The garment fitted tightly from shoulders to well over the hips.The garment fitted tightly from shoulders to well over the hips. The waist was pulled in quite severely, and since it was boned the entire length, it must have been completely rigid. No wonder she had seemed breathless when they first walked up! The long rubber hobble skirt was tucked underneath it, and revealed the muscular legs and derrier of someone who definitely had been getting her exercise. She stared into his eyes for a few minutes, then noticed him noticing her, and seemed to reach a decision. She grinned, saying, "Be careful what you ask for, you may get it! Right now though, I feel like dancing. Come on, you can't sit there being pathetic all night!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him from his bar stool, while simultaneously shoving "Maid Marion" into the vacated seat. "Marion will stay here, of course." Jason didn't ask why Marion `would stay there of course'. Her silence and the non-expression she wore worried him, though. While Mayhem tugged him with surprising strength in the direction of the dance floor, he resisted a moment, staring back at Marion. She still had that impassive look on her face, staring at nothing in particular. Suddenly, his pickled bloodstream caught up with the sudden rise to his feet, and the dance music faded under a loud buzzing in his ears, and all his attention focused, as if through binoculars, upon the seated woman. She stared captivatingly, if rather vacantly, back at him, their gazes locked together while several hours passed. He had plenty of time to notice little details that had escaped him when `Mayhem' had first introduced them. He saw why she never moved the feather duster. The `bracelet' on the wrist of her dusting hand was locked on by a tiny padlock, and attached directly to her belt at the waist. Moreover, the feather duster was literally glued to her rubber glove, she couldn't put it down, or grasp anything else with that hand. Then too, something was definitely _wrong_ about her face, especially around the eyes. |