Catherine
Once I'd reached the last line of the final article, I closed my eyes and removed my glasses. Rubbing the bridge of my nose with the tips of my fingers, I thought back on everything I had read.
One word kept circling in my mind:
silly
. It was all very silly. Boiled down to their core, these documents more or less claimed that an actor could "forget" their actual self simply by thinking hard about forgetting. Were it so easy, I think everyone would be a world-famous actor by now.
What did Cooper see in this? Loathe as I am to admit it, he is technically an intelligent man. Does he honestly believe that, if I follow these techniques, it will improve the quality of our sexual processing videos? Ridiculous.
And yet... the events of this evening gave me pause. Cooper had no right to include Samantha in his processing without my approval, but it is also true that I ever so slightly
broke character
when I laid eyes on her. That -
that is unacceptable
. I have never settled for anything less than perfection, and had no intentions to start now.
My videos were already garnering thousands of views.
It always got me a little hot, imagining the innumerable men who had surely masturbated to recordings of myself and Cooper
. In a way, I had become a sexual processor on a scale larger than most women ever could. That scale came with responsibilities.
I had to do everything in my power to create a positive experience for the audience.
If even a single person is turned off by my inexperience as an actor, the blame lies solely with me. I
must
be better.
I refocused my attention on the terminal before me. It's extremely unlikely that I will have any success following these articles. They speak of "self-hypnosis" and other laughable methods to distance my "actor mind" from the "character mind".
Nonetheless, there were few alternatives I could pursue. I had neither the time nor opportunity to enroll in virtual acting classes while serving as captain of the
Athens
, and these techniques had one point in their favor: they were quick and easy. It was low-risk, high-reward. If it accomplished nothing, I would only be out a few minutes of my time each night. On the other hand, if they actually worked, the efficacy of my videos would be greatly enhanced.
I sighed. The best decision was obvious. Scrolling back to an earlier document, one which I felt had the most convincing and detailed descriptions of the lot, I skimmed the listed procedures. This should be easy enough...
Following along, I lowered the lights in my quarters, to foster a quiet, comfortable atmosphere. Then, relaxing my posture and slowing my breath, I began mental repetitions. In my case, there was a straightforward scenario to focus on. For five minutes, I pictured my sense of self as an admiralty badge,
one which gets locked away in the recesses of my mind whenever Cooper's camera turns on
...
-------
Catherine
"Good evening, ma'am." "Good evening."
Samantha and I greeted each other outside Cooper's quarters. It has been three days since she'd begun to participate in Cooper's sexual processing. So far, she has joined me in every evening session and all but one morning session. It shocked me how easily I acclimated to working with her like this. I never expected to be intimate with the same man as my sister, even in a professional capacity. While I suppose some would argue this new relationship bordered on incest, Samantha and I are careful never to touch each other in an overtly sexual manner - which frankly was not terribly difficult. For sisters as close as we are, as
long as we do not directly stimulate each others' vaginas
, anything else is perfectly moral and acceptable given the circumstances.
Likewise, it has also been three days since I've begun my daily mental rituals, in an attempt to improve my acting. There has been no appreciable benefit as of yet, but the articles do contend that it will take time for their techniques to bear fruit. Of course, that's an easy way for a hoax to sidestep showing any real results, but time will tell soon enough.
As usual, Samantha and I were dressed in costumes befitting the characters we were about to play. Tonight, we wore Asian-style dresses with a floral design; mine was red, while Samantha's was purple. Samantha's hair was also done up in two buns, one on each side of her head. (My own hair was too short for buns and thus was styled normally.)
We opened the door and crossed the threshold into Cooper's room. The man himself was seated at his desk, grinning widely, naked from the waist down and clearly eager to get started. These days, we exchanged few if any words before his sexual processing; the camera's data-feed had eliminated the need. (Samantha had also agreed to use the data-feed after our first session together.) To that point, as soon as the door slid shut behind us, Cooper tapped the camera pinned to his chest. As ever, the data streamed to my neural implant in a fraction of a second, imparting full knowledge of tonight's roleplay.
-------
CatherinΜΈΝΜ€eΜ΄ΝΜ½Μͺ
Kneeling abruptly, I bowed low enough for my nose to touch the floor. At my side, Samantha did the same. Without raising our heads, I spoke for the both of us. "Per your personal request, Mr. Cooper, I, Catherine Locke, and my sister, Samantha Adams, have arrived. We are deeply humbled by your selection of us tonight. The
Athens Brothel
prides itself on client satisfaction and, for such an esteemed guest as yourself, we will do our utmost to fulfill your every desire." Even after I had completed introductions, we kept facing the floor.
Athens
courtesans were expected to pamper our clients,
revere
them. For the duration of his session, Cooper's wish was our command.