Experimentation and Exploration
by J. Darksong
II.)
The next morning was a glorious one to be sure. There is no feeling better than bedding down to sleep next to a loving sexual partner… other than waking up the morning after! Still a bit jetlagged from the trip across timezones and all the ‘extracurricular activities’ upon arriving, I slept in a bit later than I’d expected. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to awaken to the smell of fresh hot coffee, orange juice, toast with strawberry jam, sausage, and hashbrowns, all served on a platter, awaiting me.
“Morning, Master!” Velma greeted me sweetly, placing the tray carefully as I sat up, before climbing into bed next to me. “Breakfast in bed. How’s that for service?”
Smiling, I leaned forward, giving her a kiss. “Perfect… just perfect. And no eggs,” I noted, nodding in approval. “You remembered.”
She chuckled. “Of course. I remember thinking it’s kind of weird, that you absolutely hate eggs, and it really stuck out.”
Yeah. I had a pretty big aversion to eggs. Funny story, I used to LOVE eggs. My mom would make eggs for breakfast—scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, fried eggs, poached eggs. And for lunch, egg salad. Even had some deviled eggs for dinner. Not every day, of course, but often enough that it was a go-to food for me. And then… I had a ‘bad egg’. I don’t remember if it was boiled or poached, or egg salad, or what… but it was rotten. It made me sick and I vomited. A lot. When I recovered, however, just the smell of eggs brought back that nausea. And it’s been that way ever since.
After a few minutes of enjoying my lovely hostess-slave’s cooking, I glanced at her. “Wait… where’s your food? Aren’t you eating anything?”
She laughed again. “Oh, sweetie, I already had my breakfast, I nibbled and ate while I was putting your breakfast together. Trust me, I’m fine. Besides, I really just wanted to watch you eat,” she admitted shyly. “It’s… I don’t know… kind of fulfilling in a strange way. Watching my guy eat the food I cooked for him.” I nodded slowly, reaching out to caress her face.
“So, what’s next on the agenda?” I asked her, as I finished, sipping lightly from the mug of coffee. “What do you have planned for the rest of the day?”
“Well, that’s actually up to you, Master,” she replied with a smirk. “I have a couple of ideas, sure, but what we do is pretty much up to you. It’s the weekend, after all. On Monday, I have to go back to work again,” she stated with a sigh. “I tried to get time off while you were here, but I still have to go in for half-days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Still, it’s only four hours a day, and all of the rest of the time, I’m yours.” She smirked, pressing up against me. “I trust you’ll figure out a way to keep ourselves… entertained…”
Well, you can guess what that entailed. More fucking. Lots and lots of fucking. It was the perfect combination—a young, horny guy, inexperienced but full of energy and ideas… and a beautiful, sexy, older woman, full of experience and more than willing to give and receive instruction. We experimented with bondage, spanking, orgasm denial, the whole statue thing… pretty much everything we could think of to try. We, of course, refrained from some of the more… messier fetishes. Neither of us were into scat, and while Velma was game to at least try ‘water sports’ in the shower, it was just too weird of a concept for me to get into.
After spending half the day working our way through the karma sutra, we finally decided to take a break and just relax a bit. I sat down and flipped channels on the TV, noticing as Velma booted up her desktop computer. “Getting online?” I asked, frowning as I saw the end of the James Bond classic, Live and Let Die, playing, cursing softly for having missed my favorite Roger Moore. Velma nodded back at me.
“Oh, you know, the usual. Checking my email, doing some bill pay online, and checking out the forum to see what’s going on.” She smirked. “Oh. And telling all the sex-starved little strumpets in our channel that Satin is getting laid big time by Master Vhel’nth,” she added with a giggle.
“Ah, I see, so—hey, wait!” I yelped, getting up from the couch, and going over to her computer. Sure enough, the sexy little minx had already started bragging in channel about me coming to visit and bringing all of our online play into reality. “You naughty little bitch,” I chided her ruefully, reading through some of the comments. “And with me unable to log in and confirm or deny anything. You’d at least better be making me sound good,” I teased.
