“Lily, we’re going away for a week.”

Lily’s head jumped up from staring down at the lunch they had just made, staring at Mistress Magnolia in confusion. Going away on a vacation wasn't a problem. It was just shocking that Magnolia, of all people, wanted to go on a vacation. Didn’t she just spend a while talking about how busy she was at work the other day?

“Um, okay, Mistress,” they responded, so as not to keep her hanging for too long. “May I ask… where… are we going?”

Magnolia, looking at her tablet instead of Lily, moved her hand to play with their hair possessively. Lily melted into the touch, almost forgetting their question entirely. “My cabin in the woods. It’s been a while since I’ve gone, and I have belongings in storage there that I haven’t gone through in… about a decade. I figured I’d go through them with you.”

Lily couldn’t help but smile at the thoughts of vacationing with their Mistress and being of use to her. They leaned their head into her hand as she continued ruffling their hair, pulling it at random intervals. Humming in delight, they decided to ask more questions.

“How long is the drive? Oh, uh, I suppose Gregory is…”

“He isn’t. I’m driving.”

Lily blinked in surprise, rolling their eyes over to her. “You are?”

Magnolia finally averted her eyes from her tablet and looked towards Lily — her expression wasn't necessarily angry, but she seemed miffed by their response. “Is that a problem? Did you spend these last few years thinking that I couldn’t drive?”

“I… guess I just never thought about it. I’ve never seen you drive. I don’t actually know what kind of car you have.” Lily could only guess the price tag on the car she must have gotten. Cars were usually four, five digits, right? They trusted their Mistress, but still, they always felt a little nervous getting in a car with someone whose driving skills they had yet to see.

“Well, you’ll see it tomorrow,” she responded cockily. “Because we’re leaving tomorrow morning.” After a pause to let that fact sink into Lily’s head, she added, “So you may want to think about packing some bags.”

“Oh… oh. Y-yes, of course, Mistress.” Lily was about to stand up, before Magnolia grabbed their arm and forced them to sit back down.

“Not now,” she clarified. “Later.”

Lily sat back down as commanded, questions running through their mind. Of course, Magnolia was a secretive person. This was the first time Lily had ever heard of any of her properties outside of… her already giant estate. She didn’t even tell them which state it was in.

“So… it’s a cabin in the woods,” Lily echoed. “Are we, like, technically going camping then?”

“By a very loose definition, yes.” Magnolia smirked at that question, as if she was silently laughing at them. To be fair, she always was.

“Oooh, so, are we going to do fun camping things? Like, sleeping under the stars, or campfires—  oooh, or making s’mores!?” The way Lily’s eyes sparkled as their voice filled with excitement was quite charming, especially for them. “Oh, and we’re going on a road trip, so… can I make a playlist?”

“Are you going to fill it entirely with Avril Lavigne, plaything?” Magnolia asked teasingly.

“N-no! I like other singers, Mistress,” Lily responded with a pout. Of course she’d dodge their questions and take the next available chance to degrade them.

Their Mistress let out a big exhale. “You sound like a kid going away to summer camp. You seem to have forgotten your place. We’re going to be doing what I decide, and I expect you not to incessantly whine about it. Understood?”

Magnolia muttered to herself, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It is summer, after all..."

She sounded serious enough — though Lily couldn’t say they weren’t just a little disappointed that all their ideas were thrown out the window. Before they could look too disheartened, though, Magnolia added, “though, I will admit I don’t know what s’mores are.”

Lily blinked. “You… don’t? Really?”

“I’m going to assume it’s something people of, ah, another class than me do,” Magnolia chuckled sadistically. Typical of her to laugh at the lower class. Lily couldn’t help but think she was just saying those things as a front sometimes.

“Well, it’s like…” Lily motioned their hands wildly as they tried to explain. “You start a fire, um, usually a campfire — and then you put marshmallows on a stick and heat them up. So they get like, kinda gooey. Then you like, put the chocolate near the fire too — um, you bring chocolate bars too — and then mush them between two graham crackers like a sandwich. Um, does that make sense?”

“Somehow, that inane description had some semblance of reason in it,” Magnolia chided. “But… people eat that? Really? It sounds… disorderly.”

Lily gave an awkward smile. Sometimes, having to explain ‘lower-class’ things to her was physically painful. “I mean, I guess. That’s kind of the point, though. Just getting all messy, laughing, running around in the woods… I mean, you’ve gone camping before, haven’t you?”

Magnolia’s lips twitched in a hesitant way. Lily knew that twitch of hers — usually, she’d give that to them when they accidentally asked about a tough subject that she didn’t want to discuss. That wasn’t often. She wasn’t usually the kind of lady to be turned off by an uncomfortable subject being brought up out of the blue; usually she’d just brush it off, or insult them to retaliate.

“We must have very different ideas of camping,” she eventually spoke. “I look forward to making you adapt to my way.”

Lily giggled, shoving any thoughts their two brain cells made to the back of their head. That sounded nice. At the very least, they were spending a fun week away with their beloved Mistress. What more could they want?

“By the way,” Lily piped back up. “The, uh… storage… what exactly do you have in there?”

“What everyone else has. Old clothes, junk from high school I probably don’t need anymore, old keepsakes that didn’t have a place in my new home.”

“Oooh, Magnolia from high school! I’m curious,” Lily grinned.

