Bound Friends Pt. 02

Part 2 - Andrea and the FetFair

There is an old saying that you can't unring a bell. It may be a cliche, but it also happened to be true.

For Andrea that bell had been rung two nights ago. She had discovered a side of her she didn't know existed. A kinky side. And even as the cheap beer flowed and the music pumped in her house full of guests, she found it hard to keep her mind from wandering back there. It was her own party, but she was finding it hard to get into. None of the guys were particularly attractive and few of them she knew since none of them went to her (all girls) school.

A few days ago this party would have almost felt scandalous. She had very strict, religious parents, and as much as she didn't like that it, it had rubbed off on her over the years. Having beer and boys over would have been a big deal just a few days ago. Now it almost felt like a yawn, not exactly boring but certainly not thrilling either. Once the supply of beer dried up, the more sober ones started organizing rides home, making sure there was a sober driver for every car that needed one, and the party came to an uneventful end.

What had Andrea so turned around had been the get together just two days before. It was just her and her three closest friends Megan, Sophia and Lea. Lea had suggested they play a game, but it was in fact a trick. They ended up stripped, tied, humiliated, stimulated and (to each of their surprise) loving it. When Lea admitted it was all her doing she left.

The three of them may have started pissed at Lea, but they got over it. They talked it out and decided to invite Lea back to tell them more. That night was a crash course in kink. Lea showed them about gags, collars, rope bondage, nipple clamps, floggers, more stuff than the three of them knew existed. They were positively enthralled with all the new information; staying up into the wee hours before calling it a night and going their separate ways the next morning.

Andrea hadn't talked to any of her best friends before her "real" party, none of them had talked with each other. Lea was giving them space, but the other three were simply otherwise engaged. They each took their time, going over everything that they had discovered about this new kind of sexuality and how it made them feel all warm and excited. Each of them had spent time looking around the web, looking at pictures, stories, and fingering themselves at the thoughts more than once. They had all been so preoccupied the party almost felt like a distraction rather than an event.

But now the party was over. The last group, which included Sophia's very drunk boyfriend, left in one of the very overcrowded cars. For the first time all night there was silence as the four friends were once again alone in the house. They all stood in the awkward circle around the front door before Sophia decided to break the silence.

"Did you have a good time?" She asked in a perfunctory manner.

"It was fun," Andrea responded with equally low enthusiasm. "I think I just wasn't much in the mood."

Megan nodded her head in agreement. "I think we all could say that."

Lea scanned her friends, trying to judge how to enter the conversation but not finding any clues. Not that she was very good at that to begin with. "About the other night," she started which made the three other pairs of eyes look up intently at her. "I'm sorry again for not being more honest, I know we've been over this but I was afraid to bring it up on my own. I haven't heard from any of you since then, how badly did I screw this up? "

"It's not like that," Andrea said in a reassuring tone. "I haven't called because I knew I'd see you here not 'cause I'm mad at any of you. Honestly I've barely stopped thinking about it, and I can't speak for them but I kind of liked it." Megan and Sophia nodded in agreement.

Lea was clearly relieved, letting out a long sigh as a smile went across her face. "Good, and I promise not to keep things from you any more. I'll be up front if I want to try anything."

"Well, maybe you don't have to tell us everything. Know our limits and keep to them sure, but I kind of like the not knowing." Andrea said with surprising frankness. "I did kind of like not knowing."

"I could do that, but we just need to talk about it first," Lea explained. "Cause really, to agree to something you need to know exactly what it is you're agreeing to."

"Well you ran through a bunch of stuff the other night, what more do you mean?" Andrea asked.

Lea pulled out her phone and began quickly typing. "Well, there's lists. I found one a while back, it has just about every aspect I've ever heard of. You go through them and mark 1-5 for how interested you are, unsure if you don't know, limit if you don't want it ever and checkboxes for if you've actually tried it. It should give you an idea on what kinds of things that are out there."

