Chapter 2: The Two Lavinias

It had been an exhausting day. Lavinia wondered if perhaps she could feel a migraine coming on. In and out of meetings with ranking members of the Azorius- and constantly making excuses for the guildpact- she had been left barely any time to catch up on her paperwork, and so had taken the opportunity to work longer into the night than she usually did to make up for lost time.

It was from the depths of dreary arrester reports that Lavinia was roused by an impatient knock on her door. She looked up in surprise- it wasn’t usual for anybody in the offices of the guildpact to receive visitors past nine. At least, she thought with some annoyance, not the kind that use the door to enter.

“Come in!” She called cautiously. The door creaked open and Lavinia’s heart leapt to her throat as a familiar crimson figure stepped purposefully through. Judith, grand dame of the Rakdos cult, wearing her familiar black leather bodice and frilled red skirt but topped with a platter-like hat bearing red and black carnations that Lavinia had never seen before; let the door slam behind her and strode down the long, well-lit and generously windowed room toward Lavinia’s desk. She stopped in front of the chair for guests, and hitching up her skirt, sat down upon it curtly.

As an accomplished arrester, Lavinia wasn’t usually one for nerves, but in the presence of the grand dame, sitting so coolly and silently before her, the Azorius woman could feel herself sweating. Which context is this? Is it a professional visit? It’s hardly public in here, but we aren’t in the Rakdos backrooms. Do I act like I don’t know her? She decided to take the safer tack.

“Miss…um… Judith? Is it? Of the Rakdos. How can I help you?”

“You can start…” Judith enunciated coldly. “By reminding me what day it is today.”

Lavinia’s blood turned to ice as a dawning realisation struck her, but as the panic set in she couldn’t help reflexively feigning ignorance as long as she could to prolong the silence before the inevitable revelation. “It is… Raksday, I believe.” She looked at the little fliptop desk calendar that the guildpact’s friend Miss Revane had bought for her in the market. “Yes. Raksday. The…uh… the twenty-fourth.”

“I thought so.” Judith continued. “Is there not an arrangement between our offices that a certain… emissary will visit mine from yours, at 7 o’clock sharp every second Raksday, and did she not most recently visit exactly a fortnight ago?”

“I…” Lavinia found herself struggling to meet Judith’s gaze. She had fearlessly rounded up guildless gangs and stood firm against violent gruul beasts, but her mistress radiated an aura that she feared directly acknowledging. “Yes that’s correct. I do apologise, my… Dame Judith. I must have… she must have been sidetracked by her work. We’ve all been so terribly busy today it’s easy to lose track of the date and time, you know, lots of important guildpact things to do.” She attempted a forced grin, which was not particularly convincing. Lavinia struggled to openly express her sense of humour in times she wasn’t under stress like this.

“That’s very unfortunate.” Judith said, her words like ice now. “Might I show you something of interest at the window, deputy?” She gestured to the large window behind Lavinia’s seat, and stood up from her chair.

“I… suppose…so?” Lavinia’s heart was pounding. She had never seen the scourge diva look and sound this disappointed. Standing up from her own chair, she extended an arm to walk Judith around her desk, and courteously led her to the large bay window.

Judith positioned herself so she was standing directly behind Lavinia’s shoulder, and placed a hand upon it. Lavinia heard a rustling as the dame removed her hat, and then jumped slightly as she heard the other woman’s voice very close to her ear.

“You are a naughty girl, and I am going to get rough with you.” Judith whispered softly into Lavinia’s ear. “The safeword still works, as always, I would never take that away from you, darling. But if you use it, we’re going to have this conversation formally, like chaste adults, and I rather suspect you’d find that much less exciting. Do you understand?”

Lavinia shivered, enraptured by the presence of her mistress so close to her sensitive skin. Oh Azor, she thought. It really has been two weeks, hasn’t it?

“Yes.” She breathed. It was almost so quiet she doubted Judith had heard, but she felt the hand on her shoulder relax.

“Good.” Judith said, much more loudly, then she pointed. “You see down there? There, between the two disused Orzhov chapels. There’s an underground club there where tonight they’re putting on a concert I’d quite like to have gone to, had I known my guest was not to be turning up.”

“Who’s playing?” Lavinia gulped, desperate to break the tension.

