Message-ID: <46881asstr$1077685807@assm.asstr-mirror.org> Return-Path: X-Original-Path: not-for-mail From: artyeleven@yahoo.co.uk (Artyeleven) X-Original-Message-ID: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2004 17:11:13 +0000 (UTC) X-ASSTR-Original-Date: 24 Feb 2004 09:11:13 -0800 Subject: {ASSM} Serena 6/10 {Arty} (MF slow rom cons D/S Mdom Fdom span lght) Lines: 695 Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 00:10:07 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, hoisingr Serena by Arty 6. Trip to Wonderland We stood together at the bottom of the drive. I felt slightly silly in just my coat and a pair of slippers. Serena had wanted me to wear trainers -- she'd said I would look cute bending over with nothing on as I tried to undo the laces. Serena looked sexy in her calf-length raincoat and a pair of court shoes. She hadn't bothered to do up any of the buttons but had simply used the belt to hold it closed. Each time I turned to look at her, I could see a wonderful amount of cleavage. I pondered this; why was I turned on by this display, when in a few minutes we would be naked and I would see much more of her? The car making its all but silent arrival interrupted my train of thought. We waited for Sylvie to open the door for us. Serena turned to me. "Strip now, David, and get in the car and kneel." I slipped out of my footwear and I shrugged off my coat. Even though I can't have been exposed for more than a second, it felt like hours at least. In my haste I almost sat on the seat, but remembered Serena's last instruction and knelt in the way that I had practiced earlier. My pulse was as fast as if I had run a five-minute mile and I concentrated on breathing slowly, lest I faint from hyperventilation. Serena followed me into the car in a much more leisurely fashion; her position mirrored mine and she smiled gently in encouragement. The limousine started away with a barely perceptible jerk. I stared at Serena's gently swaying breasts. This was not the most sensible thing to do if I was trying to stay flaccid. I realised this as I felt myself start to harden. Serena was no help as she licked her lips and leered at my erection. I closed my eyes and tried to think of something mundane. Unfortunately each activity that I considered seemed to be invaded by the remembered sensation of a pair of lips and a tongue. All too soon I felt the turning that heralded the final few hundred yards along the drive up to the mansion. I felt myself blush crimson as I realised that I would be meeting my fiancée's mother naked and with an erection! I opened my eyes as we drew to a halt and Serena grinned mischievously. I swear that she was telepathic. I groaned inaudibly as I glanced out and saw Serena's mother waiting for us. I thanked whatever Gods were listening just then, for the absence of Jack. We waited with varying degrees of impatience and trepidation for Sylvie to open the doors of the limousine. I felt a breeze as the door opened behind me and I slid carefully out of the car. Serena must have had soles of iron, as the gravel seemed to be tearing my feet to shreds. I swayed as I tried to find a position that didn't hurt my feet. The pain distracted me for a while so it was an embarrassing surprise when I looked up and saw that Serena and her mother had come from around the other side of the car. Salome stared frankly at my erection. "I can see why you don't want to let this one go." "Mother!" "Since David is finding the gravel a bit uncomfortable shall we adjourn to the grass?" We all made our way to the grass where Serena knelt gracefully, extending her head forward while holding her hair away with both hands. Salome indicated that I should kneel also. Taking one of the collars that she held, she buckled it onto her daughter and checked it for tightness. I leant forward and lifted my chin expecting her to do the same. She shook her head. "Oh no, I won't be collaring you. That is only done by your Mistress," she stroked her daughter's hair. "Or your Master, should you ever have one." She signalled to her daughter, who regained her feet and walked to stand in front of me. I was still staring at her feet when I felt her hand underneath my chin as she raised my head to look into my eyes. Her mother handed her the remaining collar, which she took and placed around my neck. Before she buckled it, she spoke to me -- asking me the questions that we had discussed at various times the previous week. "Do you willingly submit to me for as long as I shall deem necessary?" "I do." "Will you do your utmost to obey me in all things?" "I will." "Do you accept punishment as the consequence for being unable to do my will?" "I shall." "Will you love, honour and obey me?" She winked at me as she ad-libbed a parody of the wedding service from the Book of Common Prayer. "I do." I tried to show her with my eyes and my demeanour that I was serious about marrying her; whatever the circumstances. She started to tear up a little as she realised what I had said. "Will you accept this collar as a token of the vows that you have just