Message-ID: <54182asstr$1152742204@assm.asstr.org>
From: "Dark Pen" <darkpen@gmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2006 23:44:05 +0000 (UTC)
User-Agent: G2/0.2
Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com
Injection-Info: h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com; posting-host=71.230.171.111;
   posting-account=2cwyaA0AAADc0OLrUByH7_-wFFgkAQNb
Subject: {ASSM} Avatar - Book 2 Chapter 22 (M/Ff BDSM ws SciFi)
Lines: 621
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:10:04 -0400
Path: assm.asstr.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ AVATAR, BOOK 1 YOU WILL BE TOTALLY LOST!

This is Avatar: Establishment, Book 2 and it picks up right where the
first one left off.

This is a work of fiction.  If you are under whatever arbitrary age
your elected officials have decided to choose for viewing adult
material, understand that you will be breaking the law if you read
this.  If you get caught,  I don't want to get blamed because your
parents can't keep track of you.

Please don't try this stuff at home (or anywhere else, for that
matter).  Some of it could be very dangerous.  If you have a hard time
telling fantasy from reality, please don't read any of my writings and
go seek medical help.

If you are a religious fanatic of any flavor and you hate my stuff,
please note that you shouldn't be here to begin with - no one forced
you here.  If you are offended by sexual liturature (such as it is)
then go visit somewhere else.

This story may not be posted on any pay site.  It may not be archived
without permission from the author and if it's reposted, this
disclaimer must remain with it.  Copyright c 2005 Dark Pen.

~Dark Pen~
www.asstr.org/~DarkPen
Live Journal for Comments:
http://www.livejournal.com/~darkpen/

Avatar 2

Chapter 22

	It was an unseasonably hot day, and most of the folks at the mansion
were playing outside in the pool.  There was an air of subdued
expectation amongst the Circle as they waited for this coming Tuesday,
when they would be joined by two new members.  Both Bill and Joan, who
had actually spent some time talking to each other about this, were
also excited.

	Tina got out of the pool, her nude body glistening with the water.
She stretched, displaying her body, then shrieked as Eric grabbed her
from behind.  She twisted around and kissed him, lightly stroking his
cock as she did.  They broke the kiss, and he let her go dry off.

	Ken watched the play from behind his sunglasses and smiled.  He could
feel that there was something slightly different about Tina lately.
Since school had started, in fact, there had been something slightly...
off about her.  He couldn't put his finger on what it was, and Lea's
only response when he'd asked Her if the teen was okay, was a slight
smile.  Since She had acknowledged his comment but hadn't seemed
worried, Ken was reassured.  Somewhat.  The Goddess liked Her little
surprises.

	A sharp exclamation drew his attention back to the girl.

	"What?" Tina was saying with a confused expression on her face.
"But Sally, I remember using it over the summer!"

	"Sweetie, we've never had one of those," said Sally.  "I guess
we could get one, if you want."

	Tina frowned, and continued to wring out her hair.

	"No... that's alright," she said.  "But, I swear I thought we
had one."

	The girl shrugged and headed into the kitchen.

	"What was that all about?" asked Ken, after he had gotten up and
walked over to Sally.

	Christine squealed with delight as he arrived, and quickly grasped
Ken's leg.  He smiled and picked up the naked little girl, blowing a
raspberry on her tummy.  She laughed loudly and grabbed a handful of
his hair.  Grinning, he gently pried the child from his head, and set
her on the ground again, where she immediately turned to her mother and
started sucking on her knee.  Sally smiled, and picked the toddler up.

	"Tina wanted some soft ice cream from our soft ice cream machine,"
said Sally.

	Ken frowned.  "We don't have a soft ice cream machine."

	"I know," replied Sally, seating Christine on her lap,  "but
Tina was convinced that we did."  Sally paused, then said, "Has she
seemed a little off to you lately?"

	Ken nodded.  "But when I asked Lea about it, she just smiled."

	"Hmm," said Sally.  "I wonder what that means."

	"I have no idea," replied Ken, "but I doubt the Goddess would
let her come to harm."

	"True," said Sally, "but She does like Her little secrets."

