I tightened my grip on the handles of the rickshaw, while looking around just outside of the marketing building. My sunglasses had blinders, limiting my peripheral view but I was grateful to have them as I leaned forward, pulling hard. On second thought, the blinders had a benefit – namely, I would see less people witnessing me wearing just this partially transparent, super short, barely there shirt, with cutoff sleeves. I looked more like a slave than a ‘Resort Ambassador’ as the words on my back suggested.
I felt the weight of Sarah and Sam as I pulled. They still hadn’t said a word, and my anxiety was eating a hole in my stomach. We were picking up speed. This was supposed to be a leashed walk but somehow — thanks to Sam — I was pulling a rickshaw instead. I wasn’t sure if that was an improvement.
Down the rough narrow alley-like street, was a stocky bald shopkeeper sweeping near a garbage bin. He didn’t look our way as we approached him. A block or so past him was Main Street.
Instead of looking down to see how extreme my exposure was, I lifted my chin – preferring not to know. The constant jangle on my collar, never let me forget that Sarah had me on a leash and that I was about to pay a price — a large price — for my principles. But I didn’t care, or so I kept telling myself. Travis would be back and I was looking forward to telling him the good news. I would endure whatever Sarah felt she had to do to me. Still, this whole situation was grossly unfair.
As we approached the man, I kept my head up, looking on down the alley as we neared Main Street. The dance of my hem was tickling my thighs and driving me crazy, reminding me just how short it was. This situation reminded me of Lookout Point. A little thrill went through me every time I thought back to that public walkway by the ocean. This was similar – more intense, but having the shirt made it somewhat bearable. I couldn’t help but to return a polite smile to the man as we passed. The breeze through my legs felt so very naughty and was increasing the blood flow to my face, among other areas.
This was crazy! My heart was beating more than it should have given the amount of effort. Main Street was just ahead, and although I was wearing something, people would be able to see my naked body through the shirt when close. The thought was mind blowing, but then I was an ambassador for a nude resort, right? I had an official reason for being like this. I’m supposed to emanate body positivity and confidence.
Regardless, I was relieved to have the shirt, as opposed to nothing. This cover gave me a reason to be there, and the words on the back were gold. However, losing the shirt would be mortifying, especially while pulling the rickshaw. It would be like those high-res online images of me completely nude, pulling Becca in a rickshaw, straining to pull her in the sand. Except my landing strip was now gone, and this was a busy shopping area, far from the beach, where the rickshaw would draw eyes. I gritted my teeth in frustration, even ponygirls wore more clothes than this!
“I think that fellow is still watching,” Sarah said.
“No shit. Emi’s probably flashing him with how often that shirt flips up.”
“I think you are right.”
I tried to ignore their conversation, hoping that Sam wouldn’t agitate Sarah too much. Hoping that what they said wasn’t really true, or – knowing what the shirt was like – at least not too much.
“She’s quite the sight… isn’t she Sam?”
“Uhh… what? Yeah, so? She’s a runner.”
“Yes. A runner,” Sarah said with some amusement in her voice. “With runner’s legs.”
I could feel their eyes on my ass. It was distracting.
Sam grunted. “Look, Sarah, wouldn’t it be more humane to start out along the beach?” she said, sounding annoyed.
I silently agreed with Sam, as I kept my eyes on the street ahead of us. It was like Sam could sense my anxiety.
“The plan is to start off with a snack.”
“A snack?” Sam asked, sounding confused.
“Cloud Nine!” Sarah said cheerfully.
‘Oh please, not Cloud Nine’, I thought as I slowed, finally entering Main Street. Sarah nudged me to the right and I turned, pulling them along the busy street, passing the parked cars on the side. The street was wide enough for both cars and rickshaws, so it was fairly safe. Still, I was apprehensive about being out here in the open, wondering how much I was actually revealing as I ran.
“Alright,” Sam said. “Cut the bullshit Sarah. Why are you messing with us?”
A young couple stepped out of an ice cream shop, briefly forgetting their cones as I passed them. Thankfully a parked car was between us as I passed.
“You have it all wrong, Sam.”
“Are you trying to start a war?”
“I’m… Look, I’m just trying to do my job.”
“I fucking love wars.”
Oh shit. Sam was getting worked up.
“That’s not what I’m looking for, Sam. I want the opposite of that.”
“You see these combat boots?”
“Don’t threaten me, Sam.”
“Or what? You will take Emi’s shirt? That’s why you brought me along, isn’t it? You think you can use that against me?”
Nooo… don’t give her ideas!
Sarah laughed. “You want me to take her shirt?”
“I’m warning you Sarah.”
“Emi…” Sarah said with a gruff voice.
I needed to do something, fast. “Owwwie!” I cried out, bringing the cart to a halt while hopping around on one foot. “Cramp Cramp!” I said, doing the best fake cramp of my life.
They both got out and helped me, placing their hands on my shoulders.
They really didn’t know how to help with a cramp. “I’ll be okay, just give me a minute,” I said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been running, and I didn’t warm up properly.”
“It’s fine,” Sam said. “Get in the back and I’ll pull for a while.”
Sarah didn’t look happy. “Sam, you can get in the back as well, you little runt. I’ll pull the rickshaw. You’re too worked up. Probably get us all killed.”
Sam scowled at her, but we were both surprised by Sarah’s gesture. Sam glanced at me and I nodded, motioning for her to let Sarah have her way. Sam helped me limp to the rickshaw. I didn’t like her angle of view while she helped me up into the seat.
“Fuck, Sam,” Sarah said, runnig her fingers through her hair and looking around worriedly. “This was all your idea – and Brandy’s. Now Emi is injured. You fucking people.”
Sam sputtered. “Say what? How is this my…”
“You wanted the rickshaw! Just shut up and help her. Massage her leg or something,” Sarah said angrily, grabbing the handles.
“Injured? It’s just a cramp,” I mumbled, too soft for anyone to hear.
“Ahh… give me your leg?” Sam asked, looking awkward.
I didn’t want to, but I had to continue the ruse. It would be much worse if they sensed I was faking it. Fortunately, I had a lot of experience with these. “Ahh… ouch,” I said, as I lifted a leg into her lap. Oh, my legs in this position – not good! I quickly lifted my second leg up and adjusted the hem, feeling heat in my face for the brief flash. Hopefully, no one in the street had noticed – or Sam for that matter. I was less exposed with both of my legs in her lap.
Sam looked bewildered, unsure about where to begin.
Sarah looked back. “Don’t be a pussy, Sam. Take responsibility!”
I didn’t like how Sarah was insinuating this was Sam’s fault. “It’s okay Sam, just squeeze my calf a little,” I said, trying to reassure her. I squeezed her arm briefly as an example.
Looking at my leg as if it were a problem, Sam started squeezing my leg. It was too soft and gentle to be of any use. And it was kind of funny as she started to have an intense expression on her face. She was probably blaming herself. I felt bad. “Ohh… that feels good,” I said, leaning my head back and stretching my leg out a bit more. I had to sell it, so they wouldn’t get suspicious and I wanted Sam to feel like she was being useful.
Sarah started pulling us forward down the street. “This is not exactly what I had planned, but this is just as well. Sam, keep up the good work. It’s the least you can do. I’ll grab us something tasty at Cloud Nine. Then we can talk.”
The massage was nice as we rolled down the street. Sam was getting into it. I continued to jump with little ouches or smile warmly with happy noises. I should win an Oscar. But I had to be careful and adjust my hem a few times. I didn’t want Sam to get the wrong idea here.
After a while, Sam leaned over to my ear. The position was a little too close and intimate, considering what we were doing. “Don’t trust a word she says, okay?”
I just looked at her, feeling uncomfortable as I was the one being deceptive. But I didn’t regret saving my own ass, literally. “Let’s hear her out, Sam.”
Sam grunted. “What? Are you kidding me?”
“We were wrong about her before,” I reminded her.
“But…”
“You know, I can hear you guys.” Sarah looked back. “Hah! You two look like lovers!”
Sam dropped my legs like a hot potato. “Quiet you mutt, or I’ll leash you up,” She bellowed at Sarah.
Sarah laughed. “Whatever gets you off, Sam.”
I smiled, causing Sam to direct her scowl at me.
She looked at my leg, my feet back on the floor of the rickshaw.
I realized she was wondering if she’d hurt me by dropping my leg. “It’s good. It really helped!”
Her face was unreadable and so I looked the other way, to the street. Watching the shops, parked cars, and people, go by. I was beginning to enjoy the ride a little. I kept my hands in my lap, holding down the front of my shirt. Sarah was a good runner, and kept a good pace. I was glad it was her and not me, but I had to admit, the thrilling sensation of running in this shirt, pulling a rickshaw without the ability to touch or fix my hem was something I would certainly not forget.
As we passed the blocks, getting closer and closer to Cloud Nine and my apartment, I couldn’t help but to think of Ben. That time he leashed me and took me to Main Street had resulted in me ending up on the front page of the newspaper, causing Brandy and everyone to misunderstand. But I couldn’t really blame him, I was the one how had gone along with it all. Still, all the alcohol that night and the shock of Ho changing the RA rules had me aching for a distraction. Main Street was the ultimate distraction, especially when you’re naked. My fear started to rise as Sarah pulled over into a parking spot just past the place where Jill had collared me. It felt like such a long time ago, but it was just this morning. Was Sarah going to take my shirt? I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Jill again.
Sarah stopped, dropped the handles and turned around.
Sam leaned back in the rickshaw, folding her arms behind her head. “I’ll have a latte and two Eastern Mountains.”
Sarah looked annoyed. “We are eating here. Emi, outside or inside?”
I was surprised that she was letting me choose. Was it a trick question? Was she going to remove my shirt? Where would it be best to…
“Too slow, outside it is. More privacy. But in front of the window,” she said, grinning.
“See?! That’s what I’m talking about,” Sam said angrily. “She just wants to humiliate you.”
“Dial it down Sam,” Sarah said, losing her smile. “I’m just playing around. It’s not like she’s overly worried. She insisted on training the guys naked. I was totally against it but ‘Nine’ here insisted. Plus SHE signed up for this stupid project and then SHE was on the front page, leashed and naked on Main Street with one of MY devs!”
Sam sat up in the rickshaw, looking furious. “Do you even know what’s going on?!”
I touched Sam’s arm and shook my head subtly, motioning for Sam to shut up.
Looking curious, Sarah watched us closely.
Stunned, Sam just sat there deeply annoyed that I wanted her to keep quiet about my community service. She looked as if she were about to boil over.
I touched her arm gently. “Sam, it’s okay…”
“Don’t worry Sam, at least she’s clothed – at the moment. It’s not like she hasn’t been at Cloud Nine naked before, or so I’ve heard,” Sarah smirked.
Sam was surprised. “I don’t believe it,” she said looking at me.
“I, ahh… Brandy this morning… It’s a long story.”
Sam was watching me closely.
“She made me strip and then…”
Sarah didn’t like Sam’s expression. “Grab a seat outside girls. The treats are on me.” Sarah walked away.
