The Stories of Bound Friends
Part 15 - Sophia and the Barbarian Horde
By JessBaby
Sophia awoke from her afternoon rest to a surprise. She looked to her left and saw the wall of the dungeon was almost empty. It had never been that empty before. She sat up as much as her restraints would allow and began to look around. Aaron was talking with another girl before she ran off through the back staff entrance. He then saw Sophia sitting up and walked over to her.
"Well, Savina, I'm gathering up a group to try out something new. We got a last minutes surge of requests for this test run, so I'm in a last minute rush to reassign some people down there. I'm going to try sending you. It's in Expo Hall J. Don't have time to clothe you here, so just stick to the corridors ok?" Aaron explained as he bent down and unfastened what he could of Sophia's bindings. He called over for someone to bring the key to unlock the rest. "And Savina, I'm serious don't screw this up. After our little chat a bit ago, you've got a lot to prove if you want me to stick my neck out to give you better assignments. This might be one of those."
Sophia stood up and looked Aaron square in the eye. She said nothing but communicated everything as she firmly shook his hand and nodded her head. She was surprised when she felt them remove her collar, she now was totally naked aside from her piercings. She walked quickly, feeling a mix of anxiety and curiosity about what could possibly be going on. She stopped only to check on her position in the labyrinthine hallways. She felt a cold gust of air hit her as she opened the door to the expo hall. The large back door was slid up as people in forklifts moved inside what looked like sets.
"I take it you're one of the girls?" a man with a headset asked. Sophia nodded her head before he quickly pointed her to the far corner. There were a few racks of clothing and some mirrors like a makeshift dressing room. A woman silently looked her over before pulling something off the rack. It was a faded yellow dress that rested on one shoulder and was very loose fitting. It fully covered both breasts without much cleavage but it would also give a wide gap of empty air if she bent forward, concealing almost nothing. It was also surprisingly long, reaching down nearly to her ankles. She twirled around and felt the whole loose dress puff out in all directions. It would certainly not be restrictive.
"We're just waiting for one more girl and then we'll brief all of you.. oh and here she is!" The woman said as she flagged down another woman. Sophia patiently waited as this new girl was given a dress similar to her own except in color. The two then silently walked to a makeshift meeting room inside what looked like a small hovel.
A tall man walked in wearing jeans and a light jacket overflowing with pockets. He looked around the room, put on a pair of rimless glasses and cleared her throat to begin talking. "Hello, now that we have everyone we need, I'm just going to go over what this all is and what we're expecting from you. Welcome to the first ever runthrough of what we're calling Exotic Reality. Now, this is a bit of a pilot project, and we need you all cooperating if it is going to have any chance of succeeding. Tomorrow afternoon, we're going to have a bit of a scenario play out. As you can see, we're pulling out all the stops like it's a stage play. Sets, costumes, characters, all that. Except the guests will be participating on the stage instead of watching from some seats. We want this to be another reality for the guests, not just fancy dressing for the same kinds of things they can get anywhere. We want the guests coming in to feel like they're entering another world and you are all a vital part of making them believe that this is another world and not just one of our convention halls. " he said, ending with a bit of a chuckle that the room joined in on.
"Now, hopefully this isn't going to be very complicated. You'll just be using your performance names like you do every day. You are all playing the part of the wives of Roman soldiers, living in a small outpost town near the northern border. The soldiers will come back tomorrow morning, they've found out that a band of German Barbarians are planning a raid, and they'll make sure to be there to defend each of you against the brutish invaders. There is no set script you have to say or do, you're here because you can have the freedom to go in whatever direction the guests want to go in. Just.. as you do it, stay in character. That's really the crux that keeps everything together. Get invested in really being this other person. If anyone goes beyond your contract start yelling the word 'safeword' and we'll have staff around to come check, but he better really be going clearly out of bounds to break character. We'll have staff intermixed with the guests and we'll have the ol' system passively monitoring, so we will be there quickly if it detects something bad's happening or if you say the word 'safeword.' If it's not an emergency but you need to talk, just say 'helpword.' Everyone with me still?" he asked, waiting only briefly.
"Good. Now my people should be done setting up in a few more hours, and then we're going to get out of here. You are to start to live the part. Get into character, sleep in the beds we're bringing in, and don't worry about anything else. You're just a bunch of Roman women, waiting around for their soldier husbands to get back before they get to be the big hero off in a battle. I want you all to live as that person. Any questions?" she asked, waiting a little longer this time. But when no one answered she just simply left without another word.
