WELCOME TO OUR 5TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY
     Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth anniversary party, organized this
year and with entertainment provided by the Brande Fan Club.  I'm your host,
party girl Maya Ibuki, and I'll be emmceeing today's festivities.  For those of
you unfamiliar with our group as the name suggests we're big fans of our
Brande-chan, former fugitive from the Institute and now a part time tester for
QuaT, better known to fans of escapology around the world as Houdini-chan Brande.
     For a long time now those of us in the club have thrilled to Brande-chan's
private demonstrations of her art but as she said to us at a recent meeting,
"It's about time you showed me what you've learned from watching me".  Well
there were several members of the group willing to take that challenge though
they wanted to specify the restraint they'd try and escape from.  Meanwhile as
I was also on the committee for putting together the anniversary party the
idea occurred to me.  Why not combine them?
     A couple of the volunteers bowed out when I proposed making it a public
event (and were pranked for being spoilsports) but the others were game and
Brande-chan's been getting them ready while the anniversary cake was served.
I see that Brande-chan returned from behind the curtain and has joined the
line for cake.  Oh good, she's just got a slice.
     So it's time for our brave volunteers to show us what they can do while
Brande-chan enjoys both the show and a piece of the anniversary cake.  Let's
see how they're doing so far.
     Raise the curtain!




