And familiar figure

The entrance hall to the theatre was bathed in warm, golden light and swarming with finely-dressed people... and their accompanying human pets. Jesse had never seen so many elegant outfits and glittering jewels before. Everyone was drenched in precious metals and rare gemstones, with the submissive playthings among them seeming to be used more like display stands than anything else: 'Here is my best-trained slut, doesn't he/she look darling in those earrings mother brought back from Sri Lanka.' Was the sentiment that profused audibly, visibly and olfactorily through the room.

Suddenly the Home-raised sissy felt a little under-dressed. The beauteous slip that John and Miranda had bought for her almost certainly worth a small fortune, but nothing more than a penny-rag compared to some of the wealth on display. As she had got to know the couple more, she had come to realise that this was why they always seemed to be railing against their parent's tight belt and open disdain for their 'frivolities': In their world, they actually looked poor. It clearly ate away at them.

"Jesse! Over here!"

The femboy was utterly stumbled to hear her name being called out, and took a second or two to locate the waving source. There, walking towards them, was the shimmering form of Lizzy! With the largest diamond that could possibly be imagined hanging from her neck… and a tall, blonde-haired stranger in tow. The small, olive-skinned girl was draped in a shifting fabric that looked like it was made of pure pearlescence. It rainbowed through a thousand different colours with every instant, while still being translucent enough to show her naked body beneath. In direct contrast to the man she was leashed to with a silver chain, who wore a simple suit of darkest possible black. His smile was calm and easy, and he let the slutwife lead him without a hint of indignation. But, when his eyes landed on Jesse for a moment… she found something deeply, suddenly unsettling about them. Like he was looking right through her, into all the possibilities beyond. She had felt that way before… when she had met the man who worked on the algorithm, all those months ago. Yet, this was slightly different. Dr Pietre had seemed just detached, curious and… slightly sad. For half a heartbeat, this new stranger gave her a sense of… pure, unbridled fury. A deep-seated rage that could just never be quenched. No-one else seemed to notice it though… and when she caught his eye again, it was gone.

Once introductions were made, the paying contingent of the group began chattering away over the heads of their rented property, as was often the case. Jesse caught several bursts of flattered laughter from Miranda, and an increasingly interested series of questions from John, which told her the pair were quite taken with Lizzy’s owner/fiance. Meanwhile, she got to surreptitiously chat with her schoolfriend. Learning his name was Derrick and he often just turned up out of the blue like this to take her to things. Prior to this, all Jesse had learned about the man was that he had paid/bribed Madame Stanfield to accept Lizzy despite her actually being graded only second-class by the algorithm and did not seem to mind the girl having a ‘boyfriend’ in her Home. Both quite unusual points among those who specifically sponsored the training of a personal slutwife. The teen gushed with enthusiasm for her master, showing off her outfit and necklace proudly. Jesse certainly came off with a better impression of how she was treated as compared to Suzy’s relationship with ‘Daddy’. Yet… she also couldn’t quite escape that first feeling she’d got when he looked at her. Was she just being silly? Betsy always said it was her hyper-tuned empathy that made her both worry all the time and be such a well-picked submissive by the algorithm. Was it something to do with that that made him scare her?

When the bell rang for people to begin taking their seats, Miranda scooped up the sissy to escort her to the ladies room. The first time this had happened, Jesse had been incredibly self-conscious sharing a cubicle and make-up mirror with her fully-female owner. But nowadays such brief moments of ‘girl-time’ seemed quite welcome and natural. While the pair of them fixed their lipstick and mascara, the woman unveiled:

“Derrick’s invited us to share his box for the show… he’s bought the best one in the house! I can’t believe your little school-friend’s his wife-to-be. We knew you were our good luck charm! I’d heard about him on the grapevine… apparently he was just an insurance-stamp heir, like us… but got disowned.”

Jesse usually found herself a little bored by all the gossip and name-dropping that occupied a lot of John and Miranda’s thoughts, but this she picked up on. Hearing someone had been ‘disowned’ by one of the big, corporate families was effectively like hearing they were dead. They were basically never heard from again and assumed to have spent out whatever remaining money they had to their name in disgrace… among the middle classes.

“But, here he is… years later, buying up the best seats in the Grenadine. Ruffling the feathers of all those old guard fat-cats! I don’t think John’s ever looked at anyone except me the way he’s hanging off the man’s every word. Us girls are going to have to play our prettiest just to compete!”

She smiled at Jesse to highlight her joke. Offering one of those sly, little ‘just between us’ winks she was so fond of. The femboy smiled back. She did like how her regular mistress always made efforts to draw her into a sense of ‘sister’s sharing secrets’ together. But, the sissy could already tell that the woman was also rather smitten with this new shared associate, which worried her further. A man who should have nothing… but instead was showing off enough to tread on the richest player’s toes. That was someone dangerous. You didn’t need to be anyone near the game to see that.