by Van © 2024
		Chapter 5

Dinner that night was grilled chicken, potatoes au gratin, tossed salads, and a very yummy berry cobbler... but a little melodrama was required before everybody sat down to eat.

As per the orders of her 40-something and kink-tolerant boss, Lorelei did the laundry, including the clothes Fiona had removed when they went skinny-dipping.  (The sole exception was Fi's panties, which at the moment were stuffed in her mouth).  Once the washing machine was going Lorelei went to the kitchen and took the container of marinating chicken pieces out of the fridge to let them warm up prior to going on the grill.  Next, she returned to the stable, untied all of Fiona's bonds except for her wrists and her bandana-cleave-gag (with the aforementioned panties-stuffing) then led the otherwise naked Fiona to The Writing Room.

Kelly was absorbed in her writing and didn't immediately notice the arrival of either her decidedly under dressed, bound, and gagged young guest or her grinning employee.  By the way, Lorelei had found the time to comb and brush her glorious golden hair, while Fiona's pale, air-dried mane was still tousled and woefully in need of proper grooming.

Reclined on the couch, Sky was the first to notice the arriving blondes.  Rousing from her nap, blinking her green eyes, and still helpless in Auntie Kelly's leather fist-sheathes and upper-body-box-tie-push-up-bra-harness ensemble but no longer gagged, Kelly's young cousin sat up, frowned, and objected.

"Hey!" Sky huffed.  "You were supposed to let her go!"

This distracted Kelly from her writing.  She spun in her chair, looked Fiona up and down... and smiled.  "She has a point," Kelly purred, addressing her aforementioned grinning blond employee.

Lorelei shrugged.  "I don't need Cheek's help doin' chores, and she wanted to continue the demonstration."

That was an obvious lie, of course, as Fiona was staring daggers at her handler with cleave-gagged vehemence.

Sky was also glaring (see also glowering) but her green eyes were focused on her naked, bound, and gagged BFF... not that she was aroused by Fiona's helpless nudity, of course.  Sky was only intrigued.  It was perfectly normal.

Lorelei nodded at Sky.  "I need yer special pliers so Cheeks can get Red ready for supper," she said to Kelly.

"Be mindful of proper testing protocol," Kelly cautioned, still smiling her infuriating smile, then opened a desk drawer, produced the pliers in question, and tossed them to her wrangler.

Lorelei deftly caught the tool/key, then beckoned to Sky.  "C'mon, Red," she ordered, then took Fiona by the arm and led her from The Writing Room.

Sky stood, watched as Fi and her handler made their exit, then focused her frown on Kelly.  "We need to talk," she said evenly.

"Later, dear," Kelly smiled, then made a shooing gesture.  "Go."

Sky frowned, heaved a disgruntled sigh, then scampered to catch up to the blondes.

Still smiling, Kelly turned back to her keyboard and resumed typing.

Lorelei led Fiona to the kitchen (of all places), rummaged in a drawer, produced a pair of clear plastic bags, then opened another drawer and selected a pair of hefty rubber bands.

Sky (still glowering) had caught up with the Evil Blonde and her BFF several dozen steps back.  "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.  "Let us go.  You've got the, uh, pliers-thingie."  She squirmed and struggled against her stylish leather bonds in frustration.  "Just do it.  You know Kelly wants you to."

"Hold yer horses, Red," Lorelei chuckled, then once again took hold of Fiona's arm and led her away.  "On the other hand," Lorelei grinned back over her shoulder, "don't hold anybody's horses.  That's my job."  She paused in the swinging door that led back into the main house.  "C'mon," she purred, "Everything'll be just fine, I promise."  She then led Fiona away.

"'Just fine' my sweet patootie," Sky muttered under her breath as once again she hurried to catch up.

Fiona was also looking back over her bare shoulder, focusing on her manifestly unhappy BFF.  Either she was admonishing Sky to keep pace or was appealing for help.  It wasn't clear which.

In either case, Sky thought Fi was being very cute.  Her bare butt was dimpled and firm and her bare legs toned and smooth.  Naked-bound-and-gagged-Fiona being dragged around by her handler was very hot... even if she wasn't Sky's girlfriend... and it was making it difficult for Sky to maintain her facade of Righteous Anger.