“I can assure you, Lily, I was not as interesting as you’re assuming,” Magnolia chided. “I was simply like every other high-schooler, doing normal obnoxious teenager things. I’m only dragging you along because you can’t judge me or laugh at me, since if you do you’ll most likely get punished.”

Lily deflated. On the one hand, seeing Magnolia’s old high-school hobbies or remnants intrigued them immensely. On the other hand, they were very bad at stifling their laughter when they found something funny. It was entirely likely that they would see something, laugh endlessly, and then get their ass beaten by a very embarrassed Magnolia. After all — she did like taking her feelings out on them.

“Are… you going to tell me what your teenage hobbies were, or…”

“What's the point in telling you now? You’ll find out soon enough.” Magnolia quipped back, shooting down their thoughts once again. “Besides, even if I was a normal obnoxious teenager, I’m sure my hobbies were much more interesting than whatever you were doing at 15.”

Their Mistress stared intently at them, waiting for them to reveal their high school passions. Lily blushed, covering their face with their hands. They really, really didn’t want Magnolia knowing about their extended My Chemical Romance phase. Not to mention, their awful fanfiction could probably be dug up if someone tried hard enough.

“Oh, right, you talked about a playlist,” Magnolia reminded them. “Why don’t you pick out five or so songs? And I can pick out the rest.”

“Y-yeah… that sounds fine.” Something in Lily could tell that the balance would be wildly uneven. That wasn’t necessarily ideal, since their musical tastes had next to no overlap, but they weren’t opposed to Mistress Magnolia taking control of the playlist. She was being kind enough to drive them, after all.

“I’m going home tonight, and I’ll be driving to pick you up at six-thirty AM sharp. Be sure to have all your bags packed. Oh, and I have bathing suits prepared for us too — my cabin is right next to quite a nice lake.”

Lily nodded, accepting the order. “Yes, Mistress. I’m so excited!” A dopey grin turned their lips upward. They hadn’t gone swimming in a long time, despite the feeling of immersion in water being one of their favorite sensations. Their eyes sparkled as they fantasized of floating in the water, the water washing over them, feeling safe with their Mistress…

“Good,” Magnolia responded. She grabbed the ring of their collar, dragging their head in so she could kiss and lightly bite their ear for a split second, as Lily gasped in surprise. “I trust you’ll keep me entertained on this trip, plaything. I have lots of plans for you.”

Lily squealed excitedly again, the thoughts of all the various ways Magnolia would use and play with them running through their head.

“You’ll be good and obedient for me, won’t you, my ditzy idiot?”

“Y-yes, Mistress. I’ll… I’ll be very, very good.”

"In fact, why wait until tomorrow? I can have some fun with you right now." One of Magnolia's hands stayed on the ring of Lily’s collar, tugging it roughly as her other hand slid across their body down to their legs. She teased them, making them squirm and stare at their Mistress in anticipation.

“Good. Just as I expect,” she grinned at them sadistically. “I trust you have no objections?”

Lily shivered in anticipation. “It's f-fine by me, Mistress.”

~~

Lily had spent a while packing two suitcases and a backpack full of stuff to bring. A week’s trip wasn’t too long, but it wasn’t short either. Also, Magnolia would almost certainly punish them an hour into the trip if she found out they’d forgotten anything important. One of their suitcases was the one they’d brought to the apartment when Magnolia first bought them — it was a tad worn out, but it wasn’t torn up too badly. Another suitcase, and the backpack, were items Magnolia had gotten them for their business trip and Pokken Tournament regional competition.

They had woken up way earlier than their body was used to, triple-checking that everything was in their bags, and making sure they looked as appealing as possible. In the past year or so, they’d gotten much more comfortable wearing dresses and makeup, and they had a nice collection of fun floral dresses that Magnolia had gotten them. The makeup they’d collected was all vibrant colors, making them stand out in a crowd. They liked it that way.

After dragging their luggage out of the house onto the sidewalk, they waited patiently for Magnolia to pick them up. They still didn’t know what kind of car to expect. It probably was a fancy car, right? Lily knew there were  thousands of car models, but they didn't know much about any of them. They barely knew how to drive, after all, so there wasn’t much of a reason to learn.

Luckily, because it was so early, there weren’t many cars on the street or people around them. The summer breeze against their skin felt amazing as they waited.

Every time someone drove up to them, Lily assumed it was Magnolia. It was just the flow of traffic, but the anticipation made Lily’s heart speed up and drop every single time. They checked their phone to see if they had any texts or missed calls. They had sent a good morning text, too, and they were surprised they hadn't received a response. Maybe Magnolia was the one who overslept this time.

They were quickly proven wrong. A luxury BMW drove up to Lily, slowing down as it approached them. They could see Magnolia through the windows, and an excited smile flashed across their face. She parked the over-the-top fancy car, opening the door and walking around it over to them. Lily had never seen a car so sleek and clean — it was clear Magnolia either never used it or took phenomenal care of it, if not both. They could almost see their face in the reflection, sinking into it a little like the trance slut they were.

“You look lovely today, Lily,” she commented, making Lily blush and giggle at the surprisingly kind comment. Maybe she sort of was a morning person. “Did you pack everything?”

“Mhmm,” Lily hummed giddily. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Are you *sure*?” Magnolia’s voice took on a much more serious tone, as she narrowed her eyes at Lily. “You’re certain you didn’t forget anything?”

“N-n-no, Mistress,” Lily stammered out, anxiety rushing through their mind. They didn’t, did they? “I mean, yes, I'm sure. I didn’t forget anything.”

