Salutation Parisienne (Darkwala’s branch)

Looking through the punishment options, Katy tried to imagine what each might involve. "Underwhere" clearly involve underwear, and did not seem safe. "Uniform Code" was a little less clear, but she had visions of being **** to wear a revealing cosplay outfit to school, or something like that. Salutation Parisienne made her think that maybe she’d have to speak with a funny French accent when she said hi to people. It was probably ridiculous, but only mildly embarrassing. So she chose that.

As soon as Katy selected the option, there was a knock at the stockroom door and Ian poked his head in.

“Oh,” he said with a slight look of confusion, “I just wanted to check if you were done. It’s getting a bit busy out there with casual shoppers gawking at the tournament”

Katy suddenly found herself standing up and walking over to Ian. She was unable to stop herself from grasping both his elbows, standing on tiptoe, and kissing him on his right cheek. He stooped slightly, making it easier for her to move to kiss his left cheek, and then his right again.

They both looked at each other for several seconds, stunned.

“I… uh… I uhm… I didn’t say hello to you properly… uhm… before,” Katy smiled nervously, “so I thought I would do… uhm… do it right.”

“That’s kinda cool,” Ian’s grin widened. “I like it a lot better than the barely perceptible nod from across the room you usually do. Anyways, could you come back a little early? It’s kinda hectic. I let Ralph know too, and he said he’d see if Selina can come in to help for a bit. But that will take over an hour. Sorry to cut your break short.”

“Nah,” Katy smiled genuinely. “I was almost done anyway. Give me like ninety seconds and I’ll be right out.”

Ian looked relieved, thanked her, and closed the door behind him. She smacked her forehead as she screamed silently at herself. What the hell was up with those kisses?!? Was that the app’s idea of a joke? She was supposed to be greeting people with kisses on the cheek like they do in France?!? And they hadn’t been air kisses either, she had pressed her lips directly on Ian’s smooth shaven cheeks. She was incredibly embarrassed by her actions, but had literally had no control. It was like she had been a passenger in her own body. It had only lasted a few seconds, but it was unnerving to realize how completely the app could take over to make sure she fulfilled her punishments.

She opened the app to look at the description for Salutation Parisienne. It said that when she greeted someone with whom she was on a first name basis, she had to kiss them on both cheeks. So nothing to do with funny accents! She felt a little stupid for choosing it, but she guessed it actually wasn’t that bad. She was a shy person, and honestly didn’t have many friends at all. Plus those she did have were all pretty chill and almost certainly wouldn’t make a big deal out of it.

Katy left the stockroom to help with the line at the counter. She jumped in next to Ian, helping the players buy their snacks, or the casual observers buy their cards or dungeon guides.

“Hello there,” Katy heard a familiar voice doing an incredibly lame young Obiwan impression.

She looked up and felt a pit form in her stomach. One of the neckbeards who came every week was standing in front of her, in all his stringy-hair, oversized black t-shirt, and cargo shorts glory. He had taken a fancy to Katy a couple months back, and appeared to be completely impervious to any social cues making it clear she was not interested. But that wasn’t the worst part.

The worst part is they greeted each other by first name.

“Oh hi, um, hi… uhm… Caleb,” she stuttered before the feeling took over.

Completely on its own, her body scampered around to the front of the stand, put her hands on his upper arms, and pulled him in to kiss his right cheek. She felt repulsed as her lips caressed his oily beard and she could smell that he had not bathed in a few days. But her body continued to shift to kiss his left cheek, and then back to his right. She was incredibly grateful when she regained control of her body and she could back away from him.

“Well then, Katy,” Caleb had a wide grin on his face. “That is a very enthusiastic greeting!”

“It’s uhm.. just something I’m trying out,” Katy said lamely as she awkwardly retreated to behind the counter. “To… you… you know, seem more worldly? It's just something I’m trying with just about everyone. Like literally anyone. So, like, everyone….”

She trailed off, realizing it all sounded ridiculous.

“Well I’m honored you think so highly of me that you want to greet me with such enthusiasm,” Caleb said, completely missing her point about “everyone”, and that he wasn’t special.

“I’d better… uhm… I’d better ring you up quickly,” she gestured toward the line and tried to change the subject.

It partially worked. He stood and flirted with her while she rung up his snacks. That is if she included Caleb telling her in multiple ways about his own brilliance at Cyblade as his version of flirting. Thankfully, the next person in line was impatient, and Caleb moved on when they stepped up to the counter.

Katy was pretty busy for the next hour working the till. During a particularly busy stretch at the register, she was relieved to hear a familiar voice.

