away faster than they can run and climb after you, or you do not get to try again,” he continued in a dulcet deep voice, advancing until he once again cupped her ass. Megan felt the man behind her move away, stripping himself down just as his partner had don. She looked back to see and he was just returning to her wearing nothing but their boots and a red tunic. If anything, he was more muscular than his partner. He returned to his place, pressing his bare chest against Megan’s naked back. As he returned to cupping her breasts Megan shook almost uncontrollably.
“I believe, Megan the Slave, that you may be quite the nasty little girl. At least you are wishing to play one now, and you are simply tempting us to use you like you want to be used but are too afraid to say. You want to be treated like a fuckpet.. a slut.. a whore.. but you want us to be the one to make you that way.” Frank explained as he pulled himself closer to Megan at the hip. She could feel his cock getting hard behind his underwear, the thin fabric did next to nothing to conceal it. He grabbed firmly to the base of her ass and pulled her forward, lifting her feet off the ground and supporting her weight by his hands alone. Megan looked back at the man behind her, his green eyes filled with lust and desire and his strong hands assisting in the surprise lift off the ground. “I believe we can.. accommodate.” Frank said as he continued to grind her hips against his crotch, twisting the garment around and freeing his cock. Megan looked down to see the size, it was massive, and already leaving a small trail of pre-cum as he rubbed his cock against her lower belly.
Megan nervously looked back and forth between the two men. She gave she smallest possible nod before turning her face up to the ceiling and preparing herself for them to use her as their strung up little whore.

Frank slid his hands down lower, grabbing Megan by the thigh and forcing her legs to bend up to either side of him. He allowed his partner to hold up more of her weight, giving him a hand free to move what little clothing still covered his cock. Megan did not look down, but as she felt him slowly slide into her wet sex it was apparent that he was quite massive. It was thick and even as she kept sliding down it seemed to have almost no end. By the time all of him was in, Megan had nearly gone crosseyed. He repositioned his hands so that one arm held her across her ass and another one held her chest to his. Holding her body tightly against his own, he began to rock his hips slightly, pulling out slowly but then returning much more quickly.
After the fourth or fifth thrust, Megan wrapped her dangling lower legs together behind Frank’s back. She used the leverage, what little it gave her anyway, to return his thrusts with her own. She was moaning a low, dulcet moan, allowing the sensations to wash over her. She felt almost dizzy with arousal as she moved what little she could to take this man’s large cock deep inside, feeling there was nothing she could do to prevent it anyways, which only helped fuel the flames that made it so hot.
Then the thrusting stopped. Frank moved his hands down to her ass, holding her firmly impaled but also completely still. Megan looked behind her and saw Bob returning to close behind her. She shivered as she felt his wet finger sliding down to her asshole. Her mouth was open and panting as he began to slide his finger up , bringing some kind of wet lube material with him. She could feel how much more tighter it was, still stuck on Frank’s cock. But as he began to slide his finger around, slurping it in and out and twisting around, Megan felt dirty and that was exactly the kind of mood she was in. She looked back at Frank who smirked with a coy smile.
Even though she knew it was coming, Megan jumped a little as she felt the head of bob’s cock return to where his finger had just been. He began to slide the well lubed cock in. Frank helped reposition Megan as best he could, moving her around like he was moving a chair around. As Megan was lowered back down, she felt both cocks slide deep into her, making her feel almost but not quite like she was being split in half. It was bordering on painful, but in the best possible way. Like nipple clamps, the pain served to help entice the mood. Megan locked her feet together to help cement her place by Frank’s side.
But what truly hit her was when she tried to pull her hands down to rub her clit. She realized, and in a more visceral way than before, just how trapped she was. The two men were at slightly different paces, meaning sometimes they would alternate in their thrust, one thrusts down while the other thrusts up. But it just as much meant that on occasion the two would be thrusting in and out of her in near unison. She closed her eyes and brushed her head to the side, moaning and grunting as she felt herself consumed by the two large cocks filling her holes.
“Slave,” Frank said as he used one of his hands to move Megan’s face to view his own. Megan’s left leg was dropped, but with her feet locked into each other she stayed suspended easily. “If you are one of those slaves who first needs permission to enjoy what is happening to you.. right now think of us as your masters, and your masters give you such permission. Do not hold back on our account. We are making you our slut slave, our fuckpuppet, the least you can do is enjoy it even if you’d still rather pretend to be otherwise.”
Megan’s toes curled at the blunt command. She grunted and moaned, almost mournfully as the two men began to get out of sync again. “I’m sorry slave, do you prefer it when we both.. work.. to-.. gether?” Bob taunted from behind, waiting for Frank to get on board before the two of them then used each word as a cue to thrust deeply and fully both at the same time. By the end of the sentence, Megan’s eyes rolled back in her head, grunting and shouting as the force was what she needed to finally breach over into her first orgasm of the night.
Her legs unlocked from behind Bob and fell down limp to her sides. She felt like a rag doll, hanging by her hands with no moveable muscle left working after being so thoroughly ridden already. Bob grabbed her by the hips and pulled her body up. He let her then fall back down, shoving both cocks back deep inside her. Frank grabbed Megan by the waist and began to help. The two men began lifting her up and down, using her like a toy, like a thing you toss around and stick a cock in until you cum. The men didn’t seem to want to wait for Megan to properly cool down before they were at full speed again.
Megan’s eyes glazed over, she was just a thing to these thieves. Two warm holes for their cocks to enjoy. There was not a thing she felt she could do, every muscle in her body was surrendering and going limp. Every thought in her head was about the sex, about the pleasure, about the arousal. As she crashed into a second orgasm it did not even seem to slow the men this time. They continued to shift her up and down on their unmoving cocks as she screamed like a possessed and farrill animal. It wasn’t even particularly human grunts, which seemed to match with her less than human thoughts. Nothing else mattered, the world had stopped, everything that ever was or will be was right here. Chained to this ceiling, being thrown up and down with ease and used as a sex toy for these strong muscular men with their hypnotizing eyes and big cocks. Megan was lost, but Megan was loving it.

