midrifftickler
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Here is the final part of Chapter 15 of The Tickle Cartel. There is not very much tickling in this one, but I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think, and thank you for reading!
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Chapter 15: Prep Week, Day 5: Part 4
“How was the tickle fighting today?” Rebecca questioned a stone-faced Jen as the latter got into her T cart.
“I lost today,” Jen answered abruptly. “I’d rather not talk too much about it.”
“Okay,” Rebecca was a bit put-off by Jen’s unusual tone and demeanor. “Do you have anywhere you’d like to go, or do you want to go back to my place?”
“Your place sounds good,” Jen responded with a tone reflecting her determination to improve in tickle fights.
For a while, Jen stared straight forward as she cooked up various schemes to beat Diana at the next two tickle fights. Rebecca looked over off and on, wondering what could be going on inside her guest’s mind, but opted not to probe. Eventually, Jen caught one of her host’s glances, and she realized that she had been unusually quiet and focused the entire ride. The passenger shook her head and looked back at the driver, finally allowing herself to relax a little bit. “Sorry I’ve been a bit distant since I got in, Rebecca. I was just thinking of strategies for the tickle fights.”
“Ah,” Rebecca suspected that something else was going on, but again, she did not ask. “Any good ones?”
“I think I’m going to get a toothbrush and use it on her toes,” Jen provided a strategy she had thought up. “That’s Diana’s worst spot, and they tend to work pretty well, based on the punishment I gave her a few days ago.”
“That sounds… interesting, and I hope it works for you,” Rebecca became cautious when Jen mentioned toes, and Jen noticed that her host’s non-driving toes curled slightly when the tickle spot got brought up.
“Oh, you probably don’t want to talk about tickling bare feet, do you?” Jen broke into a smile at Rebecca’s response and lightly teased her companion.
“It’s not my favorite subject,” the driver declared, unable to avoid offering a smile at the tease. “But you can talk about it, so long as you don’t suddenly start tickling me.”
“We can drop it for now; I can think up more strategies later,” Jen dismissed the subject and changed to a new one. “I’m sure you have something planned for tonight; what is it?”
“I was planning to give you a little rundown on finances in the Tickle Cartel, and some stuff that goes along with that, like apartment selection and that sort of thing,” Rebecca proclaimed. “I’m sure you’ll learn more about it later, but I figured I could give you a little preview of what you’ll dive into when you start working full-time in the Tickle Cartel. Get you ahead of the game.”
“That does sound like something that could be useful,” Jen acknowledged hesitantly.
‘I mean, I know it’s useful, but I really don’t want to spend an entire night talking about money,’ the future Tickle Cartel employee added to her spoken sentence in her thoughts.
“Of course, we’ll have to break up the finance talk a few times so that it doesn’t get too overwhelming or boring,” Rebecca seemed to read Jen’s mind and put it at ease. “It’s a bit of a dull topic, but it does need to be addressed sometime.”
“Okay, let’s do that,” Jen jumped on board after the assurance of breaks came through. Rebecca listed a few topics they would be speaking about, and then the conversation drifted into small talk for the remainder of the ride to the apartment complex.
Upon entering Rebecca’s apartment, the two sat at the living room table, where the host had her computer out. “Since I work a lot with new Tickle Cartel employees, especially ones that end up at this apartment complex, I’ve got an example program set up for this,” Rebecca explained. “This is an example of a bank account. When you first get a job, the Tickle Cartel gives you a loan of what your starting salary pays in a year and a half.” Jen was surprised at this, and she gave Rebecca a corresponding look. “Yes, that is really what happens, and this particular loan comes with some important conditions. If you pay the loan off within three years of receiving it, you pay no interest, and there are no other consequences. The initial loan is designed to help you get on your feet, find an apartment, and get comfortable when you start working. Basically, the Tickle Cartel does not want you stressing about living paycheck to paycheck right when you begin working for them, so they use that as a courtesy loan. The three-year period is plenty of time to pay off the loan while living comfortably, and the last I heard, over ninety-five percent of employees pay it off by then, with most getting that done well before the payments are all due. With bonuses and short, low-effort, and usually fun side jobs that are frequently offered, you typically can make plenty of money to pay it off up to a year early. Even without taking any of those odd jobs, the salary itself, minus typical expenses, still usually gives a few months of flexibility in paying off the loan. So whatever you do, don’t fret about not being able to pay the loan back. It’s really easy, as long as you don’t go for a luxury life on a small paycheck.”
