Replacement : the lingerie chapter.

Okay so here's another 'finished' chapter. here

 

This is a much later chapter than I've posted before.

Some context : Ashley has persuaded Dave not to jerk off 'for his own good' and he's been complying. (The NoFap storyline) Some days before Mike left, Ashley puts Dave in a chastity cage 'to help him be good' while she's with Mike. Not permanent, but it seems she intends to do this when she's with Mike.

Mike's been away for a few days and he will be away again soon. On this return, he and Dave meet up to go tailgating at a football game. Dave gets humiliated by Mike and his friends but Dave also gains some insight into Mike's personal life and circumstances. The next day, it is arranged (by Ashley) that Mike is to call over to the apartment. She feels she's been patient in waiting to see her boyfriend so that he can have some guy's bonding time with her husband.

Where this chapter starts - Dave has bought some fancy lingerie for Ashley. He thinks a sexy romantic gesture is just what they need. Mike isn't the only one who can romance Ashley he thinks. 
Dave is to meet Mike in a bar after work and then bring him back to the apartment. Before he goes, Ashley sees the present and wonders what it is. This wasn't the time that Dave intended to give it to her, but he does anyway.

So, this is one of the chapters  where originally, I got to a point and then found I was writing myself off a cliff - it potentially leads to Dave watching, but I think that's still too early, even three quarters of the way through. 

The way I solve this isn't great. (a) In a piece of reverse-psychology that backfires, Ashley tells him to go to his room. (b) Even without thinking about it, Dave bolts upstairs. He just can't do it.

 

The first part of the chapter is a major beat-down from Mike to Dave. I love writing these - there's another one earlier in the book. I think some of those scenes in the OG books are the best. Dave never really understands that he is never going to win these sparring contests. All Mike has to say is "Yeah, but Ashley loves me fucking her." and it's an ace card every time. And in this, he says it over and over again.

Back at the apartment, Mike and Ash making out in front of Dave is always great. Again, it happens over and over in Reluctant and Horizon. Is seeing your wife kiss another man worse than seeing them fuck? I don't know why, but yes, it seems so. 

And finally we get some tortured introspection from Dave alone in bed until Mike appears to bully him some more and Ash delivers the coup-de-grace.

Let me know what you think. Typos, corrections, comments and suggestions all very welcome and appreciated.

The comment system on blogger is terrible, but if you like, send feedback to alamopreacher@gmail.com, or see my twitter - @alamo_preacher

Replacement Feedback.

Ashley's been reading your mail.

Thanks for all our comments. 

Here's my reaction to some of them. There's some spoilers in here for chapters I haven't published. Also, I haven't credited anyone as I'm not sure if they'd want even their fake internet names used, and some of these came by email. 

Ashley's workplace

I like that you’re going to have Ashley’s choices have an impact on the story. One of the most unrealistic aspects of the original novels was that she cheated on Dave at a work event with zero consequences. Since she’s good looking, some of the men above her might not care, but there’s probably quite a few female executives or middle management that would be judgmental. Especially because some of them have probably met Dave and thought he was a nice guy.

and

The idea of girls at work being catty and calling her a slut and what not and Ashley leaning on Dave to make her feel better about it is amazing.

I'm not so interested in what happens at her work from a HR perspective, but rather on how Ashley feels about other people's reactions. Since very few people do know but a lot of people at her workplace do know there's opportunity there. I haven't written anything about that but I think if/when. I do, Ashley will say a few things. First that when Jim blabs about the bathroom. she felt conscious about the rumours. She really didn't think he would talk. And when he does, this freaks her out, which is part of the reason she tries to cover it up. Maybe, she says, even though it was unplanned, she would have told Dave about it in her own time. But when she realises that the rumour is spreading she panics and tries to cover it up with Dave. However, after seeing how Dave reacts she feels differently. Now, she feels powerful and has a mental shield. A kind of "My husband likes this, so fuck you." attitude at work. Furthermore, when she brazens it out, she find she likes this feeling. She likes the idea of being thought of as a powerful, sexual woman who doesn't care what other people think of her. 

Now that I write that down, I think I do have to have her have that conversation with Dave.

Tamara

Any person going through such a radical change in lifestyle would want to confide in another person, especially if she’s the “winner” in the situation like Ashley. It would be interesting if she lies to herself when talking to Tamara in the same way Dave tends to rationalize things.

