A special thanks to arthwys for his images of Emi.
ReaderMan
Monday Part 3 – The Mailgirl Mat
Taking a deep breath, I walked slowly towards Sarah like an inmate to the gallows. Ben and the girls were all watching me, everyone else seemed to be distracted with their work – as if this were a normal day. It made sense. The guys didn’t yet know about the mailgirl app, or what I signed up for.
Looking back, I saw Becca with her hand over her mouth. As if she were shocked this was actually happening. Hannah tried to cheer me with a thumbs up. Sam looked unhappy. Beyond them, near the back wall, I saw Brandy watching me like a hawk. The little monster was reminding me with her powerful gaze, how many times I promised her I would be a perfect little mailgirl. Her penetrating stare distracted me, and I almost walked into a table as I returned my eyes to the front.
To my right, I passed by Ben and Liz, both watching me with sympathetic eyes, Ben more than Liz. Liz seemed to be both excited and sad as she looked up and down a few times as if she was ashamed to be excited about this.
Up ahead Sarah waited patiently as I walked up to her and looked her straight in the eyes.
“You look like you aren’t ready for this,” she laughed. “Take a few to gather yourself. Go throw some water on your face. We can start after you get back.”
Not wanting to wait any longer, I stood there and shook my head.
Sarah pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it. “Yes Ma’am, not yet. What, right now?” She sighed. “Okay, fine. I’ll have it for you in a few minutes,” she said, putting her phone back in her pocket. “Emi, I’ll be right back. Sorry for the delay, but I still have to do real work around here.” With that, she left the room carrying her laptop with her.
Still standing in front of her desk I heard Travis call my name. “Emi… ahh… do you have a moment?” I looked back.
Travis looked up from my ass. Realizing that he was caught, he blushed like a fire-hydrant.
Seeing as I had a few minutes, I welcomed the distraction and walked over to him. “What’s up?” I asked in a friendly voice.
“Ahh… this is all messed up,” he said, gesturing at some javascript.
Looking at it I saw the problem and explained it to him.
“Ohhh… yeah, thanks I didn’t see that,” he said, looking happy. He moved his face closer to the screen and squished his big red eyebrows together in thought.
He has come a long way. Before he couldn’t even touch javascript, and now at least he had some sense of it. I felt good about how far he has come with the training. Others said he would never move past simple HTML and CSS, but I proved them wrong. Travis was awkward and socially slow, but he had a curious mind and enjoyed learning. I was proud of my progress with him and the full team for that matter. We all respected each other, or at least they did. Maybe that was about to change. I cleared my throat. “Guys, can you all gather around? I have something important to share.”
I watched them as they came up to me. Asher looked sharp as usual. His dark skin contrasted nicely with his muted white polo shirt and gray shorts. He glanced at me with a curious expression as I moved my eyes to Raul. His black hair was in its trademark ponytail and went well with his sloppy Iranian t-shirt. His face looked concerned as if he was expecting bad news. Eddie and Leo were late, still distracted with something on their computers. They ran up together and stood behind Ben and Liz, who had just arrived. Liz was looking around, watching everything. She glanced at Becca and the girls who were still in their seats watching me.
Ben didn’t look happy and turned his head to glare at Brandy for a moment.
“Who here knows what a mailgirl is?” I asked, looking around apprehensively.
Leo and Raul raised their hands, followed by Ben and Liz, tentatively. Soon more hands reluctantly followed.
“Considering the news, and other things…” Asher said. “Most of us have… *cough* looked it up.”
“You guys, something very weird is about to happen.” A breath. “I’m going to be making a mailgirl app and well, I got talked into becoming a temporary part-time mailgirl to better understand the development of the project,” I said, looking around at the confused faces.
“It’s going to start any moment. And it’s for an adult cosplay initiative that the island is doing to attract more nudists,” I added, hoping that this would make some sense, wondering if anyone had already heard about this. So far everyone but Liz and Ben seemed surprised at the news.
Raul raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? You’re going to be like a real-life mailgirl?”
I nodded, hoping this was sinking in. “Well… just part-time. I just want you all to know that it’s going to be very hard for me, humiliating in fact, but I agreed to all this so you don’t have to feel bad about it. Just please, don’t think too poorly of me.” I looked into each of the devs’ eyes, pleading.
Sarah waltzed into the room. “I’m back,” she said, putting her laptop down. She grabbed a mat and plopped it onto the floor in front of Me. “We will start in a moment, Emi. You probably don’t need your running shoes. Can you take them off and stand on the mat while I explain what’s going on to everyone?”
I nodded and started taking off my shoes. My heart began to beat faster.
Raul rubbed his head. “Emi already did… she said something about having to do some mailgirl stuff?”
“That’s right Raul,” Sarah said, looking slightly annoyed. “But I need to explain the rules here, and everyone needs to know them. As they are very important. Liz go grab Becca’s team, they need to know as they will be participating as well.”
Liz ran over and let them know. They came over immediately as they had been watching closely.
I finished taking my shoes off and stood on the mat, while Becca, Hannah, and Sam joined the group. I saw Brandy move to a closer desk. Probably so she could better witness my humiliation.
“Thanks, Emi. We will start your morning mat session in a bit. First I need to explain what’s happening – so everyone doesn’t freak out,” she said with a laugh. “So just stand on the mat with your hands clasped behind your back like this,” she said, showing me with her own hands behind her back.
I mirrored her example.
“Perfect. Now stand with your feet this far apart,” she said, moving her feet just wider than shoulder-width.
I followed her instructions, thankful that I still had the shirt on, but felt growing anxiety, knowing that the shirt would be coming off when she started the official session. I had my timer app ready to go. I didn’t want the naked part to last a second longer than it had to.
“Awesome, Emi. Now just tilt your head down a little. And whatever you do, don’t look anyone in the eyes or speak until you are spoken to.”
“Okay,” I said, still following her orders like a good little mailgirl.
“Yes Ma’am,” Sarah corrected.
“Yes Ma’am,” I repeated, wincing. I should have known that one. It’s probably all about acting polite like a waiter or airline stewardess. Wait, technically I wasn’t on the clock yet so she was kind of cheating – getting me to do stuff before my session. Well, at least I wasn’t naked yet. I decided to tolerate this but wasn’t about to let her do too much more until the clock started.
I felt Hannah and Becca watching me. Suddenly, I was glad that I wasn’t supposed to make eye contact.
Sarah continued, walking in front of me. “During her mailgirl sessions, Emi here – will be known as Nine. It will be hard to forget as she has the number drawn on her body,” she said, pointing at my nines unnecessarily. They were visible through the shirt.
“The higher-ups have deemed this project to be dead-serious. What that means is that it will be a huge problem if anyone doesn’t use Nine’s name properly. So for the duration of this mailgirl orientation please refer to her as Nine. Also, apparently, a degree of embarrassment from Nine is an essential requirement. Likewise, she needs to host an ACE event in a few weeks and we need your assistance to achieve these goals. To help her get used to this… you all will be participating.”
Leo raised his hand.
“Yes, Leo.”
“Ahh… embarrassment is actually a requirement? I mean… how…”
“Yes,” Sarah answered, looking annoyed as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I know all this is bat-shit crazy, but bear with me. Brandy – that woman over there – will be writing a journal about this to excite all her kinky mailgirl cosplayers and Nine’s going to be their little fetish hero apparently.”
“You mean Emi? She’s going to become famous as a mailgirl?” Eddie balked, looking unsure if he could believe all this.
“Nine. Please call her Nine. No, it’s just for a journal and maybe some images without her name, and her wearing sunglasses and not clearly identifiable,” Sarah said, looking back over at Brandy. “Right?”
Brandy nodded. “Yes, that’s right. Anonymously famous. Or at least we hope so.”
Some of the guys folded their arms or were fidgeting. I glanced at the odd person that wasn’t looking directly at me. There was tension in the air. I took a deep breath, feeling like it was about to start soon.
“Alright, just one more quick position,” Sarah announced, looking back at me. “You’re a real trooper, Nine,” she added with a little smile. “Can you put your hands behind your head?”
I complied, wondering how long she was going to stretch out this – pre mailgirl training – orientation.
“Oh my God,” Hannah said, bringing her hands up to her mouth. “It’s beginning!”
Becca bumped her to shut up, while Sam scowled, looking around at everyone angrily.
“Now just up on your toes, that’s right… but wider. An extra foot wider and push your tits out. Good. Hold that position.”
Again, I was relieved that I was wearing the shirt, but I wondered if it was long enough. This position was making the hemline rise and it wasn’t that low to start with.
“Travis, come up here,” Sarah ordered.
I winced, realizing that he was already up here. How much more up-here did he need to be?
“So Travis, this is called the inspection position. And I need you to demonstrate an inspection. You need to check if Nine’s uniform is perfect.”
Flustered, Travis stepped forward looking embarrassed and awkward. Looking everywhere but at me.
“Look at her uniform Travis, inspect it. What do you see?”
He looked at my shoulders. “Ahh… umm…”
“Not her shirt Travis, her mailgirl uniform. Get down on one knee.”
Again he looked around at everyone awkwardly. My stomach was doing summersaults as I blushed, wondering how exposed I was.
“Now Travis. We don’t have all day.”
He got down on his knee and looked at my legs. Looking up he noticed what must have been my exposed lower bits. He blushed and quickly looked away. I did the same.
Everyone watched silently as the awkward scene continued to unfold.
“Travis! Focus… what do you see?”
“Ahh… sorry. Umm… Emi… oh… ahh…”
“Her name is NINE Travis. How many times do I have to say it? Do NOT call her by that name, she is NINE NINE NINE. Got it?”
“Ah… okay, yes… sorry Sarah,” Travis said, looking everywhere but at my pussy.
Sam scowled. “Emi Emi Emi, is still OFF the clock there, commandant.”
Sarah turned and frowned at Sam.
I grimaced, feeling bad for Travis. He seemed more embarrassed than I was – if that was possible. And I didn’t like the growing tension between Sam and Sarah. “Look you guys, let’s cool down a bit. This is hard enough as it is.” I knew I shouldn’t be breaking character, as I’m supposed to be a mailgirl in this orientation, but Sam was right. I wasn’t on the clock.
Sarah turned back to Tavis. “Walk around her and look everywhere. Pretend she’s not wearing the shirt. Don’t be shy Travis, mailgirls are supposed to be looked at.”
Tentatively Travis got up and slowly circled me, nervously.
“Mailgirls cheer up an office with their natural beauty. But they are running around a lot and so sometimes we need to send them to the shower.”
“I think… ahh… she’s good.”
“How can you tell? You’re too far away. Get right up close to her, is she sweaty? Did she shave properly? You have to inspect everything Travis.”
Asher stepped forward and patted Travis on the back, causing the poor fellow to jump. “It’s okay buddy, hang in there.”
Hang in there? What about me? But then I saw Asher also give me a sympathetic look, pressing his lips together in a forced little smile. For some reason that meant the world to me, especially at this moment.
He pulled Travis back into the group. “Sarah, what happens if she doesn’t pass inspection?” Asher said, clearly trying to rescue the poor guy.
“Ahh… sorry Emi,” Travis said before slinking back with the others.
“Travis, I’m not going to warn you again,” Sarah said ominously. But then she turned to face Asher. “If she’s not cleanly shaven, or sweaty, or has a single hair on her pussy or between her ass cheeks, then we order her to get cleaned up.”
I felt bad for Travis. But cleaned up? What exactly was that going to entail, I wondered.
Asher scratched his head. “Order? Cleaned up? How do you mean? We usually don’t tell… um… Nine, what to do.”
“She’s a mailgirl! You are all supposed to tell her what to do,” she sighed, exasperatedly. “What I mean, Asher… is that if you find a single hair on her. And you will look; we will all be looking; then she will have to shave right here in front of everyone.”
“Yeah, right!” Raul laughed. “As if… haha…” But then he shrunk back as he noticed the serious mood in the room. Sarah and Becca were both scowling at him. Eddie shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it and Leo’s eyes were popping. Travis was trying to hide behind the group.
“Buncha freaks…” Sam mumbled.
Sarah continued, “However, if she’s just sweaty from running around a lot then she has to have a shower.”
Shower? What shower? It was mortifying having her talk about me like this in front of the guys. I was beginning to shake, not just from holding this position so long, but I was embarrassed as well. How could she talk about these things so casually?
“A shower?” Asher asked. “But there is no shower in the building.”
“There is a shower outside. Let me demonstrate. Come along Nine,” Sarah said, walking through the group.
My gut just dropped through the floor and I stopped breathing. I can’t go outside in broad daylight. Especially not as a normal procedure. That would be insane! Mailgirls are supposed to be inside. The very thought of showering outside naked terrified me.
Sam noticed my trepidation. “That’s not fair,” she said, “You didn’t even start the clock yet.”
“Good point, Sam.” Sarah turned to me. “Nine – would you rather start the session now and walk outside fully naked? Or would you prefer to wear that shirt?”
Thank God I had an option. “The shirt Ma’am,” I said, feeling relieved about the exposure outside. But what was going to happen when we reached the shower? This was just a demo, right?
“That’s what I thought. Nine, grab the leash on the wall. Let’s do this properly.”
Not wanting to drag this out, I ran over to get it and picked up the collar as well. I hurried back and handed her the collar.
Everyone watched as she put it on me, clicking the latch into place. I couldn’t tell if she was enjoying this.
“We don’t need the lock for this short little trip,” Sarah said as she took the leash from my hands. Brandy nodded when Sarah looked her way.
Sarah continued, “Also note that this is a special BDSM safety leash, with an easy-break clip.” She demo-ed it by snapping the leash and I gasped as it came right off me with a sharp tug. It was jarring, but it didn’t hurt.
She hooked it up again and led me outside, everyone following along behind. We were headed to the shower on the beach. I couldn’t help but imagine what this would be like if I didn’t have the shirt on. Would I even be able to step outside the doorway? I didn’t sign up for this!