"So, looks like we've got a night off, imagine that.. this must really be important," the woman Sophia walked in with whispered to her. "Hi.. I'm Alba."
"Savina, wanna go watch them build our little town before finding a bed to claim?" Sophia said.
"Sure, lead on."
****
Sophia woke suddenly as she heard a noise. She looked out the window to see the artificial stars and dim "moonlight" were still lighting the ceiling of the tall exhibition hall, just as when she went to sleep. Which didn't feel like very long ago, there's no way it could be morning yet. She tried to push it out of her head, probably someone tripping as the woke up to use the bathroom. She closed her eyes and lay back in bed.
Then she heard a loud crashing noise, too loud to just be an accident. She sat up and thought she saw movement in the distance, but with the faint light it was hard to tell. She got up out of bed, still wearing the dress she had been given the other night.
Then, it was faint, but she was sure she heard a scream. It sounded muffled but it was terrifying. She rushed back to the window to try to see where it came from. In the distance, several large figures were running. One of them branched off from the others and rushed into one of the homes, another scream came echoing out from the building that person had just entered.
Sophia's heart began to race. This wasn't how things were supposed to be going. She looked around to see if there was anything around to fight with. Nothing, the construction crew had not actually bothered furnishing this place with anything but a bed. So finding nothing to help her fight, all that was left was to flee.
She looked out the window and didn't see any movement. The window was more accurately a lack of wall than anything glass or plastic, so quietly, carefully, she climbed up and out through it. Just as she landed on the other side, she heard her door slam open. She began to slowly slink away as she heard the faint sounds of chains and footsteps searching her home. The light coming from the ceiling left a large area of shade beside her building, she moved into it just as she saw another man clomping loudly down the pathway. He was dressed in brown furs, and carried in his hand a heavy looking collar and cuffs attached to each other along a long metal pole. He slowed down, seeming to listen for any commotion before suddenly running in another direction.
Screams continued to echo out occasionally, filling the air with a heavy fog of dread. Sophia stood up to run and took her chance to slip away silently when she heard the man in her home noisily moving her bed. In a small, nearly lightless stretch, she slowly crept, using every ounce of every sense she had to figure out where they were.
She peered around a corner and nearly screamed at the eyes staring back at her. The eyes looking at her though seemed just as scared and lost as her own, so she was able to hold her tongue when she slowly realized it was Alba. Alba seemed to have the same reaction and reached out to hug her. "Looks like the horde came early, I think we were lied to," she whispered.
"Found the last two," cried a deep voice loudly from behind Sophia. The two girls instantly panicked and ran in different directions. Sophia quickly found herself blocked in and attempted to double back before finding that way blocked as well. As two men approached her she saw only one of them had a metal yoke in hand and decided to try to run past the one who wasn't carrying one.
"Oh no you don't!" He said as he lunged at Sophia, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her back. Sophia kicked him and pulled but it didn't seem to do very much. "Oh you got a feisty one here," he said as the other man walked forward getting the collar out.
"No, no let me go!" Sophia said as she jerked and tried to get away. As the man bent down to put the collar on her she tried to kick him, but he made sure to keep his distance while his friend held her tight. She looked over and saw Alba on the floor with a collar on and the bar held to the floor with another person's foot. She was struggling to keep her wrists free and failing. In a final act of defiance, as the man slipped the bar behind Sophia's head and closed the collar around her neck she spit at him, landing a lucky shot right on his cheek. The man holding her began laughing as the other man moved a hand up to feel his cheek. He then gave Sophia a hard backhanded slap, disorienting her slightly.
"She got you good, hope you like a fighter," the man holding Sophia eventually said. He held Sophia in a tight hug while the other man tried to bend her arm up and into the waiting cuff.
"There's fight and then there's just being too stupid to know when to quit," he said as she finally got Sophia's right hand into place in the cuff. It clicked closed and as Sophia tried to remove her wrist she found that it was shut tight.
"Simon, I'll trade ya if you really want. I got this blonde, great tits." the man holding Sophia said.
"Not a chance Anton. Because the harder the squeeze.." he said as he redoubled his efforts to bend Sophia's other arm up to reach the cuff. Sophia tried her best but she found she couldn't stop him, something she eventually saw as her final hand got cuffed. "Ah.. yeah the sweeter the juice. Alright, let's get her feet in shackles."