“Good,” Magnolia smirked. “I’m glad your brain cells were functional enough to remember how to pack.”

She motioned for Lily to start loading everything into the car, as she pressed a button on her keys to open the trunk. Lily began stuffing everything into the trunk, struggling to carry the suitcases just a little. Of course, being the kind of person who actually enjoys lifting, they didn’t have too much difficulty.

Another pang of nervousness hit them. They did remember everything. They knew that. They also knew they were just being annoyingly anxious, and also now that they told their Mistress that they had everything, they’d certainly be punished if she found out they'd misspoke.

Magnolia's suitcases were already in the trunk, and Lily stared at them as they loaded their own luggage.Predictably, Magnolia's suitcases looked quite expensive. They were made out of the finest leather — similar to the suitcase she got Lily, but even more high-quality.

Lily drifted their attention back to Magnolia as they closed the trunk shut. Magnolia, before letting Lily get into the passenger’s seat, grabbed their arm to drag them back to her. As they looked at her expectantly with wide eyes, she tightened her grip around their left arm and lightly caressed their right cheek.

“I am so, so excited to have you to myself for the entire week,” Magnolia growled with a sadistic grin. “Just thinking about the things I’m going to do to you, with no one around to help you or hear you cry out for mercy… it makes me want to drive over there with my foot slamming the gas pedal.”

Lily trembled. The way Magnolia instilled fear in them was always so hot, so exciting, and yet so nerve-racking. They broke eye contact to bury their head in their free hand. Their stammers and murmurs of submission and horror were interrupted when Magnolia grabbed the bottom of their jaw with one hand. They were malleable clay in her hands as she controlled their body, tilting their head upwards back to her. She didn’t even have to slap them or scold them. She just silently glared at them until they remembered that breaking eye contact with their Mistress was massively disrespectful.

After a moment of dominating silence, Magnolia lightly slapped their back to force them out of subspace, and snapped her fingers. “Let’s go.”

Lily nodded, getting into the car and sinking into the soft, plush seat. Their legs felt like jelly after that small scene. Balling their hands into tight fists on their thighs, they tried to come back down to earth. Magnolia got into the driver's seat, starting up the car again.

Before she drove off, she took another opportunity to speak down to Lily. “By the way, if you in any way stain or damage this car… I will personally obliterate you until you can’t function for a month. Understood?”

“Y-yes… yes, Mistress.” Lily silently questioned why she had to keep playing with their anxiety, even though a part of them knew the answer. They decided to just keep their hands to themself for the entire car ride. After all, Magnolia still had hundreds of ways she might punish them, and Lily didn’t want to learn any of them.

Magnolia drove off from the spot she parked in. Much to Lily’s surprise, she was quite a good driver — both with her control over her car, and her balancing fast driving with obeying most traffic laws.

Not that getting a speeding ticket would be much of an issue to someone as rich as Magnolia.

Once they reached a stoplight, Magnolia’s hand went to her car’s radio and started playing the mixtape she created. The first song Lily heard was some sort of classical-jazz hybrid in a foreign language. They didn’t know exactly which language it was, though it sounded… maybe Dutch?

“You picked out some songs too, yes?” Magnolia asked, her hand drifting away from the car radio and possessively grabbing Lily’s knee.

“O-oh… yes, I did.” Lily thought about the songs they picked last night. They tried to keep their selection short, knowing Magnolia would play vastly more of her own music.

“And tell me, plaything,” Magnolia squeezed their thigh tighter, making them squirm in their seat. “How many are Avril Lavigne songs?”

“U-um…” Magnolia could see through them like they were a ghost. “T-two, I think.”

“Two?” Magnolia asked with disbelief. “Really?”

“…No, wait, five,” they admitted.

“There we go,” she laughed. “I’ll let you play it later on, toy.”

And she drove off, the sounds of her pretentious, high-class music playing in the car as she continued to tease and torment Lily the entire way.

~~

About 90 minutes or so into their drive, Magnolia pulled into a rest stop so the two of them could recuperate a little. After all, Magnolia wasn’t particularly used to driving anymore, and she quickly gathered that Lily was prone to motion sickness. They were a third of the way, at the very least, so they had time to stop for a bit.

Lily saw a TCBY sign, and their stomach started rumbling a bit. "Mistress, um, can I get some snacks? I think I'm getting a bit hungry…"

Magnolia chuckled mockingly. "Oh, you can get yourself whatever you want, plaything. Just remember what will happen to you if you get any crumbs or stains inside my car. I'm sure you know that I don't make idle threats."

Lily gulped. Maybe they weren’t that hungry after all.

Magnolia, of course, didn’t want to go inside. She couldn’t be seen, god forbid, eating at McDonalds or whatever other fast-food places they had.

Lily suddenly noticed how tired they were. Magnolia mindlessly playing with their hair, like a stress toy, certainly didn’t help them feel more awake — only more drowsy and trancey and sleepy.

“Do you need to stretch or anything, Lily?” Magnolia asked, a hint of Mommy Domme showing in her voice.

“Mm,” Lily murmured tiredly. “No, Mistress. I’m okay.”

“Aww, you sound so sleepy,” she cooed. It was unclear if she was making fun of them or genuinely enamoured by them. “Do you need to sleep? Is it too early for you?”

“Mm… yeah,” they yawned. “Can I?”

“Of course. Why don’t I help you with that?”