Sam looked scary, her face was red and twitching.
It took me a minute to calm her down. After that I started to get out of the rickshaw.
Sam touched my shoulder. “Hold on, your leg. I’ll get out first and help you down.”
“Ohh… don’t worry. I’m fine,” I said to deaf ears as she jumped out and ran to my side.
Turning around I climbed down, again not liking the view she was getting. On the pavement, she looked distracted but then reached for me, taking a hold of my leash.
This didn’t seem like her I thought as she led me to a table outside the windows where Sarah had pointed. She sat down gruffly, dropping the leash, folding her arms, and looking agitated. I sat down beside her, placing the dangling leash in my lap.
I was worried. “Sam, you have to promise that you won’t say anything. You know as well as I, that if they knew, I would have less control. At least now they think I might walk out on the deal if they go too far. I mean, I might anyway, but don’t take that one piece of leverage away from me, okay?”
Sam nodded. She wasn’t happy about this, but I could see in her eyes that she understood.
A minute later Sarah came out with two Asian Mountains, a Main Street and two Jump Ropes on a big tray. Obviously the Main Street was for me, the pastry was similar to a Long John and looked somewhat like a piece of a busy street.
Sam looked at the platter, confused. “No drinks?”
“Jill will bring our lattes,” Sarah said, sitting down in her chair, looking back and forth between us. “I bet you can’t guess why I brought you two here.”
Sam picked up her pastry and held it below her mouth. “To pay Emi back for making your devs so productive? Because Emi’s amazing and you want to bring her down a notch? Because you’re a sadistic bitch?” she said bluntly, as she stuffed her mouth with part of a mountain.
I winced, feeling what Sam was feeling, but it didn’t seem wise to prod Sarah like that. “Sam, let’s let her talk.”
Sam looked at me like I was crazy.
“Again, you have it all wrong Sam. But let me explain without any interruptions, Nine. You are on the clock, remember? Let’s do this correctly.”
Sarah had basically just told me not to talk, unless asked.
“So you just shut Emi out. Do you even grasp the fundamental elements of a con-ver-sation?” Sam said bitterly.
I couldn’t help but agree with Sam. This was totally one sided.
“Look, this isn’t easy for me either. I have a lot to say, and I kinda feel bad about how things went this morning.”
“Woah!” Sam slapped my shoulder and looked at me. “See that? The bitch feels bad. Maybe she’s not as stupid as she looks. What’s next, an apology?”
“Look, I’m trying to apologize here. Can’t you see that?” Sarah’s agitation was clearly growing.
“Look, powderpuff, you have to SAY DA WORDS,” Sam said, before partially choking on another bite of her mountain. She stuck her finger deep in her mouth and scooped out some food and wiped it on her plate. “When are these fucking drinks coming?” she coughed.
“As I have already said, Sam, the lattes are on the way.”
“You mean, just like your apology? Everything is so late around here,” Sam said, grinding away at Sarah’s patience.
Sarah glanced at Sam with growing irritation.
I smiled politely. “Mmm…” I said, showing my appreciation for my ‘Main Street’ long john. But keeping my eyes down submissively, when Sarah snapped her head my way. Oh crap, I shouldn’t have said anything.
“We should call the manager,” Sam said, looking serious. “Since Sarah can’t seem to apologize, maybe he can do it for her.”
Sam looked quite angry, but I wondered if she was also half enjoying this. She was really pushing Sarah and that was scaring me.
Sarah turned her head, and looked down at the table, almost apologetically. She glanced at my shirt. “Nine…”
“Finally!” Sam blurted, looking just past Sarah, at the door.
Sarah didn’t look happy, but hesitated at the sound of the door opening, glancing over her shoulder.
Jill strutted in with our lattes and froze upon seeing me. Her face lit up as her eyes devoured my transparent RA slave shirt and the collar and leash. Why was I embarrassed and trying to resist the urge to look? I looked up and her eyes locked on me, reeling me in. “Nine! You can’t get enough of this place. Did you miss me?” She smiled.
Sarah looked confused, but then said. “Oh right, you saw her this morning.”
“Boy did I ever see her,” Jill grinned. “I think many people saw her. She was impossible to miss! She’s famous, you know.”
“Ahh, yes. I know,” Sarah said, smiling politely with Jill, waiting for the waitress to leave.
Jill wasn’t going anywhere. “I can’t believe you got Nine to come back here today. I thought only Brandy had that kind of power over her,” Jill said, looking over at me again. “Unless you missed me?”
This was awkward for me, what was she imagining?
Sarah shifted in her seat. “You know Brandy? Well… ahh, I’m in charge now,” she said, looking at her nails briefly. Then she awkwardly took a sip of her latte, trying to act cool.
Jill puffed her chest out. “Brandy is a regular here. And she bestowed upon me the greatest honor. I was the one who first put the collar on her. And locked it,” she said proudly.
Sarah looked at Jill, trying to hide her surprise. Sam looked just as surprised.
“Yes, that’s right. Brandy ordered Nine to tell me to put it on and lock it. It was fucking hot. Oh sorry, pardon my language,” Jill said, looking enviously at Sarah.
Sarah seemed to like the attention. “Yeah, I lock her up all the time. It’s no big deal,” she said, nonchalantly.
“Wow! That’s awesome. You are so lucky. May I hold her leash for a moment?”
Sam sat up and I put my hand on her shoulder. She slumped back down, grimacing.
Sarah seemed to be warming up to Jill. “I don’t know. She’s on the clock right now, you see.”
“Oh, you mean… Brandy mentioned that – testing the mailgirl app. So fucking hot! But why is she wearing clothing?”
This girl was driving me crazy. I put my hand on Sam’s shoulder as a preemptive measure. She groaned and looked at me, pleadingly, like she was ready to explode.
Jill put her hands on her hips. “Can I ask her to do something?”
“Sorry, Jill. Only I have that power today.”
Jill looked disappointed. “But I have never seen mailgirl positions – in real life I mean.”
Sarah chuckled. “We are kind of busy today.”
“But isn’t the idea to promote her cause? Maybe I should ask Brandy next time. She wouldn’t hesitate.”
“Look, I agree. It would probably be good, but…”
Jill’s face lit up. “God I envy your power.”
Sam looked fascinated at the exchange, shaking her head in disbelief.
“It’s not all roses and cream cheese,” Sarah said, gesturing at Sam. “Some people like to give me a hard time about it.”
Sam finally smiled as she took a bite of her mountain.
“That’s horrible! You should be rewarded for your efforts! It’s not easy training a girl to be submissive like that. It can be a real challenge sometimes.”
“No shit! I almost had to fire someone for not inspecting her properly and repeatedly misusing her correct name.”
“Inspecting her?”
“You know, checking her grooming and such. She’s all up on her toes, chest out, legs spread…”
Jill’s eyes widened dramatically. She was practically salivating just picturing it, as she stared into the distance, and then focused back on me. She literally looked like she wanted to eat me. “That’s so fucking hot. To have a – celebrity mailgirl, at your beck and call.” She almost stumbled, holding onto a chair to keep herself upright.
I was getting a strong vibe from this woman, and it was giving me a cocktail of strange emotions that I couldn’t understand, it was frightening, hot and embarrassing all at the same time. Mainly because I could see where this was leading, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it.
Sarah ran her fingers through her hair. “Yeah, I guess my job is pretty cool. But let’s not get too far here with Nine’s testing duties. Under that shirt is a professional, a brilliant developer who is the director of software development. She’s a real leader who commands a lot of respect.”
Sam and I were surprised to hear Sarah, of all people, complimenting me.
“Yeah, but that just makes it all that much hotter,” Jill said, looking at my shirt. Why was she looking at my shirt? Or was she looking through my shirt? I wasn’t sure what was going on here.
Sarah laughed, seemingly agreeing.
“Can I just see one quick pose before I go?”
“I don’t know… I get her to act submissive and do mailgirl poses, and all I get is flak. It’s not fair really.”
“Don’t worry. It’s your duty to help her with the role. It’s probably not easy for her to do this on her own. Please! I’ll bring you all an extra latte and give you special service from now on.”
This woman was driving me crazy and I could see Sam was on edge again.
Sarah looked like she was wavering. “You’re really persistent, aren’t you?” she smiled.
“Isn’t it for her own good?”
“That is true,” Sarah said, turning to look at me, with a wicked grin.
Oh shit. I was feeling hot, was I sweating?
Sarah leaned back in her chair. “Be a good sport, Nine. Show us your standard waiting pose. Stand up.”
Surprisingly, I found myself obeying, standing up on shaky legs. I regretted glancing through the window where I had a captive audience from the table just inside. A couple other tables had people looking my way, as well. Outside, the next table was clear but the other two tables on the other side of the door were occupied. Luckily they didn’t appear to have noticed us. Sam, however, was watching me like a hawk. I adjusted my sunglasses and assumed the pose that pushed my breasts out as I trembled. My erect nipples were hard to miss, pressing against the see-through shirt. Two huge beacons, dragging everyone’s eyes to their movements as I tried to control my breathing. Despite the gentle breeze I was feeling warm, and starting to perspire.
Jill paused, her eyes devouring me like a delicious pastry. She licked her lips. “Shouldn’t she take off the shirt?”
Shocked, I anxiously glanced at Sarah briefly, wasn’t standing like this with a transparent shirt enough? I gulped, hoping she wouldn’t give the order, but I knew she would. I felt betrayed as my body seemed to want this to happen. Was it really going to happen?
Sarah smiled, looking around. She looked into the glass and saw a few people watching us. Her smile grew wider. “Fuck… I hate this job,” she said, an obvious lie.
Jill nodded agreeably. Looking so delighted with the progress she was making, that she could barely stand straight. “You are so awesome Sarah!”
I tried to not fiddle with the end of the leash in my hands, behind my back, as I felt their gazes upon me.
Sarah’s chest puffed out a little from Jill’s comment and she took me in with her eyes, studying my shirt, my body, looking at me and I knew this was it. Sure this was a hot situation, people close to the glass could already see I was naked under the shirt. Jill was obviously drowning in arousal at my expense. I could feel the excitement in the air, as people were watching through the glass with anticipation.
Despite my growing dread and arousal, something didn’t feel right. I felt some resistance quickly growing. Some rebel thought started to shake me out of my trance and was pulling me to some clarity. Suddenly I didn’t want this. Not here in front of my place, I might have neighbors in there watching me. I needed to get out of this. Was it possible? Suddenly I hated myself, for thinking of not living up to my agreement. I was swirling with a cocktail of conflicting emotions, a part of me even felt disappointed that I was resisting my duty, my responsibility to always show body positivity. But I was also angry with Sarah for taking advantage of me. This wasn’t fair. I felt like I was being bullied.
Sam was watching me closely, waiting…
Sarah finished dancing her eyes over my shirt and smiled with Jill. They were both licking their lips. Sarah was nodding. “Nine, I hate to say this… but…” She paused for dramatic effect, and she and Jill looked at each other in knowing anticipation.
