by Van ©2021
		Chapter 4

The avian dawn chorus was in full voice and the sun was seriously threatening to peek above the eastern horizon.  It was time!

Teams Alice and Chelsea bounded out of bed and made their morning preparations.  Ivy's teammates and alleged friends had released her from her bed-bondage sometime after midnight, which made bounding considerably easier; however, Alice and Betty had continued sharing her bed after untying her, so Team Alice's bounding was a group activity.  Team Chelsea probably had a slight edge in terms of the brightness of eyes and bushiness of their proverbial tails, but both teams were ready to compete.

Bikini-clad and hungry for breakfast (among other things), the Bondage Olympians descended on the kitchen like a nearly naked flock of ravenous seagulls.  Paige's bacon, sausages, fresh fruit, toast, eggs-to-order, dark-roast coffee, English breakfast tea, and fresh-squeezed California orange juice never stood a chance.  The girls enjoyed a hearty meal... but not too hearty. 

Hunger satisfied, they helped Paige with the clean up, then hurried out to the covered porch overlooking the pool and clustered around an easel covered by a very pretty floral-pattern cloth, predominately in shades of green and purple.

Paige grasped the cloth, and paused.  "Before we begin—"

"Here we go again," Ripley interrupted.  Both teams rolled their eyes in agreement.  They also smiled.

Paige was not amused.  She favored Ripley with her best more-disappointed-than-angry expression for three seconds... then continued.  "The competitors will now recite the Bondage Olympic Motto."  She flipped the cloth, revealing a cork board with two sheets of paper tacked in place.  The top sheet read:  "FASTER!  STRONGER!  TIGHTER!"

"Faster, stronger, tighter," the six competitors muttered.

"We can do this all day," Paige warned.

Both teams took the hint and repeated the motto with greater enthusiasm.  "Faster!  Stronger!  Tighter!"

"That'll have to do," Paige sighed, shaking her head.  "Now, unless there are any objections, we'll waive the rest of the opening ceremony and move on to the first event."

Teams Alice and Chelsea responded with loud clapping, vociferous cheers, and irritatingly enthusiastic whistles.

Paige rolled her eyes and smiled, then ripped the motto sheet from the board, balled it up, and expertly tossed it into the nearby fire pit.

The contestants applauded politely, then surged forward and focused intently on the second sheet of paper, now fully revealed.

	St. Ignatius Island Bondage Olympics EVENT #1:  BIND & ESCAPE
		●  One Binder and one Bindee will be randomly chosen from each team. ●  Each Binder will bind and gag the Bindee of the opposing team. ●  Materials used will be of the Head Umpire's choosing. ●  The bound and gagged Bindees will then proceed to escape. ●  The first Bindee to escape wins. ●  Points will be awarded to the Binders for style and originality. ●  Bindees will be able to earn BONUS POINTS!     (...in a manner to be revealed after the Binders have finished their work).

"This is pretty simple," Sophie observed as the group read the rules.

"You're pretty simple," Ripley responded.  "It's the first event.  Of course its simple."

"What about this 'bonus point' thing?" Ivy inquired, and the bikini-clad group turned to Paige.

Paige smiled.  "In a manner to be revealed after the binders have finished their binding efforts," she quoted.

Chelsea shrugged and turned to Ivy.  "When she's mysterious, she's mysterious."

"I still say it's simple," Sophie muttered.

Betty leaned close and whispered in Sophie's left ear (loud enough to be heard by the group).  "Now might be a very good time to tell the Head Umpire how grateful and impressed you are by her hard work and creativity."

Sophie blinked, then turned and directed her most winning, dimpled smile to Paige.  "I'm grateful and impressed by your hard work and creativity."

"Thank you, dear," Paige purred, then reached into her jeans pocket and produced a six-sided die.  She cupped the die in her freckled hands, gave it a shake... then slammed it down on the surface of a nearby table.  "Six!" she announced (unnecessarily).  "The Team Alice Binder is... Ivy."

"Yeah!" Ivy celebrated, smiling broadly and performed a bikini-clad, entertaining (and mildly irritating) little dance.

Paige rolled the die again.  "Two!  The Team Chelsea Binder is... Chelsea."

Chelsea smiled her trademark dimpled, sly smile.

Paige rolled the die a third time.  "Five!  The Team Chelsea Bindee is... Sophie."

Sophie's response was decidedly less enthusiastic.  "Wonderful," she muttered.  (It was very cute.)

Paige rolled the die the final time.  "Three!  The Team Alice Bindee is... Alice."

"I demand a re-roll!" Alice huffed.

