I lay there for a bit, recovering and feeling lonely, only to suddenly feel slap on my ass. I yelped, and looked to the side and up to see Mika looking down at me.

"I texted Regina," she informed me neutrally, looking down at me with a masked expression. "You're allowed to eat breakfast on the floor, whatever you like. I can walk you through we have if you want. You're also allowed to take a shower and, you know, generally use the bathroom until they get back."

Mika's slap wasn't as hard as Stephanie's earlier one, but that one happened in a pleasurable context where she was dominating me and was thus... I don't know.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why're you staring up at me like that? Hoping I'll bully you further?"

...was I? "Are you mad at me, Mika?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Answer my question, and I'll answer yours."

"I don't know. I want you to like me."

"Hate is a strong word," said Mika, even though I hadn't said hate, "you're just very inconvenient to have around. Regina and Stephanie should be keeping a closer eye on you, really, but you kinda jumped into their laps pretty suddenly... I think they're trying to take a few days off soon."

I sat up, a bit more of Stephanie's cum that was still inside me trickling down out of my ass onto the bed. "...I should probably wash their sheets, too."

"I guess that's what a good pet would do," said Mika, sounding distinctly unimpressed. "If you absolutely need me, I'll be on the couch."

"Do you get lonely when you're left here while they work?"

She rolled her eyes and sat down next to me. "Yes, obviously. You're going to be a secondary concern to them. Your new master might devote a ton of time and attention to you, only to start dating someone and practically ignore you for months, and then have a rough breakup, and expect you to console and love them."

"Yeah, I know. But why do you have to focus on all the bad possible outcomes?"

She shrugged, looking away. "...getting ignored isn't a bad thing, if you're comfortable with yourself. You're not, though. Only someone needing others to like them on a truly pathetic level would try to kiss up to a pet."

"...oh? You want me to treat you like shit because of our difference in station?" I paused. "...wait, are you trying to get me to push you down and trigger your, well, trigger so you'll be comfortable getting utterly dominated by me?"

She flushed a little, glared and stood back up in an instant, turning her back on me as she walked away. "Obviously not. I dunno why I'm trying to be nice to you."

"...this is you being nice?" I called after her, but I got no response.

Well... I had to admit she had gone out of her way to make me a little more comfortable while following the rules that had been set for me, it just seemed like she wanted to be a bitch about it. I had been thinking we had gotten a bit closer, too...

I sighed, and stood up, walking over to the bathroom to shower.

It was a nice shower, despite the hot water stinging a little against my ass... Stephanie really didn't have to go that hard, but it also made me feel a bit more owned again for a moment.. but soon enough I was out, and pulled on a long-sleeved loose-fitting black top and pink bootie shorts... I was more confident and comfortable showing off my legs than any other part of my body, and Regina had softly and teasingly pressured me to bring them. I don't know why I had gotten them in the first place, really, I never really wore them until now.

I walked back out to the couch, and Mika wasn't sitting on it, instead leaning against the side of the windowsill a little and staring out the window and down onto the street below. I walked up behind her and tried to see if I could see what she was looking at, but after I got closer, I realized it was probably just the outside itself.

Mika glanced over to me and raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?" Her cheeks flushed a little at my proximity, but her voice was sarcastic, and she looked back out the window.

"Did Regina say I could sit on furniture or anything?"

"She specifically," replied Mika, "said you could not."

I looked down at my bare knees and opted to go put on a pair of black thigh-high stockings, so I had something more comfortable if I decided to kneel on while I was waiting... or was told to kneel later, I guess.

I sat on the floor for a little while, then swapped to kneeling for a little while, but that was even less comfortable, and I ended up lying on my back on the floor, staring up the ceiling, feeling bored as hell.

Mika came over and put her foot on my stomach and rubbed it. "Such a lazy girl."

I stared up at her with slightly narrowed eyes, even as I didn't bother stopping her... it didn't feel bad, really. "I am literally not allowed to do anything."

"You can talk to me. Or stare out the window."

"You seemed busy... do you really live your life like this?"

Mika shrugged. "I mean, I'm allowed on furniture and stuff. But sometimes I end up just sleeping in my room until they return, because it's like... there's not much to do besides watch stuff. That's the greatest torture of all of us, boredom. Here, I'll put something on Regina's laptop for you."

She put on some streamer, and I listened to them lazily from the floor as they talked idly about how pets escaping were foolish, and wondered at first why Mika put them on, until I realized they were also giving a lot of detail on escape methods and why they succeeded or not, an almost suspicious amount.

