A Game for Learning about Yourself Ch. 10

Stephanie was at 14 strikes herself and trying to lay low. She knew she was supposed to want to get back at Naomi. Naomi had assaulted and embarrassed her at the Spielmann holiday party. Naomi at 15 strikes was proudly negotiating with women and guys all over the hall. Her luscious breasts and dark sensuous nipples made a strong case for why Naomi should be a sex slave even as Naomi tried to convince men to pay her to vote for others.

Stephanie had no particular interest in getting back at Naomi. First, Naomi had not really hurt her and had just followed her unnatural imprudent instincts. Further, voting for Naomi to take two strikes was not really revenge. Naomi might want to be a sex slave, as long as she could be enslaved in a manner that gave her the fantasy of having been taken against her will. Stephanie hated to admit it, but Naomi seemed to lend some truth to the idea that some women say "no" while broadcasting "yes" with every part of their body but their mouths. The fact that a few are like Naomi is no reason to assume most are, Stephanie thought, before getting back to her immediate issue.

Stephanie wanted to talk to Charlotte Stein for pointers as to what to do. That idea died when she noticed that Charlotte was very busy during the break being fucked cowgirl style by Sani Abubaker on a padded bench in the back of the hall. At least she's not wasting time, Stephanie thought. I'm sure she's enjoying it. I certainly enjoyed the ride with Sani.

Rolfi came up and said he just wanted to make sure that Stephanie was going to vote for Naomi. Stephanie said that she was no longer mad at Naomi and was strongly leaning toward not voting at all. "I really don't like this whole vote another woman into slavery aspect of Level Four."

Rolfi said he'd give $5000 to whatever charity Stephanie wanted and Stephanie still balked until he said that Naomi had taken $5000 to vote for her. At that point, Stephanie agreed and named the Reno Woman's Shelter as the place to send the check.

It's not clear why Rolfi bothered unless it was to prove a point to Stephanie. Plainly, the knives were out for Naomi. After counting the votes, Shameless announced, "Hollie 2 votes, Stephanie 1 vote, Naomi 7 votes." Suddenly, Naomi was nude and in the lead for sex slavery.

Naomi naturally acted outraged at the treason of her fellow contestants while also pretending to be an innocent martyr. It occurred to Stephanie that Naomi was not really putting on a show for others, she was acting out a fantasy for herself.

Stephanie figured the votes for Hollie were self-preservation by women who did not want to take the lead and that Naomi had indeed taken money to vote for Stephanie.

When she reached 16, Stephanie removed her panties with profound ambivalence. The game has taught me what I am, a woman who much of the time is very submissive and willing to live life as a pussy and a womb with the brain and other human parts attached to keep the pussy and womb in action. Is that all I want? If so, I should just play to lose. No, I still can't bring myself to do that. I have to be taken. I can't just surrender. But why not? And so, she went back and forth as she had for months.

However, as though the random number generating machine had heard her submissive thoughts, Stephanie lost the next two rounds although she had played to avoid strikes. The fickle finger of fate brought the situation to Naomi 19 strikes, Stephanie 18, Hollie 17 and Priya 16. Time for the final break and announcing how the audience vote had gone.

Naomi assumed the audience was going to push her to slavery with two votes to bring her total to the lethal 21 strikes. One could almost see Naomi building to a passionate martyrdom as she looked a bit like a terrified trapped animal and heaved her full breasts in deep breaths.

To the surprise of many, the crowd voted for Hollie who thereby advanced to join Naomi at 19 strikes. Hollie appeared shocked and appalled for a moment. A moment later she again flashed the audience. Was she saying "Thank you," Stephanie wondered? But seconds later, Hollie closed her eyes again and seemed to withdraw into whatever fantasy she'd had before except now she was sort of rubbing her thighs together and playing with her nipples even as she pretended to be modestly concealing her nipples and pussy.

Naomi said nothing of the audience vote going to Hollie. She just glared into some distance that wasn't there. Was she relieved that the crowd had not really wanted her as a permanent sex toy or insulted?

Shameless smirked. She had realized something. Seeing Shameless, Stephanie realized a second later what Shameless had realized.

