Sophomore Year - Chapter 6: "You're So Pragmatic" (MM/FF) [Part 2 of 4]
Me: Alright, Dale. Who do you want to tie?
Dale: I get to tie somebody? What a divine treat.
Me: Of course. I’m not going to have all the fun myself. I’ve never seen you tie anybody before. I want to see you in action.
Dale: Well, I would like YOU to tie up Elisa. I hear that you’re great and she’s probably the best escape artist in the club. No offense, Erica, but I think I can restrain you.
Erica: I’d say “none taken”, but I AM a little offended.
Me: You hear that I’m great? I’d never say that about myself. It must mean that boss lady thinks that I’m pretty talented. I appreciate the positive review, Elisa.
Elisa: Hold up, Kid Galahad. I’m not the only one who saw you tie me up. Maybe your little fucking birdie was chirping in Dale’s ear.
I thought that Dale’s “little birdie” was probably Jackie given my conversations with her. But it was clear that Elisa thought it was Abbie. It easily could have been. Dale really had a way with women. I don’t know if Elisa knew that I’d tied up Jackie already. Either Abbie or Jackie could have theoretically been responsible for the glowing reviews.
Me: OK. OK. Let’s settle down. I’ll tie Elisa and Dale can tie Erica. I’ll even give you a simpler tie this time Elisa so that you hold some chance of escaping.
Elisa: I’m not scared of you, kid. I don’t back down from anybody.
Dale: Screw that, Trent. Tie her tight. We can’t risk her getting out. If they escape we’re unprotected from having them turn the tables on us immediately.
Elisa: Relax, coward. I’m going to have my revenge. But it won’t be tonight. That’s been ruined. If we escape, we’ll come back for you at a later date.
Dale: Fine. Tie her however you want.
Me: I’d like to see how good she is at escaping. I’d also like to see how good you are at tying. Let’s have some fun. What’s your specialty?
Elisa: He doesn’t have one.
Dale: I don’t know. I like to hogtie people.
Elisa: Pshhhh. That’s your specialty? I was right then. He doesn’t have one.
Me: Never mind the critics, Dale. You won’t be able to hear her criticisms for long anyway. Let’s hogtie them both, have a little fun, and then see how long it takes them to escape.
Dale: Sounds great.
We started unpacking the backpacks. The girls had come to our room prepared. There were dozens of coils of rope in varying sizes. There were two rolls of duct tape. There was a sizeable collection of handkerchiefs, scarves, bandanas, rags, and socks. And two of the ball gags were also in Elisa’s bag. Not Betty. The other two. We laid out all of the supplies on Elisa’s bed.
Me: Alright. Let’s get started. Elisa, hands behind your back please.
Elisa obeyed and I began to tie her hands behind her back in much the same manner that I had the first time I’d tied her. I was going to give her a puncher’s chance at escaping this time but I certainly wasn’t going to make it easy. She began to shift a little. Perhaps preparing herself for the fact that escape wouldn’t be easy. Dale finished tying Erica’s hands at about the same time that I finished tying Elisa’s. I picked up another rope to begin on Elisa’s elbows when Dale asked me to check his work.
Dale: Trent, how is this?
He spun Erica slightly so that I could see her bound hands. They were good. They were secure. They were significantly more restrained than I was expecting given Elisa’s derision of my roommate’s abilities but I did see some flaws.
Me: Not bad. Your skills are better than I was expecting given that somebody told me you were a bum.
Dale: Who would say that?
Me: Who do you think?
Elisa: You are a bum, Dale.
Dale: Alright…but she’s the only one who escapes my ties in under an hour.
Elisa: What can I say? I’m surrounded by bums.
Me: Haters gonna hate. It’s good. It looks tight but not untenable. You’ve gotten the slack out of it. It’s even with no real weak spots. Your knot is decently out of the way though I think that her fingers could still probably get to it. But it’ll certainly be a strain for her and picking it at that angle will take some time. You also didn’t bury the knot. We’re going to have TWO captives. If Elisa can get to her, Elisa won’t have much trouble with picking that knot. Look at Elisa’s. See how the crossrope covers the initial knot so it’s not exposed. Somebody has to pick a secondary knot before they can even start on that knot.
