Criminal

 Chapter 1

7.25: Angelica’s Personalized Wake-up Time. Her alarm consists of sounds of nature and birdsong, slowly rising in volume and intensity, while the light gently brightens. After five minutes, a soft voice on the audio systems tells her to get up.

Angelica uses the bathroom, dresses, and heads downstairs to prepare a nutritious breakfast for herself and her housemate, Loki. Loki’s PWT is fifteen minutes later than Angelica’s, making them compatible housemates.

Soon afterwards, both girls are having breakfast and chatting amicably.
“Do you know what people used to have for breakfast?” Loki asks.
Angelica rolls her eyes. Ever since Loki started reading that history book about the habits of people in the past, she can’t stop talking about it. Only last night, she kept going on about people putting drugs and toxins like alcohol and tobacco in their bodies.
“I don’t know of course. It’s not dead animals again, is it?” Angelica shudders, recalling another of those horror stories.
“Cornflakes. They were a bit like our cereals, except they were chock full of sugar!”
“Ieuw!” Angelica wrinkles her nose. “Well I’m glad the government put an end to all that! Those must have been terrible times to live in!”
“Oh, definitely. Still, just imagine, being able to eat or drink whatever you want… it’s kind of intriguing too, right?”
“So you can have dead animals or poison yourself? What’s the point? We eat exactly what’s best for us, what more can you want?”
“I know, I know. Just something I like to think about.”
At this point, the soft voice on the audio system speaks: “Angelica, time to get ready for work.”
Angelica rises. “Well, time to go. Not all of us are so lucky to have Sundays off.”
Loki laughs: “Sucks to be you, I guess.”
“Remind me to mock you Tuesday and Wednesday,” Angelica fires back.

Angelica quickly glances at the screen at the back of the kitchen, which always displays the Outdoor Dresscode Forecast. It shows Winter Level 2 both now and this evening when she will return from work. She goes to the wardrobe and puts on her shoes and her black down jacket, as always making sure to fully zip it up and do up all the buttons. With the thick, fur-trimmed hood up and fastened around her face, she is now wearing her first layer in accordance with the Dresscode. Next, she takes her bottle green, knee length down coat and does it up similarly. Once she is done, only the fur trim of the first hood emerges from the long coat, allowing for easy visual checks that she is wearing both layers.

Angelica grabs her mittens and steps back inside the kitchen. “You’ll have dinner ready tonight, right?” she asks Loki, who is standing near the back wall.
“Sure,” Loki smiles, turning towards her.
“Great, see you!”

Putting her mittens on, Angelica leaves the house and heads for her stop at the end of the street, where she will take the Axial Line J. The street is dark and deserted, which is no surprise on a winter Sunday.

Then she sees a police car, blue lights flashing, turn into the street. The flashing lights signalize that they’re heading for a Criminal Activity. It’s a rare sight. After all, Angelica thinks, why would anyone want to go against the government regulations? They are simply there to ensure everyone’s optimal health and well-being. And besides, there’s the Criminal Activity Report Program: anyone who notices a Criminal Activity can report it, and if it turns out correct and the offender is caught, they receive a hefty bonus to their credit account. Since the CARP is in effect, even those who would for some reason go against regulations have given up.

Angelica wonders if any of her neighbors did something wrong. She hopes not, she would not want a Criminal next door! But like all streets in residential areas, it’s a dead end, so there aren’t that many options. But who would be so -

The police car stops next to her.
Two officers get out.

“Angelica Purissima?” the male officer asks, pro forma, because he already scanned the ID tag on her sleeve.
“Y-yes,” Angelica stutters.
“You are caught in the act of violating the Outdoor Dresscode, as you are not in appropriate clothing for Winter Level 3. This is a Criminal-“
“Three?” Angelica exclaims. “But the ODF said-“
“This is a Criminal Activity which means you will be tried before a Judge. You are to remain silent-“
“No listen,” Angelica quickly interjects, while she feels the female cop putting a handcuff around her right wrist and pulling her arms behind her. “The ODF said two, I swear it!”
“The ODF said three, miss. And now you are to remain silent until you will appear before-“
“No, no, it’s a misunderstanding! I’m not a Criminal! Look, just let me go and I’ll quickly go home and put my Moonboots and scarf on, then it’s all good right? It’s right there, it won’t take - mmmph!”
The female cop harshly pulls the strap of the ball gag she has placed in Angelica’s mouth and buckles it. “Why don’t they ever shut up when you tell them to?” she asks her companion.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know either. I guess lack of obedience comes with being a Criminal? Let’s load her in.”

They force Angelica towards the back door of the car. Once there, the man continues holding her while the female cop grabs a bunch of ropes and quickly gets to work. One around her ankles, tying them together. Above and below the knees, than above the elbows, pulling Angelica’s arms closer together. Finally one around her wrists, after recovering her handcuffs. Then Angelica is pushed down onto the back seats, lying down on her belly, and the ankle rope is tied to the elbow rope. A few more ropes to secure her to anchor points, and they are done. Satisfied to have caught a Criminal, they slam the door shut and get into the car.

---

By the time Loki has dressed in her Winter Level 3 outfit and come outside, the cops are already securing the arrestee in the back of the car. Soon after, Loki watches as they make a U-turn and head away. Angelica will be fine, she thinks. Sure, she won't be having a good time, but honestly, the girl could use a healthy kick of reality. She's always such a loyal citizen, always defending every government policy. Might do her good to experience some of the downsides of an authoritarian system.

A simple piece of paper taped over the ODF screen, Loki muses. A quick phone call, and a tiny bit of betrayal. Honestly, that's the easiest credits she has earned in her life.


Chapter 2

Throughout the ride, Angelica remains in a state of shock. Her mind simply refuses to accept that this is real, that any of this is happening. Just moments ago, she was on her way to work, like any other day. And now she has been taken in like a Criminal! Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is made apparent by the extraordinary position she finds herself in. She is held absolutely immobile, with her arms on her back and her mittened hands held palm to palm. The bottom of her down coat is pulled together by the rope just above her knees, while the lower part of her legs are bent double in a strict hogtie. Any attempt to lift her ankles only forces her arms closer together.

The most pressing concern is her face though. First of all, a large ball gag is keeping her mouth wide open and unusable. The straps of the gag have pulled the fur ruff at mouth height back, in turn pulling the part at the top downwards over her eyes. Lying face down on top of the fur ruff, she is now blinded by it. Her nose is still free, but lying on the seat and with the fur ruff of her hood on all sides, she struggles and shifts as much as she can to gain access to air. What air she gets quickly heats up, and soon the seat area beneath her double hooded head is slick with sweat.

Slowly, she is getting over the initial shock and starting to think about how to get out of this. Surely this is all a mistake. She just needs to explain to someone that the ODF screen at home said 2. And then they’ll let her go. She will make up an excuse for being late at work and never mention this embarrassing episode to anyone.

The car stops. The door is opened, the ropes securing her in place and the one connecting her arms and legs are undone, then Angelica is dragged out of the car and placed on her feet. One of the cops holds her steady while the other unties the ropes around her legs. Then they lead her through the underground garage towards an elevator. They go up, through a corridor and finally into a small empty room. With the fur ruff still hanging partly over her eyes, Angelica doesn’t experience much of her surroundings.
Without stopping, the cops lead her to a wall. One of them pulls something down a slider she sees in the wall until it’s at the height of her neck. It’s a metal pole that extends about 20 cm from the wall. At the end of it is an open ring, and before Angelica realizes what is going on, her neck is in that ring and the collar is closed and locked at the back of her neck. Meanwhile her feet have been placed about a meter apart, and similar cuffs are locked around her ankles.

She now faces the wall, held rigidly in place by the three cuffs and with her arms still tied firmly together on her back. She is close enough to the wall that her hoods completely obscure any sideways view she might have had, but at least this time her air access is free.

Without another word, the cops leave her alone. Angelica hears the door close and the sound of a lock. Then, nothing.

That’s just the pickup team, Angelica thinks. Someone at the office will soon be here to hear my side. I have to explain them it was a fault in the ODF display. Probably there have been other mistaken arrests if it was a system error. Or those cops were somehow wrong about it being Level 3 and I’ve been arrested for nothing.

But the cops being wrong didn’t seem likely. Is she sure she has seen Level 2? Again and again she recalls the image. A row of 2’s, for each hour, broken up by some 1’s (four, right? Surely there were four 1’s in the early afternoon)… but no 3, certainly. Could she have missed it? A single 3 perhaps, at the start of the row?

Before her eyes, she starts seeing the numbers, a 2 blurring into a 3, the circular thoughts driving her crazy. Can’t they just come and get her already, get this over with? Uncomfortable, Angelica tries to shift her position, but is firmly reminded that is impossible. The three iron cuffs and bars effectively immobilize her entire body.

Angelica’s legs are hurting. And her jaw is even worse. She wants to trash and fight her bonds, but all she can do is move her tied arms a bit away from her body and back. In frustration, she starts screaming, but the “Mmph! Mmph!” sounds she is producing are pathetic and she quickly runs out of breath.

For a while Angelica’s mind is drifting without much thought, and she loses track of time completely. She groggily watches drops run down her little stretch of wall, her mind blank. After a while, a thought forms: those are from the condensation of my breath. This triggers new thoughts. How long has she been standing here? Surely it’s more than half an hour? An hour? More?

And where is everyone? No sound at all enters her little room. It must be soundproof. Then why couldn’t they take at least that gag out, Angelica thinks in frustration. Her jaw aches, her legs ache, her shoulders ache, and she is a sweaty mess, standing there in her winter attire at room temperature. Not to mention she has nothing to do, she has been staring at the same small patch of wall for who knows how long. She should be at work, damn it!

