"I should introduce myself before I go any further, my dear," the man noted. "Lord Malcolm Grayson, at your humble service, Miss McCormack."
"Charmed," Sharon said with a polite bow of her head. "Now, before you go any further, please, prove to me that this isn't a dream."
"Very well," Lord Grayson said. "Please give me your hand."
Sharon shrugged, and did as she was asked.
"Thank you," Lord Grayson said, gently holding her hand. He then suddenly took a small needle and gave a sharp point into her forefinger.
"Ow!" Sharon cried, bringing back her hand as blood began to well at her fingertip. She then realized, "That hurt."
"And as common experience will tell you, you cannot feel pain in a dream," Lord Grayson noted. "My apologies for wounding you, but it was the easiest method I had." He then reached up and pulled on a long rope, sending out an audible ring.
Within seconds, a tall blonde woman entered the room, wearing what to Sharon appeared to be a modified French miad's outfit; no cleavage showed, and the skirt extended down past her knees, but the influence was clear. "You rang?" the blonde asked with a twinge of a French accent in her voice.
"Annette, please retrieve the first aid kit and attend to Miss McCormack's wound," Lord Grayson asked.
Annette bowed her head, and left. Mere seconds later, she returned with a small white container marked with a familiar red cross, and began tending to the needle-prick.
"Annette is my housemaid," Lord Grayson explained. "She had a very strange encounter with an enchanted fetish costume some months ago, and has been here since. Whilst I've eliminated most of its influence and altered the costume itself to be more conservative, I cannot allow her to leave until it is totally dealt with."
"Is there anyone else here?" Sharon asked.
"No, the three of us are the only human beings here," Annette assured her. "The rest of the house is occupied by inanimate objects and Yagi."
"Yagi?" Sharon asked.
The sound of a cat greeted her as a white cat with short hair and olive eyes leapt into her lap.
"My cat," Lord Grayson explained. "She's been declawed, and she's quite fond of people."
"I can see that," Sharon noted as she gently stroked the cat's white fur. "So you pulled me out of there...why?"
Fri Jun 30 20:12:28 2006