Dress Off 00: Origins - Jane vs Kate

As ordered by the mysterious voice, Jane had dutifully rinsed all her old clothes in water, to the point that they were now completely saturated and unwearable. Depositing them in the plastic bag, and burying them under paper towels in the rubbish bin, had really driven home to Jane that she was now very much at the mercy of a game she'd never played, and against an opponent who'd like nothing more than to see Jane naked and humiliated.

"Positive thoughts!" Jane reprimanded herself, shaking her head as if to dislodge the concerns and fears that were beginning to cloud her thoughts.

Now she simply stood there, facing the door, half-expecting some stranger to come barging in any moment and ask what the hell she was up to, all the time waiting for a phantom voice to pipe up in her earpiece. She subconsciously patted herself down, feeling the smooth contours of the white business blouse that she wore, and tugged at the hem of the jet-black skirt that gracefully flowed down her legs. The skirt wasn't actually all that immodest, Jane had to admit to herself - not without a trace of suspicion though. The skirt may have only gone 2/3rds of the way down towards her knees, and gave anyone who saw her a decent look at her well-toned thighs, but it was hardly skin-tight, and rather hung loosely with a generous give to it that made it relatively easy to walk in. The heels, while not shockingly high, compensated for the skirt by suggesting that running was not going to be in her immediate future. Jane had worn heels before, but admittedly didn't have much experience with stilettos, and this was going to require some concentration and nimble footwork to maintain any kind of graceful appearance.

Underneath it all were a pair of matching white panties and bra that were stylish without being overly risqué, while a pair of sheer stockings that almost reached up to the hemline of her skirt were sufficiently transparent not to clash too much with the rest of her attire.

All in all, the clothing that Decider Enterprises had supplied Jane with bordered on the mundane, and that's what had got the more suspicious part of Jane's mind reeling with dark possibilities.

Still, she chided herself, this was the time to be thankful for small mercies. She wouldn't have to go out in the bar beyond that door in some slutty outfit better befitting a stripper, and if she got all the clues right, then Kate would be the one suffering any of the promised clothing malfunctions. That last thought brought a smile back to Jane's face, and she was beginning to visualise a nude, mortifyingly embarrassed, and suitably chastised Kate Houston when the earpiece she was wearing suddenly sparked to life.

"Miss Barton." a woman's voice said, briskly. It was the same voice Jane had heard on the laptop only a few weeks ago. "Are you ready to go."

"Ready." Jane replied curtly, not in the mood for extended conversation that might break her concentration.

"Well." the voice continued, with a slight hint of bemusement, "It just leaves me to remind you not to interfere with your clothing during the game - I'd so hate to have to apply penalties after all - and that of course you're obliged to see the game through to it's dramatic conclusion."

"Looking forward to it." Jane simply said, visualising a defeated nude Kate Houston standing in front of her, pleading for mercy that would not be forthcoming.

"Great." the voice reply. "Well, in that case Miss Houston, allow me to wish you good luck on your exciting adventure, and supply you with your very first clue. Of course, should I need to supply you with any more clues during our little outing, I'm afraid they'll come with a cost."

Jane didn't say anything to that, and closed her eyes instead as the voice paused for effect. As she sensed the world around begin to close in, she let her mind focus with a laser-like intensity of every word that the voice then began to recount. Her first clue. Her first step towards ending this feud. Her first step towards sending Kate to a fate she most certainly deserved.

There was no denying it, Jane thought firmly. This was going to be a night she'd remember for the rest of her life.

****

Kate Houston stepped out of the ladies room at the Blue Electric Club and flashed a smile at a couple of men at the nearby bar. The stunning brunette wasn't dressed in her most stylish, teasing or revealing outfit, but even in the simple business attire she'd been given Kate Houston had the ability to turn heads. Her c-cup breasts pushed her smart white blouse out in all the right places, and the way that she held her head up high, complemented with the confident arch of her back, made sure that she made best use of her available assets. Winking briefly at the barman, Kate flipped from flirty to focussed as she stepped out on the street beyond. The ear piece had only moments earlier furnished her with the first clue, and her mind was already working overtime on what it could mean. Two numbers. Her first thought had instantly been that they were GPS coordinates, but they had far too many digits to be GPS coordinates.