“Oh, believe me, Master, I am,” she replied with a grand smile. She clicked another window, bringing up a private chat. “I’m giving ol’ Reagey a nice blow-by-blow description, and watching her go absolutely insane with jealousy.”
I sighed inwardly at that. Reage had been an online friend in the same channel, one who had usually sought me out as a Dom to discipline and dominate her. All well and good, but she was involved in real life, and we’d established early on that things would only be online between us. Not for a lack of wanting, though. She’d admitted more than once that things with her ‘significant other’ were a bit wanting… hence her exploring her erotic side online. Learning that SatinNLace had gotten the chance to be with me sexually and that I’d been exceptional—her words, not mine—had the poor girl nearly foaming at the mouth. She was going to be insufferable the next time I came online.
“You know, you could always join us,” she said casually, glancing at me over her shoulder. “My roommate’s computer is in her bedroom across the hallway. She has mIRC too. Even has our channel saved in her list.”
I blinked. “And she won’t mind a stranger using her computer like that?” I asked, dubiously.
“Naw. She doesn’t have anything private on there, nothing she wouldn’t want anyone to see. And she lets me use it all the time. Besides, I asked her if she’d mind before she left for New York and she said ‘Nope, tell him to have a ball’.”
Shrugging, I took her at her word, and a few minutes later, I was logged in. It’s kind of amazing how easy it was to slip back into that world, instantly comfortable chatting and shooting the shit with a bunch of strangers, typing words on a screen, and sharing my innermost thoughts, ideas, hopes, and dreams. These days, with all the entitlement, and cancel culture, with everyone having an opinion but no one having any tolerance, a place like this couldn’t exist. But back then, during that time… it was the closest thing to paradise on Earth that a person could have.
My usual group started pelting me with questions as soon as my name popped up. Some of them didn’t believe it was me, noticing my IP was the same as Satin’s, and others thought I was home in South Carolina, that I’d just cloned her IP somehow, just to collaborate her wild story. A bit of Q&A however soon convinced them that yes, I really HAD traveled halfway across the country to stay with one of their fellow group members for two weeks. And yes, we have been having lots and lots of weird, freaky, kinky sex.
As expected, Reage was pretty upset at missing out. I gave her a few platitudes, verbally consoled her, lamented the fact that she was in a relationship, blah blah blah. Eventually, however, her noise started to grate on my last nerves, so I bent one of my own rules and used one of her hypnotic triggers, in private chat of course (I would never share something like that publicly with others watching) and made her quiet down. Basically putting her in ‘time out’ until she calmed down again. Strangely, that show of dominance, of taking control of her against her will, was exactly what she needed. Afterwards, she was mollified, in a much better mood, happy to have been disciplined.
After about an hour of catching up with everyone, Satin decided to log off, telling everyone ‘I need to prepare Master’s dinner, so I’d better log off now!’ Which of course, ended with me getting a flood of comments from the others, men patting me on the virtual back, and women expressing their jealousy as well as some well wishes. I was just about to log out as well when a private message popped up.
- GandalfD.Grey:
Heya Vhel!!
I blinked, a smile coming to my face. G.G. was a close friend, one of my closest online, and one that I’d known even before meeting Satin. I’d been a bit disappointed that she hadn’t been online when I logged in, but it seems that I managed to catch up with her after all.
- Vhel:
Hey yourself GG. Finally made it online. I was just about to leave, yanno!
- GandalfD.Grey:
What? NO! You can’t leave, I just got here!
GandalfD.Grey tackles Vhel and sits on his chest.
I chuckled at her antics and typed back an action of my own.
Vhel rolls over and pins GandalfD.Grey, giving her noogies.
Which of course she countered as usual with…
GandalfD.Grey growls and bites Vhel on the arm. GandalfD.Grey bites the darkmeat! YUM!
