Part 5

 When they reached the hotel bar, they were dismayed to discover that the
convention had fairly packed it with bodies, most dressed in some form of
outlandish fetish costumes.  

 "Well people," Mandy said, "it looks like we have two choices: wade into
that lot and try to find someone who's willing to share a table, or go 
back to the room and order room service."

 "I vote for room service," commented Jason, looking at the crowd with a
little distaste, "I mean, this place is WEDGED."

 "Well I vote we wade in," Flora put in, "I LIKE crowds... but then you
knew that."

 "Yeah, we know," Jason shot back sarcastically, "after all, you might get
lucky and get felt up."  He grinned to take the edge off his words.

 Flora made an abortive attempt to pinch him and replied, "Look asshole,
just because you..."

 "That's enough, you two," interrupted Mandy, "remember, this isn't a 
democracy.  Since you sluts can't behave maturely, I withdraw the option.
We go in."  

 "Yes, Ma'am," the two replied in unison, looking somewhat less than
subdued, and happily making childish faces at each other behind Mandy's
back.  

 Mandy tapped a man wearing a tutu on the shoulder and motioned for him 
to step aside.  After turning to look at her, he lowered his gaze and 
complied, and the three of them pressed into the crowd, Flora and Jason 
following her lead. 

 After prowling through the masses for what seemed like 15 minutes, Mandy
stopped in frustration.  She looked around their position, and seemed to
pick a table at random.  It was a small cocktail table with two stools,
both occupied by a young single couple.  Mandy moved closer.

 "Excuse me," Mandy said to the woman, "would you mind if we share your 
table- it's awfully crowded in here."
 
 The woman looked the three of them up and down slowly before replying.
She smiled.

 "Not at all.  Here, you can take Jerry's chair."  She gave a look to
Jerry, who promptly vacated his stool.  "I'm Billy, and this is Jerrold."  
Billy was a big woman, her cleavage practically bursting out of her vinyl
dress, and her rear overflowing the bar stool in several places.  Her 
accent was distinctly British, although Mandy hadn't the faintest idea 
how to tell what part of the country she was from.

 "Just Jerry is fine," Jerrold added.  While also British, his accent was
distinctly different, somehow sounding more aristocratic to Mandy's ears.
 He was tall and thin, with a somewhat hollow face and thinning brown 
hair.
 
 "Pleased to meet you, Just Jerry...  Billy" Mandy answered, "This is 
Flora, and Jason, and I'm Mandy."  They shook hands all around.

 "I'm afraid they're terribly shorthanded, so drinks are going to take a 
while," Billy said.  She seemed to be examining Flora's cleavage, or at
least her purple patent jacket.

 "You'd think they would bring in extra help for a convention," Jason
commented, just to be saying something.  

 They continued to make small talk until a cocktail waitress arrived. She
seemed to be in support of the convention, since she wore a large button
that read, "SPANNER SUCKS". 

 "So," Billy started in, after the drinks had been ordered, "what brings
you Yanks to England?"  She had a slightly loud, flamboyant manner, which
Jason had at first taken to be one drink too many.  Now he saw that that
was just the way she was.

 "Really, it was the convention that gave us the excuse," Mandy replied,
"but I was ready for a vacation anyway.  We ah, had a bit too much
excitement around the old homestead lately, and it seemed like it might 
be a good break for all of us."
 
 "Hah!  I smell a story!" bellowed Billy, while heads turned in the bar,
somewhat to Jason's chagrin.  He glanced at Flora, and found her staring
in rapt fascination at Billy.  Obviously, she wasn't put off by the 
boisterous woman's style at all.  But then, he reminded himself, she IS a
bit of an exhibitionist herself- she looks like she's enjoying this.  He
noticed too, that Mandy and Billy were doing all the talking, and that 
Jerry, like Jason and Flora, seemed to be waiting for something to come
out of the conversation between the two dominants, like dogs under a 
table waiting for a scrap to be dropped.

 "It's a private matter, actually," Mandy said steadily, quietly, staring
directly into Billy's eyes.

