by Van ©2018
		Chapter 2

The day after Robin's revelation that she was intellectually curious about the damsel-in-distress experience, Leda returned home from Archer Metals not wearing Jordan's latest masterpiece (for which she was supremely grateful); however, she was "going commando."  That is, Leda was sans panties, bare-ass naked under her pretty dress.  Her saliva-dampened panties were in a plastic bag in her purse and not clammily girding her loins.  But at least the steel panties she'd tested (worn) for more than half the day were back in Jordan's workshop, waiting to be packaged and shipped to their new owner and not depriving Leda of access to her pussy.

The clammy panties weren't the only things hitching a ride home in Leda's purse.  Jordan had loaned her a pair of "bracelet-cuffs" from her shop collection, as well as the small brass padlock required to lock them together.  They were polished steel (of course) and oval shaped, with their walls well rounded.  Also, this particular pair were a perfect fit for Leda's slender wrists.  That she knew from experience.  It was so convenient being the exact same size as her gorgeously cute and intellectually curious little roomie.  All Leda had had to do was make sure the cuffs fit her and she knew they'd fit Robin.  As an added bonus, the same went for any Archer Metals product!  If last night's curiosity became a trend, she'd be able to bring home all sorts of fun things to help Robin with her research.

Leda reminded herself not to come across with too much enthusiasm.  She had to feel Robin out (so to speak) on the subject of continuing her research.  Maybe her writer/roomie had decided that last night's experiment was enough.  That would be intolerable but unlikely.  Leda very much doubted her BFF's curiosity had abated.  That said, she suspected she'd have to play her cards just right if she wanted to make sure the games continued.

As it turned out, no crafty Machiavellian manipulations on Leda's part were required.

Leda unlocked the front door, crossed the threshold, and locked the door behind her.  She'd just finished hanging her purse and jacket on their accustomed entryway hooks when Robin breezed out of her bedroom with a broad smile dimpling her cheeks.  She was wearing jeans and a white cotton blouse with its long sleeves rolled up, her feet were bare, and her long brown hair was loose about her shoulders.  "Hey!" she greeted her BFF.

"Hey!" Leda greeted back.

Robin took hold of Leda's right hand and led her to the easy chair in the living room.  "Sit," she ordered.

Leda was happy to do so, being pretty sure she knew what was coming.  Sure enough, like yesterday, Leda watched as Robin sat on the hassock, lifted her feet onto her denim-clad lap, plucked off her work shoes, and began massaging her feet.  The massage felt good, as always, and Leda knew what it meant.  "What do you want this time?" she sighed.

Still smiling, Robin shrugged.  "Nothing new."  She continued the massage.  "Same as last time."

Leda favored her BFF and masseuse with a wry smile.  "More research?"

"More research," Robin nodded.  "However, this time we're doing it my way.  We'll use your cotton rope again, but I want you to—"

"No," Leda interrupted.

Robin paused her kneading of Leda's feet.  "No?"

"Think it through," Leda purred, then closed her eyes and snuggled back in the comfy chair.

"Think what through?" Robin demanded.

"Helpless prisoners don't get to bark orders," Leda explained, then opened one eye and nodded at Robin's lap.  "Feet."

Robin resumed her massage of the feet in question.  "I didn't bark," she huffed, "but I get your point.  Anyway, I was just going to suggest that you be not quite as... thorough as you were last time."

Her eyes still closed, Leda smiled.  "I suppose last night I did get a little enthusiastic.  Anyway, there's helpless... and there's helpless."

"Whatever that means," Robin muttered.

"Things will be simpler this time," Leda purred.

Robin continued the massage.  "How so?"

Leda's smile widened.  "To coin a phrase: that would be telling."

Robin couldn't help but smile.  She considered tickling her BFF's bare feet in retaliation for keeping her in suspense, but decided that wouldn't be a very prudent course of action.

