Chapter 29: Friday Evening: Munch

Kara opened the main doors and stepped outside. Mom’s here. She waved quietly to her mom and put the duffel into the trunk as Allison slipped into the backseat. I guess I need to be the middle one this time.

There isn’t quite enough leg room for me.

Okay. Kara slipped in next to Allison, buckled her seat belt, and rested her head on Allison’s shoulder.

“You’re already wearing your blouses? With how this week has been going, I’m surprised you’re willing to when you may not have to.”

“May not being the key phrase there. We thought it better to err on the side of caution instead of needing to be asked to put them on” Allison replied.

“That’s not the full reason, I’m sure. Not with the slight aura of mischief that was around both of you when you got in the car.” They came to a slow stop as the light turned red.

Kara grinned and pointed at her nipple. “You could say that.”

Clara’s laugh filled the car. “I see. I can’t say for sure if the diner will have a problem with either of you being bare chested, with the recent law changes and all; your father and I haven’t been to a munch in a while.” She paused for a moment, looking back briefly before the light changed again. “Did something happen during the lesson? It’s unusual for him to let you all go early unless something important comes up.”

“Manny and I were teaching the basics to a bunch of new students, and one of them, well ... was not a good fit for the school.”

“That’s happened once or twice before, but it didn’t create problems like this before. What else happened?”

“The student didn’t take kindly to be treated like any other starting student, and really didn’t like being taught by someone besides Sensei. So after a handful of ignored warnings and a lot of disrespect aimed directly at us, he challenged Sensei to a fight. He didn’t get a single hit on Sensei though.”

“You’ve sparred with Sensei Hiro before, right?”

“On occasion.”

“And you usually manage to connect a few times.”

“Recently, anyway. But you see Mom, this kid didn’t stand a chance; not with the ridiculous stance he took and the attack he tried. It was something straight out of those bad Karate movies. So Sensei brings him down to the mat with a simple kick and makes it clear that he could have done what the kid wanted to do.”

“Utterly embarrassing him in that moment. But that’s not everything.”

“What can you see on me Mom?”

“A bit of relief and two different types of nervousness. The kind that tells me you’re hiding something from me, and the ‘I dodged a bullet’ after shock kind. So what happened to cause that blend of emotions?”

“After ... after being told to leave nicely, he pretended to go. But he was really trying to sneak up on me, with the intent of hitting me...” she paused, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself “at the base of my spine.”

“WHAT!!!!”

“He tried, but I ‘saw’ him coming and stopped him before he had the chance. I only realized after the fact just what he might have been able to do if he’d actually hit me.”

“The little shit tried to assault you! Please tell me Sensei Hiro had him removed from the dojo in cuffs.”

“N ... no. It took him a little time to process it too, and do you remember the agreement we signed when I first started taking classes?”

“This is very different from the typical risks associated with physical sports. Is he going to report the incident to the police at least?”

“Probably, but not because I want him to. I’ve dealt with the police enough for the close future. But I trust him to make the wise decision, even if I may not like it. Please Mom, don’t think badly of him because of this.”

“In my anger right now, you know what I want to say. But no; it sounds like he’s taking the situation somewhat seriously, and you showed a remarkable amount of maturity in making the decision you did.”

“If there was ever any reason to doubt the validity of the self defense claims of the art, I think this whole incident would prove those doubts to be false.”

“Did you at least pay the little shit back for his attempt?”

“I kicked him exactly where and how hard I needed to disable him in the moment; exactly what we’re expected to do in moments where we need to use what we’ve learned.”

“The angry bear mom in me is unhappy to hear that, but you’re right. Now, what happened that the police needed to be called, and where?”

“That’s our story to tell” Allison began. “One of Manny’s exes decided she wanted to get revenge on him for some stupid reason last week, and it was only because of a timely intervention by Mr. Litski that she failed her attempt. We opted not to press charges at the time, figuring her punishment time in the Program would be good enough. She was going to try again, this time on my friend Emily; again for another stupid reason.”

“I’d warned Emily that our reporter friend was looking to write an article about the first incident, and that she should get out of that little gang while she still could.”

“Emily wasn’t part of her gang when the first incident occurred. But a published article was going to get out to the parents before too long, so Mr. Litski reported both to the police. They had some questions for all of us, that’s all” Allison added.

“And they noticed the marks from yesterday during my question session; that spawned more stupid questions.”

Clara laughed. “Depending on who was called in, I can imagine so. For every cop who understands us, there are three others who are ignorant or out to shut down Association events.”

