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Autotape98 just doing his thing no big...well...'some' big thing XD Thank you for the lovely surprise dude!

Inspired, I believe, by Simplicity Jones' attempt at some practice in BookbindingHer mobile phone buzzed again. She ignored it. Instead, she went to the door, and turned the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'. Peering outside once more at the darkening sky, and the streetlights coming on, giving the city its grim, gloomy, sickly, home-y orange glow. It looked like the courier wasn't turning up today after all. The phone buzzed...again...where she'd left it on the shop counter.“Aren't you meant to reply to those?” Mr Tibblesworth perched on the end of the counter, and waved a paw at it idly.“Sometimes.” Simplicity stuck her hands in her jeans pockets, and ambled back to the counter.“Is this a human thing.” The feline-resembling being intoned, mildly curious.“Hard to say. I'm sure demons have their own ridiculous social morays.”“Correct.” Mr Tibblesworth nodded, then started pawing at his ratty ear. The phone buzzed again. Simpicity puffed out her cheeks, rolled her eyes, and picked it up.“Let's see...” She clicked through to her inbox. “Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance, automated PeachCorp message from dad trying to find me, Agent Lance, Agent Lance...I didn't even give her my number, y'know.” She leaned back on the counter, on her arms, glancing at the cat-thing.“And yet, she seems to have it.” Mr Tibblesworth licked his paw, barely listening.“Maybe you should try 'replying'...” Mom's accusing, ethereal voice, reverberated around the bookshop floor. “I think she's interested!”“...Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance...” Simplicity clicked through more texts, ignoring her. “...Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Age-...oh, here's one from Iggy! How sweet!” She smiled, reading it.“...the...the...robot?” Mom's exasperated voice. “Dare I ask?”“Fuck no, I'm not reading that out loud.” Simplicity snorted, grinning, stifling a chuckle with her hand. “What a dark horse he turned out to be.” She shook her head, impressed, and tapped off a reply of her own.“I don't want to hear this.”“Good.” Simplicity undid her collar, with her mom's ring on it, and dropped it with a quite 'plop' in the cold mug of coffee behind her.There was a knock at the door. Simplicity hurried over, seeing a familiar face.“Kaya, what brings you...huh.” She blinked, surprised.Kayasada Saeki-Yama stood in the doorway, holding up a large book in her hands. A familiar book. A book she'd been waiting all damn day to have delivered!“You've got my book!” Simplicity pointed, confused. “Why do you have my book? The courier was supposed to be here hours ago.”“Takuhaibin wa anata no shinrai ni ataishimasendeshita.” Kaya said, simply, in her very quiet, level way.“Oh, really?” Simplicity frowned, as she took the book from her friend. She peered past Kaya, out into the street, and saw what looked like the kind of vans the couriers used parked on the other side of the road. Had he just offloaded it on her friend and fucked off? What an asshole.“But how did you...have you been eating jam donuts again?” She abandoned that last thought, when she looked back, seeing Kaya's pale, long fingers, coated in some sort of red sticky stuff.Kaya grinned, cheekily, her teeth spattered with red too through the tangled reams of black hair that covered most of her face, and seemed to have produced a donut from somewhere.“Well, thanks anyway Kaya, you're a lifesaver. Want to come in?” “Katadzuke o suru hitsuyō ga arimasu.” She shook her head, and waved politely, then wandered off, down the street.Simplicity looked down at the book, quietly satisfied as she ran a hand across the cover. She went to wave out, after Kaya, but she was already gone, the street completely empty. The couriers van was gone too. “Hm.” She shrugged, heading back inside and locking the door. Sometimes she quietly wondered if Kaya wasn't some sort of marathon runner in her spare time. Blink, and you'd miss her!“I'm shutting up shop. You coming upstairs?” She called over to Mr Tibblesworth, tucking the book under her arm as she closed wooden shutters in the windows, and flicked off lights.“Presently.” Mr Tibblesworth replied, watching her from the counter, with those...watchful yellow eyes. “That book...it contains power. Did you get what you were waiting for?”“Think so. Going to check it out, just a bit of light reading for the evening.” She grinned, slapping the weighty tome with a dull thud.