The New Adventures of Amber!

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:23 pm

Just them my phone buzzed again. This time it was a text from Katie.

"Need to talk 2U," it said.

"I'm at The Wanderer."

"Where is that?"

"The bar on Jefferson."

"Come to the house. Craig and I want to talk."

"I'm here for the duration. Sorry."

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"Another booty call?"

"Hahaha! No, smart-ass. It's Amber's sister. God knows what she wants. Trying to tear me away from you and I WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN!"

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"Very good. I think it's time for another drink. Same thing?"

"Yup. Thank you, Diana."

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She gave me another big smile, and I stopped to consider something.

"Hey Diana."

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"What's that? Want something else? I make a mean martini, you know."

"Nah. I have a question. You have a boyfriend, or are you single?"

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"I'm single. Why? You have a rich friend you can set me up with?"

"Maybe I do. What are you looking for?"

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"Well, he needs to be tall, kind of athletic - if he's not in shape it's OK, because my other job is I'm a personal trainer so I can get him in shape..."

"You aren't going to recite the Six Sixes to me, are you?"

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"What are the Six Sixes?"

"You're sure you're a female? You don't know the Six Sixes?"

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"Not a clue."

"So, a guy has to be...

Six feet tall
Six figure income
Six hundred horsepower car
Six pack abs
Six months out of a relationship and
Six inches in the pants."

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"Oh, that's ridiculous."

"Wow. Good for you, Diana."

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"I mean, who cares how many horsepower his car is. So long as it's a Merc or a Lexus."

I gave her a funny smile. And then I realized she was serious.

"Anyway, I'll look around for you," I said.

Just then, there was a tap on my shoulder...

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"OK, you have to take me with you."

"Rachel, you don't want to go to Mexico."

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"I don't want YOU to go to Mexico. But I'm definitely not letting you go alone."

"I appreciate that. It's very sweet. But no. I'm doing this alone. If it goes badly, there's no collateral damage."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:31 pm

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"Yeah, but we can help, Oscar."

"You've already helped as much as you can. I set a meeting for me to go down there. If I show up with anyone else, it'll look hostile."

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"True, but..."

"But nothing. I already have a plan. How do you know about this, anyway?"

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"Stella called me. She's worried about you."

"Good old Stella. She had no idea Dan Cole even knew this guy El Tiburon. Was totally floored when I popped out that they'd gone to college together."

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"I know. She and Cole had a big fight about it and she moved out because of that."

"Wow. That's a new piece of information."

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"Can I get you something, honey?"

"Rachel, meet Diana, my favorite bartender. Diana, meet Rachel, my business partner."

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"Charmed," said Rachel.

"Likewise!"

"I'll have a glass of Chardonnay."

"Wow, take it easy, Rachel."

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"You're right. I should be guzzling bourbon like you are. I'm about to lose my best friend, after all."

"No you aren't. Stop trying to talk me out of this, will you?"

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"OK, OK."

"It's like none of you have faith in me."

Just then...

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"OK, are you going to Mexico to try to get Amber back?"

"Hi Katie. How are you?"

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"Just answer the question. Because I think it's a really bad idea, and so does Craig."

"He's going," said Rachel, "and he's not listening to any of us."

"Hey Diana," I said, "these women don't want me to make the trip. What do you think?"

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"Do you love her?" she asked. "I mean, really love her?"

"Of course I do."

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"Then go. Definitely, go."

"Thank you, Diana. Another one for me, and a round for my friends, please."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Sun Mar 24, 2024 11:43 pm

Ehhh, sorry about the split pages, guys. The phone rang, I got distracted, and the next thing I knew I'd posted Part 1 on the previous page.

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:13 am

The revelry at The Wanderer went on a lot longer than Katie could stand, particularly after I told her - and regretfully took it back via text when I got home - that her resistance to the idea I would go to Mexico to rescue Amber had to do with a latent sex thing on her part.

That ran her off.

Honestly, I'm pretty sure I was right about that, but I was most of the way through a bottle of Woodford that Diana kept bringing on a steady pour, and my filter was leaky, if not nonexistent.

Katie left in a huff. Rachel stayed.

She worked on me a little about letting her and her guys help. I said no, and I won the argument.