“King Xicor And The War Boar, but that’s not the point. The point is, I was held in suspense and unable to commit, but also, I have nowhere to be since the rest of the troupe have gone. No rehearsals tonight for old Judith, I can stay up as late as I like.”

“How lovely for you.” Lavinia turned and gestured at the chair in front of her desk, but Judith walked past it this time and planted herself on the coarse cream waiting settee a little way away, bathed in the fading evening light. Lavinia gave a little shrug, pulled out her own chair from her desk and swung it over so that she could sit a little distance away, facing Judith.

“Once again, I’m so very sorry our appointment wasn’t kept, Judith.” She said, managing to regrasp the professional tone of a high-ranking Azorius. “I really must just have lost track of time and forgotten all about it.”

“May I speak to my pet, Lavinia, please?” Judith had replaced her hat upon her head without Lavinia noticing somehow.

Lavinia frowned, confused. “Um… I am Lavinia; Dame Judith, I’m not sure I follow you?”

“You are the Lavinia that wears clothes.” Judith said, somewhat exasperatedly. “The Lavinia who is deputy to the guildpact. The Lavinia who works too hard, and the Lavinia with whom I am not personally greatly acquainted. I wish to speak to the Lavinia that wears the collars I put on her, the Lavinia with whom I am so intimately acquainted that she has tasted my pussy more than once, the Lavinia who exists to adore me and does not trouble herself with trifles like ‘paperwork’ and ‘meetings’. I know that she is somewhere inside you, will you allow me to speak to her?”

Lavinia blinked. She was so confused. There aren’t two Lavinias, there is but the one of me! she thought indignantly. She could no more delegate this conversation to the Lavinia who ate Judith’s pussy as the Lavinia who ate breakfast this morning. What did Judith mean by this?

As Lavinia watched, Judith’s large, shaded hat raised a little with her head, and Lavinia caught sight of the scourge diva’s eyes. As always beautifully painted, they seemed to pop right out of her face, and their stare brought new understanding to Lavinia. Play along, they seemed to say. Play your role and have some fun.

Lavinia decided to take the initiative and try something adventurous. That was, after all, what she used to do it all the time as an arrester, how was a long-shot gambit once in a while in this sort of setting any different?

“I’ll see if she’s in.” Lavinia said, trying her best to give off a sultry air before closing her eyes for a moment. With her eyelids closed, she tried as hard as she could to muster the kind of headspace she entered during her normal sessions with Judith, when she wore nothing but a dog collar and thought of nothing but the resplendent scarlet vision before her.

Unsure, she felt as if maybe she had found something. She opened her eyes.

“My… my diva?” She asked, in a pained stage whisper.

Judith’s face softened. “My pet. Lavinia. My most beautiful and treasured possession.”

“I’m… I’m sorry I didn’t come and see you, my diva.” Lavinia said, regretfully. “I just got so…”

“Sssshhhh… my pet, it’s all right. I know it’s not your fault. I know she kept you from coming.” Judith crooned, the sudden spitting of the word she making Lavinia jump a little.

“Who, my diva?”

“The fake Lavinia, my pet. The Lavinia who wears clothes and walks on two legs and traps you in this office under mountains of boring paper. The greedy, selfish, work-obsessed Lavinia you are so tragically bound to and must occasionally transform into. I know that she kept you from coming, even though you would so have loved to see me, isn’t that right?”

Lavinia bit her tongue for a moment, briefly stunned by the ludicrous thing that was implicitly being asked of her. Could she be made to hate herself? As a different person? A different persona, even? Was that what she and the Lavinia she had been mere seconds before already were? She certainly felt different. Who would believe that the stern-faced, no-nonsense Azorius arrester who aided the living guildpact and the airheaded, bubbly, adoring human housepet who delighted in burying her face in the grand dame’s nethers were one and the same? Now that she thought of it, Lavinia wasn’t even sure she believed it. Maybe she could play this way, at least for a little.

Here goes nothing, she thought. “Yes, my diva.” She played up the theatrics with a little sniffle. “I so desperately wanted to come and play with you, and usually she lets me, but she just had so much work to do that she wouldn’t listen. I kept asking to go and she just ignored me, and now we haven’t any time left and it’s all her fault!”

“Oh, my poor poor little Vinny.” Judith’s voice was like honey. “Don’t you worry yourself at all. You’re right, it’s late, but we’ll play soon, I’ll make sure of it.”

