Author: Thinking Horndog
Title: Second Best
Part: 088
Universe: Second Best
Summary: A full-length novel that follows several young couples and their
families through the period immediately preceding their Senior Prom.
Keywords: nosex

Keywords for full story:  F-solo, Ff-inc, M+F Ffm MF mf oral anal bd D/s Mg-
inc Fm-inc mm mmf rom MF-reluc

Chapter 88
The confrontation over housing

      Merry was the epitome of poise and grace as she admitted the group at
Nellis', even though she was nude.  "Helen, Dear, how nice to see you!  And,
from the company you keep and your resemblance to Bobby, I suspect that you
are Big Al McCormick! Won't you come in?" she asked, stepping back to let
everyone through the door.

      "Mmm, yes," Helen watched Al out of the corner of his eye as he took
in Merry's surprising lack of wardrobe, but he recovered quickly, offering
his hand. "Pleased to meet you."

      Merry nodded and greeted the younger pair, neither of which bothered
to blink at her display. "Hello, Mandi, hello Bobby.  Dina's upstairs, Bobby
- I'm sure she'll be happy to see you.  Try to keep her out of trouble, will
you?"

      Helen laughed, "That's like asking the wolf to guard the henhouse!"
she exclaimed.

      "Not necessarily," replied Merry, smiling, "Dina's no simple hen!"
Turning to Mandi, she continued, "Rick's wearing a hole in the kitchen
floor, pacing.  See what you can do with him, won't you, Dear?"

      "Sure, Mum," Mandi replied, provoking raised eyebrows from her mother
and the elder McCormick, "but I don't know how much I'll be able to
accomplish - I'm just as bad off!"

      Merry smiled fondly, and turned to Helen as Mandi swept out, "Such a
sweet girl!  You have done very well with her!  I wish I could say the same
about Dina.  She isn't bad, exactly - but she's incredibly strong willed,
and keeping her reined in is a trial.  Could I offer you refreshments?
Beer, wine?  We have a limited selection of other spirits..." she added as
she led them toward the den.

      Al glanced at Helen, still somewhat unnerved by Merry's poise, "A beer
might be nice."

      Helen responded to Merry's sally, "Well, I have Denise to keep my head
from swelling.  Up until VERY recently, she had Dina outrun, despite the
fact that they are best friends.  The jury's still out, but I think that
maybe the combination of her sister's example and her new boyfriend may put
her REALLY wild period to bed.  Um, wine?"

      "White, or red?" Merry asked.

      "White."

      "Master, may I present Helen Giannelli and Al McCormick?" Merry made
the introductions, to Robert, who had risen on their den entry.  "My Master,
Robert Nellis."

      "Good evening.  Merry, I, too, will have white." Robert announced.

      "Merry?" Helen blinked. "I thought..."

      Merry smiled gently, "My given name is Marilyn, but my Master has
chosen to bestow Merry upon me as a slave name.  Please feel free to use it
when you are among others who know of my status - it saves me a certain
amount of confusion."  She swayed out.

      Al, being a male human in relatively functional condition, noticed,
and Helen noticed the notice - but he didn't make a fool of himself, and
returned his attention to Robert almost immediately.  "You have a somewhat
different living arrangement, here," he observed.

      "Yes, well, we're still breaking it in," Robert replied, "Please, make
yourselves comfortable."

      "Oh?" Al replied, and Helen, too, focused her attention on Robert,
"Then you haven't been doing this long?  Merry seems very comfortable with
her position.  I assumed that it had been going on for a while..."

      "Actually," Robert replied, "it's only been a week or two - we're
still just settling in.  Merry is just naturally gifted at the slave arts."

      "Really?  It's been that short a time?" Helen asked, fascinated.

      Robert grinned, and deftly put a torpedo in the water, "Yes, actually,
it was Mandi that provided the impetus."

      "Sorry?"  Helen blinked, confused.

      "Well, the whole thing started 'that weekend'..." Robert continued.

      "What weekend?" Al asked, totally mystified.

      "The weekend that Rick made a woman of me, taking my virginity, as
well as my heart!" Mandi replied, following Merry in - nude - carrying a
wine glass that she handed her mother, then went to sit on the couch in
front of Rick, who had entered quietly behind them.  Merry provided a
bemused Al with his beer, then knelt and presented Robert with a large glass
of white wine, which he took while caressing her cheek.

      Helen was aghast! "Mandi! What..."

      "Merry is first among slaves here, Momma, but I AM a slave, and you
know it!  If Merry goes nude, then I go nude..." Mandi cut off the bluster.

      "Do ALL the women in this house go nude?" Al asked.

      Robert shook his head, "Only the slaves.  Dina is a free woman -
frankly I cannot envision her as a slave - and does as she pleases in this
area.  I didn't direct Mandi to do this, although I DO approve; I believe
that Rick directed it, but that Mandi agrees with the theory behind it."
Mandi nodded.