It was Leda's turn to cook dinner, so Robin sat in a wooden chair (a companion to the one she'd been lashed to last night) and watched as her roomie (and captor) prepared herb-crusted baked chicken breasts, green beans, and mashed potatoes.  Robin would have helped, of course.  The least she could have done is set the table, but at the moment that would be impossible, or at best, very awkward.  Robin's hands were behind her back with her wrists padlocked in the Archer Metals "bracelet-cuffs" Leda had borrowed from work!

Robin had to admit the things were comfortable, she supposed.  This was her first experience with cuffs of any variety, but she understood that "normal" handcuffs, the kind used by the police, could be painful, especially if they were ratcheted too tight or if the wearer struggled.  The cuffs she'd allowed Leda to lock around her wrists were close-fitting, but well-rounded and smooth against her skin.  No edges.  She tugged on the cuffs... and revised her evaluation from comfortable to tolerable.

Robin heaved a sad, pathetic sigh.  At least cuffing her hands was all Leda had done to her... for now.  And I let her do it, Robin mused, which was the least I could do, seeing as how I asked her to do it.  Anyway... you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs... or some such metaphor.  At least she'll have to un-cuff me so we can eat.

No such luck.

The food ready, Leda set the table for one, loaded (meaning overloaded) a single plate with chicken, beans, and potatoes, filled two stemmed glasses with white wine, then settled into a chair next to her glowering prisoner.  There were also two napkins, but only one set of tableware.

Robin continued glowering as Leda opened a napkin and set it in her own lap, then draped the second napkin down the front of Robin's blouse and held it in place by tucking one corner down her décolletage.  Leda had nudging the inside slopes of her breasts during the process, and had commented that her BFF wasn't wearing a bra, her smile taking on a coy twist.  Robin ignored the comment, and watched in sullen silence as Leda then sliced off a bite of chicken and popped it in her own mouth.

"Yum," Leda purred, after chewing and swallowing.  "My compliments to the chef."

"Bite me," Robin huffed as Leda sliced off a second bite of chicken.

"No," Leda chuckled, "bite this."  She waved the tidbit on the end of the fork in Robin's glowering face.  "C'mon, work with me here.  We're playing 'feed the baby bird.'"

"Chirp," Robin drawled, then accepted the proffered morsel.  She sullenly chewed and swallowed.  The chicken was delicious, perfectly spiced and cooked, but she didn't compliment the cook.  Leda would understand.  Robin was her brave prisoner, not her dinner guest.

The meal continued in the most peculiar example of companionable silence in the roommates' shared experience.

After the meal was over, Robin was treated to the spectacle of Leda cleaning the kitchen (which Robin had to admit wasn't an unusual event, but found strangely satisfying, nonetheless).  Then, the roomies adjourned to the living room.  Seeing as how the entire apartment was two bedrooms, one bath, and a single open space that encompassed everything else, it wasn't much of an adjournment.  Still stoically sullen, Robin settled into the sofa while her BFF flounced into her bedroom to change.

Robin eyed the TV remote control resting on the coffee table and briefly considered using it to select the evening's entertainment, but decided to continue letting Leda do all the work.  After all, Robin was her Helpless Prisoner.  It wouldn't be proper for her to take charge... or try to take charge... or fail miserably if she tried to take charge.  Truth be told, the "bracelet cuffs" didn't make her all that helpless.  She could have easily (albeit awkwardly) worked the remote.  Also, at any time she could climb to her feet, pad to the front door, and "escape."  But then, she'd be running loose in the building's hallway with her wrists cuffed behind her back and wearing jeans and a cotton blouse with the top three buttons unbuttoned.  The third button had come loose when Leda removed the napkin protecting her blouse during dinner, and she hadn't corrected the "accident."  Truth be told, Robin was sure Leda had inflicted her excessive cleavage upon her on purpose, but if she'd complained Leda would have gained villainess style points, so she kept her biting remarks to herself.