“I love you, my diva.”

“I know sweetheart. Now can you do something for me?”

Lavinia stared into Judith’s eyes and nodded.”

“I need you to stand up, come over here, yes there you go. Now, take off your breeches. No, no, just the breeches, and any underwear underneath them, that’s it. Now, come and lie down on your front across my knees like this. No, not too far forward, just about here with your stomach on my knees, yes well done. You’ve been a star, my pet. Now then, I promise we’ll see each other sooner than a fortnight from now, but right at the moment I need to speak to the other Lavinia, the nasty one. Can you bring her back?”

“Yes, my diva.” Lavinia bubbled. “Let me fetch her.” She let her eyes roll back into her head for a moment, reasoning that probably looked like as dramatic a transition to her other self as might be expected. She let her face resume its natural stony expression and pursed her lips.

“Dame Judith.” She said, tersely, trying not to let a little smile work into her voice as she played her complicated part. “I must say this is most irregular. I apologise for the compromising and inappropriate position you find me in, though I must say I suspect your hand in its design.” She made a token effort to get up off the settee but played her role by yielding immediately when Judith placed a firm hand on her shoulders.

“There you would be right.” Judith said, in a thrillingly nasty voice that Lavinia had not heard her use before. “I have had my pet pose you like this, that you may more easily be punished for your cruelty and selfishness.”

“Punished? Dame Judith, might I remind you that I am a highly respected Azorius arrester, and the personal aide to the guildpact himself, I hardly think- AH!” Lavinia’s eyes bulged as Judith’s hand, which had been silently raising behind her, delivered a short, sharp, powerful smack to her exposed bottom.

“Surely you are these things.” Judith sneered, raising her hand again. “And yet what you also are is a greedy, selfish, thoughtless work-obsessed little pig. And I feel myself perfectly qualified to deliver unto you an appropriate punishment for such.” She brought the hand down again for another sharp smack.

“Please, Dame Judith, this is most- ah! AH!” Lavinia cried out as she was soundly spanked. Even in this most tender of places, her years of training and experience with actual assault ensured it truly didn’t hurt all that much physically, but a tinge of humiliation niggled at Lavinia’s mind as the dame brought her hand down again.

“No law-princess of the Azorius is so high and mighty that she is beyond being given a good smack for her beastly behaviour!” Judith growled. “Especially not one as cruel and heartless as you, Lavinia of the Tenth. You would not indulge my pet, even though you know she has needs! You preferred to squash them away, didn’t you? Pretend that you are the real Lavinia, that your boring, mundane duties are more important than the needs that live in her very flesh, that you have no obligations to me, so you can deny my pet as you please! Well, you were wrong, false Lavinia! There will never be a Lavinia so dignified I cannot punish her. And punishment is what you deserve , you greedy, selfish, thoughtless cow!”

Lavinia could feel her mind begin to fog up as she submitted to the torrent of stinging sensations the scourge diva was unleashing upon her tender rear end. It was harder to think, and she felt humiliated and ashamed. Judith’s words stung almost as much as her smacks, though Lavinia could hear them becoming more distant as her brain fuzzed up and she stared past the end of the couch at the floor-length glass window beyond at her own sorry reflection in the pane, backed by the dimness of dusk.

A particularly brutal smack caused tears to appear in Lavinia’s eyes. In that moment, through the bleary view in front of her, she thought she could almost imagine her reflection changing. Suddenly, it was as if the reflected Lavinia was not fully clothed, laid on a sofa and grimacing from being spanked hard on the bottom, but instead nude, huddled, hugging her knees, a bright red collar around her neck with a slack leash attached to it trailing onto the floor, looking reproachfully with an expression of hurt and anguish at betrayal back at her. The window Lavinia blinked and her counterpart of flesh saw that her eyes were red and teary. It was then that she lost all control over her own tears as a wave of regret, shame and humiliation at this personal failure to her naked, helpless little alter-ego welled up within her.

“What are you, Lavinia of the Tenth?” Judith hissed, bringing her hand down again on Lavinia’s raw behind.

“Greedy.” Lavinia sniffled.

“And?” Another smack.

“Selfish.” Lavinia sobbed.

“And what else?” Judith raised her hand higher than she ever had.

