Muscle Maidens in the Cavern of Dreams

[taoschild]

Muscle Maidens in the Cavern of Dreams was released today on Amazon You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login and Smashwords You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Here is the copy cover: Jake and Jess have grown up together as friends but as they hit high school, their friendship takes a different path. Jake’s sickly constitution and Jess’s Olympic swimmers body make for a seemingly unlikely match, but their relationship is thrust forward by hormones and Dungeons and Dragons campaigns with a tight-knit friend group. When Jess gains a level of strength and size that seems impossible despite her swim workouts, their fantasy gaming group begins to think the assets in the game are leaking into the real world. As their attraction escalates, so does the pull to the other world where reality and fantasy begin to collide. Will the group be able to stay together as the threat to the real and make-believe world merge?

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I will add the opening scene below in installments (obviously since this is a novel it is a slower burn):

“Go up to his room and get it now!” Her voice was firm yet calm, but to Jake, it sounded muffled, like she was underwater. His chest felt tighter, his lungs rattled, and panic seeped in. He knew better but couldn’t stop the fear from rising to the surface and overwhelming him. As if a constrictor had wrapped its body around him with whip-like speed, pressure mounted around his midsection. Shallow noisy breaths quickened as his body unwittingly sank into a familiar rabbit hole– one that was foreboding and always felt like a place from which he might never return. His windpipe, like a broken straw, failed him, resulting in a creaking sound reminiscent of an old door slowly closing.

“Now!” Her voice interrupted the impending gloom as another hazy figure raced from the room.

“Relax, Jake. You’ll be okay. Lie down, put your shoulders back, and open up your lungs. You’ll be okay.” Gasping for air in panic, her words were soothing like a warm blanket and somehow so familiar. She seemed so certain, cooing, “Slow down. Deep breaths.” She stretched his hands to the side, palm up, opening his shoulders.
“Slow… slow.” The words came unhurried, convincing him by their speed as well as their meaning. Staring up, his eyes followed a long crack that ran across the length of the ceiling, his brain recalling his tools of distraction. Would it be enough?

His lips tasted the coolness of steel beneath them, and a puff of air expanded his chest like a great push from a bellows. An inhaler, yes, that’s what that is. His mind seemed to reboot along with his body. Blood rushed to his face, reddening his cheeks, and carrying the needed oxygen to his brain, and then, almost as if it hadn’t happened, it was over.

“You, okay?” she breathed, her voice tinged with concern.

He nodded and smiled wanly. “Haven’t had one of those in a while.” He paused and caught his breath once more. “I almost forgot what they’re like and how tired they make me.”

As the haze began to clear he looked up at Jessica. His mom had told him umpteen times about how he’d stood for the first time and then leaned down and somehow encouraged her to do the same. She’d lived across the street from him for as long as he could remember and had been akin to a sibling. She was undeniably attractive, but he’d never considered her that way. Hair golden like the sun, blue eyes reminiscent of a cloudless sunny sky, and delicately featured with a small, upturned, pixie-like nose– what wasn’t there to like? Perhaps that was the problem. Thinking of her that way might jeopardize their friendship.

“Well next time, try not to eat while you’re laughing,” she scolded, somehow managing to balance a frown and a smirk at the same time.

They had doted on and protected one another for as long as he could remember and were virtually inseparable. With his severe childhood asthma and frequent bouts of illness, she was the one who came over and reviewed the school day with him when he missed class. She spent hours recounting the day for him and helped him imagine how things would be different in the future. They even played a ‘secret game’ where the stuffed animals were superheroes and had an entire world of their own. The idea of suspending disbelief and being able to imagine a body without weaknesses had always had a special appeal for Jake.

At school, Jake and Jess were in the advanced class together and in what they called ‘the nerd pod.’ She was the only girl in their group but seemed to fit right in. As they aged, he overcame his asthma– at least until tonight, when a laughing spell combined with choking on a peanut had brought it rushing back.

Even though he had, for the most part, overcome his childhood asthma, he remained frailer than his peers. Tall and lanky, he could be described as good-looking, with intense eyes and a grizzled countenance, but his chest was nearly concave. Physicality wasn’t necessarily in his nature, and so he was determined to make his path in life through studying and learning.

