Immersion (Part 3)

John

Jaya tried to watch the camp with the same cool detachment he watched everything else with. His pride has been hurt when the bandits took off with Jeanne but he had not been angry. He is now angry.

It was a cloudy night, but there was enough moonlight to show what was happening in the camp the bandits had set up. Jeanne was sitting near the fire still in her g’ao and cheche. Jaya could guess why. The ritual of disrobing was a time consuming affair with water needed for the female to wash themselves. It was a time honored ritual when the female was transformed from a beast of burden to a beast of pleasure and even outlaws had more sense than to offend the gods with an incomplete ritual.

The bandits were in a rush to get away from the scene of their crime and had no time for Jeanne to honor and the Twins with the ritual thus she was still clothed and untouched. Jaya had no illusion though. Once they had the time, they would rape Jeanne but till then she was safe.

Between the fire and the dim light of the Twins however, Jaya could see that Jeanne’s g’ao and cheche were now dirty. He guessed that a beating was the least he should have expected but anger still threaten his concentration. Jeanne was his, and only he is allowed to punish or touch her. The fact that he was unable to protect his property hurt his pride.

Slowly, he managed to control his anger. He thought back to the training he had as a child. His father had 3 sons and he was the second of the trio. If tradition had held, his oldest brother would have inherited the family fortune while the other sons would have to manage their way in life. The farm was never supposed to be his; his older brother was to have inherited it.

So when he was but a boy, his father had enrolled him and his younger brother at a nearby martial art school. Jaya thought back to that time when he was training with his follow students and the teachings of his shifu. One of his first lessons was this; Anger is a disease that cloud judgment, if you go into a fight angry, then you had lost the fight even before you began. A fatal accident suffered by his oldest brother cut short his training but Jaya remembered that much. Jaya fingered the new sword he bought at Ru’chang.

When he woke, he found the bandits gone. They had taken Jeanne and his goods with them. He rushed back to the city to report the matter but he could see that the guards were less than eager to go chasing a few bandits away from the city.

Left with little choice, he bought a sword and rented a horse from the city and rushed back to the location where he was attacked. Luck was on his side as the bandits did not bother to hide their tracks. He shadowed the group to their camp and now waited for his chance.

3 of the bandits were on the other side of the camp’s fire sleeping while the last bandit was on watch. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Jaya could see that he was already struggling against sleep. He could kill the bandit on watch but that would still leave him with 3 bandits to fight against. Bad odds for a farmer out of practice with his sword.

One of the sleeping bandits woke up and started to walk away from the group. He saw his chance. Jaya slowly moved forward. Keeping low to the ground so that the bushes could hide him, he crept towards the location where the bandit was going.

He could hear the sound of water flowing as the bandit relieved his bladder. When he was sure he would not go any nearer to the bandit without alerting him, Jaya released his sword from its scabbard. Standing up slowly, he ran towards the bandit from behind. The blade sliced through its target and Jaya held a hand over the bandit’s mouth. The man struggled but Jaya’s grip was too tight and when life went out of his body, Jaya slowly laid the body down on the ground. He listened for a moment and was glad that there was no activity at the campfire. One down, three more to go.

Again Jaya stayed low to the ground and crept towards the campfire. He was only a few steps in when the bandit on guard duty stood up and walked towards him. He was coming to check on the dead bandit, and Jaya knew he only had moments before he was spotted. Left with no choice, he did the only thing he could. He charged.

The darkness helped him. The bandit only saw him for a moment before his sword sliced him across the belly. The bandit screamed as he went down but Jaya ignored him and rushed to the 2 sleeping bandits. He arrived to find one man already up and the other throwing off his blankets. Jaya ran towards the one still rising.

The bandit reached for the blade lying on the ground next to him but Jaya was faster. A stroke of his sword killed him instantly. Jaya turned to see the remaining bandit charging him. He moved back, trying to gain some distance between them but this time the bandit was faster. The bandit’s sword flashed cut towards Jaya’s face as he tried to mount a defense. Jaya ducked to allow a stroke to pass overhead, stepped in…and got a kick in his midsection for his troubles.

