Mistaken Identity
#8 of Personal Works
A personal project which I had an idea for years ago, Ofenna once again being the perfect target.
Summary: While out for a hike in the wilderness, Ofenna comes across a poor lynx woman in a spot of bother and rushes to her aid. However the lynx woman never wants to go back to where she escaped from, and takes measures to buy herself more time...
Final word count: 1858
The stream whispered over the rocks in a most gentle and soothing manner, and yet as she crossed the bridge Ofenna found herself unable to enjoy them when her ears picked up something else. There were sounds of thumping, clanking metal, a strange creaking and dimly muffled grunts coming from below, warranting investigation.
The lioness reached into her pack, arming herself with a taser and bent down, sliding off her boots before she crept quietly to the edge, making not a sound. Rounding the stone ledge that marked the end of the bridge, she ducked back, pressing against the wall to peer underneath. Her eyes widened and her breath caught, it was a woman, looking to be in some distress. Her clothing was drenched through but even so the most alarming thing were the vestments themselves.
A white rubber straitjacket, the source of the creaking, covered the woman's torso and held one of her arms tight to her chest, the other was trapped in its sleeve but had come undone. A thick, fat inflated-looking collar surrounded her neck, and her head was covered by a thick obscuring hood, only the vague proportions of a snout and the point tipped ear-covers disturbed the rounded appearance.
Below the waist a padded crotch-strap held the jacket on between her legs, which were wearing soaking wet canvas tucked in to tightly bucked footwear made of some soft-material. There were also multiple straps across the thighs and shins but those were all popped open. Buckles jangling in the air. Ofenna knew this area well enough to be sure there shouldn't be any hospitals or asylums where this woman could have come from, and thus she was drawn to help her, having dropped the taser in shock. Stepping a bit louder, the figure didn't seem to hear her, only responding by freezing stiff when the lioness put her hand on the woman's shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay, don't worry I'm a friendly." She said reassuringly, close to the ears. "Can you hear me? Do you understand?" In response the woman gave a squeaky nod, pushing some of the thick collar around. "You're not a dangerous person right? Did someone do this to you against your will?"
The lioness continued, there was another nod, and asking a few careful yes or no questions, it seemed to Ofenna this woman was both sane and rational. From what she worked out the woman had escaped somewhere or someone a couple of days ago, and in that time had managed to get loose of most of the bindings holding her, including the straps with locks on them, some of which were missing, others dangling loose on the buckles. Whatever key she'd managed to use, and however she'd used it, it had seemingly been lost.
The woman seemed calm in Ofenna's presence at last, especially when the lioness started trying to help her. Alas, the bonds were too thick to cut open in some places and too dangerous in others with the small pocket knife the lioness kept. But with some ingenuity and assistance from the woman, she managed to break a couple of the padlocks open, one at the locked arm and the other at the back of the jacket. With some assisted wriggling, Ofenna managed to get one of the woman's shoulders out of the jacket, and then an entire arm was free. The claws looked unkempt, and there was a none too pleasant smell of stale air from her fur, another feline, like her, and from those markings and shadings, a lynx.
When her arm was free, the lynx woman flailed until she found Ofenna's hand, and then gripped it, squeezing in gratitude. While the garment was exceptionally difficult to remove for the wearer, even if it were unlocked, together they were able to make a bit more progress. They couldn't get the hood off, but with a lot of squirming, Ofenna managed to raise the padded blindfold enough that the lynx woman could see, which calmed her down further. They pressed on, but the rest of their struggles proved fruitless.
"I'm sorry to say that's about the best I can do here, but if you like, we can go back to my place, one of my roommates knows a thing or two about locks, they might be able to help with the rest, and then we can go from there, hey?" She said apologetically, the safety of this woman first in her mind. The lynx nodded again, and from what little Ofenna saw of her expression she was smiling warmly.
Ofenna turned to her backpack to start packing things away and look for her overcoat to give the woman some discretion on the way home, turning her head to see the lynx lady helping with her free arm in picking some of the tested items. Ah, here it was, reaching in to start pulling out the waterproof garment, she was surprised to feel the sharp prick at her neck of the taser's bite, knocking her to the floor where she gasped and convulsed. The weight of the lynx woman fell on her back, pinning her down as her free arm came around Ofenna's neck, putting her in a sleeper hold until she passed out...