Their destination turned out to be the generously sized bathroom Sky had been sharing with Fiona.  Their assigned guest bedroom was just down the hall.

Lorelei and her prisoner crossed the threshold, Sky followed, then Lorelei closed the bathroom door behind them.  The still grinning Damsel Wrangler then extracted the pliers-key from her pocket, turned to Sky, and proceeded to remove and pocket each and every disk-lock/clamp securing each and every buckle of the glowering redhead's leather restraint ensemble.

Fiona followed the disk removal process with naked interest, which Sky thought was also cute, made so by the combination of her BFF's big and occasionally blinking blue eyes and her blue-bandana-cleave-gag (supposedly with panties stuffing).

Anyway, all the disks removed and pocketed, Lorelei proceeded to unbuckle and open Sky's forearm-to-forearm binder.

This allowed Sky to unfold her arms, which was a welcome change; however, rather than continuing to unbuckle the rest of the harness system, Lorelei took hold of Sky's still fist-sheath-encased left hand, pulled one of the plastic bags over the fist and sheath in question, then used a rubber band to secure it in place.  In short, she plastic-wrapped and waterproofed Sky's left fist and its stylish leather encasement.

Fiona watched this process as well with rapt, wide-eyed, gagged attention, and despite her foul mood Sky decided her BFF was still cute.

"What are you doing?" Sky demanded (even though it was obvious).

"Don't want to get the boss's new design wet in the shower," Lorelei purred, "do we?"  She then proceeded to use the remaining bag and rubber band to waterproof Sky's right fist-sheath.

"But... I thought the test was over," Sky objected, pouted, and wished (but did not whine).

"It is for the harness," Lorelei said as she unbuckled the buckles of Sky's remaining upper-body restraints.  "Not the mitts."

"Lorelei!" Sky whined.  Yes, she whined.  She wasn't proud of it.  Whining was and always will be unbecoming of a tomboy; but in Sky's defense it had been a long day and it wasn't over yet.

"Boss's orders," Lorelei added, attempting to justify her complicity in the ongoing testing perfidy.

Sky stared wickedly sharp but imaginary daggers at the Ozzie Gull but said nothing further.

Soon, not counting her leather-encased and plastic-wrapped fists, Sky was restraint-free and totally nude.  She examined her waterproof fists... then resumed glowering at Lorelei.  She considered pummeling the grinning blonde (but certainly not the gagged and wide-eyed other blonde still attentively watching the proceedings) but decided not to.  Auntie Kelly's clever and stylish leather fist-sheaths were not boxing gloves.  She might dislocate her thumbs or break a finger if she started throwing punches.

"The boss will be pleased to hear there are no obvious red marks on yer arms, torso, and boobs," Lorelei said (gloated), leering at Sky's naked, freckled body.

Sky blushed and her glower intensified.  "Shut up!" she huffed, then shifted her angry gaze to Fiona.

Fi was staring back... from Sky's head to her freckled toes.  Sky considered telling Her BFF to shut up as well, but Fi was cleave-gagged (with panties stuffing) and hadn't said anything.

"How am I supposed to take a shower like this?" Sky huffed.

"With help," Lorelei explained, then stepped behind Fiona, quickly and deftly untied her wrists, then turned and opened the bathroom door.  "Get dressed once you've cleaned yerselves up," she advised (ordered) Fiona, then pointed to Sky.  "But not Red.  She stays naked 'cause she's still testin' the boss's mitts.  Got it?"

Rubbing her wrists, Fiona blinked at her glowering BFF a few times, then nodded her still cleave-gagged head.

"Super!" Lorelei gushed and planted a quick kiss on Fiona's gagged-mouth, which did nothing to restore the naked blonde's composure.  Then, with the binder, cuffs, and bra-harness bundled together and tucked under her right arm, the Ozzie Gull made her smiling exit, closing the bathroom door behind her with a thud.

Sky turned her head and stared at Fiona.  (She did not glower.)

Fiona stared back... then reached behind her head, untied and removed her bandana-cleave-gag, plucked the disgustingly slimy wadded panties from her mouth, and tossed the bandana and panties to the tiled floor, well out of the way.  She then resumed staring, working her jaws and licking her lips.

