After AnimeCon: The Argyria Treatment Plan (Patreon)

    It didn’t take long for Brian, Rebecca, Stephanie and Emily to come down the hill after them, and Christine stood to the side awkwardly as everyone packed away the last of the stuff in the vehicles. That Kelly girl attempting to give her a heart to heart had felt like a test, and Christine was now steeling herself for months or even years more of the same. Constant testing of her from all of them, to ensure that she was still patient and obedient. To make sure she wasn’t reverting to Chloe. She couldn’t begrudge them that, even—they had every reason not to trust her.

    It’s just difficult when they try to be… FRIENDLY about it, Christine maintained a placid expression, but she was unable to stifle sour feelings—feelings that Stephanie was surely picking up on. Logically, there’s no reason for them to be sincere with me or nice to me. It just makes going through all of this even more uncomfortable. For everyone.

    She found the nice treatment unnerving.

    It made her fear that maybe this group knew that Christine deserved harsh discipline for all of the things she had done to them, but weren’t even able to dirty their own hands enough to actually punish her properly. So, instead Christine would linger on with them somewhere in limbo, neither serving her deserved penance nor earning meaningful forgiveness. A great debt was owed due to her malfeasance, and when things were heated last night they had agreed upon years of servitude.

    But, now they’ve all cooled off, Christine was trying hard not to feel bitter about it. Now, it’s all compromises and niceties and comforting me, when that’s the LAST thing I need right now. The guilt I carry will NOT be lessened by them being soft on me. Not after everything I’ve done.

     Perhaps that was the real cruel punishment, the most bitter medicine. They had ‘gifted’ her a conscience on silver streaks of pure magic, and now because of that conscience she was in agony. The poisoned cherry on top, the insult to injury—they were going to enjoy being nice to her, thoughtful and caring. ‘Helping’ her, from the unreachable position of their moral high ground, piling on the weight of her debt to them until it was absolutely unbearable.

    I… I think I’m going insane all again, Christine felt like she was going to be sick. I can’t LIVE with guilt like this. Nothing they’re doing right now will ever alleviate it, either—it’s just making it WORSE.

    She deserved to be degraded, insulted, abused. But, they didn’t seem capable of giving her what she needed, and right now Christine wasn’t sure she could even goad Emily into it. If they—

    “Christine…?” Stephanie’s timid voice snapped Christine out of her gloomy thoughts.

    “Yes?” Christine stared. 

    She already knew how exposed her inner anguish was to Stephanie, but she simply wasn’t able to allow all of that pain to show on her features. Because, then everyone else would see it, and if they reacted with sympathy, if they worried about her or were concerned—Christine wasn’t sure she could bear it.

    “Do you know what…” Stephanie glanced down to check something on her phone. “Do you know what ‘argyria’ is?”

    “Ar-jee—ria?” Christine sounded out after staring at the girl in confusion for a moment. “No? I don’t think so.”

    “It’s a medical term,” Stephanie gnawed on her lip. “It’s the word for… silver poisoning. When trace amounts of silver start building up in the body, it’s, ah, it’s toxic. Prolonged exposure is, well, to any heavy metals, it’s dangerous.”

    “Argyria,” Christine repeated—she knew she would remember the term.

    “Yes,” Stephanie said, thumbing the phone back to standby and lowering it. “It’s… well, I thought you should know. I know the um, the elements aren’t ‘real,’ that your body won’t really get silver poisoning. I don’t think. But… when I feel overwhelmed, I can know to describe it as ‘burning.’ Emily can express that it feels like she’s ‘drowning.’ I, well I guess if we were to have a term for what’s going on with you when your silver is too much, it’s argyria; Argyrosis. Silver poisoning.”

    “Isn’t it just…?” Christine let out a bitter laugh. “‘Self reflection,’ or something like that? It’s not like I have a real skin condition. Or like you have actual burns.”

    “My manifestation of magic isn’t directly causing me pain,” Stephanie searched Christine’s eyes. “But… yours is. My, um, my fire—the pink—it feels like life and love itself. It’s only painful when it’s distant from me, when everything else goes dark. Your silver is causing you pain. It’s poisoning you.”

