The Collaring of Chloe Ch. 32

Chapter 32 -- To the Rescue

**Characters and text are protected under copyright law

"I feel this is coming out of nowhere. I mean there wasn't any sort of build-up to you having this whole break-up thing with her."

"It should just be implied that there was a lot of stuff that just happened 'out of scene'. I mean, I've had a few occasions where my character has expressed concerns with things before now, they just didn't really get elaborated on."

"I just think something like this should have better build up; which shouldn't happen 'out of scene'."

"Well, if you ask me, I'm pretty sure this whole sudden break-up is due to a certain new female character that's been introduced. Not that she seems to be listening..."

"..."

"...snort"

It took a moment for Chloe to notice that no one was saying anything and look up from where she was struggling to make sense of the rulebook she was reading. When she did, she found everyone around the table staring at her with an amused expression. Everyone except for Evan, at least, who seemed to be putting far more focus than necessary into editing something on the sheet for his character, a faint blush of scarlet spreading across his cheeks.

"Did I miss something?" She asked, trying to mentally 'rewind' the last few moments of what people were saying. When the question produced considerable laughter from the others, even a chuckle from Evan, she felt pretty sure she definitely had. She'd been trying so hard to follow some of the stuff in this manual, which read like one of her college algebra books in places, that she hadn't really been listening.

"Evan's removing his DNPC." Xander explained, tilting his head towards Evan, who appeared done with making his change, but was now exaggeratedly reading over his character sheet for anything else that needed attention, pointedly not looking at anyone.

"Oh. Uh, okay." Chloe said foggily before asking. "What was that again?" She flipped through a few pages confusedly, trying to find that power in the descriptions section.

"It's basically his character's 'Lois Lane'." Holly explained. "DNPC stands for Dependent Non-Player Character. He's wanting to say that they had some huge fight and realized that they needed to move on from each other. But doesn't want to actually play out the event." She gave a playful roll of her eyes. "He's wanting to replace it with a 'mystery disadvantage'. In other words: To Be Decided Later."

"More 'For the DM to spring on you later'." Zane said with a somewhat evil-sounding laugh. He was the one running the game, so she, at least, understood that the 'DM' was him.

Chloe nodded slowly, not fully understanding, but enough to not be completely lost. "And he's not allowed to? Or is that just problematic?"

"He can do it, if he wants." Zane answered, giving a shrug. "The truth is, she didn't really add a lot to the campaign and was hard to work into plots as an 'international supermodel'. Even harder to constantly come up with reasons why she would even be in the campaign city." He gave a dismissive gesture. "Ultimately, it's not that big of a change for the character. She was never that much of a disadvantage for him or too significant in the campaign as a whole."

"Buts, I likeded Nicoletta St. Angelica." Mittens pouted. "Who's Wonderfluff gonna accidently insult now?"

Holly gave a little giggle. "I suppose that could play into why they broke up. Thunderstrike never did really do much to help that."

"I would have him try to smooth things over." Evan countered, oddly seeming a little wounded by the accusation.

"No, you had him always defending Wonderfluff as 'just not understanding'." Holly countered back. "If she was a real girl, she would have gotten even more upset that you were taking the side of an alien fuzzball over your own girlfriend."

Zane waved a hand to try and forestall any further escalation on that point. "It doesn't matter. She technically still exists in the campaign's world, so I can have her occasionally appear for Mittens to mess with." He gave her a grin, which she returned brightly. Chloe got the feeling that they both rather enjoyed whatever mischief her sister submissive created during those exchanges.

"My problem with it isn't that he wants to remove her, it's just that it doesn't make sense for him to all of a sudden have this fight." Xander said, working on unwrapping a snack cake. "We usually play through stuff like this, so that there is build up to it in the story. People don't just suddenly get into a relationship fight right out of the blue like that."

Chloe unconsciously looked down and away, her amused look disappearing. "You'd be surprised how suddenly something can happen. Especially if both people don't feel the same way." She muttered, more to herself than to anyone else. However, a deeply alarmed look came across Mittens' features and everyone got quiet again.

