Yep! Naked shopping time!

Athena was still wearing clothing at it was beginning to irritate me. Though I had overwhelming comfort and wellbeing as the reward for being naked, she would never experience it unless she actually got naked, and somehow she was more than willing to put up with the discomfort generated by her clothing in the meantime. And she did look uncomfortable, constantly scratching at her body or readjusting her thin cotton dress. But she didn't seem to be paying any attention to it, just continually chatting giddily with James, barefoot, wearing a dress with no underwear, but still clothed.

I suppose it was naïve of me to assume I could get someone naked in public with only 3 gems invested. It had taken a very particular set of circumstances to get Cynthia to be naked in public, and even more gems to make her stay naked in public. As we left the restaurant for the mall proper, my mind was awash in ideas of how I could get Athena naked with the smallest investment possible, when the air conditioning of the mall made me shiver, and I remembered just how naked and exposed I was. There I was, totally naked and barefoot in the middle of the mall, one hand forcing itself to clamp against my pussy, the other arm holding itself over my breasts, Cynthia groping my extremely sensitive butt with one hand, my bare feet touching the cold stone tiled floor of the mall, and the app disallowing me to put clothes on, even if I had any, as well as making me feel extremely embarrassed (and aroused) by my nudity.

I shivered again for a different reason as my ruminations left my hand idle to stroke my vulva. That, coupled with the exhibitionist arousal, plus the hypersensitivity of my totally naked butt being groped and stroked, caused me to moan softly to myself as we walked. I could only imagine what my arousal level was at... Before I could check my phone, Cynthia gave me a hard fast smack to my butt, causing me to help.

"No covering," she scolded me, and **** my hand away from my pussy and my other arm around from my breasts.

"T-thank you," I said genuinely.

"You're welcome," she said, petting me.

Arriving at the shoe-store, I was pleased that the salesperson didn't have any objection to us shopping naked, in fact he even made a joke about us clearly needing their store's services. Cynthia went straight to find a pair of cheap flip flops for her walk back, and I checked the app for something I could do to both get rid of my last gem (because the custom challenge would already give me more gems than I could hold in my gem bank, so it was use-it or lose-it) and make Athena take her last piece of clothing off.

However, when I opened the app, I immediately noticed something was wrong.

When I looked at the top of the app, it said I had 11/105. And then, as I watched, it ticked up to 12/105. I wanted to start looking for what was going on immediately, but unfortunately I had a popup about an achievement.

TORTURER OF DRIVES
Arouse or frustrate at least 10 people in a day: COMPLETED! +1 Gem Bank Limit Increase
Arouse or frustrate at least 20 people in a day: COMPLETED! +2 Gem Bank Limit Increase
Arouse or frustrate at least 100 people in a day: COMPLETED! +3 Gem Bank Limit Increase
Arouse or frustrate at least 200 people in a day: COMPLETED! +5 Gem Bank Limit Increase
Arouse or frustrate at least 1,000 people in a day: 224/1000. +10 Gem Bank Limit Increase

And then, after opening that notification, my gem bank count was up to 12/110. Waiting another few moments, and it was up to 13/110. It turned out, I found out, after another few minutes searching around through the app, that one of my "Custom Girls" was aroused above 100% arousal (whatever that number meant), and a quick survey of the five girls indicated that it was Mi-Suk Connie Dong. In fact, she was almost at 150%! She and Avery must have been having a very fun time! As it was, so long as she stayed above 100%, I was going to keep getting 1 gem per minute. Which at the same time intrigued and irritated me, as all of these gems represented gems that would be lost when my gem bank overflowed.

I was all ready to open Girl Market and binge purchase some small effects that I could store up in my inventory there when my eyes happened to fall upon a pair of shoes. I was sitting on a padded bench in the store while Athena and James were talking and Cynthia was looking for some cheap shoes, when I spotted a lovely pair of block-heeled strappy platforms. The heels were 5.5 inches, the front was a 1.5 inch platform, so they would feel like 4 inch heels when you wore them. They were very aesthetically pleasing to me, but really, I liked them for two reasons: 1) they were essentially high-heeled, platform sandals, and would keep the aesthetic of bare feet even though it would give Cynthia's soles the benefits of wearing shoes; 2) they would make Cynthia even taller, making her tower over me and my 5'8" self at an effective 6'5".

I stood up, lifted up the display shoe and was about to go suggest it Cynthia when she found me instead.