I chuckled aloud at that. G.G. was one of the few who knew my OTHER online name, the one used outside of the naughty BDSM chatroom: J. Darksong. Kind of cliché, but I tended to name most of my characters with the same initials as my real name, Jackson Drake. Her ‘biting the dark meat’ was her tongue-in-cheek way of referencing Darksong, the guy beneath the mask of Vhel.
- GandalfD.Grey:
So… sounds like you’re hanging out with SatinNLace for the next couple of days, huh?
- Vhel:
Yeah. For the next two weeks.
- GandalfD.Grey:
Wow. Really? She’s finally helping you with your… hehehe… problem?
- Vhel:
grumbles Virginity is not a PROBLEM, Slutzilla! And to answer your question… it’s not MY problem anymore. grins
- GandalfD.Grey:
Laughs Good for you! Welcome to the club.
- Vhel:
Thanks… I think. Still, I suppose I’ll have to think of something else to do after a while. I’m here with her for two weeks. And as great as she is in bed… I think another day or two like yesterday and my dick will fall off!
- GandalfD.Grey:
Hah! Glad I don’t have that problem!
Very true. G.G. was a girl, if that wasn’t immediately clear, and a lesbian to boot. Part of the reason we’d connected so deeply in the past was that we were both in somewhat of a dry spell. Though she’d gotten her V-card punched years ago, it had been quite a while since we’d been with someone. At least, until recently. In the past 2-3 months, she’d met someone and started a relationship. Or, more accurately, she’d met TWO someones. Yes, my friends, my online bestie had herself a trouple, a three-way relationship, her and two other women. And while that might be all the rage these days, back then it was a pretty big deal.
Of course, things weren’t exactly sunshine and rainbows for their little group. Relationships are hard. And even the best ones take a lot of work, some give and take on both sides. From what I understood, G.G. and her two friends were still working out the specifics of their power dynamic. G.G. was the oldest, at twenty-two, just three years younger than me. Missy was a year younger, at twenty-one, and Connie, the ‘baby’ of the group, was twenty. And Connie was apparently from a pretty well-to-do family, and, according to G.G. could occasionally be a bit of a brat. Still, they were all in love with each other, and despite butting heads now and again, they managed to make it work.
- Vhel:
Yanno… I was thinking, maybe we should head to the beach on Thursday. Satin has to work half the day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but on Thursday the weather is supposed to be pretty nice. And apparently, Corpus Christi is really close to the ocean.
- GandalfD.Grey:
Corpus Christi??? That’s where you guys are???
I frowned, answering back. I wondered idly about her reaction, and if maybe I’d said something wrong. I wasn’t in the habit of giving out private information about my friends, but it wasn’t as if I’d given her Velma’s address or anything. Besides, she already knew I lived in South Carolina, and had teased me more than once, having spoken on the phone, that I sounded NOTHING like a black guy from the deep south. Her response a moment later shed the confusion about her reaction, however.
- GandalfD.Grey:
Wow. Dude! I live in San Antonio! You must have flown in from the airport not too far from my house! I could drive to where you guys are in just a few hours… if you wanted to hang out.
I paused, considering that. As close as we were, we’d never had the chance to meet face-to-face. And yes, I admit to being more than a little curious, and she was literally just a few hours’ drive away. When would I possibly be here in this place again? Assuming things continued to go well between Velma and myself, and I decided to come visit her again, it would still likely be several months or maybe a year or more before I built up enough money and vacation time to travel across the country this way again.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. A definite make-or-break decision. I did very much want to meet G.G., or Cindy, her real name, in person. But… I was spending this time with Velma. I didn’t want to just ditch her and go off to spend time with another friend. But I also couldn’t just invite her over to spend time here as well… at least not without consulting Velma. Hmmm…
“Her, Velma?” I called, sticking my head out the doorway. “I ran into Cindy online.”
“Cindy? Oh, you mean, GaldalfD.Gray?” she replied back. “How is she?”
“She’s fine. She’s actually pretty close by. Did you know she lives in San Antonio?”
