Product Placement
Three knocks rapped against the door, interrupting the conversation and Anne’s already strained train of thought. She blinked a few times, then pinched the bridge of her nose, before leaning forward and pushing herself out of the lime green armchair that she had sunk into perhaps a bit too comfortably.
“Sorry, I should get that.” She sighed, starting to move sluggishly towards the door.
“It’s fine, take all the time you need.” The woman in the seat across from her replied, flashing her an understanding smile. Anne made her way down the corridor and gingerly opened her front door. Before her stood a man in a beige suit with slicked-back charcoal hair, carrying a small, grey briefcase at his side. Just as she took stock of the figure in front of her he flashed her a smile that was too enthusiastic by a ways.
“Hello there good ma’am, are you tired of your drab, lacking licentiousness?” He asked with a voice that seemed like it should belong to an old radio announcer.
“Are you a salesman? I’m already talking to one, actually.” Anne responded, silently cursing her luck.
“Not a problem, I assure you,” The man replied, “if they’re inside then I hope you don’t mind if I have a word with them.” Before she could respond, the man seemed to slip through the door and past Anne. She quickly turned to find the man already all the way down the corridor.
“Ms. Al-Amin, this is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.”
“Mr. Davidson, always a pleasure.” The man who barged into her house and the woman who had done the same just a few minutes earlier seemed to know each other. Small world, Anne supposed. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a mixture of desperation and exasperation at her problem doubling, instead of being resolved.
“Look, whatever it is you’re selling, I’m not interested.” Anne stammered, the statement directed somewhere between the two figures standing before her.
“But I had only just started informing you of the wonders of Exatrine™.” The woman, Ms. Al-Amin, began.
“And I haven’t spoken a single word about Covion©.” Mr. Davidson started. Anne sighed, this was the last thing that she wanted to deal with on a Friday afternoon.
“If I hear your pitch, will you leave? Both of you?” She pleaded. She quickly wondered if she was going to regret that as soon as she saw the eager faces of the two salespeople in front of her.
“Now that’s the spirit!” Ms. Al-Amin spoke up, her voice carrying a slight accent. “I assure you, you won’t be dissatisfied by the time I’m done.” Davidson nodded along with her, and she seemed to take a moment to ready herself, straightening out her suit and turning back towards Anne with a smile.
“Now I couldn’t help notice that you’re walking around your house in a very mundane set of everyday clothes. Now this can’t be as comfortable as you would like, but you always have to consider what you’re wearing in case a stranger, or two, knocks on the door. We can, for a small fee, make sure you never tire of your attire. Imagine the most comfortable apparel that you’ll never have to feel self-conscious about, why it’s a must-have Ms…”
“Anne”
“Yes, Ms. Anne. Tell you what, how about a sample for free? A single sniff will have you hell-bent to get your hands on more of this god-sent scent.”
And would likely put a dent in my next rent, thought Anne. The rhyme scheme was a bit much, in her opinion. Bit of a shame though, she thought, if the woman was selling the perfume that she was wearing then it wasn’t half-bad, a free sample would be nice. She could see herself growing rather fond of the vanilla-scented fragrance, but she couldn’t afford to get hooked on any expensive perfumes. Speaking of things that she couldn’t afford, the heating seemed to be turned a little high, just enough for her to feel noticeably and uncomfortably warm. She could turn the heat down later, after she’d gotten these two out of her house.
“Hold on, what does this have to do with clothing?” Anne pondered, out loud. Just as her realisation set a wave of confusion running through her, another voice spoke up.
“And now a word about Covion©. Do you find your own bed too lubricious for your taste? Have you ever suffered from acute agoraphobia? Do you sometimes feel like all the different joints and muscles in your body just give you too much choice? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, then Covion© is for you. Just one application of our chemically treated cables will have you ecstatic and begging for more. Don’t believe me? Don’t take my word for it, just feel these pristine and electrifying cords” With that, the man produced a bundle of rope from his briefcase and practically thrust it upon Anne, who barely had time to respond before it was in her hands.