“Okay, that sounds good.” After hearing the full explanation from her host, Jen felt much calmer about getting and having to pay back such a large loan.
“Now, I did say that there were potential consequences if you do not pay the loan back on time, so I want to let you know what they are,” Rebecca turned her focus away from the positive aspects of starting at the Tickle Cartel. “Like I said before, this is rare, but it does happen. If you fail to pay the loan on time, you will begin to accrue interest on the loan, starting from that three-year mark, and you will also be tickle tortured for a certain amount each day, based on the current size of your loan. Both of those will be specified in the contract you sign when you receive the loan, which will also describe the three-year grace period to pay it back. Now I know that you like being tickled, but you will report to the same Tickle Dungeon each day, and they will find out what is tickle torture for you, so I would advise you not to test that out.”
“Alright, I don’t really want to get interest on a loan, anyways,” Jen dismissed the idea of not paying her loan back on time, with or without the Tickle Dungeon sentence. “I’ll just pay everything on time, and if I want to get tickled, I can do that by my own choice.”
“That sounds very smart,” Rebecca declared. “Alright, let’s move on to housing, since the apartment that you get will factor heavily into your financial picture. Rent for an apartment around here will typically be around twenty percent of your monthly salary, calculated by your hourly rate. To make it easier for you to find an acceptable place, when you are near starting a job, the Tickle Cartel will provide a list of three to four apartment complexes that are near your workplace and have open spots. You do not have to apply for any of these places, but it is recommended since they are the closest ones to your job with availability. Like any other apartment complex, the property manager will give you a quick tour and have you fill out an application before they consider you. However, the property managers here will also do a quick interview with you strapped down to a table, in stocks, or otherwise restrained.” Jen raised her eyebrows at this, looking for an explanation of the seemingly odd practice.
“Tickle Cartel regulations require that each apartment or house be equipped with bondage to highlight each resident’s most ticklish spot,” Rebecca explained the practice. “I do not know exactly why that rule is in place, but it is, so the property manager or realtor needs to know your most ticklish spot. There is one thing that this information is used for, although I am not sure if this was intended or just a side result. In apartment complexes, the property manager has quite a bit of authority over residents. They can enter any apartment at almost any time without reason to tickle the resident or residents. The only time that this cannot happen is when the resident’s work starts or ends within an hour, and the apartment will collect the resident’s basic schedule to make sure this does not happen. However, property managers often do not use this authority, especially since they have to be available for public tickling from residents at least once a week. The ones who use their authority to tickle torture their residents find themselves at those same residents’ mercy later, and they usually quit within a few weeks. Even if they manage to withstand the tickling, their bosses usually fire them if they receive from excessive complaints, since ultimately, they want good reviews for the apartment complexes they own. All that to say that you probably won’t have to worry about your future apartment property manager coming in and tickling you at all hours, even though they technically can.”
After seeing that Jen’s expression had turned back to normal, Rebecca decided to move back to her original subject, “Back to the financial aspect of apartments. Like I said before, the Tickle Cartel will recommend three or four near your work and in your price range, and you will use part of your original loan to pay for the first month’s rent, along with other initial expenses. While you are moving in, some of the rest of the loan is typically used for buying furniture and other items for the apartment. You have a slight head start on that with the care package from Tickle Mistress Wendy, but I’m sure you will find that there are other things that you need or want. Alright, I think that’s all I have about apartments, and I also think that now is a good time for a break. Before that, though, do you have any questions so far?”
“No, other than the weird thing of having a tickling interview, I think this mostly sounds normal,” Jen answered.
“Well, it will probably take a few months to get used to, but a lot of things seemingly completely unrelated to tickling have tickling in some form here,” Rebecca smiled. “Like conversations about finance, and breaks!”
“HEHEHEHEY!” Jen scooted back in her chair and tried to cover up her midsection when her host lunged for her and began tickling her belly. “THAHAHAHAHAT TIHIHIHICKLEHEHES!”
“Well, of course it does, that’s kind of the point of tickling you,” Rebecca declared as she wiggled her fingers over the vulnerable parts of her guest’s stomach. “You like being tickled, I like tickling people, so I thought I’d make the break fun for both of us.”