Again Angelica starts shouting in her gag, longer this time, but of course the sounds she produces are as quiet as before. And eventually she has to stop again, and her exhausted mind blanks out again, starting another cycle. Throughout it all, her appearance to an observer barely changes at all. From the outside, one just sees a figure in a knee length, dark green down coat with the hood up, standing there with her legs spread and her arms tied on her back, facing the wall. Any misgivings this figure might have about its position are not apparent to the observer, as it stands perfectly still and quiet.

Suddenly the door opens. Angelica is so startled she would have jumped if she could. Someone unlocks the cuffs. They take her by the elbow and turn her towards the door. Angelica’s legs are trembling, she feels like falling to the floor but manages to stay on her feet. She is guided through a corridor and ends up in another room. Here there is a table, with a chair on one side and on the other side… it’s also a chair, but completely metal, bolted to the floor and with various clasps clearly intended to hold the arms and legs.

The metal chair is obviously for her, and the cop guides her towards it. Then he speaks: “I will now untie your arms. You will immediately sit down and place your arms on the armrests. Have you understood?”
Angelica quickly nods. At this point she would do anything to have her arms out of their strained position, and sitting down sounds wonderful to her trembling legs, even if it means sitting on this contraption that will no doubt immobilize her again.

Indeed, minutes later, she finds herself sitting perfectly straight in the metal chair, her arms attached to the armrests, legs slightly spread and similarly held in place, and again there is a collar, attached to the back of the chair, holding her head in position. Compared to her previous situation however, it’s quite comfortable. Now if only he could also…
“Mmph! Mmph!” she desperately tries as he turns towards the door.
But he ignores her and leaves the room, locking the door.

This time it’s only about ten minutes later when the door is opened. Another cop enters. She places a bottle of water and a plastic cup on the table. Angelica’s eyes lit up in hope.
“I will remove your gag now and give you something to drink. You will remain completely silent. Is that clear?”
Angelica wants to nod, but with the collar around her neck and the gag holding her mouth wide open, her head is held still. Apparently it was a rhetoric question though, because the cop starts undoing the gag.

Finally the ball is removed from her mouth. The first movement of her jaw is even more painful though and it takes all of Angelica’s willpower not to cry out. Slowly she manages to close her mouth most of the way, then she concentrates on the task of drinking the water that is offered. After this the cop takes a paper towel from somewhere outside Angelica’s vision and wipes off Angelica’s face. Angelica wants to thank her, but remains silent.

“All right,” the cop says, throwing away the paper towel. “Judge Thorne will be here shortly for your trial. I will now explain the proceedings to you. The Judge has received the reports from the pickup team and the investigation team. The Judge will first clarify the charges and the circumstances. Then you will be asked to explain yourself, and the Judge can ask you further questions. Based on the outcome of this interview, the Judge will decide your punishment.”
Punishment, Angelica thinks, but doesn’t that imply that I’m guilty already? Surely I can still convince the judge I did nothing wrong? But clearly this is not the time to bring this up.
“Two things for you,” the cop continues. “First, you will stay perfectly quiet until the time the judge asks you anything. Otherwise the ball goes right back in your mouth. And second, always address the Judge as Your Honor. Now, I will give you a bit more water, then we wait for the Judge.”

So it happens, and now Angelica is nervously awaiting the Judge’s arrival. It’s what she has been yearning for all that time, standing there at the wall, but now that the moment is near, she dreads it. What if she can’t convince the Judge? But surely she will, after all the Justice System is fair, and Angelica didn’t do anything wrong! Except, what if she did see the wrong number? Her memory seems clear, but what if it’s wrong?

The door opens and the Judge enters, placing a laptop on the table and sitting opposite Angelica. The Judge is unlike Angelica imagined: an older woman, shorter than Angelica herself, with a friendly face and laugh wrinkles around her eyes.

“Hello Angelica. I am Judge Diana Thorne and I will judge your case today. According to the pickup team, you were found in violation of the Outdoor Dresscode, which required Winter Level 3 this morning. The investigation team checked that the ODF system has been giving the correct forecast at all times, which is the case. As a result, you are accused of willingly ignoring the Dresscode. Now Angelica, could you please explain your actions to me?”

“It - it was a 2, on the ODF, I mean, I thought it - Your Honor!” Angelica blurts out. “I really thought I saw Level 2 on the ODF, Your Honor.” Tears start filling Angelica’s eyes.
“Calm down, Angelica,” the Judge says softly. Angelica swallows a few times, managing to keep her tears in check. After a pause, the Judge continues. “So you are saying it was an honest mistake?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”

Judge Thorne looks Angelica straight in the eyes, her expression pensive. Angelica’s head is still held in place by the collar, and still covered by her two thick down hoods, her face framed by the fur ruff as the Judge holds her gaze. Angelica is acutely aware of a few fresh sweat drops rolling down her face.

“I believe you, Angelica,” the Judge says eventually. “I think you made an honest mistake.” Angelica is so relieved she can feel tears welling up in her eyes again. She quickly blinks a few times to clear them, but her sight is still blurry.
“Therefore I am willing to give you the minimum punishment-“
“Punishment!” Angelica blurts out, “but-“
Immediately a frown appears on the Judge’s face, and at the same time Angelica hears a sound of the cop behind her shifting her position. She instantly clamps her mouth shut.
“I’m sorry, Your Honor,” she murmurs.
The Judge’s face relaxes, but she lets the silence hang for a few more moments before resuming.
“As I was saying… I am willing to give you the minimum punishment, assuming you give me a clear admission of guilt and the promise it won’t ever happen again. And yes, that means there will still be a punishment. I do believe you made a honest mistake, but that doesn’t mean you get off for free. That would corrupt our Justice System. Now, Angelica, do you realize the gravity of your mistake?”
“Yes, Your Honor, I swear!”
“I need to hear you say it, Angelica. In your own words.”
Angelica swallows. “I admit I am guilty, Your Honor,” she says softly. “I should have checked the ODF better before going out. I realize I endangered my health by this negligence. I will make absolutely certain it never happens again!”
Judge Thorne gives her a friendly smile. “Very good, Angelica. Now, the punishment for an infraction against appropriate Winter Levels of the Outdoor Dresscode is wearing a Convict’s Winter Outfit during a period of two to five weeks, as well as a fine of 100 to 250 credits. As I told you, I am giving you the minimum sentence, which means 100 credits will be automatically deducted from your account, and you will wear the Convict’s Winter Outfit for two weeks. You will find it a difficult outfit to wear - it is significantly warmer than the Dresscode for Winter Level 5 - but I hope the discomfort will help you further internalize the error of your ways and put you back on track to become a model citizen!”
“Yes, Your Honor. Thank you, Your Honor,” Angelica murmurs.

And with that, Judge Thorne leaves the room. The red ball gag appears in front of Angelica’s mouth again. Angelica sighs dejectedly, then meekly opens her mouth wide.

---

Judge Diana Thorne sighs inwardly. People really should be more careful. Of course the girl just made a stupid mistake, and Diana could have let her off for once. But would she have learned that way? In Diana's experience, you'd see them back for a similar offence within a few years. No, it was better to make the message clear once and for all. "Kindly deal out harshness," is Diana's personal motto. Better to give them a severe punishment once than seeing them relapse again and again.

She knows not all Judges see it that way. The younger generation is generally more in favor of skipping punishments on a first, minor offence. They may be right. But Diana feels she is too old to change her ways.

Speaking of the younger generation - she should give Marilyn a call and ask if she's feeling better yet. Diana has taken over her shift as Marilyn was feeling ill this morning, but by now the nanobots should start taking effect. Perhaps Marilyn can still come in today, so Diana can go home earlier.


Chapter 3

Again Angelica is led through the corridors of the police office, still wearing her down coats, gagged, and with her arms once again tied together on her back. What do they think I’m going to do, Angelica wonders. But then: I’m a Criminal now. They’re right not to take chances. I deserve what I get.

She is taken to another floor, where they enter a room with several side doors.
“I will untie you now,” the cop says. “You will take off all your own clothes and put them in this basket. You will get them back clean in two weeks, so you can wear them home then. There is a toilet over there, a shower there” - she points at each door - “and you will find food and water for lunch over there. These are your new underclothes which you will put on. When you are done, knock on the outer door and I’ll bring you to the Outfitter Office.”

Forty-five minutes later, Angelica knocks on the door. She is dressed in orange from head to toe. Her pants and long-sleeved shirt are both made from a soft, slightly stretchy material that hugs her forms. The shirt has an attached hood which leaves only her face visible.

Feeling clean and having eaten something, things don’t look as bleak as before. Angelica has accepted her fate. She has made a mistake and she will pay for it. It is only for two weeks, and she will take the Judge’s words to heart and make sure she becomes a better person. When the cop opens the door, Angelica immediately places her arms on her back to be tied. A ball gag goes in her mouth, but this time it’s an orange one.

Then Angelica is brought to the Outfitter’s Office. She has no idea what her outfit will look like, having never actually seen a Convicted Criminal. Of course, she know it will be orange. Everyone knows that’s the color for Convicted Criminals, and nobody else ever wears that color. The Judge has said her outfit will be warmer than the Winter Level 5 Dresscode, but given the nature of her offense, that makes sense to Angelica. And regardless, getting hot certainly won’t be the worst part of it. The fact that she will be in orange, marking her as a Criminal to everyone, will be her biggest punishment in itself. But, she reminds herself again, she deserves it.

They enter another room, where a young cop with a long blonde ponytail jumps up and enthusiastically greets her colleague: “Hey Betty!”
“Hello Miranda,” the cop leading Angelica replies in a more neutral tone, “where is Sven?”
“He took the afternoon off, said I could dress this one on my own. Exciting, isn’t it?” Miranda beams.
“Yeah, um, good for you. Well, see you then.”
“See you, Betty!”