“I will dispense with the last of my evening's sacrificial offerings, and then join you in perusing this latest acquisition of arcane lore.” Mr Tibblesworth hopped down from the counter, and prowled toward the small kitchenette out back.Simplicity paused at the foot of the small stairwell that circled up to her room, and frowned.“You mean your biscuits?”“Yes.” …“How to Escape from Rope? On the nose.”Simplicity half turned, shrugging out of her blouse and pulling her nightshirt over her head. Mr Tibblesworth was sitting on the end of her bed, now, looking down at the book.“I think that's the point.” She shrugged, undoing her jeans and kicking them off. “I could use a bit of help, in that regard, don't you think?” Simplicity straightened her shirt out, and dropped onto the bed, picking up the book and setting it in her lap.“My duty on this mortal plane is to protect you.” Mr Tibblesworth said, as if it was obvious.“And I'm really grateful I've got a mildly bloodthirsty lesser demon that looks like a cat looking after me.” She snorted, pulling the stiff cover open, crackling old paper ages flicking through her fingers. “But all the same, I'm not carrying you around every time I go out. People will talk.”“Do people not walk cats?”“Yeah, some do. They also wear pointy black hats and ride broomsticks.” Simplicity scowled, moodily, into the distance. “Being lumped in as a witch, that I don't need. It gives people funny ideas.” She turned back to the contents page, scanning it vaguely.“What about?” Mr Tibblesworth sat beside her, peering down at the book too.“About tying you to the end of a wooden pole and dunking you in water to work out why you don't float.” She turned a few pages, tracing old script with a finger. “Or dancing naked under the moon, on old hills.”“And you've never done that?” The slightly mangled feline face turned up toward her.Simplicity frowned, pursing her lips.“Okay, one time. Before I dropped out of college.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I was drunk as shit.”“And you do have some magical aptitude.” Mr Tibblesworth pressed.“It's not...” Simplicity huffed, struggling for words. “...I can't just wave my hands and throw spells about. Magic isn't...magic!” She finished, aware that this was not the best explanation.“Makes sense.” Mr Tibblesworth replied, with a clear and intentional lack of any irony.She pouted, and waved her hands vaguely again, trying to elaborate.“I can't just throw fireballs out of my hands. Or wave a wand and grow a tree. I'm not...like...magical.” Simplicity tried again. “It's heavy reading. I 'can' learn some, a bit. But it's all written incantations, invocations and spells. I need runes and inscriptions, you know? Scrolls, books...words!” She finished, in a burst.“The scholarly pursuit of the arcane.” Mr Tibblesworth nodded his ratty head, slowly, although Simplicity honestly had no clue if he really understood or not. “The old ways. Where learned men found power in the written word.”“...sure, that.” Simplicity turned back to the book, and smiled as she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Really, mostly it's just a vaguely helpful tool, in what I do. Talking to ghosts, helping spirits move on, getting rid of the odd demon...most of the time.” She glanced at Mr Tibblesworth, with mild sarcasm.“So that is why with the printed, laminated runes, when you tried to expel me from your mortal plane?” The cat-thing cut in, suddenly.“Oh, yeah. Having stuff like that around makes knowing any of this stuff moderately more useful.” Simplicity chuckled. “If I really wanted to be like...firing lightning bolts out of my ass, and throwing cars around, calling up hurricanes, I'd have to permanently tattoo and inscribe every inch of my body with old runes and sigils.”“And you cannot do that?”“I was tempted.” Simplicity sighed, with a shrug. “But mom wouldn't let me.”“Even though she has passed on.”“She hasn't passed on, she's still fucking haunting me.” Simplicity snorted, shaking her head. “And I figure I've got to give a little, if I'm ever going to help her find peace so she can let 'me' move on.”“I heard that!” A slightly watery, far-off, eerie voice howled.Simplicity closed her eyes a moment, and exhaled. “Okay, do me a favour and fetch the shoebox under the bed?” “This one, with all the ropes and tape in it?” Her eyes snapped open, and she looked down to see Mr Tibblesworth clambering up onto the bed, dropping the box between them.“You know about this?” She picked up the box, warily.“Cats are curious, are they not?” “I don't know if I want you being 'that' curious, around my stuff.” She narrowed her eyes, dubious. “And it's not my stuff, even.”“Is this another human thing?” He tilted his mangy head, to one side.