It was surreal, walking along the beach, barefoot, with a leash pulling me along and a posse of devs on my ass. At least I was wearing the shirt. Remembering my sunglasses, I pulled them down over my eyes. Suddenly I could look where I pleased. Sarah didn’t seem happy about my shielded eyes, but didn’t say anything. Glancing back, I saw Brandy trying to catch up to our group. Sam was grimacing in the sun.
“Eyes front, Nine,” Sarah said, with a confusingly friendly voice as we started to gather around the outdoor shower — the shower Ben and I used a couple of times — only now it was broad daylight.
As if she were conducting a tour, Sarah continued to address the crowd. “Alright. Usually mailgirls shower alone, but Nine here can’t be alone outside naked. Despite how fun this is, we are all about safety. So whoever notices a uniform violation, that person must bring her out here via the leash. Nine will be naked of course.”
Leo looked stunned. “Oh my God, she has to be leashed outside naked?”
My eyes went big under my sunglasses. Was this really going to happen? I was feeling scared again.
“No,” Sam said. “The leash holder gets to decide if she is naked or not. And if she’s not naked then the leash is also optional during the daylight.”
I felt a wave of relief wash over me as I witnessed Sam standing up for me. Looking over I saw Becca was disappointingly silent. Did she think I deserved this? Made my bed? It was hard to read her. Or maybe she was hiding that this was all fascinating for her. It was an uncomfortable thought, but I couldn’t blame her.
Sarah smiled. “True enough, Sam. But she must take both off for the shower. And then she must drip dry on the way back, without the shirt. The shirt must not get wet. The leash holder will carry the shirt back and since Nine will then be naked, the leash will be mandatory.”
Sam kicked the sand. “It can’t get wet? What if it’s raining?”
Sarah pretended that she hadn’t heard.
Again my heart sank. So the walk back was always going to be naked. Maybe I could run, better drying that way. But the leash… would my walker run with me? I needed to make sure Ben was my walker, if possible. Or maybe he can just take me to the shower first before someone else tries to. I could just ask him to do that. Or have a secret hand signal.
“We could all just not inspect her or not fail her,” Sam challenged.
Sarah shook her head. “That would be a terrible thing to do to Nine. You would let strangers bring her out here? Think about it. If you guys can’t keep her uniform perfect, then others in the office most certainly will.”
Sam folded her arms. “So anyone can just send her anytime they feel like it? What if they say she needs a shower when she doesn’t?”
Brandy held her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. “Thanks Sam, good question. If anyone abuses the mailgirl rules they get fired, instantly.”
Arrg… was there no way out of this? It looked like it was going to be me and Ben. We could do this and better control the timing and reduce exposure to pedestrians. I could give him a hand signal, he could look outside to make sure it was clear. And then we could go outside with the shirt on and then run back quickly before anyone saw me.
Sam scowled, folding her arms. She shook her head looking at Becca as if blaming her for all this. Becca didn’t seem to like this either, but it was hard to tell. Hannah, however, was wide-eyed and seemed both excited and worried. She couldn’t hide an emotion if her life depended on it.
“Alright Nine, in you go. Demo a shower. I want to make sure you do it properly,” Sarah said.
I froze. The words hit me like a sledgehammer. What was she talking about? Demo a shower? Who does that? That was stupid beyond belief and completely unnecessary. There was no way that was going to happen. We didn’t even start the mailgirl session yet!
Sam stepped forward shoving her face towards Sarah. “I’m pretty sure she knows how to shower. She’s been doing it all her life.”
Ignoring Sam, Sarah continued. “It’s important that this is done properly,” she said to the gathered group. “First there is no time for hair drying, with her short sessions, so she must keep her hair as dry as possible. Nine, can you take off your shirt and hand it to me?”
Hesitating, I looked over and saw Brandy watching from the side. She looked at me with a nod of encouragement that I was not feeling.
Sarah smiled. “Look Nine, everyone here has seen you naked. Let’s just do a quick demo and then we head back.”
I felt the hemline of my shirt. Was I really going to shower in front of my co-workers? They’d already seen me naked, but showering involved touching one’s privates. That was definitely something I didn’t want to do while everyone watched. I glanced around and saw some guy hop off his bike and look our way. He was likely curious why we were all gathered around the shower. Just what I needed, a bigger audience. “Ahh… there is someone there,” I said. My heart rate was increasing.
“Nine, everyone on the island has already seen you.”
Sam moved to stand where his view would be blocked. Ben joined her.
“Look, Nine, it will just take a minute. Mailgirl showers are quick. Or I can start the session right now, and we can stay out here for the full ten minutes – your choice. Either way, you will be naked. But first I need to take off your leash,” she said stepping forward and unclipping it.
“Turn around.”
I turned around, presenting the back of my collar to her. Then, I felt her unclip and remove it. Despite the reason, it felt good to have the collar off again. Still with my back to everyone, and trying to keep my hands from shaking, I pulled my shirt up – not knowing who might be staring at my ass – and quickly had it over my head. Turning slightly, I handed it to her. My only piece of clothing.
Naked outside in broad daylight. In the distance I could see people on the boardwalk and was thankful they weren’t closer and the guy on the bike was still there, but his view was blocked somewhat. I didn’t need an audience of strangers during my shower. It was bad enough with this group of people I knew, which couldn’t be helped.
I turned on the water and stepped in, wanting to get the shower over with as fast as possible. It was the first time I had ever showered with sunglasses on. That in itself was a strange experience, adding to the weirdness, but I was glad to have them. I tried to keep my hair dry and let the cool water pour over my body. It wasn’t freezing, thankfully, and felt good thanks to the morning heat.
“You guys,” Ben said. “Let’s all form a circle and turn around… give her some privacy.”
“No,” Sarah said, as the guys formed a circle. “Stay facing her. This is your training as much as it is hers. How are you to ensure she showers properly if you don’t watch?”
“Proper? She doesn’t even have soap.” Sam stated.
Do they all have to all watch? Wasn’t it embarrassing enough? Keeping my hair dry, I rubbed my belly and under my arms. I hurried, wanting to finish quickly.
“Just clean yourself thoroughly… and uhh… don’t forget the other areas,” Sarah insisted, keeping a good eye on me.
This was beyond embarrassing. But I tried to just get it over with, pretending I was alone. We all shower right? This can’t be different from what everyone does. I turned my back to them and continued washing myself.
“No,” Sarah admonished. “It’s an inspection as much as a shower.” A pause. “I mean…”
There was no need for her to explain. I understood. Turning back to the group, my face felt flushed. Closing my eyes, I desperately wanted to put my whole head under the water, to hide the embarrassment that was surely visible on my face.
Still hidden by my sunglasses, I forced my eyes open and looked at a few of the faces, noticing that I had been mistaken. This was different. It felt incredibly naughty, and everyone seemed transfixed on my body. Somehow that jolted me. I tried to ignore that spike in arousal as I ran my hands over my wet skin.
All the poses this put me through. I worried about how it must look as I cleaned between my butt cheeks with both hands. Because this forced my shoulders back, pushing out my chest, I quickly switched to using only one hand.
Having avoided two important areas, I could no longer delay and put one hand between my legs and cleaning there while rubbing my breast with the other, I noted all the eyes watching me. Oh God, I was getting carried away. But it’s all just cleaning, right? Perfectly normal. Yes, perfectly normal I thought as I continued to rub, wipe, and caress myself in front of everyone. I knew I was just lying to myself, as my arousal kept building.
Hannah stepped forward. “Ahh… touching that area so much while showering outside where everyone can see her… might make it umm… it could be counterproductive.”
Shocked at being called out, I froze, hands still in place. Hannah’s comments were not helping as I was blushing up a storm.
Some were watching my face, others down lower. For some reason, it was the ones looking at my face that embarrassed me the most.
I was shocked to find a more slippery form of moisture between my legs and moved my hands to my stomach instead.
“Alight Nine, that’s enough. This isn’t a sex show for Christ’s sake. Turn off the water and come over here.”
Flustered, I obeyed and Sarah walked slowly around my wet body as if inspecting it.
“Next you have to put the collar back on and walk her back. However, we don’t want the collar to get wet so you should have a tiny cloth that you can dry her neck with. May I dry your neck Nine?”
Brandy stepped forward with a notepad. “Hold up Sarah. I just want to make a few comments.”
I balked. Comments while I was outside and naked. She wanted to delay this.
“Obviously we are new to this and Sarah is doing a fantastic job here and I appreciate Sam’s feedback. After observing, I think I’ll make a couple of practical suggestions about how the showering will work.”
Sam and Sarah looked surprised and my gut clenched. Brandy was going to make this worse – much much worse.
“First we don’t tell the mailgirls how to shower, but Sarah is right. Keep the hair dry. Also by the back door will be a little shower set. A razor, a big towel and soap. Nine will wear the towel outside, leaving her shirt inside. And if a shaving infraction has occurred, Nine can decide where she wants to correct that. It can be outside here with just one person, or back in the office in front of everyone.”
Blinking in surprise and relief I realized that Brandy had given me a couple of huge concessions. I no longer had to travel to, or from, the shower naked. Plus I now had the option to shave in front of just one person, Ben most likely, but outside?
Brandy smiled, bowing my way.
Unable to speak, I bowed a thank you back.
I looked to Sarah, hoping to get this over with. I was naked and wasn’t sure if anyone up on the boardwalk could see me.
“Okay, chin up… yes, like that,” she said, as she dabbed around my neck, walking around to my front she continued dabbing until she was behind me again.
I was staring ahead as she did this, watching a pair of seagulls fighting over a piece of food near the crashing waves. Another seagull was flying overhead in the cloud-dotted sky, as if protesting the food fight. Such a simple life. If only I had wings, I’d fly away from all this craziness.
I felt the collar slip on, and click shut. Then she walked around to my front again and clipped on the leash, looking deep into my sunglassed eyes. “Are you looking me in the eyes now?”
I tilted my head downwards but defiantly kept looked her in the eyes, trembling slightly from embarrassment but trying to not let her intimidate me.
“Why not give her a towel so that she can dry off and then wear the shirt on her walk back?” Sam said, looking annoyed.
“That will be the procedure moving forward. Unfortunately no towel here, so we will stick with the original plan for today. Besides, this whole thing is about embarrassment. What part of that do you guys not get? Brandy needs to write her journal,” Sarah shook her head in amusement.
“She’s not on the clock, Sarah,” Ben said, holding out his hand. “I’ll walk her back.”
Sarah looked at him with surprise and then glanced back. Brandy nodded. “As you wish, Ben,” she said, handing him the leash and stepping back.
“Alright guys, tight circle around her. Move it. You know the drill… think Halloween,” Ben said, taking charge.
“Oh right! Great idea,” Raul exclaimed excitedly, as they all formed a circle around me. Liz and Hannah also joined in.
“About time someone showed some balls,” Sam said, walking with Becca from the sidelines.
Ben, holding my leash, looked at my sunglasses. “Hang in there, Emi,” he said quietly as we started walking, bringing the group back towards the building.
“Nine was lucky this morning,” Sarah laughed. “Next time, only one person will be with her when she is showering. No ring of people around her.”
I thought about that. Yes, that would be bad if there were people on the beach, watching me shower. However, not having all the devs watching me as I touch myself, would definitely be better. As I walked in the sand, the guys were too close. They were almost stepping on my feet, sometimes bumping into me, but I didn’t say anything. Being naked outside, I was enormously grateful that my team was hiding me from the public.
Once inside, Ben took off the collar and leash and put them back in their home by the whiteboard.
Taking off my sunglasses, I walked over to the mat and stood on it. My hands behind my back in standard mailgirl position. I was still wet from the shower so I couldn’t put on the shirt yet and I couldn’t stop thinking about how embarrassing the outside shower had been, with everyone watching me, but at least I was inside again. Since Brandy had granted me the huge towel concession, I decided to play along for a few more minutes, if possible.
Brandy walked over to me and turned to face everyone. “Before we start, Sarah will demo for us how to start a walkie session. For a moment, pretend Sarah is a mailgirl, but off the clock, doing her normal dev help thing. I’ll sit here like a developer with a problem.”
Sarah walked over to a desk. “This is how you do it properly,” she said, waving her head in a mocking manner at Brandy. Pretending to help her with some problem.”
I definitely didn’t look like that when helping someone. Was she trying to be funny?
“Walkies!” Brandy said, feigning excitement.
“Yes Ma’am,” Sarah said, turning and rushing as fast as she could to the collar and leash. She then returned to Brandy, dropping to one knee with her head down and her arms held up blindly above her head holding the leash and collar for Brandy to take from her hands.
“Not bad,” Brandy said. “That was 8 seconds. If it had been over 10 seconds then Nine would lose the right to wear her shirt while on walkies.”
Another shocking development. I shouldn’t have felt surprised, but I was.
Brandy continued. “Also, I have decided to make this walkies thing happen whenever the walker wants. But it must not overlap with any other session, and it must come after the ten minutes of morning prep. Nine, could you try it once? Sam, could you sit here?”
“Fuck no,” Sam blurted.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Brandy said. “Can you help me with a problem, Nine?”
I walked over to her while Sam tossed me my shirt. Noticing that I was finally dry, I slipped it on, giving Sam a smile. After making sure the hemline was decent, I leaned over, pretending to help Brandy.
“Walkies…” she said.
“Yes, Ma’am.” I rushed to get the leash and collar and hurried back.
“Ten seconds Nine, that’s cutting it a little close. Shirt,” she said, holding out her hand.
“But she is within the 10 seconds,” Hannah blurted. It was what everyone was thinking.
“That just means she ‘optionally’ can wear the shirt if the walker so chooses. Remember, the walker can simply decide to remove the shirt at any time. Shirt,” she said again, gesturing for me to give it to her.
I slipped it off, handing it to her. Less than a minute after putting it on, I was naked once again for a group of co-workers. At least we were inside now.
“Alright, we are almost done with the mailgirl orientation. I just want everyone to have one try at an inspection and then we are finished. Nine, present.”
Not feeling like playing along I didn’t move. The orientation, as far as I was concerned, was over.
