Dress Off: Bryony vs. Maria

Caught in two minds as she was, Bryony allowed herself to commit the ultimate sin - total inaction. And so it that Bryony Richmond was still stuck in the middle of the lobby on full display, when she felt a tingling next to her crotch. Looking down in horror, she gasped audibly as she saw what was happening. The skirt, frilly and pink but at least of a length that was vaguely modest, was now visibly shortenin. It stayed frilly, and even seemed to billow as if being played with by a non-existent breeze inside the building, however with every passing second more and more of her creamy thighs came into view. At the same time, the tingling in her crotch suddenly stopped. However, as she felt the material of her panties suddenly depart from her sensitive skin, Bryony felt herself yearning again for that strange tingle. Whatever it had been, it now seemed that the very fabric of her panties had managed to rend itself into three completely separate parts. Such a configuration was not designed to stay on Bryony's body, and with a paralysed helplessness, Bryony could only watch in embarrassed dismay as three pieces of soft, sexy pink material dropped down from what was now barely qualifying as a micro-skirt, and gently landed on the ground around her ankles.

Slowly looking up, her face going red with humiliation, she made the rookie mistake of making eye contact with the men around the table. Their previously somewhat discreet leering had - after a few brief moments of absolute shock - turned into full-on, bugged-eye, jaw-dropping perving, and there were a burst of whispered comments shared between them that - in their excitement - were practically shouted instead. They were certainly loud enough to make their way to Bryony's ears, where they burned and caused her red cheeks to turner an even brighter shade.

Her embarrassment was not yet quite over. The top-half of the dress unceremoniously detached itself from the bottom-half, and while the thin belt at least kept the remains of the skirt covering - albeit only just - her ass cheeks and pussy, the top shrank upwards to reveal her tight, firm belly. At the same time, the chest area contracted even more, and her bra-less breasts became even more prominent and obvious underneath. Two hard nipples now stuck out prominently, and at least one of the men had his eyes locked on to them as if they were headlights and he was a deer caught in their glow.

Giving a short shriek of embarrassment, Bryony finally found the energy and will to move her leaden feet. Instinctively pressing her thighs together, and cursing the bounciness of the remaining skirt material, she dashed for the door, feeling the air whip against parts of her upper thighs that were most definitely not used to this kind of attention, not to mention the feeling of a light breeze teasing the underside of her bare crotch and ass cheeks.

As the doors slide open to reveal the wide open grassy area of the campus beyond, Bryony sprinted through to destinations unknown, not even caring to wait for her next clue, and preferring instead to find somewhere reassuringly isolated to calm down, gather her thoughts, and regroup for the battle ahead. As she half ran, half crab-walked to stop her ridiculous skirt from revealing too much though, she came to the disheartening realisation that Graduation Day for the University was a day not just to celebrate, but for families who had spent fortunes on their kids to get one last look at the campus facilities they'd paid so much to fund. As the graduation event approached, Bryony knew with a sinking heart that the campus would only get busier and busier, and "reassuringly isolated safe places" were about to become in very, very short supply indeed.

****

"What's past is present, where the part is the whole, you'll find what you look for where stories are told." Bryony tried to focus on the clue she'd just been given as she hastily made her way across campus, but she found it hard to concentrate with the constant threat of flashing forever at the forefront of her mind.

Her skirt was the greatest threat. Yes, her top had now exposed her bare tummy and the material was so tight on her chest that from a distance people might almost mistake it for body paint. However the skirt would fly up at the slightest provocation, and with no panties left, that meant her crotch and ass would be instantly on display.

Her face had already gone through several shades of red by the time that she'd passed the History Department, which hovered over her on the right hand side. She'd run along the path from the Pool Complex that cut from north to south across the campus. That had been a tactical error, as the path occasionally criss-crossed a scenic, crystal-clear blue river that seemed to be very popular with parents touring the campus. The other scenic vista that was proving to be very popular with parents, or at least the fathers anyway, was the sight of Bryony Richmond sprinting along commando-style in a skirt that would have been short on someone half her height.