Interesting. We'll never get a conversation between Tamara and Ashley alone, since the whole story is from Dave's POV. However, I do have a chapter where all four (with Mike) go out together, and that has some conversations between Ashley and Tamara where Dave is present. 

I don't think Ashley is lying to herself, except perhaps being a bit blinkered about Mike. She has confided in Tamara right from the start. She was right there in the bathroom after all and in my view would have talked to Tamara about Dave's reaction and especially when he said he wanted to introduce Ashley o his 'old friend'.  

In that 'foursome' chapter we get a bit of Tamara relating how excited Ashley was after Dave introduced Mike. And later we get a long conversation later between Tamara and Dave (while Mike is fucking Ashley in another room) where T. reveals a lot about how A. feels about the situation, which is where Dave gets a lot of key insights about A. 

It's true that she wants this lifestyle to continue. She loves how things are working out. She thinks this will be best for Dave - his true nature - and she's prepared to manipulate him and hide things from him but she sees this as ends justifying the means.

I think Ashley is very insightful about Dave and his feelings. It might take her a little while to understand whats happening to him, but she gets there pretty quickly.  

Maybe this is a failing in me. I always place the cuckolding female character on a pedestal. I sometimes find myself defending her from readers who call her a heartless bitch. I don't see that in he OG books and I don't think I'd like a story where that was the case,

Read the snippets. I like your take on Tamara. There were hints that she would take more of a role in the original work but there’s no way to know what the author’s plan was for her

Confirming that he was outed to Tamara was a really good call. It kind of allows Dave to know it’s possibility, even though it’s unlikely that Ashley will want a lot of people to know. It gives him another route to over-analyze. I doubt Ashley would actually want their sorta lifestyle public, there are way too many negative repercussion .

Agree. But I think Ashley really, really gets a thrill from other people knowing. I develop a sub-plot from hints about Jimmy the apartment block doorman in the original novels. Spoilers: Jimmy does know pretty much everything. How could he not? Plus, Mike has talked to him. Ashley knows that Jimmy knows, though she never talks to Jimmy about it herself.  It gives her a thrill every time she sees Jimmy because he knows. (Not that anything is going to happen there, she just gets a buzz whenever she sees him looking at her.

She knows this is super dangerous and that a wider circle knowing might push Dave over the edge. For Dave this is like kryptonite. People knowing, even strangers, really pushes his buttons. 

2) seems pretty clear Tamara pushes her and sometimes guilts her into doing more - Ashley probably resents being the married, boring one while Tamara has fun. Jim is hot and she just finally gave in. Another example is where they mention Tamara wears the thong bikini but Ashley doesn't. Would love to see Ashley's bikini change after her evolution.

I don't think Ashley resents being married or is jealous of Tamara. Yes, T. pushes her to do outrageous things, but underlying that, is that T. has never found love and she is jealous of Ashley's marriage and wishes she had the same. Spoilers : She will come to realise, that she wants exactly the same. She wants a 'Dave' of her own that will love her for who she is.  She strongly suspected that Dave was a potential cuck even before Ashley married him. She disdained the weak, simpy guy that Ashley had chosen. Now, she realises the massive upsides of their relationship.

"Watching"

1. Personally, I don't think Dave watching is the end nor shooting your shot. As you said when you write it keeps getting there. It seems like your discovery writing that these characters need this to happen. Ast some point it’s the logical next step. I don’t think it should be avoided but embraced and used to push the character development. I think watching get them to communicate but there is a lot that could happen afterwards as they figure out how to balance everything and feel free to go deeper into there kinks.

It's an option, and one I've taken in almost everything else I've ever written. In "Eva's new Lifestyle" the husband character watches in Chapter two. The problem is that once it happens, it robs everything after of any doubt or impact. There's no stakes left, beyond losing her altogether and breakup. Now, there's lots to explore even beyond watching, as you say, but it's a different kind of story. 

The OG novels are mostly about Dave's confusion and self-deception. Once he's willingly watched. (And it's his acceptance, by watching, that would the key development) then he's no longer really in the same place mentally. It's kind of like a thriller where the bad guy gets caught near the start. There's still a whole building-the-case legal drama available, but that's not the same as a manhunt/detective story.

To be be clear, I mean willingly watching - not spying on them, or being forced to - which would be weird I think. He has to do it of his own accord. 

A common theme has been Ashley and Dave's constant assumptions and lack of communication. This can only go on so long before it either gets stale or it in order for things to move forward sexually the lack of communication will feel even more forced. This transition could be what tripped the original author up. I liked the view shift Dave had in your Tennis chapter. At this point we need some development of the characters internally so I hope this is an early chapter.

