"This pet is ready to serve."

 

It didn't even take thought, anymore. Didn't need to recognize the sound before I responded to it. Ingrained so deep it was instinctive.

 

 

"This pet is ready to serve."

 

An idle press of their finger, and the words spilled from my lips so easily, out of my control.

 

 

"This pet is ready to serve."

 

And yet they still eyed me thoughtfully. Deeply trained and conditioned, and still they had that look.

 

"I wonder..." They murmured, toying with the clicker in their hands. I shivered, recognizing that tone, knowing that look on their face. 

 

"This is certainly very fun, but I wonder if we can do more." They purred, smiling. A thrill of excitement, of danger, of pleasure and anticipation went down my spine, but I stayed quiet as they rose and came over, circling me slowly. "I've noticed...when you hear the sound, the click, there's a moment, a fraction of an instant, where your gaze goes...blank. What happens, pet?"

 

I hesitate, not to resist answering because I am far too well trained for that, because thoughts and ideas tend to spill out of my head as soon as I think them, because I've practically been conditioned to say these things, no matter how flustering they may be. No, I hesitate because I hadn't realized, and I had to think back and remember and consider how to answer.

 

"It's...it's like for a tiny fraction of time, my brain...resets, I suppose? It halts, the gears stop, and there's just a small moment of...blankness."

 

"Is that so?" I can hear the amused smile in their voice, and I squirm a bit where I sit. What suspicion of theirs have I just confirmed?

 

"Very well then. I want to try something." They step back into my line of sight, having finished their circle around me, and reach out to place a finger beneath my chin, raising it slightly so I cannot help but make eye contact. "Tell me something embarrassing. Now." 

 

I start to squirm, feeling the fluster rise, starting to try to think of something to say in response to the question, the order, hesitating to respond because I find it hard sometimes to break through hesitation and overthinking and-

 

 

It came so very shortly after the command, it interrupted my thoughts, my hesitation...but doesn't have the effect I imagine they wanted, because the conditioned response to the click mixes with the order and the words that come out are a bit confused and garbled, a mixture of "This pet is ready to serve" and "flustered noises" and half of a confession and none of it really anything that resembled english.

 

I bite back a whine, because I hate when something doesn't work the way it was supposed to, but their laughter helps brush that away, especially when they pet my hair fondly. "My fault, my fault, hold on. Not that way. Now that I think about it, not that way, obviously." 

 

They meet my gaze again, and again the click, but followed instantly by words that I hear but don't immediately understand and yet respond to without hesitation.
"I love being a whimpery slut on display."

 

Then my brain finishes its little reset, finishes being blank, and I realize it was the same question, and my answer had come automatically, as instinctively as the conditioned phrase did, avoiding hesitation and overthinking and- 

 

Flustered noises. So many flustered noises. All the flustered noises. 

 

"Cute." They smile, watching me squirm. "Let's see what else I can make you do without thinking about it, shall we?"