 "Hey!  No worries!  We can swap war-stories later.  And..."

 At that point their drinks arrived.  Billy had ordered what was 
nominally a BoilerMaker, except she specified Glennfiddich single malt 
scotch and Guiness, instead of the usual beer and bar whiskey.  
Jason winced at the abuse of fine scotch.

 Mandy bought the round, while Billy flirted with the waitress, 
succeeding in flustering her considerably before she headed for another
table.  Jason resolved to tip her heavily.
 
 "Listen, there's a little get together in our room tonight," Billy
confided, in a conspiratorial tone.  "We've arranged for Miss Kat, the
designer- she's from Germany you know- to use our rooms for a little 
show.  Strictly invitation only, of course."

 "We'd be delighted," Mandy replied softly, still looking directly back
into Billy's eyes.

 "But I thought," started Jason, thinking of their plans.

 "We'd be delighted," Mandy said again, the faintest hint of steel 
audible in her voice.  She didn't turn to look at him, but she didn't 
have to.  Jason shut up fast, deciding that submission was the
better part of valor.

 Billy looked around the table, before settling her eyes nervously back
on Mandy's face.  "Nine sharp, room 1104," she added.  Somehow, her 
expression wasn't quite as confident or masterful now, as when she had
invited them to sit down.

 The conversation turned to clothing, and bondage gear, and other 
pleasantries, staying light and friendly, but Jason could feel that
something had passed between Mandy and Billy, something he couldn't quite
put his finger on.  He knew that a contest had been won, and that it was
Mandy that had won it, but he wasn't quite certain what it was about, or
even whether it mattered.

 Eventually, Mandy excused them from the table, and as if by coincidence,
Billy and Jerry discovered that they too, had to leave.  The party broke
up as quickly as it had formed.  On the way back to their rooms, Jason
broke his silence.  "So, what was _that_ all about?"

 Mandy had a faintly amused grin on her face.  "Oh, just a question of
style," she answered. 

 Despite his prodding, she would go no further, instead quizzing him and 
Flora on what they had seen around the convention so far, and what had 
impressed them the most.

 
                                   -=<O>=-

 "Well, what would we have done anyway?" Mandy fumed, as Jason unlocked
the door to their room.

 "Get real," shot back Jason, "it's Saturday night, half the fetish clubs
in England are within a mile of here, and most of the convention will be
going out and partying like Roman emperors!"
 
 "Jason." Mandy spoke the word quietly, patiently.  She had suddenly 
become very calm, and he knew that he had stepped over a line.

 "Jason," she continued, "have you ever known me to top you or Flora in
matters of our everyday lives?"

 "Well as a matter of fact... Okay, not really, but I," 

 "And do you think I would insist that we go to this party without a 
good reason?"

 "Well no, but,"

 "Then stop arguing.  But me no buts.  Cease and desist.  I've heard some
rumors about what Miss Kat has been working on, and while I can't figure 
out why she would be associating with those losers we met in the bar, I do
know that this party will be showing off something you've never seen
before."

 "Well... hell.  Alright," Jason acquiesced, silently wishing his Mistress
wouldn't be so damned reasonable.

                                   -=<O>=-

 For the party, they all agreed that making a lasting impression was 
called for, so each dug into their baggage for their best fetish finery.
Jason donned something a little uncharacteristic for him: a body harness
they had used for suspension, with a codpiece, a pair of engineer's boots,
and a smile.  The workouts he had been enduring with Flora, who was a bit
of a fitness nut had been paying off, he noticed.  The spare tire he had 
been developing had almost disappeared.

 Flora, on the other hand, dressed more flamboyantly.  The new fluorescent
green stockings were immediately vetoed by Mandy, so she gave up on the 
idea of dressing loud, and instead dressed sexy.  Her transparent amber
latex catsuit left very little to the imagination, including her bald 
head which was plainly visible through the hood.  Like most of her 
outfits, it fit like a second skin, even at the bust, where molded breast
cups "lifted and separated" as well as any Maidenform could.