“Heya Ian, heya Katy,” Selina said in a low monotone. “Crazy day, huh? Folks must be getting ready for the con coming up.”

Selina was also a student, but a couple of years older than Katy. She was tallish, with pale skin, dyed-black hair and a sleeve of botanical tattoos winding up her left arm. Katy had been intimidated by Selina at first, and Selina’s disinterest in being seen as pleasant or friendly had not helped. Eventually Katy had realized that while Selina came off as cold, she was a really good person and a supportive co-worker as long as you stayed on her good side.

Katy knew what was coming, and started to move before she felt any compulsion. She found if she was proactive then she didn’t feel like an alien had taken over her body. She told Selina she was glad to see her, grabbed both her hands, and moved to kiss Selina’s right cheek. Katy had planned to move quickly, but as soon as her lips touched Selina’s cheek, she felt a shock that was almost electric and it made her pause. She breathed in a heady smell of perfume, mixed with body wash and maybe shampoo. Katy felt a bit light headed as she moved to kiss Selina’s left cheek, noticing how smooth and soft her skin felt. She finally kissed Selina’s right cheek again, before stepping back, feeling a bit unsteady, and with a vague throbbing in her core.

“Thanks… uhm… Thanks for coming in to… uhm… to... uhm… to help... uhm… yeah,” Katy kicked herself internally for being the opposite of smooth.

Selina kept holding Katy’s hands, looked at her with a renewed curiosity, and a small smirk appeared.

“Oh. You’re doing the Paris greeting thing, huh? That can be fun,” Selina said cryptically. “Now it’s my turn.”

With a tiny lopsided smile, Selina moved close to Katy, and returned the greeting, kissing Katy softly on her cheeks. Katy was a feeling overwhelmed and couldn’t be sure, but it felt like Selina’s kisses were much closer to Katy’s mouth. Katy couldn’t help but smile a big grin when Selina stepped back.

“I got the till now,” Selina said as if nothing had happened. “Go help Ian.’

Katy was happy to comply. She thanked Selina again, and went to find Ian. She was so excited she was practically skipping through the store. That kiss had really affected her. She had never really thought of Selina romantically before, but that kiss, and the confident way she had taken charge made Katy’s stomach flutter.

She found Ian and helped him move some tables around since there were fewer players and more people standing to watch. She went to put away one unused table, and was struggling with it when Dane came over to help her. She looked up at his powerful form, and again she felt that throbbing in her core. She realized her body was moving on its own again, but she was more than willing to step close to Dane. She put her hands in his large ones, feeling very small as she came closer to his giant frame. She tilted her head up and got up on tip-toe, breathing in the spicy scent of his cologne and deodorant. He automatically tilted his head down, allowing her to kiss his right cheek. Where Selina’s had been soft and smooth, his was rough and strong, but equally appealing. The pulsing in her core was stronger as she breathed in his scent and pressed her lips to his cheek. She could feel his muscles as she brushed against him when she moved to kiss his other cheek. His strength was evident, and it made her feel pleasingly small. It made her feel like he would protect her from any danger. She finished kissing his right cheek again, and stepped back, smiling shyly.

“Wow,” Dane smiled genuinely. “I wasn’t expecting that greeting, Katy. It’s nice to see you too.”

“Just felt like saying hi,” Katy smiled while looking everywhere in the room but at him. Her nervous system felt like it was running at double speed.

They managed to wrestle the table into submission, and Dane helped her move it into a back room. She caught him giving her a few sly glances, and she smiled to herself at how sweet he looked. They talked for several more minutes, diving deep into the best strategies for Cyblade, allowing Katy’s inner nerd to come out completely. But the tournament was ending, and she had to go help Ian hand out the prizes. Dane surprised her by giving her a quick bear hug goodbye, and she found herself nuzzling against his muscular chest for a second before she headed back to work.

The rest of the shift was mostly uneventful. She did notice Selina looking at her a few times, the slightest hint of a smile on the pale girl’s face. Katy wasn’t sure if it was some influence of the app, or just that Katy had been doing the greeting thing, but it felt like people were paying her more attention today. She even noticed Ian looking at her more often. Katy was pretty shy, and enjoyed her privacy, so she wasn’t sure if she liked this. But it definitely felt good to her on some level to feel like people appreciated her. So, she just shrugged and enjoyed it for now.

Katy’s parents were watching TV in the living room when she got home, and her body took over to kiss both of them on the cheeks as well. They were mildly shocked, but immediately pleased to have a demonstration of affection from Katy. It wasn’t like she was distant with them normally, but as she had grown into adulthood, she had less and less physical contact with her parents. So it felt a little unusual to lean in and kiss their cheeks. Her mom seemed especially happy about this development, holding Katy’s hands for a bit and rocking back and forth with a broad smile on her face.

