Chapter 3: A Dinner of Introspection and Lust

Ashley sat at the table across from her mother, the wood of her seat hard against her bare ass. Her mother had ordered something for them both: a salad and a fall stew. Ashley had been too distracted to pay any real attention to what was available. While her hand mechanically moved food to her mouth, she was too excited and distracted to focus on what she was eating.

Ashley was acutely aware of her nakedness in a way she’d rarely been before. Truthfully, it was not entirely, or perhaps hardly nakedness at all. Ashley was acutely aware of her slut in a way she’d never been before in her life. She had come to the main dining room of a prominent inn naked and sweaty with her hair plastered back with pee. Then there was her smell. If she did somehow manage to lose track of her excitement, she would catch scent of Dolphin’s cum or of the pee coating her body, and she found herself firmly back in her arousal. She would not have made a stronger statement shouting “I am slut!” at the top of her lungs. Of course everyone knew.

It first hit her out in the lobby when she’d been startled by the applause. The crowd gathered had clearly watched for a while. She’d known that she was in public, but had pictured her work with Dolphin as private ritual of the inn, visible, but not interesting. She’d gone well beyond what was minimally necessary, pushing herself into the moment, into her openness, offering her vulnerability to her utmost. She was proud. Still, they all watched the slut she made of herself playing in her mess, pleasuring and drinking from Dolphin. The embarrassment was so strong. It was one thing to offer that vulnerability to Dolphin. She was now facing offering that vulnerability to all those people. Of course offering for the boundary was symbolically exactly that sort of public offering. She’d just never quite expected it to come to roost with such visceral force.

To make matters more poignant, it seemed to Ashley that all that visceral force had come to roost squarely on her cunt and the other erogenous zones of her body. Even the embarrassment was feeding her lust at this point. Everyone who looked on her saw her openness and vulnerability. Yes, it was uncomfortable to offer her likes, her enjoyment of herself so openly. What if people didn’t share those likes? What if she looked silly?

On the other hand, what if they drew courage to face their own inner slut? What if next time, with her as example, they were able to open more fully? She had a duty to lead that experience. Pushing her to meet this duty was the most cruel part of Dolphin’s suggestion that it would be far better if she didn’t put on clothes for the rest of the evening. While she was with dolphin, perhaps she could lose herself in her role as Dolphin’s lover. Now, though, in addition to slut, she had to wear Ashley Third for Oak Leaf, presumably soon to be Lady Ashley, with all that role’s expectations. She had to let slut collide with the rest of her life, maintaining the poise and dignity of a noble on display in public while maintaining the openness and connection with her pleasure that was the hallmark of a slut. She had to live up to her family’s name and parents’ example.

Of course everyone recognized the struggle to align the roles at some level even if they could not articulate it. They took pleasure in driving her to squirm and strut. Waiting for their table to be readied, the host suggested that she might enjoy rubbing herself against the arm of a chair. While not as good as her fingers or a toy, it worked better than she might expect. That merchant certainly seemed to enjoy the show, standing just far enough away that she had room to move, his eyes glued to her body bent over the chair and her crotch as it met the padded arm. It seemed a fair reward for displacing him in the queue for a table. As they departed for the table, the host complimented her on her noises. She was so lost in her need that by this point she hadn’t even noticed her moans. She floated through a haze of lust and nervousness towards the table.

Part of the intensity was that she chose again and again to embrace slut and embarrassment. She did this to herself because she wanted it, because being this open was hot, and because Dolphin thought she could really help. Even Dolphin’s request to stay in slut was something she chose to honor. No one forced her. In fact everyone was supportive, offering her a chance to give them her openness, but in every instance making it her choice. Even the servant taking her to the table was entirely proper. He stood, his hand cupped over her ass and asked her if he might.

He did of course and it was a wonderful groping accompanied by a sensual biting of the back of her neck. There was an extra thrill this being the first time she had been the play thing of a servant. She wondered if he faced a similar struggle with his inner slut taking care of her needs as a noble while exploiting her body. She hoped his experience with her helped face that struggle.

The servant was equitable and displayed the same solicitude when asking for the Lady Celeste. For the woman across the table was as naked as Ashley. They were not sluts together; that would have been quite improper and the thought filled Ashley with disgust.

Rather, they were sluts in solidarity. When Dolphin made her request, Celeste asked her daughter whether she might prefer her mother clothed or naked. Ashley pondered and realized that she drew real strength from her mother. Facing the challenge of wearing Oak Leaf and slut together would more than offset the discomfort of being closer than usual to her mother’s sexuality. Ashley was touched that her mother offered her this support.

