VIP Handshake Ticket (Chapter 2)
Recently, I learned my classmate Sarah lives downstairs. I’d introduced her to Stellar Guardians, and we often chat about it. Oddly, she sometimes smells faintly of latex.
Tonight, as I played games, the doorbell rang. Opening it, I saw Lily in her stage outfit, gesturing frantically. I let her in, and she sat silently, tense.
“Are you… Sarah?”
The doll nodded.
“What’s wrong?”
She showed me a broken key, lifting her wig to reveal a lock with half the key stuck inside. She was trapped in the doll mask, unable to remove it alone. Even so, she stayed silent. Shy, or adhering to doll protocol?
Using pliers from my toolbox, I carefully broke the lock, preparing to lift the doll mask. She hesitated but relented. Expecting Sarah’s face, I instead saw a black latex head beneath the bodysuit’s face opening, identical to the VIP event. The latex head had a featureless face, two nasal tubes extending into the suit, and a taped mouth muffling her, explaining her silence.
I peeled off the static tape easily, revealing a gag. Removing it, a long latex rod coated in saliva, made her cough. She re-donned the doll mask, and we sat facing each other.
“Sarah, are you a Stellar Guardians actor?”
“Mmm,” a muffled voice confirmed.
“Was that you as Lily back then?”
“Yes.”
Awkwardness hit me. My special service partner was my classmate. So I changed topic.
“When did you start? Do you perform like this, with… that long gag?”
“No, I bought this myself…”
I pictured Sarah on stage, enduring the harshest conditions, sweat-soaked, unable to cry for help, yet emerging as a flawless Guardian: sweatless, fragrant, voiceless, preserving the illusion. Perhaps emboldened by the doll mask or our shared fandom, Sarah opened up. Shy by nature, she’d fallen for faceless performance style, later becoming a Stellar Guardians actor. Wearing doll mask made her feel radiant, not timid, but she feared sweating or speaking would ruin it. She suggested stricter gear to management. Standard suits had a mask and tube, removed post-show, though others complained it upped the difficulty. Sarah, however, craved the layered confinement, feeling euphoric after each performance. She custom-ordered gear, adding nasal tubes and a long gag. The VIP tickets? A management whim, canceled due to backlash.
She fell silent, perhaps worried I’d judge her. I patted her head.
“Sarah’s amazing too. Bringing smiles as a Guardian, perfectly embodying the role. Your private quirks don’t hurt anyone, and I’m in no place to judge. I’m the same.”
She looked up, surprised beneath her static smile. I fetched my own gear—doll mask, bodysuit, toys, easing her tension.
“Will you be my Lily?”
She nodded firmly, hugging me tight.