Lily wasn’t exactly sure what she was implying; their brain wasn’t working as well due to the fatigue. But she knew she didn't have a choice. Magnolia's "offer" was really more of a statement; she wanted to do something, and so she was going to. Before Lily could ask what Magnolia meant, Magnolia whispered a few words in their ear — "my lovely, loyal Lily" — and they immediately fell into a deep, mindless trance.

~~

Lily wasn’t sure how much time had passed as they lingered in between trance and sleep. Time felt like it both stopped and sped up when Magnolia put them under her spell. Either way, their trance was so calm and relaxing. They could hear the sound of soft classical music playing in the back of their mind, barely feeling the road rumbling underneath them.

Eventually, Magnolia had to wake them up. The car was stopped, and she spoke to them with increasing volume. “Three, two, one, and up.” She snapped her fingers, and the well-trained Lily came back to the waking world.

Lily took a moment to reorient themself. It had been a while since Magnolia had kept them hypnotized for more than an hour, and they remembered how much time they needed for their body to wake up, too.

“How are you feeling, dear?” their Mistress asked with care.

“Mm.” They stretched their arms out and took a big yawn. “Still sleepy. But okay.”

“You’re just always tired, aren’t you, plaything?” Magnolia teased. “Take a minute, and then get your stuff out of the car.”

“Mm… Yes, Mistress,” Lily murmured, still readjusting. Magnolia kissed the top of their forehead and stepped out of the car. Lily looked out of the window with their half-open eyes, trying to see what kind of campgrounds Magnolia even had.

Looking around, Lily started to understand what Magnolia meant when she said that they had very different ideas of camping. Her property didn’t seem like it was actually a camp, or anything like it. Lily felt a bit embarrassed for thinking that Magnolia would actually go camping. Regardless, they were amazed by the estate. They’d only seen one other of Magnolia’s properties, of about the same size. Obviously, this one was massive. It was a log cabin, but it was one of those fancy and vast cottages with finished wood and homely decorations and lights. They could only imagine what kind of gorgeous furniture she kept inside. Despite Lily having grown up poor, the cabin felt sort of like coming home.

Lily's gaze drifted to the lake by the cabin. It was a gorgeous color, and the water looked so lovely. They almost wanted to take a swim right then. Magnolia had gotten them a bathing suit, right? Oh, gosh, they realized — she probably got them one of those skimpy and embarrassing ones. After all, she could take advantage of them as much as she wanted, since no one else was there. She said so herself.

As amazing as the cabin was, Lily was slightly disappointed. They really did want to go camping…

Magnolia suddenly came up to the door, opening it for them. “There, you should be awake now.”

Lily wasn’t exactly awake, but they were aware. They stumbled out of the car, getting their muscles to wake up. “It’s… so pretty… and big…” they spoke with fascinated, sparkly eyes.

“It is, isn’t it?” Magnolia grabbed their arm and began leading them towards the cabin. “I’ve had this place for… mm, I think five or so years. Haven’t used it much. I did just have someone clean it for us. I think roaches or spiders or whatever would ruin the mood a little.”

Lily nodded. That she was definitely right about.

~~

The couple got their suitcases and luggage into the cabin, though Magnolia wasn’t ready for them to settle in just yet. They had to take care of the most pressing matter, the reason she brought Lily there — going through her old storage and getting rid of the random crap she didn’t need anymore.

Lily was excited for swimming and camping and s’mores (if Magnolia would let them make s’mores), but the thing they were most excited about was going through their Mistress’ storage. While they knew Magnolia, they didn’t know much about her past life or her personal life. Going through her old possessions seemed like it would be like diving through a horde of treasure.

Lily knew a few things about Magnolia’s past — she went to a prestigious business school (which they didn’t know the name of), she studied abroad in France, and her parents kicked her out, presumably after she came out as trans. She had hinted at a few other facts about herself, such as getting into hypnosis kink as a teenager, and having some sort of business mentor. But Magnolia kept many secrets, and she clearly liked it that way

Her storage was all kept in the attic, where she led them up. For an attic, it was particularly spacious, but that didn’t phase Lily at this point. It seemed to be the only part of the cabin that hadn't been cleaned. Magnolia probably had the only key.

Lily looked around, eyeing what kind of storage she had. There were a ton of cardboard boxes to go through, and some plastic bins. There was also a chest engraved with gorgeous floral designs.

“Start with those cardboard boxes in the corner,” Magnolia ordered. “That should be my stuff from before business school.”

“Of course, Mistress,” Lily responded obediently.

“Oh, and, if you laugh at anything I have, you’re sleeping outside on the grass for the entire week. No tent.”

Lily wasn’t going to lie — that sounded fun, almost more so as a punishment. They didn’t want to disobey their Mistress, though. “Yes, Mistress. I… I won’t laugh.”

They knew it’d be hard to follow that command — after all, they were pretty giggly and ditzy, easy to amuse. Magnolia handed them a pair of scissors to open the boxes. (“Be sure not to hurt yourself, or me,” she warned them, knowing they were prone to accidents.)

Lily walked over to the first box they could see. Most of the boxes were only vaguely labeled, but they went to one labeled with the letters “H.S.” Magnolia’s handwriting was incredibly legible and fancy, even years ago.

What could that stand for? Lily knew that just thinking to themself didn’t answer that question. They carefully opened the box, making sure not to damage any of the contents.

“How should I sort them, Mistress?” they asked.

“However you want. I trust you to come up with a decent enough system.”

