Soup Style Bk. 10 - Mafalda

The models, of course, had excellent communications among themselves. Each was a native speaker in a shared language. Not the same cultures, no. And terrible communications with their sponsors, hosts, guides or security. Hence, among themselves, these girls who only had a language and a whirlwind gig together in common, developed lifelong bonds. They stayed in touch.

Sometimes they would share recollections from that jet flights and wild parties life that they had experienced. But, between them, they never truly agreed what was delusional or what had been real. They had been young. They had been teenagers in a sensational swept-off-their-feet adventure. They had been overworked, overstimulated, overindulged and overindulging. Music? Loud music. Booze? Underage drinkers, each of them. Recreational drugs? No opportunity unexplored.

Any wonder that their recollections were, well, more gap than filled-in? The pace of travel, the fast flash of lifestyles, the never quite rested enough for the next adventure, and, of course, the stressful crises.

When The Portuguese Models showed off knowing two or three words with Swedish accents, that was a nice surprise for Elsebet to hear. How had they come to know any Swedish? Oh, the agent, Lotti, who had been one of the organizing forces for their adventure. Herself once a model, she was extraordinary in her height and her humor. When she laughed, it was not just with her voice, added to by her eyes, a total body, mind and outside of body experience for anyone to witness her laughing. She had been born in Korea, and, had the longest, darkest hair any of the young models had ever seen, so some joked she wore a horses mane of hair. As an infant, during a famine or some kind of crisis in Korea, she had been adopted by a Swedish family. So young at the time that she was, for all purposes except appearance, fully Swedish. All of the models had picked up a few Swedish words from hearing Lotti. None of the young models knew if these were words of any use in polite company.

At one of the car races the group attended, almost as if themselves party favors for the wealthy race team owners, a soft spoken but socially skilled Asian man had tried speaking to Lotti in Korean. Lotti for the duration of their adventures and misadventures, when he wasn't around, would say insults about him to anyone who would listen. However, when he was around, initially, Lotti was uncharacteristically shy, or at least playing at being shy. Nobody knew why.

He attended most of the parties and always left quite early. He attended all of the race events, and, also, always, left early. Some of the models suspected he was part of the sponsor private security, as he seemed fit, aware as if a hawk of its potential prey, and always never more deeply in conversation than the level of a social butterfly.

At the camel races, one of the owners of an entered camel had a rather engaging conversation with him. About falconry. They were not speaking loudly nor particularly situated where they were the center of attention, yet, the listening crowd grew in size and excitement at some of the information they learned from him about their national sport. Later, one of the models had teased him about his familiarity with camel racing, to which he had rather quixotically responded that he knew more about camel milking than he knew about camel racing.

When some of the models had to be hospitalized for suspected food poisoning (or more likely but not allowed to be said out loud some form of alcohol or drug abuse), he always put in a somewhat token appearance. Not as if truly in concern for their health, so the rumor grew that he was somehow part of some level of security.

He successfully chatted up the doctors at the hospital. That was something of a surprise. He was not a family member. He was not officially part of the sponsorship for the models on tour. And, somehow, wherever they were exposed to danger, his presence coincided with theirs. Whoever knew the most about their status was somehow coincidentally (ha!) enjoying being the target of his social skills.

Lotti also came to the hospital, but, of course, she was officially part of the sponsorship for their tour. It would have been a surprise only if she had not been there! She eventually began taking an interest in him. Perhaps because he simply had learned more than anyone else?

During the hospitalization, there was one of the several crises that they experienced and for which they were so incomplete in their recollections. To be hospitalized at all is understandably a crisis, and, understandably a reason for some gaps in recall. As young teenagers, though already employed as models, they were admitted to a pediatric hospital. Where nobody spoke their language. Where nobody shared their culture. Where nobody had their medical histories. Where there was some kind of hostile incident that led to a lockdown while they were there. What they did not know was why Lotti and this odd guy whom they were to nickname (first titling him as "Secret Security,") were thereafter at least temporarily but publicly and incongruously lovers.