“The female officer was one of the latter group; her partner said you’ve needed police assistance maybe three times in the last twenty or so years.”

“Some ‘concerned citizen’ calls to report an issue every few months, despite the fact that we make far less noise than the almost daily frat parties that go on at the nearby bars. Most of the cops seem not to care enough to follow through on those complaints though, and it seems there are enough who at least care to call and check in with the operators first. Still, what that kid did needs to be reported.”

“That’s what Sensei seemed to think too.”

Clara glanced back at Kara and smiled softly. “I know my sudden emotional shift might have been a little scary, but...”

Kara smiled back, laughing softly. “You went into Mama Bear mode; I’m sure when I have kids someday, I’ll experience that too.”

“Just like there will be times when they’ll drive you crazy, and it will take all of your patience to not want to strangle them. But you’ll find that somehow, you always have enough patience.” She pointed ahead a little, to their right. “And there it is.”

“Is there anything else we really need to know before we go in?”

“Not really. This really is just an informal gathering so that you can get to know other kinky people in the area.”

“How will we know where to find them?” Allison asked.

“Just tell the hostess you’re there for the munch; they’ve been holding it at this particular diner for over a decade.” She pulled into an open parking spot and stopped the car. “Here’s my credit card to pay for whatever you get. Just don’t go too crazy.”

“I get the sense” Emanuel started “that this is not the kind of thing where that would be appreciated anyway.” And my tastes where diners are concerned have always been pretty simple.

I’ll probably just get a burger of some kind. Even though we didn’t do anywhere near as much in Kempo as I’m used to, I’m still hungry for something significant.

Are you sure part of that isn’t because of the rest of the day darling?

You’re probably right. “Should we take our bags in with us?”

“Don’t worry about that; I’ll bring them into the house when I get home. Just remember to call me if you don’t need me to pick you up later.”

“Okay. Thank you for everything, Mom.” Kara climbed out of the car and waved as Clara backed out of the spot, then smiled as Rosa stepped out of a nearby car. “Before we all go in...”

“Did your mother say something?”

“About our conversation? She could read that it was important.”

“Was it something about ‘if she offers to give you a lift home, feel free to accept it’?”

“How do you know?”

“When I told my folks about my interest in the munch tonight, and maybe the event tomorrow, they asked who I’d been talking to about this. When I mentioned your and Allison’s last names, their eyes lit up and they said ‘you better offer them a ride home. Their parents are good folks’. And, as if I needed the encouragement, Dad gave me his credit card for the meal.”

“The funny thing is, your parents are part of why my Mom gave her okay. That said...”

“You’re probably really hungry, right?” Kara and Allison nodded their heads. “Then lets head inside.” Kara pointed at Emanuel, already holding the door inside open. “I guess I’m a bit dense today. Oh, by the way; Mom said they’re usually at a giant table in the back.”

Kara gestured to the doorway. “Go ahead.” Are either of you as nervous as I am right now?

Yeah; but I suspect we’re feeling each others too, and kind of combining them together.

I really want to make a good first impression with everyone.

Me too, darling ... but what else can we do but be ourselves? Considering the multitude of options that must exist, then being real is probably the best thing we can be. Within the usual bounds of course.

“How many?” the hostess asked nonchalantly.

“We’re here for the munch” Rosa answered as Kara began to open her mouth.

“Right side, in the back.”

Kara nodded, and followed closely behind Rosa. Whoa! I wasn’t expecting so many people. The only people I recognize are Rachel and her slave.

By the way, look carefully at his neck.

Why do... Kara looked for a few moments oh! I see why you suggested that, Manny.

Yeah. Is that his stealth collar?

It has to be. I mean, it’s so simple, but if you look closely, you can make out the little locking mechanism.

You’re right Manny! Wow. Kara watched Allison’s eyes quickly refocus on the red headed woman sitting at the end of the table. “Uhm ... hello.”

The woman’s mouth formed a soft smile, in the process highlighting her freckles. “You four are here for the munch?”

“Yes...” Kara stammered slightly.

“Roberta, those are three I was telling you about earlier” Rachel said quietly, putting down her burger. “I’m surprised they’re not naked though.”

Allison laughed loudly for a few moments. “We didn’t know what the expectations would be here, so we choose to cover up somewhat.”

Roberta gestured to four open seats near them. “Please sit. And if you’d rather lose the shirts, you’re more than welcome to.” Kara grinned and quietly undid the buttons of the blouse; and with an exaggerated motion let it fall off her arms. “Oh! Let’s see ... if I’m remembering what Rachel said correctly, those would make you the Foster’s daughter.”