After yet another grunt filled climax for Megan, the two men seemed to finally need to take a rest. Megan wasn’t sure how many total climaxes she had, wasn’t sure how long it had been, but once the two let go of her she went limp, hanging from her wrists as her numb legs simply dangled devoid of energy or stamina to do differently. Bob walked over to one of their bags, his still hard cock dangling as he walked. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a drink before throwing it over to his partner and going back into the bag to dig some more.
Megan was blissfully somewhere else, her mind blank and monotoned. All other thought, all other everything.. it all became background noise as it seemed she still continued to shiver and shake as she limply hung there.
Frank had moved over to the wall and began to turn the crack in reverse lowering the shackles back down to the ground. Only as she felt her arms descending did Megan look over and see him. She also saw his partner returning with what looked like a pair of black swimmer’s goggles in one hand and a large padded sheet in the other. He set the goggles around Megan’s forehead, simply as a placeholder as he unfurled the rather large padded quilt that looked like the kind a moving company might use. As she continued being lowered, Megan’s legs had not grown any stronger or more useful. Bob grabbed her limp legs and pulled them forward to the far edge of the padded sheet. Once her as was down on the ground, he released her legs and gently helped her down to the ground. Once she was flat on her back, the crank stopped, still holding her hands slightly elevated but with her elbows low enough to rest on her chest.
“Megan the slave, as you can probably see, your masters do not look like they are finished yet does it?” Frank taunted quietly, squatting down by Megan’s face with his still mostly hard cock dangling between his legs.
Megan bit her lower lip and sheepishly shook her head. She opened her mouth, offering it to his huge cock to be used.  Frank instead smiled and slapped her cheek lightly. “Truly the eager slut, aren’t you slave?” Megan  shivered and nodded her head.
Frank reached down to grab hold of the goggles and slide them down over Megan’s eyes. She was plunged suddenly into a world of darkness. “Welding goggles, for when we need to cut into things,” Frank said as he gently ran the back of his hand down along Megan’s cheek. “They are also very useful, when you want someone to concentrate on their other senses they can take away the one they don’t need. And Megan the slave does not need to see, she only need to be handled, she only needs to be fucked.”
Suddenly a new wave of excitement went coursing through her body. She looked around but could not even tell the difference between her eyelids being open or closed. The realization  caused a slight flare of her hands to remind her she was still very much bound and unable to do much of anything to affect her situation. She was so amazingly turned on, the buzz of recent activities working to possibly make them seem that much stronger.
She felt a touch on her thighs and began to spread her legs as the hands assisted, She felt one of them, she assumed Bob, crawling forward and sliding the tip of his cock over her wet pussy. She thrust her hips in pure animal lust, but the man seemed determined not to play by her time schedule. He grabbed her legs and folded them up against her chest. As Megan let her legs drop they landed on his broad, vaguely sweaty shoulders. She tried maneuvering her legs around, but he held them firm with his hands.
Bent over against herself, Megan finally started to feel his tremendous cock enter her. It’s angle, it’s girth, it seemed so much bigger, so much deeper than it had seemed when she was still vertical. He lay his considerable weight down onto her, making her feel like he was splitting her in two. He retreated slightly and lunged forward again with all his weight. Megan slid forward slightly from the force of it. his hands now moved down to her torso, making sure his next and equally powerful thrust did not get the same result. Megan grunted with each thrust, which began to come in more rapid succession and made her now feel more full than she had ever felt before. It still hurt some, but it was also so utterly consuming. She felt like such a hole, just being filled, nothing but a mindless fuckhole.
She felt hairy legs brushing past her shoulders, getting onto each side of her. She happily opened her mouth to be a good little slut. a large, semi-hard cock landed at the side of her face just beside her nose. She felt the balls at her chin and its wet tip all the way at her forehead just beyond the goggles that seemed to be protecting her eyes at this moment and not simply blinding her to this behemoth. She reached her tongue out and began to lick whatever cbit of shaft was near her mouth. It tasted salty and musky, with more than a little of her own juices still coating it.