Leda returned to the living room wearing her robe over her usual pajamas of panties and a tank-top.  Her feet were bare.  She picked up the remote and flopped down on the sofa next to her captive.  "Let's see what's on," she said, "shall we?"

"We shall," Robin huffed.  "See to it immediately."

Still smiling, Leda turned her head and gazed at her glowering captive.  "So," she purred, "having difficulty getting into the spirit of our experiment?"  She held a warning finger to Robin's pouting lips before she could answer.  "I know, 'bite me.'"  She withdrew her finger.

"Bite me?" Robin inquired.

"You were about to say 'bite me.'" Leda responded.

"I was," Robin admitted.  "Also...  Bite me."

"Where?" Leda inquired.

Robin blushed.  "Shut up," she muttered.

"Hmm..." Leda murmured, continuing to gaze at her BFF.  "Ya know, as experiments go, this is pretty weak tea."

Robin shrugged and looked at the blank TV screen.  "The cuffs are pretty cool," she conceded.

"Yes," Leda agreed, "but you can start screaming whenever you want, and eventually the neighbors will pound on the walls and tell you to shut the hell up."

Robin grinned.  "They might also call the cops.  Then where would you be?"

"Probably in jail," Leda chuckled.  "Well, let's watch something, then I'll correct a few deficiencies and we can get on with the program."

"What deficiencies?" Robin demanded, tugging on her cuffs.

"To coin a phrase—"

"Yes, yes, I know," Robin interrupted, rolling her eyes.  "That would be telling."

Leda's smile widened.  "Exactly."  She clicked on the TV, then opened the DVR menu.  "What ya wanna watch?"

"Elementary, my dear Watson," Robin drawled.

"Elementary it is," Leda purred, and selected the latest modern day adventure of Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson off the list of recorded shows.

After watching the episode, the roomies decided to turn in.  Actually, it was Leda who made the decision to retire.  Robin sullenly went along.  Being Leda's Helpless Prisoner, she didn't have much choice.

Robin's complacent gruffness lasted until Leda led her into the bathroom, then transitioned into nervous acquiescence.  She stoically endured the processes of Leda brushing her teeth for her... followed by Leda gently scrubbing her face with soap and a wet washcloth.  This was the first time that someone else had done those personal tasks for her (and to her) since she was a toddler, and then, the someone in question had been her mother!  Leda was not her mother!

Acquiescence turned to open revolt when Leda began unbuttoning her jeans!

"Hey-hey-hey!" Robin objected, trying to back away (and nearly tripping into the bathtub).  "Hands!  Hands!"

"How else are ya gonna take your evening tinkle?" Leda chuckled.

"Oh, gee, let me see think," Robin muttered sarcastically.  "You unlock the cuffs and I do it myself?"

"You're my helpless prisoner, remember?" Leda purred, continuing to fumble with Robin's jeans.  She finally succeeded in releasing the front button, then unzipped the zipper and jerked the jeans down Robin's legs.

"Leda!" Robin whined, but "allowed" her BFF to pull down her panties, then plunk her down on the toilet.  She stared daggers at her captor.  "Hello?  Privacy?"

"Okay," Leda chuckled, then knelt and pulled the rumpled jeans from around Robin's ankles, followed by her panties.

"Leda!" Robin complained again, but was ignored, meaning was still ignored, but her roomie did, indeed, give her her privacy.  Robin watched as Leda left the bathroom, taking her clothing with her (except for her half-unbuttoned blouse) and closed the door behind her.  It took a while for Robin to calm down enough to empty her bladder... but eventually she succeeded.  Then, she stood, managed to dab her crotch with a bit of bath tissue, tossed the tissue into the bowl, and flushed.  The process was awkward, but she managed.

The bathroom door flew open and Leda returned.  "Good girl!" she gushed, then clutched Robin's right arm and led her to her bedroom—meaning Robin's bedroom.

