The Art of Dominance Convention

Lily hadn't left the guest bedroom yet. They didn't want to look their Mistress in the eye. Honestly, they didn't want to see anyone.

Between their fight with Jenn, and their Mistress scaling down on her efforts, Lily just felt betrayed. A gaping hole ached in their chest, but they were barely able to notice. Their mind turned their body numb, easing the pain, but making them immune to any joy or relief as well. They kept bursting into tears, calming down, tearing up again after an hour, rinse, wash, repeat. It was getting a little old to Lily, but it wasn't like they could stop themself from crying.

But even a numbed, withering flower would get bored being locked in a guest room for 12 hours, even if they did it to themself. Without anything to do, and without wanting to start sobbing again, they wanted to keep themself distracted.

Probably not the best option to go to, but they searched up the convention at which Magnolia so desperately wanted to show them. Sure enough, the home page instantly popped up after a cursory search. With exhausted, sore eyes, Lily looked through the pages. Featured on the home page were last year's winners -- an older woman with gorgeous blonde hair as the Owner, and a smaller man who looked to be about Lily's age as the submissive. In the Domme's hands was a black onyx trophy, with the name of the convention and the year engraved into it, and both of them had red sashes around their shoulders.

Lily sighed. It would be nice to see themself and their Mistress in that picture. Right now, in the fog of everything, it was impossible to imagine.

Considering the con was coming up fairly soon, the vendor's list, artist's list, and even some of the events had already been announced. Lily's eyes glanced through what *else* the convention had to offer; some play parties, identity-specific mixers, pool parties... it seemed the hotel had a nice share of amenities too, and plenty of chances to meet people.

In the corner of the website was a link to a chat server. Lily bit their lip. They felt bad doing anything without their Mistress' knowledge or consent, but their brain was operating on nihilism, tears, and basically nothing else, so nothing in particular stopped them.

They added themself to the server, and before posting anything, they just glanced through the chat logs. Surprisingly, plenty of unpartnered, unowned, or even single-and-happy members lingered around. Seemed there was a large range of people; it wasn't all old cisgender people with the most basic M/s dynamic known to humankind.

Lily scrolled into the introductions channel after 15 minutes of lurking. They started to type, delete what they had written, and did so a couple of times - before a direct message popped up in the top left of the app.

They raised an eyebrow. Someone already reached out? It didn't look like anyone they knew, and the profile picture didn't show a person; just a still life photo of a stack of cassettes.

The user was named "RubyDelight".

>Hi! Welcome to the server! I'm one of the moderators, Ruby. My pronouns are she/her. It's nice to have you here!

Before Lily even finished reading, she sent another message.

>If you have any questions about the server or the convention, please let me know! I'm one of the community moderators.

Huh. When Lily thought about it, it had been a while since they made a new friend. They'd gone out places, but... never made any long term friendships. Ugh. Thinking about that made them feel even worse about their shitty fight with Jenn.

Then again, this person was a moderator. She was probably just reaching out to make Lily feel like talking.

Still, it was polite to respond…

> Nice to meet you

Lily sent the message. And then stared at their keyboard. What else should they say? It wasn’t like this person knew who they were, or that Lily knew who this person was. How did people make new friends these days? Lily wished they knew. They sighed and finally replied once more.

> My name is Lily, my Mistress and I are planning to go to the convention

Lily slumped over their keyboard. A pang of pain hit their heart, thinking, ‘what if Magnolia doesn’t even want to take me anymore?’ Before they could stew in that line of thinking for too long, they heard the ‘message received’ sound once more.

> Oh cool! Me and my Master, Aiden, will be there. Have you two been to any of the munches before?

They raised an eyebrow and typed again.

> What’s a munch? Sorry if that’s a stupid question

Lily could almost hear Ruby laughing on the other side.

> Not stupid at all! They’re like meetups, ways to meet other kinky people in a normal meetup setting. We’re actually having one this weekend, if you’re interested! It’s Saturday at 6pm.

This weekend… Lily tapped a finger to the laptop’s right side, contemplating such. Maybe Magnolia would want to go? But if Lily asked, she’d know that they went behind her back, out of spite no less. Lily’s heart hurt even thinking about Magnolia. Sure, she wasn’t releasing them. She was going kinder on them to be easy on them. And yet, it felt like a rejection of their role, of what they were supposed to be. Going easy on Lily only made them feel like they failed.

Lily wandered back into the server and checked out the details. Huh. It was only ten miles or so away from the two of them. Not close by any means, but not impossibly far, either.