The next round, Naomi went "oh shit," after the time came for choosing whether to take a second number or not. Stephanie wondered whether Naomi had accidentally discarded a high number, accidently held a low number, or not made a mistake at all and just pretended to be upset with herself. What message does that send, Stephanie wondered.

In the event, the House drew a 7 and Hollie and Naomie both took strikes bringing Hollie and Naomi to 20. They both appeared shocked at being at the edge. Priya went to 18 strikes and Stephanie stayed at 18 having correctly held a number 7.

Shameless might have done a drum roll for the next deal. She did not try to get cute but just emphasized that they weren't kidding about sex slavery, pain and impregnation. "I can tell you, it's as real as it gets in the Club."

Stephanie did not have time to contemplate what exactly that meant before the next round was over. The House had an '8'. Naomi and Hollie went out at 21 strikes both holding a 3. It didn't matter but Priya reached 20 and Stephanie came in fourth at 19 holding a 6.

While Naomi hyperventilated and Hollie sat squirming with a kind of confused smirk, Shameless not so innocently said, "I guess those who thought there should be more than 6 slaves this year to make up for the lost games in the last two years took matters into their own hands."

Stephanie wondered only briefly how Club members might have worked to favor a tie and what the odds were of them achieving that. She was too absorbed in watching Hollie play a cross between Ingrid Bergman as a Joan of Arc and Helen Mirren as the tart in Savage Messiah.

Shameless announced that Hollie and Naomi would be branded on their beautiful butts the following morning at 11:00. Club members were welcome to come and watch. In the meantime, the two would be thoroughly debouched. First, though, they would be taken to the women's room to empty their bowels and a medical station to empty their vaginas.

"Empty their vaginas." Stephanie wondered what that meant. She did not have to wonder long. On the way back into the main hall, Naomi said excitingly to her and the other women who had competed, "Holy Fuck, they removed our IUDs. I'm totally naked, defenseless and fecund. I'm going to be bred like a fucking slave."

Stephanie wondered why Naomi was surprised. The probability of getting knocked up had been disclosed repeatedly in the information on Level Four. Was Naomi so stupid she forgot about that or was she playing some sort of game in her head?

Hollie and Naomi were walked to the side of the room and cuffed to iron rings on pillars holding the roof up with their faces to the wall and their backs and bottoms exposed to whatever happened.

With presumably six months for any marks to heels, the bare-chested men chad in leather pants who flogged the two slaves had far less reason to be moderate. Naomi screamed her head off although the men were very careful never to break the skin. Audience members nodded in mirth when Naomi started shouting hysterically about god, her need for pain, how she is nothing but a cum dump, why she deserved to be punished and used as a breeding whore and groaned numerous other things about herself that no one in the hall would have said about the beautiful, intelligent woman.

Hollie gasped, jerked and let loose little curses in a very stiff upper lip fashion until she was turned around to face the crowd and a leather paddle was whipped across each breast. She gave a little scream in surprise at first, inhaled, closed her eyes and seemed to just focus on the pain and how it faded. She swayed her hips in a most appealing manner Stephanie thought, sort of like Hedy Lamarr in "White Cargo." But no, more like Rita Hayworth in "Salome" I guess. Lamarr was a brunette.

A woman from the crowd dressed in black leather came up to the bound women and began to touch Hollie with electrical toys randomly. Hollie seemed to be annoyed more than hurt. She was already as charged up and eager as humanly possible. She was taken from the wall and placed on her back onto a couch without a back. Several tall blond men Stephanie recognized from Baden Baden penetrated her vagina. Hollie wrapped her legs around each man and grinded every part she had against him as though she could not get close enough to him unless they merged bodies completely. She quietly chanted "fuck me" over and over again interrupting her chant to state clearly, if breathlessly, "Yes, Yes, Yes," when she apparently had an orgasm. She began a sort of heavy purring. It was clear the men had left their seed where it might have the most consequences.

Stephanie was envious of the sex but wondered why Hollie had kept saying "fuck me" when that was obviously what the men were doing.

After the third man had used her (or had she used him?), Hollie lay back for several minutes and panted and smiled. Theresia announced that Hollie would be entertaining until dawn in the El Presidente Suite and that Theresia would be assisting Hollie. "You get to fuck us both as much as you want." Theresia picked up a satchel full of vibrators, little whips, and other toys and followed the men taking Hollie to her fate.