Mittens had suggested they come out to 'If You Dream It...' for the afternoon to join in a role-playing game to give Master some time to get caught up on his business affairs, but she knew it was more to try and take her mind of yesterday's drama. She and Master had managed to salvage much of the evening, the three of them having a wonderful 'reunion session' in the dungeon, followed by that promised 'bath' from the two of them. However, the fight with August kept bobbing back up in her head.

The whole debacle had rattled her somewhat. Things with it had gone every kind of wrong. She'd honestly not wanted things to end with August. She'd only wanted them to come to an understanding of what they were to one another. In truth, had she not already been so wound up over the situation with Mistress Victoria, she most likely wouldn't have reacted so strongly in the moment.

While she did, honestly, think it was for the best, with so much else on her plate emotionally right now, knowing that she'd hurt August was eating at her. While there had been a few bumps lately, she'd always liked August a lot and had enjoyed her time with her. Still, despite that enjoyment, some part of her felt extremely guilty afterwards every time they'd ever gotten intimate.

"It's his character." Zane said into the momentary silence, getting everyone's attention. "He doesn't have to play it out, if he doesn't want to." In an attempt to try and get the subject changed, he zeroed in on Chloe. "Anyway, I want to get you into things. Is there anything in particular that you'd like your character to be doing at the moment?"

She wasn't completely sure how to answer that question, well out of her depth at the moment. This was her first time doing one of these games, though she was familiar with the idea of how they worked, in the broadest sense. Though she'd not quite expected to be playing a superhero. She'd expected to be dealing with people playing elves and wizards when Mittens had suggested it, not even realizing there were other kinds of such games.

Honestly, she knew about as much of elves as she did superheroes, which was 'very little', so it didn't really matter that much. However, the game's rule system seemed almost unnecessarily complicated and it appeared she needed to have at least some degree of understanding of it to decode exactly what her character was able to do. She could easily manage knowing when to say 'I swing my weapon' and wait for Mittens to tell her what dice she was supposed to roll to do that. She wasn't even sure if this character had any kind of weapon.

"Um...I guess she is just out looking for bad guys?" She ventured, unsure what else to say.

"So, you're in your heroic ID?" Zane asked.

"Yeah, I suppose." Chloe shrugged, scanning the page of cramped notations that might as well have been ancient Sumerian for all she could understand them. "Am I able to fly?" She asked Mittens, since she was who had cobbled the whole thing together.

"Yep! You have a belt that lets you repel gravity and provides thrust." She answered, pointing to a couple of lines on the sheet. "It's part of your costume."

"Okay, then I guess I'm...flying around looking for...'evil'?" She said uncertainly. It seemed like something that a superhero would be doing, at least.

"Okay." Zane said, leaning forward. "Golden Bombshell is taking her second circuit past the manufacturing district when she hears an explosion somewhere below."

"Can I, er, she...what was it that exploded?" Chloe asked, feeling more than a little wrong-footed, but the others seemed to be looking on with supportive expressions. As out of place as she felt in the game, none of them appeared to mind. Yet another reason that she was finding herself to be quite liking all of them.

Evan, Holly, and Xander were all around the same age as Mittens, all of them students at the university several blocks down. Evan and Xander appeared to be best friends, from the way they interacted with each other. As much as they seemed to match socially, they were considerably different in both appearance and personality. Xander was a bit heavyset, somewhat unkempt in appearance, and rather laid-back in his mannerisms. While he didn't seem particularly shy, he wasn't very talkative either.

On the other hand, Evan was gawkishly thin, studiously groomed, and very awkward in his mannerisms. Though he did seem shy, he seemed to have no fear of expressing himself, having spent almost twenty minutes regaling Chloe with his character's detailed background while Mittens was putting her character together for her.

Neither of the boys were actually unattractive, though neither were the sort that usually caught people's eyes either. Holly, on the other hand, was very hard not to notice. Adorably cute and buxomly coquettish, she practically demanded attention in a room. Her rather loud and eccentric clothing choices only added to that. Like the other two, she had the definite aura of someone that would be instantly labelled 'a geek', in many ways no less awkward-seeming than the boys. However, on Holly, it seemed more winsome than potentially off-putting.

