by Van © 2025
		Chapter 4

Next morning, the scene at breakfast was largely (but not entirely) what one might have been expected while watching the second day of the long awaited vacation of a group of close friends.  It wasn't clear exactly what, if anything, was "wrong," but there was an undercurrent of something being not quite right.  Maybe.  And whatever it was, it appeared to be... complicated.

First of all, it was almost as if the younger generation of vacationers were conspiring to keep some kind of "profound secret" from their maternal units.  Also, they were struggling to hide an air of tension simmering just beneath the surface between the daughters themselves.  Eppi, especially, seemed out of sorts... and a little sleepy.

On the other hand, it was almost as if the older generation of vacationers were conspiring to keep some kind of "profound secret" from their daughters.  Also, they were struggling to hide an air of tension between the three mothers.  Robyn, especially, seemed out of sorts... and very sleepy.

Cook was slightly puzzled (and amused), but not concerned.  Whatever was going on didn't appear to be particularly disruptive.  Everybody was remaining polite and friendly... but something was going on.  Maybe.  Go figure.  Cook went about her duties with her usual competence, professionally ignoring the peculiar (but not particularly disturbing) undercurrents.  Cook went on being Cook.

In any case, as the day progressed the vague dissonance seemed to dissipate (if it had ever been there in the first place).

Today, the daughters decided to make use of the gym and greenhouse pool while their mothers sunbathed and swam in the lake.

Lunch was delicious.  No surprise there.

During the course of the afternoon, Enid and Faith went hiking on one of the estate's forest trails while Eppi enjoyed a relaxing nap on a comfy daybed in the greenhouse.

On the maternal front, Nicole and Roslyn went horseback riding while Robyn retired with a book to a well-padded chaise lounge of seasoned teak under a shady tree for an afternoon snooze.

Dinner that night was stuffed pork chops, mixed veggies, and risotto.  Afterwards... eventually... everybody said their good-nights and retired for the evening, dispersing to their individual bedrooms.

All was quiet at Grey Mansion (but not for long.)

The Pumpkin Palace, shortly after 10 PM...

---

"The Daughters Three" (the allegedly clever nickname Enid had come up with for the younger generation of vacationers) were gathered on Faith's four-poster bed, resplendent in their respective slumber-wear—Enid in her baby-blue frilly nightie—Eppi in the tank-top and panties she'd worn all day—and Faith in her blue-with-white-wave-pattern happi-coat, which was ready to be removed to reveal her true pajamas: birthday suit.

Eppi was still sullen about the "abuse" she'd suffered the previous evening, but managed to confine her resentment to an easily ignored pout.  After all, she'd been the bindee yesterday, which meant she'd be getting a full pass tonight!  The issue was between the two remaining daughters, one of whom would be the binder and the other the bindee for session two of round one of their version of their mothers' EAP-game, and Eppi wasn't about to miss that!

The air in Faith's bedroom was electric with tension, or foreboding, or suspense... or something.

Faith, the grinning blonde, produced her pack of cards and handed them to Eppi, the brown-eyed brunette.  She did a credible job of shuffling... twice... then allowed Enid, the blue-eyed brunette, to cut the deck.  Eppi shuffled the deck two more times... then fanned the cards on the bed, face down.

The two active participants made their choices... there was an imaginary drum roll... and they revealed their cards.  The results were:

Enid—Five of Hearts (5♥)!

Faith—Four of Clubs (4♣)!

"Goodie!" Enid squealed in delight.  It had been close, but five is greater than four and therefore she was the Designated Binder!

"Damn!" Faith cursed.  By an amazing coincidence, four is also less that five, so she was the Designated Bindee!

Eppi grinned at Faith in a textbook display of Schadenfreude.  "She's been studying that book you gave her all day," she advised the pouting blonde.

"Shut up!" Faith snapped.  "And I didn't give it to her, I loaned it to her."

Still smiling broadly, Enid took Eppi's hand and gave it a delighted squeeze.  "I'll loan it to you tomorrow so you can read up for tomorrow night."

"Thanks," Eppi grinned.

"That's what I get for being generous with my library," Faith huffed, continuing to pout.

"Shut up and strip," Eppi chuckled.