Completely. And the failure of one character to just explain their feelings clearly is a constant trope in drama. Whole movies plots are based on a premise of an early lack of communication. It feels forced and stupid. In this case though, in the OG novels Ashley does really want Dave to open up about his feelings. She tries to get him to talk several times and Dave lies, evades and runs away. She knows it will take him time to process his feelings. When she shares he becomes resentful and uncommunicative. Plus, she has Mike on her shoulder steering the relationship where he wants it to go - repeated humiliation for Dave dressed up in Ashley's desire for openness and sharing. 

I'm not sure I see that view shift in the Tennis chapter - it's a while since I read it. In what I call the 'NoFap' storyline Ashley decides that persuading Dave not to jerk off will help him to open up. She deduces that his shame and humiliation comes from the inevitable post-orgasm crash happening alone and isolated. She wants him to do this with her. She tries a couple of times (i.e. to introduce talking about cuckolding during sex) but they don't work out. She thinks if he had a period without any self-relief this would work out better. Plus, being denied will make him more submissive and malleable and she'll be able to get him to be truthful more easily. 

And it works. The slow steps toward more honest largely stem from him (willingly) abstaining from masturbation and then talking with Ashley.

 

"Is Ashley a hypocrite?"

3. I think Ashley is more independent and has a higher EQ than maybe you’re giving her credit for. She can try out what Mike suggests but draw her own conclusions. I think she knows herself better than Dave knows himself. She may even know Dave better than he does himself.

Oh God, I hope I haven't made Ashley seem dumb. In my view she knows Dave better than anyone has ever understood anyone. She was already 99% sure he'd be turned on by the bathroom incident. She knows very well what he went through and she knew exactly what was happening when he introduced Mike even though Dave was (and is) still in complete denial over his actions. 

Yes, she does try out Mike's suggestions. She thinks he knows a lot more about these things - and he does. She realises it's not working and tries a better tack, even though it takes her longer to realise Mike is being deceptive.

Interesting thoughts on Ashley. To me: yes it's very bad what she did, but I don't think it requires a ton of gymnastics. Some things I'd say:
1) some people are just wired to love and need sex and have wandering eyes. Studies show pornstars have a higher sex drive than other women, generally. If Ashley is just wired to be daring/sexual, it could happen. Most people would try and keep it quiet after, as she did.

3) also clear that David has always been safe, good choice. You reference that in the chastity before marriage thing. She has had no problem denying him sex in past.

I agree with the set up that Dave's and Ashely's subconscious desires made her cheating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Both need to own up to their own role in what happened.

For sure, Ashley has a high sex drive but I think she's more driven by a need for romance and connection than sex. Some of the couple stuff they do in the OG novels are almost saccharine sweet and they seem to be driven by Ashley. She loves Dave but she's slowly realised that he isn't as fulfilled sexually in their marriage, just like her.  She knows his personality, the subbiness, the deference. She has all the dots but hasn't really put them together until after she sees his reaction to the bathroom revelation. 

Part of why she likes being alone with Mike is that it makes it easier to play the role of submissive slut without worrying as much that doing so will compromise Dave's view of her as a dom and his ability to be her equal.

I've thought about this point a lot but I don't think I agree. I think Ashley gets the duality of her relationship with Dave. That her being dominated by Mike just heightens Dave's sexual submission. In the final scenes in 'Horizon' she knows dave is listening and says a lot of submissive sexual stuff just for his benefit. 

I think in that first scene with Mike after the bar, Mike has asked her if she wants to fuck in front of Dave (there's a lot of whispering). And she says she doesn't, because he just has a natural aversion to being watched during sex - most people have this, and even in these circumstances she still feels conscious. Also, Dave never says he wants to watch. In fact, he looks uncomfortable and ashamed and while he has set this up and passively allowed it to happen she thinks maybe that might be too much. Finally, she's swept along by Mike - he's the one who suggests the bedroom on the flimsy 'apartment tour' premise and she's excited and nervous and just goes along with it. She thinks this is the way Dave wants it too. Mike strongly implies it is, and he's been right about Dave's reactions ever since they made out at the bar in front of him.   So it's just the way it happens. And since Dave never complains about it afterwards, neither objecting to them having sex, nor that it was behind closed doors she just assumes that was the way he wanted it. 

Decisions within replacement.

As I posted a while ago, I've got back into Replacement and I think I'll finish it this year. 