taken?" "I will." With that she buckled the collar tight. Even for someone as used to wearing ties as the average British office worker, the collar was different again. I waited as she checked the fit. My breathing was not affected, but each time I swallowed I felt the restriction of the collar. It was an ever-present reminder of my servitude. Serena bent down and kissed me. She had kissed me many times before but for some reason this kiss was different; I felt owned. She stopped kissing me and signalled that I should rise. "Well done, David." I smiled at the praise. "Now, some rules: firstly, do not speak unless you are asked to respond. Second, I am 'Mistress Jane', or 'Mistress'. Third, apart from 'Yes, Mistress' or 'No Mistress' the first and last word from you should be 'Mistress'. Finally, I want you sexually aroused at all times in my presence, unless I tell you otherwise - but you may not cum unless you are given permission." She looked at me, as I digested the weight of her words. "Do you understand?" "Yes, Mistress." "Good." She stared at my erection, which had started to flag a little. I followed the direction of her gaze and I blushed as I realised that I would have to do something about it in front of her mother. I started to move my hand and then I realised that I didn't know if I should ask permission. I looked pleadingly at my Mistress. "Would you like to ask a question, David?" "Mistress, may I use my hand?" I paused and then I remembered the third rule. "Mistress." She smirked at my obvious lapse, but she seemed disposed to let it go this once. "Yes, David, you may use your hand to wank for me." I flushed bright red at her choice of words, but bit my tongue and started to stroke my rapidly declining erection. I'd thought that arriving with a hard-on was the ultimate in embarrassment. I discovered that masturbating in front of your future mother-in-law ranks up there in the stratosphere, along with farting loudly in church and that sort of thing. I was perversely turned-on and in no time my erection was as hard as it had ever been. In an effort to take my mind off things, I stared at my Mistress's crotch and was profoundly pleased to discover that she was as aroused as I was. "I think that's enough for now. We don't want you to break rule four so early in the proceedings, do we?" Rule four? What was rule four? I replayed her first instructions in my mind, '... you may not cum unless you are given permission.' I let go of myself as if I had been scalded. I groaned as I felt that terrible weakness that pervades you just as you are about to ejaculate. I believed that I could actually feel the fluid entering the base of my penis. I watched in horrified fascination as it twitched in time with the beating of my heart. Slowly, oh so slowly I felt myself retreat from the precipice as I moaned in frustration. Serena, I caught myself, Mistress Jane watched this performance with a wicked smile. "Now that you've cooled down I think we can go inside." She leant forward and gently grasped my cock and started to lead me towards the house. I heard Salome chuckle as I attempted not to place my full weight on my feet in a vain effort to reduce the pain of the sharp gravel. "Just try and walk normally. It's a lot less painful in the long run." I did as she suggested and discovered that she was correct; I reflected that my feet were likely to be getting a lot tougher in the next few weeks. I wondered what would happen next, but the constant light tugging kept derailing my thoughts as my new Mistress led me through the house towards the next part of my training. We arrived at a door labelled 'Supplies'. Serena let go of me and bade me stay and none too soon. My arousal level was dangerously high and it had been all too likely that I would have broken rule four in a humiliating fashion. I waited impassively as she opened the door to reveal a small cupboard full of various odd pieces of leather, some of which I recognised and others that I could fathom no use for. Serena, I caught myself again - this was much harder than I thought it would be - Mistress Jane selected several things and then closed the door. "Close your eyes." I did so and then felt something substantial wrapped around my head. Instinctively I tried to open my eyes and realised that I couldn't; a soft sponginess kept my eyelids closed. I felt something being wrapped around each of my wrists. "Hands behind your back." Again, I hurried to do as I was told. I heard a faint click and my hands were now all but useless -- trapped behind me. I struggled a little when I realised what had been done, then I felt Mistress' breath on my ear as she whispered calmingly to me. "Shh. It's all right. I love you. No harm will come to you, relax." I felt the incipient panic recede as she continued to croon in my ear and rub my shoulders gently. When she felt that I had calmed sufficiently she stopped and I felt the wrapping sensation around each ankle. I diverted myself by trying to imagine what I looked like. The vision of a naked slave collared, cuffed and blindfolded brought a