Faith rolled her pretty blue eyes, then shrugged out of her happi-coat, wadded it up, and tossed it aside with more force than was necessary.  Luckily, she didn't break anything.

Meanwhile, Enid had raided the bottom drawer of Faith's chest of drawers (the source of the stash of conditioned hemp rope Pumpkin had used to bind Eppi the previous evening), and returned to the bed with several neatly coiled bundles.  Eppi and Faith watched—Eppi with a beaming smile and Faith with a sulking scowl—as Enid released the first coil and prepared it for use.

When the metaphorical smoke cleared, Faith was tied up.  In point of fact, Faith was very tied up.

Still supine on the bed, the naked blonde's arms had been raised and folded back until her hands were behind her head.  Then, her wrists were bound together with doubled strands of rope that also tightly looped around her upper-arms and forearms and passed behind her head.  All elements of her bonds were cinched, ensuring none of the ropes could shift around, no matter how Faith squirmed, twisted, or struggled.

In addition, Enid had taken a hitch around Faith's waist, then continued down her legs in a cinched ladder-tie, lashing them together at her upper thighs, above and below her knees, the middle of her lower-legs, her ankles and feet, then finishing with her big toes!

Finally, she lashed/tethered Faith to the bed.  A taut run of doubled rope stretched from the nexus of wrist/arm-bonds behind her head to the center of the headboard, and a second doubled run stretched from her big toes to the center of the foot-board—and in this case "taut" means "direct"... or maybe "not particularly loose."

To be clear, Poor Faith was both tied down and stretched out, somewhat.  She could buck and twist, but not with anything like serious vigor.  Othervise, her big toes would have been very unhappy.  In fact, she could do little more than squirm... but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Eppi and Enid smiled (gloated) and watched Faith's pathetic efforts, Eppi with gloating gratification, remembering the bondage and intimate (but innocent) snuggling she'd suffered the previous evening (and into very early morning), and Enid with justifiable pride in a job well done.

Blue eyes flashing, her cheeks dimpled and lips set in a heartrending moue, Faith glowered at the brunettes.  (The brunettes agreed it was very cute.)  "You've done this before," she finally accused Enid.

"Actually, I haven't," Enid purred, "but I did take a course in Hybrid Network Topology my senior year."

Eppi was skeptical.  "And that helped?"

Enid winked at her fellow brunette.  "Not really."

"Bitch!" Faith complained, continuing to struggle (ineffectively).  "You cheated.  Half of this isn't in the book."

"I combined techniques and extrapolated to create a new form," Enid grinned, "and if you're going to be impolite..."

Eppi and Faith watched as the evening's Designated Binder scrambled from the bed, padded to Faith's chest of drawers... rummaged through the drawers... then returned with a long, thin, periwinkle-blue hair ribbon, two pairs of silky white thong panties (clean), a wide roll of off-white 3M Microfoam™ medical tape, and a pair of shiny steel bandage scissors.

Eppi frowned at the evening's Designated Bindee.  "You keep a roll of tape and scissors in your underwear drawer?"

"No," Faith pouted.

"They were in the drawer with all the rope," Enid explained.

Eppi shrugged.  "Oh."

Faith watched sullenly as Enid lifted a leg and straddled her body, then settled her weight onto her lower tummy.  The Designated Binder's calves were now on either side of the Designated Bindee's hips.  "Horse!" the helpless blonde accused.  "Get off me."

"Sooo impolite," Enid admonished her bindee.  Then, still  smiling sweetly, she wadded one of the thongs and crammed it into Faith's mouth... followed by the second.

"Mrrrrmpfh!"  Faith was definitely not happy.

Enid smiled at Eppi.  "Hold my place, would you please?" she requested.

"Certainly," Eppi grinned, then pressed the tip of her right index finger against the white silky mass, foiling Faith's pathetic attempts to expel it from her stuffed mouth.

Then, with Eppi's kind assistance ensuring the wad remained firmly in place, Enid passed the blue hair ribbon behind Faith's head, crossed its ends across the blonde's arguably full mouth, tightly cinched the ribbon, then tied it off in a doubled bow and tucked the periwinkle ends in among the white wadding.  Fortunately, the tip of Eppi's finger was never in serious danger of becoming part of the resulting ribbon-cleave-gag-with-thong-panties-stuffing.