“...yes.” Simplicity said, eventually, daring him to press the matter further.Mr Tibblesworth remained quiet, tail flicking idly behind him.“Anyway.” Simplicity set down the box, and opened it. “Let's get started.” She meshed her fingers together, and stretched them, then turned to the first incantation.Slowly, and in a calm, measured voice, she recited the spell aloud. For a moment, nothing happened, but then she noticed one of the loosely-tied bundles of rope undoing itself. Quietly, she was delighted it had worked at all, as it slithered out of the box, down her legs, and started to coil itself, and then knot itself, around her ankles. She lifted her legs, better to watch, scholarly curiousity piqued, as the magic of the spell unfolded.“Fuck, it worked.” She whistled, impressed, turning her ankles one way, then the other. “Let's try another.”“You sound surprised.” Mr Tibblesworth chimed in, but she wasn't going to let any snarky demon cats rain on her parade right now.“Look, you never know with these old books. Sometimes they're a total dud.” She snorted, shaking her head. “Verified my share of those.”She recited the next, and was felt pleasantly vindicated as the next rope looped and tied itself just above her knees, tying her thighs together.“Impressive.” “Thank you.” Simplicity beamed, just a little smug.Feeling more confident now, she turned a crackly page. She scanned, and picked out the next spell, and the next. Reading each aloud, self-assured in her ability, and control. And soon her hands were tied behind her back, more ropes securing her elbows together, and more wound around her arms, and middle.This was...pretty tight, actually. But that was the point. If she could just get out of it herself, then she was just wasting her time here. So, she'd just press on. That said...“...uh...mm.” She hummed, thoughtfully, pursing her lips....she was having trouble turning the pages, right now.“Something wrong?” Mr Tibblesworth was now curled up, beside her legs, only occasionally watching.“No.” She replied, quickly, tugging at her tied wrists, unable to move her arms much, with her elbows secured together. “It's just...maybe I should've held off tying my hands till later. Or checked to see if there was an option for tying them in front...” Simplicity settled for twisting her hips, stretching around her body with her bound hands to awkwardly turn the page.“Do you need some help?”“No.” She succeeded in snatching up the next page, at last, and flicking it over. “No problem.” Unfortunately, there was very quickly a problem, she realised, as she chanted the next spell. And to her surprise, a blue and white chequered handkerchief sprang up out of the box.“Oh shhrrrppfff!” She blurted, as the cloth twisted into a thick band, and wrapped around her head, pulling itself tightly between her lips. “Shrrppff shrrrpphhff!” Simplicity cursed, frantically shaking her head side to side, trying to shake the handkerchief gagging her loose, even as it tightened and knotted itself behind her head.Damn it! That wasn't what she'd meant to do! She looked down at the book, fumbling for it with her stretching fingers, and quickly realised she'd accidentally skipped a page!“Frrcccmmhhpff!” She cursed, stamping her feet irritably, only to have the book flop off her lap onto the floor, landing face down with a dull thud. “Frrffhhfrrccmmpff srrrcchhppff!” Simplicity groaned, her head lolling back, venting her frustration.“Do you need some help?” Mr Tibblesworth prompted again, scratching behind his ear.“Nnrrpff!” She objected, stubbornly.Simplicity could fix this. Technically this was, after all, the whole point of the exercise. She was tied up a bit more than she'd originally thought to be, and the gag hadn't been part of the plan...but she'd make it work.Carefully, she planted her socked feet squarely on the carpet, and shuffled forward off the end of the bed. Using her legs for support, she lowered herself onto the floor, at the foot of the bed, and then shuffled forward further, to get to the book.Now...she just had to kind of...flip it over.“Crrmmpff...unmmmpfff...” She leaned sideways, straining down for the book with her arms, limited by the ropes around her arms. “Crrmmmppfff...crrrnnmmpff!” She huffed, around her gag, growing more irritable, as her fingertips fumbled the at the corner of the book.Just a...little...further! Maybe if she just...leaned a bit...more...“Uummpff!” Simplicity squeaked, as she lost her balance and flopped onto her side. “Mmmrrrnnnmmppgggff!” She groaned.“Do you need some help?” Mr Tibblesworth peered down at her, from above, on her bed.“Nnmmpff!” Okay, now she was basically curled up around the stupid book. But...