     Hmmmm ... hope Brande-chan's a slow eater because while she locked them
into their restraints while we were starting the party they've all got a long
way to go.  That's despite the fact that from the sweats they've already
worked up most of them jumped the gun and started trying to escape immediately
instead of waiting for the curtain to open.
     Guess they didn't pay as much attention as they thought to Brande-chan
though to be fair she did warn them that a couple of these restraints have
always defeated her own attempts to escape them.
     Anyway while you're watching the action I'll give you a bit of background
about the escapes they're all trying.
     Pheobe asked to try the classic inverted straitjacket escape but freaked
when Brande-chan jokingly suggested she also try the old trick of doing it
while the rope suspending her is on fire so there's only has a few minutes
before it burns through.  Just as well she refused to consider it since she's
having enough trouble without a deadline like that looming over her.
     Meanwhile Melanie is trying her escapology skills on a relatively simpler
problem of wriggling out of a transport jacket, straps and a muzzle gag.  Hope
she doesn't overbalance and land on top of Margrave who's having more trouble
than she expected with her single-glove and hogtie combination.
     I know Margrave was expecting to be free by now but while we were
collecting the props for the party Brande-chan mentioned to me that she had
figured out Margrave's backup plan to escape by cheating if her escapology
skills were lacking.  She explained it's common knowledge that for some reason
Margrave's fingernails and toenails are remarkably strong and sharp (remember
that ridiculous rumor Margrave's really a catwoman in human form and her nails
are actually claws?) which explained the escape she'd picked.  The leather
armbinder Margrave had selected would be simple for her to puncture with her
fingertips and she could then use her nails to cut the rope binding her into
a hogtie.  Like Brande-chan she's very flexible so it would be simple to then
bring her ankle bonds close enough to slice open with her fingernails.  After
which once she'd kicked of her boots (or cut through the tips) she could bend
her legs enough to use her toenails to tear open the body of the single-glove
thus freeing her arms.
     Well that was her plan but since Brande-chan had figured it out she
substituted the leather armbinder Margrave had picked for a Delta Latex
copy which she's discovered she can't cut from the inside.  Also Brande-chan
made one other substitution that Margrave discovered after she'd been strapped
into the armbinder.  Brande-chan strapped a leather cuff with a metal ring
around her wrists and linked the ring to the center of the bar she cuffed
Margrave's ankles to so she's in a hogtied posture but not quite the way she
expected.
     Just before she was gagged Margrave protested that this wasn't what she'd
signed up for but Brande reminded her of the old adage that cheaters never
prosper and wished her good luck escaping by skill alone.  Considering her
progress I'd say Margrave needs all the luck she can get.
     Our last three volunteers consider themselves too skilled to bother with
anything so mundane so they've all picked devices which have defeated
Brande-chan's talents.  Right now it's definitely looking as if pride goeth
before a fall.
     In one of her performances Brande-chan is restrained and then sealed in
a transparent latex inflatable ball.  It's sometimes called a Womb Ball
because the double-layered restraint keeps Brande-chan suspended within and
it's difficult to move inside.  Normally despite the difficulty Brande-chan
can escape from her restraints but if the ball zipper is locked she can't
escape from the ball itself.
     Erica said she could top that and escape both her bonds and the locked
ball.  It's looking as if she was a little overconfident since she had yet to
escape from her ball-tied posture, let alone the locked Womb Ball.
     Ishy also seems to have bitten off more than she can chew (speaking of
which I see Brande-chan drawing every mouthful of cake out for as long as
possible but I still don't fancy our would-be escapologists chances of
fufilling their boasts of finishing before she's done eating) but she was
adamant about wanting a real challenge.
     I'm not sure that Brande-chan was serious when she offered Ishy her
Locking Restraint Suit which confines the entire body below the neck.  But
Ishy accepted even after Brande-chan told her that she's still working on a
way to beat the suit and hasn't escaped from it yet.  Brande-chan also told
her that the pedestal the feet of the suit lock onto is weighted so you can't
overbalance and try to knock the locks loose by tipping over but from the way
her head's swaying back and forth Ishy wasn't listening.  She's certainly
looking frustrated now and might be close to accepting that Brande-chan was
right about its inescapability.
     Last but not least we have Tasha trying out another restraint that's
always defeated Brande-chan.  It's deceptively simple, a large bodybag, thin
and coneshaped that has armsleeves inside which keep the arms pinned to the
wearer's sides.  It works like this, you slid in nude (that's not essential
but you'll just ruin your outfit with sweat and build up even more heat
inside if you enter dressed) until the bodybag comes up to your bosom and the
armsleeves come up to your forearms.  The bag is then suspended and, as you
can see from Tasha's example, attempts to struggle upwards only make your
body sink slowly down into the bag.  It's hard to fight friction and gravity.
     Tasha's already sunk to her neck and if we wait long enough her head
will sink inside the latex bag and the armsleeves will have ridden up to her
armpits.  At that point she'll be as helpless as a cork in a bottle and, as
Brande-chan warned her, the only way out is somebody taking down the bag and
turning it inside out until her head and shoulders are exposed so she can be
grabbed and pulled out.  Incidentally for those who have noticed the tiny
puddle below her there's a small hole at the bottom of the bag so that sweat
can drip out.  If it was allowed to pool in the bag it might possibly expand
the bag and give the escapologist something to work with.  A feature Brande
has pondered but she hasn't quite given up on beating the bag as it stands.
     I see that Brande-chan finishing her slice of cake and our volunteers
are no closer to getting free but while they're waiting Brande-chan's going to
give us some escapology demonstrations.  She's going to show us how certain
chairties can be rigged to be escapable and then let us use her as our model
to show what we've learned.
    What she doesn't know yet is that I've talked it over with the other
fanclub members and for her last demonstration we're going to tie her as
inescapably as possible.  So while they'll provide a great backdrop to the
party neither she nor our volunteers will be going anywhere.  Then when the
party winds down and wraps up we'll collect her and our bound and gagged
friends for a private club party that's going to run all weekend.  Monday
morning Brande-chan will be back in her room and the volunteers will be back
at work but until then they're Brande Fan Club property. 
     I can't tell you more than that as its members only.
     If you'd like to join the fanclub and be part of our next event I'll be
taking applications on monday.  But for now I've got plans for the weekend and
I'm not doing any more clerical work today.
     Hope you're enjoying the party but right now I'm going to shut up and
watch Brande-chan.

     Maya - Brande Fan Club President


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