"On what grounds?" Paige inquired with a smile.

"Uh..."  Alice blinked uncertainly.  "'Cause I don't like the result?  Wait, how are you rolling this, anyway?  How do we know that d-six isn't just a prop?"

Paige pocketed the die in question as she answered.  "Team order is alphabetical by last name.  So, with respect to a Binder roll, it's one and two for the first name, three and four for the second name, and five and six for the third name.  Bindee roll is the same, except the pool of remaining contestants is reduced to two for each team.  Therefore, it's one to three for the first name—"

"Okay, okay," Alice conceded.  "Let's get on with it."

"Don't worry, sis," Chelsea said (smiling sweetly), "I'll be gentle."

Everybody laughed (except Alice) as Paige led the group to a cluttered side table covered with a large, decorative cloth identical in pattern and color to the cloth that had been covering the cork board and easel.  She pulled back the cloth, revealing: (1) a small cardboard box containing a half dozen red balls of medium density foam (Nerf balls); (2) four new rolls of off-white, Microfoam-style medical tape; (3) twenty or so 100' bundles of white paracord; and (4) two pairs of bandage scissors.

Paige turned to the assembled contestants and made a grand gesture.  "Let the games begin!"

This was nobody's first rodeo, so everybody knew that certain unwritten rules applied.  They'd evolved during previous games, were understood by all, and didn't need to be formally codified.  For example, when a game involves style points, both Binders are required to covertly notify the Head Umpire of their general intentions.  That reduced the possibility of being influenced by their opponent's choices and/or stealing their ideas.

"Hogtie," Chelsea whispered in Paige's ear, smiling sweetly at Alice (who glowered in return).

Then, it was Ivy's turn.  Smiling at Sophie, she whispered "Ball-tie" in Paige's other ear.

No one but Paige had heard either whisper, but Sophie heaved a tragic sigh and pouted while Alice continued glowering.  Betty and Ripley continued smiling.

"Begin!" Paige ordered.

Chelsea did, indeed, hogtie her big sister, but first came a "sadistic box-tie," the variant of the arms-folded-behind-the-back-and-pinned-to-her-torso form in which the forearms are raised past the horizontal and the wrists crossed.  It was much less severe than the dreaded "reverse-prayer ball-tie," but more severe than the traditional "Samurai" or forearms-parallel box-tie).  Truth be told, it wasn't really very sadistic, but somehow the technique got stuck with the name.  And misnamed or not, the variant certainly was stringent, especially when applied using many times the amount of thin paracord required to simply render the Bindee helpless.  Chelsea passed at least twenty horizontal strands around Alice's arms and torso, above her boobs, and at least twenty more below.  The same multiplicity applied to the strands yoking Alice's shoulders.  However, a mere dozen strands cinched the horizontal strands between Alice's arms and torso.  That said, Chelsea cinched both sets of horizontal bands, above and below Alice's boobs.

And since her big sister's wrists were conveniently and "sadistically" raised, crossed, and available, Chelsea lashed them together, using twenty or more strands cinched around and between said wrists and pinning them against her spine and to the central nexus of the other box-tie cords.  Finally, and purely for stylistic reasons, Chelsea overlaid the box-tie with a kikkou or diamond-hitch harness of doubled strands.  It also encircled Alice's waist, passing between her legs, and cleaved her labia and butt-cheeks, adding a crotch-tie element!

All of that had required a lot of paracord and took considerable time, but by the time Chelsea was satisfied with the state of her big sister's upper body bondage, Ivy had just finished dealing with Sweet Sophie's arms and torso.

Ivy had decided to use the "Classic" or "Western" hands-behind-the-back technique.  Sophie's wrists were tied together with her hands palm-to-palm.  Her elbows were tied as well.  In fact, if it wasn't for the six or eight strands of cord cinching the neat, wide stack of more than twenty doubled strands binding said elbows, they would have touched!  An upper-body harness of cords much like the core of Alice's box-tie pinned Sophie's upper arms to her sides and yoked her shoulders.  In addition, multiple cords encircled Sophie's waist, her forearms, cleaved her butt-cheeks and labia, and pinned her bound wrists against her butt.

Like Chelsea, Ivy had used a lot of paracord, and she finished this part of her composition with a web of doubled strands that linked everything together.  Parts of the web were kikkou-like and parts were more of a ladder-tie.  It was certainly original, and the end result was to meld Sophie's upper-body bonds into a tight, unified whole.

Both Bindees were now helpless, so their Binders took the traditional break from paracord looping and cinching and shifted their efforts to the application of effective gags.  (Bindees are first rendered helpless, and only then gagged.  That's how it's done.)