Naomi was first leaned up against the wall and vigorously fucked in her pussy by a man Stephanie recognized as Vedanta, Priya's cousin. Next a man of Asian origin took her. As always, Naomi left no one guessing as to whether she was having an orgasm, squirting a bit this time while screaming "Oh my God, I'm coming." Dripping from all the fluids, she was forced down on the floor on her hands and knees while she chanted, "I'm such a slut, I'm such a slut."

On her knees, Naomi was spit roasted with a cock up her ass and one down her throat. The guy up her ass worked without mercy until he pulled out, pulled off the condom he'd been wearing and came in a burst that seemed to leave trail of semen from Naomi's hair to the tramp stamp she'd gotten at the base of her back.

Sex is so messy, Stephanie thought. If it did not feel so good, I don't know how many people would do it. Probably just men and women doing their religious duty.

Shameless announced that Naomi would be in the Poncho Villa suite for the foreseeable future and that there was a sign up for people to have her "or for me if you'd prefer, and as I'd prefer." Shameless said that she would be assisting Naomi and visitors to the Poncho Villa suite to enjoy fully their visit and licked her upper lip. She also picked up a satchel of sex toys and followed Naomi to presumably a lifetime of sexual use and abuse.

Stephanie did not feel sorry for Naomi. Naomi had been moving in this direction even longer than Stephanie. If there was anything to regret it was that Naomi had had to share her big moment with a co-star, but Stephanie felt sure Naomi had many years ahead of being the featured sex object. She's such a beautiful woman, like Sofia Loren in Arabesque. I'm sure many men and women find her melodramatic style to be a lot of fun even if it has begun to wear on me.

But after people filtered out of the main hall to see Hollie, Naomi or go elsewhere, what came next for Stephanie? She was committed to playing again the following evening and not once did she think of shirking her commitment. She hoped she would not act quite like Naomi had if she became a slave but knew she would accept her fate. She wondered who all the contestants would be Saturday night. Mostly, though, she decided not to think at all.

It was almost midnight, but it was still warm outside. The pool was heated, the poolside bar was still serving, and Stephanie was still naked. After being told that no one was at the hacienda that night but Club members and staff, she decided to take a swim as she was. She thought of how scandalous it would have seemed a year before swimming in the nude amidst of strangers. Now she did not care. She walked nude through what was left of the crowd and jumped in the pool. She was not the only nude woman there. Kate, Alsha and Priya had apparently went through the same mental process as Stephanie.

After working off some of the energy she had built up with the fear and excitement of the game, Stephanie decided a glass of Chenin Blanc would be in order. The house Mexican wine was nice. She saw a woman she had met in Baden Baden who she learned would be in the game Saturday night. Maria Andreas had only gotten in from Vienna a couple hours ago, having had to make several plane changes before getting to Alamos.

Stephanie asked Maria what she would have done if she'd lost the strange side bet that she had made in Baden Baden to take care of seven children of an Austrian man and try to have seven children by him herself. Maria answered, "Natürlich, I thought it was very unlikely I would lose that particular bet, but, if I had, I would have taken care of the seven children and done my best to have seven for him. I would not have made the bet if I did not like children. Do any of us play this game or make side bets with these Club members if we are not prepared to live with the consequences? I think the Club is very careful to limit bets to women who would not really mind losing them. I think that the Club would have even helped arrange singing performances of the children in Las Vegas if we wanted that."

"You did not make any side bets for tomorrow night, did you?"

"No, one tenth chance of becoming a slave is scarry enough," Maria concluded. "But then," she added, "maybe if I got an attractive offer."

"You really don't want to get to 21 strikes first?" Stephanie asked.

"No, I really do not. I know it seems crazy but while I like the risk, I only get a thrill from the risk because I want not to be the one who becomes the Sklavin. It is like climbing in the Alps. It is exciting because of the views and there is the risk, but one does not want to fall. Man wants to climb see the views, be able to think of how brave one is and have other crazy people think you are supergeil or great. And I think I have less chance of losing than some."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because they want you Steffi. I was already in Austria offered money to vote for you to get two strikes."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Stephanie said, "but the Club members may have some other tricks up their sleeves."