surge of arousal and I moaned in frustration as I realised that I couldn't cum without permission. Although tied as I was, there was nothing I could do about it anyway. I wondered how long this would continue. "Oh! You look so hot, my darling Slave." I felt a burst of pleasure; my Mistress was pleased with me! Then I felt her hand tugging on my cock again and I moaned again as the feelings started to build. She let go. "Obviously rule four will be a problem for you, so you have permission to warn me if you are about to cum." There was a pause, "Just say 'Mistress' and I will understand. Is that clear?" "Yes, Mistress." She grasped me again and our strange procession continued. Occasionally I heard comments. "Way to go Sofia!" "He's a hot one." "Can I have him when you've finished with him?" I felt my face burning, but strangely, I knew that had I not been blindfolded I would have found the comments much harder to bear. When I realised this I felt humbled by the depth of understanding that she had displayed in blindfolding me in the first place. Then I realised that if I wasn't careful I was going to cum. "Mistress." I felt the air, cooling the slight moisture that had gathered from my Mistress' hand on me. In another burst of understanding I realised that this was probably harder on her than on me; at least all I had to do was do as I was told. I resolved there and then to do the best that I could for her, not to shirk anything. "Shall we continue?" "Yes, Mistress." I felt her hand again, for the first time it seemed different, proprietorial. I wondered at myself, but I couldn't shake the feeling, nor could I deny how arousing it felt to be at her mercy. Just as I was beginning to think that I would have to alert my Mistress once more to my imminent release, she let go of me. Unfortunately, I took a half step after she had let go and I collided with her hip. The feel of her bare skin on mine was almost too much in my heightened state and I gasped at the sudden contact. I tried to step back and almost tripped. I felt her hands on my shoulders steadying me. She kissed me on the tip of my nose and spoke to me warmly. "You're doing very well." She giggled, "For a beginner. But don't worry, I'll make a proper slave of you yet." I heard a door opening and she led me into a room. I felt my wrists being unlinked and I worked my shoulders to ease the ache that had I had begun to feel there. "There's a bed in front of you, about four paces. I want you to walk forward until you feel the edge of the bed on your knees. The head of the bed is on your right. When you reach the bed I want you to lie on it on your back with your arms and legs spread as widely as you can manage. Is that clear?" "Yes, Mistress." "Off you go then." I hesitated to take the first step into the blackness. SMACK! SMACK! I heard, then felt two swift hand-spanks to each bottom cheek. I blushed at the childishness of it and almost involuntarily I took that first tentative step. I berated myself for hesitating, she wasn't about to let me injure myself; she loved me. Blind people did this all the time for crying out loud. I tried to make the next two steps more confidently. On the fourth step I was careful to expect the touch of something and was rewarded by the feel of bedclothes at about knee-level. I stood with both legs touching the bed and leant forward until I felt the bed with both my hands. I tried to gauge the width and decided that it was a double bed or larger. I crawled onto the bed and arranged myself as I had been told. "Well done, eventually." I was unreasonably pleased with the compliment and also upset that I had disappointed her even slightly. Why was I feeling like this? All week long, Serena had been trying to tell me how she felt and I thought I had understood. Now I was actually experiencing it for myself - if only for such a short while - and the feelings were already starting to overwhelm me. The gentle tug on my right ankle alerted me that I was being bound spread-eagled to the bed. I felt hands behind my head and the blindfold was removed. I kept my eyes closed. She kissed them. "Very well done. You remembered." I could hear the genuine pride in her voice and my heart soared, I had pleased her greatly. "You may open your eyes now." I opened them to see her face inches from mine, alight with love. I yearned to tell how I felt, but she had forbidden me my voice. It was so unfair, I wanted to tell her how much I loved her and she wouldn't let me! I couldn't even touch her; how could she do this to me? I saw my feelings reflected in her face and her words from last week came back to me, 'You're going to feel exposed and helpless and you will hate me.' Oh God, I almost had and we hadn't been doing this for more than an hour. Feeling so helpless I started to cry and once I started I couldn't stop. She held me then and crooned words of love and caring as I sobbed wordlessly. Eventually the storm subsided. I was about to speak when she placed a finger on my lips and I remembered rule one. I had gone limp as I cried and she looked at me significantly