The door closes behind Betty and the young cop turns towards Angelica: “Hi, I’m Miranda! I will be providing your Convict’s Winter Outfit!”
She expectantly looks at Angelica, as if waiting for her to introduce herself. Angelica, not sure how to react, nods.
“Great!” Miranda exclaims, as if Angelica’s nod was precisely the response she had hoped for. “Let’s get started! Here is your snowsuit!” 
She hands Angelica an orange mass of nylon, or at least attempts to. With Angelica’s arms still firmly tied together, there’s not much she can do.
“Woops! Silly me! I always forget these things!” Miranda laughs, putting away the snowsuit and untying Angelica’s arms. “There! That’s better, right? Now, in you go! Chop, chop!”

Luckily Angelica’s arms haven’t been tied for long this time, so she has no trouble taking the snowsuit and putting it on. It is warm of course, filled with down, much like the one she has at home for Winter Level 5. But it’s not worse than that, except being orange of course. It does have attached mittens, making the use of her hands less practical. She puts up the hood and does the zip up, which goes right up to her nose, covering the orange ball gag underneath. Then she close the velcro flap over the zip and, with some difficulty, manages to pull the hood drawstrings a bit tighter, in accordance with the usual prescriptions.

“Looks great!” Miranda grins, as if they’re trying on clothes while shopping. “Here are your Moonboots!”
With some trouble, Angelica manages to put on the Moonboots - orange, obviously. It really isn’t so bad, she thinks, except for the color, but she knew about that.
“A perfect fit! Well, we have your biometric data of course, so no surprise there. Do you like it?”
How should she respond to that? Does she like being a Criminal? Obviously not! But Angelica guesses the girl just wants to see approval and nods.
“Good! Because you’ll have to wear this any time you’re not at home for the next… two weeks it was, I think?” She looks at Angelica inquisitively.
Angelica nods to confirm the duration, but her eyes widen in surprise. Anywhere not at home? So at work too?
“Mmph?” She tries making it sound like a question.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Miranda replies, “at home you can take it off. But it stays on everywhere else, you hear me?” she laughs, wriggling her index finger at Angelica. “There’s a GPS tracker in each item, and we’ll be matching data with your implanted personal tracker. So no cheaty cheats! There are some more security measures, but I’m not supposed to tell you about those. Now!” Miranda starts walking away, “Let me grab your coat for outside.”

She returns carrying… something gigantic. She is supporting the middle of the coat with two arms, the top and bottom dangling on either side.
“Oof!” Miranda says as she drops the coat to the ground, “they never told me it was such hard work!” She gives Angelica a shy grin: “It’s my first time doing this, you see. But I’m glad to do it with such an enthusiastic Convict as you!” She pats Angelica on her hooded head.
This girl is crazy, Angelica thinks. But maybe not in a bad way.
“Now, this will be easiest if you sit on that chair. Then I’ll position the coat like… this. And now you should slide your legs in. Best both of them together, and keep them close.”

Angelica does her best to follow Miranda’s instructions. Apparently the coat only has a zip along half of its length. From the hips downward there is no way to open it, and through this part she now pushes her legs.
That’s easier said than done, as she is already wearing Moonboots and there doesn’t seem to be much space for her legs. While pulling the coat towards her, she notices how heavy and stiff it is. Only after a few minutes of struggling, her Moonboots appear at the bottom of the coat.
“All right! Let me help you pull it up a little more. There! That was the hardest part. Now put your arms in the sleeves.”
Angelica complies, pushing her arms in as far as she can. But the sleeves are narrow and heavy and she doesn’t get very far.
“Okay, now it’s best to stand up, and wave your arms back and forth.” Miranda starts wildly throwing her arms around as an example.
Feeling like an idiot, Angelica starts moving her arms, and indeed she feels her arms slide deeper into the sleeves.
“Okay, I’ll help with the last part, because the mittens are rather narrow,” Miranda says, moving behind Angelica. There, she grabs the coat at the right shoulder and pulls. Angelica feels her hand, already in the snowsuit’s mitten, getting pushed into something tight. Then the process is repeated on the left.
In disbelief, Angelica looks at her hand. She sees an orange ball of stretched nylon, pulled as taut as if it were a balloon. Except, there’s no air, it’s a solid mass. Her hand is held slightly bent, and it feels as if she is holding a ball in each hand. There are no separate thumbs. With her hands like this, they are utterly useless.

But she doesn’t have long to consider this. Suddenly Miranda pulls the coat’s hood, which was lying in front of her face, up. The hood’s opening is small, just leaving the area around her nose and eyes free. But in addition, it extends another 15 centimeters forward, forming a snorkel hood. Angelica finds herself peering through a narrow tunnel.

In the meantime, Miranda is closing the zipper at her back, which runs from the top of the hood downwards to the small of her back. Then she buttons a flap over the zipper. 
“There! All done!” Miranda is even more excited than before, practically jumping up and down as she appears in Angelica’s small field of vision. “Isn’t this great? Come here, in the back, we have a mirror, have a look at yourself!”
Angelica tries to take a step in the direction Miranda went. And just barely manages to stop herself falling flat on her face. She screams in fear and surprise, but with the thick hood now also covering her gag, no sound at all escapes.
“Come on, what’s taking so long? Come here, come here!”
Angelica tries again, taking small steps towards Miranda. The coat is so narrow around her legs she can just place one Moonboot in front of the other. From her knees upwards, there is almost no space to move.

Slowly, she shuffles over to Miranda, who turns her towards a large mirror.
“There you are! A real Convict now!”
The words hurt Angelica, but she knows they are true. And what she sees through her narrow tunnel confirms it. A huge orange coat, the wearer’s face hidden inside that same tunnel she is looking through. Two fat arms hanging down its sides, ending in puffy balls. And at the bottom, only the tips of her Moonboots peeking out beneath the hem of the coat. Next to her, the young cop Miranda is beaming with pride.

Angelica turns her body away from the shameful image in the mirror, towards Miranda. What now, she wants to ask, but even her “mmph?”-question is no longer audible.

 
After a while, Miranda realizes Angelica is waiting for her. “Well, that was it then! I had a great time, I’m really happy to have had such a nice first Criminal!” To Angelica’s surprise, the girl even tries to give her a hug, but the coat is too big to do it properly.

“So um, what else do I need to say? Your ID tag has been transferred to the sleeve of your new coat, so it will work like normal to enter your home, workplace and so on. Your sentence ends in two weeks, so that day you just come back here. I guess that's it? Well, have a nice time and see you in two weeks then!” Miranda says, waving in front of her snorkel hood.

Hesitantly, Angelica turns herself towards the door and starts tiptoeing forward. Once she reaches it, she pushes on the handle and is surprised she can actually open it. Pulling the door towards her, she has to awkwardly shuffle aside.

Once the door is open, Angelica turns herself toward Miranda again, wanting on the one hand confirmation that she can just walk out, and on the other hand directions on how to leave the building. But Miranda is juggling a couple of pens. She looks up and waves again. “Bye! Thank you!”

Angelica turns again, walks out the door. Turns herself left, than around again, trying to figure out which way to go. She has no idea. She turns to Miranda’s side again, who waves once more. Angelica points in one direction, than the other.

“Oh! You don’t know where to go! Right, silly me! I’ll get you outside, come along.” 
The young cop squeezes past Angelica and moves towards the left end of the corridor, where she turns left again and disappears. Angelica shuffles forward as fast as she can, trying not to lose track of her. Luckily Miranda reappears at the corner. “Right, forgot you’re kinda slow in that. Don’t worry, we’ll get you there!”

It takes a while, and a lot of Miranda’s inane chatter, but eventually they reach the exit doors. “Bye!” Miranda calls one last time, leaving Angelica in front of the building.

---

Miranda is sitting with her feet on the desk, cleaning her nails, when Betty pops her head inside the door. “Miranda, did you return the ropes and gag of that Convict to storage?”
“Hi Betty, yeah no worries, I took care of that, returned them straight away!”
“Great, thanks!” 

As Betty walks on, Miranda feels pleased she remembered to return the ropes immediately after the Convict left. The ropes, and the… gag? Miranda frowns. There hadn’t been a gag, right? Then where… “Oh!” she exclaims, “that Criminal was still wearing it! Silly me!”

She smiles, what a stupid mistake again. But, she thinks, perhaps it’s better not to tell anyone about this. Being just a junior trainee, she already has a bit of a reputation as a scatterbrain. Not really justified of course, everybody forgets things sometimes… but well, no need to add to that reputation. Yeah, better like this. She shouldn’t tarnish today’s great experience with a minor mistake. She knows she still did great overall.


Chapter 4

Angelica is standing right outside the police office, peering through the tunnel formed by her hood, swivelling her body left and right in an attempt to orientate herself. She is not familiar with this location. Luckily she soon spots the familiar red markings of the Transit System across the square. She starts making her way across.

Only now that she is walking outside does she fully realize how much the coat restricts her steps, and how slow she is going as a result. Because the coat is so thick and stiff, everything from her knees upwards remains still, giving the impression that she is gliding forward. Only the lower part of the coat is moving as she takes her small steps forward, the vinyl-coated Moonboots squeaking as they rub against each other with every step. 

All around her, she sees people turn toward her, comment about her, and take wide berths to avoid her. Angelica wants to hurry, instinctively trying to take faster steps, almost running. But the massive coat is trapping all heat, and she can feel the temperature underneath it rise with every step. And with her gagged mouth covered by the layers above, all air has to be sucked in through her nose, soon causing her to be out of breath and forcing her to slow down. The air too is well-heated, passing through the thick tunnel of the snorkel hood first.

Crossing the square seems to take an eternity. By the time Angelica reaches the other side, she is panting for breath and drenched in sweat. More than anything, she wishes to be free of this heavy, stifling coat and the ball gag in her mouth. But she realizes this is only the very start, that she has two weeks of getting around like this to come.