Maybe Magnolia had been to one of these events before? After all, where else would she find these random people willing to use Lily because she’d allow them to?

> I’ll ask my Mistress.

Lily hesitated before adding—

> Things are kind of weird right now

‘Weird’ was putting it lightly. But Lily wasn’t sure how else to put it.

Luckily, it didn’t seem that Ruby minded. Lily flushed, thinking that she must have dealt with newcomers like Lily a lot – well, ‘newcomers’ wasn’t the right word. Newcomers to… the scene? Lily shook their head. It didn’t really matter.

>No worries! Here’s the event page, you can read all about it

A link in her next message followed. Lily opened the page, scanning it only for a second before the message ping chimed again.

>It’s nice to meet a new friend, hope to see you there!

Lily lightly smiled, covering part of their face with their hands. How long had it been since they made a new friend? Hell, how long had it been since they had a real conversation with anyone they didn’t already know?

A part of their mind rang hollowly, ‘at least you have a replacement for Jenn now’. Lily slapped their forehead with frustration. No, they couldn’t be thinking things like that! As angry as they were, they… they couldn’t replace Jenn. Even with all the bullshit they said, even if Lily needed time to cool down.

But… maybe Ruby wouldn’t do that…

They were jolted out of their thoughts when another sound went off. Their eyes darted around, landing on the friend requests page. Ruby had sent them one.

Lily accepted without thinking.

Hmm. It had been so long since this had happened… didn’t Mistress say something about giving her their contact info, the contact info of anyone they’d met and befriended?

But that was way back, in the very beginning. Maybe that rule had been dropped. Lily sure didn’t particularly want their Mistress to know that they’d been going behind her back. They groaned with frustration, eventually just ripping a page out from a nearby notebook and scribbling down RubyDelight’s username.

Lily closed their laptop. They looked to the door.

They’d have to face their Mistress again, whatever they did or didn’t do.

Lily stuffed the paper into their pockets, stood up wearily, and resolved to leave the room. It was about time.

But…

Lily stared at the guest room’s door for what felt like an eternity. They couldn’t help it. After their breakdown yesterday, and running into the guest room in the first place, they hadn’t the faintest idea what Magnolia would say — or do to them — when they saw her again. She would either hug them tight and make them feel protected, or punish them harshly for their blatant disrespect. No in between.

But Lily couldn’t stay in the guest room forever.

They tidied up the guest room as best as they could — leaving not a single trace of themself having been in there, save for the warmth on the mattress. If Magnolia was going to punish them, at least she wouldn’t punish them on account of messiness.

With a heavy inhale, Lily slowly opened the door. No sound, except for the hum of the ceiling fan. They slowly exited the room, wanting only to go back in and hide for another million years. Their back was hunched, their eyes barely above the ground, their whole body shivering head to toe.

They peeked around the corner to the dining room. As expected, Magnolia was there, quietly drinking a cup of black coffee, a single piece of toast on her plate, and reading… probably some business document, on her tablet.

Lily stood there silently, trying to figure out what to even say. As they mentally went through the options, though—

“I know you’re there, plaything,” Magnolia said calmly.

Lily didn’t respond immediately. They didn’t know what to say. Magnolia sighed and continued, “come over here.”

It was an order. Lily gulped and cautiously approached the dining room table. The hole in their stomach grew with every step.

Magnolia stood up, and grabbed their shoulders to stop Lily in their place. She looked down at them with an unreadable expression.

And then, she wrapped her arms about them, and pulled Lily’s stunned body into her.

“Freeze,” she whispered into their ear, and suddenly Lily’s ability to speak, move, or protest was stolen from them. “Just stay put. I want you, Lily.”

Lily felt their eyes welling up, but even their tears felt frozen. Their ‘break into tears’ counter for that day just hit 7.

Magnolia stayed silent for a while. Lily couldn’t tell if she just wanted to enjoy some peace and quiet with her spouse, or if she just didn’t know what to say. The latter made more sense, Lily didn’t even know what to say, and they were the one with a newly diagnosed genetic cancer disorder.

“It’s hard for me to say what I’m feeling — thinking — in words,” she started. Lily’s anxiety doubled. What did she want to say or feel? 

Magnolia inhaled, pulling Lily a bit closed. “But I’ll try.”

Lily closed their eyes and rested, frozen, in their Mistress’ arms as she began to speak.