This is actually a rewrite of the previous (unfinished) version I did a few years ago.

I abandoned that because I was unhappy with it for a few fundamental reasons.

1. It moved way to fast with Ashley becoming a full on femdom Domme in the first chapter.

2. I had way too little of Dave's introspection and self-defeating internal monologue.

3. There wasn't any point to it - just Dave getting cucked in more and more extremesituations until the story stopped.

However, as I wrote the replacement Replacement, I felt I was falling into the same traps again. 

Here's some of the questions I grappled with. (Some spoilers for this, but TBH by the time I finish, you'll have forgotten)

1. Watching is key. Mike is pressuring Dave to watch all through 'Horizon'. Should Dave watch during this book? Or, save it for a denouement? Or never happen. 

In more than one chapter I get close to this, so much so that I stop writing, becuase (a) if he watches, is there anything left to the story or have I 'shot is bolt' so to speak? (b) If I keep upping the ante, in ever more explicit situations, it becomes unbelievable that he doesn't end up watching. 

Related to that - does Ashely want him to watch? She doesn't really seem to want this during Replacement or Horizon. But in this I strongly hint that she does. 

Why? Because Mike wants this.  She's ambivalent. She doesn't think she'd feel comfortable with Dave watching. 

But, she doesn't like aspects of Dave's reaction to her cucking him. She doesn't feel guilty exactly, but she worries that he's becoming isolated and depressed and that he will grow away from her. Mike claims (to her in private, off-screen) that if Dave can accept and embrace the situation (by watching) then all will be well. She believes him at first, but over the course of the story she begins to doubt Mike's honesty.

I like this working out of the dynamic. I think it goes some way to solving the lack of a plot too. Ashley slowly beginning to mistrust Mike is a core theme running through it. 

But - if during the story Ashley wants Dave to watch (for his own good - she'll get over her discomfort in order to help him) wouldn't that just happen? Dave is drawn to be being cucked like a moth to a flame. If both Mike and Ash want him to watch and lot of the story is them fucking, then won't it happen?

I think I've solved this, although with some straining credulity. Dave will get close to watching a couple of times but it never quite happens. Until the end.

2. Ashley fucked Jim Murta and dishonestly hid it from Dave. The admission scene in Reluctant is brutal. If, (and I can't ever let this go) Ashley really loves him, this is problematic. Mike is totally different. Dave set them up like a cuckold cupid and let them at it. The bathroom scene was secret and hidden. She lied about it. Ashley only 'confesses' because Dave is about to find out anyway.

Dave never really goes there in Reluctant or Horizon. He gives his little 'All I want is to know the truth' speech in the bar and he pretty much sticks to that line ever after. Even when Mike takes her through the blow-by-blow recreation Dave isn't ever thinking of her as 'cheating'.

So if she loves him and is essentially a good person, how does she justify his to herself? Even if her justification is not spelled out, writing some kind of happily-ever-after denouement has a giant Jim Murta elephant in the room. 

Here's a digression. Many people who've written reviews or have emailed me about this story take it as read that Ashley is a selfish hypocrite. I don't subscribe to this. Not because of anything in the OG stories - that's a perfectly reasonable conclusion to draw from what McManus wrote. He never really makes a judgement on Ashley. 

But I just don't pray that way. For me every female lead character in a cuckold story is a blameless angel who loves her cuck husband. That's just the way I'm wired. See my post on the Syril and Dedra relationship here. 

So, to get around this, I'm going to have to give Ashley some reason and context, and some blame. 

So, we get a conversation with Tamara where she brings Dave back to remember some incidents before their marriage. Ashley flirting with other guys. Dave being weird and cucky about it. Ashley insisting on them being apart in the weeks before their wedding. His resting-cuck demeanour. The whole thing about him as Carrie puts it. And in another conversation Carrie makes him realise that what's happening to him is just as much about him as it is Ashley. 

So when they're in the bathroom, yes Ashley is horny and thrilled at the transgressive idea of fucking her coworker while Dave is outside. But, at the back of her mind is the idea that Dave might like it. She's not 100% certain but she has a gut instinct. 

Afterwards, she's just not brave enough to tell him. She's not really certain. She worries that even if she's right about Dave, it might still blow up their marriage. Why not confess? Why not be at least a little bit remorseful?