“Yes, I’m Kara.”

“And the other young lady with the shields would be the Kirse’s daughter.”

“Allison. And you are?”

“Oh, forgive me! I’m Roberta Linta, I serve as the head organizer for our local chapter. The beauty next to me is my wife Colleen” she continued, the woman she had pointed at waving. “She’s a little slow to warm up to people. But once she does, you’ll see; she’s quite lively. You already know Rachel and her companion, and the two couples on either side of them are...”

“Let us Roberta. You don’t need to introduce everyone” a tall blonde woman chuckled. “I’m Amy, and the man next to me is my husband Will.”

“And we’re” the two across from them quickly added “Esther and Tim. The four of us live together and, well...”

“Don’t try to be delicate about it” Will interrupted, shaking his head, then turned to them “Esther is also my girlfriend, just like Amy is Tim’s. Who’s the young man with you two?”

I think they think we’re a couple, darling, and Manny is a friend or something.

How silly. “Emanuel is our husband. Well, not legally yet, but thanks to Mom he is for all other intents and purposes.”

“See Will? I told you that you were misreading the signs” an older man excitedly exclaimed before turning to them. “I’m also William, but you can call me Bill. The wi...” he began as the older woman shot him an icy glare “wonderful woman next to me is Valerie, my wife of more years than I can count.”

“That’s because you still insist on using your fingers to count, dear” she teased.

“I’m not fortunate enough to have a scientific calculator in my brain; I do what I can with what I was given.” He turned back to them and glanced over at Rosa. “And is she one of your girlfriend’s?”

Kara and Rosa broke out into raucous laughter. “Oh, not at all. Rosa is a friend from school.”

Will glanced at Bill and shook his head theatrically. “You were saying, old man?” Bill shrugged and tried to hide in his salad for a few moments.

“You four are still in school?” Tim asked as a server brought them menus.

“Timothy, how else could I have run a demo at the other high school with a Program participant as one of my assistants?”

“I haven’t heard of this program. Is is some sort of after school thing?”

Roberta blinked several times at him. “Did you move your house under a rock? Old Splitriver’s been in the news lately about The Program; you know, the federal one meant to herald the new sexual revolution.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Kara grinned and looked around at the others. “The Program is why we” she pointed at Emanuel “reconnected with our childhood best friend” she grinned at Allison “and why I really didn’t like wearing that stupid shirt. I’d happily be naked right now if I had my towel, and the diner allowed it.”

“For as wonderful as this place has been” Roberta started quietly “they’re still a bit behind the times. Naked would be a bit much for them and their ‘family friendly’ image.”

The server came back around. “Are you ready?”

Kara grinned. “We’ll start by sharing the appetizer sampler with mozzarella sticks, tenders, and...” rings?

Let’s do the calamari instead.

Yes! What Manny said.

“and your third choice?”

“the calamari. As for our meals;” she pointed at Allison “she’ll have the pizza burger with sweet potato fries and a chocolate shake...” medium, my muse?

That works.

“Medium. I’ll do the same, but with the curly fries instead. And he’ll” she pointed at Emanuel “have the French Dip and a cookies and cream shake.”

“Okay. Will this be a split check?”

“We’re together.” The server nodded her head and turned to Rosa.

“Do you three have a standard order or something?” Esther asked. “That was far too smooth to have been by body language.”

Kara grinned and shook her head. “How long have you three been bound for?” Amy asked.

“About a week” Allison replied, taking a sip of her water.

“That’s not long enough to develop that kind of silent communication” Will began “especially with a recent re-connection.

Should we tell them?

Most of them will never believe us, Ally. I think we leave it as something mysterious for now.

Agreed.

Okay. “You could say we have our ways.”

Valerie’s smile turned into a huge grin. “I was right when I said they reminded me of us!”

“Whatever that reason might be doesn’t particularly matter right now” Roberta began, a serious tone to her voice “as we have three bits of official business that we need to deal with.” Kara watched the table turn serious in seconds. “Good. First of all, on behalf of the Association I’d like to formally invite you three” she looked at them “to join the TNG group.”

“Isn’t this a bit soon, Roberta?” Tim asked.

“Ordinarily I’d agree with you, but they’ve already earned a recommendation from Rachel. Besides, Colleen has one of her feelings about this.”

Kara smiled and nodded her head very slightly. We do, Ally.

Roberta looked back at them. “We don’t expect an answer right away.”