Velma paused, considering. “Wow, that’s pretty close. Do you think she might want to come over to stay with us for a few days?”
I perked up at that. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“Hell, no! The more the merrier!” she replied with a grin. “And that way you’ll have someone to talk to and keep you busy while I’m at work.”
Nodding, I slipped back into the room and typed out Velma’s proposal. GandalfD.Grey was overjoyed and promised that she would pack a bag and head on over. It was late afternoon, around five or so, which meant she’d be arriving sometime after seven p.m. Happy to have her coming over, but a bit nervous about the meeting, I powered down the computer and went to join Velma in the living room.
“Hey, perfect timing! Dinner’s ready,” she greeted me, gesturing to the table. “Hope you don’t mind, but I made spaghetti. The garlic bread just finished baking, so I’m letting it cool, but everything else is ready to go!” Thanking her again, I went to the kitchen to help her set the table, then pulled out the chair for her, which earned me a giggle and a smile. “I also chilled some wine for us,” she stated, gesturing to the ice bucket already on the table. “It’s not a real Italian experience without a good wine at dinner.”
After pouring us both a glass and sitting down across from her, we ate and chatted with each other. “Velma, I just wanted to ask you again… are you SURE you’re okay with Cindy coming to stay with us?” I asked again. “I mean… I really appreciate it. It will be really great to be able to meet her this way… but this was SUPPOSED to be a private time here for just the two of us.”
“Oh, believe me, Master, I don’t mind it at all,” she assured me. “For one thing, she’s a friend of mine as well. And I’ve wanted to meet her as well. The fact that she lives pretty close by is an amazing coincidence, and I think since we have this chance we should take advantage of it.” She took a drink of her wine. “Besides, we have plenty of room here. Besides my roommate’s room, we have an empty guest room as well. Not that it’s needed, of course,” she added smirking, since you’re staying in the bedroom with me.”
I gasped, shuddering slightly at the sensation of something warm and soft caressing my ankle. I raised an eyebrow as that mysterious something began working its way slowly up my leg, gently caressing my calves, then my upper thigh, maneuvering slowly but steadily towards my crotch. I glanced at Velma, but the sultry slave merely smirked, eating her salad, making a show of plucking a cherry tomato from her bowl, and slowly, sensually licking it, swirling her tongue around and around in an obvious parody of the way she’s used her mouth and tongue on the head of my cock several hours earlier. The object in my lap, obviously her bare foot, began a sensual but thorough grinding against my crotch, slowly bringing me to attention.
“Gaahhh… have you no shame, woman?” I asked her, incredulously, chuckling in amusement and arousal from her antics. “Are you ALWAYS this sexually turned on, or is it just me?”
“Honestly, Master, I think it’s just you,” she said with a wink, curling her toes to pull down my trunks and my underwear, stroking my cock directly now with her soft tender bare sole. “Seriously! I don’t know what it is… but since that first night, it’s like my damn pussy has been in full control, and the rest of me is just along for the ride!” She sighed, leaning back slightly in her chair, which pushed her foot forward a bit more, allowing her to rub and grind fully against my cock. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you,” she added, panting just a bit, her free hand disappearing under the side of the table. “I’m loving the HELL out of this! I’ve never felt more like a servant… like a slave, in my life!”
“A naughty one at that,” I admonished her, grasping her foot, tickling her briskly a bit, making her scream and thrash, her other foot kicking lightly at my legs as she squealed and laughed like a loon. After only a few seconds, I released her foot, which she quickly pulled back, rubbing it briskly along the carpet.
“And you call me the naughty one,” she murmured, still grinning. “Well, our friend will be arriving in about an hour now. Any chance you know of some way we can kill some time until then?” she asked innocently. As if she HADN’T just stroked me to hardness less than a minute ago. Growling, I rose to my feet, moving to the other side of the table. She stared up at me, not the slightest bit intimidated, her look almost daring me to take her and do whatever I wanted. Still smirking, I decided to do just that, grabbing her by the hair, and pulling her head up, not hard enough to hurt but enough to make her gasp. Head raised, I leaned forward and kissed her hard, forceful, and dominant, taking what I wanted from her with my mouth, leaving her breathless when I finally broke the kiss. Dazed, horny, and breathless, she was an easy target as I gently touched her forehead, and uttered the word.