They nodded, opening the box and trying to mentally figure out a way to sort everything.

It took a minute for them to process the contents. They knew what everything was, but it greatly surprised them that Magnolia, of all people, *ever* owned this stuff.

The first thing Lily saw was a bag of miniature figurines, presumably for some kind of fantasy tabletop game. Some of them were painted, some were half-painted, some were brand-new and still completely white. Lily almost wanted to ask Magnolia to elaborate, but they turned around and saw she was deep in unpacking her own box.

Was Magnolia… a gamer, at some point? Lily tried to imagine it. They just could not see it. Their mind physically could not create that image.

They had to know more. They put the figurines to the side, sorting them into “Magnolia definitely wants this” and “series of question marks”. The next thing they pulled out was a plastic binder, complete with tons of sleeves. They opened it, seeing some series of playing cards they couldn’t recognize. Something like Magic: The Gathering, probably? Lily felt like they were dissociating just trying to process the idea that Magnolia was into this kind of thing. These days, she could have a field day laughing at Lily for being into anything remotely nerdy. She already enjoyed tormenting them over their obsession with climbing the ranks in Pokken.

They paged through the cards for a minute. Lily didn’t know anything about trading card games, but they could definitely tell that some rare and special cards were in there. It almost amused them, knowing that this is what Magnolia spent money on in her pre-business days.

This was… her high school stuff, right? What else could “H.S.” stand for?

As they kept looking, Lily found more items that only further bolstered their ‘Magnolia was a gamer’ theory. Retro gaming consoles and cartridges, tabletop game books, and the like. They sorted almost everything into the “series of question marks” pile.

They couldn’t keep it in anymore. They *had* to ask.

“Um, Mistress…” they piped up, trying to figure out the right way to word their question.

“Yes, plaything?” Magnolia acknowledged them, but kept her gaze on her own box.

“What… um… is all this stuff you… still want?”

“What stuff?” Magnolia began, turning to them. “You should be a little more specific if you…”

She trailed off when she saw Lily kneeling in front of all of her old stuff from high school. Magnolia covered her face, trying to hide her slight blush. “Oh lord. Of course that’s the one you start with.”

“Was I… not supposed to?”

“No, I just didn’t expect you to… never mind.” Magnolia stopped talking, trying to avoid elaborating as best as she could.

“So… this stuff is…”

“My… ah, hobbies, from high school,” Magnolia confessed. She instantly quipped back when she saw the slight smile across Lily’s lips. “No. Laughing. Remember?”

“I-I’m not laughing, I-I’m just— I didn’t expect you to… have… y’know.” Lily stifled their laughter, but a small giggle came out at some point. They fully expected Magnolia to murder them, but luckily, she understood their confusion.

Magnolia groaned, breathing a sigh of frustration. She couldn’t just tell Lily they never saw anything. They saw what they saw.

“So… you were…?”

“Yes. I was a…” Magnolia tried to speak, a pained smirk gracing her face. “A gamer.”

“You… were.”

“In high school. Yes.”

An uncomfortable silence hung above them as Magnolia braced herself for Lily’s questions, and Lily tried to figure out what exactly to ask.

“When were you a gamer?” they asked, hoping that wasn’t too touchy of a subject. “Like… when… hmmm.”

“In high school,” she started.

“What were you… like… in high school?”

“I was depressed, and shy, and awkward, and crushed with dysphoria,” Magnolia responded bluntly. “But,” her face lightened up a little as she added, “the good thing about tabletop for closeted trans teenagers is that you get to play as any gender you want. If anyone questions you, you can just say you like the clothing choices. You also get to play elves and sorcerers.”

“I… see.” Lily didn’t quite know what to say, both to Magnolia suddenly being vulnerable to Lily about her pre-transition days and to her almost… fangirling… about tabletop mechanics. They almost wanted to ask more, but it seemed like a sore subject and Magnolia probably already shared more than she wanted.

They still couldn’t see it. Magnolia — their dominating, cruel, loving Mistress — was depressed, shy, and awkward in high school?

Lily suddenly thought of a better, more on-topic question. “So… what do you want me to do with them?”

“Throw them…” Magnolia couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. “Let me handle it later,” she eventually decided.

Lily nodded, going to another box that also happened to be labeled H.S.

“Ah, ah,” Magnolia stopped them frantically. “Another box. I don’t need you knowing anything else about my high school days.”

~~

Lily and Magnolia had gone through a majority of Magnolia’s old storage, and Lily had learned more about their Mistress in a few hours than they did over the last two years. The whole gamer thing and her teenage depression particularly stuck with them. There were other facets of Magnolia’s past that fascinated them — the framed photos she kept of herself and her old business mentor (who she’d sadly lost contact with), and her surprisingly massive collection of lesbian erotica. After all they'd seen, Lily was almost scared at the thought of Magnolia learning more about their own past. They hoped that Magnolia felt she knew all she wanted to know; after all, Lily would be mortified if Magnolia found out about their scene phase in college.

Something sillier was bothering Lily, too. They came all this way to stay in a fancy log cabin in the woods, and yet it seemed like they weren't going to get to do anything even remotely like camping. They at least expected Magnolia to have some kind of tent,  even if it was made out of gold. She claimed that she was so averse to the idea of risking her luxury that she refused to  own one. Lily suspected that it also might have something to do with Magnolia's bad memories of being forced to go to a super outdoorsy summer camp.

Lily shivered when Magnolia told them  that, briefly remembering something with… him. They brushed it off, forcing the thought out of their mind.

