Preparations

When Ara woke up the next day, her hair and eyes had gone back to their normal color. It was relatively late in the morning, but not too late for breakfast yet. She got off the bed, washed herself and got dressed, then she looked at the belt. Oberon said he could pretend it hadn't been unlocked for that one time, which probably meant the cost -how much was it again?- wasn't automatically added to her debt but was instead done manually. She took the chastity belt in hand, and after a relatively long pause she dropped it down. She had kept it off the whole night, she might as well wait until after breakfast to put it back on. And the fact that she didn't have the key made the idea of waiting a bit more really, really appealing. And so she headed downstairs, confident that after the previous day's accident she could keep herself together in front of a small Oberon. When she walked into the kitchen, however, the one to greet her was actually the normal, tall Oberon.

"Good morning"

"Ah... good morning..." she replied, a bit of disappointment in her voice "Where is Rena?" she asked, in a quick attempt at not talking about his stature.

"In her room getting some paperwork done"

"Say... about yesterday..."

"Have you put the belt back on?"

"Actually... not yet"

"I know I said I wouldn't count it" he replied as he placed her breakfast on the table "But I'm afraid you're taking it a bit too far now"

"I honestly think I actually deserve some respite from that, given what I've been going through"

"This is something you should discuss with the mistress, not with me"

Ara sighed. She was quite sure Oberon used Eve as an excuse only because she really was the one who made all those decisions, but his shaking off certain arguments like that was rather annoying.

"... a-anyway, sorry for... yesterday"

"Don't worry about it"

Then, just as she was about to sit down, Eve walked in, followed by both Ophelia and Ferdinand, each carrying several shopping bags. Oberon immediatly dropped what he was doing to turn toward his mistress. Without ceremony she took a seat then made a long list of dishes which probably were supposed to be her breakfast as Ophelia and Oberon immediatly started cooking. She then told Ferdinand to literally go fetch Rena, and only then she turned to Ara, who was still rather dumbfounded by her sudden appearance.

"I knew you'd have yet to eat at this hour"

"It's... it's nice to see you too, Eve..."

"So, how are things going here?"

"How do you expect them to go exactly?" she asked back as she -finally- sat down.

Shortly after Rena walked in, surprised by Eve's sudden arrival as well. She sat down too while Ferdinand went to get a bottle of wine -a rather expensive one, unlike those they usually had there- and poured her a glass before going back to standing behind her, to her left.

"I guess you're here in preparation for the fair?" the elf asked then.

Eve took her sweet time savoing her drink before replying.

"Indeed, and since this is the first time you take part in it there are some things you need to know beforehand"

Then Ophelia and Ferdinand started serving her breakfast. Almost all of those dishes were new to Ara, and they all looked rather... something between high cuisine and straight up extravagance. Though given the size of each portion, calling them samples might have been more appropriate than using the word dishes. Eve started eating, and the main reason neither Ara nor Rena got particularly annoyed was that they had known her for a long enough time. That, and one way or another she was sort of their employer at the moment.

"Let's start with the most important one. During the fair you must always wear a mask when in front of other people, and it must be the same one from the first to the last day of the fair. The only exception is for those who host events, run an activity or work at one. They are allowed to have two different masks, one for work and one for when they're not doing business. Always keep your mask on in front of others, walking around without it is like saying that you don't care what anyone does to you, and is considered the mark of a vulgar person. In the worst case you won't make it to the end of the fair as a free -or living- person anymore"

"You're... kidding, right?"

"Why are the masks so important?" Ara asked.

"You can think about it as a sort of pretense of anonymity. At first it was simply that, but over time it became a bit more... extreme. I'll give you two your masks before the fair begins, don't worry about that. As for your clothes, as long as they're not plain anything will do. And later today others will arrive to start the preparations for the fair, so don't go out nor close to a window without the curtains closed without your masks"

Which meant don't go out at all since they had none at the moment.

"I hope we won't be the only ones to still be easily recognizable?" Rena inquired, clearly talking about her own ears.

"People using masks that still leaves them easily recognizable aren't rare, you don't have to worry about that. It's a "pretense" of anonimity for a reason"

"You make it sound like a rather weird dress code, with... excessive implications. Really extreme"

"When all is said and done, that's exactly what it is"

She then took a rather long pause to eat some more. Around fifteen minutes later she spoke again.

"There are a few animals I need to have checked on before the third day of the fair" she then told Rena as Ferdinand handed the elf a small piece of paper with a list written on it.

"This... I think I can get it done in time if that's what you ask" she responded after having read it "But that's if nothing major comes up during the check ups. Actually, it's better if I get started right away just to make sure" she said as she got up and left.

