The Rules of the Game - Side A

Side A and Side B take place simultaneously, and can be read in either order.

She caught his cologne as he walked by. Not a pretty, sweet, fruity thing, or the generic oud and sandalwood the insecure use to smell like a man- pepper, and tobacco, and earth, and something animal.

Rule 0: All players must enter the game willingly and knowingly, and once the game has begun, any player may stop anything at any time for any reason.

The cologne was a litmus test. He didn't know why, but It drew in the people he was looking for, the ones who wanted to play. She'd noticed it. Three seats down, she'd tried to hide it, but the subtle shift of the head and side-eyed look were both dead giveaways.

Both of them had their drink with the person they came to see- appearing, on the surface, focused on the conversation with the poor bastard who's been instantly replaced in both their minds by the stranger down the bar. They were both stealing glances at the other in mirrors, watching as the other stood up to take a call. One, then the other politely dismissed their disappointed dates.

He looks for eye contact and gets it. They both hold each other's gaze for seconds that feel like minutes, minutes that feel like hours.

The bartender breaks the spell- she thoughtlessly looks away, and before she can speak, he's appeared to pay for her drink. Blind luck has handed him the advantage.

Time passes. In conversation, their logical brains justify what their animal brains have already decided to do. He invites her to his room. She accepts.

Rule 1: All players must enter the game with a genuine desire to win, and all players must attempt to win to the best of their abilities.

She knows she has to retake the initiative, so with something approaching a judo throw she pushes him to the bed, seating him there and pulling him out. What she saw worried her; Any bigger and she'd have to be cautious; any smaller and he wouldn't be able to reach that spot deep inside she needed him to touch.

Her blowjob was coy; moments of teasing, pregnant pauses, stops to plant a kiss on the tip- a master at work, pushing him closer and closer to the surrender she needed him to offer. Soon, she'd slow, and stop, and make him beg for all of her. She'd make him kneel, and he'd taste her, and she'd win.

Rule 2: No toys or tools may be used to induce a surrender.

Her skill told him she'd handled larger, but her excitement told him he was exactly the right size. Withholding, then granting, slowing and accelerating, then slowing again- he knew that this was her game, that she'd driven many men to surrender this way. He needed to turn the tide, and fast. His chance came- her hands placed above him, wrists too close together. Another man wouldn't have had the will to end the pleasure they were feeling. With one hand, he lifted her face from him, and with the other, he grabbed both wrists.

Just as she was to slow down, to offer him more in exchange for submission, her hands were above her head, her body pinned to the wall. A gasp escaped her, as his eyes found her. An inch separated their lips. He stared into her eyes, eyes rich with defiance and will. He stared deeply into her as his free hand slowly slid up her leg, over her clothes, under her panties. Slowly, step by step, his fingers worked their way to the top of her, finding her place, entering her and massaging her all at once- all while his eyes stared into hers, watching the pleasure begin to melt her. Her breathing quickened, her legs shuddered. She remained standing, and her eyes remained with his. They now knew themselves to be in the presence of a master of this form, a master of the melding of bodies and the evocation of pleasure- but there can only be one master, and the other a slave. The game was not yet over.

Rule 3: No penetrative sex may occur until a surrender has occurred. When no players are capable of penetration, an alternative threshold should be mutually agreed upon before the start of play.

Thumb at the top and two fingers inside- big circles, and come-hither curls. She felt it build, but knew she could hold herself, knew she could remain in control even as it ripped over her and she shuddered in ecstasy. She prepared herself, ready to counter-attack once the waves passed over her, but just before her culmination, he stopped. She was released, his hand withdrawn, and he zipped himself up. He stood near the door, watching her sweaty, adrenaline-wracked body try to compensate, try to show that it wasn't begging, screaming for him to take her, to just kneel, to receive his mastery. He stared, she panted. She had seen, felt, tasted too much of him. Next time, she would know more. Next time, she would win.

Rule 4: A player has surrendered to another player when they voluntarily make eye contact and kneel. No player may be forced to surrender by physical means. The surrendered player is considered a slave for the rest of that night's gameplay, and the person to whom they have surrendered is their master.

She knelt.

Rule 5: A slave must obey all commands from their master, with the exception of any commands which are refused under Rule 0 or any commands which conflict with a declared sexual orientation. Certain activities or commands are subject to pre-clearance, and pre-clearance procedures are described in appendix A.