    “Not really?” Christine gave her a shrug and looked away. “I mean, it’s not the silver that’s at fault. It’s me. My actions, what I’ve done. If I hadn’t been a total fucking psychopath, I wouldn’t be… feeling poisoned right now. Wouldn’t be feeling argyria, argyrosis. No one to blame but myself.”

    “I’m feeling it, too,” Stephanie tried to reassure her—but, that only made Christine feel worse.

    “I’m sorry,” Christine backed up. “It’s—yeah then we should probably try to stay away from each other. You shouldn’t have to feel any of this.”

    “I… honestly don’t want to,” Stephanie admitted. “But, what I mean is. I feel what you’re feeling, and I can help you understand it. Kelly’s magic thing is also metal, sort of. Star metal. There were similarities back when she was, well. Losing herself into negativity. There were points where it seemed like it was hurting her, too. We were able to work past that.”

    “Okay,” Christine shrugged again. “I believe you. But. I don’t know that it’ll be a right away thing. There isn’t anything you or anyone can do to just… ‘fix’ all of this.”

    “You want to be punished,” Stephanie stared deep into her eyes. “Sexually. Physically. Psychologically, I suppose. You need Brian to do to you at least some of what you did to him, so that you can feel like things are… balanced? More equitable. Justified. But, he can’t do that. He won’t do that.”

    “I know that,” Christine found herself surprised at the urgency in her own voice, and she crossed her arms in front of herself and took another step back. “I… know that. I realize that.”

    “You’re going to be riding back with him,” Stephanie said. “So. Sit in the backseat with him, put yourself over his lap, and ask him to spank you.”

    “Ask him to spank me,” Christine repeated in disbelief.

    The shimmering silver pane within her mind trembled at the idea, sending all of its reflections out of focus for a moment.

    “Yes,” Stephanie nodded. “Have him pull down your pants, so that um, so that it’s just your naked bum. Your um, your behind, your butt—and his hands. Direct skin contact. Give him uhh, give him a number of times to spank you, count them back to him each time he spanks. Don’t count them if they’re not… hard enough, if you don’t feel like they’re enough to count. And then afterwise, thank him. For punishing you.”

    “I—uhh,” Christine had no idea what to say to that. Stephanie looked like she was being completely serious.

    “I don’t think that either of you are ready for more than that, right now,” Stephanie explained. “Even giving you… ‘medicine,’ it’s going to be difficult enough even with Kelly and Emily helping. You and Brian have a history, and that history isn’t going to just go away or be overcome in a day. I think for now, asking for a spanking would be a good… treatment.”

    “A spanking,” Christine repeated, her thoughts too numb to even really process that as an option.

    “He’ll do it, if you ask,” Stephanie’s eyes flicked her up and down before she turned away. “I think that maybe you’ll need it.”

    Ask Brian to spank me, Christine wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the idea was. Like I’m some—some girl who’s into that sort of thing. The roleplay or naughty schoolgirl kink or WHATEVER that kind of stuff even is. I could never ask him that.

    She legitimately didn’t think she would be able to articulate the words to him. It was too absurd and embarrassing. How did ANYONE have thick enough skin to say that sort of thing out loud, without it being in the context of an obvious joke or kidding around or something? Christine tried to imagine asking Brian that, and him just staring back at her in disbelief. Maybe he would laugh at her. Most likely, he would ask her to repeat herself—because there was no way that that was what she was asking him. Brian wouldn’t actually do it, either—there was no way he could spank her. That was way outside the paradigm of anything they’d ever done together in the past, and Christine couldn’t picture them getting up to that kind of thing, either.

    Maybe THAT’S just the whole point, Christine gulped, and then took a deep breath, and felt as though she had swallowed down air and instead accidentally inhaled saliva. Shit. Well, I’m plenty out of sorts just even CONSIDERING IT. If Stephanie was just trying to jar me out of the dreary mood I was falling into… I guess it worked?

    “Alright, everyone!” Rebecca spoke up. “We should get going. Stephanie is riding with me, Christine will be with you guys. This isn’t goodbye or anything, we’ll all stop by in Tionetta before we get to the long stretch of the trip. Okay? So, let’s go, let’s go!”