“THOUGHTLESS!” Lavinia wailed, lurching from the crack that the diva’s open palm made across her sore red bottom.

“Good.” Judith said with a satisfied finality. “I’m glad we’ve established that. Now then, worm, sit up.”

Lavinia did as she was told, and reflexively moved to wipe the tears streaming down her face before a gloved hand stopped her.

“No.” Said the diva, quietly but firmly. Lavinia put her sleeve down.

“As my pet didn’t get to play tonight, I expect two things from you in recompense.” Judith said, authoritatively. “First of all, you will send her next week. At five, on that day, so we can make up for lost time. Then we will move her appointment to every other week from there, at the usual time. You have a week to make it happen, I expect no whining about it.”

Lavinia nodded, her body a sorry sight given all four of her cheeks were exposed, red and swollen at this point.

“Second of all.” The dame reached down and began to remove her skirt. “My pet had a job to do tonight, and because you gluttonously decided to eat up her personal playtime with your… paperwork nonsense, she wasn’t able to come and see me to do it. So…” She stood up, tossing her skirt onto the empty end of the settee, and walked over to Lavinia’s desk. “You are going to do it for her, instead.”

“I… I am?” Lavinia sniffed, dazed.

“Yes.” Judith hopped up onto the end of Lavinia’s desk and spread her legs, exposing her cunt. She beckoned to Lavinia. “Now.”

As if in a trance, perhaps as if the Pet inside her had taken control of her legs, Lavinia stood up and waddled over to kneel at the end of the desk, nursing her sore posterior. She looked up at Judith, seeing only cruelty on the diva’s face. Perhaps the mock cruelty of the stage, but what did that matter? She was playing as much a part as anyone here, and the diva’s fake cruelty was more than real enough to the fake Lavinia she now knew she was. She leaned forward and began to explore the folds in front of her with her tongue, as she had at this point done many times.

No. Said a voice in her head. Judith’s pet has done this many times. You never have.

Please. She pleaded back to the voice. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please tell the Pet I love her, I love being her. I got distracted and I feel terrible about it, I’ll never do it again. She has needs, and I neglected them, and she just looked so alone it tore me apart. Please, may I have her guidance here? May I be a whole Lavinia again? I don’t want to disappoint Judith any more, I can’t stand it. Please.

There was for a moment only the sound of Lavinia’s lapping and Judith’s quiet moans.

You are forgiven. The voice said simply, and Lavinia’s mind cleared, suddenly she could think properly and her accumulated skill at cunnilingus returned to her. It was all over in a few minutes. She took some small amount of pride in noticing that this was probably a personal best time for bringing the dame to orgasm.

“Very good, arrester.” Judith said, trying to maintain her commanding presence through gasps. “But I think your punishment must yet be more severe.”

Lavinia stared upwards in almost desperation. Yet more?

“I think…” Judith savoured the words devilishly. “I shall have you walk home… with your face as it is. The other Lavinia will keep you straight. You may put your trousers back on, but you may not clean your face until you are back home.”

It was all too much for Lavinia. “NIV-MIZZET!” She shrieked, and before she could even blink, the domineering, towering, cunt-baring Judith was gone, and there was only a bodice-clad woman her own height, squatting down by her and helping her gently to her feet. As Lavinia stood up she was enveloped in a gentle embrace, and she found she couldn’t stop tears welling in her eyes.

“There there.” Judith’s voice was out of role- it was kind, and warm, like a toned-down, less cartoonish version of the voice she praised the Pet in. “I’m sorry, did I go too far?”

“A little bit.” Lavinia sniffled. “I think I liked it up until the bit about going outside like this, but it was all a bit overwhelming, I have to be honest.”

“All right.” Judith massaged Lavinia’s back. “Why don’t we put exhibitionism down as a hard no for you, and I’ll not mention it again, is that what you’d like?”

Lavinia nodded, her lip still wobbling, and Judith released her.

“You can be whichever Lavinia you like now.” She said, kindly. “ Or all of them at once. And would you like something to clean your face up? I think I have a handkerchief somewhere here, a favour from a fan. Yes, here it is.” She handed a grateful Lavinia a dry red square of embroidered cloth, which the latter used to remove the worst of the multitude of accumulated fluids on her face. The two wandered over to the settee, and each took a moment to re-don her lower half.