“We accept.”

She shook her head. “That quick?”

“Our folks have been members of the full organization for years now, right?” Roberta nodded her head. “Our mothers wouldn’t have recommended tomorrow’s event or CGE to us. We see no reason to say no.”

“We’ll take care of the simple paperwork before you go. Rosa, we can’t extend an invitation to you quite yet, but...”

Rosa nodded her head. “That’s understandable. Although, sometimes it feels like they have some all powerful being looking out for them specifically.”

All three shuddered slightly. “If that’s true Rosa, then that being sometimes has a warped sense of what is good for us. Some of what has happened feels more like it was meant to torture us.”

“Life is that way, unfortunately” Roberta replied. “The remaining business is an update to our photography policy and a new policy concerning private phones. I’ll pass them around so that you can read it at your own leisure.” She quietly started passing a small sheet of paper around.

“Any concerns about the photo policy? Please understand that this was passed down by the state Association.”

“I think it’s a bit extreme” Tim started “seeing as we’ve only had a handful of intentional misuses of the current policy. But if State is having enough problems to pass something this strict down, then it would be foolish of us to ignore it.”

“I’ve heard of a number of incidents that definitely support this” Bill began “and really, this isn’t nearly as bad as we expected it to be.”

“What do you mean Bill?” Esther asked.

“We were afraid that they’d feel the need to ban all personal cameras” Valerie started “not include a clause allowing trusted individuals to still bring their own in. Especially when art like what Rachel did to Kara happens.”

“That was very much a team effort with Allison. I doubt Kara could have taken me doing all that alone, and the very idea for the back piece was theirs, not mine. The same is true of the words on her arms.”

“Any other issues with the policy? We have some room to make modifications, but the council really doesn’t think we need to.” Kara watched the rest of the table nod their heads. “Good. Then we’ll move onto the phone policy. The council deliberated quite a bit about how to keep our attendees privacy and emotional states safe with the rise in smart phone popularity. This is what we agreed upon.” She passed out another small piece of paper.

I’ll read it this time darling. It says: ‘Cell phones also must be checked in before admission to the play space will be granted; if yours must be on for you to be reached in an emergency, this will also be allowed on a case by case basis and facilitated by event staff. Calls to emergency service providers will always be available through one of the staff if need be.’

Well, I’m the only one who currently has a cell phone, so that’s not a problem for us. But I can see parents really not liking this idea.

“None of us have kids yet” Amy began “but if we did, I’d feel really unsafe leaving my sitter not being able to reach us.”

“I can definitely understand that, but what if they do call about an issue, and you’re deep in subspace? That’s not a wise time to be asking you to make split second decisions. Besides, as long as you leave all of the appropriate contact and medical info where the sitter can easily reference it, the odds of a situation coming up that they can’t solve are very small. It certainly worked when our children were young” Valerie replied in a soothing voice.

“We thought about those rare situations” Roberta began “and have already trained the staff who will be safeguarding your phones in how to handle them. With your permission, they can answer any call from a number that calls multiple times in a row and take the appropriate action.”

“Such as?”

“Recording a message to give to you later if it wasn’t really an emergency, or letting one of us know in the case that it is. We can then approach you in a calm manner about it, reducing the risk of shocking you out of whatever head space you’re in at the moment.”

“I suppose that would be enough.”

“We can make changes to this policy if need be. But for now, this was the best compromise we could come up with.”

Kara smiled as their server appeared with their appetizer and shakes. Finally! Let’s eat!

“So” Roberta began a they dug into the platter “how has the Program been for you so far? If you don’t mind me asking, that is; I’ve heard enough about it, but I don’t always trust articles written by worried parents.”

“How do the articles usually talk about it?”

“They all mention the basics as far as I’m aware; that you need to be naked at all times on school grounds, that sexual touch is encouraged in various ways. The pro-Program articles generally focus on how much healthier and happier you’ll all be once your week is done; although they sometimes worry about people being allowed to touch you whenever. The anti articles focus on what you’d expect -” she paused, glancing around for a moment “lack of propriety, being forced to accept touches you don’t want ... that sort of thing.”

By ‘don’t want’ they really mean ‘shouldn’t want’.

Agreed darling; folks like Bonnie’s father.

“They seem to have their basics a little wrong. Students can only make requests during the time between classes and the second half of your lunch period. More importantly, each participant has the right to decline a request if they deem it unreasonable; in most cases we have the final say.”

“Most?” Will asked, a worried expression on his face.