“I had a submissive in business school,” Magnolia said. Lily’s eyebrows raised, unsure why she was bringing this up, but they had no choice but to listen. “She was my first submissive who I truly owned. I didn’t buy her, like I did you, but I controlled her almost the same. Ultimately, we were…” Magnolia bit her lip, choosing her words carefully. “Incompatible.”

She hugged Lily tighter. Only then Lily noticed that Magnolia was trembling.

“She was a genetic counseling student,” Magnolia explained, “specifically studying genetic oncology. And that’s… that’s why I expressed my worry when you told me your dad had cancer four times. I’d, well, we’d have a routine where I would check her homework and keep her on track, and punish her for low scores and procrastination. It was her idea, actually. So I got to review her material, read about the disorders and what happens and how it works, and I…”

Magnolia shook her head. This was by far the time where Magnolia spoke with the most hesitation, shakiness, uncertainty. Lily never thought they’d see her like this, and once more, their mind jumped to ‘I’m hurting her’.

“I became invested in some of the case studies. Because of…” Magnolia paused, clung harder to Lily, and continued, “never mind. I was studying psychology and human behavior, so I started learning about the emotional and mental impacts of such diagnoses.” A thought clicked in Lily’s head. Maybe that’s why she suggested they get tested? It was the only thing that made sense; why else would she know anything about Lynch syndrome or genetic oncology?

Magnolia shook her head. “But no amount of reading could prepare me for something like that actually happening. Finding out that someone… someone I love…”

She trailed off. Lily didn’t mind – truth be told, they much preferred the comfortable silence than talking any more about the subject. They couldn’t avoid talking about it forever, but just for now, they’d take it.

“Unfreeze.” Lily didn’t realize they were holding their breath until they got control of their body back. Lily didn’t leave the embrace, instead opting to return it, their eyes glanced to the floor, staring at one particular part of the tiled floor.

“Let’s start over,” Magnolia said. Lily still didn’t meet her eyes. “I still want to train you to be the submissive I want you to be. But I may have rushed. Unfortunately, diagnoses such as yours, I don’t think they come at a ‘convenient time’, ever.” Lily hugged tighter. They wished she was wrong, but she wasn’t. Lily couldn’t think of a single ‘better time’ for this information to come to light. Some point was better than never, though. “I’ll guide you through this.”

Finally, their Mistress broke the embrace. Lily’s hands almost didn’t let go. Their Mistress tapped her index finger to the bottom of their chin, prompting her property to look her in the eyes. Just like usual.

“Thank you, Mistress,” Lily responded with a coarse, breaking voice. Their eyes momentarily glanced back to the guest room where they came from earlier. They reoriented back to their Mistress’ eyes. “Um… I had a question, if it’s okay to ask…”

“What’s the question?”

Lily tapped their index fingers together, their voice growing a different kind of quiet, nervous. “Well… I looked into that convention you told me about, um, just so I could learn more.”

Magnolia tensed up. “Yes?”

“Yeah. Um, well, I somehow talked with one of the people going to that convention.” Lily looked into Magnolia’s eyes again, eyes that blinked hard with hidden surprise and confusion. “And I was thinking we could…”

~~

“How does this look, Mistress?” Lily smiled sweetly at their Domme as they twirled themself around. Their outfit consisted of a silk blue shirt with a bow on it, black skinny jeans, and a hoodie striped white, black, purple, and yellow. Something flattering, but not excessively formal. Asking their Mistress for an opinion was a bit needless, considering she picked their outfit.

Regardless, Magnolia eyed them carefully, completely silent as if she were debating the best move to make in a chess match. Eventually, the moment she saw Lily beginning to worry, she nodded. “It looks perfect. You look beautiful, as always.”

Even Magnolia dressed down a little, opting for a nice blouse and black pencil skirt topped with a black leather jacket. Lily supposed that made sense, going to a semi-public event in a jacket that costed more than people’s salaries would just paint her as a show-off. Besides, as CEO of a large corporation, she needed to stay relatively low-profile.

Either way, they both looked powerful, in their own bizarre and wonderful way. Magnolia’s usual driver was unavailable, but luckily she somehow had a backup for how to get there.

For the first leg of the ride, Lily didn’t feel so nervous. Or, if they did, it was hardly noticeable. But as they got closer to the venue, the grip of their fists tightened, and a bead of sweat formed on their temple.

Their Mistress put a hand on theirs, almost making them jump out of their skin. “Relax,” she said. “I’m here. This will be just like any other arrangement I’ve taken you to.”

Lily chuckled nervously. “Y-yes, Mistress. Just without the whole free use party thing.”