Though Jess remained in their group, her swim practices took up more and more of her time. Each time he saw her she seemed to have wet hair and to be clad in an oversized sweatshirt. It became like a uniform for her. They were a collection of oddballs– so she fit right in.

Perpetually late for their appointed Saturday D&D nights, Jess became the butt of many of their jokes– most of them prepared. By the time she’d arrived only five minutes before the group broke up the previous evening, they’d devised several.

Craig, the group’s grungy surfer boy representative, his perpetually floppy hair bobbing as he moved, pulled up his sagging pants and began. “Hey, Elvin.”

Elvin, a bespeckled tall, skinny Asian kid with short spiky black hair, winked in response. “Yeah, Craig?”

“That’s the third time Jess has been late this month. Do you know what that means?”

“It must be the third Saturday of the month?” Elvin snickered.

“You got it. Lucky we’re not cannibals or all that would be left is a,” they turned in unison as if making to leave and said, “cold shoulder.”

Dan, the group’s final player, cackled in the background throughout their ‘presentation,’ before rolling over onto his back and laughing out loud when they hit the punchline. Dan’s perpetually overly expressive, freckled pudgy face seemed to drive the point home even more forcefully.

“Ha-ha, very funny– not!” Jess said forcing a laugh and giving them a withering look. “It’s not my fault. Coach kept us after practice for a team meeting.”
“I’ll catch her up tomorrow afternoon,” Jake said, letting her off the hook.

“Okay, but let’s actually move this thing along next week,” Dan added. “Last week there was the...uh…”

“The peanut incident?” Jake offered.

“Yeah, and this week, Jess…”

“Was unfortunately detained,” Jess finished.

“Yeah, so next week… can we just be on time?”

“And avoid another asthma attack?” Jake winked. “Yeah, I promise. Now get out of here or you’ll be late for curfew. I’ll catch Jess up with the group tomorrow.”

[jhunter]

Not bad. Hope there's more soon.

[phil123]

Great start and I hope for more.

[taoschild]

Great start and I hope for more.

Thanks... I hope the slow burn isn't too slow for most people.  If people enjoy it, I'll post all of Ch 1 (which is kind of a story within a story).
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With Jake as the Dungeon Master, he and Jess often spent extra time together to bring her character back into the group. It made more work for Jake, but Jess was his best friend, and time with her was always well spent. When they reached their teens, some in their extended gaming group had dropped out, claiming they were too old for DnD. Others, after some internal friction, had broken off to form their own campaign. But Jess, Dan, Craig, Elvin, and Jake, as the DM, were regulars throughout high school.

Early the following evening Jess and Jake met up in Jake’s basement to play ‘catch-up’ for the thief Jess roleplayed. The atmosphere didn’t hold the energy of a traditional DnD Saturday night with food strewn across the room, whooping boys, high fives, and gasps of surprise with new revelations and battles to fight. Yet the room that they’d grown up playing in, even when it was more reserved, held the comfort of home for all of them.

The room itself was like passing through a time warp back twenty years before into the 1980s. There was dark paneling on the walls and an enormous Zenith television that still hummed as the tube warmed up when it was turned on and heated the room like a second furnace. On one side of the room was a solitary bookcase filled with old books which provided a pleasant musty aroma. Along the other side was their gaming table, a solid oak-bumper pool table that also served as their dining table when the need arose. Tonight, neither Jake nor Jess sat at the table. They had forsaken the barstools and, instead, Jake lay on the tacky orange-shag rug, propped up on his elbows behind his Dungeon Master’s screen with Jess across from him, seated lotus style against the dark wood paneling.

The two of them squealed in delight as her character sliced through an orc’s armor, crippling the opponent. When Jess was absent, the group had decided to enter the dungeon and go into a couple of rooms whilst Jess ostensibly remained behind to pickpocket a wandering merchant. Thus, Jake and Jess’s mission that evening had been to get her thief back to the point where she could rejoin her group, but Jake never made the process easy. After successfully stealing six silver pieces she’d been spotted by a roving orc, who attacked her when she entered the dungeon.

“Nice one,” Jake announced, as he peered down at the screen. “I think that hit finishes him off but let me check.” The room grew still aside from the persistent hum of the single ceiling fan as it spun lazily above them in the middle of the room.

“Jake?”

“Yes, Jess,” he responded, glancing up and trying to hide his annoyance about being distracted in the middle of his computations.

