Enlightenment Through BDSM

It really did feel like stepping from the city streets into the forest as we passed through the door of Woodland Designs. The inside of the building seemed to be made of bark, and there were tree branches everywhere, coming from support pillars, the walls, the floor even in some places. Most had lush green leaves, but a few were bare, serving as hanging racks for all sorts of clothes, usually of dark, earthy colors, made of flowing fabrics, fluttering in the wind that came from the open door before it closed.

“It’s like I’m in The Princess Bride,” I said.

“You’ve actually seen that?” Kalia asked.

“Yeah, my dad’s a big Billy Crystal fan.”

“Was he even in that?”

“Yeah, small part, the doctor.”

I jumped at the sound of a door opening. It made sense that there would be doors, but I hadn’t seen any, and the bit of wood that had split open didn’t look like a door to me even as it swung open.

The woman who walked through took me by surprise. I hadn’t really had anything to go off other than “pointy ears like Kalia,” but I still expected them to look a little alike in other ways. But no, this woman clad in the colors of the forest had fair skin instead of Kalia’s brown, dark brown hair instead of Kalia’s pure white, and earthy green eyes instead of Kalia’s shimmering blue. The ears were the only thing you could use to say they were from the same people really, though even if their eyes didn’t match, they both still seemed otherworldly.

“Welcome,” she said, closing the opening behind her before actually turning to see us. “Welcome to— Gods, what are you wearing!”

She was bounding towards me before I could even think to open my mouth, moving with a speed that startled me, causing me to jump back into the wall as she flew through the shop and grabbed the “collar” of my “dress.”

“Is this supposed to be a dress?” She turned to Kalia, brow furrowed. “What’re you playing at with this poor girl? Is this a sex thing?” 

Kalia laughed, waving the woman off. “She’s newly Reborn. Spawned in with nothing to her name except her tail and ears.”

The shopkeeper turned back to me, staring me down. “Is this true?”

“Yes…” I managed to sputter out between biting my lip. “Lady Kalia gave me this, uhm, dress, so I could have something to wear before we got here.”

“Well, I would personally rather go naked than wear that,” she said, letting go of the cloak, almost throwing it back onto my body. “Doesn’t match your natural colors at all. Come on now, we’ll get that off of you and get you measured.”

I felt like a deer in headlights. She’d said it so nonchalantly, like I wasn’t in the middle of the store, in the middle of the city, in the middle of the day, right next to so many windows. But she’d said she’d be willing to go naked herself, so maybe this wasn’t as big a deal here as I was used to? That wouldn’t make it any less embarrassing for me though.

“‘Come on’, I said! To the curtain,” she carried on as she walked to the other side of the store.

“Oh,” I said out loud.

Kalia chuckled as she started walking after the woman. “Did you really think she meant out here?”

“I don’t know!” I whispered. “Things are weird here.”

“Did it excite you though?”

I bit my lip again, but I’m sure she got her answer from the flush of my burning cheeks anyway.

“Likes being embarrassed; I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I didn’t say that!” I said, still trying my best to speak in a hushed voice. My new mistress catching wind of my humiliation fetish could only bring trouble, even if it was trouble that I happened to like…

“Names Elash, by the way,” the woman, the elf, said once she reached the far corner. “Fitting is back here.”

Now, she had definitely said the word curtain, but what she walked behind wasn’t quite that. It was a thicket of branches and leaves, but as she walked behind it I could still see her moving form, still make out her brown and green outfit as she stood there, even through a barrier that was mostly the same shades.

And as embarrassing as it is to admit, that excited me for some reason… I’d been a little worked up when my mind had raced to conclusions earlier, when I thought I’d be doing this out in the open, and I’d been a little disappointed when I found out that wasn’t the case, strange as that sounds. This wall of not-quite-solid foliage? Maybe it was a good middle-ground, is all I’m saying.

“Uhm, my name’s Mai,” I said  as I stepped back in with her, Kalia standing on the outside. In another internal conflict, I’d been wondering if she would stay out or come inside with me, not sure which of those I really wanted either.

“Pleasure to meet you, Mai,” Elash said as she stretched out a measuring tape, standing just off to the side of a mirror placed up against the wall, the only piece of anything in the entire building so far that didn’t seem straight from nature. “I’m not quite sure what a Reborn had to do to show up in full nature’s garb, you know. That woman out there really telling the truth?”

I nodded. “Yes, she is. I was, well, unlucky I guess?”

She eyed me for a moment, as if trying to make sure I was telling the truth. I was, about that at least, so I wasn’t too worried. 

“Well, the real unlucky thing was getting that awful cloak over your head. So come on now, off with it..”

“Right,” I said. It was perfectly normal, after all. I mean, maybe some underwear would’ve been nice of course, but it couldn’t be helped. I was about to be naked, in my new body, in front of a complete stranger.

God, why did that excite me?