“Nine?” Brandy asked.
“I’m starting the session now,” I said, reaching over to my watch and pressing start on my timer, preset to ten minutes.
Brandy chuckled. “As you wish.”
“We have time for a few inspections,” Sarah said. “You all will have a walkies session and will likely have to bring Nine to the shower at least once, so everyone should become comfortable with asking her to present, inspecting her, and leashing her up.”
“Oh my God, this is so intense!” Hannah blurted, as she ran up to be first. “Don’t worry Nine, you look so hot,” she said, winking. “Present!”
Despite my tough morning, Hannah had a knack for making me smile. For the first time I assumed the mailgirl presentation position, fully naked, up on my toes with my hands behind my head. It was extremely embarrassing to be exposing myself so lewdly in front of everyone.
“You have to stick out your tits and spread your legs more,” Hannah explained with a friendly smile. She demonstrated the proper pose, assuming the position herself. I blushed seeing her push out her tits.
I didn’t even want to imagine what I looked like without clothes. Keeping my eyes forward, I copied her perfect form.
Hannah looked pleased. “Great job, Nine!” She went through the motions of examining my body and somehow made it funny.
Brandy strutted up to the front, standing before me. “I know you all have reservations about assisting here, but keep in mind that we are making history. This mailgirl app will be the first of its kind and so will the journal. We are at the beginning of a major movement here.”
Hannah bent over comically, dangling her head upside down. “Nice shaving job, Nine!” she said, nearly touching me with her nose.
Feeling tense, I almost laughed. Almost. I could feel her breath between my legs.
“Each of you can take your place in history. Where were you when mailgirl Nine started working on the mailgirl app? Did you ever take her for a walkie? Did you ever inspect her? Did you help her overcome her fear of public nudity? When this island booms with new business, Nine will be legendary and you will each be either filled with pride or regret. Which will it be? Did you help her succeed? Did you bravely nudge her forward or did you cowardly hold her back? What was YOUR role in all this?”
My heart sank. Suddenly, I wished I would have talked to the guys much earlier. After her speech, it was going to be hard to convince them to go easy on me.
Sam clapped slowly, walking forward. “What an inspiring speech… let’s give it up for the little one,” she said, continuing to clap. Nobody else clapped. Sarah folded her arms and frowned.
Liz took her turn with the inspection while I stayed up on my toes, chest out, hands behind my head, legs spread wide. She walked around behind me and then back into the front and looked up into my eyes. I briefly looked into her eyes and saw that Liz was enjoying this entirely too much. Quietly she continued, making a show of checking my feet, my legs, and proceeded gradually up.
“Raul?” Sam asked. “How long did it take for Nine to finally start trusting you and the rest of the team?”
He stepped forward. “Ahh… a long time I guess.”
“And how precious do you feel that trust is right now?”
“Ahh… very precious. I’d do anything for our leader.”
I noticed Sarah winced a little when he said that.
“How hard do you think it would be to lose that trust? Say you were ‘helping’ her get used to nudity and humiliating her out in public. Do you think she would ever forgive you?”
“Ahh… but what about what Brandy said, about helping the project? About helping her succeed?”
“Not what I asked. Do you think she would ever forgive you?”
Raul looked at me. I held a poker face. “No… I suppose not,” he said.
“That’s right. We are either WITH her or AGAINST her. Make no mistake, this project will be plenty embarrassing enough for the journals. If any of you foolishly squander your precious friendship with her, you will only have yourself to blame.”
Raul nodded. A few of the others nodded as well.
I couldn’t believe it. Sam was my hero. She was coming through for me. I never loved her more. Why was she doing this for me?
Brandy was smiling. “Oh, that’s so cute, Sam. I had no idea that you had special feelings for Nine,” she said with a wink. “That was the most romantic thing I have ever seen!”
“She’s my friend, that’s all!” Sam explained. “But I’d do her.”
Hannah popped her head up. “Oh my God, Sam!”
“Shut up, Hannah! She’s just using psychological warfare,” she blurted, glaring at Brandy.
Becca was laughing.
Liz whispered in my ear. “I noticed a tiny bit of stubble. You didn’t shave this morning, did you?”
My heart sank, pulling me away from Sam and Hannah’s fun antics. Was Liz going to betray me?
Sarah frowned. “Say it out loud, Liz,” she ordered.
Liz hesitated. “Ahh… I was just telling her how much I admire her… ahh… perfect uniform,” she said. After waiting for Sarah to look away, she winked.
Sarah grunted. “We don’t have much time left. Time to practice collaring and leashing the mailgirl. I’ll start with the most reluctant,” she announced. “Alright Travis, collar up the mailgirl,” she said, tossing him the collar. He almost dropped it.
Travis was hesitant to touch my neck. But with shaking hands he managed to get the collar on and clicked it shut. But in doing so he pushed awkwardly on it and caused me to almost step forward. “Oh sorry, Emi…” he said.
“I’ve warned you twice already, Travis! Everyone listen up. You don’t seem to be getting it. Nine is on duty now and Brandy here is ‘all-in’ with well over 2 million dollars invested and a potential cruise ship port on the line. This is a huge deal for the island and everyone on it. If anyone doesn’t take this seriously, you’re fired. It’s that simple.”
“Oh… I’m sorry,” Travis said. His hands were shaking as he unclipped my collar and let it slip from his hands, twanging a nipple on the way down.
“Ahh!” I gasped in pain from the nipple tweak. The collar had landed on the floor. It wasn’t that bad, but my nipple wasn’t happy.
“Sorry Emi!” Travis said automatically, without thinking. He bent down to pick up the collar.
Sarah looked shocked, looking around at everyone. “What did I just say? Travis, go to your desk and finish up what you were in the middle of. Then start transferring your remaining tasks over to others. At the end of the day, you can hand your laptop into IT.”
Suddenly the room went quiet. I was stunned and trying to blink away what had just happened. Travis’s reaction was perfectly natural. It made me sick to my gut. I looked Sarah in the eyes, angrily. Brandy was watching us closely, as was everyone.
“That’s one demerit, Nine,” she said, as Travis, with his shoulders slumped, dragged his feet to his desk. “Eyes down, Nine!”
Raul went over to Travis and put his arm around his buddy’s back, looking back angrily at Sarah.
Asher swore to himself. “Sarah, was that really necessary? Aren’t you getting a little carried away there? It was an accident.”
“Look Asher, Travis was already on thin ice with the whole APC power fiasco. Plus I did warn him multiple times. I literally said if he did it one more time, he would be fired. Then what did he immediately do?”
“So what, now you’re going to punish Nine as well? What’s this demerit thing?” Asher asked.
“Nine here gets extra time added to her session or some other punishment,” Sarah explained.
I was barely able to contain my anger. I was furious. And I had to hide it. While Sarah and Asher were engaged, I reached over and tapped my watch. Then scribbled ‘y-card’ and sent it to Brandy. Then I defiantly stopped presenting, and assumed the normal mailgirl position with my hands behind my back.
Brandy got the message and came over to me. “About Travis?” she whispered in my ear.
I nodded.
“Look. It’s unlikely I can do anything about that…” she paused upon seeing my face. “Ahh… but you just have a couple of minutes left. We can talk in my office after this,” she said quietly before stepping away.
Noticing my position change, Sarah balked. “Another demerit for you Nine!” she barked.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am,’ I said in a proper, polite mailgirl tone. “But the demerits cannot be applied without a working system to contain them, so they will not be effective in this case, as the whole system is as of yet still undefined.”
Sarah looked at me with growing irritation. “I can just write them on the board.”
“I’m sorry Ma’am, but that is not compliant with mailgirl regulations. Plus in my case overtime will not apply or will simply overlap within my 90 minutes. So one, two or a hundred demerits will not make a difference in any case.”
“I’ll take it from here Sarah,” Brandy said, stepping up to the front. “Yes, it’s true. It’s a little early to be using demerits when we haven’t even defined them yet. So let me fix that. Five demerits mean ten more minutes added to the next walkies. Ten demerits mean something special, which I will explain in detail later. However, Monday is a training day, so no demerits will count today.
I was glad to hear that, but Sarah looked sharply at Brandy, annoyed.
“That said, as we want to make this work there needs to be incentive to get things right. So the whiteboard demerits will be allowed, starting tomorrow.
Sarah seemed pleased about that, but now I was annoyed.
“Thanks for participating everyone,” Brandy said. “You can all go back to your desks now.”
Sarah hesitated.
Brandy nodded to her and Sarah also went back to her desk leaving Brandy alone with me. She got down on one knee, gesturing for me to come down and join her.
Reluctantly I got down on my knees, unable to look her in the face. I was angry, embarrassed, tired of this whole thing.
“Rough morning,” she admitted, looking almost apologetic. “You’re doing great. We are almost done. We have just a minute left to squeeze in the last position. Okay?”
Irritated and uncomfortable with how close she was, but glad it was now just the two of us, I nodded.
“Alright now just move your knees further apart on the mat.”
I did.
“Chest out more… that’s it. And knees wider. At least 8 more inches.”
I looked at her in alarm, before looking back down again. Now I was really glad everyone had returned to their desks. I moved my legs wider apart, feeling entirely too exposed.
Brandy waved with her fingers, indicating I should keep going.
Unable to look up, I complied. This pose was unbelievable. I couldn’t imagine doing this on a daily basis. Why had Sarah made so many mats? Had they been distributed throughout the building?
Brandy smiled. “That’s it. You look fantastic. That’s the whole point of this. To share your feminine beauty,” she said the last two words as she looked between my legs.
I was still upset about Travis, but this was very distracting. I was blushing as this mailgirl kneeling position was way too intense.
My watch beeped, signaling the end of the mailgirl session. I knelt there fuming at Sarah, but then I remembered the shirt. I stood up and walked over and grabbed it, roughly pulling it over my head. I walked past her again, looking her in the eyes. Showing her my anger and disappointment as I went over to Travis.
Sarah stood there briefly, then she walked back to her desk and began packing up her laptop.
“Don’t worry, Travis. I’ll fix this… okay?” I said gently, putting my hand on his shoulder.
He nodded, looking forlorn. I was upset and hurt and felt responsible. If we were not doing this mailgirl crap none of this would be happening.
Looking over at Raul, I saw him turn his face away and wipe his eyes with his forearm. He was even more upset than I was. Travis was his buddy.
I got up and glanced at Brandy.
She started to leave the room and nodded for me to follow her. I did so, but I noticed that Sam was following me as we walked past Sarah’s desk.
Sam stuck her face out at Sarah as she walked by. “Way to go genius. You’re supposed to be helping Brandy’s stupid mailgirl journal. Anger and disgust should go over really well. What a total fuckup!”
Looking back I saw Sarah looking stunned from Sam’s comment.
Sam followed me into the hallway.
Brandy went up the stairs and around the corner. I was alone with Sam. Did she have something to say? I stopped, turning to face her. “Hey Sam,” I said, feeling gratitude for all her support.
Sam looked down. “Emi, are you okay?” she asked.
It was nice to hear my proper name. “Am I okay?” I asked, stepping forward and engulfing her in a great hug.
“Lemme go!”
“You were my hero today,” I said, squeezing harder.
“That’s right. I’m the only one left. Those mailgirl bitches were no help at all,” she said, still struggling to get away from me.
“I love you Sam,” I said, kissing her on the forehead, causing her to freeze. She looked flustered, stunned, and then she… trembled in my arms? That was strange. I stepped back looking her in the eyes, with my hands on her shoulders. She was red-faced and looking away. “Sam?”
Suddenly she scowled, pushing my arms off, looking me straight in the eyes. “Do that again, and you will be on your own!” she said, turning and stomping away.
I couldn’t help but smile at her reaction, cute but puzzling. Had I been too forward? Or might this be something else? The sound of a door opening nearby pulled me from my thoughts.
Up ahead I saw Raul taking Travis out the side door, his arm on his buddy’s back as Travis shuffled along lifelessly. My smile vanished and I turned and charged up the stairs in pursuit of Brandy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t want to comment publicly, feel free to emailreaderman@gmail.com if you find an issue, or just want to give me some good ideas, or even just to lavish me with praise! All comments will get a reply.
Thank you again arthwys for the fantastic mailgirl positions. If you didn’t notice, here they are again. standing kneeling presenting
ReaderMan
I have to say, I never used to look forward to Monday. And now, thanks to Emi, it’s my favorite day.
And just because I feel like razzing you, whatever happened to the idea of short chapters? (8000+ words, lol!) Not that I’m complaining. Now, where were we. Oh, right! It seems to be starting for Emi — she’s walking toward Sarah. (Blair flips back to the top to start reading.)
First of all, it’s not EVERY Monday. And second of all, I’m trying… I’m really trying to bring down the size of my chapters. lol…
Wonderful, and well worth the wait. And the images by arthwys are amazing, a perfect addition to the story.
Thanks shmeckle. It was a tough chapter to write and I’m relieved that you feel so. Yes, arthwys has given us something huge. When I look into Emi’s image, despite her amazing body, I see her face and a see her thinking… about all this stuff and how lucky she is to have so much support though all this. Maybe most will see a pretty mailgirl. I see an amazing software developer.
I half expected Emi to say you fire any of my crew and this mailgirl bullshit ends today! But I guess you are going to address in a more long and detailed way.
You never know orflash64… so what did you think of the chapter? What was your favourite 3 things? Did anything surprise or bother you?
I like how the rules were explained out, and how assumptions were made on both sides and kept in check, Sarah was out to push as far as she could get away with but people still had Emi’s back. I didn’t like how the crew was penalized for not immediately humiliating and start treating Emi like some slave. The guy being fired because he didn’t start treating Emi like a thing was just wrong and should be a deal breaker for Emi and Becca. It was the first day, come on! No crew member should be penalized for not knowing the protocol on the first day or ever. At least not by firing. It should trigger a nuclear option from Becca. She didn’t agree this and shouldn’t lose one employee over this project.
Sarah should have motivated him by doing something to Emi to get him to fall in line. I think Sarah was looking a an excuse to let some one have it and didn’t like him anyway.