She forces her thoughts away from this, focusing on the information board of the Transit System. Apparently she is at the intersection of Radial 2 and Axial C. She should go to work, right? It's early afternoon by now, so she could still work for a few hours. Angelica works at a shopping mall on Radial 6 / Axial T and decides to head that way. She will take the Radial 2 line first, then head outwards on Axial T.

Angelica makes her way over to the platform. She has to go up a step, which turns out to be difficult in the coat. She has to stand right next to the step, then carefully lift one boot and place it on the step. It reminds her of another thing from Loki's book. Loki told her that in the past, people in cities would travel underground, while cars would be above ground. Complete madness, of course. But given the difficulty of going up a single step, she is glad that's not the case anymore.

As she lines up for the Radial 2 line, people near her throw her filthy looks and move away from her. Angelica blushes with shame. She wants to say sorry, but no sound escapes her gagged and heavily covered mouth. She understands that these people don't want to be near a Criminal, and feels bad for forcing her presence on them.

The train journey itself is relatively uneventful, although Angelica feels ashamed and hot throughout. When switching from the Radial 2 to Axial T line, the train has just arrived in the station when Angelica gets there. But she is so slow walking towards it, the doors close before she can reach them, and she has to wait three minutes for the next one. The short walk from one platform to another has caused fresh outbreaks of sweat. Angelica has noticed that even standing still, she is only getting warmer inside the coat, but walking heats her up immensely.

This does not bode well for the rest of her journey. From the station to the mall entrance is a five minute walk under normal circumstances. Then she has to take an elevator to the first floor, and walk halfway around the mall to the boutique where she works. It turns out to be more excruciating than she feared.

The distance inside the mall seems endless, and there are hordes of people, staring, commenting, avoiding, laughing, jeering,... It is one long walk of shame. Angelica wants to turn around and run, but where can she go? Whichever direction she turns, she will be just as slow and stand out just as much.
Angelica does what she can to go faster. She is getting even hotter and running out of breath, but she doesn't care. All that matters now is reaching the boutique, where Amanda, her employer, can help her out of this coat. Finally, she gets there, and shuffles inside.

Amanda, who is behind the counter, notices her immediately. She immediately rushes out toward her. "What are you doing here! Get out!" she exclaims.
"It's me, Angelica," Angelica wants to say, but all she can do is stand there mutely, still panting with exhaustion and peering through the tunnel of her hood at her irate boss.

Amanda grabs Angelica's arm and forcefully turns her around. "Get out," she hisses, "what must the customers think! The police informed me of your arrest. What were you thinking! And to come here in the middle of the day!"

She drags Angelica forward, forcing her to shuffle along as quick as she can. "Go home now," Amanda continues, "and come back tomorrow. Before opening time! I'll find some job for you to do in the backroom. Don't ever show that orange in my store again!"

And with that, Angelica is out on the mall's floor again, crushed, exhausted and overheated. Slowly, she begins her long journey home.


Chapter 5

It's Tuesday afternoon, two days since Angelica's arrest. Angelica is walking rounds around the lake in the park near her home. Everyone is required to walk a certain distance outside each week - for Angelica's age group, it's 60 kilometers per week. As she hasn't done her usual evening walk the past two days, she has some catching up to do during her days off work. And so she has been walking around the lake all day. She could have gone somewhere else of course, make a larger tour, but with her limited vision and awkward movement, she finds it easiest to just stick to the familiar surroundings nearby.

Having walked for hours, she is hotter than ever beneath the coat. She feels like a walking furnace. The constant heat and the exertion have made her lethargic, she shuffles along in a daze. Nearly every time she passes an empty bench, she stops to rest. Jumbled images of the past few days pass through her mind. Loki finding her on the bed that first day, screaming in panic to see a Criminal. In the end, though, Loki has been really kind and understanding towards her. Once she got over her initial fright, and realized who it was, she helped Angelica out of her Convict's Winter Outfit. After Angelica told the whole story, Loki comforted and supported her. Angelica never realized what a kind and caring person Loki is. One who was so kind even to a Criminal... she's really too good for this world, Angelica thinks.

With her boss, Amanda, the situation was rather different. Yesterday, Angelica went to the mall again. She recalls the horrified faces on the train during rush hour. It's nothing compared to Amanda's reaction though. Once Angelica arrived at the boutique, Amanda guided her to a backroom without speaking a word. Once there, she helped Angelica out of the coat, leaving her in the orange snowsuit, with the gag still underneath. "You can do a complete check of our books of the past year," was all she said, before leaving the room and locking the door. Angelica spent the rest of the day alone, operating the system with eye control only, as her hands were still mittened. She performed her task as well as she could and tried to ignore the ever increasing pain in her jaw. At the end of the day, after the shop closed, Amanda came back and helped Angelica in her coat again, all without another word to her.

And today, she is walking. She knows she has no way to get out of her coat until this evening, when Loki gets back from work. All she can do is get as much of her physical exercise done as possible. And so she struggles, despite being hot and tired. Her muscles are protesting as well. The short steps are unusual for her body, and every step costs extra effort because it has to push against the heavy coat. She spots another bench, about 100 meters away. There she can rest again.

Three minutes later, she reaches the bench and drops down onto it. She closes her eyes for a bit, seeming to float. She is not sure whether she is conscious all the time or not.

When she opens her eyes, two children are playing with a ball on the grass near the water. Their hoods are bobbing up and down as they run, and their excited voices fill the air. For a brief moment, Angelica feels at peace as she watches them, forgetting the heat and the pain in her jaw. Her physical experience and the events of the past days are gone. All she sees are the two playing children, and she hears their laughter.

Then, a sharp voice. The two children are called away by their mother. She gestures at another stretch of grass, away from the orange-clad figure. Throws Angelica a filthy look. The children are gone.

At this moment, the full weight of it hits Angelica. I am a Criminal. She realizes this in a way that none of the previous events made her realize it before. The stares, the comments, the avoidance, Amanda's reaction - as horrible as it all was, it is only now, seeing this mother call away her children, that Angelica completely accepts it. I am a Criminal. Here she sits, nearly immobilized in her impossibly warm clothing, the large ball strapped in her mouth all day. And she deserves it, deserves every bit of it, because she is a Criminal.

Angelica stands up and starts walking again. She feels the hot air stirring under her coat, her calves protesting, her jaw aching. And she welcomes all of it. She places one Moonboot in front of the other, again and again, walking on, walking on. People do not treat her as a human, do not see her as a human, and they are right: she is a Criminal. No longer a human, but an object. Pain and discomfort should not matter to her. The ball in her mouth, the weight and heat of the coat: everything is exactly as it should be. They are part of her, part of the thing she has become.

As Angelica walks her rounds around the lake, she becomes increasingly more accepting of her situation. And there are eleven more days after this: eleven more days for her mind to instill in her the conviction that she has become merely an orange down puppet, and that things are exactly right the way they are.


Epilogue

Judge Diana Thorne sits down, looking dismayed.
"You again."

She sighs, than accesses the file. "So, Angelica. You were arrested for violation of the Outdoor Winter Dresscode - again - which required Winter Level 2 this morning. Your previous sentence ended... yesterday. In addition, the pickup team reported that when you saw the police, you started running away. Angelica, can you please explain your actions to me?"
Angelica's eyes are cast down. Even with her head strapped in the collar attached to the metal chair, she tries to avoid the Judge's gaze. "I'm a Criminal, Your Honor" she says softly.
"Yes, evidently," Judge Thorne grumbles. "But how can you be breaking the Dresscode again so soon? It's as if you wanted to be arrested. But then why run?"
"I figured it's what a Criminal does," Angelica whispers.
"Is that all? Do you have nothing to say to your defense?"
"No, Your Honor."
"All right then. For recidivists, the punishment is a fine of 200 to 500 credits, and wearing a Convict's Winter Outfit for a period of four to ten weeks. As I have clearly been too lenient with you last time, I give you the maximum sentence of a 500 credits deduction and ten weeks in the Convict's Winter Outfit. There will be additional restraints because you attempted to evade the police. I would again want to implore you to use the time to become a better Citizen, but I must admit I'm starting to doubt you will change your Criminal behavior."

As Judge Thorne starts to rise, Angelica speaks again, still in that soft voice with downcast eyes. "I am what I am, Your Honor."
And she opens her mouth wide to accept her gag.

Ultimate Escape Room Challenge: Antarctic Base (part 3)

 Antarctica.

Baffled, the two unrecognizable girls stood in the open door and looked out over a wide, frozen landscape. Snow and ice as far as they could see, sparkling in the sun that was peeking through a semi-clouded sky.

They turned towards each other, looking at their faceless friend. "How is this possible?" Kirsten asked. Ayana's layers were too tight over her mouth to allow her to talk. She raised her thumbless hand towards the visor in her hood. "Oh!" Kirsten understood. "VR glasses?"

Ayana's movement was way too restricted for her to nod, she just lowered her arm again and turned to move forward. Right in front of the door stood a snow scooter with a sidecar. Kirsten walked towards it and touched it. It was real. Next to the steering wheel was a big red button, which she pushed. A screen lit up with the text:

In order to start the scooter:

Enter unlocking code

Secure the passenger

Protect the driver

"We need another code," Kirsten told Ayana. She slowly turned around. "Oh. I guess that's quite obvious then," she added when she noticed an arrow-shaped sign that said 'code'. It pointed at a ramp along the side of the building they had left. She tried to walk up the ramp in the direction of the sign, but as soon as she placed a booted foot on the ramp, it slid away. With nothing to hold on to, she was unable to advance even one step onto the ramp. She tried again on her knees, but got no further as her thick clothing allowed slipped off the surface right away.