“...hrrrmmmpfff...mmmrrrphhh...!” Grunting, biting down on her gag, she managed to wriggle her nose under the book... “...grgrrnnggghh...mmmffgghh!” ...and with a bit of effort, managed to jerk her head up, to the side, and flip the book onto its back.Simplicity lifted her legs, using them for leverage, and after a few false starts, succeeded in sitting herself upright again. Muttering, and somewhat out of breath, she slowly shuffled around the 'other' side of the book now, to try and read it. And read it she could. But now it was on the wrong page! When it fell, she'd lost her place!Simplicity closed her eyes tight, stifling the urge to scream. She counted to five, and exhaled, opening them again. She'd just...work with it. Do what she could. What did she have to work with...maybe there was 'something' here...“Hhmmmppphhh...” She murmured, around her gag, scanning the page, quickly.Probably she should be reading a little slower. Translating was tricky at the best of times, and she didn't need any more mixups, but-......there, that word was 'release', she was sure of that. Only problem was she was gagged. Maybe...maybe she could just try really hard to enunciate? The gag was cleaved between her lips, so...'maybe', if she really worked at it...Slowly, and with a lot of exaggerated care, she mangled and garbled her way through the incantation. Trying very hard to speak as clearly as possible, while biting down on a cloth. Wasn't easy. But it seemed like it had worked! She felt something happeni-Mr Tibblesworth jumped as another rope shot past him, off the bed. Simplicity yelped as it practically tackled her, and wrapped tightly around her waist. Then 'very' tightly between her...legs. The end secured itself to the rope around her wrists, jerking them downward. She pulled against it, on instinct, and-“Ffrrrrccphhfff...!” She gasped, wide-eyed, and cheeks flushing red, as the rope jerked tight somewhere it wasn't supposed to.This was...that was...well...fuck.She tried pulling her hands back, and immediately-“Ggrrmmppffhh!” She let out a breathless rush, mumbling into her gag as she tried to settle again.She honestly had no idea at all, at this point, whether that spell had been meant to do this or not. What the heck were these ancient sages up to anyway? Dirty old men, the lot of them, she decided. Too long cooped up in old monasteries, or hermitages!Simplicity was on her knees now, nightshirt caught up around her upper thighs. Leaning over the book. And trying very, very, hard not to move much at all. Any slight pressure, or attempt to struggle, with her arms, or legs, and that rope between her legs...“Drrrmmnnggh urrrgghhttfff...” Simplicity shook her head, trying to clear it of distractions so she could focus.Maybe...maybe she did need a bit of help. Mr Tibblesworth 'was' supposed to be doing that, right? At the very least, if the little demon could get her gag off, she could 'try' to sort this out herself.“...ummmphh...hrrrmphh...” Simplicity mumbled, reluctantly, chewing her gag as she reluctantly peered up at the bed again. “Crrllddgh uurrphhff srrmmphh...hhllmpph? Hrrmmphh? Hlllmmph!” She blinked, and added, with more emphasis.Mr Tibblesworth was sat by her box, swiping at a wriggling, mobile bit of rope, with one of his paws. His yellow eyes were narrowed, in the deepest glower of predatory concentration.Simplicity stared, in disbelief.“Hhmmphh!” She demanded.“...what?” Mr Tibblesworth replied, barely listening, still trying to catch the rope.“Hhllmmphh mrrmmphh!” “What?” “Hlllmphh mmphhh!” Simplicity repeated, impatiently.“You're doing fine, I'm sure.” Mr Tibblesworth continued flicking his claws out, slicing erratically. “This is important, for reasons entirely unknown to me. I feel it in my bones. I must catch this thing.”“Nnrrmmph! Hllmpphh mrrmmph!” Simplicity growled, insistently.“In a minute. I almost got it that time.”“Grrmmphh mrrmmphh urrrmph-”Her mobile buzzed, on the floor, where she must have knocked it at some point. Simplicity tilted her head sideways, trying to read it, and was...not entirely surprised to see she now had 17 missed calls, all from Agent Lance. “Crrrppfffmmpff!” Simplicity swore, in alarm.That wasn't what had caused her concern, however. That had been the last text, from Morgan, saying she was professionally worried that Simplicity hadn't responded to any of her countless texts or calls all day and was coming over to check she was okay.“Hrrrppff!” Simplicity yelled at her useless demon guardian, still playing with a proverbial ball of string, very carefully shuffling closer to the bed. “Hllmmphh mrrmmphh, drrmmnnff urrhhttff! Hllmmphh mrrmrmph!”...

Description

Autotape98 just doing his thing no big...well...'some' big thing XD Thank you for the lovely surprise dude!