She needed to solve this clue. She desperately, desperately needed to solve this clue. If this was how revealing the outfit was after Maria beat her once, who knew what fresh hell would be unleashed if Maria beat her a second time?

As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked around urgently, and considered her options. There were several side paths nearby, each which would lead to a different building.

"What's past is present..." she said to herself. Spinning around again, she was about to randomly pick a path and hope fate was on her side when a sudden burst of recognition hit her. Turning around slowly a second time, she looked up at the History Department Building and shook her head slowly. She must be severely distracted, she thought, if it took her this long to figure that one out! It still left the small issue of what the rest of the clue meant, but right now she'd at least narrowed it down to the right building.

She set off again, dashing through growing crowds and hoping against hope that if she moved fast enough and didn't stay in any one place long enough, no one would recognise her. At least she'd never taken History classes, so there was less danger of running into someone she knew.

The History Department had four floors and was a large sandstone building with arches over the entranceway. As she madly ran through them, she almost bowled over an old gentlemen with a walking stick, who let loose a curse word Bryony didn't even recognise and was at least spry enough to whack Bryony on the ass with his stick while she tried to apologise.

Yelping at the contact, Bryony gave him a hard glare and flared her nostrils with displeasure. Clenching her fists, she was about to slap him across the face when she finally regained some measure of self-control at the last second and pulled out. Slapping someone as old as him wouldn't go down well at the best of times, let alone when she was dressed like this and had almost sent him sprawling to the ground in the first place.

Instead, she settled for intensifying her glare and shaking a disapproving finger at the man's walking stick. "Sir," she said, with all the authority that she could muster considering the situation and current wardrobe selection, "I said I was sorry so I'll kindly tell you never to do that again!" She stamped her foot so as to emphasis how serious she was, however unfortunately the action merely caused the skirt to bounce up. For at least a full second, her neatly trimmed blonde-haired pussy was presented to the old man.

"Well, fuck me!" The old man said in less than gentlemanly language, putting one hand to his head as if trying to steady himself so he could burn the memory on to his eyeballs.

Bryony's expression went from anger to anguish, and she let out a high-pitched "meep" as her hands flew down to try and suppress the skirt's exhibitionist tendencies.

Unable to form any useful words, Bryony took a couple of stumbling steps backwards, and then turned and ran. Into the building she flew, and since the ground floor seemed to be full of tour groups examining rooms full of historical artefacts or listening to sample talks, she made directly for the elevators and threw herself into one, jabbing at the panel to take her as high as possible and as far away as possible from this latest embarrassment.

She breathed a huge sigh of relief as the elevator took her up to the fourth floor without any other stops and with nobody else wanting to hop on. At least all of the activity seemed to be located on the ground floor, and while she'd probably have to brave that area again to find her target, she'd at least be able to find some the temporary sanctuary in a quieter part of the building where she could gather up what was left of her wits and her courage.

Bryony emerged out on to the fourth floor, and looked nervously around. It seemed to be the floor where the main administration offices of the Department were located, and other than a single female administrator who was sitting behind a counter on the other side of the reception area and who seemed engrossed in their screen and their headphones, there was no-one else around. Bryony quickly snuck out of the elevator unseen, and took a sharp turn down a corridor away from the administrator and their reception counter. It was quiet here. She passed the Office of the Executive Assistant and the Office of the Head of Department, and both were closed with the lights off. Probably already heading over to the Graduation Event, or downstairs congratulating soon-to-be graduates and their families.

She gave a brief sigh, and sank to the floor, propping her back up against a door and keeping one ear out for any sound that might herald a staff member's imminent arrival.

Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breathes in and out, and then tried a few mediation chants that she picked up over the years. When she opened her eyes again, she looked up and down the corridor again. The plaque on one of the doors caught her attention, and she slowly pulled herself up. Free from the distraction of the piecing stares of assorted bystanders and gawkers, Bryony's mind began to function again at something approaching full speed.

