"Delta, are you okay?!" Kassandra demanded, her voice ringing in Delta's head. Delta winced as they tried to compose themself, resting their head on one hand.

Yeah, I'm fine, they answered finally, blinking their eyes a few times before shutting them completely to focus more intently on her.

"Fine? Really? How am I supposed to believe that," Kassandra said flatly, her voice dripping with acid. "She used you, didn't you? Like a toy? And you're saying that's fine?"

Delta didn't respond immediately. Their head was spinning too fast and too intensely for them to formulate an actual response. I... I said it was fine. I'm okay. I'm not hurt.

"You're saying that like it won't get worse from here," she scoffed. "Still not reconsidering our plan to bust out of here?"

Delta snorted. Yeah, when she's right in the other room? Great idea. Kassandra huffed at that, but Delta continued. We agreed on a plan, remember? I haven't forgotten. You shouldn't have either. Just let me... let me handle things.

They could feel Kassandra roll her eyes, almost certainly about to accuse them of passivity, and question whether they actually would handle things.

Delta was about to ask Kassandra something, but was interrupted when their Mistress came back into the room. They snapped back into the present moment, hearing the sound of the shower running. And Kassandra, once again, was off.

"Come," she said. "It's ready for us."

Delta eventually found it in them to stand up. Their legs immediately turned to jelly, though, and they stumbled back to the side of the bed, before recomposing themself and walking over. They could barely even walk in a straight line — partially from the pleasure, and partially from dissociation.

Their Mistress extended a hand for them, and Delta looked at it questioningly.

"Do you need help standing up?" she asked, her words carrying a hint of laughter. Delta blushed and took her hand, their Mistress helping them stabilize on their feet.

"Um... thank you, Mistress," they said, still very unsure as to what this all meant. They were still in fight or flight mode, and should things get worse or go sour, that might lead her to treat them much, much worse than she had been.

The two went to the shower, and spent a good while cleaning each other. More accurately, their Mistress spent a good while cleaning Delta, and Delta spent a good while getting cleaned. She only paid marginal attention to herself — enough to keep her cleanliness matched with her level of distinction — and it was clear that her focus was on Delta.

Delta still didn't really know what to say or do, but their brain was too foggy, and they were honestly too content getting scrubbed down so generously and carefully to care.

—

"I'm going to take some time explaining how things will work in your new life," the Mistress said once the two were dried off and sitting at the center table. Delta was nervously tapping at the marble table with their index fingernail, but she didn't seem to mind.

"Do you see that envelope to your left?" Delta's eyes turned over, and sure enough, they saw a matte white envelope with their name gently written on it. "Open it."

Delta immediately complied, tearing at the envelope's glue carefully. They pulled out a black credit card that was heavier than any other card Delta had ever held — just another sign of her wealth, they supposed.

"Despite your place as my subordinate, you'll be given some freedoms," she explained. "You'll go grocery shopping once a week. Considering your, ah, devotion to health, I assume I won't have to micromanage what you buy. I expect you to take good care of yourself; if you don't make sure you're put together, you disrespect yourself, which is disrespecting my property."

Delta had no words.

"You have some freedom to buy recreational purchases, though, you will run each and every one by me. Along with where you go, if you do choose to go for a quick walk, or on a trip."

Delta was flabbergasted, and couldn't hold back their single question. "Why?"

"Why, what?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Why... are you being so nice to me?" they muttered, looking down. "I mean — I don't mean to, uh, question you, it's just — I just wasn't expecting to have this much freedom. Um, I'm sorry, this is probably a stupid question, and I..." Delta trailed off, thinking they sounded ridiculous and might get hurt if they kept talking. "I just, I don't understand."

"You don't need to understand. You don't need to think," she responded. "And the reason I'm giving you so much freedom is because you can't actually leave."

Delta tilted their head.