Sky continued staring back.  She noted minor redness in the mouth region of her BFF's comely countenance, but nothing she could reasonably call "gag-marks."  A quick glance in the mirror above the washbasin confirmed that Sky's earlier fears of a gag-marked fate were unfounded.  Her own mouth area was free of red marks from her earlier gag experience.  She was sure Fiona's flushed mouth would quickly return to normal.

Meanwhile, Fiona had filled the glass they used when brushing their teeth, enjoyed a refreshing post-gag drink, turned to her nude and fist-encased BFF... and smiled (shyly).

"What?" Sky demanded.

"You realize I'm going to have to give both of us a shower," Fiona explained.

Sky tried to muster a glower of outrage... but knew she was doing a terrible job of it.  "No," she stated.

Fiona smiled.  (That's right!  As outrageous as it might be, Fi actually smiled!)  "How else are you gonna get clean?" she purred (Yes!  She actually purred!)  "You certainly can't clean yourself." Fiona continued.  "You can't even get out of the room.  You can't turn the doorknob."

Sky gazed at her BFF with a carefully neutral scowl (if there is such a thing as a neutral scowl).  "Well... it's not like I have any choice.  You can do it... just don't do anything."

"I suppose that's a reasonable request," Fiona conceded with a dimpled smirk.  "I promise not to do anything while I do this."

"Okay," Sky huffed, "as long as you don't."

What followed was a long hot shower, although Fiona did turn the water on and off between scrubbing and rinsing to conserve water.  There was plenty of room for the two of them in the stall as long as they were willing to get very close.  Liquid soap was involved.  A terrycloth washcloth was involved.  Shampoo and conditioner were involved.

Once they were wet... Fiona turned off the water to thoroughly scrub herself... then Sky.  The grinning blonde was meticulous, scrupulous, and all-inclusive, the very picture of due diligence, especially with respect to Sky (and one would almost think she was enjoying herself.)

Sky shivered from head to toe as the soapy washcloth slid over her body... all of her body... including her skin!  And alarmingly for Sky, there was something wrong with the soap!  It was the same plastic bottle of Irish Spring® body wash they'd used for all of their previous separate and solo showers since their arrival at The Hermitage—the same brand Sky had been using for years—but now it was causing Sky's skin to tingle... especially between her legs and across her boobs and pointing nipples!  It couldn't suddenly be causing some sort of chemical reaction just because someone else was using it on her, right?  That would be ridiculous... as well as inexplicable and worrisome.

Anyway, Fiona did a very thorough job of getting both of them very clean... and she took her time doing it.  Finally, she turned off the water for the last time, then used a big fluffy towel in yet another attractive Native American pattern to thoroughly dry their bodies and hair.  Sky reflected that Fiona was conducting her joint grooming responsibilities with due diligence.  She also reflected that her Auntie Kelly made good use of "Indian" accessories.  Horse blankets, human blankets, towels, throw pillows, etc., etc.; however, she didn't get carried away and all the items were top notch and perfect fit with the Western decor.

Drying Sky's red mop didn't take more than a vigorous toweling and quick brush-out, but dealing with Fiona's long, golden tresses required advanced technology and more effort.  Sky sat on the commode and watched as the hand-dryer whirred and her naked BFF (and shower-mate) used the brush and comb to finally restore her hair to its normal flaxen glory.

Sky gazed down at her leather-encased but no longer plastic-protected fists.  As far as she could tell little if any water had made it past the rubber bands securing the clear plastic bags, but she really didn't care... unless it made Auntie Kelly decide they had to redo the test.  That would be bad.  Anyway, she lifted her gaze to watch as Fiona finished primping.

Fiona put the brush and comb in their proper place, then turned and smiled (shyly) at her BFF.

"Believe it of not," Fi said, "Lorelei thinks you and I are girlfriends."  A delicate rose-pink blush colored her prominent and notoriously attractive cheeks.

"Auntie Kelly says the same thing," Sky nodded.  Her own cheeks felt a little warm, but decided it was probably just an aftereffect of the hot shower.

"It's ridiculous, of course," Fi stated.

"Of course," Sky agreed.  "Let's get dressed.  I'm hungry."