"So, Ara" Eve then said, and for some reason she felt a chill run down her spine.

She was actually rather surprised when Eve started eating again. And it took around half an hour for her to finish, which rather unnerved Ara.

"Alright. Oberon, with me. Ara too. Ferdinand, get my room ready. Ophelia, once you're done cleaning here bring me a list of the inventory"

Without waiting for replies -which wouldn't have come anyway as they weren't needed from her servants or wanted in Ara's case- she headed upstairs. The three of them walked to Ara's room, and Eve went straight to her wardrobe. She opened it and started going through her clothes.

"H-hey, what's with that?" she asked.

"Mmh, I think I'll have to get you something for the..." Eve started saying, but then her gaze fell on something. Which is to say, the chastity belt.

Ara noticed it and froze. Eve took the belt in hand and turned around.

"Say, how long has this been here?"

"Well... not much... around..."

"Let me remind you that you're far from the best liar around"

"Y... yesterday... around lunch..."

"You do know that this affects your debt, right?"

"It doesn't make any sense though" she replied "Why do I even have to wear it in the first place?"

"Let's put it this way. You do a little live performance for a few paying guests, and I'll overlook this" she said.

At this point it's probably better to explain a small detail. Eve had yet to see the recordings from the previous day, that's why she didn't know about the belt yet. But she did put Oberon in charge of keeping the remaining sum of the debt up to date, and because of that she wouldn't have found about that removal of the belt not being counted. As long as Ara didn't take it too far, that is.

"... wait, what do you mean with live performance?"

"What you do for work here, but in front of other people"

"You -!"

Ara walked up to Eve but a moment before her hands could reach her Oberon grabbed her from behind and dragged her back while holding her wrists. Considering that she was in perfect condition, keeping her still wasn't exactly easy and he wasn't sure for how long he could actually do it.

"How can you even ask me something like that?!"

"Now, don't get the wrong idea. You'll wear a mask -one for work- and it will alter your voice a bit. Your clothes will be picked for the event as well, and trust me, during the fair masks and clothes are more important than faces. Even then, you'll have tails and ears during the performance, adding the white hair and red eyes to all of that the chances of someone recognizing you during the rest of the fair are nonexistent. And even if someone did recognize you, they wouldn't care as much as you think"

"Do you really think I'll agree to something like this just because I didn't wear that damn belt?!" she replied as she tried to kick her. Eve just took a couple of steps back.

"Don't get me wrong, I'll take a million and a half off your debt if you do that"

Ara froze. That was a whole third of the money she owed Eve. Granted, it would still leave her with three millions to pay off -three millions minus whatever she had earned up to that moment, she really had to ask about that- but it was nonetheless an huge sum.

"I also won't mind if you decide to not wear the chastity belt from now until the fair's end. Excluding the first three days of it"

A long silence, during which Ara's mind had turned into a storm. Eventually she spoke.

"How... how many people will... watch? Assuming I accept"

"Fifteen"

Does that mean they all would pay an hundred thousand to watch?

"I..."

"You can let her go" Eve told Oberon, who did so "I need your answer in twenty four hours, Ara" she said as she walked out, gesturing her servant to follow her. Truth is, the whole negotiation was a farce. The part about the belt was something she came up with on the moment, but she had planned to take that sum off her debt from the start. Were Ara to refuse to perform, then Eve would have used... other methods to make her change her mind. But if possible she wanted her to do that willingly. Courtesy of a friend, one might say. A weird courtesy of a weird friend.

Ara spent the rest of the day thinking about that. She really didn't like the idea of others seeing her doing... that, but the chance of reducing her debt by more than a million all at once was hard to ignore. And Eve seemed to stress the fact that at the fair common values seemed to be way off, so maybe she really wouldn't have been judged for doing something like that. The part about the belt wasn't that important compared to the rest, but it was a nice addition. Then again, other people watching...

The next day, at lunch. Rena was thankfully busy with the sudden deadline to ask Ara about what she was doing with Oberon two days before, but she did notice she looked pensive the previous day at dinner. Even aside from that, Eve's arrival had changed quite a few things. For starters, the meals. It's as if they'd gone from eating home cuisine to eating at a five stars restaurant. Ara and Rena did wonder why Oberon didn't cook like that for them, though they both came up with a different reason. Second, the place became busy, with the three servants carrying boxes from the last floor to the entrance -there were at least two hundreds of them-, sorting them in some order, setting up what seemed to be a stall -a luxurious one- outside the menagerie, and other things. As for Eve's room, neither Rena nor Ara got to see it as apparently it was behind the locked door.