"Head of Department. Department of History" she read to herself slowly, letting each word linger in her mind. Head of Department, who is a person. Yet a person has a head as well. A person who is a head, and yet a person has a head. "Where the part is the whole..." she recounted to herself. The part is the head, and the whole is the person, and the head is a person too.

She jumped up, not caring now about the skirt or the top, but with a mad glint in her eyes, rejuvenated as the pieces fell into place. The target must be in the Head of Department's Office! And yet, as she fumbled at the door handle, it was most definitely locked. Was she supposed to break in, and if so, with what? Nothing in her ensemble resembled a lock pick, even if she knew how to use one properly. She could try ramming the door down, but that seemed a little over the top even for a game were she was currently flashing her crotch and ass to 20-somethings and 80-somethings alike!

For a moment, she wondered if she was supposed to ask the administrator at the reception, but how on earth could she possibly hope to talk her way into the Head of Department's Office? Maybe if the administrator had been some dodgy old dude, then with Bryony's natural assets complemented by an outfit that accentuated everything sexual about her, she might have stood a faint chance of pulling it off. However, she looked to be a normal woman in her mid-30s, and was far less likely to be susceptible to Bryony's charms.

She was beginning to slump back down again, a victory seemingly being snatched from her grasp, when she looked further down the corridor and frowned. At the end of the corridor was a meeting room, and the meeting room door was framed by numerous pictures of indigenous Native American cultural works.

"Where stories are told." Bryony whispered to herself. Her eyes narrowed. Didn't the Native Americans share knowledge through story-telling? Clambering back to her feet, Bryony cast one more look behind her to make sure no-one else was coming, and then began to walk towards the meeting room. Her walk turned into a jog, and then the jog turned into run. She almost collided with the door as her hand flew up to grasp the handle, and she let out a victorious "a ha!" when the handle turned and the door opened with the full force of her weight bearing down on it.

As she stumbled into the room and came to a halt, she thanked the Gods for two things. Firstly, the room wasn't in use and there was no-one about. Secondly, placed perfectly in the exact centre of a long table that ran the length of the meeting room, was a perfectly formed blue cube with "DE" proudly engraved on each side. Two-one, Bryony thought, with a look of growing confidence.

****

A crop of auburn hair peeked around row of shelves, followed quickly by a deeply concerned face. The face looked about quickly, and then retreated back into the relative safety of the aisle. It was the fifth floor of the University Library and while the study tables beyond the rows of books had only a smattering of people at them, there was still enough to keep Maria pinned down in temporary isolation amongst several rows worth of particularly dusty and dry legal texts.

The rows of books had happened to be near the stairwell from which Maria had emerged, and that had immediately presented itself as cover. This was however only a temporary refuge and she knew that hiding away in the aisle was a sure fire way to lose. Which meant that at some point she was going to have to brave it and expose herself to the people by the tables, as she made a play for the box that she could just about make out was sitting perched on a window sill, overlooking the small river that wound its way across the campus and alongside the library building.

She'd already been cruelly exposed to a number of library patrons and staff on the ground floor as she'd made a dramatic entrance into a building that - as a computer science student herself - she'd barely ever visited. Paper books weren't really her thing. It had only been a mad flash of inspiration out of thin air that had caused her to realise that the latest clue - "to find the legal view on a bank with no money" was asking her to locate the floor of the library with the Law Faculty's books and that overlooked the river. That had been after far too many intense moments of abject humiliation when it had been revealed to her that Bryony had successfully acquired her second target.

