Chapter 3: Lacie Owned
Lacie stepped through the metal door, closing her eyes and tilting her head back, basking in the burgeoning feeling that she felt growing in her chest. She felt a new sensation of warmth in the growing feeling of hope that her life might just end up being a happy one. Lacie slowly exhaled, opening her eyes to greet the new life before her. When she did, Lacie beheld... another door. Giggling, Heather and Claire swept past her.
"This is the loading dock, cutie." The rocker chick winked as she passed. "The house is up ahead. Come on."
Blushing slightly at her slip up, Lacie grinned and forged ahead, following the two other women. Pushing through the door at the other end, Lacie saw a short hallway with several more doors. The floors were polished hardwood, and the walls were made of dark colored chestnut, carved and fluted, the expensive building material was tastefully decorated and kept very clean. An old grandfather clock sat at one end of the hallway, it's coppery pendulum slowly swinging as it ticked off the passing seconds. Small busts and marble statues sat in alcoves along the walls, paintings hanging along the walls between some of the doors.
"Ok, girls, does anyone know where Master is?" Bridget spoke, "We want to stay out of his way today. Lacie, we'll all be helping you settle in, I just want to make sure nothing gets forgotten."
"I know where is Master." Tatiana answered, looking slightly surly. "He are to kicking me out of kitchens today. Wanted of making something 'special' for new girl."
The other girls murmured at each other, delighted expectation lighting up their faces.
"It's ok, Ana," Lacie responded, trying to soothe the foreign girl's obviously ruffled feathers. "I'd rather have you help show me around today."
Ana grinned back at her.
"Besides," Heather chimed in, "Master is just as good a cook, and he hasn't been able to find time lately. If he wants to do something special, I say we let him do what he wants."
"Well, that's settled then. We avoid the kitchens, but we can help her settle in a bit. First things first though. Lets get you some actual clothing. Those robes are nice, but I hardly want you wandering the mansion in that all day."
Callie leaped forward with Lindsey, and the two girls started giggling as they grabbed Lacie and began dragging her through the mansion, passing hallway after hallway, twisting and turning through doors and up staircases. Lacie was thoroughly lost in less than a minute. The other girls managed to keep up though, laughing and talking to each other excitedly. Lacie was beginning to feel like a spectacle at a fair, making her a little uncomfortable. She looked over at Lindsey and saw the happy look of expectation on her face. Lacie realized that the girls probably didn't get a lot of excitement in the mansion. It would definitely be a horrible, not to mention dangerous, idea for any of the women (being as attractive as they were) to leave. Which meant that, despite the obvious number of freedoms that Master (Lacie had yet to hear his actual name) allowed his girls, they were still trapped on the grounds of his home. So, because of that, new and exciting things had to be brought to the girls, instead of the girls going anywhere.
Given everything that the girls seemed so giddy about, and all that they had already done for her, Lacie understood that, despite her discomfort, this whole situation was a rare treat for the other girls. Lacie decided to simply enjoy it. A grin spread across her face, and soon Lacie found her expectation was matching her escort's excitement. Looking around her as she was rushed through the house, Lacie was astounded by the tasteful wealth she saw displayed everywhere. She passed room after room, but most of the doors were closed, mysteries for Lacie to solve later. Finally, the group of women reached the fourth floor corridor. Over a dozen doors adorned the carved wooden walls, and a thick, fluffy red carpet tickled Lacie's feet. One door, larger than the rest, sat at the end of the hallway. The first four rooms had nothing on the doors, but each door after that had a name gilded onto dark, beautifully decorated wooden ovals that hung at eye level, each name written in beautiful calligraphy.
"We all chose rooms for ourselves, mostly picking ones as close to the Master's bedroom as possible. That's his on the end. Now, we don't have many rules here, but Master's few rules are inviolate. The first rule is, never enter his bedroom without permission. Emergencies are the only exception, like a fire or if someone is hurt. We've broken some of his rules a few times each. The punishments are... severe." Bridget spoke sternly. As she mentioned breaking rules, a pall seemed to settle over the women, and each of them seemed to shrink into herself. Somehow, all of the women seemed slightly diminished. "He won't hurt you physically, ever." Bridget choked out, a look of pure, infinite sadness on her face. "What he does do though, hurts more than anything your body could survive. The horrible thing is, when he punishes us, he doesn't ever want to. He just knows he has to. He protects us. We take care of him. When we fail... just... don't ever fail him, Lacie. You don't want to know how terrible you'll feel."