Viktoria appeared in a red miniskirt and said she'd watched the game Friday. She said that while she was in Level Four game a couple years ago, she'd forgotten how tense it could be. "And I could imagine myself being whipped and taken by all those men. I was frightened and turned on. And they will all laugh at me while I am fucked even if I not act like Naomi. They will laugh and say I bring it on myself because I such a stupid slut. Worst thing is that they would be right. I am tres stupid to get in this."

"Don't worry about what they think, unless it turns you on. Have you determined if you will have a side bet with Spielmann?" Stephanie asked.

"Yes, he agree to a little more, but not much. He say he not make deals for me to get extra strikes from votes of women or audience. I think that means he knows other people will. Oh, and he also agree that I don't lose in case of tie for Fifth. Thanks Steffi. But we still not have a deal."

"Well, that's better Viktoria, but I'd tell him that you'll only agree to the 50% chance if he agrees that if you become his slave but don't gamble for 10 years, he will give you the chateau and the Paris condo back. Tell him, he can keep the Baden Baden condo if you become his slave. He can use that and getting the condo lightens the financial impact on him."

Stephanie thought that this would give Viktoria an incentive to quit gambling and that Spielmann would probably see that. Also, it was best Viktoria not have the Baden Baden condo, much too close to the most beautiful casino in the world.

"Also, Viktoria, make very clear that if you are in the bottom five in the game, you don't become his slave even if there are many ties. Remember, although it's unlikely, three-way ties for first, second, third or fourth are possible as well as other combinations. Don't let him say you lose if, for example there is a three-way tie for second and you come in fourth or fifth. In that case, you are in the lower five. Many in the Club seem to be playing to cause ties. It is more likely to have ties with the rules allowing the audience to vote two strikes. We saw that last night. I don't know the odds, but I know it happened last night."

"Merci beaucoup, Steffi" Viktoria said and added that she would ask for exactly what Stephanie suggested. Viktoria, though, seemed pretty resigned.

Stephanie tried to boost her spirits and strengthen her negotiating stance. "Viktoria, you are in a very bad position here, but you have some good cards left. If you play Sunday night without making a side bet, there's a pretty good chance you won't become a slave and Spielmann will have to continue to deal with your debts with you on the loose in casinos. He doesn't want to do that. It's sometimes said that if you owe $10,000 to the bank, the bank owns you, but if you owe $10,000,000 to the bank, you own the bank. Spielmann can't let simply let them foreclose and you go bankrupt without losing a lot of money and face himself."

Why Stephanie thought, can I never be calculating or drive a bargain for myself?

Stephanie then noticed that Viktoria was looking deeply at Stephanie's face and smiling in a salacious manner. "Would you like to do something you might not have chance to do for long time?" Viktoria said.

Stephanie thought about this about two seconds before getting up, taking Viktoria's hand and leading Viktoria to her room. "We might as well use my room tonight because it might be the only time that I get to sleep in it," Stephanie said as she closed the door. She helped Viktoria out of her dress. They kept each other from having superfluous thoughts until they fell asleep.

SATURDAY

The following day started with brunt flesh.

Naomi and Hollie, wearing only collars, were marched out to the patio where others were having brunch. The brands were not large. Stephanie thought the whole thing was done mainly for the ceremony. The letters "SV" were burned into a side of the derriere of Hollie and Naomi.

Everyone had expected Naomi to howl like a stuck pig. She seemed, though, to have turned a new leaf. She received her brand solemnly, like it was her duty as a slave to receive this and there was no point in making a fuss about it. She gritted her teeth for a few seconds and almost smiled as the pain faded.

Hollie grimaced as the iron was placed against her derriere but said about 30 seconds later, "That sure was a sharp one, can't say as I'm gobsmacked, though. The hurt seems to be fading quick. Anyone about want to help me think about something more fun?"

A salve was applied to both bottoms.

As Hollie walked gingerly to her room accompanied by two men carrying a basket of breakfast goodies with them, Charlotte explained that the Sportsman's Club was called the Sportsman's Verein at first. She said her brand had faded so much that someone might be tempted to do it to her again. Spielmann said "that might be called for" in a tone that made clear it would never happen.