What I like about Rachel is she isn't arrogant. When I definitively told her that the trip to Monterrey was something I needed to do, and do alone, she stopped.

"You've considered this, and thought about it, and this is your best judgement?" she asked me.

"I have, and yes," I said. "I don't want to put anybody else at risk. When I asked you to find the kidnapper and you did, multiple people got hurt. I'm going to do this, but whatever bad consequences happen if it goes wrong need to come down on me. Nobody else."

"OK," she said.

And then she stayed with me, drinking round for round, though hers was wine and mine was bourbon, until closing time. Then she insisted on getting the Uber that dropped us off - her at her place and me at mine.

I was kind of proud of myself that even as plastered as I was, I didn't try to make a move on her.

And I slept in, in a major way. Which, as it turned out, was a blessing.

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"Holy shit! There you ARE! I have missed you so much I can't stand it!"

"Hey there, Amber. This is definitely a blessing."

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"Wait, what's up with you? You look pretty rough."

"Well, I kinda tied one on last night. Stayed out until closing time."

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"Hmmm. Don't like that. That's not like you."

"Well, let's call it a special occasion."

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"Like what?"

"How about this? I'll tell you all about it the next time I see you."

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"Well, OK, but is that going to be soon? I mean, my hours are..."

"Amber. Let's not talk about hours. Tell me everything, will you? We tried to rescue you in Tampico and we missed you by, from what they told me, a couple of hours. Now you turn up in this dream and you look...better."

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"I know, right? OK, so I could kinda say that I did get rescued, even though I would much rather have been by you. I'm not in Tampico anymore. I'm with Tibby."

"Tibby being El Tiburon, otherwise known as Juan Pedro Lopez Andujar."

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"Oh my God. How could you possibly know that?"

"Rachel and I are in the security consulting business now, you know. And Rachel's intelligence assets are first-class."

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"I'm...impressed."

"Anyway, go on. How did all this happen?"

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"OK, so he comes to the warehouse, and they line all of us up, and he picked out two of the real girls that he wanted to take with him. But he kept looking over at me, and then he came up to me and he asked what it was about me that was different from the other girls."

"He couldn't tell you were a Factory Girl?"

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"No, not at first."

"Interestingly enough, Diana, the bartender at The Wanderer where I was last night, didn't know you were a Factory Girl last night either."

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"Oh, come on."

"I shit you not."

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"That's really funny, honey. Anyway, so I told him I was a Factory Girl. And he asked those guys at the warehouse - oh my God, what a bunch of sleazeballs they were - what they were doing with me, or at least that's what I think he asked them, because they told him 'Nina Cola.'

"Right. Butt-girl."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:23 am

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"Yeah. So he asks me if they've treated me well. And I told him I'm OK. He laughs and tells me he doesn't believe me. But he made me bend over and pull up my pillow-case dress..."

"Which I notice you don't have on anymore."

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"Oh God, tell me about it. So I pull it up and he looks my butt over, and he sticks his finger in there, and he asks me what I do to keep it clean. And I tell him I'm always washing down there plus I don't have to eat, and he says that this is a rare talent he wants at the Hacienda."

"Let me stop you right there. You're at the Hacienda now?"

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"Yeah. And Oscar, compared to that awful warehouse this is heaven. Honey, it's fantastic. I mean, I have my own bed, or half of a bed..."

"Half of a bed?"

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"Well, I mean, I share it with Latoya."

"And who is Latoya?"

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"She's kind of like the house mother here, I guess. She takes care of the real girls in the harem, but she, I don't know, took a shine to me. She's a pretty good cuddler."

"I see."

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"Honey, don't freak out about that. She's sweet to me. In fact, everybody here is sweet to me. Well, a couple of the real girls are mean. But it's petty-mean. It's not fear-for-your-life mean, like some of what happened in Tampico."

"So you're...part of a harem?"

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"That would...yeah. That's actually a really good way to put it. So Tibby has a wife, but she's really more like an ex-wife except the culture down here is like, I don't know, you don't get a divorce, but anyway she took his two little boys and split. She's in Denver or Salt Lake City or Albuquerque or somewhere and she spends half his money on whatever. And so he decided that he would turn the Hacienda into a..."