“IHIHI NEHEHEHEVEHEHER SAHAHAHAID IHIHIHIT WAHAHAHAS BAHAHAHAD!” Jen confirmed her enjoyment of the fingernail tickling, and eventually she forced her hands to not reflexively protect herself.
“Good, I was pretty sure you’d like it,” Rebecca commented as she continued to tickle Jen. Five minutes later, she abruptly stopped and headed towards the fridge. “Do you want some water before we start back up, Jen?”
“Sure,” Jen affirmed as she sat back up in her chair.
Rebecca set two glasses of cold water on the table before continuing the earlier conversation like there had been no interruption, “Alright, so let’s talk about how you can save money while still having a comfortable life. Even if you get into one of the Tickle Cartel-recommended apartments, you will probably not be able to walk to work, so you’ll probably have to take some form of public transportation to get to your job. The vast majority of Tickle Cartel residents and employees cannot afford T carts, and even I would not be able to have one if I did not have the extra job of mentoring new Tickle Cartel employees. Because of this, the Tickle Cartel has a vast public transportation system, consisting of trolleys, buses, subways, and trains, with those ranging from smallest to longest average distance traveled. Each one of these vehicles has different seating arrangements, from cheapest to priciest. While you are still paying off your initial debt, a good way to save money is to go for the cheap seats on transportation. Oftentimes, passengers buying the cheap seats will be bound for the duration of the trip and available for tickling by the passengers who buy the more expensive seats. Your destination will be inputted into the bondage, and you will be released before your destination, so you do not have to worry about getting where you need to go. However, you should gauge how much tickling you can take before buying the cheapest seats for a trip. Buying something more expensive will lead to less or no tickling, but it will also eat up more of your paycheck, so it’s something that you should keep under consideration.”
“I have a question now,” Jen spoke up when it seemed like Rebecca had finished talking about public transportation.
“Ask away,” Rebecca invited the query with a warm smile.
“Without a car or T cart or something like that, how do you get groceries back to an apartment or house?” Jen wondered. “It seems like it would be pretty hard to try and carry everything back to your home, especially if you need to get the cheap seats on a trolley or bus to save money.”
“I see that you’re getting a bit ahead of me,” Rebecca declared. “I would have gotten there before too long, but since you asked, I’ll say that now. Most apartment complexes are grouped together in little areas, and there are grocery stores and other stores mixed in those areas. In general, you can walk back with your groceries, but stores also have small, trackable carts that you can opt to use given a certain number of items or bags. With the carts, you take them to your home, unload them, and then bring them back to the store within a certain time frame, usually an hour or so, depending on how many groceries you bought. The smallest one usually comes for free if you have less than a certain number of groceries, and with more groceries, there is a small fee based on your cart size and quantity needs. Overall, the system is pretty easy to use, and you can always ask store employees about their cart policy before deciding how much you want to buy. Stores also have the option to deliver your goods to your home, but that usually costs more and is only useful when you buy a ton of stuff. And since I got caught up in it when you were on a call, you already know that some stores require tickling when you buy a certain number of items or exceed a certain total price, but I’m sure you won’t mind that. That last part was a bit off topic, but I’m sure you would have asked about it had I not mentioned it. Did I answer your question satisfactorily?”
“Yes, thank you; I’ll ask when I go to the store if I think of anything else,” Jen accepted Rebecca’s reply.
“Just let me know if you think of any questions before you head out,” Rebecca announced. “And now, on to a fun topic: entertainment. The Tickle Cartel maintains a lot of the typical entertainment venues that you would see other places. There are movie theaters, sports venues, and theme parks, among several others. In general, these are not too expensive, so you should be able to go there on a budget, should you desire. The only major change from your usual entertainment is the addition of tickling. For instance, at movie theaters, instead of simple seats, there are pods, as they call them, of a few seats. They are soundproofed, and there are restraints inside, to allow for tickling without disturbing other movie guests. So that you can hear the movie, headphones which do not interfere with bondage are supplied. In addition, the movies are more likely to involve tickling in their plot, whether it is a central plot point or just a fun side detail. On another note, most sports that are played have some form of tickling involved, be it during the playing of the sport or as a punishment. And for my last example, theme parks usually have several attractions centered around tickling, in addition to general tickling outside said attractions. To get back to my point, though, you can go to most of these entertainment venues, as well as others that I have not mentioned, for a relatively cheap price, so you should feel free to have fun, even while you are still working on paying back the initial loan. I think that is all I have to say about entertainment. Do you have any questions about that or anything else related to finances?”