"Me too," Fiona agreed as she led the way from the bathroom, but her smile turned somewhat coy as they entered their shared bedroom.  "Only I will be getting dressed, of course, seeing as how your 'Auntie' insists that all of her test subjects have to be naked."

"That doesn't mean we have to go along," Sky huffed.

"Lorelei explicitly ordered me to make sure you stay naked," Fiona grinned, "and Kelly talked about being 'mindful of proper testing protocol,' remember?  What choice do we have?  By the way, I think Lorelei likes your freckles."

Sky did not grin.  She would have clenched her fists, of course, but they were already clenched.

"Besides," Fiona continued, "You don't really want to disappoint your Auntie Kelly, do you?"

Sky scowled at her smiling BFF and alleged girlfriend for several heartbeats... then heaved a sigh.  "No," she admitted, sat on her bed, and watched as her BFF put on clean underwear, jeans, a tank-top, and blouse... then stepped into her camp moccasins.

"Let's go eat," Fi suggested (still smiling her beautiful and infuriating smile).

And they did.

The menu was, indeed, grilled chicken, potatoes au gratin, tossed salads, and a very yummy berry cobbler.  Kelly, Lorelei, and Fiona all shared the responsibility of forking or spooning Sky's share of the meal into her pouting mouth.

As far as Sky was concerned, the only good thing aside from the food (especially the berry cobbler), was that none of her fully-dressed dinner companions were openly gloating, mocking her nudity, making snide comments about her red hair and freckles, or laughing at her inability to feed herself... not that Sky couldn't tell that they were all brazenly enjoying her nakedness and semi-helplessness, even Fiona!

It was infuriating, and the way her BFF kept stealing glances at her and blushing when she got caught doing so, it was... mildly discombobulating.

When the evening approached bedtime Sky demanded (meaning she begged but didn't whine) for the leather fist-sheath test to end, but Kelly shook her head and said she'd remove her stylish creations in the morning.

Fiona blinked her big blue eyes and watched the exchange.  Obviously, if the test was to continue, and apparently it was, she was going to have to be her BFF's caretaker for the entire night; however, it was unclear whether she considered this to be a problem.

Lorelei openly gloated (or smiled, anyway).

"Fine.  Goodnight," Sky huffed, then focused on Fiona.  "Bathroom," she ordered, then stomped (padded) away.

"Goodnight," Fiona wished Kelly and Lorelei, then scampered in her naked BFF's wake.

"Goodnight!" Auntie Kelly and her grinning employee called in unison after their retiring guests.

Sky did, indeed, need Fi's help brushing her teeth and completing the rest of her evening ritual... and that included stoically tolerating Fiona use of a wet washcloth to scrub her crotch region after her evening tinkle.  The blushing redhead then watched (and pouted) as Fiona completed her own bedtime preparations.  (The bathroom door was closed, so Sky had no choice but to stand and watch.)

Finally, Fiona opened the bathroom door, smiled, and motioned for Sky to precede her to the bedroom.

Smoldering with Righteous Anger, Sky stomped (padded) down the hallway, waited for her all-too-literal handler to open the bedroom door, stomped (padded) across the threshold, then sat on her neatly made bed and pouted as Fiona followed, closing the door behind them.

Sky continued pouting—although she knew it was unfair to blame her BFF (and alleged girlfriend) for her continuing test subject status—and watched as Fiona undressed for bed.  She considered saying something about the situation (meaning the girlfriend issue), but didn't.  Chicken! she mentally admonished herself, but still couldn't find the courage to bring up the subject.

Fiona had removed her boots and socks... then her jeans... then the Western work-shirt she'd borrowed from Auntie Kelly's wardrobe—when suddenly there was a single sharp knock at the bedroom door and the portal immediately swung open!  The Evil Ozzie Gull had arrived!

"Good, yer almost ready!" Lorelei said as she entered the bedroom (uninvited).  She was still wearing the cowgirl/wrangler/roustabout outfit she'd worn all day (except when she went skinny-dipping with Fiona), was smiling (as always), and carrying a medium-size gym-bag.