"Come and help me," she said impatiently at Ayana, who was looking on in silence, her face unreadable within the hoods and the visor over her eyes. Ayana shuffled closer, unable to voice the fact that it was hard enough for her to stay upright with her feet being in two layers of soft down, and that she also couldn't bend her body in the stiff suit. Kirsten, somewhat unaware of just how limited Ayana's movements were, told Ayana to lie down at the base of the ramp so she could push her up.

Ayana tried to oblige her, carefully bending one knee, then the other to get down. While she tried to place herself at the foot of the ramp, she suddenly slipped and fell, her body hitting the slope at an angle, then sliding down so she ended up lying sideways at the foot of the ramp. Between her useless hands in the thumbless mittens, her feet unable to gain traction, the stiffness of her body, the overall padding and the limited sight, she was truely helpless. She felt like a turtle landed on its back.

Kirsten now tried to turn Ayana in the desired position, pushing her upper body on the ramp. It was difficult work on the slippery surface, and Ayana didn't seem to be cooperating. Finally, she managed it, and used Ayana's body to get higher. She ended up with her Moonboots on Ayana's shoulders, from where she could reach the top of the ramp and wanted to pull herself up... when Ayana's feet slipped away and the two girls slid down in a heap to the bottom of the ramp again.

It had almost worked though, and Kirsten dutifully tried again, pushing Ayana partway up the slope and climbing over her. This time Ayana slipped down even earlier, and again they again ended up lying at the bottom with Kirsten on top of Ayana. Kirsten didn't move for a while. Doing any kind of work in this clothing was hot and exhausting, and she felt too tired to try again. Eventually, she had caught her breath and felt ready to try again. But pushing Ayana up was even harder than before.

It took three more attempts before an exhausted Kirsten reached the top of the ramp and just lay there panting and sweating in her heavy outfit. "Twenty minutes remaining," Lara's voice suddenly came from a speaker system. Jogged into action, Kirsten got to her knees and read the code that was displayed at the top of the ramp. She then slid down, went to the snow scooter and entered the code. On the screen a green checkmark appeared next to 'Enter unlocking code'. Kirsten heard a click and saw that one of two boxes next to the wall had opened.

Inside the box she found a thick pink sleeping bag and six straps. "Secure the passenger," she muttered to herself, understanding the purpose. She took the bag and went to the sidecar of the snow scooter. Ayana followed her.

Kirsten opened the sleeping bag, and placed it in the sidecar. "Step inside," she told Ayana. Ayana just stood there, moving her arms a bit. Whether it meant she didn't want to, or was unable to, or something else wasn't clear. "Come on now, we have almost no time left. Don't make us lose now Ayana," Kirsten said in an annoyed tone. Ayana got close the car, tried to hold on to it with her thumbless mitten and lifted a leg to get in the car. With some help from Kirsten they managed to have Ayana step in the sleeping bag inside the sidecar.

"Okay, sit down now." With Ayana half in the sleeping bag, Kirsten guided her to a sitting position. Her feet went into a small space at the front of the car. Once seated, her feet just fit into this space and her back was pushed against the backrest. "Arms in now." Kirsten helped her arms inside the sleeping bag, then pulled it up further and started zipping it up. The bag had a thick hood which she pulled over Ayana's other hoods. Doing up the zip was difficult, with the layers underneath the sleeping bag was a tight fit. Finally Ayana was completely inside. The sleeping bag's hood left just a small opening around the eyes and nose, so that only the dark visor and the breathing valve were uncovered.

Kirsten quickly fetched the six straps. At each side of the car were six metal rings. She clicked each end of the straps into these rings, and expectantly looked at the screen, but nothing happened. How could this be? She tapped the words 'Secure the passenger', knowing of course that this wouldn't help. To her surprise, something did change now: the word 'Secure' was underlined.

She went back to the straps. They were really loose in fact. She took the bottom strap, which was located just beneath Ayana's knees, and unbuckled one end. Maybe...? She threaded the unbuckled end through the ring, then pulled it back towards the ring where it was attached, doubling down the strap. She had to pull hard, pressing Ayana's legs against the bottom of the car, and just managed to reach the end and buckle it on the first ring again.

She repeated this with the second strap, over Ayana's thighs, then with the third strap. Here the rings were located right where the floor and backrest of the sidecar met, so pulling this strap tight fixated Ayana's hips in place. This was the hardest one to fasten. "You know," Ayana grunted as she pulled, "I really have the hardest part here." Next were the straps over her belly, her shoulders and her mouth. With all six fastened tightly, a second green checkmark appeared on the screen and the last box clicked open.

While Kirsten ran towards it, Ayana was now sitting in the car absolutely unable to move at all. The layers she wore had already heavily restricted her movement, especially the down suit that had been laced at the back and contained leather straps. Sitting down made everything even tighter. But then there was the sleeping bag as well, and now also the straps that absolutely welded her in place. Even her head was absolutely immobile, and with the strap and the layers over her mouth keeping her absolutely silent, there was nothing to but breathe and look straight ahead.

Kirsten, meanwhile, was not thrilled about what she found in the last box and which was clearly intended to 'Protect the driver'. Soaked in sweat as she was, she really had no need of another heavy down layer, but that was exactly what she saw. Despite her misgivings, she wasted no time, knowing that with minutes on the clock, it was do or die, she pushed her arms into the sleeves of the long black down coat. Unfortunately, but at this point not unexpectedly, these ended in heavily down-filled mittens. With her hands in these mittens, she struggled to connect the zipper of the coat, but eventually she managed.

With the hood up and the zipper fully closed from below her knees to over her mouth, the coat really wasn't that different from the sleeping bag she had put Ayana in. It left the same opening around her visor and breathing valve. The only differences were the Moonboots sticking out the bottom and the fact that she still had some use of her arms.

Which she would need to put on the last item: a crash helmet that had to fit over her hoods. It consisted of two halves, with hinges at the front and a system to click closed at the back. After putting it in place, she pushed and pushed, to get the two halves to connect at the back. She had to push it in the front as well, and when she thought she really couldn't couldn't get it any further she gave the sides one last push with all her strength - and the helmet clicked closed.

The helmet had foam inside, and her head was padded enough by her hoods that the helmet didn't directly hurt. But it was as if her head was caught in a vice, and she felt the pressure on all sides. Not least of it on her mouth, which was now sealed off as tightly and effectively as Ayana's.

Just wishing for it all to be over as soon as possible, she stumbled back towards the snow scooter. She sat down in its seat. In front of the seat were two oval depressions, which exactly fitted the shape of her Moonboots. She put her feet in these, then fastened her seatbelts, which ran over her shoulders, across her belly and over her thighs. After some stumbling with her mittened hands, she managed to click them closed, and the third green checkmark appeared on the screen.

'Press Start button to power on," the screen said.

She pushed her mitten against the big red button. The seatbelts immediately tightened, and although she didn't notice it, the top of the depressions in which her boots were placed closed, trapping her feet inside. On the screen she read:

Hold steering wheel with both hands.

Push it backwards to accelerate, towards you to break, sideways to steer.

Reach the next base to escape.

She did as instructed, stretching her arms forward to grab the wheel with both hands. Here wrists rested on U-shaped armrests between her strapped-in torso and the steering wheel. She pushed against the wheel. Immediately several things happened: the whole scooter started vibrating, she appeared to move forwards (at least that's what the VR-glasses showed her), and most alarmingly, the armrests closed around her wrists, locking her arms in place.

Panicking, she struggled to get out, but between the seatbelts and her arms and feet being held in place, there wasn't much she could do. 'Reach the next base to escape' she read again. But where was it? She pushed against the wheel, driving the scooter across the white landscape. Despite all else, this VR experience was quite something. When she drove up and down the hills, the scooter tilted with the movement. It was incredibly realistic.

But where was this other base she needed to reach? Suddenly she saw something in the left corner and turned the scooter towards it. It was distant, but it looked like another snow scooter?

The two vehicles rapidly approached one another, and when they got closer, Kirsten saw two men and... a gun. Now she remembered the background story of the escape room Lara had told - what seemed like ages ago - these were the bandits! She banked hard, causing the scooter to tilt, and tried to speed away. She could see the other scooter in her rearview mirror. Her maneuver meant they had gotten a lot closer. Desperately she pushed the wheel as far as it could go, accelerating as fast as possible.

With the adrenalin of the chase, she would have been sweating in normal clothes by now. As it was, she was soaked in sweat, but the situation was so tense and realistic she didn't even notice it right now. Her entire focus was on driving the vehicle and staying out of reach of the bandits.

Just then, Lara's voice came over the speaker system. "Hey girls, I'm sad to say the time is up and you haven't quite made it in two hours. You guys were really close though, you just needed to reach the other base. As I said, I'll let you finish the room. I have to go now, but once you reach the base all the straps will loosen automatically. You'll find your clothes in the changing room, just let the door fall into the lock when you leave. Thanks for playing, and enjoy the rest of the experience! Bye!"

Ayana tried to shout as loud as she could - she wanted out now! But no sound escaped from the motionless pink sleeping bag, strictly bound in place with the straps. Kirsten had only heard half the message, but she too wanted to end this. The chase felt so real to her, she was actually scared of the bandits. The frantic steering was exhausting her arms, and the incredible heat caused by being wrapped up in layers of down clothes didn't help. The bandits were steadily gaining, and then there was a shot. The snow scooter lurched, and slipped, and she lost control over it as they crashed into the flank of a hill.

Desperately, she pulled on the steering wheel to back up, pushed it forward again - but nothing happened. The scooter was stuck, its tip buried into the snow. The bandits approached slowly now. Once they saw the scooter wouldn't move anymore, they turned around and drove off again.