Jen considered all that she had been told today before responding, “No, I can’t think of anything right now.”
“Alright, one last quick topic before we end,” Rebecca proclaimed. “On this banking site, there is also a place for budget balancing. You will surely get more information about this when you begin working, but it has a place for you to insert standard salary and side job income, as well as expense information. Also, you can separate your expenses into different categories so that you know how much you spend in certain areas, should you choose. Again, this is completely optional, but it can be useful, should you decide to use it. I should also note that this information only goes to you, and the bank does not see it at all. It is exclusively for your personal use if you want it. Now that I’ve actually finished my talk about finances, do you have any questions?” After a few seconds, Jen decided that she did not have any, so her host continued, “Feel free to ask me any questions that you think of, and don’t worry if you don’t think you know everything, even after you leave here. When you start your job for real, you will have a dedicated Tickle Cartel employee to mentor you and answer questions.”
“Okay,” Jen smiled, somewhat glad to have finished the financial lecture. When her host did not say anything for a minute, she wondered, “Is it alright if I go to my room and text Maddie again? She’s probably been waiting for a while.”
“Oh, yes, go ahead; I don’t have anything else planned for tonight,” Rebecca had a sheepish smile on her face as she realized that she had accidentally been keeping her guest in the room.
“Thanks,” Jen replied before heading to her room. She began texting Maddie, and the two engaged in normal conversation. After a while of texting her best friend back and forth, Jen was shocked to hear her phone begin ringing. Someone that she did not recognize was calling her, so she hesitantly answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Hello? Jen, is this you? It’s Tickle Mistress Wendy.” It only took Jen a couple of words to recognize the Tickle Mistress’ voice.
“Yes, it’s Jen; hi!” Jen excitedly affirmed. Jen sent a quick text to Maddie to make sure she was not worried when Jen did not respond for a few minutes.
While Jen was texting her best friend, Wendy was speaking to her, “Hi, Jen! I asked Queen Mistress Heather how I could contact you, and she let me know that she gave you a phone, and then she gave me the number. How are you doing? How is Transporter Training?”
“I’m still doing great; I think I’m starting to get more comfortable here,” Jen declared. “Transporter Training was a bit difficult at first, since I kept getting reminded of being a tickle slave, but after Tickle Mistress Andrea came in, it’s been better.”
“The Tickle Mistress already visited you? Good,” Wendy seemed surprised at Jen’s admission, but quickly accepted it. “Well, I talked to the Queen Mistress and Andrea, and Queen Mistress Heather was quite adamant about change, but I’m a bit surprised that her visit happened so quickly. That’s great! And you said that you’re getting more comfortable around the Tickle Cartel? I’m glad that you’re starting to adjust. I’d ask you if you have done anything particularly fun so far, but I’m actually calling to invite you to lunch tomorrow, and if you can make it, I’d rather just ask you in person. Do you have any idea if lunch around 12:30 tomorrow would work for you?”
“Let me go ask Rebecca, and I’ll get right back to you,” Jen proclaimed. She brought the phone out with her, covering up the microphone, and spoke with her host. “Rebecca? Tickle Mistress Wendy is on the phone, and she was wondering if we could come over to her place for lunch tomorrow around 12:30?”
“Of course: if you want to go, I’ll get us there,” Rebecca approved. “I know where she lives, so you don’t have to ask that.”
“Thanks, Rebecca!” Jen happily stated before putting the phone back up to her ear and heading back to her room. “We’ll be there, Tickle Mistress! Thanks for the invitation.”
“You’re welcome, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you,” Wendy stated in a calm, satisfied tone. “See you tomorrow, and make sure to bring some good stories.”
“See you tomorrow, and I will,” Jen confirmed before the two said their goodbyes. Once she was off the phone and on her bed, the future Dungeon Tickler resumed texting her best friend until she got tired. She headed back into the living room, where Rebecca had just stood up to head to bed. After finishing up everything that she needed to for the night, Jen went to sleep with a smile on her face.