But it was hard to concentrate on the cock in her face because of the cock deep in her pussy. It felt like it was trying to push past her cervix with some thrusts, and yet as the man behind her began to use a free hand to massage her clit she couldn’t help but groan low and loud. But even with all the ways it felt good, the ways it did not were adding up. After one particularly hard thrust her grunt was accompanied with a bit of a grimace on her face. She heard the man kneeling by her face whistle and the pounding stopped. Bob pulled his cock out of her calmly and quietly. “Does his cock not feel good? Is your slave cunt not enjoying this position we placed you in?” Frank asked.
Megan shook her head, As she did, his cock slid back and forth against her face. She could smell it strongly  and began to turn her head to lick. She could get used to the position, maybe the pain would eventually subside.
“Speak truth Megan the slave,” Frank said, this time sitting up and depriving Megan of a cock to preoccupy her mouth with. “It will not offend a man to tell him his cock is just too big. If you wish to have a different position, one more enjoyable to you is one that would be more enjoyable to us as well.”
“Megan, you ok?” Andrea called out from, somewhat startling Megan.
“I’m.. I..” Megan tried to answer but her words failed her. She felt the cuffs come off allowing her hands to flop down to the floor. A blanket was thrown over top of her and she felt herself being lifted up into a sit. Her goggles were taken off and Megan was surprised to see Andrea sitting beside her. “Wha.. I..” Megan stammered, still rather confused over what was happening.
“You started getting non-responsive, and they weren't sure if you actually wanted more or what. So that’s as good a place as any to end. Here.. fluids,” Andrea said before holding out a bottle of water.
Megan blinked rapidly and shook her head. “So wait this was..”
“This was the kind of thing I tried to talk to you about earlier, the kind of thing you said you didn’t want to know the details of and that you trusted me?” Andrea explained before once again shaking a bottle of water in front of Megan.
Megan took the bottle and drank nearly half of it in one go. “Then they aren’t..”
“No they’re not thieves, that was a kind of last minute addition. Zainab was going to go show us this one room deep in the basement, and these two were going to meet us down there. but then Zainab changed things around after Omar offered her the boat,” Andrea explained looking back at Zainab who was still in her shackles chained to the bedding.
“Yes, and I would appreciate it if one of you could cut these zipties keeping the cuffs on,” Zainab said, talking to the two men who were getting dressed back into their pants. The one who went by Frank reached into his bag to grab some scissors to cut them loose.
“Oh.. that makes sense too I guess,” Megan said as things started to click together.
“That’s also..” Zainab said, rubbing her wrists and standing up to stretch. “That’s another reason why we moved Sophia’s contract to you. When she picked out a black card, the two that remained were for these two here. So she doesn’t know it but she ultimately decided who was going to be coming down here, thus fulfilling another day.”
Megan smiled and began to tear up. She felt cold so she grabbed the blanket tighter, feeling a sudden overwhelming chill and shake.
“Hey.. do you need a hug?” Andrea asked rhetorically as she scooted around and hugged Megan from behind.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m..” Megan tried to say.
“No.. tears are fine.. it’s fine, crashing a little happens.” Andrea said reassuringly.
Bob came forward with a small chocolate bar, holding it out in case Megan wanted it. “Would you rather they just take off?” Andrea asked.
Megan looked into Bob’s piercing green eyes. He was still shirtless, though he now wore pants that covered his (from the look of it) still hard cock. “Did you already.. like pay?” Megan asked indelicately.
“Yeah, we paid for up to two hours, and they get a 50% tip if they make sure they never made you uncomfortable. Figured that would give them extra incentive to try to read your limits and never go too far if they weren't sure,” Andrea explained. “Did they?”
“I think I was wrong earlier, I think now I would rather have known,” Megan said looking back at Andrea. “And now that I do.. well..” She continued looking back with a bit of a wicked naughty grin at a shirtless Bob. “I think I’d rather be alone with them for a while. After all, they know they won’t get that tip if they go too far.”
Bob now grinned as well, tossing the candy bar back towards his bag. He took Andrea’s place behind Megan as Andrea and Zainab silently took their cue to exit up the stairs.