I showed him Elisa’s hands.
Elisa: Excuse me. I know that the timers don’t start until your done…but I don’t think it’s very polite to make this part take a full hour. I might be your captive but I didn’t sign up to be an exhibit in a ropework tutorial.
Me: I’m just trying to teach. You’re the one who derides everybody for not being as skilled as you and me.
Elisa: Not being as skilled as ME. I’m not so convinced that you didn’t just get lucky last time. And I do think he should get better. But learn on your own time.
Me: Fair enough. If you’re not going to be a cooperative teaching aid, maybe I’ll invite Jackie over and he can practice on her. It’s nice to have one member of the group at least who’s accommodating.
Elisa: See. Now that sounds like a GREAT idea.
Elisa shot me a sly little smile and a wink with her left eye that was facing away from Dale. Clearly Elisa was invested in helping her best friend land her dream man. And practice sessions would help them along their way.
Dale and I proceeded to tie the girls upper bodies in a somewhat identical fashion. Without bragging or being egotistical I can honestly say that Dale’s ropework wasn’t as crisp or stringent as mine was, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d been led to believe. Elisa’s standards were clearly very high and maybe she was allowed to have high standards. But I thought Dale was doing just fine. He had said that Erica didn’t normally escape in less than an hour. And I was fine with an hour at this point. It would be fun to watch the girls try to escape. I didn’t want it to be easy, but I did want them to eventually escape. It’s less fun watching people who KNOW they can’t escape. The struggles are less energetic once they’ve accepted their fate. And what fun is that?
When we were done with their upper bodies we dropped the girls to their knees and started tying their legs. First we removed their shoes and socks and set them gently to the side by their bunked beds. My tying went significantly quicker than Dale’s. Prior to a couple weeks earlier I’d probably been getting rusty. However, it was all coming back to me now and I felt as though it was second nature. I also wasn’t doing anything new or innovative. Elisa’s chest harness was pretty standard this time. There were no extra ropes stabilizing her. If she rocked herself hard enough she’d be able to roll and scoot herself. That’s what I wanted. I took a final rope and completed her hogtie. She was now a tightly bound bundle. The hogtie had been more stringent than I think I was intending. The heels of her feet were brushing the butt of her tight black jeans. Dale seemed to notice this too.
Dale: Trent, I think that’s a little too tight.
Me: Is that true, Elisa? I did pull the rope further than I had intended. Do you need me to give you some slack?
Elisa: I’m fine. I can handle whatever you’ve got.
Dale: She’s never going to admit to needing help. She considers it weakness. I’m telling you it’s probably too tight.
Me: That’s dumb. Ask for what you want. We’re all friends here.
I found the rope to her hogtie and began to untie it.
Dale: She’s not going to give you any quarter when she ties you up. That’s just the way she is.
Me: Sad. That’s not the way I am. I want my captive’s discomfort to be more embarrassment based than pain based. She’s naturally going to be sore, but that’s not my intention.
Elisa: I’m not trying to hurt anybody either. But if you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Me: Or just ask the chef to turn the stove down a bit. Either way.
I tied her hogtie off a little looser than before. There were now approximately six inches between her heels and her butt. I looked over at Dale who was now working on finishing up Erica’s hogtie. He was pulling the rope from Erica’s ankles to her wrists and was looking to tie it off. Elisa’s feelings be damned. I’d offer a helpful pointer.
Me: Dale, don’t tie it off there.
Dale: What? Why?
He looked at the one I had just tied.
Dale: Oh. You bypassed her wrists and went straight into her other bindings.
Me: Yeah. It’ll give her less access to knots and she won’t be able to use tension to compromise other bindings. Do you have enough rope to tie it off higher up.
Dale: I think so.