I tried to get control back, but my fear started to spiral out of control. I couldn’t help myself. I tried to fight it, but I was weak. I took a deep breath and started to regain some control. I could do this. I could do this. But nope, my gut dropped through the floor and for a split second I faltered and mistakenly… glanced at Sam.
Sam slammed the table with an open hand, with all her might. The blow caused plates to bounce and all the latte cups to spill some of their contents.
Everyone stared at her in shock, myself included.
Sam casually lifted her hand up, turned it over and examined it. “The bugs around here are annoying,” she said, flicking something unseen off her palm.
We watched her as she emptied her latte as if chugging a shot of whiskey. “Not bad, but these cups are – like – wayyy too small. Can I get another drink there, ahh Jilly?” she said, staring at her name tag.
“Uh… okay?” Jill said, looking at Sarah briefly.
“Yeah thanks, but this time I’m gonna need a double shot, half sweet, extra hot, latte with two shots of maple syrup, nutmeg, cinnamon, but not too much froth. You got all that?”
Jill nodded, taking out her notepad. She started scribbling.
“Okay then, what did I order?”
Jill repeated the complex drink order perfectly.
Sam grunted her approval, causing Jill to look relieved.
Amazingly, Sarah stayed quiet during all of this.
Sam flicked her fingers at Jill to be gone. “And before you come back.”
Jill started to leave but stopped, looking back.
Sam gestured inside the store. “How about serving a few of your other customers first? I hate to think we are hurting the experience of other patrons around here with all your inappropriate pussyswelling banter with my friend here. I mean, you don’t want to lose a potential celebrity as a customer, am I right?”
Jill nodded and turned and left in a hurry, her tail between her legs.
Sarah was not amused. “Sit down, Nine.”
Relieved, and so thankful, I could almost have kissed Sam on the spot. I sat down.
“Nice move Sam,” Sarah said, looking annoyed. “But maybe you forgot, this is my walk right now, and I have a…”
Sam cut her off. “An apology to get off your chest, yeah I know. We are still waiting for that, powderpuff.”
“You think you deserve one after those childish antics? And just because I wear a little makeup…”
“A little? I’ve seen clowns with less. What are you trying to hide?”
Sarah laughed. “Sam, I’m just doing my job. I know you hate that I’m in charge of the mailgirl…”
“Her name is Emi.”
Sarah squinted at Sam mockingly. “Not any longer it isn’t. Don’t push it, Sam. We do have some clout in this situation. I would be surprised if we couldn’t authorize Nine to get those numbers tattooed on her properly, and her hair removed permanently. Should we include the hair on her head as well?” she laughed.
I looked at Sam, fearfully, but then I saw from Sarah’s face that she was obviously just trying to get a rise out of Sam.
It was working. Sam’s face indicated a darkening mood.
“Ma’am, maybe we should continue the walk.” I muttered meekly, trying to not look anyone in the eyes. I wanted things to de-escalate.
“You are right, Nine, even though I didn’t ask you to speak, we should get going. I’m not buying anything more for this little runt. Go grab the handles while I think of a punishment for speaking out of turn, yet again.”
As we walked to the rickshaw I could see that Sam was starting to lose her cool. She didn’t show it outwardly, but I could sense it. She was so angry she probably couldn’t speak. I needed to think of something to keep this train from going completely off the tracks.
Sam and Sarah climbed aboard while I grabbed the handles.
“Pass me your leash, Nine. And your shirt while you’re at it.”
Still gripping the handles, I looked back in shock, frozen. Sam and I locked eyes. I turned back facing the front, knowing full well that I needed to let go of the handles so that I could remove the shirt.
“Hurry up if you don’t want to lose ‘all’ your hair,” Sarah said, chuckling to herself. I knew she was just messing around but wasn’t sure if Sam knew. Through the handles, I felt the rickshaw shaking oddly. Looking back I saw Sam gripping Sarah’s shirt in her fists.
“Why is it… that you have so many fucking teeth?” Sam seethed, pulling Sarah’s face closer.
“You know I’m bigger than you, right?” Sarah said, looking completely unfazed, grinning antagonistically – grinning, dangerously.
“All those fucking teeth. Don’t worry, powderpuff – I have a solution in mind,” Sam said, pulling Sarah even closer.
Sarah slowly stood up inside the rickshaw, precariously, lifting Sam with her. It looked dangerous as people are not supposed to stand up in a rickshaw.
Sam let go with one hand and reached down, she started pulling off one of her combat boots. “One way or the other, powderpuff, my combat boot is going to french kiss your face!”
I was becoming alarmed. This wasn’t Sam. I’d never seen her this emotional before. This was completely out of hand. If I didn’t intervene, Sam was going to be in more trouble with the law than I ever was. I wasn’t going to let that happen. Standing below them, I grabbed hold of Sam’s boot, just before she shoved it into Sarah’s face. “Enough Sam! What’s gotten into you!”
“Sorry Emi, but my boot has a date with clown face. Destiny will NOT be denied!” Sam screamed defiantly while hugging her upside down boot hard against her chest.
Reaching way up, I had to stretch to keep a grip on the same boot with both hands.
Stubbornly, Sam held on while still fisting Sarah’s shirt.
I felt my hem rising up as the three of us struggled. Looking around, I was thankful that we parked the rickshaw just up the street, out of sight of the patrons of the cafe as the parked car behind us blocked their view. Luckily my apartment didn’t seem to have anyone on the balconies. I felt Sam pull harder, she was impossible to stop and I mooned a car as it passed by.
“Let go Sam!” I growled. “Or… you… will be fired!” I felt my anger growing. “Right NOW, Sam!”
Sam paused, looking down at me from the rickshaw. “I’m doing this for you – what the fuck, Emi!?” She grimaced as if I had hit her.
Sarah took advantage of the confusion and pushed Sam – who stumbled backwards in the rickshaw, but Sam kept her grip, taking Sarah with her. Sarah twisted suddenly, and they both almost tumbled out of the rickshaw.
They were clutching each other like idiots. Sensing the potential for serious injury – as they were definitely going to fall head-first – with all my might, I pushed one handle, pivoting the rickshaw on the spot, causing the two to fall my way. Two heads fell into my arms, but the combined weight was too much and my legs compressed into a squat and all three of us fell in a heap on the pavement, one face on each of my breasts as I continued to hug them, protecting everyone from head injuries. I rolled back, lightly bumping my own head on the pavement.
They lifted off my chest, and looked me over, both panicking as I just laid there looking at them, unmoving. I was fine, but letting them worry a little.
“Oh shit, Emi… are you okay?!” Sam said, reaching for my arm.
Sarah looked equally petrified. “Emi?” She asked in a small voice.
“The curb…” I said menacingly, as I shook off Sam’s arm and slowly stood up, while pulling down my hem which had risen up to my belly button.
“The curb?” Sarah repeated, confusion in her voice.
I rubbed the back of my head, scowling at them both. I had enough of this. “Sit the fuck down on the curb, both of you,” I growled.
They looked at each other, hesitating.
I couldn’t contain myself any longer. “Sit down right now!! Or YOU are fired and YOU… you will be responsible for tanking the app, the project, everything. Do it now!!” I yelled through my clenched teeth.
Reluctantly, they both sat down on the curb, watching me apprehensively.
I don’t know what happened, but something clicked in me. Call it the adult in me, or rage, or my position as director of an elite team. Whatever it was, the mailgirl in me was gone. I hadn’t been this personally upset since Mr Woo back in Seattle.
I glared at Sam. “Physical violence?! Disgusting! You embarrass us – bring the whole team down. Tell me why I shouldn’t fire you right now!”
Sam stuttered. “What? I was… she was… for you. I mean… your hair! Can you even fire me?”
The dragon in me was growing. “Sam, she was just screwing with you. Pressing your buttons. How could you fall for it? Where’s your brain? What did you expect her to do? You have been really pushing her. But this… this is a new low. If Becca gets wind of it – forget fired — she’ll have you arrested! You know how she feels about violence.”
It was true, and Sam knew it. Violence was Becca’s hard red line. Sam looked scared briefly but then, she growled to herself. Rebelliously folding her arms, she looked both hurt and angry. “If you want me to quit, fuck it then. You let this bitch walk all over you and you expect me to do nothing?” Sam wiped her nose and looked away, hiding her face.
I looked at Sarah. “And YOU! What’s going on? Why did you bring Sam along? And what’s all this crap about an apology? Why are you toying with her when you know goddamn well that she is just looking out for me!”
Sarah looked like she didn’t know what to say. “I’m… ahh, I guess things got a little carried away.”
“Carried away?! I almost had my head cracked open on the road! Seriously! Why are you constantly trying to mess with me and my teams? Is it personal? Or are you just trying to destroy the project?!”
Sarah scowled, looking up. “Why does everyone always think I’m the bad guy? Do you know how hard I tried to stop all this kinky crap of yours from getting into the building? How am I supposed to know what you like or hate? It’s not exactly clear, you know. Do you think I wanted this job!?”
I shook my head in irritation. “I asked some questions, be straight with me Sarah, or this all ends now. Just talk to me, what is going on with you?”
Sarah looked upset, angry, hurt, offended, and ready to give up – all at the same time. She glared at me, then looked down at the ground. “You stole my team. They hate me now, and Sam runs around making me look like an ass,” she said, letting it all come out, hiding her face with her fingers. “Emi… you humiliate me – every day – and YOU are the one running around naked! I try to do my job and follow your kinks and you act like this is all MY idea. You’re the one leading all this… with your nines… and leashes. YOU signed the deal. Why is any of this MY fault? I’m the fucking victim here, not you! People think I’m some kind of dominatrix now – so much for professionalism in the office. So what? I try to accept things, go with the flow a little, and that’s so utterly wrong? What the fuck am I supposed to do? You tell me!”
I sighed, realizing this whole thing was quite the ordeal for Sarah. And Sam too for that matter. I stepped forward and squatted in front of them, putting my hands on their shoulders. “I’m sorry guys. I didn’t realize how hard this was on the two of you. I was so caught up in my own life changes that I didn’t see how this was affecting others. Can you guys forgive me?”
Sarah wiped her eyes with her forearm and turned her red face away from us. Amazingly, Sam kept her mouth shut and I leaned in and hugged them both. “So what are we doing out here then?” I asked her gently, “I guess I kind of deserved this embarrassing walk after all.”
Sarah stared at the road by my feet. “What? No,” she said. “I was a bit upset with Sam and also myself – about Travis. I was actually hoping to negotiate… a truce.”
“A truce?”
Sarah ran her fingers through her hair, awkwardly. “I was hoping you could get Sam off my back and help me to… well… to not be…” she said, looking away again. “… to not be so hated by my own team.”
I was surprised to hear this. I guess I hadn’t been paying attention to how she and her team were getting along. I must have thought it wasn’t any of my business and didn’t give it any thought. I realized that I needed to stop being so inwardly focused.
