Part 15: The Torment of Josh.
Josh managed about six hours of sleep the night Crystal first slept on the training floor. Geneva had the duty that night, and made sure to listen out for any problems from Crystal. Crystal lay down on the Futon and tried to rest, she tossed and turned a bit before settling down and sleeping.
In the morning, the rush started and Crystal like all novices, had trouble keeping up. Josh had no problems in the morning; he'd been doing this for a week now. Crystal kept glancing at Josh and trying to relax enough to go. Finally she managed to void her bladder and was in the shower with her back to Josh.
Jeannette, Diane, and Geneva were watching her to see how she responded. The morning routine, which was done without any nod towards gender, was a part of the test. If you could accept that everyone was a slave, then you were a slave too. If you couldn't you weren't.
At breakfast Crystal held up the posture collar and asked. "Could someone help me with this, and the cincher?"
"Sure Crystal." Jeannette said. "I've worn them too, they're kind of a pain to put on alone."
Jeannette put them on Crystal and then sat back down. "OK, Josh, you've got Ballet this morning. Diane, you're in Oral Arts, and then the kitchen with Chef. Crystal you're first class today is Oral Arts too. Geneva, leave your radio on channel four, and the volume up, we'll call you if there's a problem."
Crystal nodded. "OK, I saw that on the first floor, that's the room right?"
Diane said. "Yeah, we'll go there together in a minute. I'm getting my ass kicked by station eight."
"Eight, I'm still getting burned by seven. Eight has to be a stone mother." Geneva offered.
Jeannette laughed. "It is, but wait until phase three, those stations all make eight look easy."
"I wondered why you were so good." Geneva said smiling.
Josh groaned. "I just got five, and am supposed to start six today, it took three days to get five."
Crystal just listened and watched them wide-eyed. Her blond hair was frizzy from not being dried by a blower, and she looked even younger than she was. These were the legends of the slave world, and she was truly in awe of them.
"Come on Crystal, let's go, Master awaits and we're always in a hurry." Diane said rising.
Crystal looked and she'd eaten about half the food. She sighed and followed Diane. They entered the room and found Master Thomas and Mistress Ann waiting for them.
"Crystal, come here, I'm Mistress Ann, and I'll be teaching you oral arts today."
"Yes Mistress." Crystal said.
"This is station one, and we'll be starting here. The trick to these stations is actually pretty simple, just follow the instructions, and do what it says on the screen here." Ann said pointing. "Kneel here and mimic what you see on the screen."
"Yes Mistress." Crystal said and knelt. Her neck was held rigidly in place, and it made the kneeling and licking tough, but she managed. After about twenty minutes she had task complete flashing on the screen.
"Good Crystal, that's not bad. Have you ever done that before? Licked a woman I mean."
"No Mistress, I've never been with a woman, only guys." Crystal said smiling. She was kind of proud of getting the station.
"Well, you'll have to take the collar off for station two, so let's take that off and the cincher, I'll put them back on you before you go."
Crystal stood and allowed Mistress to take her bindings off, and then knelt before station two. She worked hard and got Task complete again.
"Excellent, I don't think you'll have any problems with this at all." Ann said. "OK, that's enough for today, stand and let's get this stuff back on you."
"Yes Mistress." Crystal said.
Once it was back on her Crystal looked for Diane and saw she was already gone. "Mistress, what am I supposed to do now?"
"You're going to help Diane in the kitchen, like you did yesterday with Geneva, and this afternoon you'll help upstairs with the cleaning." Ann told her.
"Yes Mistress." Crystal said and was off towards the kitchen in a flash.
In the Kitchen she found Diane and said. "Hi Diane, I'm supposed to help you."
"OK, well come on Groupie, and grab an apron, we don't want tits in our food." Diane teased lightly.
Diane took the apron and put it on. Then she started to cut some vegetables for Chef. "Why do you call me Groupie?"
"Because you keep looking at all of us like we're some rock band." Diane said. "I don't mean anything by it. I'm sorry if it bothers you, I'll stop."
Chef was stirring a pot on the stove, and opened the oven to check on something there.
"I found three Masters before I came here. My Mom shut two of them down, and had the third one throw me out. She scared him into obeying her. I'd about given up hope of finding a Master anywhere who would take me, and train me, so long as I was under my Mother's thumb." Crystal said.
"I'm sorry." Diane said as she pulled a bunch of plates down and carried them to the Master's dining room. Then she returned. "So where did you hear about us?"
"On the net. There's a bondage website, and I would sneak there when Mom wasn't watching. I figured out how to disable her monitoring stuff." Crystal explained. "I read about you, and Jeannette, and Master Devon. Slave C wrote about Master Andre, and Mistress Rebecca too. She described this place, and the life that slaves had here."
"Slave C? Oh, that's Cathy." Diane said.
"Yeah, someone else called her that in the thread." Crystal explained. Turning to face Diane she said. "If it wasn't for Master Devon being beyond my Mother's power, I would be stuck there for years, and with six more years she'd have me committed for sure."
Diane saw the pain, and the relief both reflected in the girls face. "Why do you want to be a slave? I heard you were a trust fund kind. I grew up poor, well, sort of middle class. So did Geneva, and Jeannette. Why do you want to do this?"
Diane listened as Crystal explained. "I figured it out when I was fifteen, that this is what I wanted. I got caught when I was sixteen by my Mom. For three years I've had councilors and ministers, priests and puppets all tell me I was crazy to want this. One stuck me in a treatment center for four months, but after I turned eighteen, they had to cut me loose or take it before a Judge." Crystal sighed. "The more they tried to tell me I was crazy, the more I figured out about my Mom, and how she was manipulating me."
Diane walked over and put a comforting hand on Crystal's shoulder. Crystal continued. "When I heard of this place, my Mom had told me a couple months ago she would support my decision, and would assist me in finding a Master. I should have known she was playing me. I told her about this place and Master Devon. She made some phone calls, and then met Master Devon. That's when I figured out she was just pretending to understand and support me."
"I'm sorry." Diane said.
Crystal shook her head. She swallowed hard. "This place, all of you, are like a book come true. There isn't another place like this in the world, I know, I've searched the web for a hint of one. Nothing is out there. Not one whisper. This secret society they used to belong to could teach the CIA some things, because they're really secret. Not one hint of it. If I'm acting like a groupie, it's because you're all a dream come true. I'm really scared that I won't make it, that I'll be sent away, and my last chance for this will be gone."
