Stripped in the Snow (Holiday Contest)
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2021 6:23 am
This is my first story, so I'd love some feedback. I hope it makes the holiday contest judging, but if not, thanks to Lady Lucia for inspiring me to write my first ENF story! For anyone who doesn't know, "Hogmanay" is Scottish New Year's Eve. Happy New Year!
Stripped in the Snow
Part 1 - Captured
Frost. It has a bad reputation; dead crops, and wicked fairies called Jack and so on. But when it settles on dead leaves and barren trees it turns a black forest into a crystal palace. So thought Julia Selwyn as she ran her fingers along the edge of a shimmering icy leaf.
‘Is it really this beautiful, or am I just this happy?’ The slender champagne blonde was waiting to meet her new girlfriend. Clarissa (or Lizzy) was a cherub-faced brunette of 5’1 (barely taller than Julia’s 4’10) who, after three months of sideways glances and delightfully-tense conversations had finally asked her out! It had taken Julia all of three seconds to say yes, and their first dinner date had gone wonderfully. They clicked so well that with just days left before the break Lizzy had told practically everyone they were dating.
Of course, Lizzy hadn’t actually asked her permission to tell people; Julia was a very private girl, and would turn cherry red if anyone asked her about her love life. She’d much rather have kept it a secret, sultry affair, but she was so thrilled they were together at all that Lizzy’s little inconsideration had barely registered.
Thrilled. That was the word. She was thrilled. The glow of new love did more to warm her in the icy air than her fur-lined coat. For their second date, she and Lizzy had arranged to meet in the myrtlewood, behind the rivermarket. School was out, and the teenagers of the town would be holding the Hogmanay Ball tonight (their school didn’t have a prom so this was the dance of the year).
Not being a party-girl, Julia had suggested they have a lovers’ night alone in the woods. The sun was setting, they’d have candles, food, and Julia had even brought a cheeky bottl- “Mmpf!”
A hand clapped over Julia’s mouth and pulled her tight, while others grabbed her arms and waist. ‘What the hell, what the HELL!?’ ran Julia’s terrified thoughts as the attackers consolidated their grip. Held as if in a vice her struggles died.
Now she heard giggles, but whoever had got her they were all still behind her. Her wide eyes stared into the frosty forest, until the long fingers over her mouth began to tilt her head back.
She watched the world move until she was staring, helpless, into the greenest eyes she had ever seen.
‘Moira?’
Moira, the girl grinning down at her, was one of the most famous and notorious girls at her school. A year above Julia, she was one of those people who radiated charisma. She was the leading lady of the school drama club, and was followed most places by a gang of doe-eyed underlings (what others might call “friends”). What made her famous though wasn’t the plays, but the stories, which Julia had heard for as she’d been at the school. One said she’d swum Loch Ellrig naked in January, just to prove she could. Another, that she kept a parrot which she’d stolen from the Edinburgh Zoo. No one had actually seen her do this, but some claimed to have seen the parrot, and Elsie Swire had definitely been arrested for trying to repeat the stunt. When, last year, someone had cut an old car in half and welded it back together around the school flag pole, and everyone had been sure it was moira (though they’d sworn to administrators her parents were away (which was often), she threw strange parties in her big house, parties with liquor and dancing and things the guests smuggly refused to talk about at school the next day. She’d even invited Julia once or twice, but since that was exactly the sort of thing Julia wouldn’t want to do, she’d politely declined.
Given that those brief exchanges were the sum total of their interaction with each other WHAT THE HELL was happening now?
“Hello little girl,” said Moira, in a voice dripping with gleeful menace. Julia felt herself being spun around, then her breath caught in her throat.
Framed in the black and white trees was Lizzy, held by the arms by two girls Julia vaguely recognized from school. On seeing her girlfriend Julia tried again to break free, but again got nowhere. Lizzy just stared at the ground.
“Little Julia,” Moira crooned as Julia felt her head snap back to meet those green eyes, “Your girlfriend and I are going to play a little game, and you’re going to be the prize. Do you like that?” Julia felt Moira move her head up and down.
“Good. Bring ‘em ta tha clearing girls!”
