part 3
"I still think it's unfair- I haven't gotten off all day," complained
Jason. The three of them were walking down the hall toward the
elevators.
"Oh I don't know," retorted Mandy, as the elevator- `lift' she
reminded herself- arrived, "you seemed to be enjoying yourself."
"You know what I mean," Jason answered, "I'm still..."
He paused as an elderly couple in fancy clothes passed them. He didn't
think they were likely to approve of the topic at hand. He wondered
what they thought of all the wild-looking members of the Skin Two
convention.
"...horny," he finished, as the elevator arrived. It was empty.
"It goes without saying," Mandy replied, "you're a male, you suffer
from testosterone poisoning. Tuck your collar in," she added.
Flora had put her purple rubber miniskirt back on, along with the
strappy pumps, but Mandy had insisted that Jason didn't look submissive
enough for her tastes. To his relief, she hadn't made him change into
anything TOO embarrassing, although he now sported a boned leather
posture collar, festooned with d-rings. He fingered the straps to see
what Mandy was talking about, and found one that had not been buckled
properly. He tucked it in.
The elevator doors opened, and a fascinating sight greeted them. The
lobby was full of leather and rubber-clad people, of all shapes, sizes,
and descriptions. Apparently, quite a few convention members had shown
up while they were upstairs. The range of clothing and gear was amazing,
too. A few wore nothing more outre than a leather motorcycle jacket with
jeans, while others were decked out in full fetish regalia.
Jason noted one woman in particular who was negotiating the busy lobby
carefully on a pair of unlikely-looking platform pumps whose skyscraper
stiletto heels must have been fully twelve inches tall. With her upper
torso and arms tightly encased in a laced patent leather body binder,
she was lucky to have the support of her female escort who stood beside
her and held one protective arm around her waist.
"Good grief!" exclaimed Flora, "if this is any sign, this'll be twice
the size of last years con'."
"That's because they didn't advertise last year, remember?" answered
Mandy. "It was invitation only."
Jason looked startled. "You mean you guys have been to one of these
before? Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't ask," retorted Flora. Mandy just grinned at him. They
pressed through the crowds lining up in front of the registration desk,
grateful that they had been registered since yesterday. A sign at the
doors into the event area pointed the way toward the dealers room, and
they moved in that direction as best they could through the press of
bodies. Jason was amazed and delighted to be surrounded by what seemed
like hundreds of people, all with an apparent interest in bondage,
discipline, and various fetishes.
Eventually, they arrived at the dealers room, where a leather-uniformed
police officer checked their convention name-badges, to verify that they
weren't just curiosity seekers off the street. At closer range, it
became obvious that while said officer looked tall and imposing in his
black leather state-trooper uniform, he bore no badge, his shoulder
insignia were actually membership patches for the National Leather
Association of America, and his prominent belly was almost certainly
non-regulation. After checking their badges, he tipped his hat to the
ladies, and stepped out of the way.
The inside of the dealers room was positively wedged with bodies-
bodies of every conceivable shape, sex, and size, covered (more or less)
in every conceivable fetishey material, and some that had certainly never
occurred to Jason. The first table on their right, just inside the door,
was covered in pamphlets and tended by a serious-looking young man
dressed in spandex. Mandy took a pamphlet absent-mindedly, while Flora
and Jason ogled the sights. Mandy appeared to be searching the room for
something.
"Well, I'm not going to just stand here," declared Flora, "Come on!"
This last directed at Jason. Jason followed, calling over his shoulder
to Mandy, "Meet you back here in an hour?" while Flora tugged his hand.
In short order, both Flora and Jason were in seventh heaven. The
merchandise on display was the best bondage and discipline equipment,
fetish and bondage-oriented clothing and accessories that England and
Europe had to offer. Every table and booth was chock full of the most
ornate and finely-crafted items, made from polished wood, stainless
steel, leather, and rubber, and not a few substances Jason was hard-put
to identify.