As she'd sprinted into the library foyer, she'd had to pause for precious seconds to check the building map to find the floor the legal section was on. Those precious seconds had left her feeling more exposed than she ever had before, and several stunned staff had been struggling to find the words to even start telling her off, when she'd found that her destination was the fifth floor and that there was a stairwell mercifully close by. Maria had wasted no time in seeking the dubious shelter of the stairwell and had taken the stairs two at a time as she hastened to her target, throwing all caution to the wind as the remaining fragments of her outfit teased and exposed every part of her body. She was one loss away from permanent and total humiliation, and she simply couldn't afford to let Bryony get to the target first. And since Bryony was a commerce student far more familiar with the physical library than Maria was, she was already half-convinced that any second now the earpiece would erupt one final time to inform her that Bryony had beaten her again, and that her defeat was now absolute and final.

As she'd emerged from the stairwell and taken refuge in the aisle though, and realised Bryony was nowhere to be seen, a fresh wave of hope welled up inside her. That hope was now clashing with the reality of having to streak past the people at the tables to acquire the box. The fact that she'd already exposed herself to so many others on the way over in no way made the job ahead any easier.

Worse was yet to come for Maria. Peering around the edge of the aisle again while summoning the courage for one final dash, she began to focus on exactly who was sitting at the tables. She groaned as her brain finally processed what she was seeing. Sitting at one table, with a perfect view of the window that Maria had to reach, was a tall, gangly pale-skinned man with black hair and a pair of glasses that perched haphazardly on a thin long nose.

"Shit!" Maria swore to herself, and then clamped a hand over the mouth in case the noise attracted undue attention. It would have to have been Bobby. Of course - knowing her luck so far - it would have to have been Bobby who chose that table of all tables to sit at, and on today of all days.

Bobby Chen was a year younger than Maria but in the same programme and she'd previously been a teaching assistant in some of his advanced programming courses. Needless to say the number of women in the Computer Science Department wasn't quite at the same levels as other Departments around the Campus, and the number of women who were as attractive as Maria was already low in the general population anyway, let alone in the niche space she and Bobby inhabited. It was also undeniably the case that Bobby lived up to every one of the usually-unfair stereotypes that afflicted the discipline. The awkward crush that Bobby had almost instantly developed over Maria was something she'd worked steadfastly to avoid, ever since he professed his undying love via a hand-crafting a Pokemon-styled figurine of her, resplendent in it's own Pokeball. He had, she shuddered at the memory, proudly said in front of her friends that he was only interested in catching her from now on. Bryony had found that especially amusing at the time and had given her no end of grief about it.

Maria had found it neither desirable, necessary or indeed easy to explain to Bobby the variety of different ways that he was not her type, and so she had resorted to a policy of avoidance where possible.

And now she'd have to streak past him in this absurd partial-outfit, all because a smart woman like herself had been dumb enough to let things spiral out of control. She closed her eyes tightly, hoping that when she'd re-opened them that Bobby had suddenly found it necessary to disappear off to the toilet after consuming one Mountain Dew too many.

Stealing herself for the upcoming humiliation of being spotted by her greasy admirer, Maria took one small step out from behind the aisle, her body clenched tight and her legs shivering weakly. She felt like she could barely move. Taking a huge breath in though, she knew deep down that speed was of the essence, and she could hardly hope to simply tip-toe through a throng of people in her current ensemble. Two loses to Bryony had turned her outfit into something a pole-dancer at a strip club would probably call "excessively revealing", and Bobby seemed to have a sixth sense for spotting Maria at a distance even when she was wearing her far more comfortable and sensible hoody and baggy jeans combo. Her proximity and her clothing now would probably give him a heart attack!

Maria willed her legs to move forward, and she edged closer to the window slowly, before beginning to build up acceleration. She half-expected Bryony to come flying out of the stairwell behind her at any moment, sprint past, grab the box, hold it aloft, and then point with a triumphant and evil grin at a shattered and defeated Maria. She simply couldn't let that happen!

Maria tapped into the deep well of fear and found the source of the strength she needed to press on. Now she was running, as lightly as she could while hoping that her footsteps wouldn't betray her presence, and her eyes were locked on the prize. When she passed Bobby's table, she was practically flying along, and the back of the skirt was horizontal - her completely bare bottom presented for full inspection.