“Sleep!”
Her eyes fluttered then closed, and her head tilted forward to her chest as she slipped seamlessly into a trance. I sighed softly, taking a moment to simply enjoy the sight of her, hard-pressed not to grab my cock and start pumping it then and there. Ah, but why stimulate myself when I had the perfect fully functional sex toy sitting right in front of me? “Listen and obey, my Pet. Open your eyes but stay in a trance.” She did so, staring out blankly. “Now, stand up and follow me to the bedroom. There, you will strip completely and climb onto the bed. Understand?”
“Yes, my Master,” she muttered in a soft sleepy monotone that I was quickly growing to love. Standing up, she obeyed, doing as instructed, stripping off her clothes and tossing them aside haphazardly onto the ground, before climbing into her bed. Still completely hypnotized, she sat there aimlessly as I did the same, placing my own clothes into the nearby chair instead of onto the floor. Crawling onto the bed beside her, I grinned again at my prize. I was so freaking lucky to have such a hot sexy woman that shared not only my interests and fetishes but was willing to indulge them with me this way. And being understanding enough to invite Cindy to stay with us? Yeah… Velma deserved a nice little reward, and I intended to give her one.
“Okay, Pet, listen again,” I said, moving down to her tender bare feet. “Everything you feel me do right now,” I said, kissing and sucking on her toes, gently stroking and caressing her soles, lightly tickling her, “every feeling,” I continued teasing the other foot as well, before moving up her body, “every sensation,” delving between her thighs, licking and tonguing deep in her pussy, seeking out and finding her clit, sucking lightly on it, “you will experience it again, and again, nonstop,” I continued on again, moving on to her breasts, squeezing and groping them as I sucked and nibbled lightly on her nipples, “when I say the word ‘Begin’. You will feel all of those sensations assaulting you as if they were happening to you at the same time… and will continue all the while we’re having sex until you finally cum. Then, and only then, will it stop,” I finished, kissing her deeply, before pulling away to look her in the eyes. “Do you understand my Pet?”
“Mmmm… y-yes… M-master,” she murmured, panting softly, physically aroused even in her monotone voice. “I understand…”
“Good girl,” I replied, gently laying her back on the bed again. Moving into position, my cock just at the center of her entrance, I gripped her hips, and smirking, uttered the command to wake. Just as her eyes fluttered, and awareness returned, I spoke her trigger. “Begin!” I declared, sliding seamlessly inside her pussy, beginning a slow, deep, and heavy pounding.
My girl’s reaction was priceless. Still shaking off the effects of her trance, still trying to parse where she was and how she’d gone from sitting fully clothed at the kitchen table, to naked and being fucked in her bedroom, her mind suddenly registered all the phantom sensations wracking her body. She cried out in shock, partially giggling from the tickles, partially moaning from the sucking, groaning fully from the dicking, and the kissing, and teasing, all of it hitting her simultaneously. She had gone from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds, and her poor confused mind was still struggling to process it all.
“Ooohhhhooo!! Gaaaawwddd!! M-m-m-maasstterr!! Wha...ahahahahahahaa… oohhh! Oohhhh… fuck.. what is happening to meeehehehehe!?!” she managed, groaning, fingers clenching, toes curling. “Godddamn!! It feeellss… it feeellss… like there are… t-t-ten of you… fucking me… at the same t-time!” she gasped, shuddering, feeling the first stirrings of her orgasm about to strike. Not wanting to let her off that easily, I moved close to her ear and uttered the number nine, pumping up the sensations she was feeling by a LOT.