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Chapter 16: Prep Week, Day 6: Part 1
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Chapter 15: Prep Week, Day 5: Part 4
“How was the tickle fighting today?” Rebecca questioned a stone-faced Jen as the latter got into her T cart.
“I lost today,” Jen answered abruptly. “I’d rather not talk too much about it.”
“Okay,” Rebecca was a bit put-off by Jen’s unusual tone and demeanor. “Do you have anywhere you’d like to go, or do you want to go back to my place?”
“Your place sounds good,” Jen responded with a tone reflecting her determination to improve in tickle fights.
For a while, Jen stared straight forward as she cooked up various schemes to beat Diana at the next two tickle fights. Rebecca looked over off and on, wondering what could be going on inside her guest’s mind, but opted not to probe. Eventually, Jen caught one of her host’s glances, and she realized that she had been unusually quiet and focused the entire ride. The passenger shook her head and looked back at the driver, finally allowing herself to relax a little bit. “Sorry I’ve been a bit distant since I got in, Rebecca. I was just thinking of strategies for the tickle fights.”
“Ah,” Rebecca suspected that something else was going on, but again, she did not ask. “Any good ones?”
“I think I’m going to get a toothbrush and use it on her toes,” Jen provided a strategy she had thought up. “That’s Diana’s worst spot, and they tend to work pretty well, based on the punishment I gave her a few days ago.”
“That sounds… interesting, and I hope it works for you,” Rebecca became cautious when Jen mentioned toes, and Jen noticed that her host’s non-driving toes curled slightly when the tickle spot got brought up.
“Oh, you probably don’t want to talk about tickling bare feet, do you?” Jen broke into a smile at Rebecca’s response and lightly teased her companion.
“It’s not my favorite subject,” the driver declared, unable to avoid offering a smile at the tease. “But you can talk about it, so long as you don’t suddenly start tickling me.”
“We can drop it for now; I can think up more strategies later,” Jen dismissed the subject and changed to a new one. “I’m sure you have something planned for tonight; what is it?”
“I was planning to give you a little rundown on finances in the Tickle Cartel, and some stuff that goes along with that, like apartment selection and that sort of thing,” Rebecca proclaimed. “I’m sure you’ll learn more about it later, but I figured I could give you a little preview of what you’ll dive into when you start working full-time in the Tickle Cartel. Get you ahead of the game.”
“That does sound like something that could be useful,” Jen acknowledged hesitantly.
‘I mean, I know it’s useful, but I really don’t want to spend an entire night talking about money,’ the future Tickle Cartel employee added to her spoken sentence in her thoughts.
“Of course, we’ll have to break up the finance talk a few times so that it doesn’t get too overwhelming or boring,” Rebecca seemed to read Jen’s mind and put it at ease. “It’s a bit of a dull topic, but it does need to be addressed sometime.”
“Okay, let’s do that,” Jen jumped on board after the assurance of breaks came through. Rebecca listed a few topics they would be speaking about, and then the conversation drifted into small talk for the remainder of the ride to the apartment complex.
Upon entering Rebecca’s apartment, the two sat at the living room table, where the host had her computer out. “Since I work a lot with new Tickle Cartel employees, especially ones that end up at this apartment complex, I’ve got an example program set up for this,” Rebecca explained. “This is an example of a bank account. When you first get a job, the Tickle Cartel gives you a loan of what your starting salary pays in a year and a half.” Jen was surprised at this, and she gave Rebecca a corresponding look. “Yes, that is really what happens, and this particular loan comes with some important conditions. If you pay the loan off within three years of receiving it, you pay no interest, and there are no other consequences. The initial loan is designed to help you get on your feet, find an apartment, and get comfortable when you start working. Basically, the Tickle Cartel does not want you stressing about living paycheck to paycheck right when you begin working for them, so they use that as a courtesy loan. The three-year period is plenty of time to pay off the loan while living comfortably, and the last I heard, over ninety-five percent of employees pay it off by then, with most getting that done well before the payments are all due. With bonuses and short, low-effort, and usually fun side jobs that are frequently offered, you typically can make plenty of money to pay it off up to a year early. Even without taking any of those odd jobs, the salary itself, minus typical expenses, still usually gives a few months of flexibility in paying off the loan. So whatever you do, don’t fret about not being able to pay the loan back. It’s really easy, as long as you don’t go for a luxury life on a small paycheck.”