Rocking side to side she furrowed her brow and asked, “What kind of women do you like?”

The question hit him like a quarterback being struck in a blind-side tackle. He tried to hide the look of surprise in his expression, but his face literally jerked in surprise, so she must have seen it. Why is she asking? He thought before unwillingly, the actual answer popped into his head. Big breasts that didn’t sag and long firm legs, but that wasn’t something you normally told a girl, even one who was your best friend.

“Why do you ask?” He had seen some boys sniffing around her at school and while he knew the day would come, he’d tried to bury the idea in the back of his mind that Jessica might be peeled out of their group by some hulking jock.

“Oh, I was just wondering.” Why now?

“Uh-huh. Are you referring to personality or looks?”

“What’s attractive to you, physically?” she asked, her tone serious. She stood and wandered aimlessly dragging her pointer finger along the wood siding between the pool cues that served as the main decorations on the walls.

He knew it shouldn’t have felt weird to discuss the topic with Jess; nonetheless, it did. They’d always been forthright with one another, at times embarrassingly so. But this time the question seemed to arrive from left field and somehow seemed more important.

[spar1988]

hmmm slow burn or not great world building so far!! K +

[taoschild]

hmmm slow burn or not great world building so far!! K +

Yeah, slow burn because it's a novel -- I know this platform is mostly quick hits -- I have a short story archive coming out for that.
-----
Despite his age, Jake was a little delayed in going through puberty and the five inches that he’d grown in the past year had only made him feel more awkward around girls. It was as if his early bout with asthma had set his maturation process behind. As a junior in high school, he’d never even come close to dating anyone. Only recently had he even considered an answer to her question. Earlier that day he’d bought a Playboy Magazine off Craig, who had stolen it from his older brother’s stash. He was planning to go through the issue in fine detail after Jess left.

As of late things had been complicated between them as he’d noticed Jess in a less platonic fashion for the first time. Her mesomorph shape was usually obscured by her perennial uniform of oversized sweatshirts, but there were signs of her femininity, nonetheless. The tops of those sweatshirts had become more filled out in recent months, and her development had not gone unnoticed.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never given it much thought.”

“Come on,” she protested, a tooth biting her lip in anticipation. “You’re a guy. You must have thought something.”

“So, guys are sexist pigs?” He fired back knowing he’d scored a point but had probably only delayed the answer.

As if on cue she responded, “Okay, point scored, no it’s not just guys still… I’d really like to know,” she cocked her head in anticipation. Clearly, his answer was insufficient, but when she crossed her arms in front of her, causing her breasts to fetch against the material more, he momentarily lost focus. Why am I noticing her and why now?

Suddenly even more anxious about the inquisition, he dragged his eyes back up to meet hers and fired back, “Well, what do you like in your men?”

“I like them smart, caring, and considerate,” she said without hesitation.

“That’s a total cop-out,” he charged. “That has nothing to do with how they look. You wanted to know the physical characteristics from me and…”

“That’s totally secondary to me,” she interrupted with an intense nod.

“Well, how does that secondary feature play out?” he pressed, suddenly interested in something that moments earlier he’d never considered nor cared about much.

“I guess, I’d like them tall, dark, and thin, but like I said, it really doesn’t matter to me.” Jake was already nearly six feet tall, of olive complexion given his Italian background, and wiry. It seemed as if she might be describing him, but Jake knew otherwise. There was no hint of a come-on– though he probably wouldn’t have recognized a come-on even if it hit him over the head with a two-by-four.

“Now, back to my question,” she pressed on, undeterred.

Man, she’s like a dog in search of a bone. Hmm, maybe that is a bad metaphor for a girl.

“Jake!” she roared, bringing his interior dialogue to a screeching halt. “Tell me!”

“Fine, geez… well if I had to answer, and clearly I do.” Jess narrowed her eyes at him and tapped her foot so loud against the floor that it sounded like a drum section. Jake resigned speaking quickly, finishing with, “She’d be big-breasted, but not sagging and have long thin, maybe fit legs.”

She wrinkled her nose as if he was saying something offensive. “That’s it? Come on. That sounds like a cartoon character.”

“Cartoon characters can be hot,” Jake teased. “Cheetarah is scorching.”