It’s a learning process, for everyone involved – even Brandy. I wonder if Sarah is annoyed that Emi has so much loyalty from the team.
No kidding. That was way out of line. Hopefully Sarah can learn something from all this. That said, it’s Sarah’s team and Becca has nothing to do with the male devs. Nothing at all.
Becca didn’t like it but she knew that she had zero power over it. Becca and Sarah can fire whoever they want to on their respective teams. Becca almost fired Emi a while back. It’s within Sarah’s right to do this, technically. She was emphasizing how serious this was – repeatedly. She needed to make an example of someone to show how important it is. In her mind, she had no choice.
Sarah didn’t think of it. Like what?
Yes, it’s possible she was looking for an excuse as well. Or maybe it was just shocking to her that Emi, when stripped down reduced to a naked mailgirl, still had the team fully behind her. This is both, a real problem for Sarah, and also very annoying.
Sarah could have made Emi recite the Mailgirl speech over and over again- “This Mailgirl is referred to as Nine, as per company protocol” which is part of the Seahawk story.
Later, after things have calmed down they can get into the corporal punishment of spanking. Even more embarrassing to Emi walking around naked with a red bottom.
Good point oraflash64. That is exactly what should have happened. You are right. Too bad they all screwed up.
You really think there should be corporal punishment? I wonder how many readers feel the same way.
Corporal punishment should be. It’s not really the pain itself, but the humiliation.
I’m all for it
Interesting… so many for it and so many against it… hmm…
Wow, arthwys! Those images are glorious!(now I want a mailgirl)
Glad you like the pictures!
LOL, at least I have got Digital Emi. Although she can be quite stubborn and headstrong. Sometimes it is very hard to persuade her to do what I tell her…
The opening paragraphs… how you describe Emi’s thoughts, as she walks towards Sarah. It’s so well done. I feel the tension and the worry as Emi looks at everyone in the room, all their different reactions to the scene. Congratulations on this excellent scene setting. I’m right there with Emi.
Emi, Sarah, the dev guys standing there and the readers all know what will eventually have to follow once the shoes are off… Such a strong line, full of implications.
Wow. This line speaks volumes. And she’s not even on the clock yet, and then she even gets corrected to saying ‘Yes Ma’am.’
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Sarah both seems to enjoy putting Emi through this and at the same time annoyed that this is messing up her professional work environment, yet you write it such that the dichotomy is understandable. Well done.
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In some ways, this mailgirl trainings seems more difficult for others than it is for Emi. Yet Emi is the one who has to stand and pose (and shower) naked in front of everyone.
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The outdoor shower…wow, so she has to do that regularly. It’s enough that she has to shower in front of everyone, but also outside, where others can also watch… I gather from Emi’s thoughts that’s not supposed to be part of being a mailgirl.
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All these rules. It sure is complicated being a mailgirl, even pretend. But then some of these rules are subject to change, it seems, especially the outside and shirt rules.
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The whole ordeal of this orientation is intense, but thankfully Emi has some friendly faces nearby, to dull the edge.
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Not sure why Becca stayed quiet so much, but it gave Sam the opportunity to really come through for Emi in this chapter. I love Sam’s attitude this chapter. Emi’s own champion. Ben will need to watch out not to be replaced.
I also liked Hannah’s fun loving attitude, even though it did not seem to have a net positive effect in supporting Emi.
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Travis…wow that’s harsh. I think I agree with orflash64… Emi might have blown up there, saying ‘that’s it, we’re ending this bs right now.’Between Sarah and Emi, it did seem like it might all melt down. What if Brandy hadn’t come to cool things down a little?
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The mailgirl positions. I had no idea what they would be like and had all sorts of nightmare visions of humiliating postures. They’re embarrassing, and a little(or a lot) humiliating, but it’s not as awful as I had imagined. Okay, the kneeling is bad, but the scene is very well written.
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Also, my compliments to arthwys for his amazing art work!
That’s also what I was thinking, that Emi is here close to her breaking point. But I think she is too controlled for that; she knows what is at stake and can hold back. During the contract negotiations it was agreed that if Emi backs out or doesn’t do exactly as the contract specifies, then her name and her images will be published. And Emi together with Su-Ning would be liable for a million dollars of damages. This would mean both her personal and professional reputation will be ruined together with having to pay a lot of money.
But still, if someone is pushed too far…
Brandy is not Sarah’s boss, so she probably can’t do much. They would have to go to Ruth. But Ruth is also responsible for overseeing Emi’s community service. So this might even escalate further to Emi’s disadvantage.
However, for this whole mailgirl cosplay project Emi is not the only one responsible for the success. I think Sam was right, when she accused Sarah for failing to support Brandy’s mailgirl journal. I mean, which mailgirl cosplayer wants to read a journal about fired employees and angry and disgusted mailgirls. Sarah also has to make sure that exciting/embarrassing/humiliating things happen, so Brandy can write about it to entertain the cosplayer crowd.
So I really hope that if Ruth is involved, she doesn’t side with Sarah.
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Cave, I am very glad you like the images!
Yes, agreed. It’s a serious situation.
And yet, Emi told Travis to not worry. That she was going to fix this. Perhaps she was promising too much?
Glad that you noticed. It was a good moment for Sam. Not so much for Sarah.
Also… Thanks for the images! They totally made the chapter perfect!
Thanks Cave. I did try to get it off to a good start. There was a lot of buildup towards Monday so I wanted to start it right.
I’m so glad that you felt that way. I was hoping that drawing it out a little might be nice.
Yes, it’s a huge pain for Sarah, but at least she can enjoy it sometimes. Thanks for noticing.
It is. Their hero and mentor is being humiliated in front of them. How could it not be difficult. Plus it’s also very sexy and that’s difficult for the everyone in another way, especially the guys. Not to mention Sarah shocked everyone with how things are going to be different for the next while. And that everyone has to participate with inspections and leashing and walkies and showers. Oh my… it’s a lot to take in when one just comes to the office for a normal day of work.
Yes, showing is normal for mailgirls. And of often there are rooms with windows that let office workers watch if they want. However, this building has no showers so Emi has to shower outside on the beach. That is something new and Emi already has some ideas how to minimize the exposure. At least she get’s to wear a towel out to the shower and back, thanks to Sam and Brandy.
I think she’s a ‘real’ mailgirl 90 minutes a day. And I don’t think the outside shirt rules will change anymore. What will change is who holds the leash, or not. Who asks for the shirt, or not.
I also loved Sam’s knightly rise in this chapter. Indeed! Haha… Yes, Ben hasn’t been very vocal although he did secretly call her by her real name when he wasn’t allowed to. But that’s hardly a big thing.
Yes. Brandy knows she’s playing a dangerous game. She doesn’t want things to go bad. She even seems reasonable sometimes, and almost human. She enjoys all of this mailgirl stuff a lot and conveniently lets Sarah play the bad guy. She prefers to do the fun pushing and the ‘rescuing’.
Yes the kneeling moment and the shower scene got some extra love as they were important to the chapter. I really like how it all turned out.
Almost human? Is that a bit of Emi I see shining through? 😉
Probably. Haha…
But Ben asked the guys to form a circle around Emi to protect her from being seen by others when she had to shower. Also later on the way back from the shower, he asked for the leash from Sarah and told the guys to form a circle around her to shield her. So Ben wasn’t too bad.
Enjoyed this installment like all the others. Emi is realizing more are more too late that the rules needed to have been clarified before the contract was signed.
Fired for reflexively calling a friend by their real name instead of an alternate you were told about minutes earlier. Sam’s right, it is blowing everything up. Cooler heads will need to fix that. Probably twisting some new concession out of Emi.
Yes, they seem to shift the rules a lot on her. Hopefully things are settling down now, right?
Emi really wants something and is headed to Brandy’s office now. Somehow that sounds like a fair prediction.
I was ashamed at myself for not predicting the mailgirl twist because mailgirls were mentioned so often at the beginning, Emi had a fascination with nudity, and Emi loves to run. Reader spelled it right out and I missed it.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. I did drop lots of clues, but I also wanted it to be a surprise to you first time readers. So that’s kind of special for the current readers. If someone reads the TRA book one day, everything at once. It might already be known from the start. I’m not sure which is actually better. But thank you for reading!
ReaderMan!
First off … awesome chapter! This is as good as it (ee-en-ef) gets.
For some reason, I particularly like the character of our star and how she fits in to all this, e.g. the contrast between Emi’s obedience:
And her desire to not be there:
And what makes it particularly delectable is the woman that you place at ground zero in your masterful tale is, like Seahawk’s Danica, an exceedingly accomplished woman. She is able to communicate effectively with computers AND with people. The stereotypical computer programmer enjoys computers because they feel more comfortable talking to a machine than a person – like a number of your characters here seem to. (By the way, I compliment you on how you describe those character’s appearance and behavior.) Travis for eample:
But back to my Danica vs. Emi comparison, Danica was in a more 24/7 situation, as I recall. I think all her ID (and access to money) was taken from her. She had to always be in character. Even in her apartment with the woman she lived with (my memory’s pretty fuzzy here) she had to be subservient. Emi’s situation flips that on it’s head.
For example, that scene at the beginning of this chapter. Sarah gets a call and steps away, and Travis calls to Emi. Seamlessly, Emi steps back into her leadership role:
In that manner, Emi is going to be going back and forth. The same people she manages and trains will take their turns inspecting her body and leading her on a leash to an outdoor shower when she doesn’t pass inspection. This is going to clearly be difficult for Emi, but also for those on the other side of the role switcheroo. Travis, for example. He gets ensnared in what seems quite a bit like a trap. He’s a programmer for Chrissake!
By the way, I agree with orflash64 and Cave (and possibly someone else) … maybe Emi should have blown up right there, “If he’s out, then I’m out.” She does have a lot of power, we know.
But maybe that wouldn’t have been in character for her. I’m not one to try and predict story direction, but I imagine that Emi will fix (or attempt to fix) this situation. After all, this is Emi we’re talking about. She’s largely where she is because she cares about other people (Su-Ning and her resort, for example).
So, that’s how I see things. Thinking back, I probably expected Emi’s Monday to start here … at work. Instead, our author added quite a bit (parts 1 and 2) leading up to this point. Right now, I’m wondering what comes first, Tuesday or September. But seriously, at this rate, Monday will have 12 parts.
But, before I close, I’m delighted to see that I’m no longer the only Sam fan. She really stepped up here!
In some ways, I wish Emi had a bit of her spunk. But that’s not really needed. With Sam, we’ve got all the spunk we need. But boy does this final scene on the stairs have me wondering:
There are a number of possible explanations. Might Sam be secretly in love with Emi? Does Ben need to be worried. That’s what I’m thinking. I hope so. I doubt it, but still, I hope that’s it. I guess I really like the idea of a love triangle, especially when the POV character is deciding between dating a guy or a girl. Suddenly, I find myself thinking Melanie, Josy, Brian. In that case. Brian seems to be losing out. And Ben starts with a ‘B’ like ‘Brian.’ Coincidence?
Thanks RM!
Blair (which also happens to start with a ‘B’ … coincidence?)
Since this is a serialized story, there’s a time gap between chapters for the reader. Although you don’t want to be too repetitive, it’s a good idea to remind readers of certain key facts. The first several paragraphs of this chapter are focused on her embarrassment with everyone looking at her, but as I was reading this I did not recall whether she was wearing the little shirt or fully nude and we were pretty far into the scene before you mentioned it. So I’d recommend inserting that fact earlier.
This struck me as perhaps a little overstated given how much public nudity she has already experienced.
Maybe that could just be her nickname.
I am liking Sam a lot more in this chapter. She is an asshole and therefore she is annoying most of the time. But sometimes having an asshole in the group comes in handy.
Hmm I’m surprised Emi would have neglected that task under the circumstances. Even in normal nudity situations (in which one is not being formally inspected) once you have decided to go completely bare down there you are committing to daily maintenance. Waxing lasts a while, but shaving does not. Might be better if it said she “missed a spot.”
See, one of the many reasons I would not be a mailgirl is that at this precise moment in time I would not be able to stop myself from stomping menacingly towards Sarah shouting, “and how many demerits will I get if I beat the shit out of you with this leash?”
But that would have made for a much shorter story.
If I remember correctly (Monday – Part 1), when Brandy called Emi to meet her in Cloud Nine, Emi was still sleeping. She only had a couple of minutes to get read. So I guess she just forgot in the hurry.
Agreed arthwys… that’s correct but I think Emi might have also missed a spot. One place that she didn’t shave as close as she should have. A tricky spot. Plus maybe they aren’t pushing the rules super hard on Monday. It’s more of a training day. She sure as hell better shave cleanly on Tuesday morning. I’m sure she will. It’s hard to imagine she would forget. lol…
So it took me quite a while to find time to post a comment about this chapter. And it will be very long.
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I really liked this chapter. It basically was the result of everything carefully prepared in the previous chapters. It could have been just a string of embarrassing situations for Emi, but it was much more than that. It involved a lot of drama, interactions between realistic characters and also some new aspects of these characters (like Sam). Or quite some negative character traits showing up (Sarah).
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What I like very much is the way Emi’s feelings and thoughts are described. It is her first day as a mailgirl and it is really very embarrassing and humiliating. I really think the first-person point-of-view works very well.
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What I also like is that she has friends. In many other mailgirl stories, if a woman becomes a mailgirl, she is treated very badly by her former colleagues; as if she only has enemies amongst them. I think this approach is more realistic. Also the different kind of reactions of the people.
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Brandy is again playing mind games with Emi. Emi has to expect a walkie any time of the day, so she can never feel relaxed during her “normal” job. Any time her walker decides to have one and says “walkie” Emi has to immediately change into the submissive mailgirl mode and run over to collect the collar and leash and present it – kneeling – to her walker. If she is too slow, she loses her right to wear her t-shirt.