 "Hey, I remember that," commented Jason, throwing in a wolf whistle for 
emphasis.  "But I thought you were shy about your head," he added.

 "I was- I'm getting over it.  You know how much of an exhibitionist I've
become.  I finally decided that shocking people is more fun than being 
shy and hung up about it.  Besides, I've been hairless for what... three
years now?"

 The only other adornment Flora wore with the suit was her locking heels-
black patent opera pumps with six inch stilettos.

 Mandy, on the other hand, seemed to be opting for a more refined look.
Her black and white diamond pattern dress was crafted from soft kid 
leather, and tailored for a close fit over her corset.  Thigh high white
patent stiletto heeled boots completed her ensemble, and a riding crop
added a badge of authority without overstating things.

 "Well, how do I look?" Mandy asked.

 After making the appropriate appreciative noises, Flora and Jason were
turned round for inspection, and the three headed for the eleventh
floor.

 If the eleventh floor wasn't quite the penthouse, it was certainly 
luxurious enough.  While they looked for Billy's suite, it was obvious 
that something was going on, as another couple exited the other elevator,
dressed in dramatic matching black and silver leather suits.

 They didn't have time to even check the directory numbers on the wall
however, as the booming voice of their host was heard the length of the 
hallway, greeting other guests.  Billy greeted them at the door.

 "Mandy!  So glad you could make it!"  She swept her gaze over Flora and
Jason without actually acknowledging them, and herded them all into the 
main room.  Jerry was serving drinks in a vinyl or perhaps patent leather
maid's uniform, although with his mustache, he had little chance of 
passing for a woman.  Besides, his face was devoid of makeup, and it 
looked as if someone had plopped his somewhat unkempt wig on as an 
afterthought.
 
 Jason inspected the room, sampling a few canapes in the process.  A 
small dais had been set up at one end of the room.  He noticed that the 
air was somewhat chilly too, and commented on it.  

 "Yep!  Sure is!" Billy expounded at top volume, although the background
music from a portable stereo wasn't that difficult to talk over.  When she
spoke, lungs heaving, her more than ample figure bounced within a tight 
rubber sheath dress that looked as if it might explode at any moment.
"Gonna stay that way too- it's for our little demonstration."

 "Might one inquire what we'll be seeing?" asked Mandy drily.

 "One might," shot back Billy, "and you might even get an answer.  Then 
again, you might not!  Hah!  But seriously, this is sort of our unveiling.
 Jerry, my slave you know, is a chemical engineer, works in the rubber 
industry.  Been a rubber nut since he was a kid.  He's cooked up some new 
materials, and when we met Miss Kat at the Eccentric Fashion Show, she 
just had to make some things out of them.  Wait till you see this- every 
rubber and bondage fetishist in the world is gonna want what we've got!  
Too bad it's so damned expensive to make, though.  We're gonna have to 
charge an arm and a leg for it."

 The door to the other rooms of the suite opened, and the elfin face of 
Miss Kat appeared momentarily, catching Billy's eye.  She nodded, walked 
over and chatted with her for a moment, then Miss Kat disappeared again. 
Mandy, Flora and Jason wondered in that direction, but at that point Billy
hopped up on the dais, momentarily endangering the tortured seams of her
dress again, and yelled for silence.

 "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!  Alright, everybody, this is the moment you've all
been waiting for.  What we're going to show off tonight is just a few
prototypes that Miss Kat has been working on, made from a new uh, 
e-lass-toe-mer," she enunciated the word with care, and Jason
realized she hadn't stopped drinking after they'd left the bar.   
"That's it, elastomer, that my husband has been working on.  Wave to 
everyone, Jerry!"

 Jerry, looking decidedly self-conscious in his maid's uniform, waved 
timidly from one corner of the room, a tray of hors de'oeuvres balanced 
on one gloved hand.

 "I'm sorry about the temperature in here folks, but the reason will be
revealed momentarily.  And now..." she paused, probably imagining that
she was being dramatic, "I give you..." another embarrassing pause,
"MISS KAT!"