Zane, on the other hand, seemed almost completely out of place at the table. Easily around Chloe's age, if not older, he was casually handsome and collected, seeming more like someone you might expect to find at some trendy bar, rather than in a comic-book store. He exuded such a firm sense of presence and command that Chloe had quickly found herself wondering if he was a Dominant in the lifestyle. She'd not seen him at a munch or visiting the Playhouse during her time there, but that didn't really mean he wasn't simply more private with it.

Regardless, all four of them had not so much as raised an eyebrow when Mittens had introduced her to them as 'her Master's slave'. She also couldn't help but notice that both Holly and Evan tended to refer to Mittens as a feline off-handedly. Considering that Mittens' character, which was apparently some sort of six-foot, extremely fuzzy, alien, seemed to have a lot of history with theirs, Chloe assumed they'd gotten to know her well enough.

"Make a Perception Check." Zane said, quickly adding. "Sight-based, if you have any modifiers."

Chloe looked at the sheet a moment, before looking to Mittens. "Uh...do I...have any 'modifiers'?"

Mittens leaned over and pointed to a spot on the sheet. "Yes. You have plus four telescopic vision and a plus two to sight-based Perception Rolls. Both due to a pair of goggles you have. This is your base Perception roll here." She pointed to a different section of the sheet. "You add two to that, roll three dice, and want to roll below it. The telescopic part you just tell him that you have and he'll reduce any penalties you have based on range."

Chloe blinked at her in complete confusion. "Huh?"

Holly gave a bubbly giggle before handing Chloe three six-sided dice. "Just roll these and add the faces up. Mittens, what is her check?"

"It's a thirteen or less with the bonus."

Chloe did as she was instructed, getting a result of nine on the three dice. Holly gave a nod and relayed to Zane. "She made the roll by four."

"Taking a quick scan around, you zero in your goggles to see a billow of black smoke belching out from several windows of a large factory." Zane began, right on cue. "A moment later, there is another explosion and, this time, you can see a fan of flame lick out through the escaping smoke."

Chloe nodded, understanding this part, at least. "Okay, then I fly down to the factory and...um...can I fly into the window?"

"If that's where all this thick black smoke is coming out of, you might want to go in a different way." Xander said. "Realistically, she'd be blinded and choked by all the smoke."

"I guess that's a good point." Chloe conceded, shrugging. "Um...is there a...a door, I guess?"

Holly gave a mischievous grin. "You could just bust through the wall. Isn't she super-strong?"

Chloe looked at the character, unsure. "I don't think so. 'STR' is 'strength', right? I think I can only lift sixty pounds."

"No, you have a total Strength of '60' when you're wearing your powered gauntlets, which means you are crazy strong." Mittens corrected. "Like, juggle tanks kind of strong."

"Oh." Chloe said, a little surprised. "Then, okay, I...fly down to where the smoke is coming from and punch two holes into the side of the building, then use the holes to get a grip and tear away a section of the wall." She paused a moment and looked at Zane sheepishly. "Is that something I can do?"

"With a sixty strength, yeah." He replied. "It's just a standard brick and mortar wall. I'll let you just say you do it without having to make any kinds of damage rolls or anything."

"Okay." Chloe said, starting to get a little more into the swing of it. "Once I tear away the wall, I shout into factory, 'Everyone out this way! Hurry before there's another explosion!'." She hoped that didn't sound stupid.

"Within, you hear a number of voices calling out, but before you can quite register what it is that they are saying, a surprise blast of energy erupts out of the smoke." Zane said, leaning forward, his eyes flashing as he wove the story. "Though you are able to brace enough to keep from being hurt by the surprise attack, you are thrown backwards, away from the hole you made.

"A moment later, a tall man in a black costume with red lightning bolts decorating it, steps out, looking at you curiously." Zane changed his voice, suddenly speaking with a much deeper tone, full of arrogance. "'I do not believe I know you, woman. I had expected Thunderstrike to respond to my little trap, not some pin-up wanna-be.'" Shifting back into his normal voice, Zane continued. "He extends a hand towards you, crimson energy crackling around it."

"Why would Doctor Maelstrom be looking for Thunderstrike?" Evan asked with a note of alarm, looking a bit surprised at hearing the villain refer to his character.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to give me twenty points of 'Mystery Disad' to play with." Zane replied smoothly, a devious smile on his lips. "You have no one but yourself to blame."