Jess released a long breath before demanding, “Jacob Robertson, answer the question!”

“I thought I did,” he frowned.

“When did talking to me become so hard?” She asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said defensively, without knowing why. “I guess I like blondes.” An affirmative grin slid across her face. Jess was about as golden blonde as one could get. Occasionally when she was younger, before the pool pipes had been replaced, her hair even turned green. She was affectionately referred to for several summers as String Bean until she filled out. Was she thinking about me? he wondered again.

“What else?”

“I don’t know. I really haven’t thought about it.”

“You haven’t thought about it? You keep saying that and I don’t buy it.” Her eyebrows stitched together in frustration.

“That’s what I said. Didn’t you hear me? Is this the Spanish Inquisition, or what?” The room grew quiet. Despite their everyday interactions, they’d literally never fought. This was about as close as they’d ever gotten. For some reason, he was defensive and needed to backtrack a bit. “I tell you what. I’ll ruminate on it a bit,” after I go through the Playboy, “then I’ll introduce a character next week in our game, and you’ll know it’s her.”

“Okay, that sounds fair.” She resumed her seat and they returned to the campaign. They finished up about a half an hour later but when they made eye contact with one another there was an unnatural tension. They ended the evening by having Jess’s character, Morgan, burst into the room of her allies and rejoin the main group. As they said their goodbyes, she let him know she wasn’t backing down from her expectations.

“I look forward to seeing your ideal woman next Saturday. I’ll be early.”
* * *

[taoschild]

The following Saturday Jess, true to her word, was on time for a change, and her hair was dry. She also uncharacteristically wore a simple white dress in lieu of sweats to go with her usual sweatshirt atop. What struck Jake as even more surprising was that she had also applied makeup. His imagination began to run wild. He envisioned her in front of a mirror deftly applying mascara across her long fluttering eyelashes highlighting her already stunning eyes. Immediately, however, he shut his spinning brain down. Jess isn’t a girl – she’s just a friend he told himself for the umpteenth time.

“No swim meet today?” Jake asked, resuming focus on the upcoming campaign, but trying to remain polite. Though he had zero interest in swimming, it had become an absolute passion for Jess, so he figured it was nice to at least feign some interest.

“No, just lifting today.”

“Lifting?”

“Yeah, the coach has stepped up the weightlifting program this year. So, my life pretty much revolves around school, workouts, and eating tons of protein.”

“And D&D,” Jake chimed in, pulling out the game board.

Dan, the pasty red-haired freckled member of the group, clearly ready, put his figurine on the board first. He called his muscular fighter character an ‘Amazon warrior.’ Inevitably, there always seemed to be one guy in any campaign who played a female character. Usually, when a woman was present, that wasn’t the case. To all in the gang, however, Jess registered, despite her undeniable cute pixielike face, as asexual, or one of the boys. Thus, it didn’t matter that she was there, and Dan’s natural inclination prevailed.

Playing D&D was an outlet for Dan. Scheduled night and day between art, music, and academic activities, his doting parents saw it as their mission to manufacture his future success by channeling his inner genius. Weekly games with the group were his release from his planned life and he always seemed determined to move the game along and have his time well spent. “Tara is ready,” he called out enthusiastically.

The others followed suit. A cleric, paladin, and a fighter/thief joined the board. Elvin, the only Asian kid in their virtually all-white school, played a cleric named Luke, named after his brother. Elvin was adept at nearly everything but not truly stellar at anything. He played basketball and had a good shot but was too short and slow to make the team. He was bright, but never at the top of his class. He got along with people but was never too popular and seemed on an endless yet fruitless quest to find a way to be a part of the ‘in-crowd.’ Jake didn’t see it at the time, but later he became convinced that Elvin’s skin color in their white-washed community left him feeling like he was on the outs. Thus, Elvin played the role of the model minority and acted like he didn’t care that he wasn’t particularly popular, but truthfully, it grated on him dearly.