Either way, Lily wanted to at least do something in the great outdoors. They brought the idea up to Magnolia for what seemed like the tenth time. At least she hadn’t ordered them not to bring it up again.

“Can we at least like… lay under the stars for like, maybe two hours?” Their proposition had gone from four to two hours since they last asked.

“This again? Why does it matter to you so much?” Magnolia groaned, looking up at them. “Does being inside a luxurious estate really disappoint you that much?”

“N-not that, Mistress — I mean, this cabin is amazing, it’s just…”

“You seem ungrateful.” Magnolia’s eyes narrowed in a way that made Lily’s blood run cold. “Are you ungrateful, plaything?”

“A-absolutely not, Mistress! I just… I think you might enjoy it too… don’t you think?”

“No!” Magnolia finally seemed like she was about to put her foot down. Lily froze in place, shrieking a small cry of fear. “You really need to relearn not to push my buttons or test my patience. Do I need to reinforce that, Lily?”

Lily deflated. They realized they probably shouldn’t ask again, unless they actually want to get punished. “No, Mistress. I won’t ask again.”

Magnolia huffed. “Good,” she scoffed. “Maybe I should just make you sleep outside by yourself. With no tent.”

Their head suddenly perked up. Wait… they could? It wouldn’t be sleeping outside with their Mistress, but it would still fulfill that campy itch they were having. That didn’t sound bad! That sounded fun, actually!

“Is… can I actually do that, Mistress?”

Magnolia’s head whipped around, noting the sparkles in their eyes curiously. “I was being sarcastic, plaything. You… actually want that?”

“Um… if you’re okay with it.”

“Let me get this straight. You want to sleep outside, with no shelter, on a grassy field with no mattress or sleeping bed, alone, instead of staying inside, under soft and heavy blankets in a comfortable room at a nice temperature. With me. This sounds like an incredibly stupid request, though it's coming from you, so I can’t say I’m surprised. Am I hearing you correctly?”

Well, when she said it like that, it did sound stupid. But Lily was an awful liar, and Magnolia could always see straight through them.

“I… that sounds fun, yes.”

Magnolia looked at them incredulously. Lily tried to keep their face serious, but they couldn’t help smiling awkwardly, not knowing how exactly Magnolia was going to respond.

“If I let you do this, and you come back inside crying in the middle of the night, there will be consequences. Do you understand, plaything?”

Lily knew she was being serious — she just had that intent look on her face that made them sure that if they gave up in the middle of the night, they would probably get at least scolded. They could handle being slapped around a bit… right? It was a worthy risk!

“Yes, Mistress, I understand. I want to sleep outside tonight.”

Magnolia sighed. “You never cease to amaze and confuse me. Fine. I’ll gladly take the entire bed for myself. Enjoy yourself, idiot.”

Lily giggled, blushing at Magnolia's insult like the degradation slut they were.

~~

Dusk passed, and night came. Lily had prepared a few of their belongings to go outside with them — a pair of headphones, their phone, something to sketch with in case inspiration struck, and their Switch. Magnolia chided them as they walked out the door, calling them a “stupid, dumb idiot who will regret this in 30 minutes”. They found a comfortable place to sleep, reminding them of the agreed-upon terms.

Lily eventually found a grassy spot to sit, one with enough ground covered that no trace of dirt would get on their silk floral pajamas. They could see the stars and the quarter-full moon clearly — it was one of the most beautiful sights they’d seen in weeks. After all, living in the city, their scenery consisted mainly of construction sites and people honking and swearing at each other from their cars.

They put on some calming music, the excitement of this sort-of-camping setting into them. Closing their eyes, they tried to drift to sleep.

After a few minutes, they realized the position they were in was incredibly uncomfortable. They shifted. After another minute, they realized that position was quite painful too. They knew what sleeping on a hill was like, yet this one seemed particularly ragged.

They shifted every few minutes for around two hours, eventually finding a place that still wasn’t comfortable, but didn’t actively hurt them. Their mind settled around midnight, and they started to fall asleep.

And then they realized they could hear crickets chirping way, way too loudly in the distance. Even their music at maximum volume wasn’t completely drowning the high-pitched sounds out. Still, they tried to sleep…

And then they realized something else even more annoying. Mosquitos must have gotten to them. Not just one or two, but all over their legs and arms, which their shorts and tank top did little to cover. They tried falling asleep again, but soon started spending every second just scratching the dozens of bug bites. Not only was it annoying, they also dimly remembered that mosquito bites can give you some kind of disease.

Annoyed and tired, they checked their phone and saw that it was one in the morning. They could continue trying, and failing, to sleep outside and wind up drained and tired the next day. Or they could go back inside and face their Mistress’s wrath. Both were equally bad options.

They had not thought this plan through.

They tried to sleep for another thirty minutes, with no success. Eventually, they gave up, and just starteddrawing, hoping that maybe it would lull them to sleep. This did not work either.

Lily hated being tired. Whenever they couldn’t sleep, they wound up irritable and with poor control of their emotions. Which could mean, if Magnolia said one minor thing that set them off, they’d get punished for talking back.

So, their options were to get punished... or to get punished.

Lily decided that they might as well face the certainty of a punishment now, rather than waiting anxiously for Magnolia to scold them while sleep-deprived. At the very least, they could face the day with… six, seven hours of sleep.