"What do you think about these?" she asked, pointing to her feet. Looking down I saw a pair of simple sandals (flip-flops, really) and a pair of those disposable sanitary socks shoe-stores make you put on if you aren't wearing socks to begin with.

I shrugged and said "Sure." But then I held up the display strappy shoe to her. "But what about these?" I tried to put as much lust and awe into my voice as possible to show how much I liked them, but Cynthia either didn't notice or pretended not to notice.

She also shrugged and made a dubious face. "I don't really wear high-heels."

"Do you own any high-heeled shoes?"

"I mean, yeah, somewhere, but probably no more than one or two pairs."

"Hm... Well, I still want to buy you a real pair of shoes, you wanna keep looking a few minutes longer?"

Cynthia agreed and returned to the aisles. I returned to my phone. After a few minutes searching I came up with a few tweaks to Cynthia's current loadout. The first thing I did was find something to make her wear high-heeled shoes, and so found [Wear Only Heels], which would make sure she only wore high-heels. I could have, of course, used a Compel version of this, but I decided that, for the time being, I felt more like just using straight up Customizations that **** behaviour, as I was already somewhat frustrated with the Compel feature given my situation with Athena. Though, I decided I wanted to be nice about this, so added some rewards and punishments to situation as well. For [Wear Only Heels] I added the punishment [PUN: Discomfort] and the reward [RWD: Comfort]. I also found a body modification that said [Strong Calves], which would allow Cynthia to walk and run in heels the same as flats without straining her feel or legs - from the wording I got the feeling that this Customization was designed for people who had stripper heel fetishes, but it should work just the same for what I had in mind. Lastly, I purchased the punishment [PUN: Frustration] to replace the [PUN: Righteous Indignation] I had applied to her, as I felt that was somewhat dangerous.

My basket, thusly, looked like this:

[Wear Only Heels]. 2 gems.
[PUN: Discomfort]. 1 gem.
[RWD: Comfort]. 1 gem.
[PUN: Frustration]. 1 gem.
[Strong Calves]. 6 gems.

Confirm 11 gem purchase?

[Confirm]!

I applied all the new rewards and punishments and went to find Cynthia again. I found her in the aisles, having kicked off the flip-flops, but, even though her awareness of the customization was on, her [Discomfort] punishment would have made her feel taking off the sandals was her decision. "Hey, Cynthia?" I said, finding her looking at a pair of boots (bleh!). She acknowledged me by putting a hand on my head and wrapping her fingers through my hair, giving me a firm little yank - making me sigh with subby bliss.

"How do you think these would look on me?" I held up the same strappy shoe again.

In response, she yanked hard at my hair, making me yelp and beg her to stop. I swear she pulled some hair out!

"No," Cynthia said simply, though there wasn't blistering anger behind her words this time - a marked improvement. "I told you , I don't think you should wear shoes - that's clearly not who you are. That's why I decided to support you by being naked and barefoot today with you, so you could have more confident in being your true self!" Wow, I thought, that rationalization was some heavy-duty stuff!

"Y-yes, Mistress! I'm sorry..." she let go of my hair and petted me with both hands, having put the boots down. "But do you think you could at least try these heels on? For me, please?" I begged on my knees to her giving her the cutest, wide-eyed face I could.

Cynthia sighed. "Alright, I'll try them, but, like I said, I've never liked heels. If I say they aren't for me, you'll drop it." This was not a question, this was a command.

I decided to answer anyway, sounding appreciative and smiling my sweetest subby smile, and nuzzling my head against the palm of her hand as she pet me. "Thank you, Mistress!"

She was holding the strappy block-heeled shoe with one hand, checking the size. "Where did you find this? I need to get a pair in my size."

I showed her and she sat on the bench to try them on, wearing only the disposable sanitary socks and, eventually the shoes. A look of surprise came over her face. "Wow! These are surprisingly comfortable..." Confused, she stood up and my breath caught in my throat at how gorgeous she looked in those heels, she was a towering goddess, naked but for her minimalist, block heeled, black shoes! I really have a fetish for women who are taller than me, and I really dislike stiletto heels, just to be clear. There must be some sort of gender bias there, I've noticed guys seem to like stilettos, but I think that's because they've never actually worn them and felt how awkward and uncomfortable they are. Or maybe they have some idea and they just get off on seeing women in uncomfortable shoes? Anyway, I love block heeled shoes, especially on Dominant women, they just look so powerful to me for some reason, and the strappy nature of the shoes gave a "best of both worlds" compromise between shod and barefoot states.