Craig, who played lacrosse and passed loosely for the title of the group’s athlete (though he looked more like a skater boi), role-played a paladin. It was a running joke that he’d taken the role of the paladin given his relationship with his redneck, overly religious father. Craig went out of his way to reject everything his dad stood for. His dad expected him to play football; instead, he surfed and played lacrosse. His dad rejected science while Craig was highly academic, and science was his favorite class. The resulting relationship was a rocky one which, looking back, might have resulted in a visit from child services in the modern world. Jake often half-expected Craig to arrive home one day with his dad and an army recruiter in his living room, papers filled out and waiting for him to sign. While Craig went out of his way to repudiate his dad’s values, some of the trailer park’s toxic masculinity seeped into his everyday life. In particular, his male chauvinism. Though he made it seem like a joke, it was readily apparent in his sexualization of women. Thus, he made the perfect paladin.

Finally, Jess played the part of the party’s fighter/thief. Though their characters were skilled, after writing the campaign Jake surmised that their group lacked enough firepower to make it through without casualties. That was problematic because this time the group had fallen in love with their characters. His solution to the problem was to introduce a non-player-character to add to the party tonight who was not only the reveal for Jess but a needed spell caster to join the party.

“Yeah, DnD too. You guys are my outlet, I guess,” Jess explained.

“I always liked being referred to as an outlet.” Elvin retorted.

Jess ignored him and continued, “My coach is pretty serious, and he’s definitely brought me to a new level. He says college swimmers lift regularly and it’s going to help us to start early. We’ve been at it for over a year, and I actually like it a lot. I always do extra but it’s hard work.”

“Won’t that stunt your growth?” Craig asked, seemingly not caring much either.

“That’s an old wives’ tale,” Jess said.

“Boring,” Elvin observed. “Can we get back to the campaign? I’m actually digging this one more than most although I still don’t know how we’re supposed to find this evil wizard guy.”

“All will be revealed,” Jake said, his voice hitting a mysterious tone.

Craig and Jess’s parallel conversation continued despite Elvin’s interjection. “Aren’t gyms mostly for guys? You know, like Hanz and Franz? I’m going to pump you up!” Craig asked, flexing, and then pointing to Jess.

“No, not anymore. I heard…” Jess started before she was interrupted.

“Are we going to talk about lifting and exercise all day or are we going to get back to some real physical activity– in the dwarf cave?” Dan moaned. He was certainly the most avid role-player and seemed especially enthralled by the current campaign.

“Sounds cool, Jess,” Jake offered, trying to avoid her feelings being hurt. “Do you think it could help you get a college scholarship? I mean, you’re bright enough to get an academic one.” Her cheeks heated pink. He’d never seen her blush before. Mission accomplished. This girl thing isn’t that hard. Just say nice things, he observed.

“I’m not as smart as you, Jake, but yeah, I think so.”

“Thank you, but I know you’re quite intelligent too.”

“Can we stop the mutual admiration society and just play?!” Dan whined.

“Sure, my bad.” Jake snorted at Dan’s impatience. “Okay, let’s get started. So, who can tell me where we left off last week?”

“I had rejoined the party and we were in a small room and heard some crashing noises beyond a great oak door,” Jess reported as if she had a photographic memory.

“Yeah, we were going to go knock some heads,” Elvin recalled.

“A distinctly less descriptive analysis, but that does appear to be right, Elvin,” Jake chided.

“When Craiglochart pushes the door open,” the stupid name Craig had named his character never ceased to cause him to snicker when Jake spoke it, but he ignored the chortling and continued. “A great creak gives way to an active fight scene in a large, high-ceilinged room about 30 yards wide, glowing red from multiple torches.”

“That probably means no orcs,” Dan cut in.

Jake continued unabated, “...with the unmistakable pungent aroma of phosphorus hanging in the air. Near the middle of the room, a battle is taking place between two individuals. Standing near nine feet high, a particularly large and hairy putrid gray creature with long claws is…”

“A troll!” yelled Dan.

“Very good, Dan. You win a prize. Quit interrupting and let him finish.” Craig scolded.

“Oh, sorry,” Dan apologized.

Jake smiled and continued, “In front of him is a voluptuous young woman clad in tall black boots that rise up past her knees, a cape, a staff, a white cut-off tank top exposing washboard abs, and what appears to be a navy-blue chastity belt.”

“Doesn’t sound like appropriate attire for monster fighting,” Jess scoffed, eyeing Jake skeptically.