	"Oh yes," smiled Ken.  "I'm sure we'll find out what it's all
about.  Eventually.  In the mean time, it looks like Joan is more than
ready to join us.  Have you talked to her about marriage?"

	"Not yet," replied Sally.  Then she shrugged.  "I'm sure the
subject'll come up once she's joined the Circle.  But that isn't really
what's important."

	"True," said Ken, "but Joan really needs to belong.  It might
not occur to her to ask about it, even though she knows about Ari, Jane
and I.  And you know Joan; she might not ask about it, just because she
doesn't want to push."

	Sally looked over at Joan and Eric, who had just closed his eyes with
delight as the woman slowly slid his hard cock into her body.  Sally
smiled, her own nipples hardening as she watched her lovers.

	"I can take Christine for a while, if you'd like to join them,"
Ken offered.

	Sally's eyebrows went up.  She knew Ken wasn't a person who went out
of his way to play with small children.  Although, she had to admit,
Christine's face always had a bright smile on it when 'Uncle Kenny' was
playing with her.

	"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked.

	"Of course not," he said holding out his hands

	Once turned over to Ken, Christine began cooing and giggling, so Sally
sauntered over to where Joan was riding Eric in reverse-cowgirl
position and pushed the woman back onto his chest.  Then she applied
her tongue to where the pair was joined and they groaned
appreciatively.  Eric's fingers tightly closed on Joan's hard nipples,
bringing a deep moan from her and signaling her orgasm.

	Ken watched and smiled as he floated Christine carefully in the water.
 He wondered what would happen at the mansion when more children
started to arrive, as they surely would.  He had no intention of hiding
the nudist lifestyle around here, but he knew that they would have to
be more circumspect with their sexual activities.  Again he thought of
adding more room to the mansion, expanding the 'family wing' and adding
a 'children's wing'.  Well, it'd be a while before he had to worry
about Christine, but planning ahead couldn't hurt.  He was proud of the
sexual freedom at the mansion, but he was sure that kids shouldn't be
exposed to certain things until they were ready.  He also got the
feeling that Lea could help them out with this issue.

	Tina leaned against the kitchen counter.  She was getting a little
scared, wondering if she was going nuts.  She was sure, absolutely
certain, that they had an ice cream machine here.  She remembered using
it!  Of course, she was equally sure that Sally wasn't lying to her.
What would be the point of that?

	Her thoughts drifted back to the girl she'd bumped into the other day.
 For some reason, that girl had been in the back of her thoughts ever
since then -- which, Tina had to admit, was odd.  There were lots of
cute students at school, and she'd been having fun in boring classes
giving them fantasies; but that girl wasn't in any of her classes.

	Tina ate another spoonful of ice cream, letting it melt on her tongue.
 She could almost remember it, almost remember having someone tied to
one of the lounges while she licked ice cream off her body.  Tina felt
her pussy getting wet and her nipples harden, as she remembered what
she'd done to the girl.

	Her eyes opened wide.  Remembered what she'd done?  She'd never done
anything like that with anyone, how the hell could she 'remember' it?
This was getting frustrating... and scary.

	"Don't worry, love," came Lea's voice.

	Tina snapped her head around to look for Lea, but the Goddess wasn't
actually in the room with her.

	"How can I not worry?" asked Tina out loud. "I'm going crazy!"

	"No, you're not," said Lea.  "Have patience."

	While she wasn't exactly comforted, Tina's anxiety was eased.  If her
Goddess was aware of how she was feeling and She wasn't worried, Tina
shouldn't be either.  'Shouldn't' being the key word in that sentence.


	She sighed and looked out the window.

	Sally was laying down on a lounge, and Eric was pounding into her
body.  Joan was sitting on her face, while Eric played with her
nipples, and Tina felt her own body responding to them.  Perhaps a
little play would get her mind off things she 'shouldn't' be worrying
about.  For some reason, her Domme side was rearing its head, and as
Arianwen walked by outside, she wondered if perhaps her sister would be
interested in a little fun...


	++++++


	By Monday, Tina had forgotten the ice cream incident -- that is, until
she hit the library.  The book that she was looking for, a college text
on String Theory, was out on loan.  That the school had it at all was
amazing, but the fact that someone had it out was astonishing.