–
When Sam first appeared in the story, I just thought of her as a not very important supporting cast, constantly complaining about nudity. But in this chapter, I really liked her. The way she stood up against Brandy and Sarah was great. She wasn’t just against them, but she came across very smart in her replies. For example, when she countered the speech by Brandy, she was very convincing. Also, her angry rebuke to Sarah at the end of the chapter was great. So yes, I am starting to like her, although I already began liking her a bit more in the previous chapters with her snappy remarks.
–
What I liked very much was this conversation:
What is going on here? Does Emi have two secret admirers – Sam and Brandy (with Brandy kissing Emi in a previous chapter)?
–
My favorite scene in this chapter was the showering. How Emi wanted to reduce her embarrassment and Sarah continuously pushed her to increase it. According to Sarah, this whole mailgirl business is about embarrassment, right?
–
And I liked the antics of Hannah and Liz and how they really inspected every inch of Emi – very close-up.
–
And it all ended with a cliffhanger. Will Emi save Travis? If she manages, she will be the hero of the dev team, but what will it cost her?
Thanks Molly, this is the best kind of advice that I could hope for. I can’t believe I missed that. I’ll fix that right away.
I’ll take a look a that. I think technically, Emi hasn’t had a LOT of outside nudity in public – especially in broad daylight on a public beach in front of a hotel. But yes, she did have quite the morning with the bike and other things. But point taken, I need to gradually acclimatize her to public nudity as she get’s more and more experience with it. I’ll keep an eye on that and maybe tone that part done you mentioned.
I didn’t realize that there were Sam haters. She is pretty gruff and insensitive. But that’s just a lack of people skills mainly, she’s a loner, for the most part. I guess she’s an acquired taste.
Not a bad idea. If she had a 5 o’clock shadow then maybe everyone would notice it.
Love your spirit Molly. hahaha…
This writing business is tricky. So many potential human things to explore. So many types of conflicts and people and situations. It’s fun, although sometimes I run out of steam for a few weeks. Monday so far has been three chapters and it’s not even lunch yet. It was good to go slow with this particular chapter, but I should probably pick up the pace.
I like all comments. Even a single word comment. But these long comments are the best. 🙂
What do you think of Sarah so far? Too soft, too mean? Just right? Or do you think she was just having trouble to adapt to this? It probably didn’t help that Sam was heckling her. I don’t think of her as a black and white character, but I’m curious what others think of her.
I’m doing my best with realism and adapting this situation with her current teams. I’m glad that you think it’s going well so far. I also like the different reactions from various people.
This one is very annoying for Emi but she’s willing to play along for now. See how it goes. Likely Brandy is just trying to make a ripe environment interesting journal stories.
I can’t take all the credit. Sometimes she has a mind or her own, literally.
Don’t forget Evan. They have been best friends since forever. Plus Hannah can be forward at times. And what about Ben? I guess he doesn’t count as ‘secret’ but he sure admires and enjoys Emi, in more ways than one. Actually many in the male dev team seem to be huge fans as well.
I also can’t take full credit for the shower scene. I think magic just happened when that water started to falling and words just started to appear in front of me.
I’m glad that you enjoyed these two. They see this whole thing as a super fun adventure.
A great question.
I agree, there aren’t any black and white characters in your story. Sarah, I think, made the mistake to threaten Travis in the first place. She probably thought as a manager she can’t issue any empty threats, so she felt she had to act. But I think she overreacted; there must have been other possibilities. But maybe she is inexperienced as a manager and she had trouble to adapt to her new task. Mailgirl trainer isn’t exactly a standard job.
Sarah is not exactly mean, but quite tough. It is very interesting to compare Sarah’s and Brandy’s approach towards Emi. Sarah uses a more forceful approach, whereas Brandy uses a very refined method. With Brandy it always looks like Emi voluntarily agreed to her demands (although Emi probably wonders afterwards how she was talked into it). I quite like both sides.
And what bothers Sarah a lot is that her developers look up to Emi and “would do anything for our leader”. I think that’s one reason she is tough on Emi.
I think orflash64 had a good idea. That Emi should have responded by insisting she be called nine as per protocol. Someone needs to teach that to Emi.
Thanks for the Sarah feedback.
“I am sorry Sir/Ma’am, but I am to be referred to as Nine.” So basically make it Emi’s responsibility to be called by her mailgirl number. That’s a good idea.
Question for Arthwys, those images of Emi you created, can they be rendered to moving animation? Like Emi running pulling the cart naked, Emi being ordered on to a mat kneeling, Emi running delivering mail?
Theoretically that’s possible, but not with my computer hardware. Movies usually have a frame rate of 24 frames per second. A very short scene of say 10 seconds requires 240 frames or 240 rendered pictures. One image takes about 45 minutes to render on my computer. I am afraid for the foreseeable future there will only be single images.
Since recently, every time Evan called or will be calling Emi, I worry that he has somehow gotten wind of the events on the island and saw the mailgirl Nine pictures, and asks/confronts Emi about them. I can’t imagine how difficult that would be for Emi.
Oh right. Evan is overdue for another Emi call. 🙂
Arthwys, can you do some early Emi? Her jogging in her outfit in Seattle, changing in front of the mirror her boss was peeping on, Emi in Hawaii, Emi in the swim suit jogging, Emi naked in running shoes at the shrine. Emi undressed as Nine in the meeting about the Mailgirl app proposal.
Thank you for your interest in my pictures!
I am planning to continue making pictures of Emi. Just my progress is a bit too unpredictable to make any promises when I will have the next ones finished. And what they will be about.
I also thought about the meeting where the mailgirl proposal was discussed. That’s a very fascinating scene. I really loved it. So let’s see what I can do. I just can’t tell when.
And I really love your idea about pictures of earlier chapters. There are so many exciting scenes which would deserve a picture. This would be cool to illustrate the whole story. But now I am getting carried away. That’s just not possible considered the length of the story. But I will try my very best to keep the people entertained who like the pics.
You should check my photo album if the Resort Ambassador on stripsearchfantasy.com , your illustrations plus photos I found that resemble the story. I use to do hundreds of photo albums that resemble stories on previous sites, now just there. You and Slice Reality have such a talent in these computer renditions.
I’m curious, who is above Sarah? Can this person order Sarah to strip down and do Mailgirl duties if Sarah crosses the line in a big way with Emi? For say 90 minutes. As you can see I’m still a bit upset with Sarah and she should be taken down a peg for a reality check once in a while. Walk a mile without shoes or anything else so to speak.
Brandy can borrow Sarah as an assistant. But power is with Ruth. However, there is not much you can do to a normal person with a job – in the real world.
This isn’t the real world, it’s a only one naked fantasy story world. Anything can happen.
I see this a bit different.
In ReaderMan’s story the basic assumption is that on this island it is possible to be sentenced to nude community service (in a nudist resort) and later to obtain a nudity permit and be allowed to be nude anywhere on the island. Starting from this assumption the story is developed. Emu is sentenced to community service first in a nudist resort alone, but later with her permit she has to do her community service in public.
As far as the whole mailgirl business is concerned: Mailgirls don’t exist in this world, there is just a book and based on the book many cosplayers. The development of the mailgirl app and the app testing by Emi is also just for cosplaying. Emi is no real mailgirl. She is bound by her contract to behave like one (for marketing and testing). The nudity (outside) is once again enabled by this permit. She is basically cosplaying outside.
Apart from the sentence and the permit, everything else is modelled more or less like in the real world. No one can just be ordered to be naked and be a mailgirl.
What I want to say is that only these basic assumptions differ from the real world and everything else works as in reality. For me that’s the appeal of such stories: making some assumptions at the beginning and develop the story from there. Changing something midway in the story feels – for me – somewhat random.
Does that make sense? How do other readers see this?
arthwys,
I have to say, this is an excellent summary of underlying conditions, the world in which this story takes place. I commend you for boiling it all down into such a well-formulated package. Your grasp of the ‘facts’ (haha, fiction) is entirely consistent with how I understand the story’s premise.
Thanks,
Blair
Wow, that must have been some 4th of July party you were at yesterday Readerman, it’s been a month and it’s Monday and nothing new is posted. Must be some hangover.
Hey orflash64!
I have to say, I know exactly what you are feeling. I’m here almost every day checking for an Emi continuation. The story is simply that good. We’d probably all read it straight through if we weren’t experiencing it as it’s being created — I know I would. And yet it is an honor and a privilege to consume it in this manner (with open lines of communication with the artist himself).
If there were a lot of stories of this caliber, we’d be off reading those, and we wouldn’t be especially conscious of the passage of time between ReaderMan postings. But there aren’t. The other wonderful stories available on the web — we’ve already read them.
I personally hope that RM has a life outside of this board. Maybe he was off enjoying the 4th. I have to say, I sincerely hope he was. His understanding of human character and his ability to render it believably in fiction must come from somewhere, right?
Here’s what I suggest, let’s all drink a toast to ReaderMan, Emi and his other fun and complicated characters! And then we go back to waiting. Magic like this can’t be rushed.
So here’s to you ReaderMan! A toast!!
Blair (one of your devoted fans)
Let me join you and also drink a toast to ReaderMan and Emi!!
arthwys (another devoted fan)
Now I got find a picture of a beautiful naked Japanese girl raising a glass.
Yeah, I’ve slowed down recently. I have good reasons for it, but I’m not going to go into the details. I want this hobby to be fun, not work. So I’m just inching away the progress when I can. Apologies to those who can’t wait, and thank you for sticking around. If you want to help speedup chapter posting, inspire the writers on the board with a brief comment. Believe it or not, it does make a big difference. Or go back to the story list and find some writer that didn’t post in a long time and give them a comment.
RM, are you stuck? I’m sure you pickup where you left off, but are you stuck further down the road of the story? Describe the cross roads so I can comment where it is needed. Are you still on Monday, or monday night with Emi and her boyfriend digesting the day’s events? Are you working on Tuesday and those events? Or have you skipped ahead to a few days further into the experiment?
No, just slowly plodding along. A heatwave and minor health issues and chapter re-starts have been slowing me down.
ReaderMan, I am a long time lurker and reader of enf and followed IO’s forum since just after it started, I have loved so many stories throughout the years but have never commented before now. Your story is well worth commenting on.
I personally like realism in the enf stories I read and never really fell in love with the whole mailgirl thing as I felt it was too far fetched, but I must say I am totally in love with your whole concept, you have taken the mailgirl theme and put it into a very realistic environment. Your characters are fantastic and very believable,
I am truly enjoying following Emi’s journey.I am really enjoying the internal struggle that Emi is having between the mailgirl character she is being asked to play and her real work and having to switch between the two, The mailgirl Emi is starting to get into character but the real life Emi is still awkward, shy and reluctant to explore her own feelings in case she admits she actually gets off on the exposure.
Somebody said about punishment and Emi walking around with a red bottom, and you questioned it. I think physical punishment could be added in a believable way if Emi was the one to suggest it as part of a trade off for something that she considered a worse punishment…. mental punishment can often be harder than physical punishment, especially if she gets an endorphin rush and starts to like the sting. She could reason to herself that she is just being true to the original story.
I really enjoyed the parts of the story where Emi was running naked pulling the rickshaw, she seems to enjoy the exercise and freedom when she runs, I would like to suggest adding more time with the rickshaw, she could possibly even be used to deliver a load of parcels from the building to the resort as part of her duties or even suggest it as an alternative to walking on a leash.
I am eagerly awaiting your next instalment but please don’t rush something out if you are unwell or have real world problems because as much as we are all enjoying it, it is at the end of the day a story and you should enjoy writing it as much as we enjoy reading it
stay safe and well
Richard
Thanks Richard – I’m honoured. Every writer hopes to get a comment like this and you have just made my day.
I’m glad that you like the concept and realism. It’s not easy to maintain, and admittedly the realism has been stretched recently, but I’m doing my best to keep things on the level with my characters. This has been an epic work adventure for Emi and the unique situation continues to challenge her.
I was hoping someone would enjoy the switching. It will be especially challenging for her, and the people she’s in charge of, as they have multiple daily role reversals.
You understand Emi well.
Haha… well, it’s still Monday and probably a little early for this particular topic. But your idea and enthusiasm here – have been noted.
This is good advice. Especially since Emi’s story has breadcrumbs scattered all through the story around rickshaws and running.
I appreciate these words. It’s helpful for me to not feel overly pressured and let the story percolate at it’s own pace fitting my time. Sometimes that will be slow, and other times things will roll out at a good pace. Myself, I like serials, and the feeling that another chapter is coming. And I like making little improvements along the way with the help of editors and readers.
You stay safe as well. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions. Your comment was good timing as I’m currently about to continue writing and it has helped motivate me!
ReaderMan
I’ve generally loved this story for most of it’s length but I’m not really a fan of the recent chapters turn toward the ‘mailgirl’ thing because that subgenre never made any sense to me. As someone who had a job in their teens as a city bike messenger – it just felt like an entire concept that died with the internet.
This time it’s a “cosplay thing” so that gives it a premise and I could actually see it being that and even becoming that in the ‘actual real world’… however…
While I love ‘nude’ genres, even one with embarrassment, I get really annoyed when they go into dehumanization and cruel degradation. I much more like when the stories become journeys for the main character to eventually feel empowered and happy in nudity.
I’m not sure where this one is going – but I’m a little worried.
The signs are basically obvious to all the characters involved that our heroine does not like her condition, so my sympathy for a character like Brandy is on the level of… if I was Becca, I’d be looking into where those old Mafia folks that used to run the island have ended up… and telling Brandy that “you might want to reconsider ever stepping foot off this island again, because I’m not sure if you’d live to see morning if you did.”
Brandy especially, as someone ‘in the lifestyle’ would be hyper-sensitive to knowing when they’re pushing someone to unsafe levels. And while it’s our fantasy to believe that she believes Emi is secretly turned on, and our fantasy also requires that to eventually end up being true… the true response that a person in Emi’s condition would have been more like suicidal, self-cutting, bouts of random crying, and uncontrollable breakdowns / panic attacks / etc.
Because the ‘push’, in the last few chapters, has gotten to that level.