Jake continued, undaunted. “She has full pouty lips, round firm tits, a wide caboose, an hourglass shape, and long firm legs like a model. Her face radiates bright, feminine features with steel-gray eyes that have a hint of blue like the ocean and a long blonde braid.” Jake grinned, looking at Jess. Her twinkling icy-blue eyes weren’t far from that color. Have I? No!
“Hubba, hubba,” yelled Craig, interrupting Jake from his transitory introspection. Craig’s lewd observation was soon followed by a chorus of catcalls from Dan and Elvin.

Jess rolled her eyes in chagrin.

“Let’s save her and jump her bones after,” Craig cackled.

Jake cocked his head and glared at him, shaming him into silence before continuing. “Shooting from her fingertips is something like a glowing, green arrow which streaked into the larger creature right as you opened the door. She appears wounded and perhaps losing the bout but seems defiant and intense.”

“What a fucking hottie. Let’s go save her. All the NPCs we meet should look like her, Jake,” Elvin said approvingly, before turning to Jess and, as if for the first time, realizing she was female, apologized.

“Sorry, Jess. You understand, right?” Like one of the boys, she nodded appropriately and then turned it back on them.

“Yeah, I understand. It’s the typical patriarchal model of femininity. A woman’s sexual attractiveness is measured by being curvy, weak, and in need of protection from the men in her life.” The room grew quiet. Jake wasn’t sure whether the hush was due to the words she used that seemed to have fallen from a professor’s lips or if the group had suddenly realized she was a young woman. Perhaps they are worried she is truly pissed.

“Yeah, that sounds right.” Craig snickered, allaying the notion that they cared about her feelings. “Women are generally weak, but curvy is pretty hot, especially if they have big hooters.” Craig was intentionally getting Jess’ goat, but as the ‘sportiest’ of the group, he could probably make the case best for the ‘honor of the men.’ Suddenly, for perhaps the first time, Jess’s gender was very apparent, and she was on the defensive.

“Weak, huh?” Her eyebrow arched up with the question.

[jhunter]

Interesting dialogue. Good flow and description. Hope to see more.

[Wookey]

Like the way this is going

[taoschild]

Interesting dialogue. Good flow and description. Hope to see more.

  Thank you, Wookey and Jhunter. Here is a little more from Chapter 1 of Muscle Maidens in the Cavern of Dreams You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
-----

“Yeah,” Craig pressed. “It’s called testosterone. We have it and you don’t.”

“Shut up, Craig.” Jake intervened, feeling the need to defend Jess.

“Can’t we just get back to the game?” Dan whined again.

“It’s just biology. It’s not like I’m saying Jess is less than or anything. It’s like math, it’s just straightforward.”

“Which is it science or math?” Elvin smirked.

Craig continued unabated. “Look, we all took bio. It’s not like I’m being mean. It’s just facts,” Craig maintained, shrugging his shoulders.

Craig and Jess locked eyes on each other in a battle of wills. Jake found himself frozen in concern. He’d never seen either of them like this before. Maybe it’s because we’re getting older. Is this the beginning of the end? Other DnD groups had broken up over the years, but theirs, though reduced in size, had never seemed in jeopardy until now.

Suddenly, as if something clicked, Jess reached up and grabbed the collar of her sweatshirt and pulled it off in one fell swoop.

Clad in a white dress without a bra, what stared back at them was universally shocking. While the rest of the boys’ eyes immediately glued to her areolas and the nipples which were visible
through her top, Jake’s affixed onto her overall muscularity. Lusciously thick traps, rich circular shoulder caps graced by fine striations, and wide lats gave her what appeared to be wings. Even her arms had swells that were unusual on a woman and rare enough amongst men.

All four of them gaped, jaws open, suddenly immobile and ceding the !oor to her. She smiled with realization and straightened up, her impossibly perky chest settling at Jake’s eye-line as he huddled in front of the DM screen before him. Using it as a shield, he marveled at the way her thick pectorals held up her ample breasts. Their lines were still readily apparent beneath her partially see through
top.

“Craig,” she asserted, “did the cat catch your tongue? I don’t think I’ve ever known you to be so quiet.”

“No,” he hissed.

“Good comeback,” Jake observed wryly.

“Shut up, Jake.” Another f!ne retort, Jake thought but remained silent.

“Don’t talk to him that way,” Jess defended, the tenor of her voice reaching a level they’d never heard before.