Magnolia chuckled. “Well, you never know for sure.” Lily’s heart sped up, and a nervous smile crossed their face. It wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen.

Eventually, they got out of the car, as they usually did. For a split second, Lily was unsure this was where they would go, but upon seeing two people in play collars, both of them sighed a breath of relief. Lily wasn’t sure what they were expecting, but a middle-of-the-road restaurant with a large meeting space was about what they could expect.

Lily looked around the venue, clinging to Magnolia's hand. Their eyes scanned for any familiar faces -- a useless attempt, since they didn't know anyone in the scene. It wasn't like they even knew what Ruby, let alone her Dom, looked like.

"Lily," Magnolia said quietly. "No one here is going to hurt you. Unless I allow them to, then they will." Lily giggled, blushing at the gentle teasing, the quiet threat. She was probably right -- Magnolia always gave off a powerful aura, the kind that made even strangers not want to cross her. That, and Lily could guess she probably knew how these types of events looked.

Lily leaned into Magnolia. For comfort, or for affection, they didn't know. All they knew was that they were glad to be near their Mistress. They were glad to not be fighting, to not even be thinking of disobeying her. They were grateful she gave them another chance, and as many chances that Lily needed.

Some of the folks attending came in couples, or even polycules. Some looked like obvious D/s couples -- one wearing a collar, one wearing a riding crop on their belt -- while others looked like general romantic couples looking to dip their toes into D/s, kink, or hypno. Of course, there were plenty of people who came alone. Some quickly joined conversation groups, others stood in a corner until someone approached them.

Lily's eyes squinted as they scanned the crowd of 40, 50 people. Ruby told them she and their Dom would be wearing corsages... But in the crowd, it was nearly impossible to parse that out.

At least, until they were both approached.

"Hi! You're Lily, right?" A friendly voice piped up. Lily briefly froze in surprise and then whipped around. Magnolia quickly followed suit.

There she was. Lily wasn't quite sure how they knew, but it was Ruby. Something about her voice or demeanor showed so. The friendly smile on her face or the welcoming tone of her greeting.

Lily wasn't quite sure what they expected Ruby to look like. She was a tall, pale-skinned woman, with a blue and red head covering sort of like a bandana, and a simple white dress. Aside from her simple blue heels, the only other accessory she wore was a subtle locked collar much similar to Lily's. Sure enough, she also bore a corsage of a red rose underneath a 'she/her' pronoun pin.

"H-hi," Lily said shyly. "It's nice to... to meet you in person, Ruby."

Magnolia raised an eyebrow. "You know her?"

Lily looked down. "Yeah. She, um, she invited me. When I went on that forum."

"...Ah, right.” Magnolia looked away, temporarily tensing up the mood, until Ruby cut through the tension with the grace of a chef’s knife.

"And you must be Lily's Mistress, is that right?" She extended a hand to Magnolia, the same warm smile on her face -- if not a bit more polite. "My name is Ruby. I'm one of the organizers for local meetups here, and also one of the staff for the Art of Dominance convention."

"It's nice to meet you," Magnolia put on her professional mask and shook Ruby's hand firmly. "My name is… Magnolia." Lily glanced to their Mistress with mild surprise. She wasn’t using ‘M’ as a name anymore? That was news to Lily. Then again, maybe her using ‘M’ as a name was to conceal her darker interests from the general public.

"It's a pleasure! I’m glad to meet some new folks in the community." Ruby shook her hand and let go.

Before the conversation could progress past simple pleasantries, they grabbed the attention of another individual. This person was slightly taller than Ruby and Lily, but not as much so as Magnolia. Also bearing a red rose and a 'he/him' pronoun pin with the trans flag colors, he wore a fancy three-piece suit -- perhaps not one as expensive as Magnolia's, but one sure as flattering. He had black hair swept to one side, a warm sepia skin tone and bold black eyeshadow. His neck donned a necklace, but it was tucked under his suit.

As he walked over, Ruby turned to face him, and lowered her head to the ground. The man smiled at her, patted the back of her head twice, leading Ruby to stand back up straight. "You may speak, love," he whispered gently to Ruby.

"Thank you, Master," Ruby dutifully responded. Lily felt Magnolia's grip tighten, hard enough so that they winced.

"You must be Lily," he said, ignoring or not noticing Lily's reaction. "Ruby was going on about you. My name is Aiden, I'm Ruby's Master. I'm looking forward to meeting the two of you."