Winded, Jaya backed away from the remaining bandit. The bandit step forward to attack and this time Jaya concentrated solely on defense. As his sword swirled around his body in the “Butterfly Pattern”, Jaya took half a step back each time the bandit attack. The pattern gave the illusion that the bandit was winning the fight, but Jaya’s defense was not breached even once. His patience paid off as the bandit got increasingly frustrated and finally lunged at him. A quick sidestep and Jaya decapitated the bandit in one flowing stroke. The bandit fell forward silently and it was over.

Tara

She had never felt more in love. Jeanne has always been a woman that accepted her fate in life. When her father has sold her to her husband, she accepted it without question.

It was the fate of a woman to be married and to serve her husband and his family till the end of her life. Her father got a good price for her and the money would be put to good use getting wives for her 2 brothers. Jeanne accepted her marriage as her lot and did her duty. Love had nothing to do with it because she was never in love.

She was in love now. When she was kidnapped by the bandits, she had accepted her fate. She would have been beaten, raped and then either sold to a brothel or, if she was lucky, killed after the bandits had their fun. That was her fate until her lord and master came to her rescue.

Even now, hours after the rescue, she was still in disbelief. She knew that Jaya had some martial training when he was younger but she never imagined that he had the skill to sneak up and kill 4 armed bandits. She also never imagined that she was so important that her lord and master would risk his life for her. He even spent money for the sword and horse. She must have been more important to him than she realized. 

Jeanne immediately scolded herself for the thought. She was but a woman, a beast born to serve men! She was only as important as a horse, a cow or a pig. No, she was not even as important as a horse, a cow or a pig. You can kill a horse, a cow or a pig for food but not a woman.

At that moment, on her knees in her lord’s bedroom, Jeanne resolved to be the perfect wife. From now on, she would not just do her duty but would take joy and pleasure in her action as well. A woman’s lot was one of pain, suffering and humiliation and Jeanne would take great joy in her pain, suffering and humiliation. Her mother had once told her that she was proud of being the wife of Jeanne’s father. Despite all the humiliation she had suffered, she would not have chosen another life for herself.

Jeanne had never understood that before today.

Her lord entered the room at that moment and Jeanne on reflex bowed her head low to the ground. As custom, her face was only inches from the ground and when her lord put his foot beneath her face, she kissed it.

As her lord withdrew his foot, Jeanne looked at her lord. Unlike her nakedness, her lord was dressed in comfortable pajamas. She felt unworthy. It was like her lord had a halo around his body, Jeanne felt as if she wasn’t worthy enough to look at him. She realized with a start that this was the way a wife in Pladir should feel.

“Bark.” At her lord’s command, Jeanne barked. It was ritual her lord enjoyed. Every night when he entered, h gave a command to Jeanne to make some animal’s noise. It was a humiliating way to remind Jeanne of her place. Jeanne never minded because a wife should always obey her master but this was the first time that she enjoyed it. She had pleased her lord and joy filled her heart at that knowledge.

“On your back.” Jeanne fell on her back and opened her legs wide. Her lord lowered his trousers and went to his knees. He entered Jeanne without a word and Jeanne found herself asking, “Do your wife need to move, my lord?”

“Yes” At the reply, Jeanne closed her legs around her lord and started to help her lord as he entered her. As usual, her lord was hard and brutal with no thought of her enjoyment. But enjoyed it she did. For the first time Jeanne understood what her mother meant when she said she was proud of a wife. Jeanne was proud of being her lord’s wife, of being the wife of this strong man who risked his life for her. She wanted nothing but a chance to serve him well for the rest of her life.