as she fondled me. "We'll deal with your punishment for this later." Before I could even begin to consider the unfairness of this she continued speaking. "Now it's time to please me. I want you to make me cum and to keep making me cum until I tell you to stop." With that she straddled my head facing my feet and lowered herself towards my waiting mouth. Here was an order I was absolutely delighted to obey without reservation. I lifted my head and extended my tongue as I began to lick and nibble my way along her slit. I heard her sigh in satisfaction and felt myself get hard in a surge of arousal. Her wetness started in earnest and I was delighted to lick and suck everywhere to ensure that I didn't miss a drop. I felt her start to stiffen and moan as I raised my head to get closer to her clitoris, but she rotated her hips and I was left with little choice but to lick where she wanted me to. I'd not licked her 'back there' before so I was unsure about the taste, but to my surprise I tasted nothing but her juices. I began to explore her anus with much more enthusiasm. As I pushed the tip of my tongue into her, she screamed and came. As she did so she collapsed forward and I was able to continue with my ministrations. After sometime I realised that I was becoming very aroused indeed. I could feel the telltale tingling that presaged my orgasm! I tried to pull back and warn my Mistress but I was unable to get the word out and I groaned as I felt myself pumping helplessly as I came. The sight of me coming with no physical stimulation must have been enough to push my Mistress over the edge and she collapsed onto me, making it difficult to breathe. Even so, I tried to keep stimulating her and eventually I heard her groan in protest as she rolled off me. Before I could take a breath she had grasped my head with both of her hands and kissed me, taking possession of my mouth in a demanding and powerful way. I felt my senses reel; suddenly she stood up and examined me from head to foot. "I don't remember giving you permission to cum." "Mistress, sorry, Mistress." "There's no point in apologising." She chuckled. "Slavery means never having to say you're sorry." I smiled, unable to resist her infectious grin. "While I'm flattered that you enjoyed pleasuring me so much, it's still an infraction." She unfastened my left wrist. "You can finish the rest. You have a minute to get yourself over my knee." She turned and walked to the straight-backed chair that stood at the foot of the bed and sat down. I heaved and stretched and after two or three attempts I was able to free my other wrist. I was conscious of the seconds ticking away as I struggled to undo my right ankle. Eventually I managed it and the final ankle should have been the work of an instant, but I fumbled the clip and it took much longer than it should have. At long last I threw myself from the bed and lay myself across my Mistress's lap as I had been ordered. I was out of breath and I lay there breathing hard waiting to see if I had made it in time. "Not bad. Were it not for the final fumble, you might have made it. As it was you took 73 seconds." I felt her hand stroking my bottom; my cheeks twitched as she dragged a finger between them. I blushed crimson as I imagined the picture I must be making -- me, a grown man, naked over the lap of a young woman waiting for a spanking. "Now let us see; that's five strokes for not remaining erect, a further five strokes for cumming without permission and..." she paused in thought, though she continued to play with my bum. "Yes a three-minute warm-up spanking for the delay in making it here." She waited. I sensed expectancy; what was she waiting for? I searched my memory and finally I remembered something from the time I'd seen her mother administer the punishment for sitting on the furniture. "Mistress, please give me my warm-up spanking, Mistress." I lay there feeling smug that I had remembered the rule about 'Mistress' being the first and last word in anything I said and for remembering to ask for my punishment. Unfortunately I'd forgotten the rule about not speaking without permission! "That's very good my dearest slave, but you really should have waited for me to ask you to proceed." I groaned in defeat. "However I think I'll just extend the warm-up spanking by thirty seconds as you really were trying to please me." I could hear the slightly patronising tone in her voice and this irritated me. Bloody hell, I'd been doing this for less than a day; she couldn't really expect perfection from the start, could she? It seemed she did. "Now we can't have you tensing this delightful bottom of yours while I'm spanking it as it I might hurt my hand. So, if you will rest your feet with the soles up and turn your toes in." I did as she asked and found that in this position I couldn't tense my bottom very much at all. "That's very good. You may proceed." Her final command almost caught me off-guard so I stuttered out the words that I had said so confidently just a few seconds before. "M... Mistress, p...please give me my warm-up spanking, Mistress." She