Kate walked out of the Blue Electric Club, and found herself needing to make a decision on practically no information. Sighing, she turned left on a whim and started to walk, waiting, hoping that inspiration would strike.

As she set her well-honed intellect to work on figuring out just what these numbers could mean, some small part of her brain couldn't help but reflect that Jane Barton was out there somewhere too. Trying to solve the same riddle. Trying to embarrass her - a woman clearly Jane's superior in every way. Kate snorted derisively at the thought that Jane could beat her. Still... a tiny traitorous part of Kate nagged... what if she was to get lucky?

Kate suddenly found herself seething. Yes, that would be just like Jane to be undeservedly lucky. Rubbing her hands together in determination, Kate fought back against the feelings of resentment that threatened to carry her away, and scrunched her eyes up. Banishing any images of her foe from her mind, she just let the two numbers float in front of her.

No. Kate thought. They weren't just 'two long numbers' at all. She squinted in her mind's eye as the digits danced in front of her. Yes, yes, they were a sequence of numbers. One and two digit numbers. Of course! They each represented letters.

Kate picked up the pace as she quickly translated the smaller numbers into letters. It was a code, and now she began to spot clusters of letters, forming some kind of name. A name of a place perhaps?

A flash of recognition hit Kate all of a sudden. "The Soho Club" she whispered to herself. For the first time in the game, she permitted herself a small smile of triumph.

*****

The beautiful tall figure of Kate Houston arrived at the front of the Soho Club, and bypassed the small crowd that was already lining up. There was a popular live band tonight, and it looked like the place would be crowded even this early in the evening. Queues weren't something that Kate Houston bothered herself with though, and she simply flashed a sweet smile at the bouncers. The smile was quickly reciprocated, and space made for her to enter. Leaving behind a trail of protests from the other wannabe patrons, Kate glided into the club, and stood still for a moment to get her bearings. She knew that this was the place where she'd find the second clue, the only problem was that she had no idea where in the club she'd find it.

Kate reasoned that the game wouldn't have them just randomly wandering around the club for the rest of the night, until they stumbled on a clue by complete accident. This was a test of their minds and abilities, even if the prize for losing was to expose their bodies.

She narrowed her eyes and tried to list the possible options, and finally opted on heading to the bar. Nothing like the direct approach, she thought. Her clothing was far from the most revealing on offer tonight in the Soho Club, and several women had already gone home to change into their man-hunting outfits. Any other woman might have felt slightly out of place sporting only a relatively plain looking business outfit amongst a sea of short dresses and plunging necklines. Kate wasn't most other women though, and her self-confidence in her own beauty radiated out and attracted attention above and beyond what the clothes themselves merited.

Making her way to the bar, she waited a few seconds until her favourite barman at the club noticed she'd arrived.

"Hey." Kate said, biting her lip as she gave him a look that she knew would get her all the help she needed. "You wouldn't happen to have been given a message for me, would you?"

Kate had thought through what skills the game might demand of her for this clue. It had occurred to her that an ability get free drinks from the barman might logically suggest that she had to get the clue from the barman as well.

"Hey Kate." the barman replied. "Yeah, I had a message."

"Great!" Kate beamed, "if you could just give it to.... wait..." Kate paused for a moment. "... what do you mean you 'had' a message?" she continued, cautiously.

Before the barman could reply, a woman's voice piped up behind next to her. Turning slowly, Kate's smile faded as she found the smaller figure of Jane Barton casually leaning against the bar.

"What he means," Jane said brightly, "is that he had a message to deliver, and that he's now delivered it." Jane held aloft a card that she'd acquired only minutes earlier.

"Good luck for the next clue though." Jane added, with as much insincerity as she could muster. Jane winked at the barman, turned on her heels, and headed back off into the crowd without uttering another word. She even gave a short wave as she left, leaving Kate behind with her anger mounting.

It was lucky that Kate wasn't holding a glass, as the pressure from the grip might have shattered the stem. She didn't have to wait long though to be given due cause for her mood to deteriorate even further.

Out of her earpiece, she received her first communication since leaving the Blue Electric Club.

