DeaDia 04: Staying in Control

With a mix of apprehension and disappointment, Ember opened her phone to listen to some music on her way to the gym. She had expected at least some messages on DeaDia, but her buddies had been quiet. Nobody had sent her a challenge. For a moment she entertained the thought of opening up her profile to outside challenges. Quickly she dismissed the option. Even though she would get more people, she wouldn't be able to vet them. Maybe she could just add some more buddies to get the challenge over with. As she got changed in the dressing room, she surreptitiously checked her phone again. Still no challenges. She'd asked her five buddies almost an hour ago.

As always she started her warm-up on a stationary exercise bike. As she was pedalling away she scrolled around her apps. News, Weather, Social Media. She opened up Instagram and was welcomed by a picture of Kyler. Kyler was seemingly also working out. She was standing in front of a mirror, her yoga pants-clad ass was showing in the reflection, while a tight sports bra held on for dear life in trying to contain her breasts. Her naked midriff showed the outline of a starting six-pack. Her blonde hair hung down in sweaty strands over her face. Ember felt a tingle. She'd never been attracted to women. She could enjoy a good body, but more in the way that someone appreciates art than wanting to take them to bed. Ember admired Kyler's form for a little while. Pressed the heart button beneath the image and quickly closed the app.

Almost subconsciously she opened DeaDia. A notification in the top window showed she'd received three messages. Strange, she'd expected the app to show up in her normal notification bar, but maybe this was some kind of privacy function. The messages all were new challenges posed by her so-called buddies. Each one even less subtle than the other. *Challenge: Send me ten full body nudes*, *Challenge: Mail me your panties*, *Challenge: Come over here and suck my dick*. Quickly she dismissed them all. If this was the quality of the challenges she'd receive, fulfilling the Better Together challenge would be harder than she expected. As she was about to put her phone away and focus on her workout, a new message popped up. Sent by someone calling themselves Vermillion. The message stood out, because it wasn't a challenge, just a message.

"Hi Silvia. I saw that you were looking for new challenges. I see that your account is just a day old. Using DeaDia can be pretty hard, and staying in control even harder. I propose we play a small game to show you how easy it is to stay in control of yourself. What do you say?"

No threats, no perverted messages, just someone who seemed like they were out to help her.

"Hi Vermillion. DeaDia still feels very confusing. Some help would be very welcome. What kind of game do you propose?"

"That would be spoil the surprise, wouldn't it? Just rest assured it'll be easy."

"Can't you give me a sneak peek?"

"I could. But in return, you'll need to upgrade me to friend. I'd like to follow your progress, and adding me as friend allows me to follow your profile."

"I think I could do that. But first the sneak peek? Please?"

"Okay, but only because you said please. The game I have in mind is easy. It has to do with controlling your impulses and with not doing certain actions."

"Things like biting my nails?"

"Telling what the things are would ruin the surprise. Now I held up my end of the bargain. Will you add me as friend?"

A pop-up showed *A New Friend Request by Vermillion*. Ember clicked the Upgrade Relationship button. Almost immediately a new challenge popped up in her list.

*Challenge by Vermillion: Staying in control*

As she accepted the challenge, the first thing Ember noticed before reading was a timer counting backwards from three hours. Whatever the challenge would be, it would be timed. If the previous challenges were anything to go by, three hours would be more than enough for her to finish her workout and afterwards complete her challenge. Her eyes wandered to the actual challenge text.

*Show your body that you are in control. For the next three hours, every fifteen minutes masturbate for at least three minutes. You aren't allowed to cum. Your Eratos band will know when you're masturbating and will know if you came. This is a special timed challenge, opening the challenge means that you've accepted it. Good luck! Vermillion.* A separate timer had started to count down. Fourteen minutes left.

She couldn't do this challenge. She was in the gym. She couldn't step out every fifteen minutes. Neither could she lock herself in the bathroom. People would check on her. She opened the message function.

"What the fuck? I can't do this. I'm in the gym."

She hoped Vermillion was still online to read her message. For a few minutes the app stayed silent while Ember kept pedalling on the exercise bike. Then a reply: "Language, young lady. Want to try that again?"

"Sorry. I'm just stressed. I'm in the gym. I can't masturbate here."

"Are you sure? You could just lower your hand to your pants. There's probably nobody paying attention to you."

For a few seconds, Ember entertained the thought. It would be pretty hot to secretly masturbate in front of all these people. She felt a familiar tingle in her pussy. But she wouldn't do it. If she got caught she would have to leave the gym, maybe she would even be arrested for indecent behaviour.

As she was typing a reply to Vermillion, she received a new message. "Tick Tock, Little Silvia, just a minute left until you have to prove to yourself you're in control of your body."

The timer showed forty seconds when she sent her message: "Please? I can't do it here. Please send me a different challenge. I'll do whatever you want."