"Whatever you purchase, I'll know what it is and where you got it. Say you buy a motel room to stay the night — I'll know. Whatever phone calls or text you'll make, I know where you made them from or who you were talking to. And do you think the police will help you? With how much money I have, I can bribe them to 'let you go' and be silent about all this. I'll know where you are, and will be there to get you back." She took a pause, and then smirked. "Or will I? Maybe I'll just cancel that card, and watch you try to live on the streets for betraying me. How does that sound?"

"Not... not good, Mistress."

"You're not even smart enough to think of a plan to leave, are you?"

Something in the way she said that struck a nerve in Delta — or rather, in Kassandra, who briefly made her presence known. Kassandra hadn't been there earlier, so Delta assumed this was her first time looking at their Mistress, even in the back of Delta's head. But they could feel Kassandra's anger — her pure, immediate hatred. Delta almost expected Kassandra to say something, but she just faded back into the background instead.

"Plaything, what are you doing?" Delta snapped back to attention. "Why are you spacing out? I'm talking to you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, um, Mistress," they shook their head.

"Were you thinking of ways to leave? Care to share?"

Delta paused, then shook their head silently.

"I thought so," she scoffed. "You can't hide anything from me. I'm going to know everything about you."

She stood up again, going over to Delta and towering over them. Delta looked up at her with wide eyes, overwhelmed by her presence and how much taller she was than them — she must have been around six feet tall, over a foot above their own stature. And sitting down as they were, she loomed even taller.

Delta's thoughts over how overpowering her presence was were interrupted when their Mistress grabbed their face by its sides and forced them into a rough and fiery kiss. Delta could feel themself losing their breath in the kiss, their air was taken away and choking them with the pressure. Their Mistress leaned in closer, and grabbed a handful of Delta's hair to push their head into her. Just as things had started to heat up again, though, they were interrupted by a loud ringtone. Their Mistress pulled back, clearly frustrated by the interruption.

"God damn it," she muttered, pulling her phone from her pocket and glaring at it. "Work business. I'll be back."

She picked up the phone, and stepped into the bedroom before Delta could hear any bits of the conversation — not that it was particularly important for them to hear it anyways. What they did hear was the exasperation in their Mistress's voice. Their head was still spinning from the kiss, as passionate and forceful as it was, and they found themself slipping back into that frame of mind where they wanted more and more to be treated like an object.

Eventually, their Mistress returned from the room, hanging up the phone without so much as a goodbye. Delta stood up silently to greet her.

"I have to go," she announced. "I apologize that I don't have more time for you. Don't worry, though — we'll have plenty of it, later on."

Before she left, she pulled them into one final kiss — this one less intense and more quiet. She gathered her belongings and headed out the door, leaving Delta gaping in surprise. They slumped back into the chair, their legs still weak from everything they had experienced that night. The clock read 10:34pm, and they wondered just how time passed so quickly without them even noticing. It was surprising how much they'd gotten into it, considering the circumstances.

And they were curious about their Mistress, too.

Kassandra didn't have anything to say. Delta didn't feel like reaching out to her — it was probably better to just go to sleep anyways.

It took Delta a while to fall asleep, especially with the room still seeming to echo that lingering sense of intensity — and definitely still echoing the smell. But they did eventually drift off into a deep sleep after their mind tired out from replaying the night's events over and over and over again.

—

Delta woke up the next day surprisingly rested — and at 8:03am, from what their newly gifted phone said. It took them a while to reorient themself to their new room, but thankfully the energy from the room seemed to have calmed down. Or maybe it was their anxiety that faded? 

After all, all things considered, their Mistress wasn't horrible. She was forceful, yes, and definitely overpowered Delta — especially last night — and to be fair, she did insult Delta a good amount — though they'd enjoyed that, hadn't they? But they got the feeling she wouldn't have forced them to do anything that they absolutely would not want to do. Then again, Delta never really said no to anything that was done to them. Maybe Kassandra was right, and they were just a complete pushover.

Thinking of Kassandra caught her attention — she came out as soon as Delta thought of her name.

"Morning, sunshine," she said, her voice also sounding well-rested. In fact, she sounded... too good.

Hey, Delta said back. You sound good. What's up?