12 comments:

  1. Excellent chapter. Answered a lot of questions about how that whole arragment is going to work with Sophia and them three.

    But wonder if Sophia is going try to reach out to Lea since she now have a phone again.

    Enjoy your holidays

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  2. This was a nice part, thank you! And just in time for Christmas, too!

    Although somewhat low on salacious bits, it did have some good, and much needed exposition for Sophia, making the past part make more sense. I wish the contract resolution would have ended being more sexual in nature, prompting Sophia to explore her sexuality more, on her own terms. But I believe you can give her many motivations to do so, anyway.

    Megan's needs still feel very messy, even with this part. Is she done figuring herself out? It would seem very incomplete if it was the case.

    The big reveal of Zainab's boyfriend felt very anticlimatic, after being the cliffhanger of the last part. Even if the coming of age story was nice, it was not game-changing, since we already suspected such a thing to have occured. He could have been a she, or a newt, and would still have worked..well, maybe not with a newt. Is it just the tip of the iceberg, I wonder?

    Finally, the way Zainab's family (and the whole society) sees these things (BDSM, slavery, etc) is weird and not very clear. Are there such relationships within the family? Does the country have laws regulating such things, or does it work on the basis of "as long as no harm is done"? Or am I wanting to read too far into the future? Mind you, it doesn't detract from the story, but these things keep nibbling my feet.

    I feel like I'm doing an Early Access Steam game review, drawing conclusions without the full picture, so if you think I'm just being nit picky, please DO say so!

    And finally: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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    1. Some of that lack of focus will be revealed later, some of it's more my own skill as an armature writer has limits. So I'll try work to address some of these because like a Steam Early Access game, I find feedback can sometimes help improve the product that gets rolled out eventually.