      Robert looked around, gathering everyone's eyes. "Obviously, we're
pulling no punches, here.  I offered to allow Merry clothing this evening,
but she demurred, feeling it would be misrepresentation.  Mandi did what she
did without any direction from either Rick or myself.  This is the way it is
around here, normally, since the change.  I can explain it, but I won't
apologize for it."

      "It's not a whole lot different from the way we dress at home, Momma -
open housecoats are more of a frame than a cover..." Mandi interjected.

      "Dear, what I do is for comfort.  This is - something else..."Helen
responded.

      "What this is is making my master happy!  He enjoys seeing me nude!
I'm not on the street..." Mandi erupted.

      "I started it," Robert interposed himself between mother and daughter,
"for just the reason Mandi indicated: I enjoy seeing Merry nude.  There is
also a certain component of humiliation that reminds Merry of her status,
something that isn't necessary to Mandi and Rick, as I understand it.  I
repeat that Mandi does NOT do this at my direction - and she need not, for
me..."

      Rick sighed, and entered the fray, "But she MUST for me.  She is my
slave.  My mother is a slave, but she is FIRST in this house!  MY slave will
NOT hold herself above Merry!"

      Mandi gave vent to her anger. "This uproar over nudity is crap,
anyway!  It has NO BEARING over whether I live here or not, because I AM
GOING TO DO IT ANY TIME I AM HERE, ANYWAY!"

      Helen eyed her daughter and said mildly, "I could forbid..."

      "Mother, you are NOT that stupid.  How quickly do you want to see me
married?  Next week?  If you attempt to separate me from Rick, there will be
Hell to pay!"

      Everyone in the room blinked.  Helen looked as if she had been
slapped.  Quiet Mandi had suddenly grown a long set of fangs!  Rick gave
voice to the collective thought, "Where in the Hell did that come from?
Apologize to your mother - we don't need an armed conflict, here..."

      "I'm sorry, Momma.  But you need to know that threats like that
endanger OUR relationship, both because I will NOT bend to them and because
I will think less of you for trying." Mandi didn't back up far.

      Al felt he should interject something here, "Helen, your daughter just
crashed through one of the last barriers on the way to adulthood.  Step back
and look at it, and don't take it personally."

      Helen took a breath and grinned ruefully, "It WAS a pretty stupid
thing to say, wasn't it?  I'm sorry, Dear - consider the comment withdrawn."

      Mandi's eyes got wet, and she began to shake, backing into Rick's
embrace. "Me, too, Momma.  Let's try not to have to do that again!"

      Al dropped the icebreaker: "You can run around nekkid for me... I'll
try to bear up..."

      "Shut up, Al, or you won't have to worry about it!" Helen cut him off,
but her good-natured tone belied the words, and Al got a chuckle as he
pretended to zip his lips closed.  Helen turned to Merry and continued, "You
were going to tell us about how you came to be in this relationship?"

      Robert took up the tale, "When Rick came home that day, we undertook
to caution him about safe sex and such, only to discover that we were pretty
inept.  Merry, in particular, had been out of the business of being a
provider for quite some time."

      Merry had taken her regular position, kneeling on a pillow before
Robert's chair.  She looked up at Robert, got the nod, and continued, "In
the free-for-all that followed, I discovered that my mother had been giving
Dina better advice that she ever did for me!  In the process, a couple of
items of information about my personality were revealed that had previously
been secrets: I'm not very good at defining my own behavioral standards.
Robert knew this instinctively - after all, I'd been screwing up for years -
but what he DIDN'T know was that I really wanted him to define - and enforce
- those standards!"

      "I don't think I understand," murmured Helen, fascinated.

      "Okay, let's try it like this:  You're experienced with Rick.  You
know that when he hears some rule of morality, he evaluates it and either
applies it, modifies it, or tosses it as bullshit.  Well, I don't.  I can't
seem to make sense of such things - they're too complicated.  So I wander
all over the map, or settle for the least common denominator in an effort to
win everyone's approval.  I couldn't define rules for my behavior, even in
terms of what others thought.  For sexual mores, I settled on the most
restrictive Mrs. Grundy-type rules you ever heard, because I figured I was
the safest with the most people that way.  In other ways, I tried to live up
to the thoroughly modern stereotype of the self-reliant career woman.  And I
hated it, and I hated ME because I had to spend all of my time living up to
other people's standards!"

      Robert took over, "I don't want to bore you with amateur psychology.
The thing is, Merry wants to be given tough rules and then held to them.
She equates this structure with love - if I love her, I'll keep her in line.
Her current moral code is simple - if I want something from her, doing it is
right, and not doing it is wrong, and will get her punished!"

      Helen was unconvinced. "And you put up with this?"

