Awakening

Ashley woke to the smell of coffee brewing. She looks over to see that Ben has apparently left the bed already. She sits up, stretching, her beautiful body on display through the sheer negligee. Nothing was out of place. Ben had kept his word.

She stands up, wondering if she should try to make a break for it. But then a thought crosses her mind. Would it really hurt to stay here? Ben had basically brushed aside every chance to use her like a sex toy last night. Hell, he didn't even try to push for anything romantic. So why not? She was hungry.

As she crosses the tea room, she tries to ignore the statue, before entering the other part of the suite. There Ben stands, in a t-shirt and loose slacks, standing over the coffee maker as he waits for it to cool. "Ah, so Sleeping Beauty awakens." He turns only to look back. "Huh, I thought you'd at least put something on."

Ashley walks over to the table, where two plates already sit. They both have pancakes, with whipped cream and raspberries, while one also has peaches, the other has two slightly smaller ones instead of one big one. One has eggs over easy, while the other has scrambled eggs. They have breakfast sausages on the side, along with bacon. There is also toast on the edge of the plates, and a kettle of tea perched between the two positions.

Ashley sits down on the chair with the one that has peaches. "Well, I figured you already saw everything last night. And I feel like slinking off would be it's own type of humiliation. So I figured, why not, I have a good body, a body that I'm proud of, and I'd rather sit here and face you as an equal rather than act like I have anything to be ashamed of."

Ben looks at her, before nodding. He can't help but wonder if that whole, 'loves her body' thing has left her proud to show her bare assets. At the very least, as she sits down she doesn't attempt to hide her breasts. "Do you want some coffee? They prepared tea, but I like black coffee with a hangover."

Ashley shrugs, "No, I guess I'll have this tea. I'm not really a coffee person, and it'd be a shame if this went to waste." She pours herself a cup of the tea, only to sigh in satisfaction after drinking. "Hmm, it's sweet, like it's been mixed with honey. It's very nice, I think you missed out by making dumb old coffee. We are in Japan after all, maybe you should do as the Japanese do."

Ben walks up, sitting at the other side of the table. "I see you chose the one with sunny side up eggs. Not that I mind, I prefer this plate." Ben doesn't comment about how the plates were next to each other, and the stupid feeling he had. The plates had been next to each other, the pancakes almost overlapping. As he walked in, he saw that from his position, the peaches almost looked like... her panties did. The raspberries on the pancakes above almost looked like erect nipples on breasts and the one under the peaches were her clit, the eggs were her hair for the scrambled eggs, and for the sunny side up ones, well they were a bit to the side, but above the bikini. The illusion had faded when he moved the plates, but still, he couldn't help but wonder if that was intentional.

The two ate, nearly in silence. Though Ben couldn't help himself as he stared at her breasts. They were beautiful, not even having some aspect of artifice to ruin them. They were big, but beautiful in a normal way. Eventually Ashley caught him looking.

"You can look, but don't touch." She smiles, before she pokes at a sausage link. Ben wonders if that is a subtle threat. But he puts it out of his mind, as his voice grows serious.

"I want you to go to the show meeting at 10 am. I don't want you to suffer, like you did last night, like Yua did yesterday. I think that if Yuki says to do something, we should comply. She has the means to do whatever she needs to in order to **** us to comply. Might as well just do it and stay ourselves."

Ashley takes a long sip of her tea. Her expression doesn't change to one of anger, but she looks down, not wanting to look at Ben. "And what, play her game like a little marionette? Bark when she says I'm just a little bitch?" Ben responds quickly, "I'm not saying that. Just don't piss her off. Direct orders are followed, hints or suggestions are told to go to hell. I mean, you slept in my room, but we didn't have sex."

Ashley just sits there, picking at her eggs as she looks down. Ben continues, "Uh, so I don't know if this is going too far, but I was wondering if you could tell me about yourself."

She looks at him then, shocked, before smiling. "You know this isn't a good idea right? If we learn about each other, we might start to care. What if I mess up and end up as your sexy blank fuck doll, wouldn't you feel bad using me? And I don't want to know that my **** loves long walks on the beach and pina coladas. I'd rather continue hating you."

Ben looks at her, his face still serious. "No, well maybe it isn't smart. But I want to know you, if only so I can try to get a handle on everyone. I mean, uh, well we all work at the same company, but so many of us are in different departments. I feel like I've seen Yua 4 times, once when I was hired, once when she came to explain the trip, and two times in the hallway. At the very least, we're in the same department, have some type of relationship to start off. I know about Greg..."