	"Who has it?" asked Tina in a puzzled voice.

	"A young lady named Cindy," replied the woman.  "Really, she's
the one that requested it at the end of last year.  I managed to
convince the school to buy it, and it came in over the summer.  I must
say, I'm a bit surprised that even one high school student would want
the book, let alone two.  It's a master's-level course book.  Are you
doing a report or something?"

	"Or something," nodded Tina.  "Could you point her out to me?"

	"Well, I don't see her, so she's probably off in a corner
somewhere," was the reply.  "She's a bit shorter than you are, has
very black hair, and a lip piercing."

	Tina gathered from the tone of the woman's voice that this Cindy
person wasn't particularly sociable.  Either that or the woman didn't
think much of kids with piercings.  Whatever.

	It didn't take long to find the girl, who was crouched over the large
book with pieces of note paper littering the table.  Tina caught a
glimpse of what was on some of the paper before her eyes were drawn to
girl.  The papers were covered with what looked to be very complex
calculations.

	"Uh, hi," said Tina.

	The girl jumped and spun around, her gray eyes wide.

	"What?" she said sharply.

	"Um... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you, but I'd heard they
had that book here, and I was wondering when I might be able to get a
look at it?"

	The girl's skin was very pale, and she actually looked quite goth.
Black nails, black eye shadow and very dark lipstick made her look a
bit forbidding.  From the look on her face, it was clear she wasn't
happy to be disturbed, but Tina began to get an odd feeling in her
chest.  A feeling that she couldn't quite understand.

	She was a pretty new Priestess.  But then, they all were new at this.
Still, she'd been told by Ken that she might meet people who could be
Circle, and that, if they fit in other ways, she should cultivate
relationships with those people.  Tina wondered if this feeling she was
getting meant that this girl had Circle potential.  Funny though, it
was a feeling that Tina associated with getting an instant crush on
someone...

	"Are... are you sure this is the book you were looking for?" asked
the girl in a hesitant voice.  "It's... not really used in any of the
classes here."

	She sounded like she was apologizing for something.

	"Uh, yeah, I know," replied Tina.  "I was thinking of buying it,
but I wanted to look at it first."

	"Sure, sure," said the girl, "just take it back up to the front
when you're finished."

	She quickly gathered up her notes, and despite Tina's protests,
scurried off, leaving Tina more than a little surprised by her actions.

	Inexperienced as Tina was, she was still a Priestess.  And that part
of her knew beyond a doubt that the girl had had a very strong sexual
response to Tina.  Since Tina had excellent control over the effect her
body could have on someone, she knew the girl wasn't reacting to that.
She wished that the girl -- Cindy -- had stayed just a little longer,
since it would have been interesting to look into her sexual past.

	Tina picked up the book and began to leaf through it, finding a whole
page of notes that Cindy had left.  They were quite interesting, but
Tina discovered, much to her embarrassment, that she couldn't follow
some of the math.  Tina was not used to being puzzled by math.  It was
her friend, and she was very, very good with it.  Frowning, she set to
work trying to unravel the equations.

	+++++

	Tuesday night was the Mabon Celebration, and it was a fine evening.
The ritual was held with the Circle folk and others that were becoming
regulars.  In addition to Sandy and Ellen and Kim, Karen had been able
to join them.  Even though the young teen was ostensibly Tina's friend,
it was really Sandy that she spent most of her time with.  Not that she
didn't spend 'quality' time with other people who hung at the mansion,
but she and Sandy were definitely an 'item'.  Karen was getting
aggressive with her submissiveness (which was an odd -- but accurate --
way to put it) to Sandy.  Ken and the rest of the Circle kept a close
eye on the girl to make sure she wasn't getting carried away, but she
wasn't.  She was just finding her place with Sandy, who was also
finding her way to being more dominant with Karen.  Oddly, she was
rarely a dominant with others in the Circle.

	Karen hadn't attended a ritual where someone was being inducted into
the Circle.  She was aware of what that meant, if only vaguely, but
tonight she watched with keen interest as first Joan, then Bill were
called to Ken toward the end of the ritual.  Ken was starting to get
less self-conscious about inducting someone into the Circle.