BDSM d/S folks I’ve conversed with are always extremely quick to point out how it’s always a consensual thing with about 3-million safewords and outs and anyone who ever forgets that getting tossed to the curb hard enough to break some bones.
Breaking bones brings up another issue I had with Brandy – the motrocycle rides. One slip up and Emi would have been skinned alive. No sane motorcyclist would ever let a nude rider sit with them. And some traffic cop should have put a stop to that all really fast. Emi herself should have pointed it out, refused, and had Brandy has a ‘WTF was I thinking’ moment.
(Emi even has a mental conversation over this very point during the ride…)
But of course it’s fantasy, so we accept some things… but…
A lot of things, like the ‘threat to go to the consulate’ that Becca made, should have led to different consequences. Because in truth that would have a different outcome. Ho would have seen that counter-threatening prison would only expose her and the island to a massive diplomatic row after it led to the full events being brought out. Especially because the entire set of criminal charges were absurd to begin with – and involved a few parties in that trial actually being caught and then not punished for perjury. Emi isn’t Black so the US government would actually care, even though she is Asian so they wouldn’t care much. More however, would be the bad press – especially with nearby Asian countries that are major sources of economic importance to the island.
And all of this is stuff we usually ‘ignore’ in these erotic fantasies. But the more ‘force and brutality’ we inflict on the protagonists, the more ‘fanciful excuses’ need to be crafted to keep the whole thing frim tumbling, and eventually it gets hard for me as a reader to buy in.
Which is why I was with this story and it’s amazingly good writing and characterization up until the Mailgirl angle started ramping up. Now I’m struggling to keep my interest in the face of more and more situations where I know the result would not just be a little different, but radically different.
There are just too many things being put in there now, that break suspension, in order to let the story take this dark turn.
At this point it seems like the most logical next dark turn it should take is Ho or Brandy washing up on a beach somewhere with a slashed neck or bullet through the head. Characters have gotten that dark, so I’m almost having trouble wondering why that hasn’t happened.
I really loved this story, but once it hit the mailgirl angle, it’s been a tough struggle to stay with it.
Also… as one of these ‘HAPA’ people (took me a while to figure this term out), I’ve never heard us described by that term. Maybe that’s a new thing. We’re not that rare actually. If you’re on the west coast of North or South America (but not Central America) and parts of the Caribbean there are a LOT of us. And if you go to Hawaii, likewise. We might even be the majority demographic there.
Intermarriage between East Asians and all three of Blacks, Whites, and Indigenous folks has a long history and is now pretty common (White/Asian is about 25% of marriages these days in the biggest cities of California. Asian/Indigenous is more a thing in Latin America).
So it’s been gnawing at me here and there that we’re being described as an elusive set of people with secret handshakes. 😉
May I make some remarks about some points mentioned in the above comment.
If I remember correctly, Brandy doesn’t know anything about Emi being sentenced to community service. Only a few people know about it. This means for Brandy it looks like Emi volunteered for the Resort Ambassador job, and voluntarily signed the mailgirl app contract, etc. Also she thinks that Emi allowed Ben to put a collar and leash on her in public (well actually she did allow it). Brandy did have some doubts and asked Emi in the café about her feelings about nudity and Emi said that sometimes she doesn’t mind it so much.
So, what I want to say is that Brandy’s assessment of Emi is based on a completely false assumption. Brandy might even think that Emi is a fellow fetishist who just needs to be pushed a little for her “coming out”.
It was mentioned that some years ago a group of merchants banded together to clean the island from the mafia. I wonder how much better these business people are compared to the mafia. Maybe just more subtle. And that’s where Wang is coming from. So actually, Wang and people like her are running the island. This explains what happened during the trial. And that’s why I am also not so sure if the consulate route would work. Maybe. Or maybe not, with serious consequences. I always imagined this island to be a bit like Singapore, just not as rich. Singapore has very strict laws, and if foreigners are involved, Singapore never backed down, no matter what diplomatic pressure they were under.
Ahh yes… excellent point arthwys. Brandy is quite innocent in that regard. Thanks for sharing that reminder. Also a great point on the power and politics of the island. Plus if Emi was so overwhelmingly distraught about everything she would simply have made different choices. She had multiple chances to change course. She certainly doesn’t like all this stuff, as far as she can tell, but she’s gradually able to navigate it all and she’s trying to keep an open mind. I’m not sure yet, but maybe subconsciously she kind of likes that she’s being pushed to face her worst fears. Things that even Becca couldn’t handle.
That said tenyari’s feedback was incredibly valuable. It shows just how narrow my tightrope is. Some might argue that catering to both sides weakens the story, but I firmly disagree. It makes both sides a lot richer. I will continue on the same path, making some occasionally worry and others delighted with anticipation. Both sides will grow and enjoy… I am both a light and dark lover and want the best of both worlds in one story. Tenyari’s best comment was the danger of piling too much on… yes a lot of complex things are going on and some simplicity moving forward would help a lot. I was thinking the exact same thing.
Hi Tenyari. Nice to see a fellow writer commenting.
Yes, I’m sure the last few chapters were not for everyone.
Not knowing where it is going is half the fun. You can be worried or you can be optimistic. The choice is yours. If something feels overly dark or extreme then that is simply my poor writing skills. Also Emi’s pretty strong, she is doing what she feels is the correct thing to do and has decided to go through with all this. In hindsight it might not have seemed that wise, but Emi has her reasons and she would rather pay for her crime than dodge it, regardless of how trivial it seems to some. That’s just her good character.
Wang didn’t feel it was trivial and she holds all the cards. Emi likes to challenge herself and even though she might have bitten off more than she can chew, she get’s off on extreme challenges. Usually those extreme challenges are code related or skill related, so these challenges are off the charts but she doesn’t forsee the end of the world considering all that she has done so far.
Emi hasn’t been tied up and likely won’t be, so no safe word is necessary. Plus she has yellow cards and the amazing support of many people.
You are not the only one that didn’t like the motorcycle. One of my editors had me rewrite that to tone it down a little. You should have seen the first draft!
My biggest takeaway is that you like Emi and don’t want harm to come to her. I’m glad. In that way I must have been successful as most of my readers feel the same way.
Brandy is supposed to be interesting and at least half-way likeable, so if you are not feeling that then I am probably writing it wrong.
I’m glad that you let me know how you feel. I’m not trying to alienate the lighter readers while also trying to thread the needle, or walk the tightrope. At the end of the day no matter how the story is, if you have good realistic character growth and good human drama, the genre or how scary it seems shouldn’t be a huge factor as long as the story is good. The elements that you liked in the early chapters will come back in later chapters as well. This is a balanced story.
My apologies about the HAPA stuff. I have nothing negative about any of that. I think a person that has shared DNA from two cultures is twice as interesting and cool. My wife and I, if we would have had a child, she/he would have been mixed and it would have been wonderful.
The HAPA comments weren’t meant to be taken as bad.
We’re still a little unusual of an ethnicity outside of places near the Pacific, so I imagine many people don’t have experience with us. Out here we’re basically like Mestizos were in Mexico a few centuries back – it’s quickly turning into a common set of traits among the young people to be ‘half-Asian half something’ Basically substitute Spaniards out for people from East-Asia.
Whatever they end up calling us in the long run, a century from now people might see it as it’s own distinct race just as they do with Mestizos, if we’re all still stupid enough to be dividing up like that… 🙂
And of course, that is not a single ethnic group either – people from South East Asia are radically different from those from the Northern countries. My Cantonese roots from would put me in that vague area ‘in between’ though tell that to an actual Chinese person and they’d probably hate me for life as they see themselves as ‘Han Chinese’ and ‘better’ than the other people of Southern Asia…
Funny enough, I only just now thought to Google HAPA to see if you’d made up the term, and I guess you didn’t. It in fact is what people like me call ourselves in Hawaii. Never been there so that’s why I’d never heard it.
Wikipedia says in California the term is something also, but I’ve a near half century out here and never heard it, so I guess it’s just something “the kids these days use”. Wikipedia also notes that there’s some conflict there as some Hawaiians are not happy with people off-island using it to refer to people who are not specifically part Hawaiian… so whatever I guess (As a mixed race person I have an extremely low tolerance for the concept of cultural appropriation because my very existence ‘appropriates’ somebody’s culture and anytime I just try to be me, somebody’s there to wag a finger at me, so if I try to be what they tell me I have to be, those people will then show up and wag another finger. Cultural Appropriation is basically a term created to erase people like me, people who are ‘HAPA’).
(There’s an angle you could try sometime – one of your HAPA characters could get verbally attacked by some tourist for doing something ‘too Asian’ or ‘too White’ that for them was just ‘how momma taught me to eat rice’ or ‘how dad taught me to be polite to guests’… Since Emi is HAPA, this could hit her in some moment when she’s out in public acting as ‘9’ – suddenly someone might yell that she’s being racist depicting Asian or White women a certain way, and how dare she since she isn’t Asian “enough”… and all she’s doing is just being herself and also trying to be ‘9’.)
Truth be told the term ‘HAPA’ is kinda growing on me because it gets tiring having to use a dozen different hyphenations everytime I have to talk about what I am, even to someone like me… I hope the Hawaiians get over it with that one. I always hated the term ‘Amerasian’ that was around when I was a child because it implied that only one of the ethnicities was the ‘true American’ and that one wasn’t even in reference to Indigenous people… And that rubs a Californian the wrong way, since Chinese got here before the Anglos did back in 1849, and have been here ever since.
Anyway, I barely consider myself ‘another author’ anymore. I looked the other day, and it’s been 16 years since I posted a full story. Probably not many folks around anymore who remember me, I only put out a few, albeit super long, stories.
(If my account here ever gets approved I might make a thread on why I stopped, despite not wanting to. Maybe it will help some other write struggling to keep going. I only just found out the ASN board was gone about a week ago – so I’ve yet to figure out where the ‘random discussion’ side of things ended up landing. But that also gives away just how absurdly inactive I’ve been.)
Until I find a contact email for someone who admins the site here this might never happen. O.o
Account creation is locked in some kind of password cannot be reset loop – where it sends you links that are invalid the moment they’re generated.
I’m just guessing that whoever does click the approval button is reading these comments as I got ‘approved’ a little after that above comment.
Story comments this time.
Motorcycle: A friend almost become a triple amputee when I was in my 20s as a result of getting knocked off his motorcycle by a car that ran a light. After you fly off, you eventually land and get to skid along the ground with the pavement acting like sandpaper. The doctors originally planned to remove both hands and a leg until his family pushed to get an outside expert in. He’s still missing chunks of flesh ‘under his clothes assuming he covers up in fashion choice’ where they took muscle tissue to rebuild other areas and it’s a good thing he was never an artist because his hands were never the same. So I get hyper focused when I see people doing things on motorcycles that they shouldn’t be. It’s a trigger for me.
I suppose Brandy could be redeemed, but I think she would have earned some massive distrust from the others. What bothers me is that I felt she should be able to see from behavior that something here is very wrong. There’s an out there too actually – if not in acts then in tone.
She’s sitting right there and seeing the strange way the team is acting around this. She’s bound to realize someone hasn’t told her the whole truth about Emi’s situation, and she has the resources to do her own digging, and protecting her brand is her incentive to do it. And if I were her, I’d be extremely mad at Ho and Wang when I found out my dream candidate was not nude by choice.
I’d basically blow my top with “how dare you hide this from me, you’ve turned me into an unwitting abuser of someone I thought was just like me but only needing help getting out of her shell. It’s too late to stop, but I demand [some list of demands] to ensure this girl comes out of this OK, and neither she nor me and my brand suffer when all of this eventually comes out. And then she might still push Emi, but also get hyper-protective of her. As in “I know you’re like me, and I want you to find it out to, but I won’t let them use that or me the wrong way.”
And then she’d have to fight to regain the trust of Emi’s friends, and examine her own sense of judging other people’s situations, and yet also still keep the situation going so we’d still have our erotica, she’d still have her project, and not have to worry that her ‘superstar’ might ‘break’ someday.
Just think of the internal dilemma she would face if she figured out the truth, but was actually a good person who thought she was helping Emi become her true self. Because yeah, it’s not just a ‘swoop in and end it all’ – it’s too complex now and she does have her interests wrapped up in it thanks to a deceptive contract of her own unwitting design. And she might not even be able to tip her hand to Emi too directly, because Emi’s on that razor edge right now were she could come out stronger or shatter.
So maybe she’s even already there: playing the villain without actually being the villain.
(true or not, I think that description is how Ho sees herself. But I think Ho lacks the people skills to realize she has actually stopped playing the villain, and has actually become it.)
Brandy
I like the idea very much that Brandy realizes that something is wrong and eventually finds out the true reasons why Emi is doing all this. I think Brandy is smart enough that this is bound to happen. However, the whole situation has developed already so far that she won’t be able to put an end to it, but to make the project to succeed, she even might have to push Emi occasionally. And at the same time Brandy is doing everything she can to protect her. This really sounds like a very fascinating idea.
Ho
When Ho changed the Resort Ambassador rules to duty outside the resort, so that Emi has to be more or less naked 24/7, she fucked with Emi’s whole life. That’s much worse than just 90 minutes mailgirl cosplay each day. This made her Emi’s nemesis in my opinion. But I never really understood her motivations. That’s still a mystery to be solved. So this are some really interesting thoughts about Ho.
Motorcycle
This made me think of a holiday in Greece some years back. There were quite a few women riding a scooter on the way to the beach wearing only a bikini. Although it was nice to look at, my first thought was: What you are doing is extremely dangerous!
When Brandy took a nude Emi for a ride on her motorbike, was this stupid? Yes, extremely stupid. Do people behave extremely stupid? Yes, much too often. I remember when I was young, I also rode a motorbike once with just short trousers. So I guess I occasionally also belong to the group of people behaving stupid.
Not having witnessed such a horrible accident, and pushing this thought away, I still think a naked Emi on a bike sitting behind Brandy dressed in a leather suit is an incredible sexy image. At least if it is just a fantasy.