"Mrrrk!" Faith complained and watched as Enid peeled a six to seven inch strip from the roll of tape, used the scissors to snip it free... paused to smile (wickedly)... then stretched it between her hands.

Ever helpful, Eppi held Faith's head steady between her hands as Enid pressed the strip home and smoothed it with her fingers.

"Good job," Eppi purred.

"Thank you," Enid responded, still smiling.  "Don't you just love the way the tape follows the shape of her lips and mouth?  It's like a bas-relief sculpture.  Very pretty."

"Now that you mention it," Eppi grinned.

Both brunettes, the Designated Binder and the "Neutral" Observer, reclined on their sides on either side of the evening's naked, bound, gagged, and stretched Designated Bindee.

"She has such pretty skin," Eppi sighed, resting the palm of her right hand on Faith's flat abdomen.

"Indeed," Enid agreed.  "And it's even prettier with her beach-bunny allover tan."

"I like it even better when her armpits are exposed like this," Eppi confessed.  "The contrast between pale-pink and bronze-tan is both pleasing and... illustrative."

"Agreed," Enid purred, then very lightly ran the nail of her left index across Faith's right armpit!

"Mrrrrrf!" Faith admonished her binder, her blue eyes wide above her gag and delicately shivering in her bonds.

"Careful," Eppi warned with an evil grin.  "She might be ticklish."

"Oh, I'm sure she's ticklish," Enid chuckled, "but that's not what this is about.  Look."

Eppi leaned closer.  "What?  The hairs?  The teeny-tiny blond hairs?  They're stubble.  They're barely there."

"But they are there," Eppi responded.  "She needs a shave."

Eppi shook her head.  "Not really."  Then, her smile morphed into a truly wicked grin.  "On the other hand... what are friends for?"  She squirmed away from Faith's helpless form and off the bed.  "I'll be right back," she promised, then padded across the bedroom and out the door.

"Where do you suppose she's going?" Enid asked with a wicked grin of her own.

Faith glowered at her brunette binder.  She strongly suspected she knew exactly where Eppi was going... and she continued shivering and squirming, mainly because Enid was continuing to ever-so-lightly explore her armpit with the tip of her fingernail... and it did tickle.

About a minute later... maybe two... Eppi returned with a damp washcloth, a plastic tube of shaving cream (COOCHY PLUS® brand), and a razor (Gillette® VENUS Comfortglide, in pink).

Faith renewed her objections as Eppi climbed back onto the bed.  "Mrrrmpfh!"  She also vigorously tested the limits of her predicament by twisting, turning, squirming, and struggling.  (See also wiggling and writhing.)  Both of her big toes had been opposed to the attempted effort, but had been overruled.  In any case, the efforts in question had been as futile as ever.  It was manifestly obvious that Faith's best and most toe-punishing efforts would do nothing to impede Eppi and Enid's impending depilatory activities.

Smiling like a Disney® cartoon villainess, her brown eyes flashing with Maleficent glee (pun intended), Eppi snapped open the tube of shaving cream, applied a dab to the fingers of her right hand, then gently applied the cream to Faith's right armpit, working it in with light circular motions!

"MRRRRRF!"

"Drama queen," Eppi admonished her ineffectively squirming "victim" as she massaged the cream into the smooth skin of Faith's pink pit.

Enid was also smiling (evilly).  "Funny how something is entirely harmless when you do it to yourself, but suddenly ticklish when somebody does it to you."

"Even when you're ready for it," Eppi nodded, then used the washcloth to delicately clean her fingers.  "I assume you want to do the actual honors," she said, offering the razor to the Designated Binder.

"Most generous," Enid smiled, accepting the femininely styled and ominously pink instrument of torture.  She then proceeded to slowly, delicately, tickle-torment Poor Faith by gliding the razor's five (count 'em, five!) blades across the blonde's smooth, pale, well-lubricated skin!

The countless teeny-tiny hairs never stood a chance!  And they were all only a couple of days old!  It was truly tragic!

Also, as it turned out, the experience was, indeed, ticklish... or at least Faith seemed to think so.  That much she made abundantly clear.

"Mrrrppfhrrrm!"