What had happened could in part be pieced together from what Lotti had said to different models who had then compared notes. The hostile person or persons had taken over someplace within the hospital and were believed to be capable of performing on threatened violence. Their Secret Security had in some heroics returned the hospital to its proper functional order. How he had rescued the patients and visitors was never known. Even that he was their rescuer was more mystery than full disclosure. However, his nickname changed once he and Lotti were an item. He was thereafter nicknamed The Korean Remo Williams. By all except Lotti. To his face, she would call him her Hercules. Some of the models began referring to him, at least in her presence, as Herc or Hercules, or Heracles. If he heard that nickname, or even if he overheard the nickname of Remo, he would wink and nod as if accepting credit for the designation.

He never accepted any advances from the models. Nor from anyone who might have competed with the tall Swede bearing such Asian features. She was taller than him. She was even broader of shoulders than he. His pectoral musculature might have competed with her tight breasts. Her boisterous socializing, her shockingly fun laughter, all contrasted with her seeming public shyness with him. Certainly, in contrast to the insults about him when she was with others outside of his presence.

In his presence, in their lovemaking, she had a fondness for laying face down while having his arms reach around to stimulate her clitoris as if she were bound for an involuntary fucking while he penetrated her. Although she truly did not care whether he orgasmed her habitual lovemaking pattern included begging for him to cum inside of her. Which she did loudly enough for almost everyone to have overheard. Again and again. They spent a lot of their time together. Time.

Soup Style Bk. 10 - Mafalda

Chapter 3: Comic or Mighty in Battle?

Phuong had brought her daughter to the craft camps at Elsebet's in the past. It was comforting for everyone that Phuong brought Tammy now. Named Chrysanthemum Heart (cuc tam in their language). Most people knew her as Tammy. So, when Tammy was kidnapped for ransom, of course, the community was engaged. Although Tammy had been rescued on the same night that Ashley's grandfather had passed away, her ordeal was kept as secret as her rescue. Tammy was graduate student, nearly complete with her doctorate in Latin American Children's literature. Having returned home during break, she was constantly receiving visits from her friends from her having been on sports teams, but, also from those in the know with her reputation.

Tammy had been one of the earliest to explore sex from her peer group. She had, of course, taken to non-Asians because those explorations were not intended to lead to marriage or families. Her intentions were to learn what turned her on. She did, too. She learned that she enjoyed the sense of her power when a man reached orgasm. In her. In her mouth. In her pussy. In her ass.

She learned skills of using her mouth, her lips, her teeth, her breathing, her nose, all engaged in her exploring ways to drink sperm. More than her favorite beverage, more than her favorite protein smoothie. Sperm was satisfying her thirsts. Her. Many. Thirsts.

She learned from her many efforts that if she kept sperm in her mouth during ongoing lovemaking, her next load, regardless of where received, brought her to her highest level of sexual fulfillment. This in part explains her reputation. Her reputation for seeking sperm repeatedly. Her reputation for welcoming more than one sperm donor into her lovemaking. Her sessions were the stuff of legends.

Tammy's mom loved her daughter. She was not happy with Tammy looking for non-Asian friends, but, she was accepting. Although as a child Phuong had planned to devote her life to her religious devotions, intending to join a nunnery, that had changed when her parents had arranged for a marriage for her, to an older scientist in their community. He was respected and deservedly. Although he was almost forty years older than her, they did make a great family together. Their child, a daughter, became an accomplished basketball player and cross country track athlete. Their lives were good. As an elder, her husband was the leader for all in their community. All holidays and special events were either at their home or with their sponsorship. Dragon dancers from the local community youth group earned rewards for performing at their events. Caterers, including Cauldron, profited from their large, hosted events.