He pulled the rope up into her chest harness and knotted it off like mine.
Erica: Thanks a lot, Trent.
Elisa: Relax, Erica. Dale was going to find out about his Achilles heel sooner or later.
Me: Don’t worry, Erica, I told you I’d help you with your Achilles heel also.
Erica: I don’t have an Achilles heel.
Me: OK. Keep telling yourself that.
Dale: Gag time?
Me: I think so. What do you want?
Dale: Well, Elisa normally keeps the ball gags in her possession. So I’ve never gotten to use one before. I’ve always wanted to.
I picked up the ball gags and held them out in front of Dale.
Me: Which one?
Erica: Dale, old buddy, old pal, have I ever told you how much I admire your compassion and understanding.
Dale: I see. You’ve been pretty mouthy recently. It’s my understanding that the blue one helps keep that to a minimum better than the red one.
Erica: What would Talia Anderson tell you to do? I think she’d tell you to treat ladies nicely.
Dale: Invoking my mother? Shameful. I’m guessing you’d prefer the red one.
Erica: I’d like to be able to chew food tomorrow. So…yes.
Dale: Pass me the red one.
I tossed him the smaller of the two ball gags.
Erica: Thank you, darling.
Dale: No problem. I hate the blue one also.
Elisa: I’ll keep that in mind.
Dale: I pretty sure that wasn’t information that you didn’t already know.
Me: And since we’re taking requests, what type of gag would you like Elisa?
Elisa: That’s not a question that I’m ever going to ask you, so you might as well do your worst.
Me: And what would that be?
Elisa: I’m not answering that either.
Me: Dale?
Dale: I don’t know what she hates the most. But I know what she thinks others hate the most. Stuff her mouth with some cloth and then wrap the duct tape all the way around her head.
Me: Yeah. I saw her do that to Abbie. It seemed mean. Doesn’t that hurt to get out of your hair?
Dale: It does. That’s not Elisa’s concern. And Abbie especially hates that. But that’s why she does it. Never let Elisa know what you don’t like. I always tell her that I hate NOT being gagged at all.
Elisa: And see…I’m happy to oblige your needs, Dale. You’ll always get a gag from me.
Me: OK. Well, we’ll go with that then. A taste of your own medicine.
Dale had now pulled the red ball gag firmly into Erica’s mouth. He pulled the strap through the buckle and secured it one notch more than what was probably comfortable. Erica gave a muffled groan as he tightened it.
Erica: Mmmmmppphhhhh!!!
The ball was firmly recessed into her mouth and I could see the strap pressing into the skin on the sides of her face.
Dale: There we go. I’ll start the timer.
Dale picked up Erica’s phone while I grabbed a rag that I thought would be filling, but not too filling for Elisa’s mouth.
Me: Open up.
Elisa glared at me but didn’t fight me. Apparently you just did have to let yourself be gagged in this game. I pushed the rag back behind her teeth and prodded it with my fingers into the recesses of her mouth making sure to keep all of the wisps and tendrils to the front of her mouth as a safety precaution. The rag didn’t quite fill her mouth but it definitely was big enough to keep her quiet and stop her tongue from moving around. Elisa might be into making her captive’s miserable, but I didn’t see that I needed to be. That would do. I grabbed the roll of tape and peeled off the edge of the tape. I then ripped the tape from the roll in front of her face with a satisfying RRIIIPPPPPPP. She tried to be nonchalant about it, but I saw her eyes flare a little bit. I then firmly pressed the tape onto her face directly over her lips and began to tightly and meticulously wind it around her head. I didn’t let off tape first. I just let the force of my winding let the tape off the spool in a nice, even, tight rotation. I did about six or seven rotations. Each one sealing the cloth more securely into her mouth before I ripped off the end and smoothed the tape down at the back of her head. It felt absolutely MAGICAL.