"Don't worry Miss Houston," the woman at the end of the line said. "I'm happy to supply you with the clue that Miss Barton already has at her fingertips." The voice stopped and Kate waited for the inevitable catch. "There's just the small matter of the cost to first deal with."

With a shocked gasp, Kate looked down at her blouse. The moment the voice had finished talking, she'd felt an immediate wet sensation spread out from her bra. In mild horror, Kate could see tiny patches of water start where her nipples were, and then expand to soak most of the top of her white blouse. At the same time, she felt the blouse tighten somehow, as if the stitching was shrinking.

The barman's wide-eyed expression caught the attention of those around them, and at least a dozen other people turned in curiosity to see what the fuss was all about. This caused a small ripple effect as they in turn felt their jaws drop, and hastily grabbed others to get a good look at what they were seeing.

Prominently displayed at the front of a busy bar, Kate Houston stood seething, as her beautiful breasts were finally framed in a manner befitting their curvaceous glory. The tight, wet, white blouse was now the rival of any other outfit in the room for straight up sex appeal.

Kate swore to herself silently. Jane was going to pay for this, and pay big time.

****

Jane walked around the Soho Club, holding on tight to her prize. The second clue had made it clear that the third clue was also in the Soho Club, but it meant doing some ground work. The clue had been some information about a patron somewhere here at the club, but she'd have to do plenty of chatting and flirting to find the right man who fitted the right description. She considered unbuttoning her blouse a little, but stopped herself when she remembered that there would be penalties applied for interfering with the outfit. While this probably only applied if she was actually trying to cover up or hide, she didn't want to risk it.

She was flirting with her third guy - a tall thirty-something douchebag with far too high an opinion of themselves - when a familiar voice interrupted the music that was currently playing. Jane had been trying to extract herself from the conversation anyway, having just realised that he wasn't her target anyway, and she took the opportunity of the interruption to edge away. She was already trying to spot who her fourth attempt should be when the realisation of whose voice was coming over the speakers hit her like a brick.

Turning slowly, she clenched her jaw as she now saw Kate Houston standing up on stage. A pair of lights shone down on her, and accentuated the tight wet blouse she was wearing even more. She'd commandeered a microphone and was calling for silence from the steadily increasing crowd.

"Excuse me, excuse me!" Kate called out, waving a hand to attract attention. The lights on her blouse was doing far more to attract attention than her waving though, and it wasn't long before she had the crowd in the palm of her hand.

"Sorry everyone. I'm just looking for someone, and decided to just cut to the chase." Kate proceeded to read out the brief description they'd both been given, and then looked out at the expectant crowd. She then placed a hand on the left breast of her wet blouse, and traced a finger slowly up to her lips. "If anyone out there meeting that description has something for me..." Kate paused and pretended to lightly bite her finger, "... then I think I have something for you!"

Drowned out by the eruption of excited offers, Jane Barton shared her own thoughts on Kate's performance.

"You bitch!" she shouted, as she saw a tall brown-haired man stride up to the stage, producing a piece of paper from his pocket as he approached...

****

Pyrmont Bridge was a bustling hive of activity at this time of night. The occasional man on a bicycle rode by Jane as she quickly walked towards the nearest Monorail station. More than once, the cyclists almost came unstuck and ended up over a bench, as their focus switched from what was in front of them, to what was immediately in front of Jane. Specifically, a pair of 32D breasts wrapped tightly in a wet white top.

Jane didn't stop to give the cyclists another thought though. She had one destination in mind. The clue had been a collection of numbers that Jane had bounced around in her mind for nearly half an hour, wracking her brain for any sort of guess or insight. "3.6 to go, 8 to stop, 12 to finish. Where water meets the air."

Finally, thankfully, something had clicked. The Sydney Monorail. 3.6kms in length, with 8 stations and with a travel time of 12 minutes. That had to be it, Jane thought. The only question was, where exactly on the line would she find the clue? She'd guessed that "where water meets the air" was some vague reference to where the monorail crossed over the harbour, and had instinctively thought of the station near Pyrmont Bridge.

She was now only moments away. She chanted the clue over and over again, more to stop herself from thinking about her sopping wet top - and the display she was giving to everyone she passed - than anything else.