Rena finished eating first and went to the elevator right away. Ara didn't take much longer. Eve, instead, was savoring every single bite, to the point it took her almost an hour longer to finish. Then she turned to Ara.

"So, what's your decision?"

"I'd like to see what my p... partner would be, before giving you an answer"

Surprisingly thoughtful of you

She stood up and walked out, with Ara walking behind her. Two of her servants were working in the entrance hall, while Ophelia was somewhere else.

"Oberon, show Ara her mate. Ferdinand, you can clean up the kitchen" she said before walking away.

Soon after, Ara and Oberon were standing in the forth antechamber of the ninth floor. She didn't even pay much attention to what was in the room as they stepped into the dome. The environment there was a forest, a rather normal one at first glance. On second glance, everything seemed to be scaled up a bit in size. A few things, like the bushes, were almost normal, but a few trees seemed to be twice as large than normal.

"This way" he said as he started walking.

Ara was... not too nervous, and that surprised her a bit. Maybe because regardless of her decision, she wouldn't have worked that day. She followed Oberon for a short while, then he stopped. She didn't need him to to tell her where to look as it was rather hard to not see it.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Ara asked as she looked at the fox resting on a tree branch.

It was large. Not as big as an horse, but still enough for a person, maybe two, to comfortably ride it. It's fur was thick, smooth and shiny, of a deep black with shades of dark blue here and there. It's ears were oddly large, or rather elongated, and under them was another, far smaller pair. It had two large eyes, each with two irises of a vibrant blue. Lastly, it had four long tails. Maybe they had interrupted its nap, as the fox seemed to yawn. Its gaze fell on Oberon, but quickly moved from him to Ara. They stared at each other for a short while, then apparently it lost interest in her too and went back to napping.

"So?" asked Oberon.

"I... I think I can... do it" she said, more to herself than to him. She wondered if it was because she had hosted Eun in her body for a long time that the fox looked almost... appealing.

The remaining five days went by rather quickly. The night before the fair Ara had some trouble falling asleep, which maybe was a bit childish but on the other hand also quite comprehensible. She woke up early -or rather, at a normal hour- the next morning, and Rena was a bit surprised to find her already awake. Eve, on her part, had gotten up before sunrise, though she did spare some time to have breakfast with them. Ophelia was nowhere to be seen though.

"How are things going?"

"I'll finish today, at worst tomorrow morning" Rena replied.

"So, uh, what kind of... things can we do at the fair?" Ara asked. Truth be told, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Everyone here calls it a fair, but maybe saying a festival would give off a better idea of it. Anyway, there is quite the variety of activities, shops and events, but if I had to pick a word to describe them I would probably go with hedonism"

"Hedonism?" Ara commented, as somehow that word made her exhibition seem far more normal.

"You'll both be busy for the first few days anyway, so it's better if you just wait. I'll have one of my servants show you around on the third, maybe fourth day"

"At least it sounds interesting" Rena commented before heading to the elevator.

Shortly after that Eve and Ara finished eating as well.

"So... what do I have to do these two days, exactly?"

"Getting ready for your exhibition, obviously"

For some reason Ara didn't like how that sounded, at all. And when she remembered that she was supposed to wear the chastity belt for the first two days of the fair she got even more worried. Eve got up and gestured both her and Oberon to follow her, and for the first time Ara got to see what was behind the locked door. And truth be told, it was nowhere near what she had expected, though she wasn't sure what she was expecting in the first place. The room was relatively large, and almost buried in papers and document holders, with only a single desk and a chair besides those. That, and stairs going both up and down. They walked upstairs. That space looked a lot more like a normal room. There was a bed -an incredibly fancy canopy bed-, several wardrobes, three desks, no windows, a door and a rather large bag.

"Sit on the bed" Eve told Ara as she pointed at one of the desks.

She nervously did so while Oberon grabbed from said desk a bottle of what seemed to be wine and two glasses, then served them. Eve casually drank it, while Ara hesitated a bit.

"Would you rather be able to see the onlookers or not?" she then asked.

"Eh?"

"They paid for it so they will obviously get to see you, but if you'd rather not see them I can use one-way mirrors"

"That's..." she started saying, then she gulped down the drink -it was bitter- and took a brief pause before talking again "I don't know, really... you didn't bring me here just to ask this, right?"

Eve drank another glass and gestured Oberon to pour Ara another one as well.

"No, of course not" she replied as she took the suspicious-looking bag and pulled Ara's chastity belt out of it "As I said before, you're here to get ready for the event"

"What do you... mean... "

She suddenly felt her head spin. Her vision became extremely blurry and her limbs grew extremely weak. Then she lost consciousness. For a few minutes only though, after which she woke up again. Thing is, she was tied to the bed, with leather cuffs around her wrists and ankles, each bound to a different edge of the frame by a sturdy chain. She had enough room to move around a bit, but not enough to actually unfasten the cuffs herself. Well, obviously.