Finally... after an endless eternity of something like... thirty seconds... the deed was done and Faith ceased her pathetic and heartrending wriggling and mewlingand panting through flaring nostrils above her allegedly "pretty" tape-gag, then glowered at her "torturer."

Eppi handled the cleanup, using the damp washcloth to wipe Faith's armpit.  Fortunately, Faith didn't seem to find that experience to be excessively egregious; however, unfortunately for Faith, her ordeal was only half over.

This time, for Faith's left armpit, Enid accepted the lathering task and let Eppi did the actual shaving.

"MMMrrrfh!"

The second trial-by-razor was just as excruciating and horrific (but totally harmless) as had been the desecration of Faith's right armpit... but finally... it was over as well.

Enid wiped Faith's left pit with the washcloth, the "torture instruments" were placed on the left nightstand to be dealt with in the morning, the Binder and Observer figured out how to work the remote on Faith's bedside table in order to turn out the lights, then snuggled with the naked and helplessly bound and gagged Bindee under the covers.

"We could make a complete job of it and shave her pubic thicket for her," Eppi suggested.

"MRRRF!"  (The objection was from Faith, of course.)

"But then I'd have to untie and retie her legs to allow optimal access," Enid countered.  "It's getting late."

"Point taken," Eppi conceded.

"Besides," Enid continued, "she's already gonna go all 'Wednesday Addams' on us the next time she's the binder.  No need to fan the proverbial flames."

"Umm, another point taken," Eppi purred, then leaned close and planted a kiss on Faith's tape-gagged lips, cupped the bindee's nearest breast (even though it was slightly flattened by her stretched condition), and gave it a gentle squeeze.  "Goodnight."

Stoic damsel that she was, Faith flinched, but otherwise ignored the brown-eyed brunette with the big brown eyes, silly (but attractive) bangs, and grabby hands.  She also ignored it when Enid did much the same thing, meaning kiss her on the tape-gag and lightly pressurize her other boob—only this time the Courageous Maiden didn't flinch.

Smiling like the innocent gamesters they were (if one ignores their status as unindicted tickle-torturers), Eppi and Enid closed their eyes (brown and blue, respectively), snuggled even closer to their fellow gamester (the victim of their hideous tickle-torture crime) and settled in to drift off to sleep.

On the other hand, Faith—naked, bound, and tape-gagged (with double-thong-panties stuffing and underlying hair-ribbon-cleave-gag)—stared up at the dark ceiling of her dark bedroom and began revising her plans for future sessions of their new game.

The Master (Mistress) Bedroom, shortly after 10 PM...

---

Birdie and Rosie had discussed the matter beforehand (discreetly) and agreed to bravely endure whatever Nikki had in store for them during the second session of their revised and enhanced EAP-game, and without demanding additional limits, demarcations, and/or restrictions.  Were they, uh, apprehensive about what might be waiting for them down below in the Mistress of Grey Mansion's Secret Dungeons and Torture Chambers?  Ya think?!  However, it was... captivating!  Despite their trepidation, they couldn't wait to find out what Nikki had in store!  The suspense was... simultaneously frightful and... seductive?  They decided to go with seductive.

There was something else at play.  If they allowed Nikki to continue her nefarious plans without objections, she'd inevitably dig the proverbial hole deeper and deeper, and eventually they'd feel fully justified in dropping the proverbial hammer, seizing control of the situation (and Nikki), and lowering the proverbial boom.  Also, they needed to gather additional actionable intelligence, things like the basic layout of the mansion's Secret Passageways and the specific contents of the various Dungeons and Torture Chambers (especially the Torture Chambers) down below.

Finally, they agreed it was expedient to simplify their nocturnal wardrobes.  Both brunettes had packed full-length summer-weight robes (Cerulean-blue in the case of Birdie and appropriately rose-pink in the case of Rosie) and starting tonight, in place of pajamas or negligees (which they knew they'd be ordered to remove anyway once they arrived at The Evil Nikki's Wicked Lair), they wore their robes (and only their robes) as they courageously (nervously) padded down the dark hallway to The Mistress Bedroom.