“AAAAAHHHHHH!!! AAAAHHHHH!! MAAASTTEERRRR!! YESS YESS YESSS! FUUCKK MEEEEEEE!!” she screamed throwing back her head, clenching tightly with her legs even as I struggled to keep pumping away inside her. But no, this time she would not be denied, and with strength that Wonder Woman and Supergirl would have envied, she clamped her legs around my waist, forcing me into her fucking cervix, and keeping me there. I groaned, the sensation igniting my own orgasm, and I let go, flooding her with my seed, squeezing her ass hard enough that I wouldn’t have been surprised to find my hand prints permanently etched into her flesh. Several breathless moments later, she finally regained enough control over her body to release her deathgrip, and I slid free, tumbling onto my side next to her.
Glancing at each other, we laughed, chuckling like a couple of kids, kissing each other. “Damn… fuck, Master, you keep finding ways to surprise me,” she said after a moment, laying her head on my chest. “Just when I begin to think I’ve experienced the very best you have to throw at me, you hit me with something completely new and amazing.”
“Thanks… I’ll take that as a compliment,” I told her, sighing in contentment. “Still, I may be setting myself up for failure.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” she asked, glancing up at me, concerned.
“Oh, nothing,” I said dismissively, “just that if I keep blowing your mind this way, you’re going to start to expect our every coupling to be just as special. And believe me, I’m not THAT creative. I’m actually running out of ideas in my bag of tricks.”
To my relief, Velma just shook her head. “Silly Master… tricks are for kids,” she teased me. “And that’s said knowing full well that I’m more than fifteen years older than you! But really, you don’t have to overthink it. You’ve already impressed the hell out of me. I’ve already cum more and harder with you than I have in my own entire life!” She shook her head again, in amazement. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you were a virgin until just yesterday.”
I sighed softly closing my eyes. “Yeah… but this is all because I cheated.” After a moment I clarified. “The hypnosis. It’s like a cheat code. I can enhance your pleasure, make you feel and experience things stronger, harder, or just overall BETTER than normal.” I shrugged. “You already fucked me, Velma. You know how big and thick my cock is. It is NOT a goddamn vibrating baseball bat slamming into your vagina—”
“A fact of which I am really grateful for, by the way,” she added with a chuckle.
I chuckled as well. “My point is… I’m not NEARLY as amazing a lover as you seem to think I am. It’s all in your head.” At which point she rolled over, looking me deep in the eyes, placing a finger to my lips, silencing me. Then lifting her finger, she replaced it with her own lips. Kissing me.
“Do you think that matters to me, Master?” she asked me seriously. “The trick to sex is, at least with women, it’s all about ninety percent mental. The physical part really doesn’t change that much. We’re emotional creatures. You want to make us cum like a fucking geyser, tug at our heartstrings, set the mood, put in some effort, and make us FEEL how much you love and cherish us. Make a girl feel like they are the only thing that exists in the world when you fuck her, and your job’s nearly done.” She kissed me again. “Hypnosis? Messing with my mind? My senses? That’s only really effective because you put in the effort to do this to me. For me.” She closed her eyes again. “I’m pretty sure you could just sit on the bed without touching me and just command me to cum, and I would. But it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as what we’ve been doing all this time.”
I lay there and thought about her words. Really processed what she was telling me. It was pretty damn eye-opening, really, getting that insight. All through college, I’d been hearing about my friends’ exploits, all bragging about how they’d fuck this girl or that girl, about how they’d gotten off, or how this person had sucked them like a vacuum. But they’d never really talked about how they’d made the GIRL feel… how THEY’D raved about THEM, and how the guys had made THEM feel. Granted, most of them had repeat performances, meaning the women must have enjoyed SOME part of it to have them back again… but still, I couldn’t recall any of the ladies they had been with commenting about their men’s prowess.
I suppose you could say that was an important life-changing moment for me in and of itself. I learned what it meant to be a considerate lover. I mean, I wasn’t a simp, or a slave or anything. I wasn’t of the mindset that pleasing my partner was all that mattered, even to the exclusion of my own pleasure. Hah! Far from it. But from that moment on, it became a personal goal for me that any and all sexual partners I had would enjoy the experience as much as I did… that my job was not done until BOTH of us were equally satisfied.