"Enough is enough," Robin complained.  She noted that her bed was turned down, obviously by the grabby hands of her grabby roomie.  "Hey!"  Leda had shoved her onto her bed!  She landed and bounced on the mattress, her hair flying, then rolled onto her side and glared at her roomie.  What an outrage!  Robin shook her tousled brown locks from her glowering face, then her eyes popped wide!  "No—m'mmpfh!"  Previously, obviously while Robin was still in the bathroom, Leda had tacked a wide strip of off-white medical tape to the headboard by one corner, and while Robin was busy bouncing and flouncing, she'd stretched the strip between her hands, leaned close, and was pressing it home, sealing Robin's lips!  "MRRRF!"  The tape covered her entire lower face, from nose-to-chin and ear-to-ear!  Robin was gagged!  Again!  "Mrrrf!"

"Not as effective as last time," Leda purred, "but it should be more than adequate to keep the peace with the neighbors."

Robin considered how to respond, but before she made a decision, Leda upped the ante by leaping onto the bed and straddling her bare legs!  "M'mf!"  Robin heard a series of metallic clicks as something hard tightened around her ankles.

Giggling like a schoolgirl (an evil, diabolical schoolgirl), Leda scrambled off the bed (and Robin's legs), stood beside the bed, and smiled down at her captive.

Robin lifted her legs, propped herself up on her cuffed arms, gazed at her feet, and confirmed that she was wearing a pair of regular handcuffs on her ankles!  She focused on her BFF/captor and stared daggers at Leda's smug, grinning face.  "Mrrrpfh!"

"Oh my," Leda giggled.  "If looks could kill."

Robin continued glaring, but Leda didn't shrivel up and die.  How rude! Robin thought.  Her half-unbuttoned blouse (her only clothing) was in rumpled disarray.  Her right nipple was nearly exposed and her hips and private parts were just barely covered—and there was nothing she could do about it!  Robin's cheeks burned.  Obviously, her face was flushed in righteous outrage, although a hypothetical outside observer would be forgiven for thinking she was blushing in mortified embarrassment.

Still smiling her devilishly cute, infuriating, dimpled smile, Leda pulled the bedclothes up and over Robin's bare feet, cuffed ankles, and bare legs to her upper arms and chest, then stood erect and resumed smiling down at her prisoner.

"Mrrrm!" Robin complained.

"Far and away," Leda purred, "Elastoplast is the tape-of-choice for the gagging of damsels."

'Elastoplast?' Robin wondered.  Is that a brand name?

"I love the way it hugs your skin," Leda continued, "the way it makes your lips stand out in three dimensional detail like a bas-relief sculpture.  And once the adhesive gets a good grip, it's impossible to work loose by working your jaws or using your tongue.  It's on to stay."  She turned on her bare heels and padded to the bedroom door.  "As an added bonus, it's hypoallergenic.  When I come back and peel it off, there'll be no irritation on your pretty face."  She waved at her hand-and-foot-cuffed and tape-gagged captive, wiggling her fingers for maximum gloating effect.  "G'night, Rob.  Sleep tight."

Robin's eyes popped wide as Leda clicked off the overhead light, crossed the threshold, and closed the bedroom door behind her.

"Mrrrrpfh!"

There was no response.

She's abandoning me?  Like this?  All night?  Robin squirmed under the covers, but knew it was pointless.  The cuffs weren't going to spontaneously spring open and she wasn't going anywhere.  She really was a helpless prisoner.  Leda's helpless prisoner.

Robin rolled on the bed, squirmed, tugged on her cuffs, and tested her gag.  "Mrrrf!"  Surely she's kidding about leaving me like this all night!  Of that, Robin was sure, but her heart was pounding and she was panting through her nostrils.  The bedroom was totally dark.  Normally, that was exactly the way Robin liked it, but tonight the inky blackness was... sinister.

