She founds herself barefoot, in a red pencil skirt - where did it come from? she doesn't own a skirt like that - and a white blouse, standing in front of a strange chair-like device, on a stage with an invisible audience. Two assistants, a young man and young woman, dressed in black trousers and white shirts, brings out a little cart to Grinaldi, that has three cups, a bowl with four balls, and a stack of silk scarves.
"Ladies, gentlemen, and all other spectators!" he greets the audience in a grandiose voice. "Behold our first game! One ball, three cups: will she guess which one it went to? She guesses right, and we move onto the next ball. She guesses wrong, and she'll strip, or she'll be tied down!" Then he turned to Rebecca. "Remember, once you're tied down enough, my assistants will start tickling you for extra spectacle. And," he adds, after a dramatic pause, "the last scarf goes into your mouth. Better finish the game before we have to tie that one in, eh?" He turns back to the audience. "Are we ready?"
Cheers erupt from the darkness. Grinaldi takes one ball from the bowl, and puts it under the middle cup.
"Paying attention, dear?"
Rebecca nods. She could try arguing or pleading to be let go, but she knows it won't work; she already tied it before being brought to stage, which is how she lost her shoes, and got her feet tickled by the two assistants for ten minutes non-stop. At this point, it's probably smartest if she just plays along for now.
The magician starts shuffling the cups. His hands move lightning fast, but, as Rebecca notices, he only moves the two cups on the sides, exchanging them back and forth. She only sees the middle cup move once, and then the ball goes to the left, to the right, to the left...
"The right one," she says, when Grinaldi stops.
"The right one, the lady says," he echoes back to the audience. "Could she be right? Or does she have to strip? Or maybe get bound and tickled?" The audience roars up at the sound of tickling. Grinaldi lets the noise die down, then instructs one of his assistants, "Patricia, the right one."
Patricia lifts the right cup - and she was right! Grinaldi grabs both his cheeks with his palms.
"A true master player!" he exclaims. "How did she notice such a tiny ball?" He puts the cup back over the ball, then lifts it again, as in disbelief. Under the cup, there is an orange in the place of the ball. The audience laughs.
"Patricia, take away this orange!"
He takes another ball from the bowl, and places it under the middle cup. He winks at Rebecca, and starts shuffling again. This time, he doesn't make the same mistake; he moves with the same speed, but now he switches all the cups around. Quickly Rebecca loses sight of the ball. When he stops, she can do no better than guess.
"Uhm... the middle one?"
"The middle one!" Grinaldi repeats back. "She says the middle one! And she must know, this master player! Patrick, show me the ball under the middle one!" The assistant lifts the cup - and nothing.
"Oh!" Grinaldi gasps. "What bad luck! And now for our prize, lady: do we strip you or tie you?"
This one is not much of a question. She takes off her blouse, as she has a tank top under it, and she knows that the alternative would be getting tickled. Patrick takes the blouse from her. Grinaldi reveals the ball under the right cup, and starts shuffling.
He loses Rebecca again in seconds. She can not follow his quick hands, the cups blur together, she can't even tell them apart, let alone find the ball. She's already give up, when Grinaldi's hand slips, and almost knocks over one of the cups. He manages to catch it - but not before Rebecca catches a glimpse of the ball under it. The audience gasps. It looks like he lost his rhythm, because he stops shortly after. This time, Rebecca is confident. Grinaldi seems less so.
"Forgive me, lady." he starts. "My hand slipped. Surely you don't wanna ruin the game by guessing now! You can just skip this one."
There's no way, she thinks.
"Left," she says.
"Ohooo," Grinaldi wails. "The lady does not like fun! How cruel! Is it my fault that my hands keep ageing? That I'm getting older? That I get so senile, I can't even tell left," he lifts the left cup, to show nothing, "from right." Applause detonates from the audience as he reveals the ball under the right cup. "Oh, dear. Did you say left? Such an unlucky mistake, is it?"
She wants to punch that stupidly huge grin off his face.
"I believe you owe us a forfeit, lady."
She decides on her skirt. She unzips it, and steps out of it. She looks down, to see she's wearing bright pink panties - also not hers -, then she looks up to see the same, as multiple cameras are zoomed in on her thighs, crotch and butt. She blushes pink, trying to cover herself, with very limited success.
Now aware of Grinaldi's antics, she tries paying really close attention this time, ignoring the fact that her underwear is broadcast to thousands of people. She watches the cups attentively, and sees the ball go under - the right one? Does he always put it under the right one? It's too obvious. She doesn't want to say it. But maybe that's what Grinaldi wants. Making it just too obvious, so she second-guesses herself and gets it wrong.
"Right," she says cautiously. She bites her lips as Patricia approaches the right cup - and bingo! Honestly, she thought she would do much worse in this game.
Grinaldi takes out another ball - she only has to guess right two more times, and the game will be over - and starts the shuffle over. He makes almost the same pattern as before - and the right one again? Now it has to be a trap. There is no way it's under there, she thinks. But... isn't there? Trusting her gut worked for her once, so it should work again.
"Lady tries her luck with the right cup again," Grinaldi shouts. He has Patrick lift the cup - and it's empty. A murmur rises from the audience, getting louder and louder, as Rebecca, unable to do anything else, grabs the bottom of her tank top and pulls it off.
She sees herself on the screen as she strips, one camera zoomed in on her upper body as it's being revealed. When Patrick takes away the top, she sees the camera pan over her black bra, zooming into her cleavage. She now has to cover her chest as well as her crotch, leaving only her ass for the cameras, and of course all the opportunities for full-body shots as she's trying to cover herself. She also notices how both Patrick's and Patricia's eyes are fixed on her. Now she also tries to get into a position where she isn't showing too much to them, moving her...
"Where is it," Grinaldi booms. "Left, middle or right?"
Shit, Rebecca realizes. I didn't pay attention. She tries to look for any clue she can find, but obviously there is none. She just has to guess. "Middle," she says, hoping against all hopes that she's right. She's not.
Grinaldi shows her the ball under the right cup. She's lost. Either she lets herself be tied up, and has to guess to balls while being tickled by the assistants, or she takes off her bra and shows her breasts to every member of the audience, the cameras and the two assistants. What should she do?
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