Chloe snickered a little to herself, starting to enjoy this. Looking back to Zane, she paused a moment, then squared herself. "My character, er...I mean, I put my fists up. 'Well, now you have the Golden Bombshell to deal with! Her and her A-Bomb Swing!' I try to punch." Looking to Mittens for confirmation that she was doing what she was supposed to, she grabbed up a handful of dice, waiting to be told what to do with them.

It didn't take long for her to start really getting into the groove of things, Holly and Mittens both helping her sort out the confusing parts, like what dice to roll and how to interpret them. In spite of herself, she found herself having a lot of fun with hamming it up, though she did still feel a little silly at times. It might not be something she'd want to do all the time, but she would certainly be up for joining Mittens whenever she joined their little group.

Zane seemed to be a very talented story-teller and very good at managing all the players. Which only made her wonder all the more if he was a Dominant as well as a DM. It didn't take long before her character was introduced to their characters and they were all focused on unraveling the plans of the villain in the black and red costume, Doctor Maelstrom.

After a few hours, she realized she was getting hungry. Master had given her some money for the day to buy food and in case she found anything at PapaBear's store she wanted to buy. Mittens, Evan, and Xander's characters were currently together, investigating a secret lab, so she had a little time to walk up a couple blocks to a nearby convenience store to grab a sandwich. When she explained where she was headed, Holly jumped up to go with her.

As they started up the sidewalk, she glanced over to Holly. "I've been having a lot of fun today. Thank you for making me feel so welcome." She said, honestly grateful for how all of them had been so patient with her, despite how lost she was most of the time.

"Oh, don't mention it at all! I've really enjoyed meeting you." Holly replied. "And I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Hopefully that means we'll finally see more of Mittens again."

Chloe bit her lip sheepishly. "I take it she used to be here more regularly before I showed up?"

"More, but I wouldn't necessarily say 'regularly'." Holly gave a little bob of her head. "She came out, maybe, two or three times a month to game with us."

"That sounds pretty regular to me." Chloe laughed.

"Well, a 'regular game' for me is about twice a week, actually." Holly returned with a wink. "But then, I'm a hard-core gamer-chick. I love this stuff. I'm in five different games right now."

"And you play them all several times a week?" Chloe asked, a bit shocked at where the girl found that much time.

Holly laughed. "No, no. Three of them only meet every so often, like this one, one is just once a week and the other is the twice a week one. And the ones that are more regular, we don't usually play more than a few hours at a time, usually after classes."

"Well, I think I can handle two or three times a month, at least." Chloe said with a chuckle, shaking her head. "If Master will let me."

"So, you're really a slave?" She asked suddenly, seeming genuinely intrigued. "Is that a lot different from what Mittens is?"

Chloe tossed her head back and forth a little, considering her answer. "In some ways, yes. Master gives both of us a lot of freedom, but Mittens has a lot more than I do, ultimately. She's his pet, meaning she is expected to be playful and willful. As his pleasure slave, I am expected to always do whatever I am told." She smiled. "At least, that's how I see it."

"That's just crazy." Holly said, looking off, as if imagining the possible implications. "No matter what he tells you, you have to do it?"

"No matter what he tells me." Chloe replied with a nod. "I have put myself entirely at his mercy and dedicated myself to doing anything he wants of me."

"Wow! I can't imagine giving so much of my own power away." Holly said, shaking her head at the thought. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all down with some kinky stuff, but I don't think I could take it that far. But then, I don't think I could go as far as Rachel has either."

Chloe peered at her in surprise. "Oh, I didn't realize you knew her old name."

"Oh, I knew her long before she was ever 'Mittens'." Holly explained. "We went to the same grade school before she dropped out and we both worked at Mister Charles' grocery store together when I was in High School. Now, we didn't really talk much back then; hardly at all, really. It wasn't until she started to coming out here that we actually became friends or anything."

"It's hard for me to imagine her as anyone but Mittens." Chloe said thoughtfully. "To be honest, sometimes I kind of forget that she's only been this version of herself for a few years."