"Brothel?"

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"I mean, it's kinda like the Playboy Mansion. There's like a dozen real girls here, and they're all like early 20's party girls. And me."

"Are you still the buttgirl?"

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"Yes, but it's only a couple of Tibby's guys who want me to do that. And Tibby like, three times. But mostly he just wants me to hang around. I think he just likes looking at me. I'm like a sculpture or a painting for him, or something."

"I notice that he's made a few changes with you."

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"Hah! Can't miss them, right? Starting with the nose ring, I guess."

"I'm surprised you let them do that to you."

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"It's not like I had a choice. But it's not really that bad. Tibby thought it was really funny when I whined and said it made me feel like a cow giving me this."

"Whiny Amber struck out? That's unfortunate."

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"Well, I'll have you know that Whiny Amber is not without some accomplishments. For example, I'm tattoo-free, and that took some doing, let me tell you."

"Good girl."

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:32 am

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"But I had to give some ground. You can't really see, because I'm on my stomach."

"You got a belly ring."

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"That's not all."

"What, down there?"

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"No, thank God. But I no longer have virgin nipples."

"Hmmm."

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"Plus there's the hair. Do you like it?"

"It's very black. And very straight."

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"And awfully permanent, too."

"Oh?"

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"Oh, yeah. Matteo, who's like Tibby's second in command, said if I'm going to be the nina el viernes..."

"What is that?"

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"Like Girl Friday, I guess..."

"Oh. OK."

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"...that I needed to be authentically Mexican. So they picked this hair out for me and, well..."

"They glued it on?"

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"Not exactly. I got nailed."

"They nailed that hair on you?"

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"They totally did. And it HURT."

"Does it hurt now?"

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"Nah. It's good. But when I pull on it and those nails move in my scalp, OH MY GOD it hurts. So, like, I'm committed with this hair. But the good news is that it's, like, the best pony-tail hair I've ever had. I can style it a zillion different ways, and that's so much fun!"

"It almost sounds like you're enjoying your captivity over there, Amber."

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"You know, I haven't really thought of it as captivity here. And honestly, honey, that's a good thing."

"You want to explain that?"

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:40 am

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"Well, here's the part I don't think you're going to like. So when I was in Tampico and we were working on you getting me rescued, it was realistic. They only had a handful of guys and they were really, sort of, goofballs. A bunch of young thug type guys."

"And?"

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"And here it's like 90 guys with rifles. And they're legit guys. Like, they're sicarios. These are the boss' best fighters. This place is a fortress. You're not going to be able to rescue me from here, honey."

"Well, that's too bad."

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"What does that mean?"

I thought about it, and maybe it was the growing hangover that I knew was going to clobber me when I woke up, but I decided things would go easier if I didn't tell Amber I was coming to get her in a day and a half.

"Nothing, other than I would prefer you here in bed with me."

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"Oh, wow. Me too! But I think we have to deal in reality, and baby, the reality is that I'm going to be here with Tibby for, you know, like, the foreseeable future."

"I'd really like it to be different than that."

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"Well, yeah. But after that warehouse in Tampico, I can say this: if this is what it's going to be for me, I'll take it. I'm at an absolutely beautiful place, I mean, the Hacienda is on a hilltop and you can see the whole city of Monterrey from here, and it's really beautiful, there's a pool that all of us girls hang around all day, every night there's a party, and all of these people are really nice to me."

"So what I said is right."

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"What? That I'm happy?"

"Yeah."

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"OK, honey. You have to understand that I'm operating inside what's possible. And under the circmstances, yeah. Absolutely I'm happy. I can totally deal with this."

"I don't know that I like the sound of that."

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"Yeah, fine, but what are you gonna do about it? I mean, I'm like a pet here and everybody thinks I'm cute, they've got me wearing these hot bikinis all day and they're all ogling me which you know I get a kick out of, and it's all sexual innuendo and slaps on my butt and a bunch of stuff that lets me know I'm desirable. For what I'm stuck with, it could be a lot worse, you know."

"Amber, so you're a bikini buttgirl and you like it?"

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"As opposed to a crack-whore in a warehouse in Tampico, of course I do. Oh, and I'm not really Amber anymore."