The two of them stared, fascinated, as a young couple representing
Talley Girl Products, demonstrated their wares, which appeared to be
primarily elaborate and expensive chastity devices. The woman, who
possessed an incredibly small and obviously corseted waist, had a male
model to demonstrate on, while her male partner manipulated the equipment
on a woman. The two models were in no position to complain, as their
forearms were strapped behind them to the display framework,
and their heads were totally enclosed in tightly laced black leather
discipline helmets. Jason realized now why the event was restricted to
adults, as the man dropped the skirt from his models waist, leaving her
bare. He held up a complex-looking device, made from shiny black rubber
and polished stainless steel, in front of his audience.
"Now these pants," the man was saying, "are quite a bit more expensive,
but they offer several more rather nice features." He held them open
for all to see. "You see, there is the same silicone rubber dildo in
the front, which is removable and washable, and comes in a variety of
sizes and shapes. This dildo can of course, be interchanged with
vibrating or inflatable versions as well. The rear is where it gets
interesting, however."
From his accent, Jason guessed the man was from Germany, although he
spoke the Queen's English as if he were born with it. He took a card
from the table, as the man continued.
"This device is a short, five-sided anal speculum, built into the seat.
When the pants are being worn, one simply twists the two rings with these
two tools. Once expanded, there is sufficient friction built in that
the rings cannot be turned without the leverage of the tools, making it
quite impossible for the slave to remove."
Jason watched with rapt attention, as the gadget opened, like the
strangely curved petals of some alien metal flower.
"Note," continued the man, "that since the rings have wide openings, the
slave is free to ahh, eliminate through the device, while enjoying the
sensation of having their ass filled and stretched wide." He twisted the
tools, and the speculum closed again. When closed, it had the appearance
and shape of a rounded dildo. "This device is custom made in our
shop, and since it has six curved sections, with softly rounded edges, it
will never pinch or abrade your slaves rear end. Also notice that the
front and rear accessories are joined by an external strap of stainless
steel, stiffening the crotch between them. The reason for this will
become apparent in a moment. There are one or two more features, but I
think it best if I simply demonstrate."
He stepped back to his model, and lifting each foot in turn, pulled the
shorts onto her.
"In the interest of entertainment value," he went on, "I think I'll swap
this for the inflatable version." He unscrewed the dildo and replaced it
with another, nearly identical-looking one, having a short valve stem,
which protruded from the threaded fitting in the front of the crotch.
"A little lube front and rear," added the demonstrator, "and she's
ready." He pulled up the shorts, while easing the steel speculum into
her rear, and the dildo into her front opening. Jason thought he saw a
perceptible shudder run through the model, as the cold steel entered her.
"Now I just turn the rings," the man said, "and she'll find her ass
distractingly full. You need to practice with this, so that you know
just how big it becomes when the rings are turned a given amount. Let's
fill up her front now, shall we?"
He attached a bulb inflator to the fitting in front, and after several
squeezes, managed to evoke a certain amount of wiggling and swaying in
his captive manikin.
"Now... remember that steel reinforcement in the crotch? That simple
addition now prevents her from expelling the front plug, since it is
leveraged against the speculum in her ass. The drainage holes in front,
and wide open rear make it possible to wear this little wonder for
literally days at a time, although we don't recommend it for more than
twenty-four hours. Now then, while it is secure, and can't be removed,
it might still be possible for busy little fingers to relieve their
owner, thus the steel straps around the thighs and waist. Once locked
with a few small luggage padlocks, there'll be no relief from that
direction. That leaves one problem area, massaging through the thick
rubber itself."
He demonstrated by pressing his fingers into the tight rubber covering
the crotch of his subject, eliciting more wiggling from his model.
Jason thought he might have heard a moan from inside the skin tight
helmet, but it was impossible to be sure in the noise of the crowd.