She had thought electrifying was a bit of an exaggeration when the man had said it, but to tell the truth, she did feel a jolt when she first laid her hands on the bundle. It made her feel energised and slightly lightheaded, though she didn’t have too much time to question those feelings before the woman spoke again.
“To answer your question, Ms. Anne, Exatrine™ is more than just a perfume. It is a state of mind. Comfort is contained entirely within the mind, so it’s only natural for Exatrine™ to make you comfortable. Just ask yourself, are you letting yourself be as comfortable as you could be right now?” Anne reflected on that for a moment longer than she intended to. She certainly felt warm and now that she thought of it, slightly constricted. Irritatingly constricted, actually, just the wrong amount of constricted. All of her focus seemed to converge on the suddenly all-encompassing feeling of her skin pressing against her clothing, the tightness maddeningly irksome. If it were just a little less, or maybe even a little more…
She slipped her jacket down, starting to take it off, then pausing as it came off of her shoulders. Folding her arms, she tensed her biceps and allowed herself to feel the constriction. The next few sentences flew right through her as she revelled in the pressure for a little while, her glutes, hamstrings and abdominals tensing along with her upper arms. She only snapped back to awareness when felt a spray of vanilla waft into her face. Dazed for a moment, she slid her jacket the rest of the way off, surprised at the sharpness of the air against her now bare arms.
“As I was saying,” Ms. Al-Amin continued, “the goal of Exatrine™ is not to replace clothing, it is merely to let you feel as comfortable as possible in their absence. Exatrine™: accept your body for yourself.” Ms. Al-Amin smiled as she finished her tagline, watching Anne absent-mindedly paw at the top buttons of her own blouse. As the first few came undone, she felt herself flush. Not with shame, there was definitely some embarrassment, but as the saleswoman in front of her began to conspicuously inspect her body beneath the blouse she felt an aroused abandon sweep over her.
The chill of the air sweeping across her chest startled her from her reverie, just for a moment. But a moment was enough for a particularly nagging thought to creep into her mind, born of her own curiosity. It swirled around her otherwise vacant head like water going down a drain, until it couldn’t help but stumble out of her mouth.
“How does that work?” Her own voice surprised her, bringing her back just enough to continue down the road she found herself on. “It makes you… what, an exhibitionist? How does that actually work?”
“Exatrine™ does not make one an exhibitionist so much as it makes one comfortable with their own nudity. It works by applying a single spritz to the…” Al-Amin started, gaining speed as she went only to be cut off.
“No no,” Anne spoke out, the fogginess over her beginning to fade, but the warm, flushed feeling remaining, “how does it work physically? Chemically? Psychologically. I’ve not heard of any fetish-inducing drugs before. Same goes for the other one, bondage I would assume, but… how?.”
Al-Amin paused for a moment, exchanging a slightly worried glance with Davidson, before correcting her expression to the uncanny smile she had worn since she had come through the door.
“The full formula of Exatrine™ is a closely guarded trade secret, but its… rudimentary workings resemble that of a high-powered aphrodisiac. Following its application the biological alterations it causes… supplemented by the placebo effect allow for arousal and acceptance in any state of… déshabillé.”
“I’m going to assume that that’s French for nudity.” Anne remarked, feeling strangely emboldened by the vibrant, powerful feeling that coursed through her veins as she finished unbuttoning the rest of her blouse, leaving it slightly parted. “Then what about the other one, covion?”
“No no, Covion©.” Davidson replied.
“Yes, that’s what I… never mind. How can you explain the fact that I want to feel those ropes of yours shifting against my skin, pressing tightly…” she shivered slightly as she imagined the feeling of being bound as she felt right now, with those sleek, black electrifying cords, “after just touching them once.”
“Well, see…” Davidson hid his surprise much less subtly than Al-Amin, his eyes frantically darting between her, Anne and the floor, “Covion© also makes use of a high quality aphrodisiac, but along with that it utilizes phycological conditioning through the eventual association between arousal and the ropes. Your… rapid acclimatisation to it may relay some pre-existing preferences.” His once impenetrable demeaner was now reduced to a skittish nervousness plastered over by a tight-lipped smile.