When I tied girls up in high school it was always WAY more causal. I’d apply a couple strips of tape over their mouth or I’d tie a bandana between their teeth. Sometimes, with girlfriends, they’d let me stuff cloth in their mouths. But I’d never wanted my gags to be uncomfortable or untenable. This was something new. Elisa was thoroughly silenced. When I’d ball gagged her over a week prior it had felt different, but not groundbreaking. This felt amazing. I’d subjected her to a tight mouth-filling gag and asserted my dominance. And I didn’t have to care. It felt amazing to be able to do it without guilt. I FULLY realized the flip side of this was that she would be allowed to do this to me. But that was tomorrow Trent’s problem. That guy might be screwed. But right now I felt amazing. I had tingles running through me as she angrily glared at me. I gave her cheek a condescending little pat pat. I picked up Elisa’s phone and set her timer. I’d gone significantly easier on the hogtie this time, so I’d be surprised if I’d get the full three hours. But however long it lasted…it was going to be fun.
Dale: What now, partner?
Me: I figured we’d see how long it takes for them to escape.
Dale: You don’t want to have a little fun with them first?
Me: What did you have in mind?
Dale: I was hoping that YOU had something in mind.
Me: I’m going to be honest, Dale. I’m the newest one here. I know the rules. But I don’t know exactly what I’m allowed to do. What are our options?
Dale: For beginners. Not too much. Obviously we want to feel comfortable that other players aren’t going to take unacceptable liberties with us while we’re restrained. So you can’t do too much until you cut deals with other players.
Me: Deals?
Dale: Yeah. The rules we’ve laid down are the basic set. You’re allowed to come to spoken understandings with other players. Elisa is constantly trying to get me to agree to various rule breaches.
Me: And do you?
Dale: Of course not.
Elisa: Mmmmmpppphhhhhrrrrrrmmmmmppppppphhhhh.
Dale: She doesn’t want to break any of the “sexy” [air quotes were used] rules. She’ll make an offer like…if I can set your timer for six hours, you can set my timer for six hours. She knows that I’ll be tied up for six hours and she’ll still escape in under 90 minutes.
Me: I see.
Dale: She does make other offers, but it’s all fun and games until she purchases a cattle prod. So…no…I don’t cut deals with Elisa yet. I’ve got some leeway with Abbie and Jackie, but our current company is a little bit rougher.
Erica: Mmmmpppphhhhrrrrmmmmmmm.
Dale: It might be cliché, but I think that we do some good old fashioned tickling though.
Me: Sure. Do you want to make a little game out of it?
Dale: Intriguing. How so?
Dale looked at me with interest but not nearly as much interest as the two girls that were hogtied next to us. Elisa seemed like she was trying to look disinterested, but I noticed her perking up. Erica was watching me with unabashed interest.
Me: Simple. Why tickle them both equally? What does that teach them? How does that motivate them? Let’s pit them against each other. Loser gets tickled. Winner gets a breather.
Dale: I love it. That’s a great idea. There’s only one problem with it.
Me: What’s that?
Dale: Elisa is not exactly a cooperative captive. She likes to take a bratty little “F You” attitude towards her captors.
Me: We can work with that.
Dale: If you have a suggestion to break her of this tendency, I’m all ears. But she isn’t going to squirm around and play your games.
Me: Simple enough. We don’t give her the option.
Dale: That sounds ominous.
Me: Not really. We make the game something that she plays whether she wants to or not.
Dale: What did you have in mind?
Me: Simple. A staring contest. We make them face each other. Eye to eye. You take one. I take the other. We watch the eyes of the one across from us and we call out when they blink. Loser gets tickled for….let’s say two and a half minutes. We do a best three out of five. Overall loser then gets tickled for ten minutes straight by both of us.
Dale: Interesting. Elisa still might throw it just to spite us.
Me: Fine. Let her. The game still goes on either way. And maybe there will be additional punishments if I don’t think that’s she’s trying her hardest.
Elisa: Hhhmmmpppphhhhrrrrrrmmmmmm??
Me: Oh. You’ll see.
I grinned menacingly as both girls gave me a slightly forlorn look.