"There is a pocket attached to the front of the shorts," the man went
on, "and extending right down to the front accessory fixture. One need
merely insert this curved piece of stainless steel, and voila! The
crotch becomes rigid and inaccessible."
While several people actually applauded, he stood back from his model,
and began handing out color brochures and business cards, blithely
ignoring the swaying hips and twitching legs of his model.
Jason turned away, and found Flora grinning at him, a brochure clasped
tightly in her hand, and a glazed look in her eye. She leaned close
enough to make herself heard over the din of the crowd, and said, "Guess
what I want for Christmas?"
The next table that really grabbed their attention had another small
crowd gathered around it. When they managed to migrate to the front,
they saw why. A man was applying plaster bandages to a seated womans
head and shoulders, answering questions from the audience while he
worked. "NO, NO!" he said, "we don't form the metal while the person
is IN there, we make a mold of their head, and form the metal into THAT.
You need a negative mold anyway."
It soon became clear that this company was using a technique they
called "explosive metal forming" to make precise, form-fitting helmets
out of stainless steel, that when finished, would fit the owner like
a second skin. The customer he was molding now had asked for a special
version that included a mold of the neck and shoulders, so that when the
two halves of the finished product were clamped on, it would totally
immobilize the head. Flora and Jason stared for a moment, remembering
the fantastic boots that Mr. Dodds had brought during his last visit.
They hadn't fit Flora, but they had fit Jason perfectly...
Rounding the corner of the next aisle, they nearly ran into Mandy.
"Oh good," she exclaimed, grabbing Flora by the wrist, "come on, I've
got something I want to try, er, show you."
Jason followed reluctantly, having just spotted a booth where liquid
latex was being painted onto a bald womans head. After weaving through
half a dozen aisles, Mandy stopped them in front of an undecorated and
rather unremarkable-looking booth. RimaWear Incorporated, declared the
small sign on the back wall of the booth, and one gentleman, dressed in
rather mundane coveralls, stood behind the counter. His entire stock in
trade seemed to be either brassieres, or breast-bondage equipment,
depending on how you looked at it. Dozens of unusual items lined the
three walls of his booth.
"Ahh, Mandy!" he exclaimed as they approached, "perfect timing! This
is the first break I've had all day. Is this the young lady in
question?" He nodded in Flora's direction.
"Hello, Hatchet," replied Mandy, "Yep, she's the one." She grinned over
at Flora. "What do you say love, are you up for some tit-play?"
Flora feigned distress for all of five seconds. "Here? Now? In front
of God, Freud, and everyone? Weelll, okay!"
"Actually," said `Hatchet', "there's a curtain here, we can close off
the back of the shop..."
"Yeah," interrupted Flora, "there's a curtain- we can close off the
back of the shop."
"That WON'T be necessary, WILL it?" retorted Mandy, with a quick glare
at her slave.
Flora didn't quite succeed in looking subdued. "No, ma'am," she
answered. Jason just spotted the faintly amused grin she shot at him
through lowered eyes.
Mandy turned back to Hatchet. "She doesn't know it yet, but she wants
to try them out... all of them."
Flora shot an alarmed look at Mandy, but allowed her mistress to guide
her into the booth along with Jason, after Hatchet raised the hinged
counter top.
"Okay." Hatchet looked at Mandy... looked back at Flora. "Sure."
He took Flora's chest measurement, grunted to himself, and grabbed the
nearest of the unusual contraptions. "Well, she's big enough for one
of these to work... 'ere then, this one should fit," he said.
"Lose the jacket," ordered Mandy. In a moment, Flora stood facing the
rear of the shop, nude to the waist, her face rapidly flushing, and her
breathing deepening.
"You're pierced, that's luck," observed Hatchet. He reached for one
ring, glanced at Mandy. "May I?"
"Of course," she answered.
Hatchet examined the two loops with their twin pearls appreciatively,
while Flora gazed steadily at Mandy, embarrassed, but loving it.