The alarm on my watch signaled the top of the hour, and with a groan, I slipped from the bed, gathering up my clothes, and dressing myself just as the expected car pulled up to the drive. Grinning at Velma, who had chosen simply to slip on a bathrobe and slippers, we went into the living room to greet our visitor right as the doorbell rang. Steeling myself, I went to the door and opened it wide.
Cindy Gardner was not what I expected at all. She was cute, very cute, with a definite appeal to her, though not outwardly sexy. Her deep auburn hair was tied back in a simple ponytail, and her pale skin sported a generous sprinkling of freckles. She had blue-gray eyes and a simply beautiful smile, but overall, there wasn’t much to say about her body… mostly because it was so very much hidden away. She wore a denim jacket over a plaid button-up collared shirt, a pair of ripped blue jeans, and a pair of black leather shit-kicker boots. She wore no makeup whatsoever and had one earring in her right ear, as well as a crystal pendant hanging from her neck on a leather strap, the same kind of necklace I myself sported.
In fact, greeting her with a hug at the door, she noticed the necklace and grinned. “Hey, Darky, I see you’re still wearing the necklace I sent ya!” she said with glee.
“Sure do. And I found it to be very useful,” I replied, idly caressing the quartz crystal, glancing back at my companion. “Oh, but where are my manners? G.G, this is SatinNLace, otherwise known as Velma Edwards. Velma, this is GaldalfD.Gray, aka, Cynthia Gardner.” The two women shook hands, then hugged, grinning at each other.
“Welcome, Cynthia,” Velma said, “and make yourself at home. You can feel free to use the bedroom to your left, if you want to drop off your luggage there. Oh, and we just finished eating dinner a little while ago, but there is plenty left if you’re hungry.”
“Oh, thanks, Velma,” she replied, tossing in her bags and returning a moment later, “but I’m fine. I grabbed something on the trip here. I would like something to drink if that’s okay.”
“Oh, allow me,” I volunteered, walking past Velma, caressing her arm lightly in passing, giving her another smile. I was so jazzed that she’d invited Cindy and that they were getting along. “Do you want anything in particular?”
“Just ice water is fine, really. Just want to wash away the dust from the trail,” Cindy quipped. Returning a moment later, she took it gratefully, swallowing nearly all of it in a single gulp. “Oh yeah… that hit the spot.” Grinning at us both, she took a moment to look around. “This is a nice place you have here Velma. Very sweet.”
With that, the three of us descended into small talk, ranging from the trip here, with me commenting that my voyage had been longer than Cindy’s, who’d retorted that it wasn’t a contest… which naturally drove me to reply that if it HAD been, I would have won. All of which amused Velma to no end. You see, Cindy and I were very good friends… but we were also highly competitive. Both gamers, we had something of a rivalry about playing a few of our favorite games, and who could clear which game faster, or who could get a higher score, etc, etc, etc. Lately, we’d both been bragging about our skills in the latest incarnation of Street Fighter, each with our own favorite characters. And, I had to admit, between her Zangief and my Guile, we were both in pretty high standings in our respective towns.
After going on and on for several minutes, I suddenly remembered there was a third person in the room, one that we had been neglecting in the conversation. “Oh, um, sorry, Velma, we kinda got carried away in the whole gamer rivalry,” I apologized sheepishly. “Maybe we should change the subject to something else?”
Velma merely laughed, waving a hand dismissively. “Oh, don’t mind me, you two,” she replied easily. “I’m not offended. On the contrary, I’m enjoying listening to you two go on. But I was thinking… maybe we should head into town tomorrow? I need to pick up a few things from the store, and we can drop by the mall.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I happen to know they have a video game arcade there,” she added, “so maybe you two can have the chance to settle your score then.”
Cindy and I glanced at each other, both of us smirking. “It’s a deal!” we said simultaneously, shaking hands.