Sam moved, as if about to speak. I pushed her back a little, shaking my head. Her lips were pressed tightly together, she wanted to speak so badly.
I leaned into Sarah a little. “That sounds reasonable,” I said gently. “Go on…”
“And I thought I could negotiate something, if I went easy on you…”
I nodded, appreciating her confession. Meanwhile Sam was bucking, and I touched her shoulder again, to calm her down. It was tearing her apart to keep quiet.
Sarah continued. “Plus Brandy wanted you to feel comfortable with Main Street and shopping, so that you could function normally in town. So I lined up a few shopkeepers to meet, to help you get used to shopping in just the shirt.”
I nodded, taking it all in. “Sarah, you could have just come to me and spoke plainly about this. You don’t need leverage over us. Everyone getting along is already at the top of my list. I will always help with that kind of thing.”
She nodded.
I looked over at Sam. “Brandy’s request almost sounds halfway decent, doesn’t it?”
Sam laughed. “You mean encouraging you to shop half naked? Or turning you into a mailgirl in general?”
“The shopping part?” I said, wondering if I was too naive about Brandy.
Sam grunted. “I can’t say much about Brandy, but I’ll tell you this. Hannah and I looked into her and Hannah noticed that all those images of hundreds of mailgirls were professionally photoshopped. If you look really closely you can see it’s pretty much the same dozen girls in all of her marketing images. So all that talk about thousands of mailgirls and this big mailgirl community – all complete BS. And I looked into Jake and Wang, and it appears that he may have already been thinking of making a cruise ship port here.
Sarah sat up interested. “Yes, there is more than meets the eye with Brandy. And I’m not just talking about her kinky office.”
“How so?” I asked.
Sarah sat up. “Well… Brandy has some meetings with Wang lined up, and they are all about how the app will be tested. Which seemed odd to me, since the app doesn’t exist yet. Usually the initial focus of software projects are about the software requirements, the testing comes afterwards. So I guess they want to focus on the marketing side, that dev journal that Brandy keeps going on about. Which I guess is really just all about you Emi. Seems like they feel the success of the marketing hinges on you sharing details about your testing journey somehow.”
“That’s bullshit,” Sam blurted. “On the surface, it looks like they just want to sensationalize mailgirls to sell the app, and are using Emi to do it. But who in their right mind invests that much in a market that doesn’t exist?”
Good questions, I thought, locking eyes with a bike courier briefly as he rode past. Without being too obvious, I checked if my hem was exposing anything.
Sam looked at me, as if she’d suddenly realized something. “Wang…”
“I don’t really care about the business side, Sam,” I said, cutting her off. “Let’s just focus on building the app ASAP. And then get the hell out of here,” I said, wondering if Wang had more than one reason to back the project, namely enjoying making me look like the world’s first mailgirl. And then advertising that publicly to the world. Was she really that petty? Was Brandy here because of Wang? I hoped not, not only for myself, but also for Su-Ning.
“Sarah, have you heard anything about Su-Ning?” I asked, thinking this was stuff that she should be aware of.
“Ruth told me this morning, that her father passed away yesterday, and that she will be back within a week.”
“Oh, no… I’m sorry to hear that… poor Su-Ning and her mother,” I said, feeling bad for my friend. Although I knew it was a likely possibility, I had still been hoping for good news. I also felt bad about being glad that she would return soon. I didn’t want it to be for that reason.
Finally I stood up. “Alright then… let’s get this walk over with. You two… back in the rickshaw.”
Sam looked at me like I was crazy — to be suggesting we continue the walk — especially after all this.
I looked at them expectantly.
Hesitatingly, they climbed in and I handed Sarah my leash.
She took it, but then handed it to Sam. “Your turn.”
I took the handles and waited for the signal to move, glad that Sarah was making an effort to be civil with Sam. Glad that I managed to end that brawl and find out what was really going on with Sarah. Things were finally looking up. It was lifting my spirits.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Sam finally take the leash with two fingers, holding it as if she were offered a rotten potato, scowling. I did a little ponygirl strut and lifted the handles, and shook my butt playfully.
Sam scowled, but she seemed to be half playing.
“Wait you guys!” Jill said, racing up to us with a lid-covered drink in hand. “Sam, sorry for being late. I hope you like the latte,” she said, breathing heavily. She looked worried, but then she surprised me with a little wink as her eyes traced along the leash back to Sam’s hand.
Sam finally smiled, taking the cup and gripping the leash with a little more confidence.
“Where to next ma’am?” I said cheerfully, adjusting my glasses.
“Ahh… the corner store at the end of the block.”
This was it. Time to put my big girl panties on, only I wasn’t wearing any. I leaned forward, pulling the rickshaw down the street, towards the end of the block. Jill walked back across the street slowly, watching as we left.
I tried to keep my eyes forward and focused on my running rhythm. Up ahead, standing outside was a young man, fidgeting with his hands behind his back. He glanced at me a couple of times briefly, making me wonder if he was waiting for me. I also hoped my hem was playing nice as I pulled up alongside him and set down the handles.
“Collar,” Sarah commanded.
I turned to face her and stepped forward so she could unhook my leash. She’d certainly gotten back into character quickly, I mused. “Thank you ma’am,” I said, averting my eyes.
“Nice, Nine, now please accompany this gentleman into his fine establishment and buy a couple things,” Sarah said, handing me some cash.
“A couple things?”
“Figure it out. Off you go, Nine.”
I spun away from her, rolling my eyes as I went. But the sight of the young man, barely twenty, made me hesitate. He was close enough to get a proper look at me. I walked up to him and shook his hand. “Hi, I’m ahh… Nine, I guess…” I said, looking back briefly to the rickshaw. Sam was wide-eyed and Sarah was all smiles, she gave me a thumbs up.
“I’m Dee… It’s an honor to meet you,” he said, trying to keep his eyes on my face. He was a tad bit heavy, but not by much and had a large chiseled jaw on an honest looking face. His afternoon shadow went well with his frumpy clothing. I didn’t know what to make of him.
“Well Dee, mind if I come in?” I said, fully aware that I was likely showing a lot. But somehow his humble smile relaxed me a little.
“Oh… please do!” he said, hurriedly walking before me to open the door.
“Thank you,” I said, as I entered an odd-looking corner store. There were model airplanes hanging from the ceiling, everywhere. Why did that have to be mostly WW2 Japanese Zeros? Everything else seemed fairly normal for a corner store, except for a small section of touristy stuff.
He had a laptop open on the counter by his cash register. What to buy… what to buy… I thought, trying to ignore my shirt and act like a normal person. I’ll just grab two things and get out of here. I walked past the refrigerated drinks, and the potato chip stand and a section of auto-sprayed vegetables, then around a row of household items. I grabbed a four-pack of toilet paper and a two-pack of razors – done.
Dee smiled as I walked up to his cash register. “Sarah told me that you are a programmer,” he said in a friendly manner.
I put the things in front of him and un-fisted my cash. “Yep,” I said, handing him the money, resisting the strong urge to fold my arms.
He took it and put it in the cash register, counting out the change he handed it to me. “I’ve been trying to learn. But kinda stuck on this javascript problem,” he said, spinning his laptop around to face me.
I smiled, wondering if this was a setup. “How long have you been coding?” I asked, wondering if Sarah was trying to make my first visit more comfortable by having some clerk pretend to need help with some code.
“A couple months.”
“Do you know what a function is?”
“Well… yeah, but it’s this function that I’m having trouble with. It’s not returning what I was expecting,” he said, scrolling down to the middle of the page.
I leaned in, taking a quick look. “Why is it so big? You have a lot of nested ‘if else’ statements, which makes it hard to understand. If you break it down into a few well named functions, and better named variables, then it will be a lot simpler to read and fix.”
“Oh right, yes… that sounds like a good idea,” he said, not sounding very confident. I could tell that he didn’t have enough experience to break it down and that he could just barely comprehend what he was doing.
“I’ll do that, thanks,” he said, looking dispirited.
“Can I get a bag for this?”
“Oh right, yes of course,” he said, reaching down. “And thank you for visiting. You are really brave,” he said, stuffing the toilet paper into the bag.
“Brave?” I asked, knowing full well what he meant. So much for avoiding the elephant in the room.
“Well… you know… that shirt…”
I sighed. “Sorry, I know it’s a bit much.”
“No, I think it’s great that you are promoting body awareness so openly like that. This island is way too conservative for a resort island.”
His words touched me, for some reason. “Oh? Have you ever been to a nudist resort?”
“Ahh no, not yet,” he stammered.
“You should. It’s very liberating,” I said, auto-slipping into ambassador mode as I glanced at his javascript function again.
“Would you be there?” he asked, sounding nervous.
I looked up from his code. “I used to be, but now I’m an ambassador, promoting Fantasy Resort from the outside,” I said, briefly showing him the back of my shirt. Ahh, I saw the issue with the function.
“But it says ‘Resort Ambassador’ not ‘Fantasy Resort’,” he said.
I looked up briefly. “I don’t handle the marketing, maybe it’s meant to be more generic, for the whole island.”
“Ahh… and the collar?”
“Part of the ACE initiative,” I said, trying to not blush while typing into his computer to fix the bug. It was hard to read the dim screen with my sunglasses. He had a reverse logic issue, better named variables and less condensed logic on each line would have made it more obvious for him.
“Oh right, I read about that. The Adult Costume Events,” he said, leaning in to look at what I’d typed.
I ran his code.
“Oh man, you fixed it!”
“Thank you,” I said, grabbing my bag and opening the door to leave.
“No, Thank you! Oh you forgot your razors.”
I went back quickly, feeling some heat on my face.
He handed me the razors. “Please come again,” he said, in a professional tone.
“I’ll come back if you clean up that code.”
“Okay, I’m on it!”
“Then I will see you later,” I said, exiting the store.
Sarah watched me as I approached the rickshaw. “What’s with the smile?”
“I finally found some toilet paper,” I said seriously, handing the bag to Sam.
“Ooh… razors,” Sam said, peeking into my bag.
“You can call me Ma’am,” Sarah said, holding out my leash.
“Yes Ma’am,” I said, lifting my chin up as she attached the leash. Then I took the handles and resumed smiling as I planted my feet firmly in the pavement.
“Onward!” Sarah Commanded.
I felt the weight of Sarah and Sam as I started pulling vigorously. It was a crazy day and I still had my shirt on. But I was feeling somehow better after all that unexpected bonding with Sarah and Sam. This was turning out to be a better run than expected as I brazenly flashed my very public thighs, hopefully not too much more, to people along the sidewalk as we passed the storefronts and parked cars. “So are we about done? Any more stores Ma’am?”
“Yes, Nine. Just one more. You can pull over right here.”
I pulled over in front of a half a dozen little shops in a touristy part of Main Street. Putting down the handles, I rubbed my fingers while I looked at them wondering…
“No Nine, not there. Across the street.”
Looking across the street was only one store. A very big store. The Central Supermarket for the entire town. I gasped. “Wait… what?”