"Magnolia," she shook Aiden's hand as well. "I'm Lily's Mistress. It seems we're in similar dynamics?"

Aiden smiled and tilted his head. "I'd guess so. Ruby and I have been together for fifteen years."

"Woah," Lily gaped. Fifteen years... and here they were thinking five years was a long time. What would they and Magnolia look like fifteen years from when they met?

A pit in their stomach formed. They didn't need to think about the future; it was only causing them anxiety. Who knew what the future held for them, anyways...

"It's been five years for us," Magnolia said. There was a certain edge to her voice, an anxiety. It almost seemed as though she were...

Competitive?

Before Lily could dig too deeply into what their Mistress might have been feeling, Aiden continued. "Welcome to the munch, you lovely people. Feel free to relax and meet new people, the two of us will be around. Demos will begin in about an hour."

Magnolia raised an eyebrow, a smirk crossing her face. "Demos, you say?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby grinned. "Every time we meet, we save time for dynamic couples to show off skills or protocols in their relationships. Aiden is planning one for myself!"

"Don't go spoiling the surprise, love." Ruby froze up and smiled in a similar way to Lily when they were threatened. "We've always placed an emphasis on high protocol and strict training. So we'll be showing off the fruits of that labor."

"I see." Lily looked away. They knew what she was feeling at that point -- jealousy. She wanted what they had. High protocol and strict training. And she wasn't getting that.

But she put it on hold because she wanted to. It was her decision. Lily wasn't going to contest it anymore. They couldn’t. And yet, realizing her envy... Lily felt the same. They wanted to be trained and molded the same way Ruby apparently was.

Magnolia looked away for a bit, biting her lip, before speaking again. “It’s nice to see another transgender dominant here,” she said. Lily’s head whipped towards her — that wasn’t something she shared often, let alone with a stranger.

"I agree,” Aiden smiled, “it’s quite refreshing. You couldn’t guess how many terrible cis doms I’ve seen come in and out. If you two have a demo in mind, we'd love to see." Aiden grabbed Ruby's arm and began to pull her away. "We're going to make some rounds now. But it was nice meeting you; grab us if you need anything."

“Bye, Ruby and Aiden,” Lily said, the mood in their voice lifting a little. Maybe it wouldn’t be as awful as their anxiety wanted to make it seem.

Magnolia pulled Lily towards her. “Well,” she started, “let’s meet some other folks. I trust you know not to embarrass me at this point.”

Lily nodded with a crooked smile, a new kind of relief in their voice. “Yes, Mistress.”

~~

“Alright everyone,” Aiden called out as he rang the metal triangle. Almost immediately, all eyes were on him, all conversations having ended. Lily wanted to continue the conversation with the stranger they’d just struck a conversation with, but Magnolia tapped their shoulder and pulled their attention to Aiden’s way. 

“We’re going to start demos now. We’ve already got a few volunteers! For those of you who don’t know how it works, people or couples or dynamics can volunteer to come up in front of the group and show a special skill or facet of their kink. We’re looking for unique things we haven’t seen before — sorry, but we’ve seen handcuffs and spanking before. And…” 

Aiden turned to Ruby and grinned sadistically. Ruby, in turn, blushed and tapped her index fingers together. “Me and my servant are going to show something we’ve perfected recently. All of us have high expectations for my special Ruby, don’t we?”

Some polite claps from the audience sounded. Lily awkwardly joined in. Magnolia stared at Aiden with her usual unreadable expression, almost studying him. Lily’s attention was still mostly towards Ruby. They weren’t sure why, but they felt some kind of kinship with her. Like she… understood. That she understood, without either of them needing to say anything. What were they going to demonstrate, anyways?

“Our first volunteer is Miss Ginger and her rope bunny Mora. They’ll show us some self-bondage. Miss Ginger and Mora, the floor is yours!”

Aiden moved out of the way and let the first couple begin. Lily certainly hadn’t seen most of the kinks that were being demoed, though it seemed Magnolia was familiar with most of them. A couple did some fire and wax play, making Lily flinch in vicarious pain. Magnolia lightly tapped their back and whispered, “I can do that to you later.”

She teased them throughout the demos, especially the ones featuring more edgy kinks or protocols.

Through the nervous laughter and hot, sinking feeling in their stomach, it was the most connected they'd felt to Magnolia in the past few days. They leaned into their Mistress, looking up at her for permission to do so. Magnolia petted their head softly, with the possessive clutch they knew so well. Lily leaned further in, their eyelids fluttering. With everything going on, they hadn't fully realized how exhausted they were.

