-- read part 1 here --
-- read part 2 here --
-- read part 3 here --
-- read part 4 here --
"Sophie, wait here please. I'll first get Tanika dressed." Linda and Tanika left the room. Twenty minutes later, they returned, and now Tanika was dressed exactly like Sophie, except she was wearing the purple set of clothes: Moonboots, down pants, down jacket and mittens. There were two differences though. One of them, Sophie knew nothing about, because it was hidden under the clothes. The other thing she noticed immediately.
"Why does your head look so big?" Sophie asked in surprise.
"Because there's an extra hood underneath," Linda answered. "And here's another one for you." She showed Sophie a black down hood, then went behind her and unzipped the hood of the red jacket. Once it was off, she pulled the black hood over Sophie's head. It had an opening around the eyes and small breathing holes under her nose. It also had a rubber bulb on the inside, which Linda put in Sophie's mouth without explanation. The hood had an integrated collar which was tightenened around the neck, securing everything in place.
"Hew! Whaaw iff thiff thin in y outh?" Sophie blabbered. Linda didn't bother replying. She attached a pump to a valve in front of Sophie's mouth and pumped the gag up until Sophie couldn't make a sound anymore. Then she attached the pump to the bottom of the hood and started pumping up the whole hood. After a while, Sophie's head was a smooth nylon black ball, with just an opening around the eyes. Linda pulled the red hood over it, and managed to slowly pull the zipper in the back over the pumped up hood, so that the red hood was now stretched over the black one. Then she sat down behind her computer and was busy for a minute.
"Can you hear me?" Linda suddenly asked. Sophie was surprised by the question at first; of course she could. Then she realized that, although she had seen Linda's lips move, the sound had come from inside the hood. "Just nod if you can understand me," Linda said. Sophie nodded a little, although she couldn't move her head much because of the pumped up hood.
"Good. As you may have noticed, your hood has sound absorbers worked into it, which, combined with its thickness, make you essentially deaf. There is an audio system built in that allows us to communicate with you. Of course you have also noticed that you can't speak. Tanika's hood, while it looks the same from the outside, is actually different, as it doesn't have a gag or sound absorbers, so she can hear and speak almost normally. Inside her hood is a microphone, which transmits everything she says to me and to you. This is the setup for our first social experiment. Essentially, you, Sophie, will be dependant on Tanika to be your mouth and ears. You will have to trust her completely. You will both have to complete a task. You should know that if you don't complete it succesfully, there will be a penalty for both of you. What the task is, and what the penalty is, you won't know. I'll tell Tanika but she's not allowed to tell you, because this is an exercise in trust."
There was nothing to do for Sophie while she waited, while apparently Tanika received instructions. Eventually Tanika took Sophie's mittened hand into her own and led her outside. They went on a bus and sat down next to each other. They must look quite the pair, Sophie though, especially with the inflated hoods making their heads look so large. She wondered how Tanika felt about the situation.
Well, Tanika was thrilled, of course. This was her dream come true. She had just signed a contract that would force her to wear thick down clothes all the time. And her friend Sophie had to do the same. Before Sophie had arrived at the institute, Linda had dressed her in the same clothes Sophie had been wearing the past month. However, hidden underneath was something Sophie didn't know about, and which was part of Tanika's contract. She had to wear a chastity belt during the experiments. This was necessary because her climaxes could influence the experiment. Also, as Linda explained, it would make things more bearable for her - while she was aroused, she would enjoy her down clothes, but if she climaxed too often she'd want out.
Soon the two girls arrived in the city center and Tanika guided Sophie to a big outdoor shop. Sophie had a suspicion about the purpose of their trip. They entered and went straight to the first floor, where the gear for alpinism and extreme conditions was kept. Holding Sophie's hand, Tanika went to the counter. The young girl there looked in amazement at the two identically dressed figures approaching her.
"Hi, we've come to pick up the two Himalayan suits the research center ordered last week," Tanika said. "Oh, er, yes, I'll go get them for you," the girl said, and quickly went off. Moments later she returned with the suits: one red with black, the other yellow with black. "Everything's been paid already," the girl smiled, "so I'll just wrap them up for you and you can take them with you." "Actually, we'll wear them right away. Could you just assist us in putting them on please?" Sophie was shocked, and apparently so was the girl. "Wear them? But these are suits for alpine conditions. You'll be way too hot if you wear them here," she protested. "Don't worry about that, it's supposed to be warm. We'll wear the suits on top of this layer. Just help us put them on, please."
"Okay then. So which one do you want?" "Put Sophie in the yellow suit first," Tanika indicated. The girl opened the suit and walked up to Sophie. "I'll best take off your Moonboots first," she said, but Sophie couldn't hear it of course, so she made no move to help her. "Lift your foot, Sophie," Tanika said. Sophie obeyed and lifted one foot so the girl could take off one of her Moonboots, then lifted the other one. Then the girl helped her into the Himalayan suit. "Zip it up completely, put the hood up and tie it tight please." The astonished girl did as she was told, then helped Sophie back into her Moonboots. In the end only her red Moonboots and mittens were visible sticking out of the big yellow suit.
"Are you sure you want to go out like this?" she asked Sophie, who of course could neither hear her nor talk. "That's okay," said Tanika, "my friend likes to be kept warm all the time. She hates the cold, you see." Tanika wasn't allowed to mention the experiment. "Oh. And what about you then?" asked the girl. "I just dress the same as her out of solidarity. She's shy about being dressed so excessively, and it helps her if I do the same," Tanika lied easily. The girl was impressed. "That seems like a pretty big sacrifice to make." "It's okay. Sophie is my best friend, after all."
Next the girl helped Tanika, until she looked like a mirror image of Sophie again, except in a red suit rather than yellow, and with purple mittens and Moonboots. Meanwhile though, Sophie was getting way too hot in the suit. And she was embarassed about Tanika telling the girl it was her idea to dress like this. So she started tampering with her hood, and despite the mittens she managed to unzip the suit far enough to push the hood down.
"See, I told you this suit was really warm," the shop assistant said. "Should I take off your hood as well?" "No, that's okay. Please put Sophie's hood up again, she only took it down because we're inside." "Really? I think she's just too hot. Should I put up your hood again?" she asked Sophie. And although Sophie couldn't hear the girl, she understood what was intended, and shook her head as much as she could. But we were told to, Tanika wanted to say. We had strict guidelines on how we had to be dressed. We will be punished now... But did she really mind the punishment?
"It's okay, Sophie doesn't want to wear the hood. We'll be leaving now. Thank you for your help."
And so they left the store. Sophie had no idea that her not wearing the hood would be cause for punishment for both of them. Tanika knew... and eagerly looked forward to it.
Overview