"Nice work. Might have to replace 'em with rings for one of my toys,
though." He fitted the cups of the new bra-like gadget to Flora, while
describing it's features.
"This 'ere is an inflatable bondage bra. Once we've got 'er in it, we
just firm up the back and the straps a bit- completely adjustable, see?
You want it plenty tight, for it to work. It's a good job she's got big
ones, this is no good on the smaller girls. Oh, and if you want her to
keep it on, you just drop a little padlock through one of the strap
holes, this side of the buckle."
The bra was certainly unusual enough. The cups were transparent latex,
which had a slight amber color, but the rest was reinforced black rubber,
with a thick, rounded portion surrounding each cup. A small tire valve
protruded from the back of one strap, and a bulge was visible within
the strap, indicating a tube of some kind. Flora's slowly erecting
nipples and decorated rings were clearly visible through the transparent
film of the cups.
"Now then, the next time you want her to look her best, just
pump it up." Here he attached a small puffer bulb to the valve and gave
it a dozen or so pumps. In short order, Flora's breasts underwent a
bizarre transformation. The black portion framing the cups was evidently
hollow. It slowly swelled and stiffened, raising her tits slightly, and
squeezing them into the transparent cups. Flora's eyes widened, and her
chest began to rise and fall somewhat more rapidly.
"So, and then the next time she's really bad," continued Hatchet, "you
can really put the pressure on." He smiled at Mandy. "Go on, give it a
try."
Eagerly, Mandy grabbed the bulb and squeezed repeatedly. The bra
didn't get much larger on the outside, but Flora's breasts were obviously
being constricted for they swelled forward considerably, stretching the
thin latex of the cups. Flora was breathing rather hard now, and the
flush had spread down her neck to her chest. She remained silent,
staring fixedly at Mandy, who stared back intently, the corners of her
mouth only hinting at a smile.
Mandy kept pumping slowly.
Flora's breasts now bulged absurdly out through the inflated rings of
the device, looking not so much like breasts as oddly shaped gourds.
The bra was apparently putting some uncomfortable pressure on her, for
she winced occasionally, yet the only other signs she gave were a
deepening of her breathing, and opening her mouth. Jason noted that her
nipples were still prominently erect, although flattened somewhat by the
tightly stretched cups of the bra. Feeling rather self-conscious, he
looked over his shoulder to the front of the booth. To his relief, no
panting crowd had gathered to watch, and while an occasionally passerby
stopped to examine the wares pictured in the albums on the counter, they
only glanced at the goings-on in the back of the booth. They might have
been interested indeed, but apparently were polite enough not to intrude.
Slowly, Mandy reached out one cocked finger, and snapped Flora's nipple
through the thinly stretched rubber. Flora gasped audibly, and looked
wide-eyed at Mandy, not saying anything with her voice, yet sending an
unmistakable message with her body and eyes. Slowly, she raised her
hands, looking the question at Mandy, who nodded. Flora looked down,
for the first time at her painfully distended breasts, fascinated. She
reached up and traced a finger over each nipple, shuddering slightly.
When she started to cup each breast with her whole hand, Mandy finally
broke the silence.
"No." She moved Flora's hands back by her side, while Flora bit her
lip. "That's enough. We'll take it. What's next?"
Hatchet deflated and removed the device from Flora, who somehow managed
to look both relieved and disappointed, Jason thought.
"Yes, well, THIS is an interesting line I came up with last month. Got
the idea from a short story in <> magazine." He held up a bra that
might have been right at home on the set of Barbarella. The body was
again made of black rubber, but each bullet-shaped cup had been molded
in clear acrylic plastic. As he showed it around, Jason saw that each
cup also had a thin latex gasket glued to it's rim, and that the
exaggerated nipples molded into the cups were actually smaller cups in
themselves, maybe half an inch by one inch, with small chromed valves at
the tips.
"You'll want to remove her loops for this one," said Hatchet to Mandy,
and began digging through a trunk.