A train was heading towards the station as she arrived, and Jane hurriedly grabbed a ticket and dashed to the platform as fast as her heels would allow. Thankfully, she wasn't left exposed on the platform for long, and within seconds the train had gracefully come to a stop. A older gentleman standing next was less-than-successful in masking his attempts at checking her out, and when the train doors opened, he nimbly leapt on and turned to face her. He appeared to be hoping that she'd come on board and that he'd end up facing her for the rest of the too-short trip.

She was about to step onboard when a sudden thought struck her. Could it not be the case that the clue was actually in this station somewhere? Caught in a quandary, Jane hesitated, and then cursed herself as the doors on the train swung shut again. The last thing she saw was the visibly disappointed face of the man from the platform.

The train pulled out, leaving Jane behind, uncertain and unsure as to how to proceed.

"Come on Jane!" she urged herself, "pick up your game!" She turned to have a quick reconnoitre around the platform.

Unfortunately, she didn't get more than a few steps before she let out a groan. Standing at the other end of the platform, slowly walking towards her, was the self-satisfied smug face of Kate Houston.

"What's wrong Jane? Lost your ticket?" Kate asked, mockingly, indicating with a head tilt the train that had just departed. "Well, I'd given you mine." she continued, waving a card in Jane's face that was clearly the next clue, "but I really do need it to get to my next destination."

Kate was now standing directly in front of her, and treated Jane to a warm smile. "Don't worry though, I'm sure our friends will give you a new ticket soon." As if a thought had just occurred to her though, Kate raised a hand to her mouth. "I wonder what the next cost will be though?" Kate winked. "Well, I'll leave you to worry about that, Jane."

Kate's smile broadened, and she mimicked the small wave that Jane had given her back at the bar after the first clue.

"See you later Jane." Kate said, with a flourish. "See _all_ of you later..."

And with that, Kate Houston calmly walked out of the station and back on to Pyrmont Bridge.

Behind her, Kate could hear a small shriek as Jane's skirt began to do some rather odd things.

****

Jane didn't know how they'd managed it, and she didn't greatly care about the technicalities. What she did care about though, was that the hem of her skirt seemed to have taken on a life of it's own.

"The hem of your skirt is made of some material that has now been warped." the earpiece had explained in a wholly unnecessary and matter-of-fact manner.

The first Jane had known of this was when she felt a small breeze pass gently between her upper thighs, in a way that was both novel and disconcerting. Looking down, she noticed with a sense of impending dread that the front and back of her skirt had somehow lifted themselves up, exposing far more of her than was reasonable. Jane's first reaction had been to defensively push the front of her skirt down again, but as she did, she could feel the back of the skirt completely pull back to reveal the entirety of her bottom. Switching focus, Jane had then yelped and thrown a hand around to pull down the back of her skirt. Tragically, that only resulted in the front of her skirt lifting all the way up, leaving her to inadvertently flash a couple of guys who'd just arrive on the platform. Jane shrieked again as she realised that the guys had an unobstructed view of her white-panties-clad crotch.

"I'm afraid," the voice had added, "that you'll only be able to cover either your crotch or your ass at any one point in time. Which one you choose to cover and which one you choose to show to your fellow citizens, well, we'll leave that entirely to you."

Jane could feel her face go red as she realised the extent of her latest wardrobe malfunction. It went even redder as her imagination unhelpfully sprang into action. If you think this is bad, her imagination whispered, just think of what future malfunctions might involve.

****

Kate hurried along Market Street, trying to ignore the looks that she was getting from nearly everyone she passed.

The evening air was still hot, and Kate had half-expected her shirt to have dried by now. Somehow though, the engineers who'd constructed this particular wardrobe malfunction had managed to provide the blouse with a secret supply of water. Quite how was lost on her, but it meant that just enough water was continually fed into the material for it to have still kept a glistening, saturated, clinging-to-her-chest look. Judging by the number of women she'd passed who'd then proceeded to slap their boyfriends, partners, and husbands, she could only assume that her chest was the biggest attraction in town right now. She'd tried to ignore the staring, pointing and gasps at first, but there was a certain futility to that which didn't appeal to Kate. Instead, she now just marched down Market Street and pushed aside the guys who'd seemingly lost the ability to move out of the way when she'd hovered into view.