As she waited for the reply she saw the seconds tick away. Thirty, twenty-five, twenty. She slowed down her pedalling, what if Vermillion didn't answer in time? Would she do it? Would she slip her fingers in her yoga pants and masturbate here in front of everyone?

Fifteen. Still no reply. Resolutely, she decided on a course of action. Happy that she was able to gain back some of the initiative. She would go to the toilet. There, she would wait for either a reply or for the timer to count down. Then she would see what would happen. Briskly, she walked towards the toilets. Still a few steps away her Eratos band started to vibrate. At the same time an alarm sounded from her phone. This was it. The timer had counted down. She almost ran into the first stall she saw, closed the door without checking if any of the other stalls were occupied. She opened her message centre once more to see if Vermillion had replied. Nothing. Anxiously she slid her tight yoga pants down. The vibrating of her Eratos band increased. A new warning on her screen. *Ten seconds to comply.* Her right hand entered her panties. Made its way through the hair on her mound and lowered to her pussy. She was almost surprised by how wet she was. It seemed like fantasising about jilling off in front of gym-goers had subconsciously excited her. Her fingers traced her wet lips, up to her clit and circled it. She wasn't allowed to cum. Not that that was any problem. Masturbating in a gym toilet was about as unsexy as it could be. Her index finger found her nub, traced it. She needed more lube. Her finger found it's way between her lips, scooping up some of the wetness to use on her clit. Her breathing increased. Even if she was forced, even if it was in a public bathroom, touching her pussy felt good. After what felt both like a few seconds and an eternity, her band started to vibrate to signal her three minutes were done.

As she pulled up her yoga pants and wondered what she would do, she saw she'd received a reply from Vermillion.

"Are you sure? Whatever I want?"

"Within reason."

"We could always continue with the challenge in this form. I saw that you just finished your first session. Ten minutes until the next."

"No. Please. I can't stay in this bathroom for the next three hours. Please change the challenge?"

"Okay, I'll make it easier on you. This being your first real challenge and all."

"Thank you! Thank you!" Ember sent back. A wave of relief washed over her.

"Don't thank me yet. I'll make this challenge easier, but that doesn't mean I'll cancel it. And before I make it easier for you, I want two things from you. One Truth, and one Dare."

As quickly as the relief had filled her on the first message, this next one filled her with anxiety again. What would Vermillion want?"

She looked at the timer, seven more minutes to go before she would have to touch herself again. Her left hand caressed her taut stomach while she was holding her phone with her right hand. The idea that someone could walk into the bathroom and hear her excited her a little. But just a little. More than that she just wanted to be done with the challenge. What if Vermillion would once again let the timer run down before changing the challenge? How long could she hide in the bathroom before people would start to notice? Anything was better than this. Before she lost her nerve, she sent a message to Vermillion.

"Sure, I'll do it."

"Great! You'll like this, I'm sure. So, which one do you want to do first? Truth or Dare?"

"I don't care, whichever you want."

"What I want is for you to choose."

While they were messaging back and forth, the timer was ticking down. A little more than five minutes left.

"Okay. Truth. Please, the timer is counting down."

For a frustrating number of seconds the screen only showed the three dots that indicated that Vermillion was typing. As the seconds ticked away Ember couldn't help but nervously tap her feet. He would send her the question and the dare before she had to masturbate again, right? He had to. Finally, with three minutes and forty-eight seconds left on the timer, a new message appeared.

"Truth: Did masturbating in the gym arouse you? And remember, the band will know if you're telling a lie."

Ember didn't want to admit it to a stranger. But still, the question was easy to answer. "Yes." She replied.

"Follow-up question, which part aroused you more? Being told to masturbate or masturbating in the gym?"

"That wasn't the deal. You just said one truth, and I answered!"

"Your answer was too short, you owe me at least a full sentence."

The petite brunette stewed in silence. Vermillion had altered their deal, what's to say he wouldn't alter it further. Still, she had no choice but to trust him. And some part of her agreed with him, she had been too curt.

"I hope you're busy typing your reply, just a little more than a minute to go."

Shit! Whenever she had to type fast, she started making more and more typos. She almost pressed backspace more often than typing any real letters. With forty seconds left on the timer, she pressed send on her reply. She knew that the band would know if she lied, so for the first time she was honest to herself and to the stranger on the other side of the screen. "Both aroused me. The idea of sneakily doing something naughty while I can get caught by people excites me. And the idea that I'm only doing this because I'm told gives it an extra edge."

"Thank you for being honest with me. Being honest with me and being honest with yourself is also a way of staying in control."

Ember saw the seconds tick away. Twenty, fifteen. Furiously, she started to type. "Please, can you pause the challenge or something, so I can do the dare?"

"Are you sure? Don't you want the chance of someone catching you with your fingers in your pussy?" Four seconds left.

"Please?"

With a second left, the timer paused.

"Thank you!"

"And now for your Dare..."