"Damn, where's that lube got to," he muttered. Finally he surfaced with
a bottle of lubricating gel. He lubricated the latex rims and the entire
inside surface of each cup, then fitted them over Flora's breasts,
wrapping the straps around and fastening them in back.
"From that last performance," he went on, "I'd say her tits are more
sensitive than most girls- that's good, it seems a waste to sell my toys
to some big-chested woman who can't feel anything but pain."
"She's pretty sensitive, alright," confirmed Mandy. For the first time
since they had entered the shop she grinned just slightly at Jason, who
grinned back. He knew very well how sensitive Flora was, but he also
knew that Mandy too, could be aroused to a frenzy by breast-play. He
wondered how Mandy would react if he told the man, then thought better
of it.
"Now then," continued Hatchet, "just attach the pump, and have at it."
He had a more aggressive pump this time, the sort of thing used on those
bogus `penis enlargers', sold in novelty stores. As he stroked it,
Flora's right tit swelled visibly as the skin was sucked into the partial
vacuum. Flora moaned very softly, but stopped at a sharp glance from
Mandy. It was obvious from Flora's expression of barely concealed
smugness that she was enjoying the sensation. Hatchet repeated the
procedure with her other breast. Eventually, both breasts were squeezed
out to fill their cups completely, pressing up tightly against the clear
plastic, and forcing them into the same bullet shape as the cups. Her
nipples could be seen trying to swell out into the smaller cups at the
tips of the cups.
Jason glanced at Flora's face. Her faint smile was gone, replaced with
a faint expression of concern. Her mouth was open, and as he watched,
the pink tip of her tongue showed enough to lick her lips once, twice.
"This is where it gets interesting," added Hatchet. "Watch her
nipples." He continued pumping and as he did, Flora's nipple swelled
even further, the areola stretching, until it had swelled to the size
of a finger and filled the nipple cup. In very short order, he had the
other teat pumped out as well. Flora was breathing quite deeply again,
and was obviously in some discomfort, although if Jason had to guess, he
would have bet money that she wouldn't want it to stop.
"There!" exclaimed Hatchet, "A work of art. I should add, that if you
leave them on on too long, you'll get some slight hemorrhaging around the
nipples, although a little won't hurt her. And if you pump 'em up this
much very often, they'll actually increase the size of her nipples over
time. Personally, I consider that a feature, not a bug." He chuckled.
Mandy walked around Flora, whose frontage now had the appearance of a
1954 Cadilac, if Cadilac bullet bumpers had been made of clear
acrylic tightly filled with swollen breasts. She looked at the price
tag hanging from one strap.
"Why so much?" she asked, nonplused.
Hatchet shrugged. "Believe it or not," he said, "they are more labor-
intensive than the inflatables. I have to cast the acrylic by hand."
"Hmm. Okay, we'll take this one too."
Hatchet smiled. "Hey, if you guys are going to buy out everything I
brought today, I'm going to close up and do some shopping myself."
Jason doubted he would be closing, since the walls of the booth were
still festooned with gadgetry and clothing articles.
Mandy ignored his comment for the moment and instead `deflated'
Flora's tits. This time, Flora's look of relief seemed genuine.
"What else have you got?" Mandy inquired, unstrapping the bullet bra
from her slave.
"Well, your usual breast-vices and clamps, nipple clamps... Oh hell,
I almost forgot." He pulled down yet another brassiere-shaped
contrivance from a hook. I don't get much call for these, since not
everyone is pierced."
What he held up looked less like a foundation garment for humans than
one for robots. There were two recognizable breast cups, formed from
chrome-plated, curved metal rods, and like the acrylic pump-up bra,
these had extra space over the nipples. But there the similarity ended.
At the bottom front of each cup was a small chrome-plated device, like
a motor, from which wire leads hung. The whole exotic framework was
supported in a beautifully-worked black leather harness.