I’m starting to think ‘Ho’ just has a serious lack of intuition about other people. I think she is one of those people so convinced she’s doing the best thing, that she doesn’t second guess, can’t understand other’s feelings on it, and gets angry when questioned.
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Whether that’s the case or not, for me it felt hinted at with how Su-Ning commented about her childhood. The she was always at odds with Ho despite also being so close.
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This makes a person like Ho, if she’s the kind of person I think she is, extremely easy to manipulate by people who are more clever on their actions – like Wang. Wang strikes me as someone with a lifetime of experience with being able to get other people to do things – but we’ve not actually seen this character much so there’s an entire possibility that she could someone completely different. Even a tiny possibility that’s she not actually trying to be cruel, but just caught up in a ‘series of out of control moments’. I say tiny because the odds of it being ‘coincidence’ get smaller and smaller the longer things go on. But they always remain until that point in time where we get a full character development arc for her.
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Everything I’ve seen of Brandy so far makes me think she has a lot of human intuition and empathy – and so she’s just bound to figure out the essence of the situation in short order, and then go seeking the facts. I could be wrong, but her character so far makes me think she’s good at reading people, and feels them. And the clues so far with Emi make her feel Emi is like “my younger self”, but in the last chapter where she’s sitting in the office with them there’s a number of things happening that would cause a person with empathy to start feeling a different vibe and make them wonder.
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That said, I still think Becca and the others would at this point be ready to get violent with Brandy. From their PoV they’d see her thus far as a mastermind of a horror show. And that’s the “battle” Brandy would have to face if she was a caring sort. building trust with people who are convinced you are their enemy is not easy – but it’s got great story potential while the reader is trying to guess what direction things are going. 😉
There are different bits and pieces about Ho’s character. But I am struggling to come up with a coherent picture. Your comment about serious lack of intuition might explain some things.
There was this interesting scene where Emi pulled Ho and Jake in the rickshaw after the mailgirl negotiations. Ho said about this whole mailgirl app testing:
“It’s helping push Emi with her fetish as well. She won’t admit it yet, but bringing her private mailgirl obsession to the next level, has her a little nervous, but it’s also exciting to her as well. It’s a fetish dream come true!”
Was Ho consciously lying or does she actually believe this? Seeing Emi and her team playing these nude games like mailgirls or pulling a rickshaw at the beginning of the story, I think the only reasonable explanation for Ho is that this really must be a fetish for Emi. I don’t think Ho can imagine anything else.
I also was wondering if Ho is somehow manipulated by Wang.
What kind of person Wang is, is only hinted at in the story. When Emi got arrested, Wang wanted a favor from someone and threatened to withhold funding and not supporting this person in the next election. Also, in prison Emi overheard some other prisoners talking about Wang. They couldn’t believe that someone crossed Wang. So even these prisoners had a lot of respect for Wang. So she seems to be a dangerous person.
Yes, I also believe the development with Brandy has great story potential – although I shouldn’t try to predict anything. My track record in this respect is quite bad. ?
Back when I was an active writer, one thing I remember is that even my own track record for predicting where the characters were going was not that good. You start writing, and stuff just comes out. And it doesn’t always match what you thought it would.
And then next you know you’ve got a whole chapter that went up when you meant to go down, but it works, so you keep it.
This is so recognizable. It’s almost like the characters write the story for you, isn’t it?
I am enjoying the interesting discussions about Ho and Wang. And the ideas that Tenyari mentioned about Brandy were interesting. Most of my characters tend to not be so black and white and I think that’s a good thing.
Ps on HAPA:
One of my favorite early scenes was when one of your characters, and I forget who now because it’s been so long since I read that, freaked out about filling out their ‘race’ on the airport entry card and it said ‘Pick one’ but also said ‘lying is subject to all these penalties, [insert nightmare list]’…
To this day I get cards or forms like that still that don’t have any way on them for me to not lie… and it always makes me extremely angry.
So I felt a very strong sense of “I can sooo relate” when that scene happened.
Side tangent on that:
Even though I have very little mental grasp of just what makes trans and non-binary people tick, when I read of their struggles over filling out ID cards and what gender option to tick, that then won me over to their cause. It was my lightbulb moment a decade ago when I first saw it of “yeah ok, I may be too old to ‘get it’, but this here – Solidarity moment. You do you and I’m behind you because now I understand a piece of your struggle in a way that’s personal.”
Often when I get folks from ‘group A’ who ask me ‘why should I care about those fools over in group B’ I think of moments like that and come back with ‘open your thoughts and look, the struggle they face is not as alien to you as you think it is, we need to get together on these things.’
In the 16 years since I stopped writing stories, I got a poly-sci degree, and one of the things I learned is that most of our ‘differences’ are just fabricated by smooth talkers who have a vested interest in keeping the people under them fighting. That when you peel away the rhetoric and labels, people unwittingly find they agree more often that not.
Anyway… Just thought of that moment in the story now, and how it really resonated with me.
That scene was just lucky. Mostly I was thinking of Emi and how she had to specify that she was Japanese on the plane. It was a subtle hint that the island used to be occupied in during the war by the Japanese and they ‘used to’ treat Japanese visitors differently. I might have been pre-thinking of Ho and Wang at that time and how there could be traces of lingering racism. Anyways, it was an outdated piece of paper on the plane, but when Sam had to fill it out I just automatically went into Sam mode and that issue came up. I don’t think I ever used the racism aspect with Emi. Except well, a little with Wang’s niece. And I made Ho both Chinese and Japanese. Actually I think there is a large percentage of people on the island that are bi-lingual from childhood.
I’m glad. And yes, it’s a real issue. They shouldn’t ask questions like that as it can be very annoying for people who are lucky enough to have multiple origins.
I’m working so I’ll keep this short. Actually Emi’s fully Japanese, third generation in the US. But her fist language is English. It is Sam that is half Chinese and half Caucasian and is the one you are thinking of in the plane. Thanks for sharing all that HAPA stuff. Yes the motorcycle stuff is a trigger for some. That’s a horrific story. Also thanks for the thoughts around Brandy. Some good ideas there. Your sense of Ho is pretty good. Appreciate all the feedback!
I should have done a quick summary glance again before that. As I typed I was thinking that I recalled she was Japanese, but also recalled being mixed, and was a bit worried I’d gotten her background mixed up with another character on that very point, and then just decided to go with it on the post anyway… Oops. 🙂
In one of my many unpublished stories that I was looking at the other night – the idea of characters who believe they are helping but have actually gone past the point of being ‘recoverable’ at least in the context of that story was something I was exploring before hitting another reader’s block wall – that sometimes ‘heroes’ are more dangerous than ‘villains’ when they let themselves lose sight of self-reflection. So seeing some of the way Ho was acting made me think of that.
Anyway… I’m probably already past my ‘welcome’ with the comments, so I’ll try to just wait for another chapter and for somebody around here to post another story to read. But I’ll probably end up posting more comments at people anyway, until I once again forget to keep looking and vanish for another year…
But, looking forward to what comes next.
No worries. It’s all good. I’m grateful for the thoughtful comments.
Yeah that can be disturbing when a hero transitions slowly to a villain. The biggest example of that would be the Mother of Dragons in the Game of Thrones.
I’m glad that you seem to be thinking of writing again. It’s a healthy and fun exercise for the brain.
We don’t actually have a limit on the posting of comments around here. Just ask orflash64.
Thanks. My story’s next chapter could be another couple weeks or so. Hopefully less than that if we get lucky.
As long as we’re on a roll here…
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Where did the ‘discussion side’ of ASN end up? It looks like we have stories here, but the few ENF discussion boards I’ve found seem to be mostly dead places with only a handful of posts in the last decade.
Things have splintered. I like to think this is the best site for ‘discussions’ about writing and stories. But this site is still young and there are lots of shy readers. IO had the benefit of over a couple decades.
Tenyari, this website supports general discussions. At the top you should find a ‘start a new topic’ button. Then you can start a comment thread without having to post a story.
Do I really make that many comments?Anyway, RM, while all this talk of characters, you are now 19 chapters in, might you post a glossary of characters -who they are, what they look like, type of personality and how they relate to the story. The characters were introduced awhile ago. Your story is plot driven, so you don’t describe the other characters that much, which is fine, but a few of us old folks start to forget what some of Emi’s team look and act like when you dust them off and put them in the story again…..when you have the time.
Readerman,
Orflash is right, this “glossary of characters” he mentions would be nice to have … in your story especially. Many writers include them in novels and plays. They are typically called, ‘dramatis personae.’
As a writer, I have one. I keep a list of characters, by name and capture important details, such as appearance and personality. To me it is important because, as you surely know it is a tricky matter, being consistent … blondes need to stay blondes, etc. Early on I wasted a lot of time searching my story to remind myself if someone was tall or short, had big boobs or small ones, etc. I learned that it was best to keep such information somewhere rather than to have to try and find it. But my list is ‘for my eyes only’ as it includes spoilers (such as she’s shy so that later it will make sense when she …).
Possibly Readerman already has a working dramatis personae. If not, I agree that it would be time consuming to construct after the fact. Anyway, I’d rather him focus on writing rather than backing up to do this for us, even though you are right, it would be nice to have.
Blair
It was a compliment. Your comments are usually decent and helping to keep the board alive orflash64. A glossary? That sounds like way too much work. Don’t I have a chapter to finish? But your point is noted. I’ll try to keep describing everyone more as we go along. Little bits here and there.
This next chapter must be significant considering how long you’ve been working on it. Waiting anxiously for it.
Thanks. I try to make all chapters somewhat significant. The delay doesn’t mean I have a lot written already. That said, I am writing the chapter at this very moment.
This next chapter, will it go right into the next day at work, or center on Emi and her boyfriend reflecting on the day that evening?
Sorry for the delay. I’m having some stuff in my life slow me down these days. The next chapter will likely be large.
Readerman, so when you do get back to it, will the story continue with Emi and her boyfriend that night reflecting on the day or just go to the second day at work?
Hey Readerman is taking a break to deal with something, but what about all the readers? What are we hoping for in this next chapter? Will Emi have to pose for a Mailgirl Employee ID card? She would be the only Mailgirl in history with a high security clearance, you know since she is a IT Administer. What else?
I had a perfect storm of disruptions in my life. But most of it has been resolved now. I still have ongoing work things to take care of but I hope to get back to writing again starting next week. So we will see how that goes. No idea when I will actually be ready to post again. Things are too chaotic to predict.Looking at some recent comments I suspect someone wants the day to hurry up and end. Along with some reflection time at home with Ben. That’s actually not a bad idea. A mailgirl ID card? Another good idea. Emi’s not an IT administrator but she does have access to the production server.
Most Mailgirls have zero security clearance as they are lowest on the totem pole, but Emi develops software so has a high security clearance, making her a unique Mailgirl, is what I’m saying. Also would like to see the difference in the way people treat Emi going from computer supervisor and down to Mailgirl. Like someone that doesn’t know Emi previously and just finds out about Mailgirls and treats her as one, is a big shock to Emi. She is embarrassed and outraged, but also turned on. Why is she turned on? Even she isn’t sure. After being in charge for so long, being brought low makes Emi horny.
You have a writers mind. I was thinking the same thing, I mean about the difficulty of the switching back and forth. I will definitely address some of that. As to how all this makes her feel at the end of the day. Well… we will see how that goes. She is human after all.
I am not alone in having life change plans without consulting you. So this isn’t a get on with it kind of post. I am also sure I am not alone in being sure we will be excited when we see the next update.
Take what time you need. Take care of yourself and those close to you. We will enjoy it next week or next year if that is what it takes.
I appreciate the support Demitrii. Very much so. Thank you.
Hope everything is ok! Missing this story a lot.
Thank you. I’m just busy with work and also exhausted from job interview prep as I am trying to change jobs. It’s been a while since I have posted. I’m probably losing readers left and right.
ReaderMan, while I would love to read new chapters, what’s far more important is for you to have a good life and a purpose. Your worthy audience will wait until you’re settled and caught up. The high quality writing would not work in haste. You are not losing readers, this is a niche’ site from the start. If you wish for more views, when you come back we can consider how and where to advertise. Do what must be done, and if you can, give us a monthly greeting! Take care! Cheers.
Thanks Anon. Yep, it’s just life stuff right now. But I’ll definitely be back eventually. I hope others start sharing their stories too. I miss all the fun short stories. So many creatives out there with so many ideas. And it’s not that hard for some of the writers. Girl get’s into an interesting situation and stuff happens. We all get to enjoy the ride along with the writers imagination. Dares, bets, etc…
If anyone forget’s what this site is all about don’t forget that Kinsey has listed like 3 great story examples for every sub-category. It’s uncanny how I like all the same stories that she does.
I come really late to the party via a google search for mailgirl so no surprise for me.
I have a BDSMbackground and I´m in a weird spot. First the first chapters where a real slog for me. Nudity and cmcfnf and hete and there so light humiliation are nice but as only kink present not quite enough to hold all my attention. I made it through tho… thanks to your awesome writing skills.
Just don´t expect too much BDSM people to come past the first few chapters.As a ´pure´ BDSM guy I´m in a real weird spot. While the action is quite tame… a collar, a leash… no real restraints, no corporal punishment what so ever… com´on… that sounds like the first five minutes of a quite play night with my wife.
On the other hand the level of consent is far too edgy for my tastes. (emotional) blackmail is a big no go in the community… its safe sane and CONSENTUAL in the community. I understand that for the heroine to being forced is kind of standard… but I don´t have to like this.
From my standpoint this story can become either a tale of someone who reluctantly discovers her kinks for submission nudity and himiliation and embraces them or a nightmare where someone is forced against her will to do something she finds horrendous which would break her.I would rather read the former then the latter. The public of the instory journal and app also. If Emi is distrought or visibly brakes at any moment people will want brandys, ruth´ and sarahs head on a stick.
Modern social media and fan culture are like this. And I know my community a little bit. We doms are a rare breed… we can do things to the people we love that is considered bad or even downright by society but we are rather protective of submissives… in general even if we don´t know them.If Brandy and Sarah come out of or have knowledge of the BDSM community they know this and know they are on really thin ice.