Lily's attention spiked gently as Aiden announced something more unexpected. "The next demo... well, it'll be myself and my pet Ruby!" Lily's body moved upwards, and Magnolia held her breath for a split second. It wasn't hard for even Lily to sense the competitiveness and jealousy in their Mistress' breathing.

Ruby walked up to Aiden, lowered her head, and was given permission to look up and speak again. "Aiden has owned me for over 15 years. Over that time, we've built a series of protocols, acts of worship and devotion, and a bond that allows me to trust all of myself to my Master. I trust and treasure him every second of my life. My life's purpose revolves around my Master -- I exist for his pleasure and happiness. And... I could not be happier in that role."

Lily's heart hurt. They couldn't look away from Ruby as she gave her short monologue. Their jaw hung slightly agape, and they used every ounce of their power to hold back tears. Why... why couldn't they be like Ruby? Lily's life was in Magnolia's hands, too, and their purpose was to be her thrall. So why...

Aiden began to speak and cut through Lily's fugue. "Ruby is such a devoted toy. May we give her a round of applause, please?"

The audience did as so. Lily didn't even notice they began to clap themself. Magnolia clapped politely -- of course, she knew how to put on a good poker face.

"Recently, we added a new protocol to our repertoire. It's rather in depth, and took some time -- and scolding -- to get it right... but I believe my plaything has perfected it. So we'll be demonstrating it!" Aiden cleared his throat and continued. "This ritual is done when Ruby and I have been separated for some time. Typically this is when I have to go on work trips, but if I request it, she also has to do the ritual when I or she get home from work." He turned to Ruby and petted the back of her head, covered by the colorful headscarf. "Shall we?"

"Yes, Master." Ruby turned away and moved to one end of the makeshift stage, as Aiden moved to the other. Ruby turned her head down, her arms crossed behind her back.

Aiden snapped. "Let's begin."

Ruby and Aiden walked towards each other; as if a switch had been turned on, Ruby's motions looked much more mechanical. She had clearly been trained, and trained well. Once Ruby and Aiden got close to each other, Ruby dropped to the floor. Not only to her hands and knees -- she dropped into a yoga-like crawl pose. For a long time they stayed like that, before Aiden gently -- but firmly -- kicked Ruby's head. Ruby rose, but only her upper body. She kissed Aiden's boots, tenderly, maintaining the kiss for 10 seconds or so. Lily's eyes were dilated to the size of dinner plates. Their body was leaned in over their knees.

Ruby ended the last kiss and tilted her head up to Aiden. She took a deep inhale and began to speak, her voice equally as mechanical and trained as her movements.

"Master Aiden is my life, my world, my purpose." She repeated one mantra after another. "My body is a prized possession for Master Aiden; I will not desecrate it against his will. I am a plaything, a toy, a vessel, and my Master gives me purpose. There is no being or object of more significance than Master Aiden. Master Aiden owns me to my core, Master Aiden takes good care of his property. I belong to Master Aiden."

Lily couldn't keep track of how many mantras Ruby spoke. Just as they thought she was done, she repeated the mantras, all again, a second time; this time, she rose to her hands and knees. And when she repeated the mantras a third time, she rose to her feet, and dropped her head once more.

Finally, it seemed the mantras -- and the rituals -- were over. But it wasn't. Aiden tapped Ruby's head three times. Immediately, Ruby moved behind Aiden, took off his suit, vest, and belt, and held the objects in her hands. She moved back around to Aiden's front, and bowed her head again.

"Welcome home, Master," she said, "how may I serve you today?"

"By being the best demo bottom you could be. Luckily, you've already done so." Once again, Aiden tapped, and Ruby rose. They turned to the audience and bowed. Applause filled the room, louder claps than for any demo before.

"There is one additional aspect of this ritual that we purposefully left out," Aiden said. "It is very personal, and only I am allowed to witness it." He cusped Ruby's chin and stroked it softly.

"Any volunteers for our next demo?"

Before Lily could process, Magnolia jumped to her feet. "Myself and Lily would like to do a demo," she announced.

"Wh-wh-" Lily clasped their hands over their mouth. Don't question Mistress. And yet... what was she intending to do? How was she intending to humiliate them in front of Lily's new friends and a whole audience?

The pit in their stomach filled with nervous, horny butterflies. Lily accepted her action on their behalf and stood up nervously. They gave a slight wave and smile to Ruby, who waved gently back.