"There's a club in Philadelphia that has fetish get togethers and such. I haven't worked up to going alone but I think if we go together, and if you knew a little bit more about it, then it might not be so bad. Next week there's a major event they've been advertising, open to anyone. They're not actually even hosting it, there are simply helping to promote it. It's being thrown by a group that throw what they call 'FetFairs' in major cities all over the world; kind of a weekend long kinky adult fantasy world. It's a little pricey, and a lot vague about the details, but if half the things I've read online are true it should be well worth the price. I asked my brother if we can crash on his floor, I didn't say why, but he was fine with it and I know I wouldn't want to drive back in the wee hours of Saturday Morning." Lea said. Everyone agreed that it sounded interesting enough, and that they'll let her know some time during the week. Without much more fanfare, they each wished each other goodnight and Lea drove Megan and Sophia home.

****

The rest of the week, things seemed to return to normal. Andrea spent most of Sunday and Monday of the long weekend on schoolwork, the familiar routine of class began again Tuesday. But Andrea felt different. It might have just been that the pattern was disrupted by the absence of her parents. More likely though it was the twinge she got reading Lea's very long list. Whenever she would look up more than a few things at a time she couldn't help but think she was carrying some strong lingering feelings with her for the next few hours.

A few of the stuff she decided was clearly not for her, they just simply grossed her out rather than turned her on. She kept herself from mocking however might find some of these things sexy, because who was she to judge? A lot of people could say the same about some of her likes.

By Wednesday she was finished the list and certainly noticed a pattern. Just about anything to do with power exchange (a new term she learned when going through the list, she was learning so many), bondage, objectification and loss of control were all big turn ons. She clicked the send button, returning the results back to Lea along with the note "I'm in for the party this weekend."

For their parts, Sophia and Megan had been similarly distracted with what they were finding out. Megan finished Tuesday, answering most strongly in the loss of control, objectification, public exposure and a bit of bondage as well. Similar to Andrea but different ranking. Sophia was big on forceful loss of control, objectification ranked high, with a bit of bondage and pain ranked lower down. By Wednesday night they had each sent in their responses and confirmed that they did indeed want to go with Lea to the party.

After school that Thursday, they discussed the details. Lea shared everything she knew, that FetFairs were always very private, no cameras allowed and a non-disclosure agreement attendees had to sign meant details Lea found were always vague. It was an all-weekend affair and while Lea didn't expect to be at the fair the whole time, they all planned to say they would be at Andrea's still empty house all weekend just in case they changed their minds. There would be a somewhat large cover since they weren't "members," there would be merchants selling things, there would be other chances to spend money, it could apparently get rather expensive if you didn't care about that sort of thing or if you weren't careful. "It starts at 8 and it's a long drive, pick you up around 5:30?" Lea asked and received a sea of bobbing heads.

The drive was long, it was the dead of January so the sun had set very soon into the drive. The windy two lane road was always a pain at night with its sudden turns as it climbed and descended what felt like dozens of mountains to get to the Turnpike. The car was filled with concentration, quiet and anticipation. Conversation began to flow more freely as road gave way to highway, but even though they all knew exactly what they were driving to it seemed oddly forced to talk about it, so usually they taked about something else.

Several hours and a gas stop later, they pulled into the parking lot of what looked like an industrial park with a few very large warehouses. If it not for the very full parking lot and a slow but steady stream of taxis there would be nothing making it look particularly different from any of the other large warehouses and factories that surrounded the neighborhood. They parked and nervously began to walk towards what everyone else seemed to know was the door. Lea stopped walking just before the door and turned back to her friends, "Everyone still want to do this?"

Andrea kept walking letting out simply "of course, it's kind of a long way to turn back now." With that Andrea reached the door and held it for her friends. It opened into a small room with what looked like a receptionist and a single door the the left with what looked like a doorman.

"Members or non-members?" asked a professionally dressed woman sitting behind a desk.

"Non-members, all four of us," Lea answered.