    “You say that, but then you’re gonna be put-put-putzying along at six miles an hour,” Emily rolled her eyes. “‘Cause you drive like a little old lady. We’ll beat you to Tionetta and be waiting like, hours for you to catch up.”

    “Yeah, look for us in the bar,” Kelly teased, putting her hands on her hips. “So, uh—who’s driving Brian’s car? Me again?”

    “I can drive,” Brian offered. “Only fair, since—”

    “Nooope,” Kelly shot him down. “I don’t think so. You have… other duties to attend to.”

    “I… do?” 

    “Yep,” Kelly shrugged. “So, fuck. Yeah, I’ll drive again. We’re goin’ back to internet radio for some decent shit though, I’m all country music’d out. The stations they’ve got out here in the boonies… like, Jesus Christ.”

    “Sure thang, Kelly-mae,” Emily retorted in her best southern drawl. “So—let’s go!”

    They weren’t saying goodbyes, but all the same Stephanie ran up to give Brian one last quick hug before they went separate ways, here. Christine opened one of the back doors of Brian’s car and climbed inside. She didn’t know where to look. It wasn’t as though the puppy-love clinginess she witnessed didn’t make sense, but it was difficult to empathize with or ever imagine for herself. The vehicle rocked as Kelly and then Emily climbed in, and then finally Christine tensed as Brian jogged around the other side and opened the other door to slide into the back with her.

    “Gimme. Gimme,” Kelly gestured for Emily to pass over her phone. “Pretty please.”

    “Hang on,” Emily said. “We’re settin’ up the GPS thing again, right? For the way back. It was on Steph’s phone before.”

    “What for? We took like three turns total in that whole six or seven hours,” Kelly scoffed. “I think I can remember the way back.”

    “Yeah, but like—we’ll wanna know how far out we are and shit,” Emily protested, tapping through the phone menu. “There.”

    “Head south-east Fox Den Road—” The monotone GPS voice began.

    “Yeah yeah yeah, we know, we know,” Kelly cut it off, swiping the device out of Emily’s hands. “Okay. Let’s see… I’m feelin’ some good ol’ gothic rock today. Yeah?”

    “I’m down,” Brian agreed.

    “Emily?” Kelly asked.

    “I’ll probably know more lyrics than I did yesterday?” Emily shrugged. “Yeah, go for it. I’m not actually all that into metal or hardcore or that stuff unless it’s like, part of a video game OST.”

    “Because, of course that would be the case,” Kelly rolled her eyes and sighed as she shoved the keys into the ignition. “Well, fuck it. Let’s rock.”

    “Wait—what about Christine?” Brian spoke up. “Christine, you feeling any kind of music in particular? I remember you were more into… hip hop and cloud rap?”

    “Anything’s fine,” Christine froze up as everyone’s attention turned her way. “I don’t care at all. Don’t ask me.”

    Kelly started up the car, and then they all lurched back into their seats as Kelly gunned the accelerator and pulled them past Rebecca’s hatchback and out onto the road in a small spray of kicked-up gravel. Then, she pulled them in front of Rebecca and backed up, executing a three-point-turn there so that they were all waving at bemused Rebecca and beaming Stephanie through the windshields before passing back by and shooting on down the mountain road.

    Piano and guitar began to play the recognizable melody of an old hit Christine remembered from back in high school, and she looked through the window with interest as they began winding along the path that hugged the steep incline. Craggy stone faces rose up on one side of the car, while on the other side the thick trees occasionally gave way to sheer drops where the vista of the entire forest valley spread out beneath them.

    Wow…

    For her month-long ‘vacation’ here Christine had been holed up inside a cabin for virtually the entire time, and even on the trip out here she had been hidden beneath a blanket so as not to expose herself to sunlight. The views out here were amazing, and the familiar gothic rock song helped dispel some of the tension of being stuck in the car with everyone in such an awkward situation.