Her blowjob was now that of the dedicated servant. She worshipped at the altar of him, taking him to the base, one hand holding the back of his thigh that she might take more of him, faster. He commanded, and her other hand found herself, raggedly working to build the orgasm he wanted to see. She felt him shift, felt the pace build; he grabbed her hair, pulled her off of him, and marked her face. She could taste some of him, smell all of him- his scent in her nostrils, mixed with her scent rising from her sex. She moved to clean her face- he commanded, she stopped. She would be marked for the entire night.

He lifted her, placed her on the bed, stripped her naked. He kissed her collar, her breast, every movement noting the subtle shifts of her muscle, the halted breathing, the gasps and shallow moans. She had not yet come, and her body was begging for release. She had surrendered to him for this, and he would give it to her. After minutes of kiss and touch everywhere but where she needed, he tasted her. His tongue entered her, then moved upwards, slowly, to flick just once over her clit. One flick released her, her body arcing off the bed, grasping the sheets, but he kept coming unrelentingly, grasping her hips and pulling her closer, drinking her pleasure endlessly, knowing that with every gasping breath she was smelling and tasting the parts of him he had left on her face, knowing that every orgasm she ever had would conjure the memory of his smell, and his taste. Her body craved him, and would forever crave him.

She was face down now, lifting herself to present herself for him. He teased, gently rubbing himself at her entrance, slowly lubricating himself. He entered her in one swift movement, she perfectly containing him, he perfectly filling her. He pinned her to the bed, pushing her further and further down, hammering her, whispering into her ear as she begged, begging to please her master more, begging him to keep that angle, use himself on that spot, that spot so many boyfriends failed to find, as he found it again and again and again, she soaking the sheets, she begging for more and more and more, losing track of the endless waves of pleasure. He would withdraw, and command, and she would kneel and lick herself off of him, before he would pin her to the wall and hit the spots she'd never found on her own, hitting those spots as he messaged the outside of her, as she bit and clawed and breathed the smell of his sweat and her sweat, his cum and her cum, until the two bodies and smells and tastes were as one.

She is on the bed, looking into his eyes, he is on top, looking into her eyes. He is close, and she has lost track of her number. He is raw inside of her, and she is begging him to mark her inside as he's marked her face. Her legs grab him, pulling him deeper, pulling him faster, until he slams every inch of himself into her and fills her, pumping more and more of himself into her, as her pleading turns to incoherent wails of raw, animal pleasure.

He pulls out of her, and she crawls over to taste them together one final time. She collapses into her own sweat and sex, the piece of himself slowly dripping between her legs. She curls up over him, exhausted, as they both drift into a deep, restful sleep.

Rule 6: What is inside the game stays inside the game, and what is outside the game stays outside the game.

At 11, they check out. They are going to separate airplanes, separate cities, separate lives. They will each play this game again, sometimes winning, sometimes losing; they will see each other again. On their way out, they noticed that their dates were also checking out together.

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APPENDIX A: PRE-CLEARANCE

When players wish to play for higher stakes, a pre-clearance phase is initiated after all players have come into a private space but before the beginning of play. What ought to be subject to pre-clearance is a subject of some debate, but any use of non-standard tools or toys, any toys of unusual size or shape, any fetish play involving bodily functions not normally involved in intercourse, any physical restraint of any player, any intentional infliction of pain, or any involvement of anyone outside the gameplay (including exhibitionism or voyeurism) are always subject to pre-clearance. As always, when in doubt, ask.

If an activity is pre-cleared, it is pre-cleared for all players; anyone who surrenders may be commanded to participate in any pre-cleared activity, and the only way to refuse that command is to trigger rule 0 and end the game. Players are encouraged to consider that in the case of their defeat they will be expected to participate in any and all pre-cleared activities, and so should not pre-clear anything they are unwilling to be on the receiving end of.

APPENDIX B: GENERAL BEST PRACTICE

As with any athletic competition, strong players engage in both physical conditioning and theoretical study. Strategies of play vary wildly from player to player, as surprise is a strong element of successful gameplay.

Some players may have disabilities which prevent them from exactly performing some elements of the rules (e. g. a player who uses a wheelchair being unable to kneel.) These rules assume that players with disabilities have experience modifying sexual activity to accommodate those disabilities, and are assumed to be willing and able to adapt these rules to suit their individual needs.

Due to the zero-sum nature of the game, various proposals have been made to adapt Chess' ELO system to this game. No sanctioning body or universal ruleset exists for the game at this time, and the observation of referees or judges would probably have a substantial detrimental impact on gameplay for all but a few players with certain inclinations towards observing and being observed. As a result, the game is unable to make ranked competitive sex a reality, and which players have achieved the rank of master and grandmaster cannot be verified at this time.