The woman reached over and pulled out four copies of a form. "Sign here please, they are standard statements of conduct and non-disclosure. This is to be a safe, sane and sober environment. You must be at least 18 years of age and not currently on any illicit drugs. By signing this you understand that you will be bound by the club rules as posted, obey any and all posted signs or any instruction given by one of the members of the staff. By entering any play area you must have read and agree to the posted conditions for that area. You will respect the boundaries of all guests. If at any time they say the club safeword "pineapple" or in the event they can't speak hum "jingle bells" you will halt what you are doing. Similarly, if you need to call for help or stop any action being done to you can do so by saying or humming the club safeword. You will surrender all personal items before entering and all conversations, club activities or guest identities are to be kept secret. Failure to do so will result in bans on future attendance and/or restitution for any financial damages that may result from this breach. If you agree sign below and hand over one piece of ID for us to hold until you leave. Then enter through the door on the left." She rattled it all off with the kind of speed and boredom of someone who has repeated this one too many times already, it seemed as basic as simply saying hello. All four of course signed, even scanning over the one page document in vain to see if there was anything hidden.

The four walked over as a group to the door. "Is this your first time?" asked the incredibly large but surprisingly friendly sounding man at a podium by the side of the door. They nodded that it was. "So the way this will break down is there is a non-refundable cover of $70. There will also be an additional charge of $150 that you can use towards purchases of food, services and products. Consider it a spending minimum. This minimum amount is also non-refundable and any overflow will simply be charged to you when you leave. Are you together or paying separate?"

"Together," Lea said. The four had agreed earlier it was easier to just pay Lea back later, and she actually had the room to charge it. She handed him her credit card and after punching in her pin, he buzzed open the door leading to a long but narrow room. On the left was what looke to be a very large coatcheck, and on the right wall was lined with dozens of doors narrowly spaced. "Enter any of the doors on the right, individually, and only if it's light is green. Follow the instructions and enjoy the night."

The four split up as Andrea entered the first door on her right. It was very small and clinical looking, at the far end there was a person sitting on a wheeled stool. "Please strip down and place all cloths and personal items in the container" she joylessly said as she tapped on a plastic box with her pen, barely even looking up at Andrea who quickly did as she was told.

The cold woman picked up a device about the size of a brick with a small cone sticking out the top and walked over. "This is a blood tester, it will take a small sample and test it for any disease that might endanger other guests. The sample will not be kept or in any way stored after the test and your privacy will not be violated. It also injects a temporary hormone so that any sex you may have in the next 72 hours will not result in pregnancy. These are requirements to enter but require your additional consent. If you wish to decline you may do so but you will be asked to leave without refund as per the agreement you signed. " She said with the familiar tone of the receptionist, it was the voice of someone who knew the script by heart and was tired of saying it.

"That's fine," Andrea said. She felt only a small pinch as the machine was put against the inside of her forearm. "How long will this take?"

"It's a narrow test we're running, it should be no more than a minute. If you wouldn't mind please stepping onto the scanner?" The woman asked.

"I do have a DC card, it's been updated just last month," Andrea said as she reached for her purse.

"Well ours are a little more detailed than the standard format, it's club policy," the woman replied. "And please, relax all your muscles as it scans you." Andrea shrugged her shoulders and stepped onto the platform. She stood perfectly still as the scanners slowly ascended letting out a beep when it had finished.

"Do you consider yourself a dom, sub or switch?" The woman asked sliding her stool over to the only table on the other side of the small room, holding a small machine with a drawer. "Sub," Andrea answered. "And by what name would you like to go by?" she quickly followed up. "Um, I guess just Andrea."

The woman hit a green button on the screen and proceed to type in her name. She then retrieved from the drawer a green bracelet. "This bracelet will be your ID for the night," she explained holding out the bracelet. "It will monitor your vitals, it has your measurement information and it knows your current balance for when you wish to buy anything." As the bracelet was fitted around her right wrist and snapped shut she couldn't help but think how much it looked like a hospital nametag. Except where there should have been writing there was instead a very small screen showing her first name and current balance of +$150.00"

The woman darted back to the blood tester at the sound of a beep "OK, you're good to go. Your belongings will be returned to you as you leave, simply use your bracelet." As she said this, she placed a lid on the box and slid it through a slot where it disappeared down a conveyor of some sort hidden from view by the wall.