Also, if it isn't already clear, the brunettes had conducted a covert and thorough debriefing, sharing every detail of the previous evening's game-session.  Birdie had been the Designated Bindee and had spent most of last night in Nikki's close-fitting upright cage and was only released in the wee hours of the morning; thus, the fact that The Evil Nikki had a hidden camera in her cell and that she'd been the star of a voyeuristic TV show up in the Mistress Bedroom had come as a humiliating and infuriating revelation!  The very idea!

Anyway, tonight it would be Rosie's turn to endure whatever Nikki had planned and (probably) Birdie's turn to watch, and afterwards—after Nikki abandoned Poor Rosie to languish in the cruel bondage and/or predicament and/or torment of the evening—and after Nikki dragged her back upstairs, it would be Birdie's turn to share Nikki's bed and continue watching on their hostess' giant TV (probably)!

Poor Rosie!  But it was only fair.  It had been Birdie last night, so it would Rosie tonight (with respect to the cheeky snuggling and voyeurism (with very minor snogging) afterwards.

The brunettes arrived at Nikki's bedroom, knocked, and let themselves in without waiting, like last night.

Nikki was reclined on her bed and wearing her blue-gray silk robe (also like last night).  This time the Mistress of Grey Mansion was reading a book.  She marked her place, set the tome on the right bedside table, and smiled broadly. 

"Punctual!" Nikki exclaimed as she gracefully climbed from the bed and beamed at her guests (meaning victims).  "I like that in my playthings."

Birdie and Rosie shared an eye-roll, then shrugged out of their robes and draped them over the back of a convenient chair.  Naked, they stared at their hostess and soon-to-be-captor with grim expressions, their arms crossed under their breasts and standing in identical poses of polite disdain... or maybe disapproving tolerance.  Nervous anxiety?  Whatever.

Nikki padded to a large chest of drawers, opened the bottom drawer, and withdrew a pair of her favorite damsel-silencers, the oval panel-gags of chamois-thin black leather with wide straps and bright-red silicon-rubber tongue-trapping and bite-protecting gobstopper-mouth-plugs.  She tossed a gag to each of her guests... who caught them and stared at the hateful appliances now in their hands, their expressions even more sullen.

"Chop-chop, ladies," Nikki purred.  "Make them neat, under your hair, and especially... tight.  And I will be checking your work."

Birdie and Rosie exchanged another annoyed eye-roll, then stuffed the red rubber gobstoppers into their mouths and made sure they were properly positioned and filled their oral cavities to near-capacity, as they had last night.  They then tightened and buckled the gag-straps at the napes of their necks, pulling then tight until their cheeks bulged and the panels pressed tightly against their lips.  They also made sure none of their hair was trapped under the straps or caught in the buckles, as the grinning blond witch (their hostess) had ordered.

It was like last night, was just as infuriating, and this time carried added humiliation of them having gagged themselves.

Meanwhile, Nikki had returned to the drawer, pulled out four bundles of conditioned hemp rope, and tossed them on the foot of her bed.

Without waiting for orders Birdie and Rosie padded to the bed (sullenly), crossed their arms under their boobs (again), and waited (sullenly and gagged) for Nikki to do her thing.

The Binder Blonde started with Birdie... and when she was finished, Birdie's wrists were crossed behind her back, lashed together and to the back of a "belt" of several tight strands of hemp rope that encircled her waist—and the whole thing was anchored by a vertical doubled strand that cleaved Birdie's buttocks and her pussy before being tightly tied off to the belt, directly under her navel!  That's right!  Birdie was sporting a behind-the-back-crossed-wrists-crotch-tie!  And oh-by-the-way, Nikki had tied a series of figure-eight knots in the vertical hoo-haw-cleaving ropes!

This was not the Merry Tricksters' first experience with either crotch-ropes or lady-bit-rubbing-knots.  Far from it.  Crotch-ropes with "nasty-knots" had been a staple of their Cambridge EAP-games.  Nikki had been slightly worried her pussy-binding skills might have grown a little rusty (metaphorically) from lack of use—but it turned out that snugging a knotted rope through a pussy and between butt-cheeks, tugging it tight, then tying a secure knot was like riding a bicycle.  The required muscle memory surfaced instantly when summoned.  Go figure.

Next, Nikki used a second coil to give Birdie a loose but business-like rope collar.  She then tethered the glowering and self-gagged brunette close to the left lower bedpost with her boobs and tummy pressed against the elaborately turned and richly stained and varnished wooden column.