Jeanne felt her lord coming out of her and she tightened her legs around him. Her lord gave her a curious look. He would usually exit and splash his semen on her face. As was usually the case, Jeanne never minded but this time she wanted something from her lord. “Please my lord, grant me a chance to have your baby.”

Her lord thought about it and then came inside her. Jeanne came at that instant, overjoyed at the granting of her request. After a moment that lasted an eternity, her lord finished and stood up. Jeanne remembered herself and came to her knees. She began to clean the manhood of her lord. What was once her duty now became a joy for her.

Her lord then walked to the table and blew out the candle. He then proceeded to the bed and Jeanne crawled on her hands and knees behind him. As her lord lay in bed, Jeanne laid herself down on the floor beside him. As sleep took her, she prayed to    and the Twins for a son for her lord.

That night, Jeanne dreamt of serving many strong sons.  

Hal

As the door opened, Hal saw a woman dressed in the strangest attire he had ever seen. Then it hit him like a ton of brick. “Mrs. Mitchell?”

Tara Mitchell nodded her head and stepped back from the door. Hal accepted the invitation and enter the house. When John Mitchell told him to go to his house for a meeting, the last thing Hal expected was to be greeted at the door by Tara Mitchell dressed in a g’ao and cheche.

He didn’t know how he felt about seeing his designs come to life but whatever it was, it wasn’t unpleasant. Tara led him to the back of the house where he saw John. Dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts, he was sitting by the pool reading some papers. He stood up as Hal approached and had a firm handshake.

“Hi Hal, you have any problem finding the house?”

“No, your directions were fine.” Hal meant what he said. The house was located at a secluded spot and only good directions prevented him from being lost.

“Want a martini?”

“Plain water will be fine.”

John nodded at the full covered Tara and she gave a bow before running to the kitchen. Hal can’t read but say something. “Things sure have changed in your household.”

John laughed at that. “You can say that sure. And it’s all thanks to you and your company.”

“You mean our company right?”

“Oh,” John gave a condensing smile. “Your partners agreed to let me in?”

“As you knew they would.” Tara came back with the glass of water and gingerly put the glass on the table. She stepped back and folded her hands together on her chest. A wave of dismissal from John later, she bowed and left.

“If I may,” Hal asked. “Where did you get the clothes?”

“I know of a designer, struggling designer, who was a former client of mine. The clothes are one of the ideas I want to introduce to Immersion.”

Hal gave a look at him. “Clothing?”

“Marketing,” John corrected. “A further immersion for any clients who wished to go beyond their virtual world.”

“The blurring of the virtual world and reality…” Hal’s mind thought of the different programs they had and how much money they could make if made clothes of them in real life. “It could work.”

“It will work. You know how much Jeanne loved wearing those clothes? Why she…”

“Jeanne?” Hal was alarmed at this. “That’s her name in Pladir. Why…”

“She’s Jeanne at home now. Only when she’s…outside would people call her Tara.” Hal was left speechless at this. This has went far beyond anything they had imagined when they set up Immersion. “Don’t worry, she loved being Jeanne. My wife prefers me calling her Jeanne.”

“Really?”

“Yes and that’s not all. She had taken some traits from Jeanne as well.”

“What kind of traits?” Hal was intrigued by this.

“For one thing, she is much more…obedient now. Whatever I say, she’ll do. She even wants to have a baby now. You know how many years I tried to convince her to have one? It was always work, work, work for her but now…she want a football team.” John seems very pleased about the whole thing.

“She’s still working?”

“Only because I told her to. She wanted to quit, stay at home and be a desperate housewife but that’ll be too weird for a workaholic like Tara. So I told her to keep working and make sure everything seems normal.”

“That’s good,” Hal was glad at least one of them got their head on straight. “That’s what you want to show me today? The effects of the program?”

“No, I want to show you these.” John handed the papers in his hand to Hal.

“What are these?” They look like so sort of list.

“Our future clients” John took a sip of his martini and then asked, “Hal, have you heard of a group called the M.A.P?”