"... wait... what..." she said, still dazed.

"You see this?" Eve asked as she showed her a sort of remote with a single button on it "Press this if you need something, something important. Only for that" she said as she placed it on the bed, where Ara could reach it even with her hands restrained "If you call us to ask to let you off the bed we'll stop coming"

"What... are you talking... about?" she asked, the confusion from the drink quickly being replaced by the one caused by Eve's words.

"The room is soundproof, so don't worry about that" Eve continued as she pulled Ara's pantyhose and panties down.

That apparently made her snap back to full consciousness.

"Wait, what are you doing?!"

Ignoring her, Eve casually slid a small egg vibrator inside Ara. Then another one in her butt. And then used a piece of scotch tape to fix a third one on her clit.

"E-Eve!"

She kept ignoring her as she put her clothes back in place, then turned all three the vibrators on. Ara... actually almost didn't feel them. That possibly confused her even more. It's not that she didn't actually feel them, it's just that the vibrations were really, really weak.

"Just what..."

Then Eve took a piece of cloth, poured something over it and moved closer to Ara's face. She instinctively tried to get away, obviously to no avail, and Eve placed the damp cloth on her mouth and nose, tying it behind her head so that she couldn't shake it off. A sweet, pungent scent immediatly hit her.

"Eve, what is this?!"

"As I said, preparations" she replied, a bit annoyed that she had to repeat herself again, as she headed to the stairs "Remember, if you push that button for no reason we'll just ignore it when you use it out of actual necessity" she said, then walked downstairs without waiting for a reply. She didn't tell Ara about the hidden cameras though. Well, she didn't know there were cameras in the menagerie in the first place, otherwise she would have probably suspected there were some in that room as well.

"Are you kidding me!?"

Her limbs were a bit sore, probably because of what she had drunk. She took a few moments to calm down, and that's when she noticed that there was a mirror on top of the bed, which meant she could get a perfect look at herself. What an odd place, for a mirror.

The first few minutes were simply... normal, as normal as they could be given the situation. The cloth was a bit bothersome since it was damp, but the strong scent was actually a bigger annoyance. As she regained full sensibility in her arms and legs, she started to move around a bit, to test her restraints, then she started pulling against them. The vibrations in her underwear were rather... well, they were too weak to really be a problem, for the time being at least. As she struggled against the chains, however, she started to feel hot. The scent coming from the clothes seemed to get stronger too and, although only faintly, she felt a familiar tingling between her legs.

"No, no, just no" she said as the vibrations apparently got somewhat stronger.

Her gaze fell on the mirror, but she looked away the moment she saw her hair and eyes were beginning to change color. Quickly enough she realized neither the chains nor the cuffs would have come off, and so she tried to think about events completely unrelated to anything sexual. It worked, at first. But as time went by, the tingling grew stronger and stronger, while the actual physical stimulus remained painfully weak. Keeping her mind off that became really hard. At one point she realized she was sweating. She was a bit thirsty, but for some reason she didn't want to push that button, maybe because doing so would have been like admitting she was in trouble. And she totally was. There weren't clocks in the room, or at least she couldn't see any from her position, so she had no way to know exactly for how long she had been like that. She could tell her panties were wet, and if she had to guess she'd have said her nipples were hard too. She got confirmation of the last part when she felt them poking against her bra. At some point she gave in to the frustration and started squirming against the chains again, with no results. Her gaze fell on the mirror and she saw that she had already gotten to the point of having grown a tail. Her breath was quite ragged, and her face flushed.

Someone eventually walked back in. Which is to say, Eve. Followed by Ophelia. The first thing Ara noticed was that Eve's dress was... elegant. As in really, really elegant. And also rather unusual, the fabric molded into shapes somewhat resembling feathers at the end of the sleeves, the skirt and the mantle. Because she was also wearing a rather large mantle. Every piece of clothing was white, with pink and golden decorations here and there. Together with a white mask, which covered her whole face and had several decorations on it, both pink and golden just like her dress, she had a rather... royal look. She walked to a desk and took her mask off. Ophelia, on her part, placed down a tray -a three-levels one- on another table before walking away.

"It's lunch break" Eve then said "Rena is having a few problems with her job so she'll probably eat directly in the dome, so I thought I might as well bring your food here"

"You... !"