The sanitary socks were a bit of a buzzkill, but that was temporary.

Cynthia walked a bit in the heels at did some sexy poses, hip cocked to the side, hand rested on said hip, strutted like she was on a runway, I couldn't help but masturbate a little bit, one hand fondling my breast, the other between my legs, panting as I watched this tall, lean blond strut about in nothing but sexy shoes...

"Bad girl!" Cynthia said as she bapped me on the nose with two fingers. "Not in public!" She was leaning down over me, as I was kneeling beside the bench where she had been trying on the shoes. All I could focus on was her breasts hanging over me - that's when I realized I must be really, really horny!

After another bap she finally got me to stop, and I **** my arms to my sides, neither playing with myself or covering myself, trying to be a good girl, at least in Cynthia's eyes. "I don't know why, but these are probably the most comfortable high-heeled shoes I've ever worn."

"So...?" I asked, hopefully, still unable to help myself from stealing glances at her bare breasts as they hung above me.

Cynthia sighed. "Fine... you can buy them for me."

"Yay!" I said clapping my hands together in front of me, trying to look cute, hoping I didn't just end up making myself look dumb.

We ended up buying the high-heeled shoes and not the flip-flops, because, for some reason, Cynthia had decided they weren't very comfortable (tee-hee!). I paid for the shoes, of course, because Cynthia had neither her wallet or her phone. Leaving the shoe store, Cynthia wore the heels out (having discarded the sanitary socks), and was petting my head from a considerably higher vantage point, which I (and I hope she) appreciated. The conversation was then geared toward where we should go next, and Athena, still carrying her bags, said she had already done her shopping but was more than willing to just hang out with us as we shopped. As it turned out, Cynthia wanted to go to the kitchen store to get a new mandoline slicer, James wanted to go by the game store, and I had to admit I needed to go by the electronics section of one of the mall's department stores.

As we headed for the game store, I got a a notification on my phone - it was a message on Girl Market from MistressAvy.

MistressAvy: Hi! This is Avery, you still at the mall? Want to hang out?

Casting my eyes toward my gem bank, I saw that I was no longer getting gems from Connie, meaning the two must have finished.

N_Evescolt: Yeah, on way to game store.

MistressAvy: Nice, tjhere soon.

And then I got a message from June in the Custom Girls app:

June: Just so you know, there's currently a bug regarding the interface between Girl Market and Custom Girls. Until QA can track it down, I'm hiding friend requests from other users. Until we figure it out, please don't friend other users, or at least other users you intend to make add to your Custom Girl collection. Also, there is probably going to be a hotfix for an unrelated issue coming tonight around midnight - rebalance issue re interactions between Custom Girls and other apps.

I texted back to her:

N_Evescolt: That's a lot.

June: Yeah, I know, there's some drama llama bullshit going on with the teams for our other apps right now, I'll tell you about it tonight when we meet.

N_Evescolt: Wait, what?

June: Oh yeah, I'm going to come over to your place tonight when you go to bed. Don't worry about it, I'll just materialize in your bedroom.

I had so many questions. I started typing a response but June followed up with:

June: Look out! STOP WALKING! Bench!

I stopped just in time before, distracted by my phone, I would have walked right into a bench. I had lagged behind the rest of the group and they were way ahead of me, still heading toward the game store. My bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor, I ran to catch up with them. I got up to my new friends at just about the time Avery found us.

Avery came up to us and waved at me. "Hi, it's Nat, right?"

"Oh, yeah, hi again!" I said, forcing a smile and pushing down my curiosity and concern about June's promise of a nocturnal visit. The girl was wearing a dark grey pinstripe vest with a black back, a white buttoned shirt, a super short, dark grey pinstriped skirt, white leggings and white full arm gloves of the same material (which I supposed was meant to make it look like her arms and legs were pale white), and black platform boots. She had a black bob haircut and the top buttons of her shirt were completely undone, showing off her ample cleavage. On second glance, I noticed several things seemed amiss since I had last seen her in the restaurant: firstly, the buttons on her top weren't just undone, they looked like they'd been torn off, with some loose threads hanging forlornly along the edges; also her leggings were wet with something and dirty at the knees. Given that Connie had been super aroused very recently, it wasn't unreasonable to assume that their playtime hadn't been too kind on Avery's wardrobe. This coupled with the fact that she was unable to wear makeup due to some magical app issue and I could tell she was looking what must have been all out of sorts for her. "We're going to the game store, want to come along?"