 The door closest to the dais, and not far from where Jason stood, opened,
and the well-known figure of Miss Kat appeared, smiling demurely, and 
leading two figures by leashes.  Jason was startled to see that she looked
much smaller in real life than in her advertisements.  A draft of very 
warm air came from the other room, and he imagined it must have been 
sweltering for the two rubber-dressed models to dress or wait around in 
there.

 Despite their fetishistic apparel, the two models' appearance was hardly 
unusual, at least for this convention, and Jason leaned closer to get a 
better look.  Admittedly, the garments were polished to a very high gloss,
but that was hardly unique.  He wondered what he and the assembled guests
were supposed to get excited over.

 The female was dressed in rubber thigh boots with only moderately high
heels, shoulder length gloves, and a long victorian-pattern corset-dress,
with undersized holes where her breasts protruded through.  The only thing
striking about her that Jason could see was her unusually small waist, but
even hers paled in comparison to some of the corseted waists he had seen
this weekend.

 The other, a male, was dressed in a simple catsuit, with attached gloves
and feet, and no hood.  Both outfits were jet black, and the only feature
of note was that both appeared to be made from very thick rubber, judging
from the way it flexed as they moved.

 Miss Kat led them up onto the dais, positioning them front and center.
She fiddled at their feet for some time, and Jason saw that she was 
strapping their feet to a pair of wide fixtures sitting on the dais.
 She had the woman put her arms behind her and chest thrust forward, in a 
comic imitation of parade rest position, and positioned the man with arms 
raised, in a standing spread eagle position, before she turned and finally
addressed the gathering.

 "Thank you all for coming."  Her first words startled Jason with their
soft modulation and melodic accent.  He realized why people were so taken
with her after meeting her.

 "Tonight is a kind of premier party I suppose, for my new line of rubber
bondage clothing.  What you are looking at is not latex, nor is it any
other type of rubber you are familiar with.  Our friend Jerry over there
has designed a new alloy of synthetic rubber and a low-melting point
plastic.  Jerry calls it Vinylite.  His employers could see no use for it's
properties, but he did, and when they granted him the patent, he brought 
it to me.  What you see before you is the result of our collaboration."  

 She turned, and walking behind the female, caressing the young woman's 
hip with one gloved hand as she passed.

 "You all saw my models walk up here.  You saw how natural this material
looked, how it stretched and moved, yes?  Now, observe."

 She reached out to borrow a cane from one bystander, who surrendered it
with curious enthusiasm.  Then she whirled, and brought the stout rod down
hard on the booted leg of the woman.  A collective gasp was heard from 
the crowd, since a blow like that from a solid rattan cane could break 
bones, but a stunned silence soon stole over the room, as the truth 
dawned on the assembly.  The sound that had come from the blow was not
the meaty slap that was expected, but a hollow knock.  Nor did the model's
amused smile waver for even a moment.  From there on, Miss Kat proceeded 
to rain blows over all the "rubber" surfaces on her models, eliciting the
same solid *tok* from every blow.  The gloves, the boots, the corselet, 
and the suit were now as rigid as if cast from hard plastic.

 "Vinylite, ladies and gentlemen," announced Miss Kat to a hushed crowd,
"this material softens and becomes stretchy and pliable above about thirty
two degrees Celsius, or about ninety degrees Fahrenheit.  Lower the 
temperature only five degrees or more, and it becomes quite rigid and 
hard, as you can see.  My poor girl here can still bend at her bare waist,
which might be convenient, but she can no longer extract her arms from 
their position behind her back, or bend her legs or her torso, leaving her 
quite helpless... and her front free for me to play with."  Here, she 
tweaked a nipple, finally eliciting a flinch on her model's face.

"...and this poor man over here," she went on, "is entirely encased, so 
he is just plain stuck in that position for the duration."  She smacked 
him on the fanny, and Jason was glad the two were fastened to the stage, 
since otherwise the man would have toppled forward into the guests.

 "I should add too, that no polish or cleaner is required.  The shine 
that you see here is entirely a property of the material, and is renewed
whenever the garment is softened.  Now then, I'll be happy to entertain 
any questions..."