      Megan is admittedly.. hard to pin down sometimes. Her very unconventional arrangement with Andrea I'm sure makes it even more murky. But the core as I see her, she's someone who loves feeling like they're not in control. She's still got a head on her shoulders enough to know how dangerous that can be if you give up that control to the wrong person. And she gets agitation about causing a scene, not meeting expectations, standing up for herself, whatever you might call it. It means that when she's starting to worry this is the wrong place to surrender/I don't enjoy this/whatever, she has a hard time expressing that. My head, perverse that it is, thought that's the job Andrea could serve. Someone who wasn't afraid of making a scene, and actually would stop things if they started getting to far. Because Megan knows herself enough to know she's bad at saying no while also in that frame of mind. Don't know if that clarified or further confused but that's how I see it.

      Zainab’s boyfriend will have more to say in future parts. I mostly wanted to establish that foundation. I was also concerned about being too specific about details, partly so that it can be done later but also partly because I didn’t want to type details of a relationship between a 12 and 13 year old.

      As far as the family/society paragraph, I’m not totally sure I know what you mean. If it’s about Sophia, then Zainab’s parents know (some of) the details going on there. If it’s meant more generally? That’s probably on me. I’ve tried to stick to this contract system I’ve set up, and try to be realistic, but many times I can’t be both and I’m not always consistent on which side I favor. In my head it’s generally whichever of the two helps the story more, not very consistent but no less consistent than probably 90+% of TV.

      In my head, a result of this contract system is that in less developed countries it would be more common to find people “locked in” to an agreement they can’t opt out of. That can include a lot of what could be considered slaves by another name, much like Sophia in a lot of ways. I’m really trying to not make this seem like it’s making a social statement so I might not be as explicit about this. Then again, if people try to take social statements from a small-time freely published amateur bondage story they are probably taking it more seriously than they should!

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    2. Well, the Megan part was just me wondering how her relationship with Andrea works. It seems that what she really wants is someone with Zainab's dominance and Andrea's affection, but, you know, with man parts. So her deal with Andrea must feel unsatisfying. Her personality doesn't help you portraying her wants and needs any better, now that I think about it, so my confusion can come from that.

      Her transformation into a sex prop at the end of this part shows her meekness perfectly and how dangerous it can be at the wrong time and the wrong place (here's hoping ;), so she might just need to be in the middle of a few more adventures to make sense.

      Teen content in this type of story is a touchy subject, but I think you handled it well. Zainab's talked about it like you would expect someone to do so at a table in a bar with trusted friends: objectively and somewhat dry, without the intention to get everyone hot and/or bothered. I did assume the ex-boyfriend would play a part in the future, but after a cliffhanger, we were treated to an exposition/closure chapter with the same characters instead of following up on that, so that's why I thought that particular plot piece was a bit of a letdown.

      The family's attitude question was more broad. Zainab's family is quite liberal with clothing and even with some sexual practices (Sophia's deal with Zainab's parents is not for prudes), but aparently Zainab had to keep some of her activities hidden from her mother. But go up the coast a bit, and Zainab is allowed to go to a Kinky Sex Beach Party, complete with reluctant - at best - pony girls and Gangbang in a Box games. So the question was if it's Zainab's family attitude the norm, or is it the Kinky Sex Beach Party the norm. Maybe each family in the country, with strong influence in their part of the island can turn a blind eye to different things in different places? So a more open, kinky family would allow more fringe behaviours on their "turf". Sorry to be a nuisance on this, but it was just the only thing so far in Surda I felt didn't make sense.

      Finally, a request/question: I would like that in a world with working AI, it would be much more utilized in the sex industry. One would think that would be a huge market for such a thing, from virtual girfriends/boyfriends, to training dommes not unlike Hanna. Is there a reason for such a low prevalence of AI?

      tl;dr: 11/10
      Would cover myself in my own juices jacking off to Kinky Sex Beach Party again.

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    3. Oh, that makes more sense now about what you mean by strange double standard. I can see how that might seem odd, but to me it wasn't that Layla didn't want to be explicit because of the subject matter but because of the family connection. Talking about bondage in the abstract, or even mentioning Sophia cleaning a house naked, those don't directly involve explicit details of their daughter's sexual preferences.