It’s great to see this story continue Sam seems to be a major killjoy, both for Becca and now Emi nude ambassador role. A very negative person. It’s nice to see Emi leashed in public. Not sure if the sidetracking of watching Sam and Sarah fight was worth it. Maybe it would be nice to see Sam leashed and naked, as punishment for her constant sarcastic behavior.
lol… thanks Joe, suggestion noted. I was a bit worried about releasing just the first half of this chapter, the slower half, but then I noticed that the word count was already high and I was overdue a posting. So I just posted it as is.
Going to say the exact opposite.
Sarah needed to have her teeth kicked in.
Sam almost got to do it. That was good to see. Perhaps if Sarah comes around to realizing all these people are being set up, she might earn the right to keep her teeth.
Otherwise some of these folks, like Brandy and maybe Jill, need to learn about long piers and cement shoes.
The chapter before this one was very hard for me to read. I’m NOT a fan of this kind of dehumanizing, so I ended up trailing off of this story and today forced myself to catch up to see if things might change a little.
I’ll freely state that I preferred the story before the mailgirl angle came in. That said, at present, the only thing that got me to the end was Sam finally being the only decent human being in the cast. She’d have been better if Sarah had ended up with a few less teeth and maybe a broken bone or two… but at least somebody finally spoke up in there.
Thanks for the comment tenyari. It’s helpful and interesting to see various contrasting opinions about everything that is happening. I hope you liked more than just Sam’s strong protective attitude. Emi was pretty good as well, right? Also, the last chapter had some good moments… like Emi didn’t let herself get spanked, and there was a decent scene with Hannah on the beach, remember? But yes, it’s been tough for Emi and her team recently. Yep, Sam was a major force this chapter. Glad that you liked that.
I know I’m not your target audience, but I suspect Sam’s actions were written to try and get some cross appeal in light of conversations we had a year ago or so.
I’m NOT expecting the tone and nature of the story to change, but I do appreciate the nod to the fact that there would be people in the world who would not take kindly to the situation and would seek stronger remedies that ‘giving in’. It does present a complication of having characters like around though, which could present a writing trap.
To keep your target audience engaged you’d need to keep that character distracted or “on a side mission”. A bad solution would have them “change their nature” and join in, or use a gimmick to get them out. A good solution would find something that blends the dynamics together so Sam doesn’t compromise, violence doesn’t break out, AND the D/s ENF angle still proceeds.
I myself wouldn’t be able to write that myself simply because D/s is “violently against my nature” to a degree even stronger than your Sam character has so-far expressed. For me this would be one of that traps that I’d get stuck in and not know how to write myself out of.
I noted “side mission” above on purpose, because it looks like your hinting that that is a path you might take – as they uncover the flaws in Brandy’s plan and the other people on that side of the plan – Sam might find herself uncovering actors over there that are “the real issue” as opposed to Brandy – resulting in a ‘shift’ as to who is what side and what a given ‘side’ stands for.
Ie: Over here we’re fine with the ‘kink’ even as it ramps up beyond our own personal limits, as long as our friends are not being hurt (*), but those people over there are pushing ‘abuse’.
(*) This is the point where things like ‘safe words’ could help – where Emi gets a ‘safe word’, and Sam sees Emi not only use it, but have that use respected.
There’s a LOT of ground for either Sarah or Brandy to become ‘villains’ or ‘allies’ depending on whether or not characters just become willing to listen rather than presume. But again – this is why I’m NOT your target audience. The conversation I would want to see happen breaks the fantasy your target audience wants to read.
Lots of great thoughts tenari. I don’t really have a target audience or a specific genre focus. My focus is mainly to have an interesting adventure and explore many things, including human drama in various forms. I don’t think anyone in the story is really thinking in terms of D/s. And D/s is a very wide range from so light you barely notice it (ie: Cave’s Melanie story) to what GrumpyDom describes. This story is a lot of things and that’s just one minor ingredient (again, too strong for some, too weak for others)… but for me, it’s about just right and where I wanted to explore. Even so, the D/s aspect is just a side thread, or a background thread to a larger story with other elements at play. Fun elements, drama elements and other human elements that can surprise us from time to time. The conflict balance is also good. We have some strong forces against Emi, but also she has a LOT of support. The forces against her know that if they push too hard the house of cards can easily fall. So it’s a balancing act, even for them – in terms of keeping Emi on board. Brandy is obviously better with that balance, than Sarah is and has even provided yellow cards which have acted as safe words in a manner. Thanks for the insightful feedback. Your comments got me thinking and inspired me. I’ve been busy recently, but Emi is never far from me. The next few chapters are constantly bubbling in my mind.
I was not expecting this to happen in this chapter. Emi fixing problems with computers and with her coworkers. Nice character building. Good chapter. Time for Emi to pick up some groceries in only a transparent shirt.
It seems to me that Sam may have a bigger reason for hating what Emi is going through. Could Sam have a crush on Emi?
Thanks Big D, I was hoping to surprise with this chapter. I mean, who would have guessed Sarah would have ended up pulling the rickshaw with Sam giving Emi a massage? And then later Emi taking charge like that? This was a big chapter for Emi, the fight was transformative and now she is beginning to rip off the Main Street bandaid. Still, that supermarket is going to be a major challenge for her. Sam is quite the disrupter, but I’m glad to see things settle down somewhat between Sarah, Sam and Emi. You never know with Sam, that’s what makes her fun, or annoying, for some readers.
Hope this means you are felling better. I also felt that Sam’s actions were a little over the top especially since she knows why Emi is doing any of this.
Thanks cradulich, yes feeling better but not quite 100%. I was finally able to get out half a chapter. But it took a lot of effort, from my friends too, so I thank them as well.
Love the escalating tension in these last couple of chapters. Marvelous reading.
Hooked6
Thanks Hooked6, it was a fun buildup. Let’s see where this rollercoaster is headed next.
Hello Readerman,
This was exactly what I’ve needed from this story at this moment.
You’ve seen how I’ve worded this. I think it’s time I stopped trying fooling myself and stopped talking about realism and such. I’m far too invested in the story to think objectivly.
You quite nailed my needs. I needed Emi starting to get aroused by the hem of the shirt. I needed the confirmation that there are some unaware kinks in her to discover. I needed the little exemples of submissive behaviour that came to Emi. I needed the positive confirmation, the thankfullness of/by the shopowner.
I needed the fact that Sarah seems to struggle against the whole situation and not against Emi. This story has with Ho and Wang enough antagonists and with Su Nying, Ruth, Jake and Brandi enough Greys around too… having turned Sarah from an apparent villain to somebody quite likable released some of the tension I had in me.
I’m quite thankful that you let me a littlebit of the hook here. I’m so much rooting for Emi, that all the tension in the last parts became even a little bit painful. I’m feel that I could cope with some more emotional tension, even if I hope you would go a little bit easy on me and my old heart for another chapter.
I’m even so at ease with this story that my imagination restarted. There are so many more magical moments to be had in this story:
– The first time Emi gets visibly aroused by being nine at work, being able to hide it.
– Emi confessing that to Ben.- The first time Emi can’t hide her arousal.
– Emis first spanking by Ben (?)
– Emis first public spanking
– and many, many more moments.
And maybe very much at the end of Emis journey, the moment Emi understands that fears only have power over you, till you’ve faced them.
I mean… it’s paradoxical but with every situation they put Emi through, Emi learns that it isn’t the end of the world, that she’ll survive this, that she would probably even survive being exposed. First she will have to learn to own the fact, that she kinda likes this stuff… then, if she decides to own this fact publicly, it’s Emi who will have all the power. I look forward to this moment.
Hey GrumpyOldDom, glad to satisfy. Doing that with Sarah was risky, as I know a lot of people like her as a strong antagonist. But I like to think that Sarah probably won’t change, that much, it’s just that things got a bit more real between everyone. Now we have some respect, on both sides. It’s a nice new dimension I think. Besides, you are right – there are other antagonists and greys. Also thanks for sharing your hopes and suggestions. As to Emi’s path, you speak some wisdom and all that might all be true, in general, but you also know that I like to surprise.
As long as Emi isn’t harmed. You can put her under stress, under duress, you can hurt her. But you can’t seriously harm her. You can’t simply build such a fantastic personality let your audience bond with him/her let your audience root for her… and then destroy her/him…
Well you obviously can… you’re the author after all, but I would never engage with one of your stories on the same emotional level as with this one, because I couldn’t trust you with my feelings ever again.
Don’t worry, I just don’t like to spoil a story by saying what’s going to happen. Surprises don’t always mean, bad things. Have some faith in the writer.
I didn’t forgive Ben for this, LOL. But I think I beginning to “accept” this. This paragraph explained it a bit more.
Good explanation how people must see Emi’s situation who don’t know the whole story with the community service.
Sarah might now suspect something. Although she probably can’t figure out now what is going on, she might dig deeper. If she finds out about the community service, this could help Emi but also limit her options later. Potential for further conflict. I think that’s an important scene. Great!
People seem to like holding Emi’s leash, now even Sam. But who could blame them? 😉
It really was!
How does Jill know that it sometimes can be a challenge? Is there more to Jill? LOL
I think Sarah is really getting into her job as a mailgirl trainer.
I was always wondering about Sam, she tries to help Emi, but makes the situation to escalate. This happened not just once. Especially here, when Sarah wanted to negotiate a kind of truce. Here she even resorts to physical violence.
Sam wants to help, but on the other hand, she can be quite bad, even to Emi. I mean her behavior in an earlier chapter, where she was lying that Emi is a kinky person, just for fun. This was when she invited Ben and Liz to observe Becca and Hannah playing ponygirls. Just to have fun at their expense.
Anyway, I like this scene, to know Sam a bit more. But I still can’t figure her out completely.
I really love this scene. Emi is not just the obedient mailgirl, but she is also in a management position. Sometimes she just has to take control. And they all obey! Juggling with her different roles (director of software, part time mailgirl, full time Resort Ambassador) could create an interesting conflict further down the line.
I tended to think that Sarah is an evil bitch, especially when she fired Travis. But this paragraph explains her side of things. It shows she is not a one-dimensional character, but a realistic one. And what Sarah says is absolutely true, from her point of view. I think this is a very important and very good paragraph.
And
and later
This could be a main conflict in the chapters to come. And Wang the main antagonist.
This doesn’t bode well for Emi…
I think this chapter is great on several levels, be it Jill being carried away, Sarah not being the evil bitch (as I occasionally thought she is when firing Travis), Sam being protective but inadvertently escalating the situation, and Emi showing real leadership although being almost naked. She managed to basically dominate both Sam and Sarah.
But what made me literally gasp for air was the revelation about Brandy, that there basically isn’t a worldwide mailgirl movement. Actually, when this first came up I was wondering about this because mailgirls are just a small niche in another small area in the “fetish world”. But I accepted it as part of the ReaderMan-Universe™. But now this!! What is going on??
And what makes me really worried about Emi is the fact that Brandy had several meetings with Wang about app testing. This might spell disaster for Emi.