Kirsten too tried to shout at the top of her lungs now, hoping Lara hadn't left yet. But even if that was the case, Kirsten could make no more noise than Ayana could, and was stuck just as effectively.

It was going to be a long night in 'Antarctica'...

Ultimate Escape Room Challenge: Antarctic Base (part 2)

 Indeed, the next cupboard had produced two pairs of down pants, again one black and one pink. This time they seemed quite similar. The pants were in fact more like armless overalls, not only covering the torso but even zipping all the way to a high collar that would end under the chin.

Kirsten soon had hers on, zipping it up from the crotch to her breasts so she could leave the collar open for now. Then she helped Ayana into hers, which did turn out to be a bit different as it had attached feet. Kirsten helped Ayana move her mittened hands through the armholes, then zipped it up. She had difficulty closing the collar over the hood underneath. Ayana needed to stretch her neck as much as she could until Kirsten could finally close the zipper all the way. The combination of the collar and the hood (or balaclava) underneath meant Ayana's neck and head, and even her entire torso, were now held completely immobile. The tight collar around her neck pulled the hood in, causing it to feel tighter over her mouth and make speaking harder.

Kirsten closed the button flap over the zipper, and like before, the green light turned on the moment she was done with Ayana. Apparently the lights did not care that she was not wearing her own clothes fully zipped or with the hood up, but Ayana's needed to be closed completely. This time, however, no code appeared, and for a moment they didn't know what to do next.

Finally Kirsten noticed two ropes hanging from the ceiling, near the entrance door. "Those weren't there before," she exclaimed. Ayana ponderously turned around, trying to see what her friend was looking at. Meanwhile Kirsten was already under one of the ropes, reaching up with her hands and pulling it down. They heard something shift in the wall in front of the hometrainer; the panel had been pulled up! But nothing much changed, as an identical panel was revealed behind it.

"Pull on the other rope!"

Ayana obediently made her way over, careful not to fall with her feet in the down-filled encasements. But pulling the rope was easier said then done, because once underneath it, she could not see it. Unable to change the position of her head within its tight confinement, she blindly groped over her head with her mittened hands. However, the mittens also prevented her from feeling the rope when she touched it. It took several minutes of Kirsten's guidance until she was finally able to clamp the second rope between her mittens and pull it down.

This pulled up the second panel in the wall, and with both panels pulled up, they could see an opening in the wall and behind that something circular. But they were too far away to see it clearly. Meanwhile, the rope was already slipping through Ayana's mittens. The panel was quite heavy, and the thick mittens were ill-suited to holding the rope. Kirsten took her own rope in one hand and moved closer to Ayana. "Hand me your rope," she said, extending her other arm. Once the ropes were pulled down, it was possible for one person to hold them both, with both arms stretched outwards.

With Kirsten holding both panels up, Ayana moved towards the wall. "It's something to do with that hometrainer!" Kirsten suggested. Ayana carefull sat down on it and tried to peddle. It was hard, because with her feet kept slipping off the pedals and she could not look down to place them better. She got a few rotations going, and behind the opening in the wall, she could see a disc rotating along. "There's a disc over there, I think if I cycle fast enough, a code will be visible on it!" she called to Kirsten. "Hurry up!" Kirsten replied, "these are getting heavy!"

Ayana tried to work up some speed on the bike, but again and again her feet slipped off and she lost her momentum. After five minutes of fruitless attempts, Kirsten dropped the panels. "I can't hold these anymore! We need to switch," she said. Ayana, who had worked up quite a sweat inside her gear, climbed off the bike. "But how? I can't hold the ropes with these."

"I'll help," Kirsten offered. She pulled the first rope down, took Ayana's hand and tied the rope around her wrist. Then she took the second rope and pulled Ayana into position until she managed to tie the rope around her other wrist. Having spent some of the rope's length this way, it meant Ayana's arms were now held at 45 degrees to each side, and she was stretched out completely in between them. Between the position of her arms, and the down clothes holding her head and body in position, there was almost nothing Ayana could do at this point.

Kirsten now went to the hometrainer and started peddling. Once the disc rotated fast enough, a code indeed appeared on it. She jumped off the bike and headed straight to the cupboards, unlocking the largest one. "It's down suits now," she called to Ayana, pulling the two suits out of the cupboard. Again, one was pink, the other black.

"Can you untie these ropes first?"

"Actually I think it's better if I help you into your suit first. It has attached feet again, so it will be hard to stay upright, and the ropes will help with that."

Holding the pink down suit, she came over to where Ayana was still standing helplessly, her arms by now painful because of the strain. "Lift your left leg," Kirsten commanded. Ayana did, but had trouble keeping her equilibrium while standing on one padded foot. Kirsten supported her and helped her slide her feet into the down suit. After a lot of struggling, eventually they managed to get both Ayana's legs all the way into the suit, her feet arriving into another layer of down. After alll this Ayana's arms were burning with pain.

"Now please get these ropes off my arms," she asked.

Kirsten started to untie the rope around Ayana's left wrist. When it came off, Ayana's powerless arm dropped down.

"Let's put it in the suit's sleeve first," Kirsten said, hoisting up the suit. With her head and neck held upright, Ayana hadn't even seen that the suit was in front of her. Like her jacket, it would be zipped at the back. Meanwhile Kirsten was pushing Ayana's arm into the sleeve, then pulling the sleeve over the arm until Ayana's mittened hand arrived into another mitten. Having lost all feeling of what was going on, Ayana didn't even notice that this mitten had no thumb, it was just a closed off end to the sleeve.

"All right, I'll just attach your wrist to the rope again, otherwise I won't be able to hold you upright," Kirsten said.

"No, no, don't..." Ayana protested, but Kirsten didn't listen and Ayana couldn't stop her from lifting up the exhausted and stiffly packed arm and tying the rope around it again. At least now she untied the other arm, for now easing the strain there. It got the same treatment: into the sleeve, then reattached to the rope to keep Ayana upright.

All this pushing and shoving had made Kirsten quite sweaty, after peddling on the hometrainer in her down outfit. With Ayana secured again she took a step back to appraise the rest of her work. Now that both arms were in, Ayana could see the hood that was bunched up in front of her face. She was having second thoughts about this.

"Kirsten, stop, untie me please and let me out."

"Come on Ayana, we need to finish the room. Remember the bottle of champagne that's waiting for us!"

"I know, but..."

Kirsten didn't understand much more of Ayana's protests, as she had pulled the down hood in front of her face and got to work fastening it at the back. This was a fairly complicated process. Like the jacket underneath it had a zip going from top to bottom. But before the zip could be pulled down, the sides of the hood had to be brought close to each other. The hood was a tight fit with the other down hood underneath. To that end, there was a lace threaded through holes on both sides of the hood. By pulling the lace tighter, the hood would be fastened around Ayana's head.

The lace started at the top and Kirsten began pulling the slack out, working her way downwards. Once she got to the base of Ayana's head, Ayana's muffled protests finally stopped. Kirsten wasn't aware that this was due to a leather panel that was worked inside the suit's nylon layers. Fastening the lace pulled the leather panel tightly over Ayana's mouth and chin, pressing the down layers underneath firmly against her face. While Kirsten got down to lacing up Ayana's neck, Ayana was perfectly quiet.

Similar leather contraptions were hidden in the suit around Ayana's neck and torso, so that when the entire down suit was laced up, Ayana's entire body was held rigid and her head held straight up. With her arms still held up Ayana stood silent and motionless. All she could move was her legs, but standing on the soft layers of down, she dared not move those either, fearing to lose her footing and hurting her painful arms even more.

It took Kirsten ten minutes to fully lace up the suit, and now she could pull down the zipper from the top of Ayana's hood to the small of her back. Finally there was a down flap that she buttoned over the zipper. As soon as the last button was closed, the third lamp next to the door turned green.

Kirsten walked around Ayana, looking at her up front. The hood was completely closed in front. It had a dark reflective plastic built in over the eyes, through which Ayana could presumably see out. Under the nose, right over her nostrils, was a valve that allowed her to breathe easily. But of her face there was nothing to see. She was just a featureless, pink down person, standing there perfectly still.

"All right, I'm going to solve the next puzzle," Kirsten said to Ayana, raising her voice to get through the down layers. There was some movement in the ropes holding Ayana's arms in response, and a snorting exhalation of breath. Kirsten assumed that meant Ayana had heard her.

Ayana tried to make it clear that she did not want to remain tied up like this, and that she wanted out of this thick, restrictive clothing. But Kirsten was already turning away and moving out of her field of vision. Ayana had no idea how long she stood there, unable to do anything about her situation. She tried to shout a few times but the pressure on her mouth formed an airtight seal, and all she achieved was that she got out of breath. When she tried to move at all she was quickly reminded that she could only hurt her arms more. And so she remained motionless and waited for Kirsten to return.

"The fourth lamp has switched on," Kirsten said, pointing at the exit door. "I think I found all my items, and there are no further clues, but I think the last lamp will turn green once I'm dressed. I'll untie your arms first." Ayana could give no response. Once untied, her arms dropped limply to her sides, her face remained completely hidden. She just watched while Kirsten pulled up the hood of her black down jacket and fastened the zip over her mouth, then zipped the down pants up all the way to the tight collar.

"Hmf! This is tight!" Kirsten complained as the collar around her neck pulled in the jacket underneath. Ayana, who could barely move a limb, didn't feel too compassionate. She motioned with her arm to urge Kirsten on, she was sweating to death and wanted out of these clothes as soon as possible.

Kirsten then put on a down suit that looked similar to Ayana's, but there were key differences. The suit, like her down pants, didn't have attached feet. Instead she had a pair of black Moonboots, which she pulled over the suit's legs. These were thick, but at least they would be easier to walk on than Ayana's double padded feet. The suit also didn't have a mittens, a stark contrast to Ayana whose hands were packed in the jacket's attached mittens and the suit's thumbless mittens.