"Oh yeah, that would complicate things for you. Though I'm sure you also think that maybe it isn't that big of a deal. Given the whole clients thing." Ashley looks at him defiantly, but soon settles down. Her meaning is clear. If she's willing to cheat with random clients to get ahead, she'd be willing to fuck Ben to secure her place in the new company. "Sorry, but, it's just embarrassing. Imagine that one day, you just have something you've hoped never saw the light of day revealed to your coworkers and an audience by some chipper little bitch."

A silence descends on the table. Ben waits, before he decides to go for it. "So, does Greg know?" A silence, as Ashley looks down at her food, rubbing the toast into the grease left over with her fork. "No." That word hangs there, a pallor over the nice morning, the clear sky outside unable to dissipate the clouds that hang over these two possible lovers. "It was only three times. The first time, I could almost say that I was **** into it. The Lombardy account was going to leave, it's our biggest account and I was in charge of it. They made eyes at me over dinner. Said that if something didn't change, that it'd be a shame. Had me drive him to his hotel. Opened the door and... I panicked."

"The second time, he was a known lech. A few words about knowing how he was, hoping to sweeten the deal. The third, he looked like he had never touched a woman, it was easy, I left within the hour. I did get manager after landing that last whale, but I haven't done it since. Nothing came of it, no continuing affairs. It's dumb, but harmless."

Her eyes look with daggers at Ben. "And nothing will come of it, right?! You're not going to tell Greg when we get back, are you?! I can make your life a living hell, I can ruin every waking moment of your working life..." Ben puts up his hands, though he can't help but admit that even as she gesticulated angrily, that his eyes had been drawn downward to her breasts that bounced with every frenzied movement. "I won't, I won't..." That seemed to calm her. But then some words slip from her mouth. "Whatever, with that bitch running things, I'll probably be some blank piece of sexy furniture or something. So even if you do tell Greg, what will it matter, he probably won't even remember me."

There is an air to her words, one that Ben is almost afraid to delve into. "So how is it going with him other than that?" She looks down, before smiling at Ben. He didn't need to know that. He was really trying to care about her. "Well. Uh, you know, it's ok. Recently it feels like there's some distance there. He's been sort of lazy when it comes to the relationship, taking me on dates only when I ask him to, coming home from work only to go straight to bed... but he's busy. I'm busy. It's not great but, that's sort of life."

Ben sips his coffee. "Yeah. I wish I'd never been there..."

____________________________________________________

Monica stands at the bathroom mirror, looking at herself. Finally, at herself. When she'd entered the bathroom, she had been someone else. DD breasts, piercings in her nose, nipples and clit, black lipstick and dyed hair that was purple with black tips. A bit chubbier and also a little bit older.

And the tattoos, god the tattoos. The words Momma Monica over her large breasts. The words Bad Bitch across her ass. Full tattoo sleeves that showed various designs, some artistic, others trashy. Her lower arms were mostly tame, having things like a kitten collared with stripes looking like the words sex kitten, while on the other were the word switch hitter along a bat. The rest of the space was taken up with various smaller designs, obscuring just how naughty those two scenes were by themselves. Both would be far too risque for Monica. But on her shoulders were two scenes, one having her likeness standing over another nude woman both in profile, a leash leading to her hand. The other having a mirrored position, but this time it is her likeness on her knees, the man standing above her looked like Ben.

She'd woken up to find herself in Callie's bed. She looked at her, still asleep. She remembered everything from last night. But it was like that was a different person, a person who took over her body, looking back at how it ended. And yet, it almost felt like any time one enters a rage, understanding how you got to the first place but struggling to explain how you got to the end. Was she really angry that Callie had entered into their room drunk? Or was that a pretense for the ending it achieved?

Though now she knew one thing, something that Yuki had forgotten to tell her. Apparently, her body wouldn't shift back until she left her lover's presence, but her mind did. Maybe it was tied to the idea of fantasies. Fantasies are active things. Things your mind does when you want to escape. While she slept her fantasies were weakened. This twisted hold, where a submissive essentially commanded her to be dominant, was broken. And as the last traces of black nail polish fade from her fingers, she knows that she doesn't want it to happen again.

She takes a quick shower, trying to wash away the memories, then grabs a towel. She dries herself as much as she can in the bathroom, then runs in the room. She goes to her closet, finding clothes, leaving, like the very atmosphere was poison. To Monica, it sort of is, as a few thoughts start to simmer as Callie looks at her, remembering last night. Monica escapes before a second round can start.