Her mother interrupted her rumination. “Fuck, you shine brightly for Oak Leaf today.”

“I do?” Ashley was pleased that her mother did not think her too flashy.

“Few women presented for the first time connect so fully to themselves or their lovers,” Celeste said.

“I have never been so embarrassed in my life. However, my horniness sweeps me past all obstacles,” Ashley said.

“I think you discount your own nobility in your success,” her mother replied.

Celeste continued, “Dear, if your frustration is more than you desire, you know that release is at your fingertips. Dolphin gave you liberty of dinner; she cannot gainsay your pleasure if you take your cunt in hand.”

“I know,” Ashley sighed. “Half the lust is owning my choice in this. Setting my own will as guard over my pleasure was a cruel trap to spring.”

“Ah, you do see. You are truly for Oak Leaf.,” Celeste said.

“Mother, might I ask of your experience?”

“What would you know?”

“You embrace The commoner to whom you are given? How do you see your duty and pleasure there?” Ashley asked.

“Ah,” Celeste began, “I see that might seem tangled.”

“First, if he is there to take me down in myself, to see me made less to raise himself up, I shall see him with a demon bride,” Celeste said.

Ashley glimpsed the cold intensity of the Lady of Oak Leaf in her mother’s hard certainty. Here was a woman who could make decisions that would save or doom her seat and family. Here was a woman, necessity demanding, who could force someone out from hospitality. Ashley wondered how soon she would be in that position. She hoped some day to be as well regarded as the Lady Celeste.

Celeste took a breath and loosed her tension. “That shall not spring from this occasion; Dolphin Frolicking knows her trade.”

“Consider. The first duty of both slut and lover is to connection, openness, and vulnerability.”

She continued, “Place yourself as this man. The respect nobles are due, education, wealth, and custom all create a barrier to slut and lover between us.”

“He is strong reaching across that barrier. For the respect due nobility to be real, we nobles must reward such strength,” she said.”

“So, similar to the task I face riding atop the boys tonight?” Ashley asked.

“Yes, there is some similarity. As with you my slut yearns for completion as I embrace this,” Celeste said. “Approaching surrender across that barrier fans my lust.”

Ashley nodded, thinking of her commoner’s son. Her mother said, “There’s growth for me. Noble, commoner, we’re all the same as slut and lover. My skill exceeds his only through time and training. My true worth is shown by leading him in growing to that level.”

“Visions of ecstasy fill me. Perhaps he’ll tie me down and I must beg him to take his pleasure in me. Perhaps he’ll fuck my face. Perhaps he’ll squirt his cum on me and demand I mark myself his. Perhaps he will tease me but hold me apart showing the pleasure he takes in himself, ignoring me except to fan the fires of my frustration. In all, he uses my body without holding back, without fear of the difference in our position.”

Ashley said, “I see there are two of us lusting greatly. You too are at liberty and might take your pleasure.”

“I would welcome that if you would not be bothered,” her mother said.

Ashley’s mother did not hide her sexuality or her work as lover. However, Ashley was more focused on her mother than at Oak Leaf and no banquet or other guests distracted Ashley. She didn’t find her mother’s exploits erotic. However, her mother had been very open with Ashley. Ashley valued that and saw the strength of her mother as slut. She wanted to honor that strength and to support her mother as her mother had been supporting her. She was happy to give her mother the freedom to enjoy herself.

The Lady Celeste turned her chair somewhat out from the table, offering her show more to the room at large than to her daughter. However, Ashley caught and held her mother’s eyes as she spread her legs and began.

Ashley saw her mother’s face relax into a beautiful, open smile. Through the web, she felt her mother slip completely into the moment. Ashley had planned on distracting herself with the other guests, but she was in awe of the open beauty painted across her mother’s face. If this is what people saw in Ashley when she was in the moment, no wonder there was applause. Ashley kept watching her mother’s face through the intense grimace of pleasure building and the ecstasy itself. She stayed through the radiant glow after. Eventually her mother began to compose herself. Ashley felt strength spread from her mother, bolstering the community that was the inn.

“I shall always treasure watching your face in that openness,” Ashley said.

Like Ashley before, Celeste drew her own attention. The merchants two tables distant looked straight at Ashley and Celeste. They gestured and talked animatedly of the women’s exploits. Ashley wished the younger of the two men would stop fidgeting in his seat and do whatever he was going to do. She realized that quite probably, he was debating whether to approach.