 The crowd was silent for several seconds while the impact of what they
had seen sank in.  Then Jason was startled to hear Flora's voice speak
up.

 "Yes.  I was wondering, is this... Vinylite when it's soft, I mean, is 
it as stretchy as rubber?  I mean, does it have the same ahh..."

 "Elasticity?" finished Miss Kat for her.  Flora nodded.

 "Almost.  It won't stretch quite as far as natural latex, but it has
almost the same feel, in terms of initial stretch, and it's tensile
strength is much higher."

 "What about cost?" a tall redhead in green leather wanted to know.

 "The cost is high," Miss Kat replied, "as you might expect for an exotic
material like this.  About two and a half times the cost of natural latex.
This is due to the laborious manufacturing methods we have had to use up
to now.  We hope to have a large manufacturer start making it for us in 
about a year, and after that, the price should drop."

 "Will you be selling the plain material, or just finished articles?" 
asked another.

 "For now, we will only sell completed articles.  When we get a larger
production run, we may sell the raw sheet.  That won't be for at least
a year."

 Several more questions were asked and answered, but slowly, the party
fell back into it's previous stand-around-and-chat mode, and shortly, 
Jason found himself at the edge of a conversation among Miss Kat, Billy, 
and Mandy, who was apparently setting up a demonstration for Flora.

 He tagged along when they had worked it out, and the three of them 
followed Miss Kat into the adjoining room.  The heat had been turned off,
and the air-conditioning was struggling along, but the room was still
uncomfortably warm.  Miss Kat showed them a large wardrobe of Vinylite
clothing and bondage gear, hanging from clip hangers on an impromptu
display assembled from four bellman's carts.

 "This is what we've made so far," she said.

 "You've been busy," Mandy observed.  "Didn't you say you'd only started
making it two months ago?"

 "Yes.  Jerry has been working himself to death keeping up with me and
the shop- we've all been very busy- we wanted to have plenty of things
ready for this convention."

 Mandy flipped casually through the garments, the hard plastic-like
material, rattling like bamboo wind chimes.  It was hard for Jason to tell
what some of the articles were, since it was impossible to straighten
them or unfold them, now that the room had cooled off.  Most of the pieces
appeared to be suits, both full-body catsuits or upper body binders, like
straight jackets.

 Mandy looked very interested, despite the somewhat confusing array of 
misshapen objects.

 "Do you have anything like a woman's full body catsuit, but with cutouts
for both the breasts and crotch?"

 "Actually yes, I believe I have two of them," Miss Kat answered.  "The 
cutouts are fairly standard, since we expect most people to use these 
garments for bondage, and it's always nice to be able to access the more 
sensitive parts of one's slave."  She fumbled through the articles on 
another rack.

 "And this is for her?" she asked, gesturing at Flora.

 "Yes.  She's a fairly standard size 10, except through the chest."

 "Excellent.  And of course, the bust is not a problem, since they won't
be inside the garment.  Ah, here we are!  I think this is the one."

 She hefted a suit from the rack, removed it from the hanger clips, and
carried it, like a carpenter carrying a board, across the room.
 
 "If you'll follow me?"  

 Without waiting for a reply, she walked into the bathroom.  Mandy, Jason,
and a somewhat reluctant Flora followed.  Miss Kat ran hot water over the
neck of the suit, and when it softened, pulled back the collar to look
inside.

 "Yes, this should fit, I think.  Would you care to try it on?" she asked
Flora.

 Flora blushed, and glanced at Mandy, who merely raised one eyebrow.

 Flora looked back at Miss Kat and nodded.

 "How," began Jason, and then silenced as he saw what Miss Kat had in
mind.

 She opened the shower door, saying, "We have found that a convenient way
of donning these garments is in the shower.  Just take it in with you,
run the water as hot as you can stand it, and soften the suit under the
spray.  You will have to keep all of it warm while you are putting it on,
so I recommend using the heater as well."  Here she flipped the light 
switch that turned on the heat lamp in the ceiling.  Jason reflected that
at Mandy's house at least, this wouldn't be necessary.  Not only did they
have a sauna that doubled as a steam room, Mandy had had a fancy Kohler
shower/sauna/jacuzzi unit installed in her master bath. 