The house/studio complex was then a rather crowded place with a large gathering of friends, neighbors and clients all at Elsebet's that time. Elsebet, Perizat, Aida, Alexandra, Ashley, Liluna, Phuong, Tammy, Mafalda (nicknamed Natasha Ferrari when on the runways) and Euridice (nicknamed Franchesca Porsche when on the runways). Serendipitously, Tammy, fluent in Portuguese, was still there, subdued until when the Portuguese models arrived. During introductions, upon hearing the names of the models, Tammy became immersed in this opportunity to explore the random connections that struck her.

Familiar with Portuguese, yes, but also with Mafalda as a cartoon heroine in Latin American comics. Mafalda and Euridice were instantly captivated by Tammy. They harmonized in languages and laughter. When Euridice pointed out a sort of resemblance between Tammy and their modeling leader, Lotti, the story was shared with Elsebet, who explained the odd fact that Lotti's parents had sent her from Korea to Sweden for a better life, while Elsebet's parents had sent her from Sweden to here.

To Elsebet's surprise, and surprising pleasures that seemed to be blossoming all around, everyone stayed past introductions. Everyone was in successful mini-steps of exchanging their growing familiarity and trust with one another.

The appetizers were eaten, enjoyed, well, not inhaled as if by famished escapees from a foodless shipwrecked crew but politely, daintily, as observed with women enjoying one another's company. None noticed a side conversation when Lulina pulled Ashley aside, nor did anyone notice Alexandra joining them to hear: "I have seen pictures of them. In Goa. In the fabrics development facility where I worked, their images are everywhere. They were supermodels, they are the top of the celebrities A list from when they were young models."

When the models shared their runway monikers, Liluna nodded as if in recognition. When Tammy, based on her doctoral studies, easily explained the popularity of the historical comics about a character named Mafalda, Mafalda nodded, smiling, and added to the discussion other wonderous coincidences with her name. She had a namesake who attended to the Italian wounded of WW1 and was herself killed at a bombing of the concentration camp in which she was forced, worked as a slave to the Nazi Germans of that next War. Mafalda Maria Elisabetta Anna Romana was born in 1902 in Rome, and was nicknamed "Muti". She is also the namesake for the ribbon pasta named in her honor -- mafalda. Narrower than lasagna but with similar rippled edges on both sides, the flat surfaces of mafalda match well with sauces, encouraging a suggestion for a future Cauldron Catering entrée immediately proposed by Alexandra. That in turn turned the page a leaf to talk about other names of significance, for example, Alexandrina -- defender of men, which led to laughter, knowing smiles, and shrugs by those in the know.

The principle introductions were completed by Euridice. Coincidence that Aida and Euridice have names familiar to those in the world of opera? Coincidence? Ha! Named for the five hundred year old opera: L'Euridice. An operatic presentation that includes both spoken and sung words to tell the story of a lover who goes to hell to bring back his wife, that brought tears to everyone's eyes but for different memories for each.

"On that heartbreaking, entirely appropriate note, then, let's go see the presentation prepared for you," said Alexandra, taking Euridice and Mafalda gently towards where the modeling would be shown. Elsebet was both sad with memories and happy with the present moment and overlapping reasons that had her feeling, well, comforted.

"Before we see the test articles," said the rarely talking Perizat, "at the risk of embarrassment for Elsebet and for Ashley, please be the first other than Elsebet and I to see her first large sculpting artwork." Perizat and Alexandra than surprised everyone by rolling away a large tool-holding gridwork wall. Revealed to the world was the sculpture in a garden set upon the side of a trail. In the garden, a life sized, lifelike statue of a naked Elsebet. On the trail, on horseback, a small girl, also life-sized and life-like if you had known Ashley as a toddler. Leading the horse, paying care for the safety of all, a life-like and life-sized sculpture of how Ashley's grandfather had looked to Elsebet almost three decades earlier, filtered by her having come to recently be perhaps his last lover.

Of course, Mafalda and Euridice together were in astonishment at seeing who they identified as "Lotti's Hercules."