      "Yes!" Merry declaimed, eyes dancing, "I asked for it!  It makes me
incredibly happy!  I don't ever have to wonder what anybody thinks about me
- my master is responsible for everything I say or do!"

      "I was reluctant," Robert related, "I don't consider myself to be the
dictatorial type.  But once we got started, Merry kept voluntarily placing
herself under the whip!"

      "Do you beat her?" Helen asked.

      "I have," Robert replied, "Not often.  Humiliation works as a
punishment, and I try to be inventive.  But it was necessary at one point to
establish control and respect."  Merry nodded, wide-eyed.

      Al spoke up, "What does this mean for Mandi?"

      Robert shook his head, "Little or nothing.  Mandi's slavery is an
altogether different thing than Merry's - it's an expression of her love for
Rick.  From what I can tell, she doesn't require correction, and Rick has
neither need nor interest in correcting her - she's bound only by her
promise to Rick."

      "Sometimes, I wish he would," Mandi pouted.  Rick bit her on the neck.

      "And you?" Helen asked.

      "Me?" Robert replied, "I don't enter into it - she's Rick's.  Mandi,
why don't you provide your definition of our relationship?"

      Mandi nodded.  "Rick's father is deserving of the respect and
obedience due any adult, modified by the fact that Rick must answer to him -
but without any privileges of ownership."

      "Meaning...?" Al asked.

      "No sex - without Rick's expressed permission." Mandi amplified.

      "Why couldn't you have just left it at 'no sex'?" Helen wondered
aloud.

      "Because I would have misled you by omitting the possibility," Mandi
replied.  "I'm a slave.  I obey my master.  Such things are possible, and to
gloss over them is to lie!"  She grimaced, "There are days when I think
about asking Rick to arrange it, just to put it behind us!  Everybody's so
concerned over such silliness!"

      Helen looked at Robert, who shrugged, stating, "Anything I said at
this juncture wouldn't be worth two cents."

      "Okay, so what's your position on this living together thing?" Helen
asked.

      "Robert shrugged, "Initially, I was against it.  I asked Merry, and
initially, she was against it.  But the fact is, they REALLY want to be
together.  Mandi is a sweet girl, who goes out of her way to be a help to
Merry... She's a joy to have around!  Ultimately, I don't have any serious
issues with it.  Neither does Merry.  As to the environment, well, she wants
to be a slave.  It's got to be easier where there's another!"

      "And concerns that she might be taken advantage of?" Helen prompted.

      "...Are as real as they would be anywhere else, but no more so!"
Robert replied. "There are times when I echo Mandi's sentiment - let's just
do it and get it behind us; the potential drives people nuts!  Look, you're
both welcome here any time - please arrive unannounced!  The worst that can
happen is that you'll find two or more of us having sex!"

      "That's it, Pop!  Kick 'em in the shins!" Dina declaimed from the
doorway, where she was leaning back against Bobby, whose hands appeared only
as oddly shaped lumps covering her breasts under her blouse. "Auntie!
C'mon!  Don't you feel a little foolish, going this far?  After all, I can't
remember being at your house lately when SOMETHING interesting didn't
happen..."  Blackmail hung in the air.

      Rick intervened, "Once again, we're wasting time with the fascinating,
but irrelevant.  Pop is no more likely to put the moves on Mandi than Dina
is to put them on Mr. McCormick..."

      Dina immediately began to vamp. "Hey there, Big Boy," she purred, "Why
don't you come up and...see me, sometime..." batting her eyes at Al.

      "...Or maybe less!" Rick chuckled.  "Hey, I've got an idea!  We'll
swap Mandi for Dina!  You guys will be so busy worrying what THAT pair" he
waved at Bobby and Dina "is doing and where, that little things like Pop
molesting Mandi will fall by the wayside!" There was a general chuckle.

      "Well, maybe you're right," Helen replied, shrugging.  To her credit,
she totally ignored Dina's implied threat to reveal recent goings on at her
place, evaluating the question on it's own merits.  "What are we going to do
about schooling?  Does she need to pay anything?"

      "Huh?  Well, school has yet to be resolved for anyone, beyond high
school," Robert replied.  "That will need considerable work, in any case.
As for rent - no, I think not.  You might want to keep her in pocket money,
though."

      Helen mused, "Well, I'm not sure yet, but you're right - we've been
getting bogged down in all of the interesting side issues, instead of
looking at the idea based on it's own merits."  She looked at her daughter
and boyfriend and murmured, "Give me a couple of days."  Addressing Robert
and Merry, she continued, "As long as you two don't seem to mind, though, I
find that I'm still fascinated by those side issues.  Can we talk about them
some more?"

      Robert shrugged, "Sure.  Anyone need anything?  More wine?  Another
beer?"

      Al nodded, and Merry leaped up - but Mandi forestalled her. "I've got
it, Mum - you're the subject of the conversation."  She swept out.