 Flora accepted the suit from Miss Kat, and looked startled.

 "God, it's so heavy!"

 "Yes," the designer replied, "we have to make the material very thick to
be sure it is strong enough.  Otherwise, a strong person could break it 
when it is in the hardened state.  Why don't go ahead and get it on, and
we'll wait outside."

 Jason was glad to get out of the bathroom, as the heat lamp was already 
making it uncomfortable.  The outer room had returned to a reasonable
temperature, and Jason silently thanked the engineer who had specified
the air conditioning for these rooms.

 Shortly, they heard the shower start, and they sat down, taking the 
drinks Miss Kat offered them, and making small talk.  At one point, 
Jerry came in and passed around a tray of crab meat canapes, and then
scurried out again when Billy bellowed for him from the other room.

 Eventually, the running water stopped.  This seemed to be a signal for
all conversation to stop.  The three waited, Miss Kat patiently, Mandy and
Jason rather more breathlessly.

 Finally, the door opened.  Flora came out amid a cloud of steam, her face
slightly flushed, and water streaming from her shiny black body.

 "I tried drying off," she said, "but the towel dulled the finish, so I
gave up.  Wow, this is like wearing liquid armor!  And it really holds
the heat- you could lose weight wearing this."

 The gleaming black suit fit her body as if it had been molded for her 
alone, every shining curve picking up highlights from the lamps in the 
room.  The only bare skin visible was her face, in the cutout of the hood,
and her breasts, jutting out comically from the two holes in the chest of
the suit.  

 "Walk around a bit," suggested Miss Kat.

 "And tell me how it feels," added Mandy.

 Flora paced along the room, stopping in front of them for a slow 
pirouette, showing off her delicious curves.  

 "It feels," she started, "um, well, now it feels kind of stiff.  When it
was hotter, it was just like one of my thick rubber suits, only much
heavier, more restrictive.  A little harder to move around in.  Miss Kat
was right, it does stretch an amazing amount for as thick as it is."

 She stopped and moved her arms around experimentally.

 "It's getting difficult to move, I think it's cooling off."  They could
plainly see the extra exertion in her face as she walked stiffly back 
toward the couch where they sat.

 "Umm, it's really getting hard to move," she continued. "I think, ahh,
what position would you like me in, ma'am?" she looked at Mandy, her
eyes aflame.  She obviously getting turned on by the increasingly 
restrictive suit.

 "Walk over to the wall there," Mandy ordered.  "Right.  Now turn around,
face the wall, and lean against it."  Flora obliged.

 "Um, Mandy, I don't think I'm going to be able to move much longer," 
Flora said.

 "That's fine- that's just how I want you."  Mandy walked up to her and 
felt Flora's ass and back.

 "Incredible, fucking incredible" she murmured.  She moved her hands over
Flora's helmet-encased head, her shoulders, her hips. 

 "You like it," observed Jason.

 "Like it?" Mandy shot back, "I fuckin' _love_ it!"  

 That much is obvious, Jason thought.  Mandy rarely swore.  The exceptions 
seemed to be when she was particularly angry or particularly aroused.

 "Mmm, this is very, very nice," put in Flora.  "Ahh, I guess it's about
has hard as it's going to get, 'cause I can't move any more."

 "Try hard," Mandy said.

 "MMPH!  Wow, um, nope- I'm, ahh, no, I'm really stuck."  Jason recognized
the sounds of lust in Flora's voice.

 "Good," was Mandy's only reply.  She opened her purse and withdrew a 
bundle of black rubber.  The pump gag went into Flora's mouth, the strap
around her rigid head.

 Then, "Jason, would you be so kind as to fetch the TENS kit from our 
room?"

 "MMMMPH!" Flora said.  The shining, rigid black suit enveloping her
body moved not at all.

                                                    ...to be continued
--