“Don’t tell me what to do, bitch!” Craig exclaimed. Other than fighting about the junk food or what was on the TV behind Jake, the group had never even approached an argument of this magnitude.
The sudden unveiling of a woman in front of them seemed to have shattered the normally amicable proceedings.

“Craig!” Jake chided.

“Sorry, my bad. Please... just don’t tell me what to do, Jess.” As the peacemaker, Jake hoped that would put an end to the drama unfolding before him, but Jess wasn’t budging.

“Because I’m a weak girl?”

“Because…” All of them hung on his next words. Please don’t go there, Jake thought as if trying to interrupt him with a Vulcan mindmeld or something. “I don’t like it.” Thank God. Jake could feel the relief wind its way through the room, but then he… went there. “And because you’re a… weak girl.”

Without skipping a beat, she responded confidently. “If I’m so weak, let’s arm wrestle and prove it.”

[ArkhamAsylum]

These first parts were great. I'm going to read the full story as soon as I can.

[taoschild]

These first parts were great. I'm going to read the full story as soon as I can.

Thank you Arkham - here is another small section
----

“I’m not wrestling a girl.”

“Why not? Tara could beat you.” Dan’s character, Tara, was the group’s fighter with a strength of 18/16. “She could,” Dan mumbled, overwhelmed by the moment but defending his beloved character, nonetheless.

“Shut up, Dan,” Craig grumbled before turning back to Jess to meet her glare head on. The contest was now between Craig and Jess and the rest of them had become interlopers who needed to remain silent. Dan didn’t reply.

Jake’s eyes locked on Jess in the persistent battle of wills. “Because girls aren’t strong enough and I wouldn’t want to hurt you,” Craig said dismissively.

Jess looked down at her right bicep, cocked her wrist upward, and watched as the large globe rose up under flexion, the powerful muscle capped by a fat vein. Now all eyes moved from her nipples to the tight bicep the size of a bulky baseball that  swelled beneath her lean silky flesh. Silence descended upon the room as awe fanned its way around the basement.

“Fuck,” the word edged to Jake’s lips but remained unspoken. The growing erection in his sweats, however, refused to be silenced. Thank goodness, he mused, he was lying on his stomach, elbows tucked under his chin, face resting on his hands, so the rest of the group wouldn’t notice. Jake knew the other boys were likely having similar thoughts and physical reactions, but if Jess saw...

“I’m not afraid… Are you?” She breathed back in a challenge, as she released her flex and tucked a strand of silky curly blonde hair beneath her ear. The motion somehow made the muscle seem even bigger as it  highlighted the neatly cleaving of the muscle with her wide, sweeping deltoid. Jake dropped his jaw and stared outright but Jess's didn't notice; her gaze was locked solely on Craig.

“Don’t go crying to your mommy if you get hurt, Jess. Let’s go,” he said, with an upturned chin and defiant posture. He appeared entirely undaunted by her unexpected size. His words sounded angry, but his tone remained confident and taunting. Perhaps he’s confused by the turn of events as well and covering it better than the rest of us, Jake thought.

Determination etched on Craig's face, he lay down on his stomach. Jess quickly followed suit. Eyes staring at each other unblinking, the battle of wills began even before the contest started. As their fingers interlocked, a heavy foreboding tension pervaded the room like clouds of smoke during a battle.

[taoschild]

Looks like interest is fading but I'll put out one more segment of CH1 of Muscular Maidens in the Cavern of Dreams
----

Jake sat upright to watch but remained conspicuously behind the screen hiding something he couldn’t control. The feeling was far more powerful than the previous Sunday when he’d opened the Playboy. His eyes were riveted to Jess. The way her entire physique radiated power made her far more attractive than any of the women on those pages. He felt himself wilt before her, awed into silence by her stunning beauty. As if suddenly surrounded by a haze of need, he became desperate to caress her smooth skin and feel the hardness of her muscles. It was as if his body was boiling slowly from the bottom up and he began to sweat profusely. Thankfully, he noted, everyone’s attention is focused elsewhere.

Jake could see through Craig’s facade: he didn’t really think this would be an easy victory. A measure of fear was apparent behind his pupils, but the swagger he tried to convey told a different story. The other boys knew he was making an epic mistake. He was breaking the unwritten rule: never engage a girl in a strength contest. Should he win convincingly, which he was expected to, and if he acted snarky about it, things could get worse. Should he lose, he’d be the butt of everyone’s joke even though the rest of the crew knew they’d lose to her as well. If it were a close contest, Jess would earn respect and still come out ahead. Clearly, Craig wasn’t thinking. Then again, in the presence of a suddenly revealed beauty like Jess, how could he?