Paige had provided foam balls and tape, so the implication was obvious: she wasn't interested in elaborate gags.  After all, This was the first day.  Who wants contestants with bruised and battered lips for an entire competition?  And the Head Umpire was known to pull out her red card and penalize Binders who got carried away with gags.  Safety first!  That was something everybody agreed on.

Also, Paige's penalties usually involved rope and could be more stringent than the actual event.  In addition, there was a Penalty Box, and it was a real box, a wooden cube about a meter on a side with hefty hinges, a heavy-duty, spring-loaded latch, and a hi-security padlock.  There were air-holes, of course.  Safety first!

Smiling sweetly, Chelsea squeezed the air from one of the red balls and stuffed it in Alice's mouth.  "Hold that for me, would you?" she requested.

Alice complied, but also stared daggers at her kid sister as Chelsea used the scissors to snip a seven-inch strip of Microfoam tape from a roll... then carefully, firmly plastered it over her big sister's lips and lower face, from ear-to-ear and from just under her nose to just above her chin.  As always with Microfoam, Elastoplast, and similar products, the gagee's lips stood out in three-dimensional detail, like a bias-relief carving.  All agreed that it was very attractive.  A real crowd-pleaser.

Meanwhile, Ivy had done the exact same thing to Sweet Sophie.  The blonde's mouth was also crammed with foam and her lips standing out in bias-relief under a single smooth, tightly adhered strip of Microfoam tape.

"Less is more," Ivy purred.

"I couldn't agree more," Chelsea nodded.  "But..."  The scissors and tape roll were still in her hands.  "There's a lot to be said for nice, tight, around-the-head mummification."

"The hair," Ivy noted.

Chelsea shrugged.  "It can get messy.  No, less is more."  She set down the tape and scissors, and readied more paracord for use.  She still had half a Bindee to bind.

Ivy also readied a fresh bundle of paracord.

It took a while, but eventually Chelsea and Ivy's compositions were complete.

Alice was, indeed, hogtied, as Chelsea had promised.  Tape-gagged and "sadistically" box-tied, she was on her stomach on the lush, green lawn beside the pool area.  Her ankles were crossed and lashed together, her lower legs lashed to her thighs, in the manner of a frog-tie, and multiple cords linked her ankle-cords and crotch-cords to the shoulder-yoking cords at the nape of her neck, and sufficient slack had been removed to force the unfortunate Bindee into a back-bending bow that lifted most of her breasts and half of her thighs off the grass and left her balanced on her tummy.  The key knots to Alice's predicament were nowhere near her twisting hands and fluttering fingers, so escape was... unlikely.

Chelsea had considered braiding her big sister's hair and linking it to her toes with a single taut-as-a-fiddle-string length of paracord, but as had already been discussed, it was only the first day.  And besides, she had to live with said sister year-round, and excessive bondage might sour their writing partnership.  Of course, it might also prove inspirational, so...  Maybe later in the competition.  Sometimes more is more.

Sophie was about ten feet away from Alice and was, indeed, ball-tied, as Ivy had promised.  Tape-gagged and arms lashed to her torso, behind her back, Sophie was in a kneeling crunch with her legs together, knees bent, and breasts squashed against her lower thighs.  In addition, Sophie's forearms-wrists-crotch-bondage was now forearms-wrists-crotch-ankles-bondage.  Also, similar to the complicated network of doubled cords binding her arms and torso, her bent legs were also trapped in a tight web.  In fact, thanks to a third layer of hitched and cinched doubled strands, her entire ball-tied body was bound into an unforgiving bundle of interlaced, symmetrical cords.

Finally, and for no good reason other than bondage aesthetics, Ivy had used a short length of paracord to bind her Bindee's big toes together.  Sweet Sophie's big-piggies weren't tied to anything else, but they were tied.

All the paracord elements—whether doubled or in bundles of twenty-or-more strands—were tight enough to dimple the bindees' skin; however, the pressure appeared to be evenly distributed.  Obviously, with respect to their rigging skills, Chelsea and Ivy knew their stuff.

The two Binders watched, with justifiable pride, as the Bindees executed their "Courtesy Struggles," the short interlude of squirming, thrashing, fighting their bonds with all their strength, and mewling through their gags that was expected once the final knots were tied.  It was pointless, of course, but was also a crowd-pleaser.

The crowd in question (Betty, Ripley, and Paige) smiled and watched the show. 

"That's enough," Paige said after about two minutes.  The Bindees stopped struggling, heaved simultaneous sighs, and stared daggers at their respective Binders.  "Just a reminder," Paige continued, "this event's 'Golden Snitch' is escape.  The first Bindee to escape wins."