"Wait, I'm going out there naked?" Andrea said too late to do anything about her stuff disappearing.

"First time I assume?" Replied the woman, finally without the cold clinical tone she had used until then. "Look, this is how we make sure no one brings in cameras or drugs or anything else, everyone enters naked and gets the more detailed scan. It's not a typical DC scanner that only records the surface, we find internal measurements are needed for some things, and it's just a bonus that it prevents sneaking things in. There are plenty of places inside to buy outfits if you'd rather stay covered. And after all, this is a fetish club, if you weren't comfortable you shouldn't have come. You can always pick your stuff up and leave."

Andrea understood. "No, I get it. And if everyone has to I guess that makes it better."

"That's the spirit" she said encouragingly. "Now if you would be so kind, there may be people waiting," she said as she pointed to the door at the far side of the office.

Andrea opened the door and finally heard music, very typical club music but not nearly as overpowering as your usual club might have it. Unlike the other rooms, this one actually looked like the inside of a warehouse, the ceiling rose high above them and the floor was cold brushed cement. As far as she could tell the wall in front of her was simply a metal sheet to divide the club from the exam rooms. Along it were artsy black and white pictures, a big map, posters with what looked like a reminder of the rules, it was all rather busy as far as walls go. Soon she saw Sophia and Megan appear also naked except for a green bracelet a few doors past her own room. They waited and eventually Lea appeared with one hand doing it's best to cover his chest. What caught Andrea's eye was that Lea wore a red bracelet. "I guess it's to brand me as a sub," she thought.

Lea started speaking before she had even fully reached her friends "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind seeing what they're selling in terms of cloths. It looks like all the options are along the rest of this wall"

"Good a place as any to start I guess," Andrea said as they each glanced at the large map posted up of the club. "I have to say though, this being naked isn't bothering me as much as I thought it would when about every third person is too." Megan couldn't help but agree. With that the four followed along the wall to the rows of shops that had set up near the entrance.

****

Things had changed over the years, as they always do, but one of the bigger changes was the arrival of 3D printing and MAO manufacturing. It started in the early twenty-teens as more of a novelty, but it quickly became much more fast and detailed. A machine could melt into shape plastics and eventually metals. To mimic the printers, people began making machines that could cut and arrange other material to order. Wood could be cut, foam could be formed, fabric could be sown and so you had what began to be called Made At Order products. It made things it a lot cheaper to get exactly what you want, and meant vendors don't need to stock all the different sizes to make a sale. From a digital file, these machines could assemble anything they had the raw materials for and exactly to custom size.

As people began expecting fully custom objects, it became particularly common for clothes to now be made only to a customer's desires and body shape. It meant that most people keep a detailed digital scan of their bodies on what's called an DimensionCard, basically a plastic card with a chip inside holding the data. But DCs only scanned your outside, which is fine for sizing say pants but isn't a lot of help for sizing what might go inside. Which is why they've adopted the more detailed TBR or Total Body Rendering format. The shops at FetFair offered fully custom MAO clothing and toys printed to the dimensions stored as a TBR file on their bracelets.

But this weren't like any selection any of them had ever seen. Sure there was a stand with rather simple standard t-shirt/jeans kind of cloths, but that was the exception. There was one selling tight fitting clubwear, another selling nothing but costumes like you'd see for halloween, sexy maid, sexy nurse and the like. Another selling only metal things, from collars to full outfits to toys, all sized to order of course. There was a more "traditional" lingerie dealer, the kind of lacey stuff you might find littering the dressing room of a burlesque show. But what nearly made Lea stop dead was when she came across a booth selling and smelling of leather.