And then (as expected), Rosie suffered through identical preparations for the evening's festivities.  That is, when Nikki tied the final knot, stood back, placed her hands on her hips, and smiled a broad (gloating) smile, Rosie was naked, wrist-and-crotch-tied, rope-collared, self-gagged, and tethered to the right lower bedpost.

Standing against their respective bedposts, both helpless damsels glowered at the Binder Blonde, their blue eyes making their righteous resentment crystal clear above their self-imposed panel-gags (with tongue-trapping and bite-protecting mouth-filling silicon-rubber gobstoppers).

It was a replay of last night, déjà vu all-over-again, only without kimono-ties but with crotch ropes.

Nikki continued gloating for something like half a minute... then spun on her bare heels,...causing a silky flutter of her blue-gray robe, then padded into her walk-in closet.

Courtesy Struggles ensued with Birdie and Rosie squirming and tugging on their bound wrists, even though they had no audience other than each other; however, they quickly found the knotted crotch-ropes directly linked to critical elements of their wrist-bonds were putting a serious damper on their escape efforts.  Go figure.

Finally... finally... Nikki reentered the Master Bedroom, and she was wearing... a skintight black leather catsuit!  That is, she was clad in body-hugging leather from the neck down, including gloves, a corset, and the high-heel, lace-up-the-front knee-boots she's worn with her U-89 costume last night.

By the width of their blue eyes, Birdie and Rosie were impressed.  The grinning (wickedly gloating) blonde was smokin' hot!

On closer inspection the Brunette-Bindees realized Nikki's corset was a fully-integrated part of her catsuit.  It was a different texture and had a flatter finish than the rest of the garment, but the catsuits vertical zipper ran down her front from her throat, between her leather-clad breasts, and right through the corset.  Birdie supposed it made sense.  Otherwise, Nikki might have found it difficult, if it impossible, to don the skintight sheath without assistance.  In any case, the get-up was obviously hideously expensive and custom made, and as already noted... squeezed into the thing Nikki was smokin' hot!

Oh-by-the-way, both naked, bound, gagged, and post-tethered captives noted that the black leather riding crop from last night was back in Nikki's right hand!  Had the bindees been able to confer they would have agreed that the presence of the wicked little whip was very unsettling (as well as ominous).

Also like last night, Nikki struck a dramatic pose.  "Gorgeous," she purred, "don't you think?"  She was referring to the catsuit (and herself) of course.  Nikki then swung the crop, tracing a flowing figure-eight in midair.  Fortunately, as far as Birdie and Rosie were concerned, the swishing crop and its fluttering tip came nowhere near the helpless flesh of Mistress Nikki's wide-eyed audience (although Rosie was the closest).

Nikki then gripped the crop with both hands and twisted at the hips in a sideways stretch... three times.

"Not only is this thing exquisitely designed," she said (bragged), "but there are narrow elastic panels integrated into a few of the most strategic seams.  I have very nearly full freedom of motion."

The post-tethered prisoners exchanged a worried look, then turned back to the catsuited blonde (the one with the crop).  At the moment, they themselves had very limited freedom of motion.

"Well," Nikki purred, "let's get on with it, shall we?"  (Needless to say, it was a rhetorical question.)

The crop now dangling by its retaining strap from her right wrist and smiling sweetly, Nikki stepped to the foot of the bed, released her fellow gamesters from their bedposts, then tied the free end of Birdie's rope leash to Rosie's crossed, bound, and crotch-rope-tethered wrists.

Finally, with the end of Rosie's leash in her left gloved hand and the crop back in her right, Nikki stepped off.  The bindees' leashes snapped tight... first Birdie's... and then Rosie's... and the coffle headed for the open door of the walk-in closet.  Presumably, they were headed for the Magic-Mirror/Secret-Door leading to the maze of Secret Passageways honeycombing the mansion.  Also presumably, their ultimate destination would be the Secret Dungeons and Torture Chambers down below.

The order of march was Nikki (resplendent in her skintight catsuit), Rosie (naked, bound, gagged, and tethered), then Birdie (also naked, bound, gagged, and tethered).

To coin a phrase... the game was afoot!