	"There are two who wish to join the Circle tonight," he stated.
"Please, come here."

	Bill and Joan walked toward him.  Genie was standing on one side of
Ken, and Eric and Sally were standing on the other.

	"Joan," he said, "you have said that you want to join with us, to
become a Priestess of the Circle.  Is this still your wish?"

	"Yes, Ken," Joan said in a clear voice.  "I come to you, the High
Priest, and ask to be allowed to serve Lea."

	"Bill," he said, "you have said that you want to join with us, to
become a Priest of the Circle.  Is this still your wish?"

	"It is," said Bill in a voice somewhat less steady than Joan's had
been.  Even so, his conviction shone through.  "I come to you, the
High Priest, and ask to be allowed to serve Lea."

	Annette, Ari, Tina and Jane were now standing behind Joan and Bill.  A
green circle tinged with just a thread of white appeared, encompassing
all those who served the Goddess.  Everyone felt Her power and Her
presence, and Ken smiled.

	"Then come to us, and welcome to the Circle," he said holding out
his hands.

	He embraced Joan and gave her a deep kiss.  He also drew Bill into a
close hug, then kissed him on each cheek, much as many Europeans do in
greeting.

	Their significant others however, were far more exuberant, and greeted
them with kisses and hugs.  It took a few minutes to greet the
newcomers, but finally it was done.  The other folks had drawn a bit
into the background, watching happily as Joan and Bill were brought
into the Circle.  Karen kept asking Sandy questions, and Sandy started
to realize that she only had a few of the answers.  When it was over,
Ken opened the ritual circle, and they retired to the mansion to change
for dinner.

	Since it was Mabon, each person had been encouraged to bring something
fine to dress in.  While the women rarely wore much in the way of
clothing, they certainly had many elegant things to choose from.  Eric,
Gary and Ken wore tuxedos, as did Bill, who had received his as a gift
from them.  Ken, Tina and Ari helped Sally bring out the huge feast
she'd spent the day cooking, and they had an excellent dinner.

	Usually ritual was held at the full moon, but this one had been held
at sundown.  By midnight, all those elegant clothes were hanging on
chairs or were back in closets, and folks had spread out according to
their inclinations with those they wanted to make love with.  The
Circle somehow ended up in the playroom, although there was only very
light bondage play that evening.

	"So," smiled Arianwen as she walked up to Bill, "you're the new
Priest in town."

	Genie giggled, and Bill looked at the girl warily.  One never really
knew what Ari (or Tina, for that matter) was up to.

	"Would you be interested in showing a Priestess a good time?"
smiled the teen, brushing her hard nipples against his arm.

	Bill smiled and looked at Genie.  "Hmmm, what do you think?  She's
kinda small, but we might be able to figure out something to do with
her."

	Ari gave a mock pout, but was secretly pleased that Bill would tease
her that way.  While he commonly shared jokes about this and that, the
only person he teased, even a little, was Genie.

	"Yes," she purred, "that's me.  All little and inexperienced.
Do you think you could help me out?"

	Bill laughed out loud at that comment, remembering clearly how Ari had
ruthlessly seduced him.  She shrieked as he scooped her up in his arms
and carried her over to a table.

	"Oh yes, little girl, I'm sure we can think of all kinds of
experiences to give you," he said.

	It wasn't long before he had his cock buried deep in her ass, while
Genie was in a sixty-nine position having her pussy expertly eaten by
Ari.  She was returning the favor, and Bill was marveling at how
everything seemed so crystal clear tonight.  Usually, he was so far
gone with intense lust that he couldn't seem to focus on much beyond
the giving and receiving of pleasure.  Tonight though, it seemed as if
a veil had been lifted, and he was able to not only give and receive
that pleasure, but sense and direct the sexual energy in the air.  It
was an amazing experience, for sure.