"This one was custom- they don't all look as fancy. The buyers moved
though, and I've never heard from them since. I call it the Tit-ilator.
It looked so fancy after the chrome job I had to give it a name."
Mandy gave Jason a long-suffering look, to which Jason grinned.
"If you have some plain beaded rings for her tits," added Hatchet, "we
can get started."
It turned out that the rest of Flora's piercing jewelry was in the room,
so Jason was dispatched to fetch it, while Mandy and Hatchet chatted
about tit-bondage, nipple-torture, and slaves in general. Jason was back
in less than ten minutes, apparently as eager as Mandy to see the fancy
mechanism put to work on Flora's long-suffering breasts.
Once Mandy had put the rings through, she helped Hatchet strap the
gadget onto Flora. Jason saw that the spacing of the rods forming the
cups was closer together on the bottom than the top, and that they
actually supported Flora fairly well.
"Now then," said Hatchet, "these little cranks are attached to the gear
motors, and the position of these sliders on the cranks are set by little
set-screws, see? The sliders have o-rings, kind of like heavy-duty
rubber bands, with hooks on 'em. What you do is, you rotate the crank
around like this, until it points away from the nip." He held up a small
control box which he plugged the motor leads into. "You need the speed
turned all the way down." Next he reached his fingers between the bars
of one cup and snagged Flora's nipple ring. "Now, pull the nipple out
until you can get it over the hook... then pull the slider out until she
can't stand it."
Jason peered around Flora to watch. As Hatchet pulled on the tiny
slider, the o-ring/rubber-band came taught, then stretched slightly,
while Flora groaned. He stared at the amazing gadget as Hatchet repeated
the procedure with the other nipple. Once again, Flora's eyes were
closed, and she had begun to breath heavily.
"Now then," Hatchet continued, "this knob sets the speed, and here's the
on-off switch." He handed the control box to Mandy. "If you'll do the
honors?"
Mandy switched it on, and immediately, the tiny gearmotors turned,
rotating their cranks, alternately tugging and releasing Flora's
nipple rings. Flora moaned again, louder. Mandy shut off the box.
It had not escaped Jason's attention that she left the speed set at
minimum.
-=O=-
By the time they left Hatchet's stall, Flora had regained her composure,
and was chatting merrily away.
"Oh God, Mandy, I can't wait to try these out some more- they're
wonderful! Except... well... what worries me is that they can all pretty
much be overdone, you know? I mean, when he pumped out that bullet bra,
I thought he'd be milking blood- it was really starting to hurt! God, my
nipples are so sensitive now, I wish I still had one on! At least then,
my jacket wouldn't be rubbing and driving me nuts," and on and on in a
continuous stream until Mandy wheeled about and put her finger to Flora's
lips. She smiled thinly.
"Flora. Dear. You are driving ME nuts. Kindly shut up. Or would you
like me to start shopping for a pair of tongue stocks?" Flora silenced.
Jason chuckled to himself, but checked it at a sharp glance from Mandy.
-=O=-
They found the Ellen Schiffer booth near the back of the huge room,
where Ellen was signing autographed pictures of herself modeling her own
fantastic creations, while a pair of drop-dead gorgeous models handed out
her new color catalog.
Ellen was her own best model and was, as usual, dressed more-or-less
head to toe in latex. Her minidress was quite tight, showing off her
undoubtedly corseted waist, and was made in a striking pattern of
diagonal black and white panels. Several dressmakers dummies as well
as the two female assistants, showed off more of her designs.
After Mandy, Flora and Jason had drooled over the vast array of patterns
and designs in the photo albums and catalogs, Ellen came over to greet
them.
"Hello," she said in an amazingly low contralto voice, "is there
anything I can help you with?" Jason decided that if it weren't for
Mandy, he might have fallen hard for this woman.
"Well," he started, cleared his throat, and started again, "well, I was
admiring that dress your model is wearing... no, the redhead... could
we take a close look... thank you. I was wondering whether all those
straps were decorative, or ah, functional."
