A girl wakes up, having barely slept, with dark circles under her eyes and a ghost of a smile on her lips. She feels ready to perform today, at least more so than she would have the morning prior, pulling off her pyjamas and finding that she slept in shiny shibari without even thinking. The girl does not know how to untie it and would prefer to return it in one piece given she was so generously permitted to borrow it. Amelia stands with hands on hips in her dorm room and considers her predicament with a sigh. Should she shower, the rope would be wet under her clothes all day, so she grabs her roller deodorant and does the best job she can of masking the scent of last night's training. 

With a snort, she decides this is good enough. If she's just going to be masturbating again later it hardly matters. Sitting down to apply her makeup with a hum, Amelia considers how much she's changed over the past few days. A hand reaches towards her notepad to check if it could reveal any unpleasant truths... but she slides it into her bag without a glance, needing to focus on looking pretty right now. What's there to worry about? She's only been hypnotised once, arguably twice, and remembers both times... mostly. 

"You're being paranoid..." She tells the doll in the mirror, complete with leather collar and snug rope bondage. Since when was this all so normal to her? 

As Amelia heads out to the bus stop with a pep in her step, she feels a buzz in her pocket and does not recognise the number calling until remembering those digits kissing her neck. "Ah... hello? Sir?" 

"That's the one. Listen, Amy. Don't rush over today, I'm out running some errands so you'd just be waiting around twiddling your thumbs anyway. How about I come pick you up when I'm done?" 

Her heart pounds and she tightens fingers into her dress, still bound by rope that yearns for home. "Oh, well alright then. I... don't feel comfortable giving you my address, of course, so I suppose I'll wait at my college. It's-"

"I know the one, good girl." Click.

"Hmph..." Amelia couldn't even ask for a time nor tell the stranger about her hard work. Feeling slightly dejected, her mood only picks up when she realises she might not miss today's assembly.

Like on any other day where she decides to show up at all, Amelia sits by herself distant from the rest of her course members as she idly taps a pen against the cover of her notepad. Oh that's right, she needs to actually write a paper on these people and their strange lifestyle else she'll have wasted her time there. Amelia lifts the front cover and flips it onto first page, going over her earliest notes with the hint of a nostalgic smile. That sketch she made so hastily of the kissing dolls, it--

"Oh hey, I know those girls!" The closest thing Amelia has to a friend here, Dani, places down her bookbag and leans over with folded arms. The blonde is usually too shy to approach which suited Amelia just fine before. 

"They room in your dorm or something? Wh-where's your usual group anyway?" Amelia quickly closes her notepad, hoping that Dani somehow missed the activity being undertaken by those sketched sluts of hers. 

Dani blows a tuft of hair out of her face and rests head on her arm. "They started taking their papers seriously now that we're running out of time, so they're not bothering to come in and distract each other."

"Makes sense I suppose." Amelia sometimes forgets that most take this much more seriously than she, though... she's been very committed lately. "And why did you bother to come in then? Other than to bother me, that is."

The blonde gives a nervous smile to the abrasive words, placing a can by Amelia's notepad. "You looked thirsty, dehydrated really. Maybe that's why you're so grumpy... aha..." Dani cracks her own open and takes a swig, wiping her mouth and chewing her lip to find the words. "I only came in for you, Amy. Well I mean... aha... I was told to keep an eye on you, really."

"Wh-what?" Amelia turns, staring down her peer as though undressing her with such a fierce look. "What do you mean?"

"Oh uh, you didn't see me yesterday? We walked right past each other but... aha, uhm... guess I look a little different with my hair down and a... gag in my mouth. I kept your notepad safe the other day but, I did it mostly to keep owner's secrets safe. Since then I was told to keep an eye out and make sure you don't make any other silly mistakes hehe..." Dani rubs her cheek and looks away briefly before her eyes set back onto Amelia's. "I've been property since first year, but I only get to go in occasionally now that I've my dissertation to work on. Once I've graduated, though..."

"Dani, what are you saying? You're agreeing to let them just take over your life like that? I mean... isn't that wrong?" Something in Amelia's eyes accidentally makes the question seem earnest, like she really needs a second opinion. 

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot you're not really one of us. How's your dissertation going, Amy?" The girl takes another sip of her canned coffee, before smirking a little less shyly than she usually would. "I can tell it's going well, actually! By the uhm, rope peeking out by your neck and..." She sniffs, making Amelia's face turn bright red. 

Not one of them, huh? Why do the words sting? Dani expertly avoided her question as though Amelia would never be able to understand, even in this new world she's isolated, outcast. "Well you'll be pleased to know that your precious master is swinging by to pick me up, I'm really just waiting for the time to pass."

"Mhm, they pick me up all the time. I'll be catching a ride today too, since I'm a real slave I should really take the front seat..." 

Amelia feels the colour leave her cheeks, fingers curling into the rope through her clothing. "Ah, I... that's good." 

"What's with the sulk? Did you think you were special or something?" Since when did Dani have such a mean streak? It's only fair after the way Amelia has treated her in the past, perhaps this is even cathartic for the blonde who only ever tried to befriend the loner out of pity. She figured that if it made Amy feel a little better to pretend she was above the girl with an actual social life, she'd appease her, but now... "Is it because they said you're their favourite? Ahahaha... owner says that to everyone, it's your fault if you ate it up and took it to heart..." 

"I-I..."

"You fucking stink, Amy. You can go ahead and sit in the back if you insist on subjecting owner to it but I suggest you take the bus instead." Dani finishes her canned coffee and slams it down, causing Amelia to jump and tug at the rope with growing intensity. 

"O-okay."