“Okay, that sounds good.” After hearing the full explanation from her host, Jen felt much calmer about getting and having to pay back such a large loan.
“Now, I did say that there were potential consequences if you do not pay the loan back on time, so I want to let you know what they are,” Rebecca turned her focus away from the positive aspects of starting at the Tickle Cartel. “Like I said before, this is rare, but it does happen. If you fail to pay the loan on time, you will begin to accrue interest on the loan, starting from that three-year mark, and you will also be tickle tortured for a certain amount each day, based on the current size of your loan. Both of those will be specified in the contract you sign when you receive the loan, which will also describe the three-year grace period to pay it back. Now I know that you like being tickled, but you will report to the same Tickle Dungeon each day, and they will find out what is tickle torture for you, so I would advise you not to test that out.”
“Alright, I don’t really want to get interest on a loan, anyways,” Jen dismissed the idea of not paying her loan back on time, with or without the Tickle Dungeon sentence. “I’ll just pay everything on time, and if I want to get tickled, I can do that by my own choice.”
“That sounds very smart,” Rebecca declared. “Alright, let’s move on to housing, since the apartment that you get will factor heavily into your financial picture. Rent for an apartment around here will typically be around twenty percent of your monthly salary, calculated by your hourly rate. To make it easier for you to find an acceptable place, when you are near starting a job, the Tickle Cartel will provide a list of three to four apartment complexes that are near your workplace and have open spots. You do not have to apply for any of these places, but it is recommended since they are the closest ones to your job with availability. Like any other apartment complex, the property manager will give you a quick tour and have you fill out an application before they consider you. However, the property managers here will also do a quick interview with you strapped down to a table, in stocks, or otherwise restrained.” Jen raised her eyebrows at this, looking for an explanation of the seemingly odd practice.
“Tickle Cartel regulations require that each apartment or house be equipped with bondage to highlight each resident’s most ticklish spot,” Rebecca explained the practice. “I do not know exactly why that rule is in place, but it is, so the property manager or realtor needs to know your most ticklish spot. There is one thing that this information is used for, although I am not sure if this was intended or just a side result. In apartment complexes, the property manager has quite a bit of authority over residents. They can enter any apartment at almost any time without reason to tickle the resident or residents. The only time that this cannot happen is when the resident’s work starts or ends within an hour, and the apartment will collect the resident’s basic schedule to make sure this does not happen. However, property managers often do not use this authority, especially since they have to be available for public tickling from residents at least once a week. The ones who use their authority to tickle torture their residents find themselves at those same residents’ mercy later, and they usually quit within a few weeks. Even if they manage to withstand the tickling, their bosses usually fire them if they receive from excessive complaints, since ultimately, they want good reviews for the apartment complexes they own. All that to say that you probably won’t have to worry about your future apartment property manager coming in and tickling you at all hours, even though they technically can.”
After seeing that Jen’s expression had turned back to normal, Rebecca decided to move back to her original subject, “Back to the financial aspect of apartments. Like I said before, the Tickle Cartel will recommend three or four near your work and in your price range, and you will use part of your original loan to pay for the first month’s rent, along with other initial expenses. While you are moving in, some of the rest of the loan is typically used for buying furniture and other items for the apartment. You have a slight head start on that with the care package from Tickle Mistress Wendy, but I’m sure you will find that there are other things that you need or want. Alright, I think that’s all I have about apartments, and I also think that now is a good time for a break. Before that, though, do you have any questions so far?”
“No, other than the weird thing of having a tickling interview, I think this mostly sounds normal,” Jen answered.
“Well, it will probably take a few months to get used to, but a lot of things seemingly completely unrelated to tickling have tickling in some form here,” Rebecca smiled. “Like conversations about finance, and breaks!”
“HEHEHEHEY!” Jen scooted back in her chair and tried to cover up her midsection when her host lunged for her and began tickling her belly. “THAHAHAHAHAT TIHIHIHICKLEHEHES!”
“Well, of course it does, that’s kind of the point of tickling you,” Rebecca declared as she wiggled her fingers over the vulnerable parts of her guest’s stomach. “You like being tickled, I like tickling people, so I thought I’d make the break fun for both of us.”