“I’d offer you some tea, or something.” Judith said, in a soft voice. “But I’m afraid I remain technically a guest in your office, I fear it may not be to be found. Certainly not where I could reach it.”

“That’s all right.” Lavinia replied. “I’ll have some when I get home. Thank you for stopping.”

“But of course, Lavinia darling!” Judith sounded shocked. “It’s very important to me that you know that any time you say that word I will stop. You can say it for any reason, too. Obviously if things get too real but also if you just want a break, that’s fine as well. I will always stop when I know you want me to; we just tend to muddy the waters around the traditional avenues to communicate that. Hence the safeword.”

Lavinia attempted to hand back the handkerchief, but Judith waved her away. “Keep it.” She said. “I get one about every other show, and from the look of the gentleman who gave it to me I guarantee he’d have no objections to what it was used for.” She pursed her lips.

“I am sorry.” Lavinia’s voice was returning to normal. “I really did forget. It’s just been so hectic without the guildpact here.”

“I know, dear.” Judith put a loving hand on Lavinia’s shoulder. “But that was why you started coming in the first place, remember? To make sure you had an escape from all that. We don’t want you falling back into bad habits.”

“I think I can arrange for next week.” Lavinia said. “But the earliest I can do is six, honestly. I hope that’s all right.”

“That’s absolutely fine, gorgeous. I’ll see you then.” Judith leaned in and kissed her cheek, which made Lavinia flush bright red, her face prickling as if it were her aching bottom. What an odd thing to be embarrassed by, given all we’ve done. Lavinia thought. But the diva’s lips had been soft, and gentle, and her beautiful, dangerous face right up near Lavinia’s own.

“Actually…” Lavinia fumbled the sentence around her mouth like a stringy bit of meat.

“Yes?” Judith looked at her expectantly.

“If it’s all right with you, I’d like to start coming every week.” Lavinia said, with a sudden surge of the professional confidence she was usually so easily able to summon in her working life. “I think she… I think I really need it. Just at seven normally though.”

“Oh darling that’s wonderful news!” Judith smiled. “I would absolutely love to see more of you. I’ll make sure my schedule is clear. And I’ll tell you what don’t worry about paying Cackler more, he’s due a raise anyway so I’ll pull some strings with the big man. And…” she trailed off, in thought.

Lavinia looked at her expectantly.

“I won’t turn up here anymore.” Judith said, decisively. “It was fun just this once to come and hunt you down, show some punishment for ignoring me, but ultimately I think it was actually me being a little selfish.” She looked at Lavinia apologetically. “I missed you. I really enjoy our little sessions together and… well, I’m not really getting the adoration elsewhere much. Work hasn’t been great recently, I’m sure you can relate.”

“Well enough.” Lavinia said. “Though I haven’t tried getting Beleren’s attention with cabaret or daring feats of acrobatics yet.”

Judith laughed. “Perhaps that’s where you’re going wrong. Maybe I should bore the cult with readings of legal reports.”

“Perhaps!” Lavinia giggled. “Would you like some? I have so many.”

“Another time, maybe. Anyway, I’ll leave you to your work, arrester, though don’t overtire yourself.” Judith stood up, blew a kiss and began to walk back toward the door.

“Judith, wait!” Lavinia called after her.

The dame turned at the door and looked at her expectantly.

“I… um…” Lavinia sucked her teeth. “If I can request now… I did like being spanked… a little. I’d like to try some more spanking next week if there can be less yelling? I don’t know if that needs to be part of it…”

“Not at all poppet.” Judith assured her. “We can work out the details at the start of the session next week. You have a very nice bum and I’m absolutely up for making it nice and red with a little less cruelty if you’d like. Now ta-ta, see you next Raksday!”

The door shut behind her with a clunk. Lavinia folded up the handkerchief and stuffed it into one of her tunic’s cunningly secreted waist pockets. Then she looked across from the settee at the pile of reports on her desk, in disarray from Judith parking herself on the edge, and with some of the (thankfully already processed) ones damper than they had been, with fluids of dubious origin.

She shook her head, walked over and grabbed her satchel, fishing her keys out to hold in her hand. Pausing only to tip the worst of the ruined reports into the waste paper basket, she turned to leave, and in another moment the door shut again, this time with a click; leaving the room silent and dark for the evening.