It was some she/they girl streamer, and as I sat back up to watch her, I saw she wore fake cat ears and was playing some fighting game, even if her attention wasn't on it.

I furrowed my brow a little. "...is that appropriation...?" I paused. Wait, Mika used to be a speedrunner, did she stream? "Come to think of it, what's the legality around pets streaming?"

"...Not allowed to do it without supervision, basically, because then it would count as a job. And the major streaming platforms will kick you for it immediately if they find out... except a few of the lewd ones, which have different expectations."

I looked up at her, wondering why she had stopped.

She looked away, and chewed on her lip. "Look... when you get to the indoctrination center, never tell them about your actual skills, interests, or how you could make money if you weren't a pet. They'll try to beat it out of you."

My eyes teared up a little as I looked up at her, staring at the window as she tried not to make a big deal of what had happened. Poor Mika... "Literally beat?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes. Y'know, some kinda indoctrination or torture. Whatever it takes."

I got up and walked over to hug her, and she made a displeased little sound, but didn't pull away from my hug.

"Look... just listen to Mon Petit Amy. She's a good person, and she knows her stuff." She sounded a bit wistful... did she used to know this girl? "I know you plan to just be a good pet, but you can't guarantee that your new Master won't get off on cutting off your fingers one by one, or whatever."

"...that's illegal, isn't it?"

"Yes, permanently maiming your pet is pet abuse. But pets don't exactly have reliable advocates, do they? So you'd need to escape at least to beg for a Master who doesn't maim you... might work, but you'd be a rescue, so people would be more leery of you."

"Are you okay? Is there anything I can do for you?"

Mika covered her eyes with one arm. "Just... stop being so fucking nice, okay? I don't want to get attached to you when you're gonna be gone in three months."

"Okay, bitch," I said, summoning a growl from her throat as I leaned in to kiss her cheek. "But I think I'm going to be attached within three months regardless."

"...fuck." Mika was sniffling a little now, but she wasn't pulling away from me.

"Yeah."

"...okay, fine. Fuck it. You can be my girlfriend for the next three months. Only when those two aren't around, though."

I sputtered and let go of her. "Girlfriend? I didn't really mean.…"

She moved her arm down, and raised an eyebrow at me, smirking, her eyes still teary. "Haven't you had a crush on me this entire fucking time?"

"I mean..." I opened and closed my mouth, staring up into her eyes as my heart fluttered.

She leaned in and kissed me possessively on the lips. "I'm going to make you brunch, babe. What do you want?"

My heart and mind were all ???? at this sudden turn of events. "Uh... waffles?"

She rolled her eyes. "We don't have a waffle iron."

"...breakfast burrito?"

"...I think we have the ingredients for that." She reached over and ruffled my hair. "Don't tell the indoctrination people about your past relationships, either... they'll try to fuck them up, too. Just like... try to tell them as little as possible without being obvious about it, I guess."

"Okay..." I felt like Mika really did care about me, and belonging her to me did anchor me to her.

"And don't sound so fucking submissive when you agree with something I say."

Fuck, right, she belonged to me too, I guess? I leaned in hesitantly, and kissed her on the lips softly, then smiled. "Sorry. I've been being trained for submissiveness a lot recently."

"Like you weren't already a fucking sub to start with," Mika said, but seeing my pout at her words, she paused, and petted my cheek softly. "...sorry, babe. I'll try to be nicer to you, if that's what you want... stop looking submissive about that."

"I can't help that I imagined you being meaner, and it was hot," I replied cheerfully, and walked into the kitchen to start looking through their ingredients.

She walked over and slapped my ass harder, and I squeaked, blushing and glaring at her.

She smiled with faux innocence. "I thought you wanted me to be meaner."

"Why do you and Stephanie always hit my butt in the exact same place... I need to sit on the floor, seriously...."

"Yeah, yeah, just relax while I cook you brunch."

"...can I help?"

"...fine." But Mika smiled a little as she said it.

She got out the ingredients and let me cook the eggs and heat up the tortillas and refried beans and chop the avocado as she made some sort of ground beef dish with onions and spices, which took a fair bit longer, and I got done before she did. After draining off the grease, she pushed my hands softly away and assembled the breakfast burritos herself, putting two on a plate and shoving it across the counter towards me before she made one for herself.

Once she was finished, she smiled at me, her eyes still a little red, but... there was nothing sarcastic in her smile, for once.

I reached over and took her hand.

"I can't eat with my hands full, Phoebe," said Mika softly.

I gave her hand a squeeze. "Just let me have this for a moment."

She did.