Inspired, I believe, by Simplicity Jones' attempt at some practice in BookbindingHer mobile phone buzzed again. She ignored it. Instead, she went to the door, and turned the 'Open' sign to 'Closed'. Peering outside once more at the darkening sky, and the streetlights coming on, giving the city its grim, gloomy, sickly, home-y orange glow. It looked like the courier wasn't turning up today after all. The phone buzzed...again...where she'd left it on the shop counter.“Aren't you meant to reply to those?” Mr Tibblesworth perched on the end of the counter, and waved a paw at it idly.“Sometimes.” Simplicity stuck her hands in her jeans pockets, and ambled back to the counter.“Is this a human thing.” The feline-resembling being intoned, mildly curious.“Hard to say. I'm sure demons have their own ridiculous social morays.”“Correct.” Mr Tibblesworth nodded, then started pawing at his ratty ear. The phone buzzed again. Simpicity puffed out her cheeks, rolled her eyes, and picked it up.“Let's see...” She clicked through to her inbox. “Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance, automated PeachCorp message from dad trying to find me, Agent Lance, Agent Lance...I didn't even give her my number, y'know.” She leaned back on the counter, on her arms, glancing at the cat-thing.“And yet, she seems to have it.” Mr Tibblesworth licked his paw, barely listening.“Maybe you should try 'replying'...” Mom's accusing, ethereal voice, reverberated around the bookshop floor. “I think she's interested!”“...Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Agent Lance...” Simplicity clicked through more texts, ignoring her. “...Agent Lance, Agent Lance, Age-...oh, here's one from Iggy! How sweet!” She smiled, reading it.“...the...the...robot?” Mom's exasperated voice. “Dare I ask?”“Fuck no, I'm not reading that out loud.” Simplicity snorted, grinning, stifling a chuckle with her hand. “What a dark horse he turned out to be.” She shook her head, impressed, and tapped off a reply of her own.“I don't want to hear this.”“Good.” Simplicity undid her collar, with her mom's ring on it, and dropped it with a quite 'plop' in the cold mug of coffee behind her.There was a knock at the door. Simplicity hurried over, seeing a familiar face.“Kaya, what brings you...huh.” She blinked, surprised.Kayasada Saeki-Yama stood in the doorway, holding up a large book in her hands. A familiar book. A book she'd been waiting all damn day to have delivered!“You've got my book!” Simplicity pointed, confused. “Why do you have my book? The courier was supposed to be here hours ago.”“Takuhaibin wa anata no shinrai ni ataishimasendeshita.” Kaya said, simply, in her very quiet, level way.“Oh, really?” Simplicity frowned, as she took the book from her friend. She peered past Kaya, out into the street, and saw what looked like the kind of vans the couriers used parked on the other side of the road. Had he just offloaded it on her friend and fucked off? What an asshole.“But how did you...have you been eating jam donuts again?” She abandoned that last thought, when she looked back, seeing Kaya's pale, long fingers, coated in some sort of red sticky stuff.Kaya grinned, cheekily, her teeth spattered with red too through the tangled reams of black hair that covered most of her face, and seemed to have produced a donut from somewhere.“Well, thanks anyway Kaya, you're a lifesaver. Want to come in?” “Katadzuke o suru hitsuyō ga arimasu.” She shook her head, and waved politely, then wandered off, down the street.Simplicity looked down at the book, quietly satisfied as she ran a hand across the cover. She went to wave out, after Kaya, but she was already gone, the street completely empty. The couriers van was gone too. “Hm.” She shrugged, heading back inside and locking the door. Sometimes she quietly wondered if Kaya wasn't some sort of marathon runner in her spare time. Blink, and you'd miss her!“I'm shutting up shop. You coming upstairs?” She called over to Mr Tibblesworth, tucking the book under her arm as she closed wooden shutters in the windows, and flicked off lights.“Presently.” Mr Tibblesworth replied, watching her from the counter, with those...watchful yellow eyes. “That book...it contains power. Did you get what you were waiting for?”“Think so. Going to check it out, just a bit of light reading for the evening.” She grinned, slapping the weighty tome with a dull thud.“I will dispense with the last of my evening's sacrificial offerings, and then join you in perusing this latest acquisition of arcane lore.” Mr Tibblesworth hopped down from the counter, and prowled toward the small kitchenette out back.Simplicity paused at the foot of the small stairwell that circled up to her room, and frowned.