Cuddos and Greetings from Bxl,
Tom
A last thing. I see a major conflict arise between ´camp blackmail´ and ´camp corporate´ arising. Let´s be honest. The blackmail pressure about this social service bollocks was useful instory to explaim emi getting into it and for Wang and Ho to get their way. But now there are other more positive motivations for emi and the corporate side of things has all interest to bury this problematic side of the events as deep as possible. Let´s be clear. It´s not only emis future at stake. Ruth, sarah and brandis future are tied in this potential clusterfrick as well. If it was discovered that emi was forced in any way. these three are basicly dead in the water. People love about fantasizing about these noncon things… but I doubt emis fans would be in the least understanding about this crap. If Brandy has some emotional intelligence it´s only a matter of time till she get rid of this blackmail crap that is basicly just wearing the star of her show down. She would do this in a shrewed manor… as a sign of her good will… look we erased all evidence your free now emi. Not mentioning they got rid of a huge risk for themselves as well. And Emi would feel endetted in place of forced. I think that woul motivate her so much more.Enough rambling for a day.Have a nice day.T. Bxl
I think this are some very interesting points; actually, we had already a discussion about some aspects of what you just mentioned. I try to summarize the result of this discussion a bit:
Brandy and also Sarah don’t know anything about Emi being sentenced to community service. Only a few people know about it, because Emi wanted to keep it secret. This means for Brandy it looks like Emi volunteered for the Resort Ambassador job, and voluntarily signed the mailgirl app contract, etc. Also, she thinks that Emi allowed Ben to put a collar and leash on her in public (well actually Emi did allow it).
So basically, Brandy’s assessment of Emi is based on a completely false assumption. Brandy might even think that Emi is a fellow fetishist who just needs to be pushed a little for her “coming out”.
Brandy is described as very smart and good with people. So, my assumption is that she will eventually find out that Emi is blackmailed into it. (Although ReaderMan keeps surprising me, so it is very likely that something completely different will happen…)
And we shouldn’t forget that not much time has passed since Brandy entered the story. On Saturday there were the mailgirl app negotiations where Brandy met Emi for the first time, Sunday was Emi’s day off, and now it is just Monday morning. Brandy spoke with Emi for the first time in private Monday morning in the Café, and she met Becca and the team for the first time Monday morning as well and apparently didn’t really speak to them. Not much time for Brandy to find out what is going on. But I think Brandy eventually will find out about the blackmail and then she has to do anything she can to protect Emi.
I think you are right, if this gets out then the whole idea about such a resort is dead. So, Brandy and Ruth have to do something about it. But what?
Maybe I read something wrong. Wasn’t there said somewhere that Ruth is now in charge of the community service aspect? So I assumed that she knows about the timebomb that’s ticking right under their asses.
I have to admit… English is not my native tongue and I read a crapton in four different languages the last days several days… so it’s absolutely possible that I read something that wasn’t there. As soon as Brandy, Ruth or Sarah (would) know about this they would HAVE to act. It’s not so much the project here at stake… It’s very personal: if it’s in the open that they had a prominent position in a blackmailing scheme these three would be socially and professionaly as dead (or even more) then Emi would be (who had at least a fanbase and the victimbonus – yeah). Especialy Brandy would be openly crucified… but even Sarah and Ruth… who would employ someone as teamlead or even IN a team who was engaged in blackmailing?
It was a while ago since I read this, so I had to check.
Ho said after the rickshaw ride that Ruth will know about the community service next week. It wasn’t mentioned that she was told about it in the following chapters. So, at the moment (Monday morning) she probably doesn’t know yet.
Indeed. When Ruth finally finds out, what will happen? Will she share that with Brandy? Will Brandy share that with Sarah? What will interactions with Emi be like when someone knows the truth? So many questions. What will her shirt look like in the rain? Will Emi be able to go shopping and just pretend that she’s wearing normal clothes? Will she even try? What about Ben? Will Liz try to get Emi to clean her house again? What about rickshaws? And the big presentation in three weeks? Is Sarah a friend or foe? Will Emi get free extra whipping cream on her spice latte at cloud nine? How does Sam really feel? Does Hannah suspect Sam of anything? What’s going on with Becca? When will Su-Ning be back? Is Ho aligned with Wang? Can Emi continue to just work naked in an office? It’s hard enough without clothing, but as a part-time mailgirl, it’s ‘bound’ to be extra challenging. What will be written in Brandy’s journal? As you can see, I have a lot of work to do. So I just want to thank everyone for letting me recharge my batteries this winter.
All those questions, and probably dozens more to think of.
Especially the one about the extra whipping cream at Cloud Nine keeps me awake all night…
Agreed. You two bring up some interesting points. There was a lot happening now and it’s anybody’s guess what will happen when more things are known by more people. And how people react to this and that. There are still many unknowns (except in my plot outline). Different readers wonder about different things. Like Oraflash64 is more focused on how Emi will get home at the end of the day and what she will do next in the evening, and the next few days. Right now I’m still just focused on Sarah, Sam, Emi, Brandy and Travis.
Yep, it’s my first story, I like to take liberties and my art likes to skate on thin ice. I’m also a big fan of emotional intelligence but I also like to balance it with serious challenges. So that’s why the setting is not in a democratic country. Still, it’s an island that cares about reputation so yes, there is plenty of thin ice all around. Good drama has bits of what we like and bits of what we don’t. It’s all about how our characters choose to navigate these challenges. Your points have been noted but there is a lot more going on than just the light and dark paths. There is a lot of humanity in the middle and often fun antics to flesh things out. Thanks for the comments Bxl, it really helps to get feedback like this.
I forgot to mention… the acknoledgement of Mailgirlfiction and fans… and the idea to introduce Mailgirls as subset of BDSM-cosplay to be able to integrate it into a more realistic setting was a stroke of Genius… If I wore hats, I would lift it, my dear sir!
Thanks Bxl, it is certainly fun playing around with the mailgirl concept. Taking a few things and adding them into my story doesn’t make it a full fledged mailgirl story, but it certainly is getting close. Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t like a normal well written mailgirl story either. Before anything else, my story is simply a unique story and that means that anything can happen – the ice might break, or the ice might thicken.
As to emotional blackmail, that’s not what’s happening here. Like reality, not every character is dark and sinister. There are grey characters, darker characters and also honourable characters. It’s a readers exercise to figure out who is what. At the end of the day Emi considered all these people, considered her options, and made a personal choice about how to pay for a crime, and that’s what this is all about. Regardless if it wasn’t the ideal choice, it was close enough and Emi isn’t one to back out of something just because it’s tough. The same goes with her choice to lead the development of a mailgirl app and partake in the testing of it. It’s not like she was asked to strip. She was already working naked at a nudist resort and training the devs that way as well. As far as she is concerned, if she just puts her nose to the grindstone, this embarrassing job will be over before she knows it, she will grow stronger, and she can move on to the next ‘normal’ job when it’s done. The main theme here is that it’s complicated, and definitely not black and white and certainly not blackmail. There is some abuse of power, yes, and Emi is dealing with that as best as she can. This is an unusual island to be sure. But Emi is entirely too strong and smart for outright emotional blackmail. Has she sometimes shown vulnerability or weakness with negotiations? Yes of course. Emi’s not perfect, and I think that aligns well with the rest of us – as human beings.
Thanks for the comment. It’s fun to think of all this stuff again.
Regarding the question, was it blackmail or not?
When Emi was sentenced to community service, it was her who chose the duty of a nude resort ambassador over just cleaning the beaches, because she felt that’s the appropriate punishment for desecrating the grave of Wang’s daughter.
However, when she decided to sign the contract for the development and testing of the mailgirl app, she had a talk with Su-Ning. In my opinion, this conversation came close to emotional blackmail. I don’t say that Su-Ning did this on purpose, but I felt she put quite some pressure on Emi.
Although I think Emi didn’t perceive it as emotional blackmail. I think she would have made this decision even without this conversation. Su-Ning saved her from prison. If I remember correctly, it was stated that the prison conditions are very harsh and possibly life-threatening. So, Su-Ning literally saved Emi’s life. That’s why she felt obliged to do anything she can to help Su-Ning. Also, Emi felt obliged to save Su-Ning’s resort from failing, because she felt responsible for the scandal. So, she signed the contract. But still, I perceived this conversation as borderline emotional blackmail, although probably unconsciously from Su-Ning.
But would the public see it like this, or would they just see a poor girl sentenced to nude community service in a foreign country and then pressured into becoming a mailgirl (cosplayer)? Especially considering the abuse of power by Ho and Wang. Because it were their decisions, which make Emi’s life extremely hard.
Maybe it sounds strange, but this aspect of Emi’s situation makes her position quite strong. If this gets out, Ruth, Brandy and Sarah would be in a very difficult situation. It would seriously endanger of even destroy the project and make life very hard for the people in charge of it.
Actually, Emi chose the resort because that way she could be close to her friends. Plus Becca was already a resort ambassador so she thought she wouldn’t be alone. Plus it’s super close to work and less sun on her skin. It was just a practical solution, as nude in a nudist resort isn’t that bad.
Su-Ning couldn’t just outright say that you owe me one. Emi did owe her one, a big one. Su-Ning was valiantly fighting herself to resist saying that but she couldn’t say nothing. Su-Ning is honest and she just shared her feelings and the truth. If one doesn’t trust Su-Ning, that can be perceived one way. If one does trust Su-Ning then that will be perceived another way. Plus Emi was already in the building and naked.
Yes, Emi has power, not in that way, but rather in other ways. But the thing is… Emi really doesn’t want this to get out. She want’s to sweep the whole thing under the rug. Sure Emi could threaten to blow everything up. But then so can the other side. Both sides don’t really want to go nuclear. Instead there could be these little cold wars, battles for control over this and that. Or Emi could just try to get this all over with asap. She suspects it might be a tad bit unwise to fight a military dictatorship on their own media controlled island.
I think the image of a “nuclear option” and “cold war” describe the situation quite well. When it comes to extremes it would destroy both sides. No one wants this, both sides want it to work.
If the part with the sentence would be leaked to the international press (they want international costumers from the cruise ships) or Emi’s name or picture get out (what Brandy called the “mutual assured destruction clause” during the negotiations) this would be the nuclear option. Emi would only do this if she is pushed beyond her breaking point. So, the other side will avoid going too far.
What I want to say is that Emi isn’t just the completely helpless victim. She has power as far as the nuclear option is concerned as well as on a much smaller scale. They want her as a figure head of their campaign, so they need her cooperation here as well.
They want the cruise ships for the island, Emi wants to save Su-Ning’s resort. Both sides want it to work.
I´m here with artwys. The day of today it doesn´t matter if it technicaly blackmail, if there nothing technicaly illegal was going on or there where technically other options open. If it looks fishy would be enough to unchain a lot of backlash.
As a law advisor myself we sah in our profession a huge shift from… hey it isn´t illegal so we can and should do it, to well even if we probably would win the lawsuit eventually, even if there probably wouldn´t be a lawsuit… let´s not be careful and not get in any shitstorms.
I don´t know how big the corporation is. How bigger it would be the more probable it would be that a legal/publicity adviser would be involved and or sarah/ruth would have proper training. Which would mean the corporation would or simply pull out or force the whole sociak nude work out.
That wouldn´t be something about emys feelings. Emis feelings are only relevant for the corporation in the matter of her not breaking and falling through as figurehead and attractive posterchild. Its about corporate looks and unnecesarry risks that needs toget out of the books.
Damn I never should have took my MBA… !-)
Since you say there won´t be any updates till december I maybe ask something semi related.I´m a littlebit sad that I see the genre of the pure mailgirlstorys kind of diying. Because smut like all kind of literature is a expression of their time. Mailgirl stories are in my opinion a reflection of the abundance of workerd of the years 90 till 2015. Now the tides are changing. There already kind of a global workersshortage and the global demographic tendenties are really clear. For two workers that are retiring only one is replaced. (again dam MBA)So the basic assumption of the Mailgirl universe that femake workers are easily replaceble is disappearing. That´s why I find your innovative approach so interesting.Heck… I didn´t finish a story in 5 years (again damn MBA – protipp: if you work full time and studying for another master don´t assume having time for a hobby like writing smut 🙂 ) but now I´m really considering to start writing again taking your approach on the mailgirl universe. I even consider to do it in English. It´s about time I learn this beautiful language properly.
Yes, there is a lot at stake – on both sides. Agreed, if they want a good figurehead then they need to give her some leeway. Likely I’ll resume in the spring, but I might post what I have currently before then. I wouldn’t classify this as a fresh new take on mailgirls. The mailgirls genre has barely been explored and I am looking forward to many new works currently in progress.
Just to clarify. I have a fair sized chapter that is half done. I’m struggling right now to find time to finish it. But it will get posted. After that I expect to resume with Emi in the Spring. That’s the current plan in a nutshell. If things don’t pan out then I might just post half a chapter to help hold us off until I can resume. Thank you for your patience.
Glad to hear that you are still interested in finishing this. I look forward to your work
Emi’s back.
A new picture of Emi (NSFW)
It has been a while since I posted the last picture. Here is one which shows how Brandy wants the walkies with Emi to start.
When anyone wants to start a walkies, Emi has to run over to get her collar and leash, and when she returns, she has to drop to one knee and present it to her walker. Within 10 seconds. Otherwise, she loses the right to wear her t-shirt.
Wow! Exceptional image! The see thru layer — amazingly well rendered.
I’ve been experiencing such Emi withdrawal. I expect I’m not alone. This throws me right back into it — bringing the craving back to the forefront.
Thanks Arthwys! Your talent only enhances an already masterful tale.
Great picture.
Thank you for honouring the story with your fantastic artwork arthwys! I am deeply humbled by all your amazing support for Emi and I. Note that I am transitioning between jobs, so I’m crazy busy these days. Regardless, I’m looking forward to when things slow down so that I can get back to my favourite hobby – writing about Emi and interacting with the board more.