So Julia was dragged by this band of marauders into the clearing that should have been her romantic grotto. Her eye’s sought Lizzy’s, but Lizzy was still staring at the ground. They were dragged to a rotten old wooden picnic table and benches where the girls (still holding each arm) seated Lizzy. One of the other girls began unloading a rucksack, while Moira moved to stand in front of Julia and took her hand from the terrified girl’s mouth.
“What’s happening? What the Hell Moira why are you doing this what’s happen-”
“Shhh,” Said Moira, pressing two fingers to Julia’s lips. Out of fear or sheer confusion, Julia fell silent. “Good girl.”
Moira stepped back and eyed Julia up and down, which gave Julia her first chance to really take in her attacker. At 5’9, Moira towered over Julia. Silky black hair framed an alabaster face then cascaded down her back. She wore a midnight blue wool coat over a bright red blouse and a curvy bust. Her lips were plain pink and slightly smiling, and her eyes were like flawless emeralds. Standing in this frozen forest she looked like Morgan Le Fay, and she radiated quiet control.
Julia was terrified.
“So Julia,” said Moira at last, “We’re about to have a stripolympics.” ‘Stripo… wait, Strip Olympics? Oh God, what the Hell…’ “Obviously, we can’t play without a prize. I admit I did think of dear Clarissa first,” Moira cast a faux-apologetic look at Lizzy, “But when I said she could be my opponent, she offered you as a prize instead.” ‘She offered…’ Julia looked at Lizzy, whose eyes flitted up to meet hers for half a second. Had her new girlfriend offered her to these maniacs for some sick game?
“Here’s how stripolympics works: dear “Lizzy” and I are gonna have a series of one-on-one competitions. Every time she wins, I’ll take off an article of clothing. Every time I win,” Moira’s grin broadened “I’ll strip something off you. It only ends when someone’s naked.”
‘Oh God.’ Julia had never been naked in front of anyone before. At 17 she was a beautiful girl. If anyone had seen her, they’d’ve said she was sexy too. Her b-cup breasts and pert apple bottom fit perfectly on her small, slight form. But she was a private girl and a modest one, and if she’d thought she might someday show her body to Clarissa she had NEVER envisioned anything like this.
“The prize,” Moira continued, “is you. If Clarissa wins she takes you home, and the two of you can even keep my clothes,” she said with a wink. “If I win, dear “Lizzy” goes home alone, I’ll take your clothes, and we’ll all think of something delicious to do with you. Is that what we agreed, Lizzy?” Moira almost spat the last word.
Lizzy didn’t move. “I can’t hear you,” growled Moira, turning her head to the quivering brunette. “Yes,” said Lizzy.
Julia was stunned. She wanted to shout, but her lips still tingled where Moira’s two fingers had hushed her. Was it real? Was she trapped in this forest, about to be stripped naked at the behest of new darling girlfriend. ‘Oh Lizzy…’ Julia felt tears well up in her eyes.
“Don’t cry now,” said Moira. She stepped forward, and wiped the tears from Julia’s eyes with her thumb. Then she leaned into her ear, and whispered “We’re just getting started.”
“Ladies,” boomed Moira, “get ‘er set up!”
Ropes. Cold. Hands all over. Julia awoke from the blur that followed Moira’s order bound, shivering, and hanging from a tree.
The girls (who she’d now recognized as Bella, Sarah, Saoirse, and Jane) had stripped off her coat and tied her hands with rope from the dreaded rucksack. The rope had been tossed over a thick barren tree branch, hoisted until Julia balanced on the balls of her feet, and fastened tight.
Now she hung, her hands above her head, suspended, shivering, and vulnerable.
“The prize is up, let the games begin!” Moira sauntered over to Julia. “We really had our first game when I caught you, didn’t we Lizzy?” She spoke the last words loudly over her shoulder. “Let’s call it a ‘race.’ I won, so I get to start stripping Julia…”
Moira bent down, and slowly unlaced Julia’s snow boots. She slipped each one off, then slowly peeled away the dangling girl’s thick woolen socks. ‘This is a nightmare,’ thought Julia.
But as her now-bare feet touched the icy ground, she knew it was real. She felt what was coming. She was about to be stripped. She was being stripped. If Lizzy couldn’t win the games, she would be stripped naked.
Moira stood. Then she reached up and touched the branch above Julia’s hands. “A bare tree with bare branches, and now bare feet.” Then she moved her hand to caress Julia’s cheek. “And soon, a bare girl.” Julia said nothing. She just stared, shivering, into those grinning green eyes.