stroked my now totally relaxed bottom. "Since you asked me so nicely I will." And with that she began to spank me. Individually the spanks were each quite bearable, but within a minute the sting built up and I felt that my bottom was on fire. I could feel the tears welling up, but I was determined not to let them fall. Of course I failed and when eventually I was unable bear any more, the fact that I had held them back seemed to make it all the worse. The last minute or so saw me sobbing and crying like a ten-year old. It took me a while to realise that she had stopped spanking me. "Up you get and kneel on the bed, face down and knees as wide apart as you can make them." I did as she bid and my face burned as I realised just how exposed this made me feel; even my anus was visible in this position. I tried to think what would happen next, but the stinging from my bottom made coherent thought all but impossible. "Put your hands behind your back." I did so and I felt her clip the cuffs together. "Now, you're going to get ten strokes of the strap. You must ask for each stroke and thank me for each one afterwards. Since this is your first time you may cry out, though you should try not to. When we are finished you should thank me for the punishment and then you should kiss the strap. I know my Master thinks this is tacky; but like mother, like daughter as they say. You may proceed." "Mistress, please give me my first stroke, Mistress." I waited interminable seconds and then suddenly -- CRACK! The sound more than anything made me jump. Then the sting followed and I gasped in surprise at the pain. Fresh tears started; eventually I remembered my instructions. "Mistress, that was one. Please give me my second stroke, Mistress." I heard her walk around the bed and the second stroke was no less a surprise. Though I steeled myself, the pain was just as great. I started to sob again; through my sobs I managed to get the required words out. Like the spanking, the strapping had a cumulative effect, but this time along with the pain grew my resentment. This punishment was unfair. I couldn't help my bodily reactions. Why was she hurting me so? The tenth stroke arrived and I gritted my teeth and barely got the required words out. She held the strap to my mouth and I pressed my lips to it. She dropped the strap on the bed and walked to the door. "Come." She waited impassively as I struggled to get off the bed and make my way towards her. I was still angry with her, which left me no room to feel embarrassed as she leant forward and grasped my still-erect cock and led me from the room. This time on my journey through the corridors she did not spare my blushes with a blindfold; though my resentment was still enough to mute most of my possible embarrassment. Soon, but not soon enough for me, we stood in front of another door, which Mistress Jane opened and led me through, still holding me by my erection. The walls and ceiling were covered in mirrors; I found it disconcerting and disorientating to be surrounded by never ending reflections of myself. "Kneel." The peremptory command snapped out and almost without conscious thought, I found myself kneeling with my knees spread wide. My Mistress bent down and unclipped my wrist cuffs. "Hands." It took some thought before I realised what she was getting at; so she was starting to get impatient before I placed my hands on the back of my neck. Once they were in position my wrist cuffs were clipped to convenient rings set into my collar. Once more the use of my hands was denied to me. "Wait here." With that Serena turned and left the room. I knelt alone in the mirrored room and pondered my fate. The time passed very slowly with nothing to do but kneel and think. Just as I was starting to feel petulant that I was being ignored the door opened and Salome walked into the room. In her hand she carried a crop. I flushed with shame as she walked around me, examining my body minutely. "You'll do. Stand please." Standing with one's hands attached to one's neck is not a skill that is considered useful by most educational establishments and so I was sadly lacking in the knowledge necessary to make it a graceful exercise on my part. Eventually, I managed to get off my knees; though I almost fell flat on my face in the process. Salome made no attempt to help me and occasionally smirked at my contortions. By the time I was standing upright, I was feeling hot, bothered, and a sullen rage was starting to burn in me. "Finally. Now the name of the game is posture and stillness. I'm going to put you into a posture and then you must maintain it for three minutes without moving a muscle." She chuckled mirthlessly. "Except to breathe, of course. If you move I will give you a stroke with the crop and the three-minute period will start over. Do you understand?" "Yes, Mistress." "Good. Let's get you into position, shall we?" With that she widened the spread of my feet; then with gentle touches she pushed and pulled me into a more balanced posture. After a few seconds I realised that though this new posture was better for