Chapter 1: A new employee

The lobby entrance to the Mystique building was a modern, chic, stylish homage to the beauty of the female form. Lit softly, with pleasing purple accents peeking out from behind various fixtures, the calm colors, the female form centric art, all spoke of an opulent house of pulchritudinous focus. From the always pleasant demeanor of the smiling receptionist, to the tasteful, yet quite revealing art lining the walls, a feeling of female acceptance, of empowering the feminine mystique pervaded the space, and was impossible to ignore, even by the most jaded of visitors

Welcome. Welcome to a peek into the daily life of one of our newest employees. Enjoy the peek behind the curtain as we follow their journey.

Day 1, Monday

Far above street level, in an office on the tenth floor, Riki Constantini was at her desk, her job as director of acquisitions and market research having brought her more than a little success, and a great deal of latitude with the rest of Mystique’s management. Her team had continued to do well for the last year, and she was just recently able to acquire, well, hire, a new staff member, although there was a long way to go before Alex would truly be a full member of her team.

Calling him into her office, she stood up from behind her desk as he entered.

“Hope your first day was not too overwhelming, we try not to overload you immediately here at Mystique, but there is a lot to learn. Frankly, since basically you are my assistant, when I have an easy day, so do you -- and today was one of my easier days” Riki gets up from around her desk, as she gathers a few catalogs, and her handbag. “Why don’t you look over one of these tonight, just to start to familiarize yourself more with one of our minor product lines” she says, handing you a couple of the catalogs she had grabbed, then popping the rest into her large bag. “I’m out of here for the day, so unless you have some final questions, I will see you tomorrow”

Alex Denton was just glad to have a job. He’s was a very quiet, shy, unassuming man, and while his resume normally looked excellent, he struggled in job interviews. Now that he has a job, he was not going to let it slip away. He gives a slight nod to his boss. “Yes ma’am. Sorry if I seemed overwhelmed today. As you said, there’s a lot to learn, but I will try to do my best to learn and give it my all.” He accepted the catalogue handed to him. “I appreciate the help, and any time you think there’s somewhere I could be improving in, please tell me.”

Mystique Regimen, Day 2 Tuesday of Alex’s first week at Mystique

In the morning, as Alex left for work, he grabbed the catalogs, bringing them with him, barely aware that he had done so, as if the action was done automatically, or on auto-pilot. Arriving at the employee parking lot, he soon made his way through the small side entrance, and up to the tenth floor, stopping by Miss Riki’s office as he began his day.

Riki looked up at him as he entered the office, and immediately stated, “Alex, glad to see you brought those back, one of those was a prototype, I didn’t want to lose it.” Returning to her desk, she said, “That’ll be all for now, be sure to stop back by at end of day, and tell me what you think of the new nail polish line, from a guy’s perspective of course.”

Riki was, ready, waiting for Alex at the end of the day, and motioned him to the chair in front of her desk. “So, second day, Mystique treating you right? How do you like working with so many, well, females? You are a bit of a duck out of water...”

“Oh, well, I am finding it all right, you know I’ve always wanted to learn and grow, and I continue to believe that Mystique will give me that opportunity, and more!” Spouting a positive attitude, and a bit of a brown nosing obsequiousness, Alex sat in the indicated chair, and watched his boss carefully.

While waiting for his reply, Riki took a few bottles of nail polish from where they were scattered to the side, and lined them up directly between the two of them.

“Great to hear. So, let’s see what you think about our products”. Pointing to the polish lined up on her desk, she asked “If you had to pick one, which one would you wear? The shiny gold sparkly one? “ she asked, holding it up, “Or perhaps this pale pink one ... I think that one would look especially lovely”, then, pointing to another. “Or, maybe, you think blue is the bomb ... and would make that one be your choice” she pointing to yet a third bottle.

Alex frowned a little in thought. “Well, I’ve hardly thought about wearing nail polish before. I think I’d pick the pale pink,” he decided. “If I were to wear nail polish.”

“Well true, you might not wear polish, but you might be surprised how you’d look if you did. Here at Mystique, though, everyone is customer centered, and in order to do that, we believe you need to try to understand them, even sometimes act like them. So, since you are not a typical employee here, I have been given some latitude in setting up our training program. What I’d like you do, first, is take this pink bottle home, and use it on your toenails. No one will know, but you will see a little bit about how it is to apply, and wear nail polish - all to better understand our clientele. Then, tomorrow, I will want you to show me how you did.”

As she was speaking, it was if a small recording played in Alex’s head, “Mystique is for the Discriminating Client” ---, wasn’t that one of those catalogs he’d taken home that first night?

“Thank you ma’am,” Alex replied, putting on his jacket and getting in his Volkswagen Golf to go home. When he got there, the first thing he did was pull up a guide on how to paint your nails from the internet and read it carefully. Once he’s became confident he knew what he was doing, he positioned himself near a mirror and took out the nail polish. He hesitated for a moment, the idea of wearing women’s nail polish was frankly anathema to him, but eventually decided his job wsa worth more to him than a tiny bit of pride. He opened the bottle and slowly applied the nail polish to each toenail individually, being careful to do it right for his boss’s inspection the next day. When he finished, he felt a weird mix of both shame at using women’s cosmetics and pride at fulfilling a task assigned by his employer. He’d been unemployed too long, he noted to himself, smirking a bit at how eager he was to follow instructions. The rest of the evening went smoothly, similarly to the any other, with him occasionally glancing down at his feet.