"What are you doing here?" Sky-Fi demanded in unison—then focused on each other and said "Jinx!" (also in unison), followed by "Double-jinx!" (also in unison).  Then, they jointly decided to drop the issue of the inherent unluckiness of simultaneous commentary and resumed staring at the grinning blond intruder.

Still sitting on her bed, Sky was both staring and glowering.

Fiona, on the other hand, was staring and blinking, with her left arm across her breasts and her right palm covering her crotch area.

Sky rolled her eyes.  She had no idea why her BFF/girlfriend was bothering with a show of modesty.  After all, she was still wearing her panties, bra, and tank-top and had spent most of the afternoon more-or-less naked.  At the moment, Sky was the one who was naked (not counting her fist-sheathes).

"It's demonstration time!" Lorelei explained as she unzipped the gym-bag and dumped its contents on the floor.  "Tonight's lesson will be... Our Friend the Hogtie."  The contents in question were an alarmingly large number of neatly coiled bundles of thin, twisted, and (hopefully) conditioned hemp rope!

Both halves of Sky-Fi stared at the ominous pile of brown bundles in abject horror (with a side of apprehensive interest).

"T-the hogtie?" Fiona gasped.

"No!" Sky growled, staring daggers at the Aussie blonde with all the rope.

"Yes!" Lorelei gushed as she stooped, selected a bundle, stood, and casually strolled in Fiona's direction.

Fiona was still blinking.  "B-but... it's bed-time!"

"Oh, please," Lorelei laughed.  "You shelias have been loungin' around most of the day.  You'll still get yer beauty sleep.  I promise."

"No!" Fiona whined (and yes, she definitely whined).

"Yes," Lorelei countered, then tossed the hemp coil on Fiona's bed, spun her fellow blonde around, pulled Fi's tank-top over her head, then unclasped and removed her bra!  Next, she picked up the rope and quickly prepared it for use.  "Off with the panties," she ordered, still smiling.

Sky was disgusted.  Not only had her BFF/girlfriend not even tried to resist being rendered topless, but now she was meekly following orders and pulling down her panties, stepping free, and tossing them atop her other removed clothing.  Fiona was now nude (see also naked, clothing-free, and in-the-buff).  Sky briefly considered erupting from the bed and using her formidable (and nonexistent) martial arts skills to pummel and swing-kick Lorelei to unconsciousness... but instead decided to just sit back and watch the show.

Meanwhile, Lorelei had crossed Fiona's wrists behind her back and used the rope to bind them together, cinching the bindings in every possible way.  She still had sufficient free ends to spin Fiona around until they were face-to-face, pull the free ends around her waist from either side, and tie them together across Fiona's bellybutton with another of her unknown fisherman's knots.  The Ozzie Gull then returned to the pile, selected several hemp coils, and (alarmingly) strolled in Sky's direction.

"Over here, Cheeks," Lorelei ordered as she dropped all but one of the bundles on the bed and prepared the remaining coil for use.  "Watch closely," she added, apparently addressing her fellow blonde.  "This will be on the test."

Once again, Fiona followed Lorelei's orders.  She padded to Sky's bed, blinked her blue eyes several times, and watched.

"What are you gonna do?" Sky demanded.

"I told ya, Red," Lorelei purred, "Our Friend the Hogtie."  She then proceeded to do just that.  It took a while, but when the proverbial dust settled, Sky was on her stomach and was, indeed, hogtied, and she let Lorelei do it... and she didn't really understand why.

Details: Sky's wrists were tied together, as were her elbows, knees, and ankles.  Also, a rope harness pinned her upper arms to her sides, passing above and below her breasts and yoking her shoulders.  And oh-by-the-way, the hogtie was stringent!  Sky's heels rested on her leather-encased fists, and the ropes enforcing the hogtie included the nexus of the upper-body-harness, thus pulling her shoulders back and bending her spine as if she was a tautly strung bow!  If Sky had been on a hard surface like the floor instead of the comfortably firm mattress, she would have been balancing on her tummy with her bound knees and bare breasts lifted in the air and rocking back and forth like a teeter-totter!