Her head hurt when she woke up, feeling a strange pressure around her body and a weight on top, she groaned weakly and in response a thin fingered hand flew forward, shoving a thick padded strap between her jaws, and then the hand pushed over her muzzle, squeezing down. As her vision cleared, she saw the lynx woman sitting across her chest, dressed in Ofenna's clothing. The lynx quickly pulled some straps around the back of Ofenna's head and up between her eyes, the head-harness locking the gag in place.
The key hadn't been lost after all, but instead dropped nearby enough that the lynx found it and saved herself. It had taken more time than she wanted to get dressed again, and so here she was dealing with an alert and struggling subject. The thick puffy collar of the jacket was more than enough to prevent any further choke-hold, so she just had to press on, she was nearly done anyway.
Ofenna started to struggle and squirm in alarm when she realised the source of the pressure, every single part of the restraining garment had been tightened around her, even the leg straps were all locked up again, the soft footwear lined with something inside that stopped her opening her claws, all of it felt tight around her body, confirming that she'd been stripped even of her underwear before being stuffed in. Her head was also covered in an open-faced hood, an inner lining that had rested underneath the rounder one the lynx had been trapped in, and it was that thicker, anonymising hood she was holding in her other hand. This was still a public accessway though, so Ofenna shouted out in hope that someone would hear her. "HMMLP MM!" trying to worm out from the woman.
Ofenna stared in terror, carrying on her cries, tears pushing out from her eyes as she tried to shake her head and beg into the gag. The lynx winced in some distress herself, cutting off the source of her pain by covering up the lion's head entirely in the hood, pressing it down and smoothing it out, luckily for the lynx, it was still close enough in proportion to fit. The lynx drew the straps back and then slid the locks into place, completing the lioness' incarceration by sliding the blindfold back on. Ofenna was cast into blackness and tight feelings even after the woman got up from her, she heard the sound of metal followed by a wet splash as the lynx threw the bundle into the wide river. No! she'd thrown away the keys!
The lion flinched away as she felt the Lynx's hand on her shoulder, a voice grown husky and faint from under-use reaching her ears. "It's nothing personal, I am grateful for the help, but they will be looking for me. I can't go back there, not again..." She said, and then, the sound of sudden motion as the lynx stole the last of Ofenna's things and ran for it.
The lioness squirmed, this couldn't be real, this couldn't be happening! With a growing dread she felt how the garments were obviously designed for long term wear, not only secure and so tight that her arms were all but welded in place, and her legs unable to stand, but softly padded in areas that made it not just comfortable but further dulled attempts to struggle out.
She tried to kick out, pull away, squirm around left and right. Able at best to nearly roll onto her side, but otherwise the jacket stuck to her with only the muffled creak of rubber getting through the hood. She yelled for help whenever she could, sobbing at her abject helplessness when she couldn't. Hours passed, the lioness growing only more tired. If anything, the suit felt somehow tighter than before, and the best she'd managed was to raise her back to the bridge wall. She heard a shout, and her heart leapt, fearing what it meant as much as she hoped it was salvation.
"Here she is, at last. Wow, still trussed up tight though, it's a wonder she made it this far." No.... they thought she was the lynx! Ofenna tried to shout at them, to tell them they were making mistakes, to show off any part of her that would prove otherwise, but the handlers only saw a feline of approximately correct height and build.
"Hah, look at that fire and resistance, it's her alright, okay bring her in lads. Sorry Missi, looks like your luck's run out again, and this time they're not going to just let it slide." Ofenna could do nothing as she was picked up and placed onto a gurney. Thick leather straps drawn on top of the device to pin her in place. The vehicle they loaded her into had some resemblance to a medical van, not that she could see it, and the engine thrummed as she was lead away to a secret rehabilitation centre...
As punishment for her attempted escape, the figure they presumed was Missi was strapped into a thick sleep-sack, fully inflated and belted tightly, a feeding tube thrust into her mouth and waste tubes leading out, all inserted by staff who would never have presumed they had the wrong woman. The sack itself was then suspended in the air, the trapped lioness facing down in a strange weightlessness, unable to even wiggle.
She'd sobbed again when they told her this punishment would be for the next week, and then it'd be a fortnight in 'her' cell before she would be allowed to speak to her counsellor. She feared the worst, that she might go crazy before then, and never be let out even if they discovered the mistake. She groaned as she felt the first press at her lips from the feeding tube... she'd only been trying to help.