me -- I felt more natural and I could breath more easily -- it was different enough from my normal slouch that it felt uncomfortable too. Slowly I began to realise that standing still for three minutes would be more of an ordeal than I first thought. And so it proved to be; each little twitch on my part earned me a stroke from Salome, who used the leather loop at the end of the crop to administer a sharp and humiliating smack. The worst of strokes was when my erection started to flag and the stroke from the crop fell on it. I wasn't sure what was worse, the pain or the fact that I got hard again from the stimulation. After the fourth or fifth time, she dropped the loop of the crop over my penis and manipulated my foreskin back and forth. My face burned with shame as she brought me to the brink and then released me. "That should keep you hard for long enough." I'd thought that meeting her like I had was bad enough but now she had masturbated me! And I'd enjoyed it! I'd almost cum at the hands of my fiancée's mother! How could she allow this to happen to me? During this final stint I found it much easier to remain still, perhaps because my thoughts were awhirl with the shame and humiliation of my situation, or perhaps because the training technique was working. Whatever the reason, a few minutes later Salome pronounced herself satisfied and bade me kneel and wait for my Mistress. Again I knelt and waited for ages. Finally the door opened and Serena signalled for me to stand. This was the final straw, she wouldn't even talk to me now! Sullenly, I struggled to my feet. Unlike her mother, Serena didn't smile and watched me impassively as I finally regained my feet. My traitorous cock was still hard and grew harder as she approached me and took her usual hold on me and led me from the room. This time our journey took us down into the cellars. I'd managed to look outside as we passed a window and I could see that it was very dark. I realised with a shock that I had no idea how long this day had been. We stopped outside a small room that contained a bed. The entrance was a simple archway; of course slaves didn't require privacy I realised. Serena led me into the room and sat me on the bed. She picked up a coil of chain that I hadn't noticed before from the centre of the bed and clipped it to a ring on the front of my collar. She unclipped my wrists from the collar and from each other. Quickly she pushed me prone and clipped my wrists back together with barely a pause my ankles were bent up and clipped to each other and to my wrists. Again I was helplessly uncomfortable. Serena pushed my on to my side and began to stroke my erect penis. Her considerable skill soon had me close to coming. When she stopped I groaned in despair, but she knelt down and engulfed me in her mouth and I groaned for another reason. She didn't tease me. Just sucked me until I came; then she kissed me. She hadn't swallowed my cum and she shared her mouthful generously with me. I'd not been shy about kissing her after oral sex and had tasted traces of myself before. This was different. I tried to pull back, but her hands on my head and the hog-tie in which I was bound made this impossible. Eventually, when I had been forced to swallow all of my semen, she broke the kiss. "Good night, Slave." She didn't wait for my answer and thus I escaped punishment for not calling her 'Mistress'. I wondered if I could sleep like this. My shoulders ached, as did my legs. My bottom still throbbed from the warm-up spanking and the strapping. My cock was no longer erect and I could feel the ache from the slaps from the crop that Salome had given me. My nose itched. I buried my face in the blanket and tried to ease the irritation but this just seemed to make it worse. I felt the prickle of sweat breaking out as the itch in my nose seemed to grow and dominate my entire conscious mind. For some reason the fact that I could not scratch my own nose incensed me and I could feel my anger growing. All the petty hurts, all the negative feelings from earlier on returned to feed the flames. I was as tense as a bowstring. My shoulders were burning, my legs were aching and everywhere there were itches. There was nothing I could do about any of them. Finally I could stand it no more and I writhed about on the bed, trying to free myself from the cuffs or unclip something. I failed and in my failure I snapped. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? I HATE YOU!" My scream of rage was cut short as I realised what I had said. And then I cried; great heaving sobs that wrenched at my throat. At some point, I became aware of softness next to my cheek and soothing words being spoken. My sobs became less and I felt myself drift into sleep. -Continued- -- http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/arty/www -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: | | FAQ: Moderators: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |ASSM Archive at Hosted by | |Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}| +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+