Every time he looked at his feet he was careful to examine them closely and be introspective so that he can give a proper report the next morning.

Mystique Regimen, Day 3 Wednesday of Alex’s first week at Mystique

The next morning, as Alex arrived in and began to get settled, Ms Riki was waiting and called him into her office. Abruptly asking, “Did you do as I asked?” she paused only momentarily before shaking her head “ No, don’t show me now ... come back at the end of the day and we can talk all about it. How you felt putting them on. How they looked on your toes. How you felt knowing they were hidden under your socks and shoes all day ... while you were working”

Alex’s day had gone by normally, but he felt unusually self-conscious, worrying about whether or not his coworkers could tell he was wearing polish on his toenails despite knowing intellectually that that was impossible.

As Alex entered Ms Riki’s office at five o’clock, he noticed she was barefoot, and slowly turning her foot this way and that as she examined her own toes. The glint of pale pink polish, the same color he chose, is immediately visible, and it is very nice to look at. Atop her desk, arranged in a row, are three sets of women’s underwear, with a small card sitting atop each one.

“Come, sit please, and let me see how you did ... and remember my questions from this morning? What was it like to apply the polish? Easy? Difficult? Fun? What did you feel like today, knowing you were wearing polish and no one could tell?”

Sitting down, Alex immediately took his shoes and socks off to quickly show Ms. Riki his own pale pink toes, extending his legs off to the side so she could see them without him putting his feet on her desk. “It was tricky to apply at first,” he replied. “I went on the internet and looked up instructions on how to apply it to make sure I did it right. I hope it worked well. Today it felt a little shameful, honestly. I was always afraid the others could see and they were judging me.”

Nodding her head in approval, Riki exclaimed “Oh, very good! First day, and you jumped into the spirit of Mystique!”. Riki smiled very warmly, and her legs stop bouncing, as she places both feet on the floor and leans forward a bit. “And, the rest ... How did you feel all day? How do you feel right now? Showing me your pink toes? Not how you thought others would think ... how do YOU feel knowing your toenails are pink...”

Alex smiled a little at the praise and pulled his foot back. “Well, it’s hard to describe,” hes aid, placing his chin into his hand thoughtfully. “It felt very taboo, like I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. But in a way it felt kind of fun too, keeping a secret like that. Does that make sense?”

“So, to be clear, by putting on our Dynamic Pink polish, do you feel like you were treating yourself to something luxurious, perhaps you felt good and confident all day knowing you had it on, as well as right now, showing them to me, (very cute toes by the way), and do you think we make a quality product. I hear that you enjoyed the bit of ‘taboo’ nature ... that is actually kinda cute too...”

Alex nodded slowly. “It’s definitely a very good product,” he agreed. “Though I don’t have any standard to judge it by. I’m not sure if it suits me in particular, being a man, but it did help me get a better understanding of the product.”

“Good, very good, as I said, impressed. Now, I want you to pick a fruit between, apple, orange, pineapple. It’s a new subliminal form of marketing we started, and it should have taken root in you by now. The various fruits are aligned with certains sets of products, and we need to see which one is yours.” Ms Riki smiled, waiting for his reply, watching his eyes, and his face, carefully, noting every nuance of his reactions.

He hesitated for a moment with a pensive frown. “Orange,” he says slowly, looking her in the eye. “Definitely orange.”

“Not to worry, the marketing is completely safe, though it is experimental. We will send more catalogs home with you to gauge your reaction to those as well. But for now, come over here, and see what you picked.” Showing him the three piles of panties, Alex could see small name tags on top of each one. “Apple” was sitting on top of, boyshorts, he thought they were called, and “Pineapple” on a lacy collection of things that looked more like thongs. “Orange, the third pile appeared to be bikini underwear, of a slick but warm material, in various colors, and with only small, dainty, amounts of detail.

Alex’s eyes widened at the realization of the choice he made. “Underwear?” he asked, confused, cocking his head. “Why’d you have me choose kinds of underwear? Was it a test to see if the marketing worked on guys or something?” He took a sharp breath in at a sudden realization. “You don’t want me to ... wear these, do you? They wouldn’t even fit properly.”

“In a way, yes, it is more market research, and, as I mentioned, since I have been given some latitude with your training, I’ve added it to your regimen. I want you to take these home, and begin wearing them under your clothes. They may be a bit snug, at least at first, so it will be important for you to tell me everything about how they make you feel, from looking at them, to wearing them, to knowing that you are out in public wearing panties. We need to see if the orange message connected correctly. Further, each night, I want you to wash your feet, and buff your toes, to keep them looking shiny. Again we will talk about them at the end of, or sometimes during, each of your days of work.” Ms Riki watched his face carefully as she outlined his new regimen. Handing him a couple new catalogs, she adds, “you might want to review these, keep them at home ... I’d like you to have one in the kitchen, and another in the bathroom ... something to read while bathing or, you know...” she smiles.