They got up, walking back to the front door of the cabin. They stared at the doorbell for what seemed like an eternity. The thought of trying again crossed their mind, but that sounded even worse. One way or another, they knew their ass was getting beaten into oblivion.

They rang the doorbell, the ringing much louder than it honestly needed to be. Lily waited anxiously, their heart sinking deeper in their chest with every passing second. It was almost two AM. There was no way Magnolia wouldn’t be pissed.

Well, at least they were right about that. Magnolia eventually swung open the door, glaring hot knives into them. Lily tried to quickly think of a defense for their idiocy.

“So… um… things did… not go well…”

“Mm,” Magnolia hummed in agreement. “Very nice mosquito bites you’ve acquired there. Anything to say about waking me up at two in the fucking morning?”

“N-no, Mistress… um, other than… I’m so sorry. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Lily, you dumb, dumb idiot,” Magnolia scolded. “I don’t care that you’re ‘so sorry’. I'm upset with you. And when it's not the middle of the night, I’m going to teach you a harsh, harsh lesson. You agreed to these terms for your stupid idea. Was it worth it, plaything?”

Lily was, honestly, scared out of their mind. At least Magnolia wasn’t yelling at them.

“N-no, Mistress,” they admitted. “It… it wasn’t.” They wanted to apologize again, but what would it do?

“We’ll talk about your punishment in the morning,” Magnolia snapped. “Just get inside so you don’t keep me up any longer.”

Lily gulped, but secretly felt a bit relieved. This was a problem for tomorrow-Lily. Today-Lily could finally get some sleep. “Y-yes, Mistress…”

~~

The rest of the night, and most of the morning, came and went. Lily slept like a rock as soon as their body hit the plush, super-soft king-sized bed. When they opened their eyes, it was almost eleven AM. They smiled as they saw the clock, knowing they managed to get a full nine hours of sleep.

Their smile immediately faded, as they remembered they were going to get slapped around hard… literally, metaphorically, or both.

“Kinda just wanna stay in bed and delay the inevitable…” they murmured to themself, letting their head hit the pillow again.

They started drifting into sleep again, cozying up at the idea of not having to face the fury of their Mistress immediately. Unfortunately, their fantasies of escaping their punishment fell apart as they heard the bedroom door open. Lily tried to keep their eyes closed shut, pretending they were still asleep. Unfortunately, they weren't smart enough to fool Magnolia, who walked over to them and pulled the covers off of them.

“Good morning, plaything.” Her voice was feigning a sing-song tone, but Lily could feel the vitriol rolling out of her words as she towered over them. Lily opened their eyes, frightened, as they sat up

“Um… good morning, Mistress,” they responded sheepishly. She was just staring at them in agonizing silence, but it somehow felt worse than a constant stream of insults. “How… did you sleep?”

They knew the answer, especially as Magnolia’s face twitched with even more irritation, but they knew it would be rude not to ask.

“Oh, just fine,” she said with a cruel scowl. “Aside from the part where you woke me up at 2 AM because I was right, and then had to deal with that vice grip you do when you’re sleeping like the dead.”

Lily blushed, then raised their eyebrows in confusion. “Wait… vice grip?”

“What, you don’t know?” Magnolia asked incredulously, but with a hint of mockery in her voice

“About… what?”

“Every time you fall into too deep of a sleep, you start gripping me. And let me tell you, someone with your… defined muscles… grips hard.”

“I… I do?” Lily blinked. They’d never heard that from her before, or anyone else.

“Yes! You hold onto me so tight it sometimes takes me hours to squirm free. I woke up again, at 7am, because I couldn’t even breathe. Then you just tried to grip onto me again. It’s why I make you wear handcuffs to sleep sometimes, if I don’t feel like dealing with it.”

Lily’s blush faded into a horrified look. “I… I had no idea, Mistress, oh gosh I’m… I’m so sorry… if I had known, I would have…”

“Oh, if I had wanted you to know, I would have told you.” Magnolia added. “Honestly, it is impressive how strong you’ve gotten. It almost makes me want to order you to bench press me.”

“Ah…” Now she was playing with their emotions. Lily’s face flushed. The idea of bench pressing Magnolia did excite them a little, if only just to impress her. They could do around 175 pounds now, right…?

Lily shook their head. Magnolia actually seemed like she was in an okay mood. She even complimented them. “Well… t-thank you, I guess.”

“Wipe that smile off your face. You’re still getting punished.” Lily deflated as Magnolia pulled out something from behind her back. It seemed like some kind of garment. On closer look, it seemed like it was a bathing suit, and a very high-quality one at that. It was blue, studded with fake diamonds. But… it was a two-piece suit. Despite being muscular, Lily was still on the thicker side, and that was something they still had insecurities about.

“Put this on,” Magnolia ordered.

“A-are we going swimming?” Lily asked.

“No questions, plaything. Put. It. On.”

Lily gulped. They stood up, and stripped off their pajamas and lingerie. They still had to occasionally suppress the urge to cover themself with their arms bashfully. Luckily, Magnolia had mostly beaten the impulse out of them. Lily took the bathing suit and slipped it on, still feeling Magnolia’s carnivorous glare on their body. Even for a two-piece bathing suit, it was very revealing. At the very least, it covered some of the spots Lily was most insecure about.

“H-how do you like it?”

“You should know my answer, but… you look like something I want to get my hands all over, right now,” she sneered, making Lily cower just a little. “Let’s go. Outside.”