This is a good experiment, Robin conceded as she gave her wrist-cuffs a final tug, kicked her cuffed ankles, and heaved a gagged sigh.  Robin knew her thoughts should be focused on escaping... somehow... but all she could think about was Leda's infuriating smile... and grabby hands... and girlish giggle.  Why is that? she wondered, then closed her eyes.

Upon entering her bedroom Leda removed her robe, flopped down on her bed, and, wearing only her panties and tank-top, relieved the evening's tension.  That is, she masturbated, and she took her time doing it (or tried, anyway).  Eventually, the inevitable happened.  Leda gasped, shivered, and her body convulsed in a crashing orgasm!

Lying on her back, Leda panted and enjoyed the afterglow.

Time passed...

Eventually, Leda's heart stopped pounding, her breathing returned to normal, the patina of sweat on her smooth, firm body dried, and the afterglow faded.  Normally, at this point she'd just drift off to sleep, but Leda had a helpless BFF to take care of.  Also, a seriously genius plan was coming together in her still somewhat stimulated mind.

Time to move things along, she decided, then climbed off the bed, padded to the writing desk across the room, and booted her laptop computer.  Once the machine was ready... she opened the e-mail app and composed a long message to Jordan Price.  This required several rewrites and revisions, so it took a few minutes.  Finally satisfied, she sent the message and shut down the computer.

Well, Leda thought, we shall see what we shall see.  She then smiled, stood, stretched, and pulled the keys to Robin's bracelet-cuffs and handcuffs (or in this case, her ankle-cuffs) from the pocket of her robe.  They dangled from a steel dog tag chain.  She dropped it over her head, freed her hair from the chain, then padded down the hall to Robin's bedroom.

Still smiling, Leda turned the knob and eased the door open.  The only light available was from the nightlight in the hallway, the one they'd installed so they could navigate to and from their bedrooms to the bathroom, but Leda could make out the sprawled form of her captive BFF on the rumpled bed.  Robin appeared to be asleep.

Leda stepped across the threshold, eased the door closed behind her, then blindly padded to the bedside table and managed to find Robin's reading lamp with only a little minor groping.  This particular lamp had a conical shade shielding a pair of bright LED bulbs, but its base was in the form of a glass lantern and it had a "mood light" hidden within.  Leda clicked the appropriate switch and a dim golden light began to glow.

The amber light revealed Robin lying on her left side, only half-covered by the bedclothes.  Most of her right breast and her entire right nipple peeked through her rumpled blouse.  Oh-by-the-way, her eyes were open and she was glaring at her roomie through a curtain of tousled hair.

Leda smiled.  "Oh, you're awake."  She sat on the bed, leaned close, combed Robin's hair from her face, then slowly, carefully peeled the tape from her lower face.  The strip stretched Robin's lips and skin as the adhesive reluctantly surrendered its grip.  "There ya go," Leda purred as she folded the tape in half, sticky-side-to-sticky-side, and placed it on the nightstand.

Robin licked her lips and rolled her lower jaw.  "I hate that stuff," she huffed.  "What do you call it?"

"Elastoplast," Leda answered, smiling brightly.  "That's the brand name, of course.  I believe the general category is 'microfoam.'  Only the best for my prisoners."

Continuing to glare at her captor/BFF, Robin rolled her shoulders as she tugged on her bracelet-cuffs, and winced.

"Not used to sleeping with you hands cuffed behind your back?" Leda chuckled.

Robin didn't dignify her roomie's mocking, gloating question with an answer.

"Why didn't you move your hands to the front as soon as I left?" Leda inquired.

"Oh, I don't know," Robin sarcastically drawled, "because I'm not Hermione, I've misplaced my wand, and I don't know the spell for passing handcuffs through your body?"

Leda laughed, pulled the chain with the keys over her head, pulled back the covers, and rolled Robin onto her stomach.