      I have a friend who when he was 14 went into his parents room for something his parents told him on the phone was in their room. But right on the nightstand was a leather crop and a half used red candle. He knew exactly what they were for, his parents may or may not have remembered they were there, but neither said anything about it to each other. I don't think that makes them prudes, I think it just makes them normal. Or at least, my experience of normal.

      Also minor but worth saying, the Kinky Sex Beach Party is not always quite as Kinky or as Sexy, this year it was but it's really up to whoever's organizing it to set the tone and this year the tone was set to kinky and sex sex sex.

      I guess I have been drifting away from AI in my stories, but it just hasn't had quite as natural a place. It'll be back when there's a good spot for it though, not going to ignore them.

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    4. Well, if the Kinky part of the Beach Party was uncharacteristically over the top, then it fits the narrative better, but I don't remember Zainab getting surprised, so I got the wrong impression. And I certainly don't think her parents and family are prudes, they are surprisingly open and it's normal that they are quiet and awkward around each other's fetishes. I was just trying to fit their attitude with Zainab's going to the Beach Party, but I guess they don't know even the half of it.

      As for AI, you don't really have to focus on it, but a reference here and there would work wonders. I remember when they went to the fetish convention, and every once in a while, some wonderfully crafted advanced (but not too advanced) technology would be described. It really drives the point home that we are in the future, and it's one of the reasons I love this story. It has a really nice Sci-Fi vibe. Everytime the NESIC gets referenced it's the same. It's a piece of technology impossible in our days, but quite probable in the future. More of those would add the proverbial cherry on an already delightful cake.

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  4. Hello. First I would like to say very simply: That explains a lot. Second, You are an amazing writer and like all writers the creative process is just that, a process.

    I am wondering though, will everyone get together back at the cabin for some play? What will happen with the mistress program at the cabin. When you had Megan in the special maids outfit, she seemed to really enjoy that part of things as well as having no real ability to say no. I did have a thought that Sophia might end up having her contract make its way to Lea too. But as always, I let the master do her work.

    Thank you for sharing your gift. I look forward to the next part

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  5. Hello me again mr anonymous XD, i'm glad you got it in just before cmas like you said you would, i havent had the spare time to actually read it till today though, but i was certainly thrilled by it all once again, a great new addition. Andrea going after zainab was exactly what i expected from her honestly i'm surprised she let her get onto that plank in the first place, andrea pulling out a domme side was interesting new character development? Since even when she was with Lea she was always submissive. I'm sure people are excited for lea to get back with the group i am too but, i'm also hesitant / worried, they were so close and it all fell apart because much like megan andrea couldn't communicate what she needed, and i could be wrong but i think that Lea still has feelings for her, Andrea though i'm not so sure about.

    as always keep up the good work, you don't need to respond to anything but it would be nice to hear XD

    and last but not least, no rush, i just like having a date i can check in by so its not me checking in every other week x.x so when do you expect to be putting out the next one?

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    1. I'm very glad you liked it. Unfortunatly, I wish I could but I really have no idea when the next one will be ready. It's started and all that, I just really can't say with any kind of certainty when to expect it yet. I'm very bad at guessing how fast I'll write because it really seems to come in spurts.

      For what it's worth, at the sidebar there are two different ways to automatically be alerted when something new's posted. There is an RSS feed, in case you use that or you can have e-mail alerts. I don't actually see the email for what it's worth also, that's all done on blogspot's end.

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  6. Hope all is well and the new year haven't been too painfully busy for you. Patiently waiting for your next chapter

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  7. Sadly not one of my favorite chapters, but they can not all be faves or the worst but solid.
    Naturally I skipped almost everything Bob&Frank but had a hunch this might have been set up, well done.
    And I loved the clarification bits about Sophia's contract to loosen the screws. We do not know the defining points, a few things aside and it did sound a bit back like there had have been a lot of talking with the ICB to ensure the rules and limits are pinned down. Something certain other people should have done! Maybe the contractors should make written statements what they allow Sophia to do and she can carry it with herself since I kinda doubt Megan and Andrea would not allow her to communicate with people since they not want her as slave (and Zee unlikely too) while the original (not properly defined) Rules in the contract were made for someone becoming a slave.

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