“Right!” said Moira, as she took a seat opposite Lizzy. “Now we start for real.”
Stripped in the Snow
Part 1 - Captured
Frost. It has a bad reputation; dead crops, and wicked fairies called Jack and so on. But when it settles on dead leaves and barren trees it turns a black forest into a crystal palace. So thought Julia Selwyn as she ran her fingers along the edge of a shimmering icy leaf.
‘Is it really this beautiful, or am I just this happy?’ The slender champagne blonde was waiting to meet her new girlfriend. Clarissa (or Lizzy) was a cherub-faced brunette of 5’1 (barely taller than Julia’s 4’10) who, after three months of sideways glances and delightfully-tense conversations had finally asked her out! It had taken Julia all of three seconds to say yes, and their first dinner date had gone wonderfully. They clicked so well that with just days left before the break Lizzy had told practically everyone they were dating.
Of course, Lizzy hadn’t actually asked her permission to tell people; Julia was a very private girl, and would turn cherry red if anyone asked her about her love life. She’d much rather have kept it a secret, sultry affair, but she was so thrilled they were together at all that Lizzy’s little inconsideration had barely registered.
Thrilled. That was the word. She was thrilled. The glow of new love did more to warm her in the icy air than her fur-lined coat. For their second date, she and Lizzy had arranged to meet in the myrtlewood, behind the rivermarket. School was out, and the teenagers of the town would be holding the Hogmanay Ball tonight (their school didn’t have a prom so this was the dance of the year).
Not being a party-girl, Julia had suggested they have a lovers’ night alone in the woods. The sun was setting, they’d have candles, food, and Julia had even brought a cheeky bottl- “Mmpf!”
A hand clapped over Julia’s mouth and pulled her tight, while others grabbed her arms and waist. ‘What the hell, what the HELL!?’ ran Julia’s terrified thoughts as the attackers consolidated their grip. Held as if in a vice her struggles died.
Now she heard giggles, but whoever had got her they were all still behind her. Her wide eyes stared into the frosty forest, until the long fingers over her mouth began to tilt her head back.
She watched the world move until she was staring, helpless, into the greenest eyes she had ever seen.
‘Moira?’
Moira, the girl grinning down at her, was one of the most famous and notorious girls at her school. A year above Julia, she was one of those people who radiated charisma. She was the leading lady of the school drama club, and was followed most places by a gang of doe-eyed underlings (what others might call “friends”). What made her famous though wasn’t the plays, but the stories, which Julia had heard for as she’d been at the school. One said she’d swum Loch Ellrig naked in January, just to prove she could. Another, that she kept a parrot which she’d stolen from the Edinburgh Zoo. No one had actually seen her do this, but some claimed to have seen the parrot, and Elsie Swire had definitely been arrested for trying to repeat the stunt. When, last year, someone had cut an old car in half and welded it back together around the school flag pole, and everyone had been sure it was moira (though they’d sworn to administrators her parents were away (which was often), she threw strange parties in her big house, parties with liquor and dancing and things the guests smuggly refused to talk about at school the next day. She’d even invited Julia once or twice, but since that was exactly the sort of thing Julia wouldn’t want to do, she’d politely declined.
Given that those brief exchanges were the sum total of their interaction with each other WHAT THE HELL was happening now?
“Hello little girl,” said Moira, in a voice dripping with gleeful menace. Julia felt herself being spun around, then her breath caught in her throat.
Framed in the black and white trees was Lizzy, held by the arms by two girls Julia vaguely recognized from school. On seeing her girlfriend Julia tried again to break free, but again got nowhere. Lizzy just stared at the ground.
“Little Julia,” Moira crooned as Julia felt her head snap back to meet those green eyes, “Your girlfriend and I are going to play a little game, and you’re going to be the prize. Do you like that?” Julia felt Moira move her head up and down.
“Good. Bring ‘em ta tha clearing girls!”
So Julia was dragged by this band of marauders into the clearing that should have been her romantic grotto. Her eye’s sought Lizzy’s, but Lizzy was still staring at the ground. They were dragged to a rotten old wooden picnic table and benches where the girls (still holding each arm) seated Lizzy. One of the other girls began unloading a rucksack, while Moira moved to stand in front of Julia and took her hand from the terrified girl’s mouth.