	He knew what his wife-to-be liked, and was sure to give it to her,
pulling out of Ari's back hole and sliding his cock deep into Genie's
throat.  She groaned and came, her saliva spilling out of her mouth as
he fucked it.  He pulled out and pushed back into Ari's tight ass, as
Genie went back to sucking the delicious pussy underneath her.  Bill
did this several times, until he finally groaned and unloaded into
Ari's ass.  As soon as he pulled out, Genie was sucking him clean while
rubbing Ari's clit.  Genie finished with him and began rimming and
tongue-fucking Ari, while Bill went to her head and sunk his hardening
cock into the teen's throat.

	Yup.  He was going to really like being a Priest.  Especially since he
now knew about some of the benefits -- like not having to worry about
catching a disease or getting someone pregnant.

	Joan, meanwhile, was with Eric, Ken and Sally.  They were sitting on
the floor on pillows and Joan was riding Ken reverse cowgirl while
Sally did the same with Eric.  Jane was there too, but she was tightly
tied in a bow.  Basically, her elbows had been tied together behind
her, and a spreader bar had been tied between her knees.  Then, she'd
been arched back with her wrists tied to the spreader bar so her feet
were almost resting on her shoulders.  It was a very strenuous
position, so naturally she loved it.  Sally and, surprisingly, Joan
helped their Sister out by flicking her with short whips as the took
their own pleasure from the cocks underneath them.  Sally was leaving
welts all over Jane's the tops of Jane's breasts, while Joan flicked
the whip against the sensitive inner thighs and wide spread sex.

	Ken was surprised by Joan's willingness to whip Jane.  She'd always
been a bit on the submissive side, and certainly not comfortable with
hitting someone.  But all the Circle had taken turns helping Bill and
Joan with the changes in their minds and bodies, as they approached the
time when they would become Circle.  Joan could clearly feel the
pleasure that the pain was causing Jane, so she was now far more
willing to provide it than she would have been otherwise.  She even (to
Sally's surprise) cracked the whip against one of Sally's breasts,
causing her to groan and shudder with a sudden orgasm.  Joan herself
preferred to be either bound-and-teased or hand-spanked, as the Circle
had come to realize.  She was subtle about it when she submitted, and
Ken knew that Eric found it very arousing.  So did he for, that matter.

	All in all, the night was very satisfactory; even for Tina, who found
herself thinking of the girl Cindy at odd times during the evening.  It
was late that night before the people in the mansion retired to sleep.

 	+++++

	Wednesday after school, Tina, who had been unable to work through
several of the calculations on the page she'd found, finally brought it
to Genie.

	"Whoa," said Genie after eyeballing it for a moment.  "This is
pretty complex stuff.  What are you working on?"

	"Actually, I'm not," replied Tina.  "I met this girl at school,
and she left this sheet in one of the library books."

	"Do you know what she was working on?"

	"Well, the book's on String Theory, so maybe it has something to do
with that," said Tina.

	"String Theory," said Genie in a neutral voice.

	"Yeah, you know, Life, the Universe and Everything?  Anyway, there
were a couple of these transformations that I just don't understand.
Could you help?"

	Genie was very good with math, although cryptology was more her
interest.  This stuff was very, very advanced, especially for a high
school student.

	"I don't know this off the top of my head," she replied.  "Can I
get a copy, so you can return this to her?  She's probably looking for
it."

	"Sure," replied Tina, "I would have already returned it to her,
but I can never find her.  It's like she's a ghost or something.  And I
always get these weird feelings when I'm around her."

	"Sounds like you have a crush on someone," grinned Genie.

	"I don't see how," said Tina. "I haven't said more than a dozen
words to her."

	"Love at first sight, then," said Genie, her smile widening.
"C'mon, let's go copy this."

	It wasn't until that Friday that Tina managed to meet up with Cindy
again.  She was hanging out with some of the rougher crowd, which
surprised Tina more than a little.  Still, she wasn't interested in
judging, so she walked up to the other girl and handed her the paper.

	"Hi, uh, Cindy?" she said.  "You left this in the library the
other day."

	Cindy immediately looked nervous.

	"You sure you got the right person?"

	Tina was surprised, to say the least.

	"Well, it was in the book you left there..."

	The girl looked like she wanted to take it, but was afraid to for some
reason.  How odd.