Alice and Sophie rolled their eyes.  For either of them, clearly, escape was impossible.  This event was going to be won or lost by the Binders, who had already done their things.

"Now," Paige said with a wide grin.  "Regarding bonus points..."

The members of both teams perked up.  Oh yeah, bonus points!  Paige's bonus point clauses were often quite entertaining.

"Any Bindee who removes either the top or bottom of their opposing Bindee's bikini will be awarded ten points," Paige announced.  "And that's remove said item completely.   That means a possible total of twenty points each."

"All that paracord is in the way," Betty noted.

"Yes, it is," Ripley agreed with a wicked smile.

"So," Chelsea purred, "all they have to do is wiggle and squirm together, fumble for their opponent's bikini-strings, untie the doubled bows, and pull the top or bottom free."

"While preventing their opponent from untying and pulling their bikini top and bottom free," Ivy grinned.  She turned to Paige.  "Good job, Madam Umpire," she said.  "I thought this was gonna be another simple escape challenge.  Capture-the-bikini is a nice twist."

"Stop trying to butter up the official," Ripley muttered.

"I'm going for a swim," Betty announced, turned, and padded towards the pool.

"You aren't going to watch?" Ripley demanded.

Poised for a hands-over-head dive into the deep end, Betty turned and smiled.  "It'll be like watching two frigates tacking in the wind and maneuvering for the first broadside.  They won't even be close by the time I'm done swimming my laps."  She then executed a graceful sideways dive into the pool's refreshing depths.

"She's got a point," Ripley agreed, then turned and also padded towards the pool.

Chelsea and Ivy settled into chairs.

"We'll keep watch," Chelsea said to Paige.

"At least until the others get back," Ivy agreed.  "Safety first."

Paige smiled, strolled to the Binders, and kissed each on her forehead.  "Good girls.  I'm going to brew some fresh coffee."  She then turned and strolled towards the mansion.

Comfortably seated in their comfortable chairs, the Binders smiled at the Bindees.

Hogtied and ball-tied on the lawn, the Bindees glared at the Binders.

"Well?" Chelsea said after about a minute, then made a shooing motion.  "Get on with it already."

Ten feet apart on the green grass, the bikini-clad, bound, and gagged Bindees eyed each other warily... then began squirming closer together.  Actually, they were more or less just squirming.  It was too early to be sure about the together part.

The morning hours crawled by... but unfortunately, Alice's hogtie and Sophie's ball-tie were too stringent to let the Bindees do any actual crawling.  They were "free" to wiggle, wriggle, writhe, and flounder, and they could also roll, but doing so carried its own problem, like getting off their side after a successful roll so they could execute another.  Suffice it to say, progress was slow... as in glacially slow.

The bound and gagged Bindees each worked up quite a sweat.  Neither wanted to disappoint their team.

The unbound members of both teams took turns swimming in the pool, keeping watch over the battling Bindees, enjoying tea and coffee, and critiquing the Bindee's diligent but only marginally effective efforts to come together and join in bikini-stripping close combat.  Anyway, the non bound and gagged participants were having a good time.

Even Paige let her hair down.  She strolled into the house, there was a brief pause... then she reappeared.  The vacationers were impressed (amazed).  Even Alice and Sophie paused in their squirming efforts to stare.  Paige had removed her sandals, jeans, umpire's blouse, and whatever underwear she'd been wearing underneath, and in their place was a white bikini, and it was every bit as skimpy, revealing, and sexy as the Bondage Olympians' team uniforms.

Oh-by-the-way, as the nearly naked Head Umpire padded towards the pool, the members of both teams not bound, gagged, and trying to strip each held a whispered conversation and agreed that for a demanding tyrant over sixty, Paige Livingston was hot!  And it was obvious from the plethora of freckles dappling her tall, athletic body that she was no stranger to the sun.  This wasn't the first time the Corbyn sisters or their teammates had seen this much of Paige's physique, but all agreed it was something worth appreciating every time the redhead decided to strip down for a swim.

The competitors watched Paige dive into the pool and start swimming... then exchanged smiles and returned to watching the Battle of the Bindees.

And speaking of stripping down...

Eventually, the Alice and Sophie's perseverance paid off, in that they managed to cross the ten feet of lawn separating them, came together side-by-side (like two warships from the days of sail trying to board each other) and finally, the hand-to-hand combat began!

That is, Alice and Sophie's flailing, squirming, bound bodies pressed together, their fingers fluttered, and they groped for opposing bikini-strings.