"There," Lorelei said as she finished tying the last knot.  "That's more or less the way I tied ya during the standing demonstration in the stable this afternoon." she said to Fiona, "only this time with the addition of the hogtie elements."  She ran her right index finger along the tightly wrapped multiple strands linking the back of Sky's rope harness to the nexus of her wrist and ankle ropes.  "You have to be careful not to make everything too tight before you do the hogtie," she lectured, "but that comes with experience.  Also..."  She pointed at Sky's encased fists.  "Note how even if her pesky little fingers were free, Red still wouldn't be able to untie any of my knots.  They're all out of reach.  Ya see?"

Her blue eyes wide as the proverbial saucers, Fiona nodded (and idly tugged on her crossed and bound wrists).

"That's a 'Western' or 'straight-stick' hogtie," Lorelei purred, then slapped what was exposed of Sky's closest butt-cheek.  Smack!

"Ow!" Sky complained, and watched as Lorelei took Fiona (aka Cheeks) by the arm and led her back to her bed, pausing on the way to pick up all but two of the remaining bundles of rope.  She then "helped" Fiona onto her bed with a firm but gentle shove.

"Hey!" Fiona complained as she bounced on the mattress.

Lorelei shifted her smile to Sky (who glowered back).  "Now it's yer turn to pay attention.  I'll try and keep outta yer way."  She then selected a coil of rope and prepared it for use.

When once again the proverbial dust settled...

Fiona was also hogtied; however, Lorelei had used a different technique.  Her fellow blonde's ankles were crossed, like her wrists, and Fi's heels were cupped in the palms of her hands.  There was an upper-body harness that yoked her shoulders and passed above and below her breasts, but unlike Sky's version, her upper-arms weren't included in the arrangement and therefore weren't pressed against her torso.  Also, while Fiona's knees weren't tied together, each ankle was lashed to its respective thigh in the manner of a frog-tie!  Finally, just as with Sky's Western or straight-stick hogtie, multiple taut strands linked Fiona's hogtie-nexus to her harness nexus, arching Fiona's back in the same manner as Sky's strung bow pose.  In other words, Fiona's hogtie was just as stringent as Sky's!

"Okie-dokie," Lorelei said (gloated), "you can commence yer 'Courtesy Struggles' now."

Both naked and hogtied captives stared at their grinning captor and blinked... several times.

"What?" Sky said finally.

Still smiling, Lorelei rolled her eyes as she strolled to the gym-bag, stooped and unzipped an end pocket, pulled something out and stuffed it in the right rear pocket of her jeans, reached back in and pulled something else out, then stood erect and strolled towards Sky.

"I can tell the pair of ya have a woefully inadequate education in the Bondage Arts," she chuckled.  "I take it yer both self-taught?"

Sky opened her mouth to deliver a scathing comeback (as soon as she thought of one), but—"Mrrrfh!"—was too late.  Lorelei had stuffed a rubber ball into her mouth, then tightened its attached strap and secured its buckle at the nape of her neck, tight enough to make her freckled cheeks bulge!  Sky was ball-gagged!  It had happened so fast she couldn't be sure, but she believed the spherical plug now more-or-less filling her mouth to near capacity was black and the rather narrow strap brown.  She assumed it was another stylish accessory from the Auntie Kelly Collection.  Her elderly cousin seemed to favor the look of the black/brown combination.  "Mrmpfh!" she remarked, tossing her head, trying to work her jaws, and generally struggling furiously.

Meanwhile, Lorelei was striding towards Fiona's bed and pulling a second ball-gag out of her rear pocket.  It definitely was black and brown.

"Lorelei!" Fiona whined, immediately followed by "Mrrrm!" as Lorelei deftly stuffed the ball into her mouth and threaded the strap's buckle at the nape of her neck!  She freed Fi's long blond locks, then tightened and secured the buckle.  Fiona was now ball-gagged, making her cheeks even more prominent.  "Mrrrm!" she reiterated.  Obviously, Fi was in complete agreement with her BFF.  Fiona did not want to be gagged!

Unfortunately, Lorelei wasn't finished.  She returned to the gym-bag, unzipped the pocket at the opposite end from the now empty pocket that had held the ball-gags, and extracted a roll of wide, off-white medical tape, followed by a shiny pair of stainless steel bandage scissors!