 Because she doesn't regret it. She loved it. She wants to do it again. Not with Jim, she recognises that was a big mistake, but with anyone else. At that time she is conflicted.  But then Tamara tells her that Jim has blabbed and there are rumours. Tamara advises her to come clean, that Dave will like it, and if not, then fuck him. But Ashley panics and tries to cover it up. She regrets that decision, obviously. But almost immediately Dave changes. Even while he doesn't know the rumour is true, she can see a change in him and the idea that he is a cuck gets firmer and firmer. Well before he introduces Mike she knows he's a cuck and she looks for situations where she can get fucked again. 

3. Does Ashley want Dave to watch? There's zero hints of this in the OG novels. In fact, everyhting takes place behind closed doors. She doesn't seem to mind him listening, but that's kind-of driven by Mike.

In my head-canon, yes, she does, but not as an end in itself. She actually thinks she might be uncomfortable with it. She'd do it, but it's not a goal for her. BUT she does worry about Dave. She knows for sure he enjoys this, but she can see his tortured internal conflict. She thinks maybe that's just how it should be, but it's a background niggle for her. More importantly, she worries that the cucking is making them grow apart.

They have reacted to the original cucking in different ways. Dave becomes more submissive to Ashley. She seems powerful and beautiful and wonderful to him. He's even more in love with her than ever but he's also ashamed and confused about his feelings. Sharing those feelings with Ashley is terrifying and shameful to him. So he becomes furtive and secretive - hides at his parents house. Jerking off in bathrooms etc. He won't 'open up' as Ashley wants.  

Ashley feels exhilarated and powerful. She's becoming the sexual person she always was but was too repressed by convention to express. She's on a cloud of euphoric sexiness all the time. Cucking Dave, his submissive behaviour make her love him all the more. She wants to share how she feels with the man she loves and to understand and share in his feelings. But he's hiding from her. He won't 'open up'. 

And she's getting bad, self-serving advice from Mike. He tells her that if she can get Dave to watch, he'll be able to accept everything and he'll open up. So, she does work towards that - but she wants him to watch as a means to an end.

Mike? In my head-canon, he is, to some degree, a bad actor. I won't go into it to much now, but for Mike, fucking Ashley is a side-benefit. His main motivation is bullying and dominating other men. He really wants Dave to watch him fuck Ashley because he gets off on the shame and humiliation he's causing. He's kind of a twisted bully. He lacks the ability form normal relationships with other men. He likes Dave, a lot. But he expresses that by wanting to utterly dominate him sexually through his wife. 

So, it's complicated, and getting all that onto the page is difficult, especially as my tendency is to write endless sexual dialogues between the main characters which tell rather than showing. 

 

Dedra and her guy - an Andor alernative.

 

Did anyone else ship the Dedra-Syril relationship in Andor as hard as I did?

Watching it, I felt like a secret queer in the sixties or seventies watching a gay relationship that had been smuggled into mainstream TV.

"Oh wow, he likes this. OMG, she knows exactly what she's doing. He loves her. She loves him. This is FemDom. It really is."

Now, the relationship wasn't exactly smuggled into the show. Dedra is shown to be sympathetic and we get to see Syril's motivations. He's a good guy, just on the wrong side. 

There's a trope of course. "Bury Your Gays" And it felt exactly like that when Syril blames Dedra for betraying the Ghormans and heads off to his inevitable death. Their love is pure but corrupted, so he has to die for his transgressive love and Dedra gets her just deserts in an imperial prison.

Nobody seemed to have a problem with this, calling it 'Syril's redemption arc' and just deserts for the Imperial Gestapo leader. But seriously, fuck that. 

In the balance between his Mistress and the fate of a whole planet Syril's clear choice should have been to back Dedra to the hilt, no matter what. What are the lives of millions of spider farmers compared to his devotion to his one true love? Maybe he could have tried to persuade her but finally agreed to follow her lead. Could they have just abandoned their jobs and fled from Ghorman to live out their lives together on the Galactic rim? Anything would have been better than Syril dying pointlessly. 

Given that we don't really get romantic payoffs for any of the main characters, wouldn't it have been great to have the transgressive femdom couple lose the war but win each other. I'd have given anything to see Dedra and Syril get away and live out their relationship. Sigh.

Back to Replacement

I took the plunge back into Cuck Storm Replacement. I've connected some chapters, removed some parts that weren't working and marked some as 'done'

Here's one which I don't think I've posted before. It's fairly early, in the first third of the book. 

Ashley and Mike have agreed on a tennis date. Dave has been working his way up the corporate ladder.

PDF version here.