To discuss professionalism

Nicole isn't in any state to have a one-on-one with her boss, but she knows better than to reject the meeting. She works diligently through the morning until the scheduled call. She does her best to make herself look presentable and alert before joining the call.

"There's my social media superstar," Don says as Nicole appears on camera. While he was praiseful of her work, she often felt like the older man still thought interns could do her work.

"Good almost afternoon, Don. I'm so sorry about yesterday."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, much. I think I had bad Chinese," she lies. "Thank you for the time off."

"Nicole, please, you should feel safe taking time off when you need it."

"But it was such an important presentation."

"And you knocked it out of the park. Well, mostly. However, I think you did us a favor. Choam's reps softened quite a bit after overhearing your, um, well..."

"Oh, that's good to hear that they didn't hang up after I lost my dinner."

"But, Nicole, really, Stacy could have stepped in."

The suggestion stung Nicole. She felt like Stacy was gunning for her job even though she had zero marketing experience. "I don't know about that," she says. "Stacy doesn't know how to..."

"Wait, wait," Don cuts her off. "We're not actually here to discuss yesterday's performance, even though that was part of it. It's your overall, well, professionalism."

"I see. Um, I'm sorry. I know I've been a little unkempt during some recent calls. I've had some things going on in my life, but I assure you it's all getting sorted. But, are there some specific issues you want me to address?"

There's a pause from Don. Much like the other day, he's leaned in looking through the camera and apparently past Nicole. "Don?" she asks. Once again, she had forgotten to turn on the background blur.

"I'm sorry, I was looking at the baubles on your bookshelf."

Why did she keep forgetting to put on her fake background? The bookshelf most in view was where she kept various keepsakes from her life. Little statues from her travels, a couple of awards from work. She doesn't turn around. Instead, she looks at the image of herself on the screen and the shelf behind it. Yes, those things are on it. And then her heart stops. There, to the right of her head, is her 28-ounce bottle of lubricant. The one Huck told her to keep downstairs. Don was a straight-laced fiftysomething. He wouldn't recognize the label on the bottle, would he?

"Yes, um, that's a bunch of random stuff from my life. Uh, but about this call. Is there something specific?"

"On second thought, Nicole, I think it might be better if we have this conversation in person. Could you come into the office on Monday?"

Nicole hated going into the office. She'd been in six times since the company started to allow work-from-home. However, she knew it wasn't a suggestion. "Yes, sure, I'd love to see you in person. It's been months!" she says hoping it didn't come off as fake.

"Great! I'll take you to lunch. Maybe you can tell me about some of those trophies on your shelf. Anyway, I think you owe me some reports, so I won't keep you." Uncharacteristically, Don closed the call without waiting for her goodbye.

Nicole sits staring at her computer screen. Her anxiety level rises. A stream of thoughts rushes through her head. Was there a reason to panic? There wasn't a reason to panic. Was there? No, don't panic. It's all good. Her mid-year performance review was two months ago and he gave her all high marks. It's going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine. Maybe she should call off the free-use experiment. It was much more intense than she'd ever dreamed. The lube, the lube, the fucking lube. Nicole finally snaps out of it and gets up moving the lube behind some books on a lower bookshelf. She was in her 20s, so what if her boss knew she was sexually active? He'd probably expect it. She releases a frustrated growl.

Nicole spends her lunch time going back and forth with her Discord group. As usual, she's completely honest about everything that's unfolded. They encourage her to not end the experiment yet. They talk her down from worrying about Monday's meeting. Those in the group with managerial experience assure her sometimes professionalism conversations are better face-to-face.

Racer5XXX: I don't get it. Sounds like you have a lot in common. And you could teach him a few things.

WhoreFromHome: I'm not interested.

MonkeyMunki: Are you sure? Racer is right for once. Starting a relationship so sexually open with one another is promising. My husband of five years still doesn't know everything I'm into.

WFH: I think he wants me to be a ponygirl. I have zero interest.

MonkeyMunki: Are you sure?

Nicole has flashbacks to being on her hands and knees while whinnying for Vincent. It was humiliating, so she loved that part. She might like it a little bit.

WFH: Absolutely.

ReverandBlueJeans: I have an idea for setting your calendar up so multiple people can claim time on it. You'd only see what you put in it, but everyone with the password would see blocks where other people claimed time. They'd only see it as reserved time.

WFH: Reverand. This was supposed to be one guy for three weeks. Now I've been with two men and could have been gangbanged last night.

Racer5XXX: And would you have hated that?

Nicole knows she wouldn't have.

WFH: I mean, probably at first.

Racer5XXX: But?

WFH: I'm not sure all of you knowing me so well is good for me.

There's a stream of laughing face emojis.

MrKnight696: Looks like I've been missing out on some dramatic conversation. Did you tell her about wearing the remote vibrator yet?

ReverandBlueJeans: No.

MrKnight696: Oh come on, we voted.

ReverandBlueJeans: Yes, but WFH has been having a challenging day.

WFH: What about the remote vibrator?

MrKnight696: We voted you should wear it to the party tonight. And GoldenOwlPellet could have the controls for doing your PowerPoint presentation. He didn't mention it?

WFH: Guys, seriously, these are possibly new friends.

Racer5XXX: Sure, but we did vote and you did agree to the terms of the Discord when we let you in.

Nicole wishes Betty was in the chat right now. She was always the reasonable one.

MonkeyMunki: It could be fun! And keep you energized. You know I'm super shy, but when my hubby zaps my pussy while we're in social situations it makes me more extroverted. Besides, you owe me for the Taylor Swift concert.

MonkyMunki was unusually chatty today. She usually stayed in the background. And she was right. Nicole didn't typically accept tasks controlling other people in the group, but one time she won the right to control Monkey's vibe. Except she fell asleep with it on the pulse setting while Monkey was at a Taylor Swift concert. According to Monkey, her husband thought it was hilarious and made her keep it in through the entire encore. She claims to have wet herself in the middle of the crowd.

Racer5XXX: We gave him the requirement that he could only use it for three minutes per hour. That could be all at once or broken up throughout the hour.

ReverandBlueJeans: I forgot about the Swift incident. Yeah, I guess the others are right. You can accept the task or pass and accept the forfeit.

MonkeyMunki: :devil emoji:

Nicole puts her head in her hands. According to group rules, if someone refuses a task they become a "forfeit pet." Anyone in the group can join the "forfeit pet" lottery to win the right to control the forfeit pet for three uninterrupted hours. The pet would have to do everything on camera, without question, that the lottery winner asked. The only restriction was that the controller had to respect the limits the pet posted when they joined the Discord group. Additionally, the hours must be established within three days of the forfeit. That most likely meant Nicole would be giving up three hours of her weekend. Normally, shouldn't mind because she was usually needy, but this weekend was different. She was looking forward to getting some rest.