"Wait, stop. What?"

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"Yeah, Matteo said Amber wasn't a Mexican enough name, so when I told them that Grace was my middle name they decided I would be Graciela from now on. So I'm Graciela, and when I finally learn Spanish and a Mexican accent I'll just be a completely Mexican girl."

"So Graciela - I mean, Amber - I just have one question for you."

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"Ask me anything, honey."

"If the possibility of getting out of there and coming home turned up for you, would you take it? Or would you stay with this guy Tibby?"

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"Oh, come on. I can't believe LaToya is waking me up now. It's like, what, 10 o'clock? I'm supposed to be able to sleep until noon."

"Amber? Before you go, can I get an answer?"

"OF COURSE I'D COME HOME!" I could hear her say before she faded away.

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:40 am

Here's a raw shot from that last entry that I thought was worth posting on its own...

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koaplayer1998 · Post by **koaplayer1998** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 1:28 pm

Oscar DeBarataria wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:40 am Here's a raw shot from that last entry that I thought was worth posting on its own...
20240325_180045.jpg

Subtitle for it: "Amber......gorgeous slave girl."

Beautiful setup and shot, either raw or edited version.

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:24 pm

koaplayer1998 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 1:28 pm
Oscar DeBarataria wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 10:40 am Here's a raw shot from that last entry that I thought was worth posting on its own...
20240325_180045.jpg
Subtitle for it: "Amber......gorgeous slave girl."

Beautiful setup and shot, either raw or edited version.

Very much obliged!

I'm having a lot of fun with the composite images, but I don't think I'm quite expert at them yet. I keep finding errors or inconsistencies which serve as dead giveaways that it's a composite.

Some of the folks here are a lot further along in making them. I guess I just need to keep watching Photoshop tutorials and other things and continue trying to refine my craft.

But hey, it's a fun hobby even if it's still in development. Besides, Amber has a story to tell, and she needs my help to tell it!

koaplayer1998 · Post by **koaplayer1998** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:31 pm

Oscar DeBarataria wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:24 pm Very much obliged!
I'm having a lot of fun with the composite images, but I don't think I'm quite expert at them yet. I keep finding errors or inconsistencies which serve as dead giveaways that it's a composite.
Some of the folks here are a lot further along in making them. I guess I just need to keep watching Photoshop tutorials and other things and continue trying to refine my craft.
But hey, it's a fun hobby even if it's still in development. Besides, Amber has a story to tell, and she needs my help to tell it!

I would venture to say that most of us reading and following the stories don't even go looking close enough to the pictures to notice. Maybe only those who are also doing it, as a means of comparison. Keeping in mind that it's not a forum primarily dedicated to photography or graphics (it's just a bonus), I'd say they look plenty good enough for most of us.

eqshinozaki444 · Post by **eqshinozaki444** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:38 pm

She looks beautiful!

Very Livvy Dunne-esque

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:42 pm

eqshinozaki444 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:38 pm She looks beautiful! Very Livvy Dunne-esque

Oh, you totally nailed that. I didn't even think of Livvy Dunne, but YEP.

Oscar DeBarataria · Post by **Oscar DeBarataria** » Tue Mar 26, 2024 6:41 pm

koaplayer1998 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:31 pm
Oscar DeBarataria wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 2:24 pm Very much obliged!
I'm having a lot of fun with the composite images, but I don't think I'm quite expert at them yet. I keep finding errors or inconsistencies which serve as dead giveaways that it's a composite.
Some of the folks here are a lot further along in making them. I guess I just need to keep watching Photoshop tutorials and other things and continue trying to refine my craft.
But hey, it's a fun hobby even if it's still in development. Besides, Amber has a story to tell, and she needs my help to tell it!
I would venture to say that most of us reading and following the stories don't even go looking close enough to the pictures to notice. Maybe only those who are also doing it, as a means of comparison. Keeping in mind that it's not a forum primarily dedicated to photography or graphics (it's just a bonus), I'd say they look plenty good enough for most of us.

So for example, I just picked up a trick for helping to kill those obvious edges around parts of a composite image that are so hard to get rid of, especially on hair. And also a trick for matching the light from the background, which is brutally difficult to do by hand.

And it led to a little better composite image...