“What’s happening? What the Hell Moira why are you doing this what’s happen-”
“Shhh,” Said Moira, pressing two fingers to Julia’s lips. Out of fear or sheer confusion, Julia fell silent. “Good girl.”
Moira stepped back and eyed Julia up and down, which gave Julia her first chance to really take in her attacker. At 5’9, Moira towered over Julia. Silky black hair framed an alabaster face then cascaded down her back. She wore a midnight blue wool coat over a bright red blouse and a curvy bust. Her lips were plain pink and slightly smiling, and her eyes were like flawless emeralds. Standing in this frozen forest she looked like Morgan Le Fay, and she radiated quiet control.
Julia was terrified.
“So Julia,” said Moira at last, “We’re about to have a stripolympics.” ‘Stripo… wait, Strip Olympics? Oh God, what the Hell…’ “Obviously, we can’t play without a prize. I admit I did think of dear Clarissa first,” Moira cast a faux-apologetic look at Lizzy, “But when I said she could be my opponent, she offered you as a prize instead.” ‘She offered…’ Julia looked at Lizzy, whose eyes flitted up to meet hers for half a second. Had her new girlfriend offered her to these maniacs for some sick game?
“Here’s how stripolympics works: dear “Lizzy” and I are gonna have a series of one-on-one competitions. Every time she wins, I’ll take off an article of clothing. Every time I win,” Moira’s grin broadened “I’ll strip something off you. It only ends when someone’s naked.”
‘Oh God.’ Julia had never been naked in front of anyone before. At 17 she was a beautiful girl. If anyone had seen her, they’d’ve said she was sexy too. Her b-cup breasts and pert apple bottom fit perfectly on her small, slight form. But she was a private girl and a modest one, and if she’d thought she might someday show her body to Clarissa she had NEVER envisioned anything like this.
“The prize,” Moira continued, “is you. If Clarissa wins she takes you home, and the two of you can even keep my clothes,” she said with a wink. “If I win, dear “Lizzy” goes home alone, I’ll take your clothes, and we’ll all think of something delicious to do with you. Is that what we agreed, Lizzy?” Moira almost spat the last word.
Lizzy didn’t move. “I can’t hear you,” growled Moira, turning her head to the quivering brunette. “Yes,” said Lizzy.
Julia was stunned. She wanted to shout, but her lips still tingled where Moira’s two fingers had hushed her. Was it real? Was she trapped in this forest, about to be stripped naked at the behest of new darling girlfriend. ‘Oh Lizzy…’ Julia felt tears well up in her eyes.
“Don’t cry now,” said Moira. She stepped forward, and wiped the tears from Julia’s eyes with her thumb. Then she leaned into her ear, and whispered “We’re just getting started.”
“Ladies,” boomed Moira, “get ‘er set up!”
Ropes. Cold. Hands all over. Julia awoke from the blur that followed Moira’s order bound, shivering, and hanging from a tree.
The girls (who she’d now recognized as Bella, Sarah, Saoirse, and Jane) had stripped off her coat and tied her hands with rope from the dreaded rucksack. The rope had been tossed over a thick barren tree branch, hoisted until Julia balanced on the balls of her feet, and fastened tight.
Now she hung, her hands above her head, suspended, shivering, and vulnerable.
“The prize is up, let the games begin!” Moira sauntered over to Julia. “We really had our first game when I caught you, didn’t we Lizzy?” She spoke the last words loudly over her shoulder. “Let’s call it a ‘race.’ I won, so I get to start stripping Julia…”
Moira bent down, and slowly unlaced Julia’s snow boots. She slipped each one off, then slowly peeled away the dangling girl’s thick woolen socks. ‘This is a nightmare,’ thought Julia.
But as her now-bare feet touched the icy ground, she knew it was real. She felt what was coming. She was about to be stripped. She was being stripped. If Lizzy couldn’t win the games, she would be stripped naked.
Moira stood. Then she reached up and touched the branch above Julia’s hands. “A bare tree with bare branches, and now bare feet.” Then she moved her hand to caress Julia’s cheek. “And soon, a bare girl.” Julia said nothing. She just stared, shivering, into those grinning green eyes.
“Right!” said Moira, as she took a seat opposite Lizzy. “Now we start for real.”