Like Ayana's though, the suit had a completely closed hood, with a dark visor and a valve for breathing. It also zipped down the back. Kirsten had to push the zipper down from the hood towards her back, then reach from the bottom until she found it to pull it all the way down. Doing up the button flap over the zipper on her back was even harder, but once the last button was closed, the fifth lamp turned green and the large doors slowly opened. "We got there!" Kirsten exclaimed happily, but the sound coming out of her hood was muffled and Ayana could barely hear her through her own hoods.

Kirsten quickly moved towards the door. Ayana, unstable on her padded feet, was careful not to stumble while she tried to follow. Then they stopped in amazement when they saw what was beyond the door...

Ultimate Escape Room Challenge: Antarctic Base (part 1)

The Ultimate Escape Room Challenge 

NEW Escape Room in Town!

Tailored to experienced escape room enthousiasts who are looking for that extra challenge, our escape room ‘Antarctic Base’ offers an unseen level of detail and tests you have seen nowhere else! Can you escape the base in Antarctica’s harsh conditions?

Duration: 2 hours

Only available for 2-player teams

Special temporary promotion: Escape within the time limit and receive a free Magnum bottle of champagne!

For Kirsten and Ayana, upon seeing the ad, the only question was “How soon can we get there?” The two friends loved escape rooms and had finished every room in the wide area. This challenge was exactly what they were looking for. And while the escape room was pricey, with a game length of two hours, it had reason to be so. In addition, they had to enter their clothing measurements while booking, which suggested an unusual attention to detail and a truely immersive experience. And of course, the girls had no doubt that they would also end up with the large champagne bottle to celebrate their escape afterwards!

---

Two days later, on Friday evening, they arrived at the new escape room. As required, they were half an hour earlier than their start time in the room. They were welcomed by Lara, a pretty dark-haired girl with glasses. 

“So have you done a lot of escape rooms?” Lara asked conversationally.

“Oh yes, and we always manage to escape!” Ayana proudly said.

“We’re here for that bottle of champagne!” Kirsten grinned.

“I love your confidence! I’m sure our room will offer challenges you haven’t encountered yet! But for creative problem solvers like yourselves we’ll make sure to keep the bottle cold!”

After the small talk, Lara directed the girls to the toilets first, then told them to change. “In the changing room, you’ll find an outfit in your size. Also there will be a diaper. I know it’s a bit weird, but two hours can be quite a long time, especially with the stress of the escape room. It would be a real shame if you had to abort early and miss your bottle of champagne for it.”

“For that bottle I’ll wear anything,” Ayana joked.

“Besides, with your bladder, it’s a reasonable precaution anyway,” Kirsten laughed.

Ten minutes later both girls had changed. In their form-fitting, black woolen catsuits and balaclavas, they looked like a pair of burglars. Assuming burglars wore a large diaper package that clearly contrasted with the tightness of the rest of their clothes, of course. The catsuits had attached gloves and feet, so the only uncovered part of their skin was the opening of the balaclava around their nose and eyes.

The girls giggled as they looked at each other. “Hey, fatass,” Ayana said, slapping Kirsten’s bottom.

“All right,” Lara announced when the merriment had subsided. “Now that you’re dressed, we’re ready to begin. One more thing before we get started. I heard the room will be free the rest of the evening. So in case you don’t escape in two hours, I’ll give you the choice to end the game as is usual, or to continue trying.”

“Well the point is kind of moot isn’t it?” Kirsten laughed confidently.

“But of course we would like to keep trying… in the unlikely event we’re not out yet,” Ayana added.

“Okay, excellent. I just need to ask you to sign these forms then, confirming that we’re not holding you against your will. The law is, sadly but understandably, rather strict in these things,” Lara smiled.

With the forms signed, Lara started to explain the premise of the escape room.

“You are part of a research group on Antarctica. After a night shift you just woke up to find everyone gone, and there are signs of a struggle. It appears all the others in the base were abducted by a terrorist group. The reason is clear: they are here for your scientific test results, which, if they fall into their hands, could wreak havoc on the world. You quickly look for the hidden safe where they are stashed, and find the safe still there, undiscovered. But this means it’s only a matter of time before the terrorists return. You grab the test results, but the station’s defense mechanisms have activated so it won’t be easy to get out. Furthermore, you will need to find the necessary outerwear to survive on Antarctica. Your mission is to escape the base using a snowscooter, after you have found and put on all the necessary pieces of clothing. Then drive over to the next base, where you will be safe from attacks.”

“Wow! Cool!” Ayana exclaimed.

“Any further questions?”

Kirsten shook her head. “Nope. Let’s go!”

Lara opened the door to the room, from which cool air could be felt.

"Well, I hope we find our first piece of clothing soon," Ayana commented as they stood in the "Antarctic base". "It's pretty damn cold here!"

"Let's get going," Kirsten replied, as a large clock had indeed started counting down from two hours.

The practiced girls split up immediately, scouring the room for clues. Ayana immediately turned left, where there was a lab section with bottles full of colored fluids. Meanwhile Kirsten walked around the rest of the room. Straight ahead was a hometrainer. She sat down on it and started peddling; from somewhere ahead, behind a wall, came a whirring sound. When she investigated the wall, she noticed a panel that somehow should be able to slide out, but she couldn't figure out how. After a while she gave up and scanned the rest of the room. Also on the back wall, next to the part with the panels and the hometrainer, was a large door with five red lights next to it. She supposed this was the exit of the room, and they would need to turn the lights green.

On the right-hand wall was a section with large cupboards, each padlocked and requiring either a key or a numerical code to open. Right next to one of the cupboards was a long cylinder with water, and a key on the bottom. Clearly they needed to access this key somehow, but again it was not clear to her how. From the bottom of the cylinder, a hose led into the nearest locked cupboard however, so she suspected they needed to open that cupboard before they could solve the cylinder problem. Right next to the cylinder was a switch labeled "IN" and "OUT". It was currently in the OUT position. Kirsten flicked it back and forth a couple of times, but nothing happened.

While Kirsten had been going over the rest of the room, Ayana was busy adding one colored fluid to another. Kirsten didn't pay too much attention to what she did. The girls knew it was more efficient to split up, rather than trying to solve the same puzzel, and trusted each other. Sure enough, Ayana soon exclaimed: "Got it! 2375!" Kirsten rushed over to the cupboards, knowing already which one required a four-digit number. And indeed the combination worked, and she opened the cupboard, revealing two down jackets, one pink and one black.

"Pink's for me!" Ayana exclaimed as soon as she saw the jackets. Kirsten grinned. Ayana's love for the bright color was legendary. Admittedly, it did go well with her dark skin. Without further comment, she grabbed the black jacket. It was a fairly thick, down-filled jacket with a hood, in a pull over the head style. She quickly did just that. The zip went from her breasts to her nose. She closed it until halfway, leaving the hood down. As she turned to Ayana however, her friend didn't seem to have made much progress with her own jacket.

"What's the matter?" she asked, eager to get on.

"This jacket, it's kind of weird. I think it zips on the back..." Ayana said uncertainly.

"Well put it on then, I'll zip it."

The jacket was indeed quite odd, having attached mittens, and a hood that was actually more like a balaclava, leaving only an opening around the eyes and nose. Still, Ayana put it on and Kirsten closed the zip, which started at the top of the hood and ran along Ayana's back to the bottom of the coat. Despite the jacket's bulk, it turned out to be a tight fit, because it was so thickly filled. Kirsten also closed the buttons that held the flap over the zipper.

"What now?" Ayana asked, her voice sounding oddly muffled behind the thick down layer over her mouth.

"I don't know... there are also some straps here at the bottom of your jacket, maybe we need to do something with those." Indeed there were two short straps dangling at the back of the jacket, one on each side of the zipper. Kirsten immediately saw they could be connected, but what now? She turned Ayana around and saw another, slightly longer strap hanging on the front.

"Hold on, I think I got it," she said, threading the strap from the front through an opening formed by the two connected straps at the back. She saw there were buttons at the end of the front strap, and matching holes at the start of the front buckle. She just needed to thread the front buckled through the back ones, then bring it back to the front and close the buttons. However, the strap seemed too short for that.

"Hold still," Kirsten said, while she started pulling the back and front of Ayana's jacket down as far as she could. Ayana felt the tension in her hood as Kirsten pulled at the bottom. Finally Kirsten tried to connect the straps again, and now she was almost able to close it. She braced against her friend's stomach, yanked as hard as she could and finally managed to close the straps. The result was that the strap dug deep into Ayana's diaper. From the strap between her legs to the thick hood's pressure around her head, she felt like her whole torso was now squeezed tightly in the jacket.

It worked, however. As soon as the straps were closed properly, the first green light next to the back door popped up, and a 3-digit code appeared underneath. This was for the cupboard next to the water cylinder. Kirsten opened it, finding a short hook and a gas mask that was strapped to the wall. The gas mask had two hoses attached to it, one leading into the back wall of the cupboard, the other into the side wall, then reappearing as the hose leading to the bottom of the water cylinder.

Kirsten experimentally placed her head into the mask and breathed out. Some bubbles appeared in the cylinder, and the key briefly floated up slightly, before dropping down again. "Okay, I think I understand. One of us needs to put the gas mask on and breathe in it. The other must be near the cylinder, and we need to coordinate: whenever we put it on IN, the mask will get access to fresh air from the tube to the back, so the wearer needs to breathe in. Then we put in on OUT, and the other person breathes out so the bubbles will let the key move up a bit. If we repeat this fast enough, eventually we will get the key to the top, so we can fish it out with the hook."

"I guess I'll have to do the breathing then," Ayana said, not sounding too happy about it. "I can't do much fishing with these." She held up her thickly mittened hands.