“So… you’re both selling the same thing.” Anne concluded, as she slowly and deliberately ran the ropes around her back, under her shirt and over her breasts. One of them brushed against her already sensitive nipple and she sharply inhaled as her entire body clenched, her chest thrusting out against the now tightening bonds, only intensifying the sensation. She gradually relaxed back down, biting her lip as she did.
Her whole body was alight with vibrant, pulsating pleasure. Caressing where the saleswoman’s eyes drifted, groping where the now clumsily tied ropes rubbed against her bare skin. It was all she could do to keep herself focused on the scene in front of her, to keep herself from falling into a mindlessly blissed-out stupor.
“That’s not strictly true…” Davidson began
“And even if it were, such a thing could never be traced back to any parent company with over 30% Market Share in the recreational pharmaceuticals industry.” Al-Amin cut in, quick to place herself between the increasingly uncertain Davidson and the decreasingly lucid Anne.
“I don’t… I don’t care if you’re all part of the same umbrella corporation, I just…” Anne interrupted herself, inhaling sharply as the loosely tied knot holding the ropes around her undid itself, releasing them to slide down her body to the ground. “I just want to know much these are going for. And do you have some kind of user’s manual for the ropes? I have no idea what I’m doing with them.”
The salespeople exchanged a brief look between themselves, before Davidson broke the silence.
“$25 for 3 meters of Covion©, with instructions.”
“And $15 per 100ml of Exatrine™. Each bottle should last for up to 800 sprays.”
“Mmhmm.” Anne nodded, noting the conditional. “I’ll take the rope and two bottles.” Every moment was a contest of willpower for Anne, only the promise of privacy soon was preventing her from giving in to the heat and desire that had been building in her. Each second a small eternity of anticipation of how good it would feel to finally give in, to explore herself thoroughly when this was all done.
After the payment went through (and wasn’t declined, thank god) she practically evicted the salespeople from her house, and fell back upon her door, panting and desperate to relieve herself from the intense arousal that danced across her skin like miniature figure skaters upon a frozen pond. Even the sensation of her hair raising up was enough to further stoke her excitement.
Without even thinking about it, she slid her blouse the rest of the way off and at last let her hands roam where they so desperately wanted to. Each caress continued to build her up, but feeling that something was missing, she reached for her newly purchased commodities.
With one spray of Exatrine™ she felt a burst of arousal and disorientation wash over her awareness. With a second, she realised that her pants had come off at some point as her legs now felt just as exposed and electrified as the rest of her. With a third, she realised that she wasn’t in a position to stop spraying anytime soon as each and every inhale brought with it a new wave of blissfully mind-numbing pleasure.
Writhing on the floor with unrestrained abandon, her hands found their way to the bundle of Covion© beside her. She fumbled with it for a moment, distracted by the surge of sensitivity as she touched it, but quickly brought it out of its packaging and, through a combination of clumsy knotwork and unintentional movements, found herself wrapped and pushing against it.
Still releasing more bursts of Exatrine™ with one hand, and playing with herself with the other, struggling against restraints of pleasure inducing tightness, it wasn’t too long before the arousal spilt over into a cascade of electricity emanating out throughout her entire body, convulsing and curling before finally growing still.
Satisfied and exhausted, Anne dreamily gathered herself. The scent of sex was only barely covered up by an overbearing fragrance of vanilla, and Anne checked to find that she’d burnt through almost a quarter of the bottle. She supposed she could always buy more, looking at the number written on label in bright yellow lettering, but she’d have a hard time convincing herself to fit aphrodisiacs into her monthly budget.
Then again, she thought, given how enjoyable the last few minutes had been, maybe she wouldn’t have so hard a time. One way or another, she smiled to herself as she glanced towards the small instructional booklet still taped to the discarded Covion© packaging, she was going to have an interesting weekend.