Magnolia gently kicked Lily, subtle enough not for anyone except them to notice. Lily instantly got the hint – they needed to calm down and do whatever the fuck they were told. Just how they liked it. Just how they wanted to be treated. Do as told and don’t question Mistress

They couldn’t help but contain an excited, silly smile as they eagerly stood up. After the initial shock, they were more than a little enthusiastic. They got to show off how hot and sadistic their Mistress was, and how loyal they were. 

“Hello,” Magnolia greeted the crowd, her public speaking voice turning on. “It’s very nice to meet all of you. My name is Magnolia, and this is my submissive and property, Lily.”

Lily bowed their head politely, then scanned the crowd. Upon hearing the word ‘property’, some submissive-looking folks perked up.

“This is our first time at one of these meetups, but far from our first experience with D/s. As a Dominant, I use a lot of hypnosis and conditioning, and we have recently started obedience training. Hypnosis is fairly uncommon in this scene, to my knowledge, so I would like to show a trigger I recently installed in my loyal subject just the other day.”

Oh no. Lily had a feeling they knew where this was going.

“You,” Magnolia gestured to someone in the audience, “would you please bring that chair over for Lily?”

Never mind, Lily definitely knew where this was going. As the chair was happily brought to their side, Magnolia looked down at Lily’s nervous posture with a wicked grin, before seating their body in the chair.

“Now, we are in a 24/7 total power exchange relationship, but I’ll ask anyway. Lily, do you consent to this demo?”

“Yes, Mis–”

“Actually, I don’t care.” Lily flushed a tomato red as the crowd laughed and cheered for the show of playful dominance.

Their Mistress walked behind them, and massaged Lily’s shoulders as she began to explain. “Recently I had a fever dream that opened my eyes to a kink I never knew I had – that is, breeding.” Some members of the audience began to blush and squirm as well, as did Ruby. Huh, so it was a bit more popular than Lily would think. 

“I made the trigger a fairly innocuous word, so if it ever comes out in normal conversation, Lily just has to stay put while feeling like they’re getting bred ruthlessly.” Lily squirmed in their seat, giving a nervous chuckle. “And that word…”

They braced themself.

“Is fill.”

The trigger went into immediate effect. The phantom tendrils appeared within milliseconds and began fucking their cunt even faster. Lily clutched onto the edges of the chair, almost breaking their fingernails, trying to hold themself as together as possible. A futile effort.

After the first second, they broke, clutching their legs together to somehow dull the effect. Their Mistress gently put a hand on their knee and spread their legs. Lily barely even noticed it as the next phase began, and their whimpers turned into sobs of arousal and violation. Their entire body shook as they felt the cum filling every atom of their body, breeding them, making them filled and bred and impregnated.

During the next phase, Lily, who was floating and free falling in mid air, opened their eyes to look at the crowd. There was a mix of jaws on the ground, blushing faces, people covering their faces. They were pretty sure they saw another couple beginning to say ‘we should do that too!’ But anything they saw, they hardly registered, not as much as the presence growing in their womb, connecting their whole body and identity to that one purpose.

And then it slowly faded. If Lily were standing, they would have surely collapsed. Their Mistress ruffled their hair gently, bringing them back to the present, to reality. They really just showed that in front of everyone. God knew how many eyes were on them, watching their pathetic reaction to a phantom force like fine cinema.

As Lily caught their breath, the audience came into view as a comprehensible being. Applause filled the room – Lily supposed it made sense. It was a hot trigger, even as they squirmed, even as it made them feel nothing but violated and degraded. It would make sense the audience would believe so too.

And they couldn’t help but see a couple eyes looking at them with at least some sense of hunger.

They saw it in Aiden and Ruby’s eyes, too.

Oh god, they thought, they all want to use it now.

“Clearly you great folks enjoyed it, though I ask that you please do not intentionally set it off, but please don’t walk on eggshells around them,” Magnolia chuckled. “They’ve been through worse. Much, much worse.”

I suppose that’s not a lie.

“But while we’re here…”

Oh fuck.

“Does anyone want to try it?”

Aiden’s hand shot in the air. Magnolia shared a grin with him, both of them viewing Lily like prey, at the very least in the moment.

“Please,” Magnolia motioned, “go right ahead.”

“Thank you, Magnolia,” Aiden rubbed his hands together excitedly. Ruby shared the excitement, her eyes shifting between the victimized Lily and her enthusiastic Dominant. “Lily?”

“Y-yes?” Lily murmured with a nervous smile.

“Guess what?”

Lily pouted, the crowd giggling at their adorable reaction. “What?”