Magnolia led the bashful Lily outside, leading them to the lake by the cabin. Despite it being late in the morning, no one else was there. That made some sense, considering this was private property and Magnolia didn't want anyone to sully it with their presence. She led Lily to the edge of the lake, stripping out of her early-morning clothes to show her own equally-revealing bathing suit.

“Get in the water,” Magnolia ordered.

“Yes, Mistress,” Lily responded, dipping their toes into the water. They quickly adjusted to the temperature change, then immersed the rest of their body and sat on the edge of a rock in the lake. Magnolia got in behind them, wrapping her arms around them in her own vice grip. She dug her fingernails into them, almost breaking their skin. Lily could still feel her frustration in her fingers.

“How does it feel, plaything?”

“G-good,” Lily said, trying to hide how nervous they were. Even though they knew that no one could possibly see them, they still feared the idea of someone catching an unflattering view of them.

“Take off the bathing suit,” Magnolia suddenly ordered.

Lily paled, whipping their head to look at her. “W-wait! Are… are you serious?”

“Lily, Lily, Lily,” Magnolia chided disapprovingly. “Am I ever not serious when giving you an order?”

Lily stammered, trying to think of some kind of retort. She couldn’t honestly be asking them to get naked out in the open, right? Though given how humiliating it would be for them, maybe she would.

“You wanted to sleep outside, like a moron, and you agreed to get punished if you woke me up to get back inside. So, this is your punishment. You're going to get naked out in the open, and then I’m going to make you scream as loud as you can imagine.” Magnolia paused for her words to sink into Lily’s brain, before adding, “Maybe if you’re lucky, someone will hear you.”

“I… I… that’s…” Lily wanted to say ‘unfair’, but what would fairness even mean in a relationship like theirs?

“No more questions,” Magnolia snapped. “I gave you an order. Why haven’t you followed it yet?”

“I-I’m… sorry, Mistress.” Lily realized there was no fighting back, and that their punishment would only get worse with every passing second of refusal. Hesitantly, they stripped off both pieces of their bathing suit. They couldn't resist covering themself up in humiliation.

Magnolia didn’t like this, of course. She forcefully pulled Lily’s arms away from their body, wrapping her arms back around them so as to stop them from doing it again.

“How does this feel, plaything?” Magnolia asked, hissing into their ear.

“I… I’m scared, Mistress…” Lily admitted.

“Good. Be as afraid as you want. It won’t change damn a thing.”

Magnolia’s hands drifted around their body. One hand caressed their neck and chin and the upper part of their body. She slid a finger into their mouth, silencing them for a minute before pulling it out and giggling. Lily squirmed and panted in anticipation.

Magnolia’s other hand moved downwards. Lily began gasping in shame and arousal, trying to stifle their moans. They attempted to close their legs out of fear of anyone seeing them and their Mistress like this, though of course Magnolia just spread them back apart. Lily was like clay to her, easily malleable and able to be formed into whatever their Domme wanted them to be. They squirmed around, clutching to the sides of the rocks.

“M-Mistress,” Lily gasped. “What if people see us? W-we could get in t-trouble!”

“Does it look like I care, plaything?” she asked, growling into their ear. “In fact, why don’t you cry out? I want to see if anyone hears.”

“C-cry, cry out? Mistress, I—“

“Cry. Out,” Magnolia ordered. “Be as loud as you fucking can. Scream and cry for me, pet.”

Lily tried to question her, the humiliation taking over any logical part of their brain. But the second they tried fighting back, Magnolia’s fingers just moved harder and faster, silencing any form of protest they might have had. So they obeyed. They cried out "please, more," deep into the daylight. They cried over and over again, their heart pounding. They wondered if someone could hear them — but if they could, no one came to help.

Not that they minded — they preferred it.

~~

Hours had passed, Magnolia pushing Lily over the edge too many times to count. Lily’s legs had turned to jelly by the time she was done punishing them, and she struggled to bring them back inside to the cabin. Lily did deserve this. But it was still a harsh punishment, even for them, and even as they technically weren’t getting physically hurt.

Needless to say, they were exhausted. As soon as they got to the living room, Lily collapsed into the sofa by the fireplace. They could barely keep their eyes open, staring into the fire with half-open eyes. Magnolia soon came back to them, draping a cozy throw blanket over them and sitting next to them with her arm wrapped around them.

“Don’t wake me up at 2am again,” she chided, though it seemed she had gotten her anger out. “And maybe next time, take your mental superior’s advice on things.”

“Mm…” Lily hummed, nearly falling back asleep. “I’m sorry…”

Magnolia kissed them lightly on the forehead. “It’s okay, plaything. I know thinking rationally is challenging for you,” she chuckled. “Why don’t we take it easy, now? What was that thing you wanted to do? S’mores…?”

Lily nodded. “Y-yeah… I think I brought the ingredients with me, just in case…”

Magnolia laughed lightly — she was laughing at them, but not in a particularly unwanted way. Of course she was always laughing at them. Isn’t that just how Lily liked it, though?

“Of course you did. Fine, I’ll let you teach me how to make them. I trust that you won’t make a mess here… unless you would like a round two?”

Lily shook their head fervently. “N-no, not at all, Mistress. Um… I just need to get the ingredients…”

They tried to stand up, but they failed. Their legs were just too weak. Their body had already given out.

“Don’t worry, plaything,” Magnolia cooed, cupping their cheek. “Let me take care of it for you.”

Lily nodded, smiling peacefully. That sounded nice.