“IHIHI NEHEHEHEVEHEHER SAHAHAHAID IHIHIHIT WAHAHAHAS BAHAHAHAD!” Jen confirmed her enjoyment of the fingernail tickling, and eventually she forced her hands to not reflexively protect herself.
“Good, I was pretty sure you’d like it,” Rebecca commented as she continued to tickle Jen. Five minutes later, she abruptly stopped and headed towards the fridge. “Do you want some water before we start back up, Jen?”
“Sure,” Jen affirmed as she sat back up in her chair.
Rebecca set two glasses of cold water on the table before continuing the earlier conversation like there had been no interruption, “Alright, so let’s talk about how you can save money while still having a comfortable life. Even if you get into one of the Tickle Cartel-recommended apartments, you will probably not be able to walk to work, so you’ll probably have to take some form of public transportation to get to your job. The vast majority of Tickle Cartel residents and employees cannot afford T carts, and even I would not be able to have one if I did not have the extra job of mentoring new Tickle Cartel employees. Because of this, the Tickle Cartel has a vast public transportation system, consisting of trolleys, buses, subways, and trains, with those ranging from smallest to longest average distance traveled. Each one of these vehicles has different seating arrangements, from cheapest to priciest. While you are still paying off your initial debt, a good way to save money is to go for the cheap seats on transportation. Oftentimes, passengers buying the cheap seats will be bound for the duration of the trip and available for tickling by the passengers who buy the more expensive seats. Your destination will be inputted into the bondage, and you will be released before your destination, so you do not have to worry about getting where you need to go. However, you should gauge how much tickling you can take before buying the cheapest seats for a trip. Buying something more expensive will lead to less or no tickling, but it will also eat up more of your paycheck, so it’s something that you should keep under consideration.”
“I have a question now,” Jen spoke up when it seemed like Rebecca had finished talking about public transportation.
“Ask away,” Rebecca invited the query with a warm smile.
“Without a car or T cart or something like that, how do you get groceries back to an apartment or house?” Jen wondered. “It seems like it would be pretty hard to try and carry everything back to your home, especially if you need to get the cheap seats on a trolley or bus to save money.”
“I see that you’re getting a bit ahead of me,” Rebecca declared. “I would have gotten there before too long, but since you asked, I’ll say that now. Most apartment complexes are grouped together in little areas, and there are grocery stores and other stores mixed in those areas. In general, you can walk back with your groceries, but stores also have small, trackable carts that you can opt to use given a certain number of items or bags. With the carts, you take them to your home, unload them, and then bring them back to the store within a certain time frame, usually an hour or so, depending on how many groceries you bought. The smallest one usually comes for free if you have less than a certain number of groceries, and with more groceries, there is a small fee based on your cart size and quantity needs. Overall, the system is pretty easy to use, and you can always ask store employees about their cart policy before deciding how much you want to buy. Stores also have the option to deliver your goods to your home, but that usually costs more and is only useful when you buy a ton of stuff. And since I got caught up in it when you were on a call, you already know that some stores require tickling when you buy a certain number of items or exceed a certain total price, but I’m sure you won’t mind that. That last part was a bit off topic, but I’m sure you would have asked about it had I not mentioned it. Did I answer your question satisfactorily?”
“Yes, thank you; I’ll ask when I go to the store if I think of anything else,” Jen accepted Rebecca’s reply.
“Just let me know if you think of any questions before you head out,” Rebecca announced. “And now, on to a fun topic: entertainment. The Tickle Cartel maintains a lot of the typical entertainment venues that you would see other places. There are movie theaters, sports venues, and theme parks, among several others. In general, these are not too expensive, so you should be able to go there on a budget, should you desire. The only major change from your usual entertainment is the addition of tickling. For instance, at movie theaters, instead of simple seats, there are pods, as they call them, of a few seats. They are soundproofed, and there are restraints inside, to allow for tickling without disturbing other movie guests. So that you can hear the movie, headphones which do not interfere with bondage are supplied. In addition, the movies are more likely to involve tickling in their plot, whether it is a central plot point or just a fun side detail. On another note, most sports that are played have some form of tickling involved, be it during the playing of the sport or as a punishment. And for my last example, theme parks usually have several attractions centered around tickling, in addition to general tickling outside said attractions. To get back to my point, though, you can go to most of these entertainment venues, as well as others that I have not mentioned, for a relatively cheap price, so you should feel free to have fun, even while you are still working on paying back the initial loan. I think that is all I have to say about entertainment. Do you have any questions about that or anything else related to finances?”