“I hope you’re ready to eat crow, Darky!” she said haughtily.
“Says you, GG. You’ll be the one eating… eating dirt when my character buries yours in the ground!”
“HA! We’ll see about that!” she replied, laughing. “You haven’t faced a talent like mine before!”
“Hmph! Get Lose, you can’t compare to my power!” I replied, smirking, quoting the bad translation from M. Bison. Not to be outdone, Cindy tossed one back at me.
“I’m the strongest woman in the world!” she declared. And to prove it, she rolled up her shirt sleeve, making a muscle, exposing her arm. I couldn’t help but gape, her bicep nearly as big around as my own. Not that I worked out or anything, but my job required the occasional bit of heavy lifting, so I was in pretty damn good shape. Shaking off my daze, I struggled to think of a retort.
“You… you must defeat Shen Long to stand a chance!”
She shook her head, chuckling under her breath. “Pfft. Yeah, right. You know what? We should make a bet on this. Best out of ten matches wins!”
I blinked. “A bet? What kind of bet?”
“Oh, you know, something embarrassing,” she said, tapping her chin lightly, considering. “Something that one of us could lord over the other. Something that all the simpering little girlies back on the channel would just LOVE to hear about you!” I blushed heatedly at her insinuation. “Oooh! I know! If I win, you let me shave my name in the back of your head!” she said smugly, laughing at my expression. “Oh? Cold feet already? Maybe your fighting skills AREN’T so legendary after all!”
“Hey, now, come on,” Velma protested, frowning. “I know you guys are competitive, but that’s a bit much, don’t you think? Shaving your name in the back of her head? Something like that won’t go away after a day or two… that’ll be there for weeks, probably months. Do you really want to go along with something like that?”
Again. It was one of those moments. One of those potentially life-changing moments. The smart thing to do of course was to refuse, to deny the challenge, and drop the whole thing. It was just the two of us trying to one-up each other, and it had gone a bit far. And really, I had nothing to prove. This was all about us having fun for the next several days. Making a silly bet was stupid. And the smart thing to do was to refuse.
But… this was a matter of pride. And… I really was confident in my skills at the damn game. Hell, I’d played it pretty much non-stop in college, both in the arcade and on the home console. We’d held tournaments in my dorm, and while I hadn’t won every one, I’d always made it to the finals, had learned the ins and outs of all the characters, and knew how to counter them all.
Cindy sighed, softly. “Yeah… I guess you’re right,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess that was a bit much. Let’s just forget the wh—”
“I accept.”
“What?” they both asked, turning to stare at me.
“I said, I accept the wager,” I replied calmly and confidently. “As you said, if I lose, you get to cut your name into the hair on the back of my head.” My mouth twisted into a smirk. “But if I win, you let me hypnotize you.”
Cindy blinked at that. “You… get to hypnotize me?” she asked, frowning.
“Yes. I told you a while back that I’ve been practicing it. And I’ve gotten pretty good at it. So… if I win, you agree to let me hypnotize you.” Her frown deepened, considering what she might have just gotten herself into. She seemed uncertain, so I decided to push the issue slightly. “What’s wrong, Chun Li?” I taunted her. “Suddenly you’re not so confident in your OWN fighting skills with something online?”
Mouth twisting into a smirk, Cindy took a step towards me, extending a hand. “You know what? Fine! You’ve got yourself a bet!” she said, shaking my hand. “Tomorrow, we’ll see which one of us is the better Street Fighter player. And whoever loses, don’t come crying afterward.”
“Oh dear god,” Velma muttered rolling her eyes. “Bunch of children, the both of you. Fine. Let’s sit down and watch some TV. One of my favorite movies is coming on in just a few minutes, and I need to unwind a bit before we head to bed.” Nodding, we both settled down onto the couch next to her, watching the movie, the silly bet forgotten for now.
Forgotten, for the moment, perhaps. But not gone. For indeed tomorrow would be the start, the catalyst that led to everything changing… not just for me, but for all of us.