“You mean your biscuits?”“Yes.” …“How to Escape from Rope? On the nose.”Simplicity half turned, shrugging out of her blouse and pulling her nightshirt over her head. Mr Tibblesworth was sitting on the end of her bed, now, looking down at the book.“I think that's the point.” She shrugged, undoing her jeans and kicking them off. “I could use a bit of help, in that regard, don't you think?” Simplicity straightened her shirt out, and dropped onto the bed, picking up the book and setting it in her lap.“My duty on this mortal plane is to protect you.” Mr Tibblesworth said, as if it was obvious.“And I'm really grateful I've got a mildly bloodthirsty lesser demon that looks like a cat looking after me.” She snorted, pulling the stiff cover open, crackling old paper ages flicking through her fingers. “But all the same, I'm not carrying you around every time I go out. People will talk.”“Do people not walk cats?”“Yeah, some do. They also wear pointy black hats and ride broomsticks.” Simplicity scowled, moodily, into the distance. “Being lumped in as a witch, that I don't need. It gives people funny ideas.” She turned back to the contents page, scanning it vaguely.“What about?” Mr Tibblesworth sat beside her, peering down at the book too.“About tying you to the end of a wooden pole and dunking you in water to work out why you don't float.” She turned a few pages, tracing old script with a finger. “Or dancing naked under the moon, on old hills.”“And you've never done that?” The slightly mangled feline face turned up toward her.Simplicity frowned, pursing her lips.“Okay, one time. Before I dropped out of college.” She waved a hand dismissively. “I was drunk as shit.”“And you do have some magical aptitude.” Mr Tibblesworth pressed.“It's not...” Simplicity huffed, struggling for words. “...I can't just wave my hands and throw spells about. Magic isn't...magic!” She finished, aware that this was not the best explanation.“Makes sense.” Mr Tibblesworth replied, with a clear and intentional lack of any irony.She pouted, and waved her hands vaguely again, trying to elaborate.“I can't just throw fireballs out of my hands. Or wave a wand and grow a tree. I'm not...like...magical.” Simplicity tried again. “It's heavy reading. I 'can' learn some, a bit. But it's all written incantations, invocations and spells. I need runes and inscriptions, you know? Scrolls, books...words!” She finished, in a burst.“The scholarly pursuit of the arcane.” Mr Tibblesworth nodded his ratty head, slowly, although Simplicity honestly had no clue if he really understood or not. “The old ways. Where learned men found power in the written word.”“...sure, that.” Simplicity turned back to the book, and smiled as she seemed to find what she was looking for. “Really, mostly it's just a vaguely helpful tool, in what I do. Talking to ghosts, helping spirits move on, getting rid of the odd demon...most of the time.” She glanced at Mr Tibblesworth, with mild sarcasm.“So that is why with the printed, laminated runes, when you tried to expel me from your mortal plane?” The cat-thing cut in, suddenly.“Oh, yeah. Having stuff like that around makes knowing any of this stuff moderately more useful.” Simplicity chuckled. “If I really wanted to be like...firing lightning bolts out of my ass, and throwing cars around, calling up hurricanes, I'd have to permanently tattoo and inscribe every inch of my body with old runes and sigils.”“And you cannot do that?”“I was tempted.” Simplicity sighed, with a shrug. “But mom wouldn't let me.”“Even though she has passed on.”“She hasn't passed on, she's still fucking haunting me.” Simplicity snorted, shaking her head. “And I figure I've got to give a little, if I'm ever going to help her find peace so she can let 'me' move on.”“I heard that!” A slightly watery, far-off, eerie voice howled.Simplicity closed her eyes a moment, and exhaled. “Okay, do me a favour and fetch the shoebox under the bed?” “This one, with all the ropes and tape in it?” Her eyes snapped open, and she looked down to see Mr Tibblesworth clambering up onto the bed, dropping the box between them.“You know about this?” She picked up the box, warily.“Cats are curious, are they not?” “I don't know if I want you being 'that' curious, around my stuff.” She narrowed her eyes, dubious. “And it's not my stuff, even.”“Is this another human thing?” He tilted his mangy head, to one side.“...yes.” Simplicity said, eventually, daring him to press the matter further.Mr Tibblesworth remained quiet, tail flicking idly behind him.