She walked up to Ara, pulled down her pantyhose and panties with a single motion then, without any ceremony, removed all three vibrators at once. Ara held her voice in. Eve then put the chastity belt on her, then removed the cloth from her face. Instead she took a different one and pushed it against her mouth and nose for a few seconds, during with Ara uselessly struggled against the ropes. After that Eve untied her, without bothering fixing her clothing. Trying to ignore the aching between her legs, Ara stood up and stretched her limbs. Which suddenly felt oddly weak, though she knew why.

"The fair is going smoothly" Eve said as she walked to the tray and started eating "The first day or two we're usually visited by those who had already booked some goods and only need to retrieve them, but since there's lots of them it's quite busy. Most of the boxes you saw in the entrance hall contain that"

A brief silence, then Ara decided that ignoring her thirst would have been both stupid and pointless, so she took a seat in front of Eve and, after drinking four glasses of water, started eating as well.

"What's the point of... this?" she asked between a mouthful and the other.

"To make sure you'll be in the right mood for your live performance. I'd like to show you around the fair myself after that, but I had already filled my agenda for these two weeks around six months ago. I'll try to keep an afternoon free the next year"

Ara wasn't sure she liked how friendly Eve was acting. It's not that they weren't friends, it's just that... well, being friends with Eve was a rather unique experience, she realized that a few years ago. Though she'd have never guessed it would be that much unique. Anyway, they spent the next hour or so Talking. At that point Ara had realized that she couldn't really reason with Eve -quite ironic, considering that Eve was, technically speaking, a machine-, and so she had given up on arguing. Conversating about what were overall trivial things, anyway, helped her get her mind off the tingling feeling too. Until Ferdinand walked in.

"The break is over"

"So, uh... mind if I take a look around the fair?" Ara asked.

"Of course I do" Eve replied as she stood up.

"Eh?"

Ferdinand grabbed Ara's shoulders from behind and threw her back on the bed. She tried to get off it but Eve's drones came out of nowhere to push her back down. It had actually been months since she last saw them so in a certain way that was almost nostalgic. The feeling of the cuffs locking around her wrists brought her back to the present, albeith too late. Eve bound her ankles to the bedframe too then pulled down Ara's lower clothing again, removed the chastity belt and put the vibrators back in place, then pushed her panties and pantyhose back up, all the while ignoring her protests.

"Same as this morning, Ara" Eve said as she tied another damp piece of cloth to Ara's face "I'll see you at dinner" she concluded while putting her mask back on.

"Wait, Eve! Eve!"

Ara's shouts were ignored -again- as she was left alone for the second time, wondering why she was so bad at standing her ground againts certain people. The previous hour or so of rest did help her a bit, but still. In what probably was half an hour she felt like she had gone back to the same state she was in when Eve came for lunch. The rest of the afternoon proved to be an hellish one, just as she had feared. The aphrodisiac -what else could the cloth be wet with?- combined with the constant vibrations on three spots at once kept increasing her arousal. To make things worse, the vibrations never increased in intensity, and since they weren't hitting any of her sweet spots either -well, there was the one on her clit but it was also on an even lower setting than the other two- she just couldn't manage to reach an orgasm, and the fact that there was nothing preventing her from hurting herself as much as needed made it that much more frustrating. At one point she started struggling against the cuffs, violently, causing the chains to rattle relatively loudly. And while she did vent some... anger that way, the only other thing she accomplished was exhausting herself and helping the circulation of the aphrodisiac through her body. She could tell without looking at the mirror -she had been actively avoiding doing so- that her tails were now two, and they were both waving energetically.

Eventually came dinner, and it didn't go much differently from lunch. Aside from Ara trying to jump on Eve and Oberon stopping her. Ara was then casually dismissed, and Oberon accompanied her back to her room. There she sat on the bed.

"I'm not sure I can stand her when she acts like that" she told herself as she remained alone.

She was feeling... a bit nervous, truth be told. There was only one day left between her and the performance, and she was already having second thoughts about it. She took a look at her masks, which were resting on the table. Mainly at the one she would have worn during her exhibition. It was white with red decorations, and it was made to resemble, albeith somewhat vaguely, a fox. The shape was rather peculiar, as it left her right cheek exposed. She tried it on again and spoke. Her voice really sounded a bit different. Just a bit, but still. She put it back on the table, walked to the kitchen to grab something else to eat then headed to her bed. Keeping her hands from scratching against the belt, she managed to fall asleep relatively quickly. She was both angry, disappointing and in a certain way relieved that the first day of the fair had gone like that, but maybe the second one would have gone better.

She woke up the next morning, got up and yawned as she stretched her arms, the tingling already preventing her from relaxing. Then she rubbed her eyes one more time, and her fur pricked up as she realized that she wasn't in her room.

Thank you for reading.