"Hey!" Robin complained, then went perfectly still.  Leda was unlocking the padlock securing the bracelet cuffs!  She freed Robin's wrists, then pulled the covers even lower and unlocked and removed her ankle-cuffs!  Robin was free!  She rolled over and watched her captor-turned-rescuer sit beside her on the bed lean down, and click the handcuffs closed around her own ankles!

Leda then lifted her ankle-cuffed legs onto the bed, rolled onto her own stomach, and placed her hands behind her back.  "Lock me up," she requested.

Robin flipped the hair from her face.  "Huh?"

The bracelet cuffs and open padlock were in Leda's hands, which she waved at Robin's incredulous face for emphasis.  "Lock me up."

Robin smiled a devilish, dimpled smile, then quickly closed the cuffs around Leda's wrists and joined then together with the padlock.  Click!  "If you insist," she purred, then dropped the chain over her head and freed her hair.

Leda tugged on the bracelet cuffs and flutter-kicked her ankles, to the tiny extent the handcuffs allowed, then rolled over and smiled at her BFF.  "Watch and learn," she advised.

Robin did, indeed, watch as Leda lifted her legs, bent her knees until her heels and fingers were close, then lifted her hips off the mattress, passed her bracelet-cuffed wrists past her handcuffed ankles, then passed her legs through her arms.  Her hands were now, indeed, in front of her body and no longer behind her back.

"Well... yeah," Robin muttered.  "I suppose I could have done that."

"There are countermeasures, of course," Leda purred, smiling at her former captive and current captor.  "I'll demonstrate one of my favorites the next time I help with your research."  She lifted her bracelet-cuffed hands and pointed with both index fingers at the keys now hanging around Robin's neck and between her semi-exposed breasts.

Robin's smile turned... evil.  "Dream on," she purred, then reclined next to her prisoner, pulled the sheets up to their waists, then leaned to the side and clicked off her reading lamp's mood light, once again plunging the bedroom into total darkness.  "Sleep tight," she chuckled.

Smiling into the inky darkness, Leda clicked her bracelets together.  "No good deed goes unpunished," she sighed, theatrically.

"Shut up and sleep," Robin ordered, managing not to laugh.

"Yes, ma'am," Leda sighed.

Several seconds passed.

"Robin?" Leda whispered.

"What?" Robin whispered back.

"I want a drink of water."

Unseen in the darkness, Robin's dimpled smile deepened.  "It sucks to be you, doesn't it?"

Also smiling into the darkness, Leda didn't reply.  She didn't really want a drink of water, but that wasn't important.  It's working, Leda mused.  Robin's coming around.

Jordan Price habitually slept in the nude.  The alarm clock app on her iPhone warbled its usual ringtone, she reached over to the nightstand and tapped the phone's screen, then leaped from bed.  Jordan never had any difficulty waking up in the morning.  She executed a full body stretch, reaching with her fingertips for the bedroom's exposed rafters, going up on her toes, and arching her back.  Her early-morning fitness routine came next in the form of stretching exercises, followed by forty pushups and sixty situps.  She'd do her three-times-a-week, minimum, two-mile run after she got home from work.

Next was her morning trip to the bathroom, including a quick shower.  Drying her hair with a towel (but otherwise still nude) Jordan returned to the bedroom, picked up her iPhone, and checked for messages.  She found she had no texts, but there was an e-mail from Leda Brewer.  Jordan wrapped the towel around her hair, read the e-mail... and smiled.

As far as Jordan was concerned, this was a win-win.  If her mother agreed to Leda's proposal, that was a win.  On the other hand, if mother dismissed Leda's ridiculous scheme out of hand, that was also a win.  Jordan would be able to punish Leda for her... presumptuousness.

Still smiling, Jordan thumbed a quick text to her mother: "Forwarding email from your favorite swan.  Will call from work."  She then forwarded Leda's message, dressed herself for work in panties, bra (she favored sports bras for their comfortable fit and freedom of motion), jeans, tank-top, wool socks, and steel-toed work-boots.  She then strolled into her kitchen for her first cup of coffee of the day.