Lacie could feel the waves of pained emotion coming off the assembled women, making her heart ache for the friendly group of women.
"Thanks, Buzzkill." Claire exclaimed, rolling her eyes. The joking tone broke the sudden dark mood that had fallen over the group. Grabbing Lacie's arm, Claire dragged the younger girl to her door. Pushing it open before Lacie, Claire revealed the insides of her room. Dirty clothes littered the floor and posters of old heavy metal bands were haphazardly tacked to the walls. A dresser stood to one side, a few of it's drawers hanging open. A walk-in closet sat just beyond a large four post bed, the sheets and comforter rumpled and tossed to the side. Lacie blushed when she noticed a pair of fuzzy black handcuffs dangling from the bed frame. A big bay window dominated one wall and the glass panes had been opened just a crack, allowing fresh air to flow into the room. The bench under the three angled windows was bare, save for a small easel with a half finished painting and a collection of paints and brushes. Ignoring the rest of her room, Claire dragged Lacie towards the closet. The rest of the girls shuffled in, Tara making exclamations of disgust when she saw the disarray and dirty clothes.
Dragging Lacie over to the hangars at the back, Claire began pulling shirt after shirt off the rack, holding them up before Lacie before either handing them to her, or tossing them back on the racks. Lacie wasn't surprised to see that the majority of Claire's clothing was either black or incorporated a little leather. Finally, Lacie's arms were full of over a dozen different shirts, and Claire grinned as she turned Lacie around, pointing her at several racks of shoes. Every kind of shoe imaginable decorated the shelves. Black sexy pumps, white tennis shoes, fuzzy animal slippers, sandals, thigh high pleather zip ups, buckled knee length platforms, leather cowboy boots, (one pair even had built in spurs) and more.
"Grab a few pairs of shoes. Most of them should fit you."
Lacie looked for a few minutes before settling on a pair of strappy sandals, some work sandals and a pair of black and silver sneakers.
"Nice. You'll look good in those, cutie." The bisexual goth girl winked at Lacie, her casual flirtation prompting a smile from the teen. "Now, across the hall. Lindsey can lend you a few bras. Speaking of which..." Claire leaned down, snagging a black satin corset off the ground. The corset was obviously designed for a bust much larger than Claire's A-cup chest. "this one ain't mine."
Sauntering back out into her room, Claire tossed the corset to it's owner. "You forgot this here Heth." Claire teased.
"Hey! I've been looking for that!" Heather exclaimed.
Lacie's jaw dropped. She had thought that the corset belonged to Lindsey, since it had looked like Lindsey and Claire were together.
Laughing at Lacie's confused expression, Lindsey came to her rescue. "It's ok, Lace. Can we call you Lace?" Seeing Lacie's absent nod, Lindsey continued. "We all share. We kind of have to. There are enough of us that sometimes we want to... play, and Master is a pretty busy person. So sometimes that means we have to try... new people. It's not like we have a lot of nice guys running around asking to take us to the movies."
"Just the one." Heather smiled, interrupting.
"So, sometimes we share each other. We don't own each other, Master owns us. Which means we have to get along as best we can. We're not always friends, but we try not to make enemies. So, sharing is sometimes one part of that. Now, come on, lets get you a few more clothes."
Still unsure how she felt about the girl's casual attitudes concerning "sharing". Lacie followed the submissive girl across the hall into her room. Lacie recognized the same layout in Lindsey's room as she had in Claire's room, only flipped end for end. Lacie wondered if all the girl's rooms were designed with the same floor plan. Lindsey's room was much cleaner, but hints of Claire's style had crept into her decorations. A lot of black decorated the walls, but Lindsey's bed was smaller than Claire's, cleaner as well. The room had splashes of pink everywhere, mixed with white and black. It was a dizzying mix of colors, but it fit with Lindsey's personality well. The seat under her window was festooned with pillows, and a small bookshelf sat at arms length from the nest of cushions, leaving no doubt as to the use that Lindsey put her window. There were a few children's toys strewn across the room, and a couple of black-light posters were taped to the ceiling. Lindsey opened a drawer in her dresser, and began pulling out bras.
Passing Lacie bra after bra, Lindsey would pull out a few, pick one and put the rest back, occasionally asking for Lacie's opinion or preference. Soon Lacie had a stack of half a dozen bras, from utilitarian white cotton, to black and lacy, even one that was a silky sapphire blue satin. Turning around, Lindsey giggled as she pushed Lacie back out of her room, just before Marie opened the door to her own room and beckoned for Lacie to follow.