	"Okay, well if it isn't yours, that's fine," Tina said, somewhat
frustrated.  "I was hoping you could explain some of this stuff to
me.  There were a few of these equations that I couldn't figure out."

	Cindy's eyes widened, and she seemed to forget her nervousness.

	"Only a few?" she asked.

	"Yeah," replied Tina.  "Three, to be exact.  A friend of mine
solved one of them last night, so I guess there's only these last two.
Anyway, I'm not too hard to find, if you figure out who this belongs
to."

	"Hey, baby," said one of the larger guys; a senior, judging by the
looks of him. "I'm pretty easy to find, too.  Why don't we go find
each other?"

	Tina wasn't attracted to the guy in the least.  In fact, at school,
she'd managed to keep her body completely under control -- at least as
far as the pheromones and aphrodisiacs she produced.  However, she
wasn't going to change what she looked like, and she was very
good-looking.

	"No, thanks," she said brightly, as she started to walk off.
"I'm not _that_ lost."

	The rest of the group started laughing, and even Cindy gave a little
smile.  Tina felt her heart rate increase when she saw that smile, and
wished she could understand just what the hell was going on.

	+++++

	It was slightly chilly in the Garden, and very late.  Ken was walking
there, feeling somewhat restless.

	"Samhain will be here soon," said Lea, appearing near him.

	Her presence always caused his heart to race and his body to react,
but at least he was slowly beginning to be able to control himself
around Her.

	"Yes," he replied.  "Is there something special about that?"

	"Yes, there is," She replied.  "Keep the ritual short.
Afterwards, when it is time, I will call you to the Garden."

	"Of course, Lady," he smiled.

	+++++

	Ken hit the mat hard, but didn't get the wind knocked out of him.  How
Sensei managed to blindside him so often was just unbelievable.  Even
when Ken extended his senses, he was unable to get a 'grip' (so to
speak) on the older man.

	"You think too much," smiled the man, as he helped Ken to his
feet.  "Thinking is good, but sometimes it is not enough.  You must
just act."

	"Yes," replied Ken, "but when I just act, you tell me instinct
isn't enough."

	"Correct," smiled the man.

	Ken shook his head, realizing that he wasn't going to get more of an
explanation.  They were at Sensei's studio and had just finished with
the advanced class.  Everyone else but Niki had already left, but Ken
and Sensei were running through some more moves.  Ken still wore his
white belt; he didn't even notice it anymore.  He was aware that there
were a number of other students that were puzzled by his attitude.
Chad, of course, was pissed off, because he thought that Ken was
mocking the art.  It was clear he was anything but a white belt.  Ken
thought it was clear he didn't care what color his belt was.

	"Niki has asked me for permission to serve you," said Sensei,
after they drank down some water.

	"Excuse me?"

	Sensei smiled.  "Is it such a surprise?  She has made love with
several of the women at the house, but none of the men.  She has wanted
you."

	"And you're okay with that?"

	"Of course," replied Sensei.  "If I knew she was not interested,
I'd never bring it up.  Niki is a slave by choice, which I'm sure some
would not consider a slave at all.  However, the relationship works for
us."

	Ken thought for a moment.

	"You know, Arianwen owes you something for sleeping with Niki," he
said.  "Maybe we could work a trade for an evening?"

 	"And do you have that sort of relationship with her?"

	"Yes, I do," replied Ken.  "Also, she has been somewhat
insistent where you're concerned."

	Sensei smiled and said, "Then it seems we have a deal."

	"What kind of deal?" asked Niki, walking back into the studio and
drying her hair.

	Sensei smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll find out the details when
the time is right.  Ken," he continued as he stood, "I'll see you
tomorrow?"

	"Bright and early."

	Ken smiled to himself.  Ari would be very pleased.  While all the
women who trained with Sensei respected him greatly, they also really
wanted to have sex with him.  Ken hadn't forbidden it, exactly, but
Sensei was still somewhat of an unknown.  He also seemed to know
certain things, and Ken often wondered how the man had found them out.


	Lea had given Sensei Her blessing, but unknown quantities made Ken
nervous.

End Chapter 2-22

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <story-submit@asstr.org>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-admin@asstr.org> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+