The last scene with the little corner shop was a nice distraction form the serious stuff earlier. What I like with this scene is when Emi starts to do anything programming related, she forgets her situation, her short, transparent shirt and is happy. Even after she leaves the shop, she has a smile on her face.
Oh come on – get over it already. Ben’s a good guy. Before you know it he will be giving her demerits and everything!
That’s absolutely true. I mean, if you were her friend. Would you also be willing to lend her a helping hand? Say, carry her leash for her?
Cloud Nine without Jill, would be like cake without icing.
It’s probably safe to say that that despite all her bellyaching about the job, Sarah is a natural.
Oh come on, that was a couple book ago.
And that’s just the way she likes it.
Yep, Emi’s app testing destiny is bound to be interesting. A lot of stuff is going on, not just with Emi, but also with a lot of people around her as well.
Thanks. When I get the chance, I like to bring out some depth in this or that character. I’m still learning, but I’m happy with the progress so far.
Yep, some interesting things were said and shared. But you never know, what’s really what, within a ReaderMan story. This onion has many layers.
Some of Emi’s happiness came from that, but not most of it. She liked that the guy seemed to respect her. But more importantly, she was glad about the blowup between Sarah and Sam. It was a catalyst that was dramatically transformative for her in multiple ways. Her horrific fear of Main Street was briefly forgotten, and when it started to seep back it wasn’t quite as unhealthy. And her complete loss of power was totally reversed, briefly, which caused the adult in her to come out and see things much more clearly. In short, she had a Becca moment, but Emi style, and doesn’t even know it! She was too busy living and feeling it.
Not to mention that she made a lot of progress with Sarah and Sam, which was very important to her. Understanding those two better, and healing some of the the rifts between the three of them was probably the biggest win and totally unimaginable just an hour ago. So all of that together would have had her bouncing on ‘Cloud Nine’ – a synonym for happiness.
However, some of that other knowledge was a bit sobering, still, knowledge is power. And Su-Ning’s father was bad news, but countered by news of Su-Ning returning soon. All in all, she was still pretty happy, especially since all of this was supposed to be for Travis.
However, the sight of that supermarket… that was something to test her again. Her temporary confidence might be quickly draining now, but she also feels that some of it will likely stay. And that is a good feeling.
The Brandi-revelation got me thinking as well. I suspect she is rushing to the first major event as a starting point for her major mailgirl-movement.
I suspect that if the event and/or Emi fails at this event her business is toast. That´s why she is relentlessly pushing right now.
I’m enjoying to read these predictions and suspicions. The enthusiasm is motivating. It’s too bad I’m a bit under the weather right now. Thanks for all your comments Grumpyolddom.
Apropos predictions and suspicions…
Jill and Brandy are totally a thing. 😀
It’s no coincidence that Brandy came to Cloud nine and Jill to lock up Emi’s collar. 🙂
Great episode. It was nice seeing Sam and Sarah finally reach some sort of truce. Even though it almost turned into a fist-fight, because Sam never does anything the easy way. And when Emi was able to empathize with both of them and ends up apologizing to them, that’s is so Emi.
There were a lot of interesting tidbits that I didn’t appreciate the first couple of readings. The fact that there may not be a world-wide phenomenon of mailgirl cosplayers was interesting. Is a ruse that Brandy and Wang have constructed, or is Brandy trying to jump-start the cosplayer market with a killer app? There is a signed contract that gave her and Emi each a million dollars, so I’m not sure which.
And the upcoming meetings with Brandy and Wang is interesting. If Brandy doesn’t know about the community service now, she will soon, and probably everyone else will, so there goes Emi’s supposed leverage.
I wonder if they’re going to expand her mailgirl training to the whole island? Will there be mailgirl mats and public showers all over town? And I imagine Wang’s newspaper will feature lots of photos of her, so everyone associates her mailgirl training with her role as resort ambassador.
And the things that Sarah was jokingly threatening her with, gettng her pubic hair permanently removed and the nines tattooed on … I often wondered if that was in her future. Is Sarah just kidding or does she know something?
As always, I can hardly wait for the next installment.
Thanks Shmeckle, that was a great summary.
As usual, you have good thoughts – but you read it more than once? If so, I’m flattered. That reminds me, when I can get back to reading my surfing stories? Don’t tell me that wave has passed!
It’s fun to imagine what Emi’s future might bring. Luckily we have lots of teasingly good foreshadowing, eh?
You never can tell with a story that tends to sin-wave, between light and dark.
I enjoy getting to read more of my favorite authors, so I tend to read through it very quickly. I go back after a while and read it more leisurely and usually notice things that I didn’t get the first time. I do the same with my favorite TV shows and movies.
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgot about Kari and Jessie and the rest. I haven’t abandoned the story. But life continues to find new ways to suck, which has been keeping me from my writing.
I am getting inspired by reading the stories here. It reminds me how much I enjoy writing. I’m happiest when I’m crafting a new story.
Very glad to hear that Kari and Jessie will be back. I can certainly relate to life being a nuisance to one’s writing. That’s true, it’s a blast to craft a new story (or chapter). A great toe dip in the water could be to write a very short story in the new L vs D writing contest. Something to help kickstart the imagination again, and not too time consuming.
ReaderMan, thanks a lot for your answer to my comment. Good that you explained the last scene; I think I completely missed the main reasons for Emi being so upbeat.
But may I make a suggestion?
You are using a first person POV. The advantage of this POV is that you can easier insert some inner monologues. I know you did this already, for example when Emi was at Cloud Nine. But I think you could do this a bit more often. Especially when you want to get a certain point of your story across. So maybe you could let Emi think about the situation with Sarah and Sam and how it – unexpectedly – improved, and that she now sees her situation much more positive. Something like that.
You are absolutely right arthwys. I was a bit rushed that night. I should go back move some of that in the tail end of the chapter. It would help boost the chapter ending.
Well, I am intrigued to see where this chapter takes the overall story — and I trust that our wise author has something in mind that I am not seeing — but the events that actually take place within this chapter tend to reinforce my frustration that Emi never seems to even TRY to take advantage of any opportunities that come her way. I am having second thoughts about my recent defense of her alleged “backbone.”
After Sarah’s confession in this chapter (which did not, I believe, include the much-promised apology), you’d think Emi would want to get something out of this moment — that she would demand something specific from Sarah. But nope, not our Emi. She doesn’t even ask what Sarah had in mind by a “truce.”
Yep, it figures that Emi is the only one who apologizes. Whatever “suffering” Sam and Sarah have experienced is nothing compared to what Emi has been put through. Yet her first instinct is to apologize to them and expect nothing from them in return.
Really? If one of them was Jill, that wasn’t exactly helping. If Jill behavior was not what Sarah intended, why did Sarah encourage it? And why does she then direct Emi to the busy supermarket?
Hmm, given that mailgirls by definition go naked, spread their legs, wear dog collars and otherwise debase themselves, I really don’t think any “sensationalizing” is required.
If it is true that Sarah’s big regret is that her team doesn’t like her, why would she elect to fire Travis for the minor offense of using Emi’s real name? Nobody forced her to do that. Her actual behavior would not seem to support what she claims in this passage.
You’d think Emi would want to know all possible information in order to actually fight back, but no her only strategy is to just keep going along with whatever she has been told to do. What if Sam’s realization about Wang could free Emi of the community service threat? It would be swell to know.
I’m with Sam on this. After everything that Sarah just said, the only thing Emi can think of to do is to just continue the planned walk?
Gosh, what a freaking surprise, Emi.
Although I raised those questions about Emi’s reaction, I would add that the chapter is still a fun read with lots of good dialog and emotion. So it is still good even if I do question the protagonist’s choices. And Sam is great in this chapter. She is such a feisty little powderkeg. You also gave her some great lines, including:
“your inappropriate pussyswelling banter”
and
“one way or the other, powderpuff, my combat boot is going to french kiss your face!”
Thanks Molly. It was an important chapter in my mind. And I appreciate your comments about Emi’s questionable choices. You are not alone. For example, I’ve had multiple people not appreciating that Emi apologized to Sam and Sarah. And I like that you always want Emi to be stronger, and smarter and get the most out of her situations. I am gradually moving her in those directions, which will be helpful considering the mounting challenges that are still looming for her. Also I might go back and touch up some of her reactions. I’m still thinking about how to possibly do those without changing too much. Maybe some internal thoughts. Also, as I have already said. I’m delighted that you like Sam these days.
I think Sarah is between a rock and a hard place. She’s been replaced on the Dev team by Emi, and has to do extra work she loathes, for someone both she and Emi have referred to as a ‘little demon’. I can understand how she could snap and make a bad call like this. The fact that she was able to rectify things & wanted to smooth things over makes me think she knows she went too far.
Again, I understand the motivation here. Down deep, Emi knows she doesn’t have any choice, and if she doesn’t complete all the tasks assigned to her, she risks punishment, or worse, a visit from Wang and the police. She deluding herself that she can keep her true situation from others at work and she’s clinging to the hope that she can figure a way out of it. Here she is just trying to keep her head down and not make waves.
Thanks shmeckle, yes that’s Sarah’s situation. As to Emi, she is feeling better now and wants to get this over with. The pressure is mostly from herself, keeping her word and she tends to finish what she starts. Molly’s comments were good, revealing areas that might have been overly subtle. Also Emi has a confidence bump currently. Still, I should have had her briefly thinking of taking advantage of the situation.
Thanks Molly. I appreciate all your feedback. Nice to see you warming up to Sam.
Uh-oh. A 15-word reply from Readerman. He’s never that brief and was just being polite because he’s a nice guy. Crap, I must have been too harsh. And I even put Lucille in storage so she wouldn’t get me in trouble again! It really is a good story, so imaginative. Why didn’t I emphasize that more? You’re always causing trouble, Molly. Why can’t you just be nice? That’s what Miss Phelps always said in third grade. And Mrs. Nelson in fourth grade. And, well, all of them really. I should go back to therapy.
haha… no, I’m just still recovering from annoying and lingering long covid symptoms and before I could do that completely, still feeling weak, I ate something (apparently harmful) that really sent my health spinning for a couple days. Not hospital, but close. I’m on the upswing today, but we will have to see how it goes now that I’ve tried to eat something again (broth). So you can take Lucille out again – it’s all good!
Aw, sorry to hear, RM. Now I kinda wish you were just mad at me because that’s easier to get over. Hope you are all well soon!
Thanks, but I could never be mad at you Molly. I’m doing much better today (except I can’t eat solids yet, which sucks). I’ll try to post some comments tonight.
I think so too. If I remember correctly, in one of the previous chapters, Brandy admitted that they put Sarah under pressure regarding referring to Emi only by her number. They even fired people in human resources because they didn’t agree to this mailgirl app testing. So yes, I think Sarah was under a lot of pressure and just completely overreacted.
I am sure Emi wants to know what Sam suddenly realized about Wang. And I want to know as well!