Soon Kirsten was strapping Ayana's head into the gasmask. She had to stand right in front of the cupboard. The rubber gasmask was large and stretchy enough that it could be pulled over her down-hooded head, but it greatly increased the pressure on her head. Several straps at the back needed to be tightened to hold it in place. As Kirsten fastened such a strap at the bottom of the mask, Ayana found that it pressed hard on the part of her hood covering her mouth, and she was unable to talk, or even get any air through her mouth. All she could do was breathe through her nose into the mask, which was not very pleasant. While Kirsten was tightening the straps, she felt like she was running out of air. Indeed, the switch was still in the OUT position, so she was only using the remaining air in the hoses, and quickly running out of oxygen.

Kirsten had finished securing the mask, however, and went over to the water cylinder. "Ready?" she asked, unaware of Ayana's discomfort. Ayana, desperate for fresh air by now, could only nod as best as she could. "In!" Kirsten said, and flipped the switch. Greedily Ayana sucked in the air - and nearly retched! While the air coming from the IN cylinder certainly held fresh oxygen, it also contained hydrogen sulfide - that distinct smell of rotten eggs! Desperately Ayana clawed at the mask to get it off, but with her mittened hands she could do nothing. "Out!" Kirsten said, misinterpreting her signal. Ayana tried to breathe out as best as she could, and Kirsten started dictating a rhythm. Ayana could do nothing but follow along and hope the damn key would be high enough to be fished out soon. Unfortunately for her, it was a slow process, and it took several minutes until finally Kirsten could try to grab the key.

While she did this, the switch remained in the OUT position, and again Ayana was quickly running out of air. Luckily once Kirsten had caught the key, she flipped the switch to IN again, letting her suck in full breathes of the foul air. Kirsten went to the cupboard that required the key and unlocked it. Meanwhile Ayana desperately - but of course still unsuccesfully - tried to free her head from the contraption.

"Here, let me help you," Kirsten finally said, when she noticed her friend's wild struggle. She started undoing the straps of the gas mask.

"Booaaak," Ayana exclaimed, as soon as she got out of the mask.

"What?"

"The smell! It was horrible!"

"That bad really? Let me..." Kirsten sniffed the inside of the mask. "Oh, yuck! You had to breathe that? Sorry, I had no idea!"

"Ah, it was terrible. I'll need a lot of champagne to wash that away! Let's go on, what did we get?"

"Down pants this time!"

Ella and Lisbeth (part 2)

--- part 1: https://kuomu.blogspot.com/2014/02/ella-and-lisbeth.html ---

(Ella)

I arrived at Lisbeth's place at ten in the morning on Sunday, two days after the night we went out with Tamara and Paula. I had called her the day before, to hear if she was feeling okay. She had assured me that she was completely fine, and not feeling ill at all. We had arranged to go for a walk today. But I was not going to take any chances with Lisbeth's health.

"Hi Ella," Lisbeth opened the door. She was wearing comfortable clothes, sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt.

"Hello Lisbeth," I said as I came in, carrying the large sports bag.

"What's that?" Lisbeth asked.

"That's a little suprise, you'll see it in a moment. How are you feeling?"

"I'm really fine, I told you yesterday, I was really just under the weather for a day."

"Hm," I said, sounding sceptical. "We should still be careful about your health."

"You, um, you think I need to wear the two jackets again?"

"Oh, definitely. And a few other things, just to be sure."

"Other things? What do you mean?"

"Well," I said as I bent forward and started unzipping the bag, "after we arranged to go for a walk today, I called Paula and Tamara and explained that we should make sure you dress warm enough. I asked them if they happened to have any leftover clothes in the category: as warm as possible. And then I went around to pick everything up. First of all," I brightly announced as she straightened up, holding a black garment, "are these snowpants, provided by Paula. Putting these on over your jogging pants should keep your legs warm enough."

"But... you really shouldn't have..."

"I know, but I did. So come on, try them on."

Not sure what to say, Lisbeth just accepted the snowpants and put them on.

"Next, we have this beautiful pair of white Moonboots, which Tamara gave me."

"But... seriously, Ella... it's not even winter yet. Those will look ridiculous in the current weather."

"Maybe, but you also got ill when it wasn't even winter yet. Warm feet are essential to staying warm entirely. Besides, I think they look cool."

"I really wasn't that ill..."

"Lisbeth, I understand that you feel ashamed to wear warm clothes. I'm here to help you over that. Downplaying your illness won't convince me. So just put them on, or we're not going anywhere."

Lisbeth sighed but she started putting on the Moonboots. Meanwhile I grabbed Lisbeth's black down jacket from the wardrobe. When Lisbeth had finished putting on the boots, I handed her the jacket. Without comment, she put it on and zipped it up.

"Now, before you put on your red jacket, we have a little something from me." I handed Lisbeth a pair of very thick mittens. They were black and filled with a material similar to down, with a waterproof outer layer. I helped Lisbeth pull them on so the cuffs came over the sleeves of her black down jacket.

"Now then..."

Lisbeth looked up in surprise when she heard the tearing sound of duct tape. I took her arm and started wrapping the tape around her wrist, over the down jacket's sleeve and the mitten. "What are you doing?" Lisbeth exclaimed.

"Basically the same as your trick with the hood's drawstrings," I replied. "Just a little bit more effective." I calmly kept wrapping duct tape around Lisbeth's wrist. "Other hand," I ordered when I was finished.

"But... no... then... I won't..." Lisbeth stammered, refusing to give me her other arm.

"Yes, then you won't be able to take off the mittens, or anything else really. That's the point. Now come on."

I grabbed Lisbeth's other arm. Lisbeth didn't really resist. Soon her other wrist was also wrapped in black duct tape, trapping her hands in the thick mittens.

"Okay, let's get you properly wrapped up again, so we can get going."

I pulled up Lisbeth's hood, zipped the jacket to the top and started pulling the hood's drawstrings tighter.

"Not too tight," Lisbeth protested, but I ignored that. I made sure only Lisbeth's nose and eyes were showing. Then I knotted the drawstrings, and, like before, took them around Lisbeth's neck and tied them again at the back. I proceeded to take Lisbeth's bright red down jacket, helped her into it, zipped it and tightened the hood as well.

"Now you're ready to go!"

(Lisbeth)

I couldn't believe Ella had once again dressed me up completely in warm clothes. I had secretly both hoped for it and been afraid of it, and I had not dared to make any suggestion in that direction, claiming I was perfectly healthy again. But Ella pushed through and here I was, trussed up as if braving a snowstorm.

I was really nervous walking down the street like this. But once we got out of town and there were fewer people around, I calmed down a bit and started to enjoy the situation. I literally couldn't change it anyway. As we walked on, I steadily got warmer inside my packing. I could feal the sweat dripping on my face. Finally I asked Ella if she could take off my hoods for a bit, because I was warm.

"Hm, okay, for a little while then," she said. She opened the zip of the red coat a bit and pulled down the hood. I waited for her to unknot the black hood's drawstrings, but nothing more happened.

"The other one too," I said.

"No, we mustn't let you cool down too much," Ella said decisively.

I wasn't sure I was better off like this. Now I was still in the tightly tied black down hood, with the red standing behind my head, looking even more odd.

Then we passed a group of young girls, and as my luck would have it, they asked us for directions. Ella was happy to help them, while I tried not to look at any of them directly. When the girls were ready to move on, Ella said, still clearly audible for them: "That's long enough, let's put your second hood up again." While she did so, I was sure I heard some snickering from the girls.

After another hour, we reached a town where we would stop for lunch. I asked Ella to take off my hoods outside the cafe.

"No, exposing you to the cold air would be a really bad idea now."

"It's really not that cold," I tried, but she was already going in so I had no choice but to follow her.

We took a seat and Ella took off her coat. I waited impatiently for her to help me out, but she just started looking at the menu.

"Ella... my coats please."

"Oh right, I forgot you can't get out on your own. One moment."

She stood up, and unzipped my red jacket and helped me out of it. Meanwhile a waitress approached.

"All set up for a winter, huh," she commented, smiling. "Can I get you anything to drink?" Ella order a coke and I quickly followed suit.

After taking off my red jacket, Ella finally got around to undoing the black jacket's drawstring and taking off my remaining hoods. "What about these?" I asked, holding up my duct taped mittens.

Ella shrugged, "I won't be able to get that tape off here, it would be too much work anyway. I'm sure you'll be able to use your fork still, and if you need help cutting I'll do it."

I thought it was pretty stupid I had to eat with the mittens on, but I saw no way around it. When the waitress came back, I hid my hands under the table so she wouldn't notice the tape.

In the end, I did manage to eat a salad while wearing the mittens. Once we finished, Ella of course showed no mercy wrapping me up as before, well within view of several people in the cafe. Then I had to wait while she put on her own coat until we could finally leave and continue our walk.

The whole ordeal was repeated as we made another stop for a drink in the afternoon, but for the most part, I still enjoyed the day. It was nice to be wrapped up warm with Ella taking care of me. 

Finally we arrived back home, where Ella helped me out of my red down jacket, then started cutting off the tape. I was still in my black down hood, but I didn't ask her to take it off first. I was rather looking forward to getting the use of my hands back.

"By the way, Lisbeth," Ella said casually, "From nown on, I expect you to be dressed like this whenever you go outside."

"What, with tape around my wrists?" I joked halfheartedly.

"No, but wearing everything else that you wore today," Ella said quite seriously. "I don't want you to get ill again and I'll help you overcome your misplaced shame about being dressed warm. So I'll be checking your clothes whenever I see you, and I'll tell the other girls to do the same."

I swallowed. On the one hand, this was what I wanted... but all the time? The thought was exciting and frightening at the same time. "Okay, Ella," I heard myself say.