“There are limits to what you can call unreasonable” Allison began “mostly dealing with pose requests and touching the parts of you that are on the outside. But while they can ask to finger you, for example, you never need to say yes to that.”

“So, what about the rumors of orgies starting in the middle of the hallway?” Tim asked.

“Orgies?” Kara laughed loudly for a few moments. “Those don’t happen. We have had sex a handful of times during the school day, but those have largely been allowed because of special class conditions. The one time it was not part of a class was a request that I specifically had my loves make, and that was pushing the limits on the rules. Usually, sex isn’t allowed on school grounds.”

“You three were able to have sex as part of class time stuff?” Valerie asked, a shocked look on her face. “How did you pull that off?”

Allison grinned. “As part of poses for Art. Some of the class moaned and complained about us moving as part of the pose, but they also wanted more sexy poses, so ... they really didn’t have much choice.”

“And when our friend Pia got permission for us to pose for her for an independent project, we needed to make sure no one was too visibly horny for it. The Program coordinator has bent the rules a bit for us, but only in places where our intended activity is more in line with Program values than the rules themselves.”

“And if I may ask” Amy began “that special request, why did you consider granting it?”

Emanuel took a quick drink of water. “We announced, at their suggestion,” he pointed to Allison and Kara “that we were all dating; mainly to squash rumors that one of us was cheating on the other. Poly isn’t a well understood concept among our schoolmates. That didn’t seem to be enough slow those rumors down, so Kara suggested that the three of us making love in front of half the school should.”

“That would be rather difficult to misunderstand” Esther replied.

“Oh, some of them still don’t get it” Kara started “even after we set the record straight about the hand fasting. And to be honest...”

“The idea of making love in front of people, well ... really turned me on. I have a much wider exhibitionist streak in me than I originally realized.” Kara watched as several of the women grinned in acknowledgment.

“Any negative repercussions from that decision?” Valerie asked. “If I’d tried that when we were in high school, I’d have been labeled the worst of all the school sluts in a heartbeat.”

“Our ‘cult’ grew stronger; something Allison and I had been fighting since the previous week. Kara convinced us to play along to a degree.”

“So that we’d have a chance to control the message ourselves, and make positive change within the ‘cult’ itself.”

“You managed to accidentally gain a cult following? How?” Tim asked.

“It started with our Program week” Emanuel began. “To the rest of the school at that point...”

“I seemed downright frigid. Manny was one of the few people who I could orgasm with, and he was the only one that had unleashed my scream and my ability to squirt. So I very quickly became the goddess to his sex god status, and a group of people who wanted to learn how to pull off orgasms like that in others began to follow us.”

“Revere us is a better phrase, I think.”

“Sex god?” Amy asked, a glint in her eye.

Did you see that, my loves?

I did, Kara, and I’m going to ignore it. You two are enough for me.

What about Vanessa, sweetheart?

Okay, and Vanessa too. I wasn’t going to add her to the list until we actually have a few dates though. “A nickname given to me by some of my teammates two years ago” he paused for a few moments “that somehow leaked out to the school at large. It definitely wasn’t true then, and all I did to deserve it now was care about my partner’s enjoyment as much as my own.”

“So, how did you become his goddess then Allison?” Colleen asked softly.

“I learned what makes him feel really good, and with the help of a few friends managed to knock him out with an orgasm. It was only for a short time, but it still proved enough to mark me as his equal.”

“And Kara got pulled into that somehow?” Robert asked.

“We’ve had plenty of time to really learn what makes the others tick in that regard, and since the school was already watching me because I was important to them, it didn’t take long for them to catch on to my skills either. It also didn’t hurt that Allison and I have both somehow become safe people to come to for girls questioning their straightness.”

“I imagine your table at lunch is one of those rare mixed kinds, with people from different cliques” Bill replied.

Allison put down her burger. “To the ‘normal’ people, we’re definitely the freak table. But we’re way more friendly and accepting than any of those ‘normal’ tables tend to be.”

“I get the feeling there’s more to your ‘divine’ status among some of your classmates then you’ve said” Colleen muttered under her breath.

Okay then. “You’re right Colleen, there is a little more to the story. But it’s kind of fantastical, and isn’t the kind of thing we want to brag about, per se.”

“You ... you don’t need to if you don’t want to. We respect each other’s privacy here.”

“True, but we don’t mind sharing it here. The three of us have found that we’re able to share a number of different things that couples usually can’t.” She lowered her voice a little. “Have any of you ladies wondered what it feels like for your male partners?”