"Nrrrf!" Sky objected as Lorelei returned to her bed, sat, used the scissors to free a six or seven inch strip of tape from the roll, then stretched and plastered it over Sky's ball-gagged mouth, covering most of the glowering ginger tomboy's lower face and double-gagging her!  "Mrrrmpfh!" Sky complained in a somewhat reduced volume.

Lorelei then sauntered to Fiona's bed and repeated the double-gagging process!  "Mrrrrrf!"  The volume of Fiona's garbled remarks was also diminished.

"Don't get all huffy on me, Cheeks," Lorelei purred as she returned the tape and scissors to their gym-bag pocket, then picked up one of the two remaining coils of hemp and strolled to Sky's bed.  "I'm doin' ya both a big favor with the tape," she explained (claimed).  "Ball-gags makes ya drool, the tape keeps it all in.  All ya have to do is swallow.  Nobody likes sleepin' on a wet spot."

She has a point, Sky silently and begrudgingly conceded, then her green eyes widened.  Wait!  'Sleepin'?!  She's gonna leave us like this?  "Mrrrrrf!"

Lorelei ignored Sky's objection.  She was busy uncoiling the rope, finding its center, and threading the resulting loop through the nexus of the hogtie.  She then formed and tightened what Sky assumed was a lark's head or cow hitch, tossed one free end towards the headboard, then carried the other to the foot of the bed.

Both beds were solidly made of peeled pine that went perfectly with the rustic log cabin decor of The Big House.  Fiona watched as Lorelei took a couple of turns around the center of Sky's bed's hefty horizontal foot-rail... then tied a tight, redundant knot.

Sky, in her hogtied condition and facing the headboard, couldn't see exactly what was happening, but she felt the rope grow taut... or semi-taut.  She had a front row seat, however, when Lorelei strolled into view, looped the rope's remaining free end around the center of the headboard, and tied one of her complicated fisherman's knots.  Sky was now somewhat loosely tethered in place on the bed.  She might be able to roll onto her side in either direction, but she wouldn't be squirming more than a very few inches from her current location on the mattress.

Apparently satisfied with her efforts to confine Sky to her bed, Lorelei strolled towards Fiona and her bed, pausing en route to gracefully stoop and retrieve the final bundle of coiled, thin, conditioned hemp rope.  She then proceeded to tether her hogtied fellow blonde to her bed in the exact same manner as she had Sky.

Both naked, hogtied, and double-gagged damsels safely secured, Lorelei tossed the now empty gym-bag off to the side and away from the center of the room.  She then sauntered to the bedroom door ( rolling her hips in an irritating and arguably seductive manner), opened it, and paused in the threshold (still smiling her irritating and arguably seductive smile).

"That should hold ya," she stated.

No kidding, Sky thought, glowering at the grinning Aussie.

Loreli focused her infuriating smile on Sky.  "Of course, Red, since yer testin' the boss' mittens ya couldn't possibly untie yer girlfriend."  She shifted her gorgeous grin to Fiona.  "And I could have brought a roll of duct-tape to wrap up yer frisky fingers, Cheeks, so ya couldn't do any untyin' either, but tetherin' ya both to yer beds also solves the problem.  The real worry was you two tryin' to get off yer beds and wiggle together.  Ya might have hurt yerselves, and now ya can't.  Anyhoo, g'night!  I'll leave the lights on so you can watch each other struggle."  She took a step into the hallway, closed the door—Thud!—and was gone.

Sky blinked and stared at the closed door... then turned her head to gaze at her BFF... who was naked, hogtied, more-than-adequately-gagged, and gazing back at her with her big, blue, blinking eyes... and had never looked more helpless... or beautiful.  Sky wanted to reassure her BFF that she wasn't her "girlfriend," no matter what The Evil Ozzie Gull might have said, but was distracted by the inexplicable tingle rippling between her legs.  It was the same thing that had happened in the shower... only this time she couldn't blame in on faulty Irish Spring™ body wash.  It was... puzzling.

The redheaded prisoner wiggled, squirmed, and generally struggled to escape Lorelei's bondage... and failed.  Is that what she meant by 'Courtesy Struggles'? Sky wondered.  It seemed inappropriate, as Sky wasn't feeling courteous about much of anything.

	◄		Chapter 4		Chapter 6		►