[This is a continuation of a series. You do not have to read any or all of the previous instalments to enjoy this one, although it does help. Most chapters do include somewhat severe discipline and also deal with bodily functions. If either of those topics offends you, please read no further. All characters are over 18.]
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Eleanor felt that her home life was returning to near-normal. She was pleased with the way her husband Jackson had been behaving since his return from the re-education facility. She felt that this extended stay had produced better results than when she had sent him to a men's re-education camp after he had really aroused her anger.
Her sister Meredith had also joined her and was sleeping with Jackson and her. Eleanor remained bi and did not find her sister's presence, including sharing her marital bed, to be threatening. Meredith had had a hard time in the past year, so Eleanor thought she was helping her sister adjust back to a regular lifestyle.
Eleanor had also invited two lesbian noncoms from the Correctional Service of the Women's Republic to stay in the commodious apartment she occupied. Sgts. Denise and Linda were highly attractive young women who had served as training cadre at a men's re-education camp and now staffed a nearby training center in the city, which was the Republic's second largest urban area. They had on occasion played with Eleanor and also served as disciplinarians upon her request.
Having resolved the various issues that had confronted her at home, Eleanor was free to focus more sharply on her work at Goose Cookers. Eleanor had been given a chance at this firm after her unhappy experience with the Women's Republic justice system. She had dallied with a man who used and abandoned her; after he had left her, she found herself a criminal defendant in an adultery case brought by the man's wife.
Although it turned out some time later that they were not actually married, Eleanor had been severely punished with a sentence of infibulation for a year. Later, when the truth became known, she was cleared and the justices who had sentenced her even submitted to being disciplined for their error.
In the process, Eleanor moved from the capital to this second-largest city and had been hired by Janet, the shrewd executive vice president of Goose Cookers, who recognized that Eleanor had the creative spark the company needed. It made products aimed at women and had acquired a sterling reputation for both quality and imagination, which Eleanor had burnished by her creative contributions.
These included "Silly Goose" underwear for women that played on both the expression and the attraction for many women of wearing an undergarment that made them feel a tad juvenile and certainly younger. Eleanor could imagine products that made women happy but were not offensive.
When she got to her office, which was now something of a design studio for her, Eleanor found a message from Janet, asking to see her. She walked upstairs to Janet's formidable corner office and found her boss well-dressed as always and in a pleasant mood. She knew that Janet most enjoyed a good challenge and apparently that was the purpose of this discussion.
"We have been asked to bid on some underwear for the Correctional Service," Janet began. "It sounds like they want mostly new-styled panties for both men and women, inmates and correctional officers. I'd like you to use your usual panache in coming up with some designs and concepts on this project, Eleanor."
They considered the matter some more and Eleanor went back to her office and prepared some sketches to give Janet a first look at what might work. For the inmates, she came up with panties that were femmy enough but well-constructed in the way that all Goose Cooker clothing was.
For the men's panties, which she knew from her husband's stay in a camp run by the Correctional Service that the male inmates were required to wear and were traditionally a shameful pink in color, she conceived panties that in size were between a full brief and a hicut panty. She added a ribbon tied in a bow at the front and "Naughty Boy" in a flowing script across the front.
The women inmates would get similarly designed undies in beige with red arrowhead shapes pointing in front and back to their crotch. The shapes were not arrows but modified arrowheads that resembled narrow V-shapes, adding an extra measure of slight embarrassment as they would be placed on the panty right over the V-shaped bush inside the panty.
There was only a women's design for the correctional officers as the service was an entirely female organization, which mostly was responsible for re-educating misbehaving men as well as the far smaller number of women who had been found guilty of offenses in the Women's Republic. These women were few in number and regarded as pariahs by the overall female population, much as Eleanor had been after her conviction and sentencing.
Eleanor was fond of the correctional officers, however, since she had become more than just friendly with the two who were living with her now. She consulted Denise and Linda about the project and then proposed well-tailored stylish hicut panties for the officers that were cotton for comfort (the inmates would be given panties made from a less comfortable artificial fabric). She knew that this product would need to be slightly sexy to please the wearers but not in any way vulgar. She included lace at the leg openings so that the panties would not show any visible panty line and also sufficiently low in the waist so as not to ride up when the wearer bent over. Her last choice was a blue-and-white striped design that conveyed both an official as well as a fashion-conscious image.
She knew that the purchasing agent would focus on how she perceived the wearers would feel about the panties because in the correctional milieu, rarely would anyone other than the wearer see them being worn. The female officers did at times change clothing when arriving and departing for the day or in a changing room when engaging in athletic activities. These did include administering physical discipline, so all garments needed to be highly flexible and unlikely to give way under strain.
Giving her preliminary sketch one more review, Eleanor decided to add a discreet set of chevrons on either side of the panties just below the waistband. She thought this would provide the needed slightly official or formal touch to make the wearers feel good wearing the garment.
Janet gave the sketches a very careful viewing and finally smiled and told Eleanor that she liked the ideas. The design staff put them into final form and Eleanor drafted a written description and explanation of the designs. Janet edited this and sent the proposal off with her transmittal.
Some weeks later, she advised Eleanor that they had been invited to a purchasing conference at the Correctional Service where the proposal would be discussed. Eleanor was always a bit nervous on these occasions but Janet, who exuded confidence when in any public or high-level situation, would start things off and bring Eleanor in when things got technical.
The purchasing officer, Warrant Officer Kathryn, was accompanied at this meeting by Senior Correctional Officer, LTC Annette, who was representing the Secretary. Annette was a veteran of the service who knew Janet and Eleanor intimately, and had known them both for some time. In fact, their most recent encounter had found her engaged to marry Eleanor before being promoted, which necessitated her return to the capital and the indefinite postponement, amicable to both Eleanor and Annette, of the marriage. The Women's Republic permitted women to have both male and female spouses at one time.
Knowing how discretion was critical in this situation, both Janet and Eleanor shook hands with Kathryn and gave friendly acknowledgment through nods to Annette, who told Kathryn that she wanted her to be aware that Annette did know both women. Kathryn did not question Annette's participation in the matter or the meeting, knowing that senior-level correctional personnel would often know and be friendly with high-level women in the Republic.
Kathryn questioned Janet and Eleanor in some detail about the proposal and the products. Her questions were not argumentative or derisory but raised significant issues. One of them asked whether having the ribbon on the women inmates' panties would be wise in terms of product endurance through repeated laundering or would it necessitate hand washing.
Eleanor explained that the ribbon was intended to give the women inmates a bit of sparkle to increase morale, as it had become quite shameful for women to be sentenced to confinement because there were so few female offenders in the Women's Republic. She added that the bows would be permanently tied and affixed. Thus, they were not likely to open and be liable to causing problems in laundering.
"They definitely will not need to be hand washed," she added, attesting to the strength of the fabric.
Kathryn seemed to like the product and was correct yet pleasant in her manner with Eleanor and Janet. Annette kept her participation to a minimum, allowing Kathryn to take the lead and making it clear that she was there principally as an observer.