"Not much! I thought of a plan to get out last night!"

How? We were unconscious, Delta thought without saying to her.

What is it? they said instead.

"Well, she said she knew everything about us, right? Or, will know everything about us. She won't. What if we lie to her about where we're going, or what we're doing when she's not around, and then we leave the phone and credit card here so she can't track us down?"

Delta sighed. This again? Kassandra was always impulsive, and would always start to fight back without a clear plan of what to do after that.

Okay, then where do we go? they asked.

"Back home, obviously!"

We don't know where we are, they pointed out. And it's been a year since we were, uh, taken from home. For all we know, our parents could have moved, or worse.

"Well, it's worth a try," Kassandra huffed.

I just think we need a more concrete plan, Delta reassured her. Let's keep brainstorming. To be fair, Delta didn't actually plan to think about it — but at that point, they'd say anything to placate Kassandra. They still were unsure if they wanted to leave. But that seemed to work, as they felt Kassandra's presence fade. What replaced her was a sense of boredom, their unsureness on how to spend their free time.

They thought about it for a while. They liked working out, they could do that somehow. They saw in their cursory sweep of the apartment that they had access to some games — in particular, a Switch. There was paper they could use to draw or write, though they weren't particularly good at either of those things — or maybe they were? They didn't have enough confidence or experience to know. They were probably near a city of some sort — though, they did realize they'd need to tell their Mistress where they were going, so wandering around aimlessly was out of the question.

Anyways, working out seemed like the best option. They'd seen on the initial drive over that there was some sort of path near the apartment — probably a running path.

Delta picked up their new phone. There was only one contact, obviously — their Mistress. They opened a text chat with her, and then spent a good few minutes thinking of what to say.

Hey, can I go for a run?

No, too informal. She'd scold them for being so casual.

Mistress, may I go on a run?

Too vague. Where were they going? They had to mention that.

Mistress, may I go on a run on the nearby path?

That was... fine. Delta couldn't think of anything better to say than that, could they? Their finger hovered over the send button for a minute, before they closed their eyes nervously and sent it. The message proclaimed it had delivered, and Delta waited in painful silence for a response.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long. Delta hastily checked the phone as soon as it pinged, reading the message with a strange frantic mixture of hope and fear.

Yes, that's fine. Don't run too far away, obviously, no more than a mile. Be sure to be back by 6:30pm, I will be there again.

Delta exhaled deeply. That went a lot better than they expected. They weren't sure how they felt about the strict guidelines, but a mile wasn't too bad, and they could just run back and forth within that mile to get a few miles of actual running in. They had some urge to go the extra mile — literally — to make their Mistress proud, though they didn't know why.

Regardless, they put on their running shoes, and left for the path. They were excited to get more fresh air, let alone a taste of freedom. Not too much freedom, obviously. But to be honest, that was okay. This was okay, for now.

—

5:30pm eventually hit, declared by an alarm on their new phone. Had they really been running for that long? They'd stopped at a nearby coffee shop for drinks and food, sure, but that would put them as having run for nearly nine hours straight. Well, nothing to do but make their way back home, they supposed. They did see a few other runners on the path, but they just avoided their gazes and kept to themself. What would they even say to anyone else? Nothing useful. PM eventually hit, and they made their way back home. They did see a few other runners on the path, but they just avoided their gazes and kept to themself. What would they even say to anyone else? Nothing useful.

They took a shower, and mentally braced themself for what was going to happen that night. It was so soon after the previous night, and considering how that went, they couldn't help being on edge and nervous. They dried off their hair and body, and sat on the bed silently until they heard keys turning in the doorway.

There were no words between the two for a while. They were asked about their run, and what they did for the rest of the day which hadn't been much, since they'd spent most of the time running.

They took a deep breath.

"Very well, I'm happy with your progress," she said, smiling and running a hand down Delta's face, the touch feeling electric. "Now..."

There was a long pause, as Delta wondered what she was going to say. What she told them, though, was absolutely not something they'd expected.

"I'm going to hypnotize you tonight."