Ellen looked pleased. "Yes, yes," she said, "I'd be happy to
demonstrate. Cheryl, would you step up here please? Thank you."
Cheryl stepped onto a low platform perhaps twelve inches high, revealing
a beautiful pair of red patent knee-high boots, with at least five inch
stiletto heels. After a double-take, Jason noticed that the boots were
heavily boned, like corsets, making them quite rigid from sole to knee.
Ellen guided Cheryl's feet so that her toes went into toe clips, and the
heels of the boots fit into sockets. She tightened thumbscrews on the
sockets, and Cheryl's boots were now firmly fixed to the platform.
The platform must have been mounted with a lazy susan because Ellen
easily rotated Cheryl around by the shoulders to show off the features of
the dress. It was an elegant, long-sleeved, ankle-length evening gown in
red leather- what Jason called whore-house red. The top section featured
fitted bust cups with zippers, allowing each to be removed. The rest of
the front was decorated with straps and buckles across it, from just
under the bust all the way to the ankles, while the back of the skirt had
a heavy zipper from waist to hemline, which was open to mid-thigh. The
open zipper relieved the size of the skirt section enough that the model
could walk in it. Two more heavy zippers were attached to the sleeves,
which fit quite snugly. The mating halves of the zips ran down the back
from the shoulders to roughly the small of the back. If that wasn't
enough, a row of eyelets ran down the center of the back, with lacing
threaded very loosely between them.
"You see," said Ellen, "by zipping down the back, the sleeves become a
kind of single-glove, binding the arms to the back of the dress." She
demonstrated, and soon had the models arms immobilized behind her.
The model, Jason noted, continued to smile placidly, just like a model.
"Moreover," continued Ms. Schiffer, "the skirt zips closed and becomes
in essence, a hobble skirt, which may be tightened by means of these
straps at the front." She worked her way down the dress, tightening the
straps viciously. When she was done, the model was quite immobilized,
her legs pressed firmly together by the dress-cum-body-binder.
Ellen unzipped and removed the bust cups, revealing the girls smallish
breasts. She paused to cup one rounded tit momentarily, then moved to
the back again. Jason saw that one of the girls nipples was pierced,
with a barbell through it, and wondered where Ms. Schiffer got her
models... he doubted it was from the usual agencies.
"The lacing across the back serves to improve sloppy posture," she said,
demonstrating by tightening the lacing. Sure enough, the models
shoulders were pulled back even further, and her breasts were thrust out
more enthusiastically. Her Barbie doll smile never wavered.
"Ta-daa!" cried the owner, and the little audience that had gathered for
her demo applauded, then slowly melted back into the throng as she
unlaced, unstrapped, and unzipped her model.
"So," Ellen said to Mandy as she helped her model down from the stand,
"what do you think?"
"I'm impressed. I've never seen any of your leather things- it's a new
line for you isn't it? But I don't think my slaves are really worthy of
your talents." She smiled at Flora and Jason, who were trying hard to
look offended. "Actually," she continued, "I was looking for something
dramatic for myself."
"For the ball tomorrow?" asked Ellen.
"Actually, I've brought a wardrobe... I didn't think you'd be able to
make anything overnight..."
"You might be surprised, but it's usually best to take our time."
"Yah. Anyway, I'm sort of looking for something... different...
something that not only looks good... but is stimulating to the wearer,
too. Well, not TOO stimulating... I don't want to collapse on the dance
floor!" The two women laughed, while Ellen dragged out several more
folders of sketches and photographs. The two began poring over the
designs.
Jason touched Mandy's shoulder. "Umm, Mandy? If you're going to be
here a while, do you mind if we look around?"
"Hmm?" Mandy didn't even bother to look up from the design that Ellen
was quickly and deftly sketching. "Oh. Sure."
Jason and Flora headed off, Flora in the lead.