“Anyway.” Simplicity set down the box, and opened it. “Let's get started.” She meshed her fingers together, and stretched them, then turned to the first incantation.Slowly, and in a calm, measured voice, she recited the spell aloud. For a moment, nothing happened, but then she noticed one of the loosely-tied bundles of rope undoing itself. Quietly, she was delighted it had worked at all, as it slithered out of the box, down her legs, and started to coil itself, and then knot itself, around her ankles. She lifted her legs, better to watch, scholarly curiousity piqued, as the magic of the spell unfolded.“Fuck, it worked.” She whistled, impressed, turning her ankles one way, then the other. “Let's try another.”“You sound surprised.” Mr Tibblesworth chimed in, but she wasn't going to let any snarky demon cats rain on her parade right now.“Look, you never know with these old books. Sometimes they're a total dud.” She snorted, shaking her head. “Verified my share of those.”She recited the next, and was felt pleasantly vindicated as the next rope looped and tied itself just above her knees, tying her thighs together.“Impressive.” “Thank you.” Simplicity beamed, just a little smug.Feeling more confident now, she turned a crackly page. She scanned, and picked out the next spell, and the next. Reading each aloud, self-assured in her ability, and control. And soon her hands were tied behind her back, more ropes securing her elbows together, and more wound around her arms, and middle.This was...pretty tight, actually. But that was the point. If she could just get out of it herself, then she was just wasting her time here. So, she'd just press on. That said...“...uh...mm.” She hummed, thoughtfully, pursing her lips....she was having trouble turning the pages, right now.“Something wrong?” Mr Tibblesworth was now curled up, beside her legs, only occasionally watching.“No.” She replied, quickly, tugging at her tied wrists, unable to move her arms much, with her elbows secured together. “It's just...maybe I should've held off tying my hands till later. Or checked to see if there was an option for tying them in front...” Simplicity settled for twisting her hips, stretching around her body with her bound hands to awkwardly turn the page.“Do you need some help?”“No.” She succeeded in snatching up the next page, at last, and flicking it over. “No problem.” Unfortunately, there was very quickly a problem, she realised, as she chanted the next spell. And to her surprise, a blue and white chequered handkerchief sprang up out of the box.“Oh shhrrrppfff!” She blurted, as the cloth twisted into a thick band, and wrapped around her head, pulling itself tightly between her lips. “Shrrppff shrrrpphhff!” Simplicity cursed, frantically shaking her head side to side, trying to shake the handkerchief gagging her loose, even as it tightened and knotted itself behind her head.Damn it! That wasn't what she'd meant to do! She looked down at the book, fumbling for it with her stretching fingers, and quickly realised she'd accidentally skipped a page!“Frrcccmmhhpff!” She cursed, stamping her feet irritably, only to have the book flop off her lap onto the floor, landing face down with a dull thud. “Frrffhhfrrccmmpff srrrcchhppff!” Simplicity groaned, her head lolling back, venting her frustration.“Do you need some help?” Mr Tibblesworth prompted again, scratching behind his ear.“Nnrrpff!” She objected, stubbornly.Simplicity could fix this. Technically this was, after all, the whole point of the exercise. She was tied up a bit more than she'd originally thought to be, and the gag hadn't been part of the plan...but she'd make it work.Carefully, she planted her socked feet squarely on the carpet, and shuffled forward off the end of the bed. Using her legs for support, she lowered herself onto the floor, at the foot of the bed, and then shuffled forward further, to get to the book.Now...she just had to kind of...flip it over.“Crrmmpff...unmmmpfff...” She leaned sideways, straining down for the book with her arms, limited by the ropes around her arms. “Crrmmmppfff...crrrnnmmpff!” She huffed, around her gag, growing more irritable, as her fingertips fumbled the at the corner of the book.Just a...little...further! Maybe if she just...leaned a bit...more...“Uummpff!” Simplicity squeaked, as she lost her balance and flopped onto her side. “Mmmrrrnnnmmppgggff!” She groaned.“Do you need some help?” Mr Tibblesworth peered down at her, from above, on her bed.“Nnmmpff!” Okay, now she was basically curled up around the stupid book. But...