Wang was the driving force behind this naked community service, and Emi wants to keep the whole thing secret. I think Emi just wanted to make sure that Sam doesn’t blurt out something about this to Sarah which gives this away. That’s why she changed the topic so quickly. At least that’s how interpreted this.
Arthwys, I see your point about Emi possibly just wanting to shush Sam while Sarah was in earshot. As for Sarah, I still would not trust her because when someone is two-faced you don’t know which version is true. She needs to prove herself by actually helping Emi in some manner.
It’s true that I have some grey characters, as GrumpyOldDom mentioned, and some true antagonists. I do really like the ‘greys’, as he put it. I like that they can be surprising. They can be awful sometimes, but they can also be really good. Sarah and Brandy are both very grey. I guess Sarah seems two-faced as well. Art was also saying that about Sam. But I think it’s safe to say that Sam has begun proving herself these last few chapters.
Wonderful, amazing, exciting. You write a great, ReaderMan. Very smart.
At first I had a thought, but why so much bickering between Sarah and Sam in this chapter. It was immediately clear that there would be a squabble, but why so detailed. I read on and now Emi has to take off her shirt in front of Jill. But no again Sam helped out. And then, after a fight that almost happened and a “heartfelt conversation” after it, she again remains in a shirt. It didn’t even break from the fall. After all, in fact, Emi has already agreed with Sarah that the walk should be continued, and the project as a whole, too, otherwise will get be tattooed and lose her hair.
And Sam also agreed with Sarah, taking the leash from her, although she still has enough anger towards her, and indeed towards this project, but still became meek.
But then I realized why it was necessary for Sarah to take Sam with her. Sam really complicates Emi’s life “helping” her.
Oh yes, Emi needs more trouble to get her attention away from the see-through shirt and that she needs to be naked, kind of casually, as a solution to some problem.
I can only guess what will happen in the supermarket. Either she stays tied to the rickshaw and a parking pillar in the street, or she goes grocery shopping alone, or with Sam, or all three of them. And any version will be hot. And inside or outside, new adventures will await her.
For example in short:
“Are you a mailgirl?” the guard asks.
“Now yes,” Emi replies.
“Then why are you dressed?”
And what’s next only you ReaderMan knows. Thanks for such an amazing story. I look forward to continuing with impatience.
Thanks Pavel_ser, I’m so glad that you enjoyed this chapter.
Sorry about all the shirt almost off, teasing. Yes, it seems to be a very tough shirt!
Sarah was ‘probably’ just trying to get Sam angry when she said that about the tattoos and hair, as payback for annoying her so much. It’s unlikely Sarah could even do those things, however, I wouldn’t put it past Sarah to have Emi shave in front of the guys if she ever forgets to shave before work.
Yes, Sam seems to be a complicated person, eh? Some things tend to naturally calm Sam down somewhat. Or maybe holding Emi’s leash has a different effect on different people?
Sam’s help also complicates Sarah’s life. Sarah just wanted Emi to ask Sam to cool down. And Sarah wants Emi to help her with the male dev team. Sorry, it’s a bit complicated. A lot is going on!
Yes, the fight did help Emi get her attention away from being so exposed on Main Street. You are right, maybe she needs more of that, haha. And casual nudity would indeed help Emi, maybe that’s why so many people are trying to push her gently in that direction?
A couple of your guesses here are pretty good. Yes, the next chapter looks like it could be potentially hotter than this one was.
Yeah, I tried to hint that apologizing was kinda hard for Sarah. Call it a character flaw. You are right, Emi should have tried to leverage something (like a few less merchant visits today, and Sarah could say, okay just two then?) I guess Emi (and I) were just surprised at all the dramatic revelations. Also, I probably didn’t make it super clear. But Sarah wants Sam off her back and for her team to stop hating her so much. She was hoping Emi could help with that. The more I think about it, those are big asks. Why didn’t Emi ask for something in return? Maybe Emi will later if she can help Sarah with those things.
Classic Emi! But you are right that girl needs to get on the ball! Still all of this doesn’t need to happen in this instant. There is still time for this and that.
Actually, I wasn’t thinking of Jill as one of the shopkeepers. That was just stopping by for a chat. Sarah was quite surprised about Jill.
lol… I absolutely love it when you make a super strong point like this. With the last few things you mentioned, I think a couple others commented on those. Some good comments. Thanks guys!
I wasn’t really surprised, when it was Emi, who was the only one apologizing in this chapter. That’s sooo typical Emi. She fights very hard for people she cares or feels responsible for, like Travis or her team in Seattle. But on other occasions, she always puts her interests second. Some might consider it a character flaw, but I don’t. Emi is a very compassionate and caring person. In my mind this is the true Emi.
ReaderMan created a character here who is very consistent throughout the whole story; actually this showed already in the first scene of the first chapter. And judging from all the comments in this and previous chapters, people root for her. I think ReaderMan managed to create a very loveable character.
But even Emi has her limits, and when Sam and Sarah started fighting, they found it out the hard way.
But what surprised me as well was when Sarah offered to negotiate a truce and Emi didn’t even try to negotiate anything. I didn’t expect a full-blown truce treaty negotiation, but at least something along those lines:
“Everyone getting along is already at the top of my list. I will always help with that kind of thing. If you help me sometimes as well.” (Text in italics by me.)
Emi knows she can’t get out of her community service and also not out of her mailgirl testing contract. No matter how hard or embarrassing. But this way she would have at least some kind of “informal” yellow card. Whether Sarah will honor it remains to be seen.
Thanks Art, that’s not a bad idea.. the italics. I’ll have to sit down later and re-read that section to see if any changes should be made. Consensus tells me I should look at it carefully. As is, I guess Emi was thinking that if she freely showed some maturity and goodwill, that it might come back to her later. I mean the three of them had a pretty major breakthrough and Emi suspects that is something that will not dissipate, even if they all continue to play their roles. Also, Sarah really hopes that Emi will help her with Sam and the guys. The Sam problem might already be solved or mostly solved, I mean, if Sarah has learned to not take things too far. And Sarah still really wants help with the guys. Just knowing these two things gives Emi some instant leverage and she probably doesn’t feel the need to flaunt it in Sarah’s face. That said, I could probably toss in some of these thoughts into there. Some parts are a bit sparse in details, and that’s mostly just me being new to writing. That said, I do also like the informal yellow card idea. Maybe I should just add a few paragraphs and milk this part a bit. Make it nice and satisfying. Ideas are coming to me now…
I’ll be honest that I’m not familiar with the Mail-Girl setting.
My first overall comment is that you have a really strong entertaining writing style. I liked the dialog and had a very good sense of Emi, Sam, and Sarah’s personalities. Emi is both embarrassed and excited about giving up control, but even from the one story, I felt that she was the one really in charge. Sarah is a mischievous imp who always takes things too far. Sam has a tough act, but she’s also very protective of her friends. Sam also has a big crush on Emi, how embarrassing. 🙂
I liked the bit about Emi wearing a short skirt and being afraid, or excited, about losing it.
Thanks for reading the chapter CountryMouse. Yeah, it’s not really a Mailgirl setting. It’s the real world in a small little fictional country, a vacation island between the Philippines and China. Emi was in charge of developing software for a nudist resort. She got talked into making (and testing) a mailgirl app. There… now you don’t have to go back and read the first 2 novels, lol.
I’m still learning and growing my style. Stealing from other writers when I can. I poach a lot from Blair and Cave’s brilliant writing styles. But I was thinking to one day also tap into some of Kinsey Bay’s style and your style as well, if possible! Or at least learn how to improve my paragraphs. Your paragraphs are so rich and crisp. I still have a lot of limitations, but I’m growing at a good pace.
Thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts on the characters.
ReaderMan,
Wait! Did you really just write and actually post a 9000+ word chapter that covers just the middle of a single rickshaw outing? Since I’m in the mood for giving someone crap about something, I guess it’s going to be you and it has to be about that (your lucky day!).
Please understand, I’m just sharing the love as this is one of the things Molly was always giving me grief about — my seemingly never ending story. And since she’s not talking about it (at least I didn’t see it in her several comments), I guess it falls to me. I mean, this never ending story thing — you’re threatening to steal my crown, dude! <grin> But seriously, chalk this up to my mood because I’m enjoying the story a great deal — it doesn’t need to end. And, while I’m at it, this was a fun chapter. And it was very much different than expected. I thought Sarah would take the shirt, and Emi would be embarrassed — probably what we all expected. So that’s part of why it was a great chapter — surprises!
I’m the eternal Sam fan, admittedly. If she has a fan club, I’m the president. And in this chapter, Sam’s as feisty as ever. This sentence stood out to me because of that final word, the ‘us.’ Suddenly, Sam is on Team Emi! With that one word, she announces, ‘You mess with Emi, you mess with me.’ But, it has unexpected consequences. Emi gets concerned that Sam will provoke Sarah, and that she (Emi) will pay the price.
I like how Emi, with not many options available to her, took charge, derailing the direction things seemed to have been sliding.
Yep, things get fun when Sam is involved. And I’m not the only one who thinks so:
That’s from Molly’s comment. Sometimes (often) she and I agree. Especially on this point.Jumping ahead, way ahead … to another instance in this chapter of Emi topping from the bottom — an even better example:
This right here is a very advanced technique. I applaud you for employing it, and quite effectively, I might add. I have to wonder if you are doing this knowingly, or if it is just a matter of innate talent or good breeding. Now I’m going to have to paraphrase, because I’m way too lazy to go looking for the source of this, but it went something like this:
Characters need to be consistent. Calm, level-head characters need to always be calm and level-headed, the feisty ones, always feisty, etc. That’s a hallmark of good writing (one that we all know). However, if you want your readers to really take note of a development, break that rule. And that’s exactly what you did here. Emi suddenly changes back into the strong, intelligent woman that she was in the very, very early scene that you mention (the Seattle scene with Mr. Woo).
Normally, Emi is the woman that will give up her seat in the coffee shop for no good reason — if asked, but when the situation demands it, she’s all about kicking ass and taking numbers!
I’ll say it again, great chapter!
Keep ’em coming, buddy!
Blair
Yes, I was a little apprehensive to post just this little bit. It was technically half a chapter, as there was also supposed to be a supermarket visit too! Admittedly, the pace is slow. We have been in Monday for almost a year now. But that’s just how art goes sometime. That said, this was an important tension releasing chapter for Emi.
I figured you would like Sam in this chapter. I’m glad that all worked out!
It’s a matter of interpretation. Emi is strong and intelligent most of the time. But yes, consistency is important. Emi follows the rules, she likes challenges, she doesn’t like conflict. She’s a good girl, and she wants everyone to be successful. Here it’s no different. But yes, it does take a lot to put her in an ‘aggressive’ frame of mind where she has to step up and fix things with difficult people. Fortunately she has that in her, barely, plus she probably learned a thing or two from Becca.
I forgot one thing that I was going to ask about.
