As far as historians could tell, the tradition began millennia ago, stemming from pagan beliefs. One deity or another, but likely one of the gods of war, was placated by the pain of the captured women, as the myths went. Despite some modern misconceptions, war was not the constant state of existence so alternatives had to be found to satisfy the deity on his day with only local women available… and ideally not in a way that would leave them maimed too.

A solution was found in allowing men on the deity’s day to strike women’s (and not just their women’s) buttocks, with palm or stick, with no woman or her man taking offence to that. The idea, of course, was to extract a lot of pain for the spirit without risking striking anywhere that would leave damage. It seemed to have worked quite well too, at least in that the tribes carrying the practice survived and persisted... And they did not abandon it as missionaries convinced them to abandon other beliefs.

Fast forward to the present day, and the tradition has not died out. Much like on April 1st a lot of people play pranks and the victims are expected to take them with good humour, on August 28th a lot of men (and women) slap women’s behinds and don’t get into trouble for it. There are limits as to who can do it to whom, of course, but most people can read the room (or any public space, really) well enough.

Some places, however, take the day a lot more seriously than the rest. There are neighbourhoods, families, workplaces, universities, and organisations in which for that one day time seems to have raced back and women are asked to bare their bottoms or even strip naked and present for anything from an open palm smacking to a severe paddling or caning. Mostly it is done in good fun… But that does not mean some women do not end up very very sore towards the evening. Embarrassment tends to wear off by that point, but teasing can go on for weeks. As an unspoken rule, the closer a person is to a woman, the harder they can spank her.

When starting in her new role, proud of having secured a managerial position straight out of her masters degree, Vivian had no idea the company is one of those places taking the day seriously. She had some familiarity with the tradition, of course, but it never went beyond a smack or two on her clothed behind… Which, although she would never admitted it, she rather enjoyed. In fact, she was hoping to find a partner she could trust enough to tell them she wants to try more of that. She would later find out that it was the fearsome CEO, Dame Jane Browning herself who encouraged the tradition to keep going strong, but for her first time the only warning she got was the chatter she overheard between two colleagues who have been there for longer than her, one reminding the other to wear good underwear the next day, because it will be on display… Before coming down, that is.

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Hello DCP,

Hope you enjoyed the prompt, a fairly straightforward one! Please don’t write the first message in character, I’d prefer to have a quick discussion of expectations first.