“...hrrrmmmpfff...mmmrrrphhh...!” Grunting, biting down on her gag, she managed to wriggle her nose under the book... “...grgrrnnggghh...mmmffgghh!” ...and with a bit of effort, managed to jerk her head up, to the side, and flip the book onto its back.Simplicity lifted her legs, using them for leverage, and after a few false starts, succeeded in sitting herself upright again. Muttering, and somewhat out of breath, she slowly shuffled around the 'other' side of the book now, to try and read it. And read it she could. But now it was on the wrong page! When it fell, she'd lost her place!Simplicity closed her eyes tight, stifling the urge to scream. She counted to five, and exhaled, opening them again. She'd just...work with it. Do what she could. What did she have to work with...maybe there was 'something' here...“Hhmmmppphhh...” She murmured, around her gag, scanning the page, quickly.Probably she should be reading a little slower. Translating was tricky at the best of times, and she didn't need any more mixups, but-......there, that word was 'release', she was sure of that. Only problem was she was gagged. Maybe...maybe she could just try really hard to enunciate? The gag was cleaved between her lips, so...'maybe', if she really worked at it...Slowly, and with a lot of exaggerated care, she mangled and garbled her way through the incantation. Trying very hard to speak as clearly as possible, while biting down on a cloth. Wasn't easy. But it seemed like it had worked! She felt something happeni-Mr Tibblesworth jumped as another rope shot past him, off the bed. Simplicity yelped as it practically tackled her, and wrapped tightly around her waist. Then 'very' tightly between her...legs. The end secured itself to the rope around her wrists, jerking them downward. She pulled against it, on instinct, and-“Ffrrrrccphhfff...!” She gasped, wide-eyed, and cheeks flushing red, as the rope jerked tight somewhere it wasn't supposed to.This was...that was...well...fuck.She tried pulling her hands back, and immediately-“Ggrrmmppffhh!” She let out a breathless rush, mumbling into her gag as she tried to settle again.She honestly had no idea at all, at this point, whether that spell had been meant to do this or not. What the heck were these ancient sages up to anyway? Dirty old men, the lot of them, she decided. Too long cooped up in old monasteries, or hermitages!Simplicity was on her knees now, nightshirt caught up around her upper thighs. Leaning over the book. And trying very, very, hard not to move much at all. Any slight pressure, or attempt to struggle, with her arms, or legs, and that rope between her legs...“Drrrmmnnggh urrrgghhttfff...” Simplicity shook her head, trying to clear it of distractions so she could focus.Maybe...maybe she did need a bit of help. Mr Tibblesworth 'was' supposed to be doing that, right? At the very least, if the little demon could get her gag off, she could 'try' to sort this out herself.“...ummmphh...hrrrmphh...” Simplicity mumbled, reluctantly, chewing her gag as she reluctantly peered up at the bed again. “Crrllddgh uurrphhff srrmmphh...hhllmpph? Hrrmmphh? Hlllmmph!” She blinked, and added, with more emphasis.Mr Tibblesworth was sat by her box, swiping at a wriggling, mobile bit of rope, with one of his paws. His yellow eyes were narrowed, in the deepest glower of predatory concentration.Simplicity stared, in disbelief.“Hhmmphh!” She demanded.“...what?” Mr Tibblesworth replied, barely listening, still trying to catch the rope.“Hhllmmphh mrrmmphh!” “What?” “Hlllmphh mmphhh!” Simplicity repeated, impatiently.“You're doing fine, I'm sure.” Mr Tibblesworth continued flicking his claws out, slicing erratically. “This is important, for reasons entirely unknown to me. I feel it in my bones. I must catch this thing.”“Nnrrmmph! Hllmpphh mrrmmph!” Simplicity growled, insistently.“In a minute. I almost got it that time.”“Grrmmphh mrrmmphh urrrmph-”Her mobile buzzed, on the floor, where she must have knocked it at some point. Simplicity tilted her head sideways, trying to read it, and was...not entirely surprised to see she now had 17 missed calls, all from Agent Lance. “Crrrppfffmmpff!” Simplicity swore, in alarm.That wasn't what had caused her concern, however. That had been the last text, from Morgan, saying she was professionally worried that Simplicity hadn't responded to any of her countless texts or calls all day and was coming over to check she was okay.“Hrrrppff!” Simplicity yelled at her useless demon guardian, still playing with a proverbial ball of string, very carefully shuffling closer to the bed. “Hllmmphh mrrmmphh, drrmmnnff urrhhttff! Hllmmphh mrrmrmph!”...