That makes me curious. Just how does one sitting in the back steer a rickshaw? I imagine the passengers are more than arms length away from the person pulling the cart. So, what does she nudge? Did she lean way forward and pat Emi’s little hiney? If so, then Sarah must be touching Emi’s butt a lot (like a person’s hands on the steering wheel of a car). I’m just trying to picture this (because it sounds like something I’d enjoy seeing). Maybe arthwys could work up an image for us — one of the riders with his/her hands on Emi’s thinly-covered posterior. Push this cheek for left, the other for right.
Now that you mentioned it, BPClavel, how goes one steer a Rickshaw? I have had the pleasure (once) of riding in one in Japan NOT pulled by a person on a bicycle but pulled by a person on foot like Emi, and my experience left me totally at the mercy of the person pulling the conveyance. Like a passenger in a motorized taxi (or Uber for the suave readers) I had no control over the vehicle. The steering and speed was left to the Rickshaw Wallah (what drivers are called.)
But I CAN imagine several more erotic methods of steering for story purposes:
(1) One of the girls uses a horse carriage whip to signal a change in direction or increasing speed by tapping the rear end of Emi. As with a horse, the purpose is to gently nudge the horse to make a correction not beat the poor thing. Carriage whips are of sufficient length to reach Emi’s shoulder or bottom by a passenger just by extending it forward. For purposes of this story this would seem to create an erotic visual and would be the easiest solution and would certainly be embarrassing, if not humiliating, for Emi.
(2) Emi has a mouth bit and a set of reigns (like modern pony girls) and one of the girls actually steers Emi this way. The visual is strong but gearing Emi up before a ride takes time and would likely detract from the pacing.
(3) Merely shouting (Hey you stupid bitch, turn left here, etc,)
Just some thoughts.
Haha… good questions and suggestions guys. Made me laugh. The way I imagined it, Sarah took the leash, leaned forward a bit with her arm out to the right and nudged Emi to the right with it. Emi couldn’t keep going straight, so she was waiting for an indication of left or right and so the nudge helped.
I guess there are quite a few passengers who would love to get their hands on Emi’s tight posterior. But I checked my 3D model; there is no way a passenger could reach this far without falling off the rickshaw. Probably Hooked6’s suggestion with the carriage whip or how ReaderMan’s described it are better ways to steer a rickshaw. But both are quite humiliating, I think. She is already leashed, so ReaderMan’s approach seems to be the easiest way.
I am not a big fan of a mouth bit for Emi. Although Brandy is probably of a different opinion here.
“Mount… stop, release and step back. Present your ass for turn command!” lol… yeah, I guess verbal commands will definitely be the most practical.
Then there are already two of us. 😉
Something I failed to say earlier. Without having read previous chapters, I still felt Emi asserting her true personality was very natural. At no point did Emi’s ordeal seem non-consensual. She is giving up control willingly because it thrills her, but is able to take it back when things get too real. Well done.
Sometimes I think too much is made about consensual and non-consensual situations in erotica. Just to be clear, real life is a TOTALLY different situation. I am confining my comments here to the world of fantasy and erotica. Many, many people (both men and women) not only fantasize about being made to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do, but many also engage in such role playing. I suspect a lot of people who worry about nonconsensual things in print are perhaps more concerned with virtue signaling rather facing the reality that such situations are very interesting to readers – both male and female. Many romance novels center around the virile, handsome male “taking” the female and having his way with her – seizing the initiative as it were as well as plots where the female (or male) is submissive and needs a dominant person to take charge. In fact, there are volumes of psychological papers dedicated to this very subject.
One of the most common reasons people fantasize about subjects like blackmail, coercion, bullying, dares, etc. is that such situations absolve the person doing risky behavior from guilt and/or responsibility. “It wasn’t me. He/she made me do it. I would NEVER do such a thing.”
In real life people being forced to do something against their will would find this abhorrent. In the world of literature, however, it is immensely entertaining. Don’t believe me? Forget about anything sexual for a moment. Instead consider murder. Dame Agatha Christie made a fortune off of writing about murder – sometimes very violent murder. As most most newspapers and television news professionals already know – “If it bleeds, it leads.”
In any highly regarded story or novel there must be tension and conflict. There must be a protagonist and an antagonist. If everyone in a novel was a good guy and nothing bad ever happened, it would likely be the most boring book ever written.
Readerman has done an outstanding job creating the most interesting world Emi finds herself in and there are also a good mix of not so well-meaning characters that add conflict and cause situations that challenge Emi. If not, how would Emi grow or find out about what she is made of.
Characters that push poor Emi are the backbone of this most amazing story.
I completely agree. Which is why we have the Dark vs Light contest, to prove that most of us enjoy both sides.
Yes, it’s a good way to get a character in over their head and enjoy watching them trying to get untangled, or not. I’m pretty sure we are all on the same page. There are lots of ways to push characters. CountryMouse’s characters get pushed around, gut-punched, and their clothes ripped off quite often. You should check it out. But those characters (girls) are all fighting over the sexy male antagonist who openly and blatantly takes advantage of them all.
Which is why we have the Storyboard for Naked Fiction!
Yep, the basics of storytelling. I usually start a scene thinking about the conflict and tension. The possibilities flow from there. Still L side stories also can have great tension with things like trust and boundaries. A great antagonist makes the story, Seahawk knew that well. Even in his blackmail story had a good antagonist.
Exactly. In this chapter, we had a nice mix of pushers and antagonists. Even Sam helped to antagonize a bit, lol. Emi may have grown stronger, but then she’s gonna need all of that strength soon.
Thanks Hooked6, I’m flattered. Those are words of wisdom – a story is only as good as the pushers (antagonists). All our stories have them, and I love how everyone creatively makes them shine in this way or that, L or D. Thanks for the reminder!
In reality, the importance of consent between people is unquestionable. The illusion of not having control is very alluring though.
Most of my erotic fiction is catfight, and specifically, girl-on-girl gut-punching stories. Almost always one character bullies the other character then regrets it. I was hesitant to post here and held back on that content until I saw the response. I might revise one of the more popular ones and post it later.
I’m turned off by people really getting injured and violated and don’t like male vs female. So far what I like about this site is that people focus on the quality of writing and I haven’t read anything really gross or over the top.
Alan Moore made a good point that all fictional characters are as old as you imagine them to be. However old a character is, they are old enough to consent, because they live in your head.
We ALL play in the edgy areas to varying degrees. How much and how far we go is up to to the writer (and board rules). The important thing is that we all tolerate each others art, and if something is too light or dark for our tastes then we just skip that story. Or we can make a mild suggestion about our subjective preference, it’s all good.
Hooked6 was probably worried that I was de-teething Sarah too much in this chapter, and when CountryMouse complimented that – he was worried I would keep weakening my antagonists and thus hurt the story momentum.
My story sinwaves between light and dark… and it’s okay for respective readers to worry when it seems like the wave is too far in one direction or the other. Don’t worry. There are plenty of big waves for both sides.
At first, I felt sorry for Emi. Getting in the situation with that bitch Wang and ending up as a naked ambassador, which she was loath to do at first. Now she has accepted the nudity as if it was second nature just to stay out of jail. I stopped feeling sorry for her when she stupidly agreed to the mailgirl contract. That contract gave too much control of her life to someone else. She could have said no and let someone else sign the contract. She was only under obligation with the courts to be the resort ambassador and community service. But now that she allowed herself to get into this mess I no longer have any sympathy for her. She needs to get her spine back and regain control of her life. We’ll see what happens when Su-Ning returns.
It is true, Emi didn’t HAVE to sign the mailgirl app contract. She wasn’t forced like she was when she was sentenced to community service. But I think she had reasons to do so.
Su-Ning helped her immensely during her trial. Of course, Emi could have gotten help from the US Embassy to get a lawyer, but Su-Ning pulled some other strings as well, when she basically blackmailed Wang with information about Wang’s son. This way she forced Wang to drop some charges and Emi got away with just one year of community service. It was mentioned that the prison conditions on this island are extremely harsh. A tourist even killed himself because he couldn’t bear the prison environment anymore. So, Su-Ning literally saved Emi’s life.
I think that’s the reason she signed the mailgirl app contract. She felt extremely grateful that Su-Ning saved her, that she wanted to help her friend with her Resort. It was mentioned that the resort was in trouble. Emi is described as a person who is very compassionate. She is doing everything she can to help her friends. Maybe she is selfless to a fault, but I think that’s one of her most defining character traits.
Thanks Steven. I like to see how the story affects peoples feelings, so I really appreciate this comment. Also good to know that you are looking forward to Su-Ning’s return and that you prefer a bit more spine in your heroine. Yes, she’s in a bit of a mess, admittedly. She still struggles with the nudity and with this chapter I like to think that she’s beginning to move in a more healthy direction, although she is overdue for a rest as she’s been through a lot recently.
haha… nobody loves or knows Emi more than Arthwys. Thanks for sharing your take on things!
ReaderMan
Every Day I check the storyboard to see if the next chapter is here yet 😊…… I know RL is hampering your time and creativity so please don’t take this a a complaint, it is not, RL is more important than any story.
It is just to let you know that even when things are quiet, you have a lot of loyal fans on the board who may not interact much but support you 100%
Thanks for the reminder Richard. Yes, there was a perfect storm of distractions in the last few months, slowing me down. Plus I was hoping to write a quick short story for the contest, if possible. I do periodically make notes and adjustments to the next 2-3 Emi chapters that are in my mind. A lot of the next chapter, but also a lot of the chapter after that. It’s a slow creative process, but I do believe the one benefit of taking so long is I am also growing as a writer. I try to make each chapter a bit stronger than the last, when possible.
Also I probably make too many large comments on other writers stories. I should cut down on that a little as more and more writers join in to the mix. I need to dedicate more time to my own writing and hope that our community of writers will start cross-supporting each other more.
This next Emi chapter is somewhat complicated and ambitious so I’ve been modifying and fine tuning chapter ideas endlessly, but I think it’s fairly settled now. It should be good, and I’m looking forward to the chapters after that as well.
Those comments are extremely helpful and encouraging. As long as you enjoy doing them please do.
Oh I won’t stop. I love the interaction with writers. I just might not overly quote a story too much and instead just talk about what I like and such. A couple paragraphs, instead of a couple pages. Let’s all spread out the comments and support the creative efforts around here. Commenting is half the fun, plus I need to catch up on my writing.
Hi hope everything is going well. Are you going to continue the story?
Yes, thanks. Life is getting back to normal. I plan to write some Emi this long weekend. It will be a while, but I’ll try to get back to regular 4-6 week posting again. Thanks for asking.
Again, sorry for the delay. A disruption to my spare time occurred when I realized that the company that I’m employed at, is likely in trouble. And that I should be looking for a new place to work.
Happy new year readerman.
Can’t wait for your next chapter. It would be fun to see Emi naked and leashed by Liz. They both seem to have some power struggle dynamics in the earlier chapter.
Hope things are looking up for you on your personal life too.
Happy new year Jack. Thanks. Yes, Liz and Emi have interesting dynamics together. A Lot has changed in this new year for me. Ramping up on a great new job and also, gradually, starting to find small pieces of time to write again.