"Sure!" Avery fell in beside me as I followed the others at a distance. "So, I think I might have missed this earlier, but why are you naked?"

I shrugged. "Why not?"

Avery smiled. "Okay, but really, is it like, a punishment, a challenge, did you buy things on Girl Market that allow you to live out your nudist fantasies? I'm just trying to understand the logistics, even if not the reasons."

"It's a little of a lot of those - it's a challenge for more gems, I'm using bonuses to make it easier for me to be naked and it... sort of turns me on," I confessed.

"Oh, an exhibitionist, I like you!" she gave me a sideways grin.

"Thank you!"

There was a moment of what turned into awkward silence between us as we walked, but only a moment's worth, before Avery perked up again. "Hey, um, I appreciate that gift bonus you said Connie, earlier, but, like, she's my submissive - my pet - and I'd really appreciate being consulted next time you want to send her something like that, at least until you get to know us better? Sorry if that sounds weird."

"Oh!" I said, surprised and confused as to what we were discussing. Then I realized I had made a customization on Connie for 1 gem earlier. Since these ladies were other app users, it must have shown up as a Girl Market gift? That didn't seem right somehow... But I nodded and tried not to miss a beat. "Yeah, I'm sorry, that might have seemed a little forward of me, perhaps?"

"It's just that, we take our play very seriously, and these apps, really, are part of our play together, which is a big part of our relationship, and - not that we aren't into playing with others but - we really just like to have clear boundaries and clear communication beforehand, you know?"

"No, I mean yes. That sounds reasonable."

Avery made gave a sigh of relief. "Oh good! Yeah, I mean, I Connie is super excited not to have to shave anymore, but yeah, you know?"

I nodded as we went. I checked the time. That deluge of Gems should be coming my way soon and I was having loads of ideas on how to spend my windfall, even though I might be leaving some gems on the table as my Gem-Banks was set to overflow. "Hey," I asked. "How many gems would it take to get your 'can't wear makeup' punishment removed?"

Avery blinked a few times and I could see she was doing some mental maths.

We reached the gamestore, where James, Athena and Cynthia were already browsing.

"So, given how short a time it's been since I got the punishment, and how high a level I am, it'd be 11,988 tokens, so that's currently... 18 gems on Girl Market? Give or take. They really try to discourage you from buying your way out of punishments until they've had a little time to take effect. The price should drop to half of that by tomorrow."

"I see... So, tell me, what is this 'FlickIt!' app Naomi was talking about?" I began casually rummaging through a discount plushie bin at the front of the store.

Avery narrowed her eyes. "How can you not know that? Aren't taking a FlickIt! challenge for nudity right now?"

So, I thought to myself, it had something to do with challenges, like the Custom Girls challenge system. "I never said that," I clarified without looking up from the discount plushies of last years' hot video games.

"So what app are you using?"

"I really can't talk about it because of the NDA I signed."

Avery's narrowed eyes became wide now. "You're a beta tester or something?" she said in a hushed, respectful tone, drawing closer.

"I can neither confirm or deny that... however, I might be able to make the make-up thing go away for you if we can keep the stuff we're clearly not talking about between the two of us?" I gave her a smile that I hoped was both conspiratorial, apologetic and pleading.

Fortunately, it had the right effect, and Avery gave me a big, fully mischievous grin in reply, holding her hand out for me to shake, which I did. "Now tell me, I said, changing topics, throwing the plushie I was holding back into the bin. "What the hell is FlickIt!?"

Gems Remaining: 12
Total Gems Spent: 196
Lifetime Total Gems: 208
Average Gems Earned/Day: 99

Girls Customized: 5
Achievements Unlocked: 18
Orgasm Count: 44

Custom Girl Investment Tracker:

Marcie Klein: 118 gems
Cynthia Miar: 41 gems
Athena ****: 23 gems
Dr. Stella van Olsbracht: 1 gem
Mi-Suk Connie Dong: 1 gem

[[If you are enjoying this branch, please consider Liking and leaving a comment - they really motivate me to keep writing! XD Also, please feel absolutely free to leave any edits, questions, criticism or suggestions! I love those too. <3<3<3]]