Initial success went to the purple team.  Alice managed to get a firm grip on the left lower string of Sophie's top, worked her way to the nexus of cords even with the blonde's elbows, somehow managed to pull the doubled bow out from under the complex nest of paracords, and began worrying it apart!

Meanwhile, Sophie was doing her best to attack the bow securing Alice's bikini-bottom over her left hip.

Only seconds apart, Alice succeeded in untying Sophie's lower bikini-top bow—Go Purple!—while Sophie succeeded in snagging (and eventually) untying Alice's left bikini-bottom bow—Go Green!

However, no amount of pulling or tugging on the untied strings resulted in the baring of Sophie's boobs or Alice's bottom.  It became obvious (eventually) that Alice had to untie Sophie's top bikini-string (the one at the nape of her neck, under her tousled blond curls) and Sophie had to untie Alice's remaining bottom bikini-string (the one over her right hip) before either could make additional progress and reap their bonus point reward.

The Bindees had no choice but to disengage, maneuver, and reengage in different relative positions.

By this time, Alice and Sophie were flagging.  They were still glistening with sweat (or "glowing" in the case of Sweet Sophie), but now they were also panting through their flaring nostrils and strands of their tousled hair (brown and flaxen fair, respectively) were plastered to their faces.  The nearly exhausted opponents squirmed and rolled until they were just out of each others reach... then took a much needed breather.

The contestants' teammates had long since shifted from coffee to soft drinks, the sun was climbing towards its noon position, and Ripley raised the possibility of lunch.  Paige (who had finished with her swim and was drying herself with a colorful towel) revealed that a bowl of chicken salad was already in the kitchen refrigerator, as well as a head of green lettuce and a loaf of rye bread.  Ripley and Betty volunteered to make the actual sandwiches... when the time came.  It was still a little early.

Lunch plans complete, the spectators turned back to watch the competition.

The contestants had finished their break and were once again maneuvering for position.  Both Bindees were stringently bound, of course, but their bonds were different.  Sophie's hands were palm-to-palm, making it easier for them to work in concert, but to say the least, the rest of her bondage severely limited their reach.  The same might be said for Alice, but her crossed wrists allowed her hands to more easily reach away from her body... a little.

With a Herculean (or Xenaesque) effort, Alice managed to roll close to Sophie with their bodies head-to-head but about thirty degrees apart.  She then managed to snag a loop of the bikini-top bow at the nape of Sophie's neck!  At the same time she grabbed a few strands of Sophie's upper-body-bondage with her other hand, held on with a firm grip, and pushed with one knee against Sophie's hip and thigh, preventing the frustrated blonde from reaching her remaining hip bikini-string.  Alice's bikini-top bows were well out of Sophie's reach.

Advantage Alice!  Ivy and Betty whistled and clapped.  Chelsea and Ripley glowered and sighed.

The contestants wiggled and squirmed as Alice attacked the knot under Sophie's fluttering hair.  It took something like two minutes, but she finally succeeded in teasing apart the doubled hitch, then pulling the underlying bow apart!

Ivy and Betty cheered!  "Yippee!  Hurray!"  All that remained was pulling the top from under the plethora of paracord binding Sophie's upper body.  Unfortunately (for Team Alice) that wasn't as easy as it might sound.

The contestants continued struggling and rolling, but after several long, strenuous minutes, all Alice managed to do was bare Sophie's left breast, and since, thanks to the ball-tie, the breast in question was more-or-less squashed against her left knee and wasn't all that visible.  For the comfortably seated spectators lounging in the shade and nursing their cold drinks, it was somewhat disappointing.  Eventually, it became obvious the untied cords of Sophie's bikini-top were tangled in some manner.  Alice gave up tugging on the top and the maneuvering resumed.

At that point, the bikini-clad Head Umpire took charge.  (Not that she hadn't always been in charge.)  "Lunch!" Paige announced as she stood, then addressed the bound and gagged contestants.  "Take a break."  She then turned to Betty and Ripley.  "With me, you two."

The remaining spectators watched Paige and her kitchen volunteers pad towards the mansion... then turned back to the panting, sweating, helpless contestants.

"They look like they've had enough," Ivy purred, smiling at the hogtied and ball-tied Alice and Sophie (who glowered in return).

"It is hot out here," Chelsea stated.

"A quick dip before the food arrives?" Ivy suggested.

Chelsea grinned, then climbed from her chair.  "Good idea."

Alice and Sophie watched as Chelsea and Ivy padded to the pool and dove in... then heaved simultaneous sighs.  It was hot out here.