Jen considered all that she had been told today before responding, “No, I can’t think of anything right now.”
“Alright, one last quick topic before we end,” Rebecca proclaimed. “On this banking site, there is also a place for budget balancing. You will surely get more information about this when you begin working, but it has a place for you to insert standard salary and side job income, as well as expense information. Also, you can separate your expenses into different categories so that you know how much you spend in certain areas, should you choose. Again, this is completely optional, but it can be useful, should you decide to use it. I should also note that this information only goes to you, and the bank does not see it at all. It is exclusively for your personal use if you want it. Now that I’ve actually finished my talk about finances, do you have any questions?” After a few seconds, Jen decided that she did not have any, so her host continued, “Feel free to ask me any questions that you think of, and don’t worry if you don’t think you know everything, even after you leave here. When you start your job for real, you will have a dedicated Tickle Cartel employee to mentor you and answer questions.”
“Okay,” Jen smiled, somewhat glad to have finished the financial lecture. When her host did not say anything for a minute, she wondered, “Is it alright if I go to my room and text Maddie again? She’s probably been waiting for a while.”
“Oh, yes, go ahead; I don’t have anything else planned for tonight,” Rebecca had a sheepish smile on her face as she realized that she had accidentally been keeping her guest in the room.
“Thanks,” Jen replied before heading to her room. She began texting Maddie, and the two engaged in normal conversation. After a while of texting her best friend back and forth, Jen was shocked to hear her phone begin ringing. Someone that she did not recognize was calling her, so she hesitantly answered the phone, “Hello?”
“Hello? Jen, is this you? It’s Tickle Mistress Wendy.” It only took Jen a couple of words to recognize the Tickle Mistress’ voice.
“Yes, it’s Jen; hi!” Jen excitedly affirmed. Jen sent a quick text to Maddie to make sure she was not worried when Jen did not respond for a few minutes.
While Jen was texting her best friend, Wendy was speaking to her, “Hi, Jen! I asked Queen Mistress Heather how I could contact you, and she let me know that she gave you a phone, and then she gave me the number. How are you doing? How is Transporter Training?”
“I’m still doing great; I think I’m starting to get more comfortable here,” Jen declared. “Transporter Training was a bit difficult at first, since I kept getting reminded of being a tickle slave, but after Tickle Mistress Andrea came in, it’s been better.”
“The Tickle Mistress already visited you? Good,” Wendy seemed surprised at Jen’s admission, but quickly accepted it. “Well, I talked to the Queen Mistress and Andrea, and Queen Mistress Heather was quite adamant about change, but I’m a bit surprised that her visit happened so quickly. That’s great! And you said that you’re getting more comfortable around the Tickle Cartel? I’m glad that you’re starting to adjust. I’d ask you if you have done anything particularly fun so far, but I’m actually calling to invite you to lunch tomorrow, and if you can make it, I’d rather just ask you in person. Do you have any idea if lunch around 12:30 tomorrow would work for you?”
“Let me go ask Rebecca, and I’ll get right back to you,” Jen proclaimed. She brought the phone out with her, covering up the microphone, and spoke with her host. “Rebecca? Tickle Mistress Wendy is on the phone, and she was wondering if we could come over to her place for lunch tomorrow around 12:30?”
“Of course: if you want to go, I’ll get us there,” Rebecca approved. “I know where she lives, so you don’t have to ask that.”
“Thanks, Rebecca!” Jen happily stated before putting the phone back up to her ear and heading back to her room. “We’ll be there, Tickle Mistress! Thanks for the invitation.”
“You’re welcome, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing you,” Wendy stated in a calm, satisfied tone. “See you tomorrow, and make sure to bring some good stories.”
“See you tomorrow, and I will,” Jen confirmed before the two said their goodbyes. Once she was off the phone and on her bed, the future Dungeon Tickler resumed texting her best friend until she got tired. She headed back into the living room, where Rebecca had just stood up to head to bed. After finishing up everything that she needed to for the night, Jen went to sleep with a smile on her face.
Next Chapter
Chapter 16: Prep Week, Day 6: Part 1
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