When she leaned forward, each of the boys got an eyeful of her round, pert breasts and hard, pink nipples which pressed against the thin fabric. They swayed temptingly with her every movement. Even Craig, trying to find the mindset for the contest, wasn't immune to her seductive charms.

Jess snapped, “Right here,” her eyes hinting at her hand rather than her breasts.

He frowned as their hands grasped one another. Each of them squeezed as if searching for signs of weakness. Craig’s arm towered above Jess’s, giving him immediate leverage. While her arms, shoulders, and back were clearly more fit, his physique was wiry, and Jake expected he was strong in a different way. He’d learned about quick twitch muscles and the like and that had to give him an edge.

“You ready?” he asked. She nodded in response. “Elvin, make yourself useful and hold our hands while you count down.” Elvin wrenched his eyes unwillingly from Jessica’s firm breasts and did as Craig asked.

“Three, two, one, go” he announced. Craig shot off like a blast twisting his wrist and using his shoulder to his advantage. His wiry thin muscles bulged, but his hand didn’t budge. Jess’s lats flared and her shoulders welled up as her muscles tensed with effort. Jake’s eye’s honed in on the full, striated, vascular bulges of tanned flesh in her arms. They rose into something resembling a peaked hilltop. Eventually, as the contest continued, the fat vein on top of the bicep was joined by ancillary highways of power.
Thirty seconds in she chirped, “I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I did arms today.” Her arm slowly started to falter and Elvin and Dan, as if the entire group’s masculinity were on the line, started chanting in unison, “Craig, Craig, Craig.” Jess’s head spun toward Jake, perhaps to see if he was joining in. Face still straining with effort, Jake could see that she appeared visibly relieved when she saw he remained silent. She batted her eyes at him and turned back to the contest where her fortunes appeared to be waning.

“Come on, Jess,” Jake whispered, almost inaudibly, not willing to risk Craig’s ire, but he knew she heard him, and Craig’s progress stalled when her arm was about halfway to the floor.

While she appeared to be losing, something seemed off. Whereas Craig’s beet-red face winced with effort, his breath growing increasingly ragged, Jess showed calm resolve. Her whole body radiated a sense of power, and eventually, she started to toy with him. “Are you going to start?” she asked, drumming the fingers on her left hand against the rug as if she were bored by the proceedings.

“Shut up, I don’t see you doing any better.” And just like that, Jess’s biceps seemed to swell up another inch, veins and muscles bulging beautifully and, smooth like a pendulum, their arms moved back to even.

Craig pressed back furiously and then exhaled deeply, stopping her momentum. A few seconds later he offered through gritted teeth, “I feel sorry for you working out today. I guess we can call it a draw… If you want.”

“No,” Jess replied with a level of determination etched on her face that she’d never shown before. Jake imagined her in the pool, careening herself out of the water, her face etched with this look, as her powerful deltoids and lats propelled her to victory. I have to go watch one of her swim meets, he reflected out of the blue.

“Fine… bitch.” Craig whispered the second word barely audibly, but she heard it. They all did. Her reaction was almost immediate as an angry snarl crossed her tight lips. Brawny muscles bulged, delts and pecs surged as she unleashed a sudden bolt of raw power against him. Somehow, her muscles appeared even larger than just minutes earlier. Her bulging arm now seemed to dwarf Craig’s wiry counterpart. Jake observed how her burgeoning muscles and skin glistened with a healthy vitality the rest of them lacked. Her dominance was soon made apparent to all of them as the tide turned in her favor once more. Frantically, Craig gulped deep breaths of air, his elbow leaving the floor and his entire body seeming to roll into a desperate last effort to thwart her victory. Within a few seconds, she wrenched Craig’s arm down to the carpet with a tremendous crash.

“Oww, fuck,” Craig cried out in a high-pitched yelp that seemed to reverberate for far too long against the basement walls. Finally, silence filled the room. Red-faced, breathing hard and sulking in defeat, Jake feared the worst from him.

[phil123]

Great again. Happy to read what will come next