    She was all but pressed up against the door, sitting bolt-upright rather than in a relaxed way, with her knees pressed together and her hands folded into her lap. Kelly had one hand on the wheel, while Christine could see that Emily had gotten herself comfortable already and put both feet up on the dash. When Christine dared to finally glance across the back seat, Brian was likewise taking it easy—Christine was the only one stewing in her thoughts and unable to calm down.

    “Uh…” Christine cleared her throat and tried to not let her eyes dart around in every direction like she was guilty of something. “Brian?”

    “Hm?” Brian looked over and made eye contact with her.

    Something silver slipped down the flat plane of Christine’s mind in a way that made her entire body feel the sudden urge to squirm. It was as though his sudden attention on her was a tactile thing that pressed and then slid down her entire body in a frictionless way. The silver was silent, but Christine imagined the bizarre sensation felt just like a squeegee squeaking across a glass surface might sound.

    “Uhh—?” Christine panicked, suddenly flustered. “I was going to. I thought. I should maybe ask, ask you for. For if you would want to… punish me. I’d feel better, it would help. If you could. If you want to.”

    “...The fuck?” Emily twisted in her seat to give her an incredulous, open-mouthed stare.

    “Yeah…” Kelly arching an eyebrow at her through the rear-view mirror was also apparent.

    “Um?” Brian let out a laugh. “Uh. I guess she’s feeling more… shy? Don’t make fun of her, alright?”

    “N-no, no, it’s not that I feel shy,” Christine insisted, feeling her face burn. “It was—once you looked my way, some magic silver thing connected.”

    “Ah,” Emily oddly enough nodded right away in understanding. “Okay, yeah. That makes sense.”

    It does?

    “Nice,” Kelly said. “Yeah—trust me, we get it.”

    “Okay?” Christine still felt the need to search for excuses. “I mean—it just suddenly felt. Strange, intense. Like something was… squeezing me in a weird way.”

    “Think we all know exactly what you mean,” Brian assured her. “Yeah, the charm magic kind of taking hold of you. But, uhhh. I don’t really know that there’s anything I’d ‘punish you’ for? I would only ever want that to be something dealt out like, when you’re in the wrong or—yeah, stuff like that. Never when you’re just sitting there, behaving completely normally?”

    “Well, semi-normally,” Emily muttered under her breath.

    “She’s all stiff and proper,” Kelly remarked. “She needs shaken out of that. So she can relax some.”

    “Um,” Christine didn’t even know how to phrase it. “I think. That. I think that I would feel better, if I started… making some headway on all of this. Since we have time, here. So that you could start punishing me for everything I did to you. Stephanie suggested it—she thought it might help. She thought it might help both of us.”

    “Stephanie said that?” Brian sounded skeptical. “I, well, I don’t think there’s any—”

    “Could you please spank me?” Christine blushed furiously as the rest of the car went silent—Kelly’s finger had stabbed over to pause the music, even.

    “Spank you?” Brian repeated.

    “Yes,” Christine was so mortified that she could die. “If you want to. It’s something she suggested. We could uh, we could decide on… I don’t know. However many… spankings is fair, for right now. Or, it could just be a regular thing we do. To show that I’m, um, submitting. To all of this. To this situation. We could—uh, I mean if you don’t want to, then yeah we don’t have to. It’s not a big deal.”

    “Brian,” Emily said. “She’s asking for a spanking.”

    “Do it,” Kelly urged. “Yeah. Slide over into the middle, she can fit ‘cross your lap. Totally be good for both of you.”

    “Uhhh—” Brian said, looking towards Christine to gauge her expression.

    But, she couldn’t meet his eyes at all. Christine had never been filled with so much shame in her life, ever—because none of this played out like she might have expected with them just brushing it off, or even laughing at her. They were really going to just have him spank her buttocks. Right here while they were driving. A blot of silver teased down her inner mirror as though an invisible finger was slowly swiping down the very core of her being, and all at once Christine felt herself flooding with arousal.

( Previous, Kelly and Christine | After AnimeCon | Next, To be Continued... )

/// Will fix links later, gotta rush out and mow before it rains again. Probably gonna switch back to RE:TT for a bit next, I'm sure you're all getting sick of lewd scenes here.