“It’s so nice to have you around,” her mom said sweetly. “We should do something fun this weekend. It’s been so long since we had a girls’ day together.”

Katy agreed, although she thought it was a bit odd. She loved her mom of course, but they pretty much lived their own lives now that Katy was at university. In many ways it was more like they were roommates than anything else. Maybe it would be good to spend some time together and reconnect.

Lying in bed, Katy thought about her day. Even though it had felt weird and embarrassing to be compelled to kiss people like that, she had to admit she had enjoyed the thrill. Well not the part with Caleb, but the experiences with Selina and Dane had been exhilarating. Even the time with Ian had been sweet, although she wasn’t attracted to him.

Her brain kept replaying the kisses with Selina and Dane over and over again. How soft Selina’s skin was, how wonderful she smelled, and how she would look at Katy with the barest hint of a smile, like she could see all the way to Katy’s soul. How strong and powerful Dane felt, but with the insides of a teddy bear who loved nerdy things as much as she did. Katy imagined what would have happened if she had kissed one of them for real. She fantasized about sticking her tongue into Dane’s mouth, or gently sucking on Selina’s lower lip.

Katy’s hand drifted inside her panties and worked her fingers along her damp folds as she imagined making out with first Dane and then Selina, and then both at the same time. Her fingers moved faster and faster over her button, imagining the two of them stripping her, their mouths working all over her body, before she would slowly strip them and worship every inch of their skin. Her fantasy became even more intense as she imagined the two of them bossing her around, directing her to pleasure them both. She had never had fantasies this kinky before, but the thought of being exposed and submissive like that triggered a huge orgasm. Her body twitched and convulsed violently and uncontrollably. The wave was so strong that Katy involuntarily let out a loud moan as she came. While part of her was terrified that her parents might have heard her, mostly she was too satiated and too tired to care as she drifted off to sleep.

—-----------------------

Katy lay awake on her bed Wednesday morning. Once she had recovered somewhat from her embarrassment from the events of the previous day, she took stock of her situation on Gem Ladies. Her bank currently had 4 gems in it. She had one bonus active, Luscious Locks with 29 days remaining, and one punishment, Salutation Parisienne I, that would clear in ten rounds of play. She hadn’t noticed the Roman numeral after the punishment, and when she tapped it simply said “Upgradeable”. She wasn’t sure why anyone would want to upgrade a punishment; she’d have to look into that. In the meantime, she'd need to play a full five levels today and tomorrow to remove it as soon as possible.

The store tab had a variety of bonuses and customizations available. She recognized Insta-Shave and Flash Sale, but there were tons of other options. Some she could guess what they were, but many titles were cryptic. Descriptoscope looked interesting, even if it was just out of her price range. If that did what she hoped and made descriptions visible, it could really take a lot of stress out of her Gem Ladies experience.

Katy decided to get a gem by playing Level 13 again. She cleared it easily this time, and used her gems to buy Descriptoscope. Sure enough, for the next 24 hours, all the shop and punishment descriptions would be visible. Katy looked back through the items in the shop, checking the descriptions. Some, like Insta-Workout, were obviously useful. Katy had been promising herself that she’d get in shape for a while, and that might just be the boost she needed to get started. Others, like the one that would make her vagina taste like pineapple were embarrassingly sexual. Some were so perverted she could feel herself blushing just reading them.

She also figured out what the previously offered punishments had been. “Uniform Code” meant that anything she had to wear for work would be skimpier, and that it was also upgradeable. “Underwhere?”, which the app also described as upgradeable, meant that she could wear either a bra or panties, but not both. Katy felt pretty good about her choice, since a quick set of pecks on Caleb’s cheeks seemed much better than having him ogle her while she was braless or wearing some skimpy outfit.

Katy also found a bonus called Uniform Code: Bonus Bucks. With that bonus active she would earn more money while under the effects of Uniform Code. She found the idea curious, that a bonus could be paired with punishment. While she liked the idea of making more money, just like she liked the concept of saving money with Flash Sale, she wasn’t sure she could actually do that in reality.

Of course, right now she couldn’t afford any of it. Katy blew through the next four levels, noticing them start to get harder by the time she finished. Hopefully that wouldn’t create trouble coming up.

Gems: 4 || Gem Limit: 10 || Level: 18

Active Punishment
Salutations Parisienne - 5 rounds remaining

Bonuses
Luscious Locks - 29 days remaining