“Fill.”

Yeah, that was about what they expected. Stronger than before, their cunt and womb barely recovered, the trigger went off. It was only ten seconds, especially to the crowd, but to Lily, the time diluted to an extreme degree. It didn’t just feel real; it was real. Magnolia made it so, so it was real. The seconds of being relentlessly bred, the seconds floating as the trigger took effect, as it made them pregnant with an invisible being taking over their body. Their body was Mistress’ - every part of it, inside and out.

The trigger ended once again. Lily almost drooped over with exhaustion, before their Mistress caught them. She lightly kissed their temple, and Lily managed to mewl with adoration.

“Does anyone have any questions for Lily?” Magnolia turned to the audience.

“One,” an audience member said. “How does it, um, feel?”

“Uh… well…” Lily looked down, unsure how to answer that.

“Answer the question,” Magnolia quietly whispered in their head. It was an order.

Lily nodded slowly. “W-well, to me, it doesn’t really feel like ten seconds. It’s… well, it’s kind of segmented I guess. The first few seconds I’m just being, um… fucked. With any kind of tendril or member or…” They covered their face, unbelieving that they were talking about this with strangers. They supposed it wasn’t quite as bad as the rich people sex parties. “Then I feel like I’m… well, y’know. Pr-pregnant. And… I dunno, it feels all weird and painful but it’s… it’s so hot. It feels like…”

Lily twirled their fingers together as they finished quietly, “like my Mistress owns me on the inside, too.”

The crowd let out a collective ‘awww’. Magnolia pulled Lily’s exhausted, dreamy, cloudy head into her chest before lifting them to their feet and dragging them out of the spotlight. Out of attention.

Quickly, Aiden jumped back up. “Well, I don’t know if we’re going to top that, but does anyone want to go next?”

Magnolia looked down to Lily’s eyes. Lily looked back and smiled. She didn’t say anything, but Lily somehow knew she was proud of them.

It was the best feeling.

~~

“It was so nice having everyone!” Ruby ended. “Please make sure to pay your tab and get all your belongings!”

The crowd all got up, Magnolia and Lily included, and began gathering their belongings. Well, Lily gathered all the belongings as Magnolia swiftly texted the driver. The two of them, just about to leave, were interrupted. A tall butch lady with a top hat, dressed like a butler, sauntered up to them.

“I apologize for the introduction, but I must say that was quite an incredible performance,” she said with a beaming smile. “It was a delightful show of ownership.”

“Thank you for your words,” Magnolia replied as Lily watched the conversation from a mental distance. “And you are?”

“My name is Smef. I’m one of the judges at the Art of Dominance Pageant.”

Both of them fell silent and took a quick look at each other. “O-oh,” even Magnolia was taken aback, “it’s a pleasure.”

Smef bowed lightly, tipping her top hat. “The pleasure is all mine. If you are interested, we’d love to see an application from you two for the pageant.”

They were both stunned into silence. At least, Lily was. Magnolia quickly regained her composure as gracefully as possible. “That’s quite a compliment. We were planning to apply, so I hope you will consider us when we do.”

Lily beamed and blushed again. Magnolia hadn’t completely thrown the pageant off the table. It was such a relief, something Lily hadn’t expected they’d feel.

“Consider yourself already considered,” Smef replied. “I will see you later.”

She walked away without so much as another word. Lily grinned up at their Mistress, who gently stroked their cheek. “You did such a good job,” she purred. “You’ve made your Mistress extremely proud.”

“I-I…” Lily’s eyes watered a bit. “Thank you, Mistress. I… I love you.”

“I love you too, plaything,” she tugged at their collar. “Come on. The car should be outside soon.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

They walked to the exit, occasionally receiving praise or compliments from onlookers. They didn’t stop moving to the door; which made sense, Lily was considerably exhausted.

Well, they stopped at one instance. They heard Aiden’s voice, commanding and controlling, to another part of the restaurant. As briefly as possible, they looked to the well-established dynamic couple.

Ruby was standing in an inspection pose, one Lily knew well, as Aiden talked to her. Her posture was perfect. Her statute was firm and unwavering. And when Ruby replied, Lily couldn’t make out the words, but even they could tell there was nothing but devotion in her voice.

Magnolia stared as well. Lily’s eyes briefly went to their Mistress. She wasn’t the easiest person to read. But the aura of envy, jealousy, it had returned.

“We’ll get there,” she said to Lily in a reassuring voice. “I will get us there. I promise.”