"Someone was eager, that or you eat your lunch much earlier than I do. Perhaps you can learn to be patient like my good girls over here." Amelia's guide is leaning against the half opened warehouse door, gesturing to the cage in the corner by the entrance, a slither of sunlight illuminating the rightmost girl. "Would you like to come inside, then?"

"What sort of question is that? You know I do, just don't get any funny ideas and ah... I forgot my notepad..." The student huffs, realising how obvious it must be that she dropped all else to rush over here like she's another one of those submissive women that makes hobby of this rather than study. "Not that I need it, I doubt I'll forget any of this."

"Please can I come in, sir?" The shark toothed grin from when they first locked eyes returns, fingers curling around a leather paddle that Amelia hopes isn't intended for her. She never agreed to all that, did she?

"Ugh... really? I..." Amelia swallows her pride, finger tracing that leather around her neck again. "Please can I come in, sir?" The girl repeats with mocking sweetness, wanting to roll her eyes but not quite able to do so with sir's leather loop holding her in its grip. The stranger bows and moves aside to let her past, Amelia wandering over to the cage to inspect those girls on standby. "Everything I've done today so far... they were just standing here without a care in the world the entire time... it's so strange."

"It's discipline. Something every woman your age should be learning, but I suppose conquering temptation comes first. Or losing to it. Either way." A hand falls around Amelia's back and she instinctively straightens it before giving her guide another fierce glare. 

"I'm not some hopeless submissive waiting to be your next little game... Don't get it twisted, okay?" She stands her ground, the stranger stepping around her and presenting the back of their gloved hand. 

"Sure you're not, girl. Everyone has a submissive side to them, however. It's all about how it's nurtured, and well... lean down and kiss my hand. Please, I insist. It's important for my demonstration so don't be difficult now." The hand raises but only a little, filling the space between the two. The hand holding the paddle drags it over her chin and down her shoulder playfully.

Rolling her eyes, Amelia once again does as she's told with a need to show her reluctance even if it may be purely performative. A quick peck against the hand, she understands the meaning of the act but denies it easily, reducing it to mere necessity. 

"See? You've committed an act of submission but do not feel submissive for doing so. It's less about whether or not you submit, but the headspace formed around such actions. While kissing my hand can be rationalised as something you did simply to get what you want, more bargain than real submission, I still think you have a submissive side and so we can have it the other way around too. There are actions you can take to submit, but also actions others take to make you feel submissive, often whether you like it or not. Consider this appendix A for your mental notes." The gloved hand traces up Amelia's neck and the girl squirms a little on the spot, thumb tracing over her chin and soon her lips. "Open wide now." She does so, eyes rounder than before as the black leather slides past her lips and into her waiting mouth. Fingers hold the underside of her chin, tilting her head from side to side as the stranger gives a satisfied look. "What you have yet to realise is that playing too passive will put you in that place eventually. Letting me have my way too much pulls you into that headspace like a strong current."

Amelia lets the thumb linger for a second too long before pulling away stubbornly and trying not to dwell on the strange feeling of phantom fingers on her skin. "So you're saying I should push back more? I never said you could touch me, so... I concur."

"Right, it depends what you're here for. Like I say, if you resist me and set strong boundaries then you'll be protecting yourself from accidentally slipping into that submissive headspace I've just warned you about. However, that only hurts your dissertation in the end, doesn't it? Like journalists who throw themselves into no man's land to cover war or find themselves at risk of addiction when delving into the worlds of drugs and gambling and other such vices... the best know that nothing beats first hand account. Don't make me repeat this again, okay?"

"Okay..." The girl fights the urge to bite her nails, hands flat by her sides like she's mimicking the caged women before her. "What's next?"

"I mentioned yesterday that I'd usually take these lovely ladies out one by one to deepen their conditioning and so we'll do just that." As the stranger opens the door, Amelia notices that the cells are not actually locked. The chain is removed from one of the college girls' collars and she is lead passively into the dark cubbyhole which soon floods with lights from the sensor detecting their presence. Placing the paddle to one side in a series of trays, the stranger flexes their fingers and pulls their gloves tight. Amelia follows studiously, watching as the girl is sat down and her corset loosened. The stranger gently whispers to her and Amelia quickly steps into the small space and sits down too so that she may hear. Between her and the stranger is a drooling doll, looking so blank as the well lubricated words enter open ear. "-keep doing that for me, okay? You're very close to the next stage, I'm pleased with your progress, doll." 

The doll does not so much as smile, which piques Amelia's interest greatly. Spit falls onto her thigh, those glossy high heels slipping out from under the young woman's feet and her breasts peeking out from unlaced corset. Is this what happens when you stay in that submissive state for too long, wonders the student idly, is this what would become of her if she fell headfirst under sir's control and really let go of all inhibition? It's a dazzling sight, seeing a person so empty, like a toy made to look human. 

"You can touch her if you'd like." Speaks the stranger at a higher volume, talking over their doll to address the gazing Amelia. 

"I-I'm quite alright, just get on with it okay?" 

A light chuckle. "As you wish, princess." From one of the nearby trays, the smug redhead pulls a small penlight and shines it into the hypnotised girls eyes. Amelia watches as the glassy orbs slowly cross and focus on the light, following it as the stranger moves it around in gentle motions. As her head rolls around submissively, hair spills over her shoulders and strokes down Amelia's arm. "She's completely obedient now, reminded me of yourself once upon a time though maybe not quite so abrasive. Lap." Fingers snap and the hypnotised student climbs onto her owner's lap without a word or a thought, head rolling back onto the other's shoulder as gloves hands run down her front. "Imagine losing all ability to question where you're touched, who touches you, and why. All unimportant in her dazed journey into the dark. I'm almost jealous... aren't you?" A finger pushes into her slick entrance and Amelia looks away, feeling overwhelmed again but knowing she'd only crawl back again if she chose to leave.

"Whatever floats your boat, in so much that she's happier than I probably am I guess you could say I'm jealous but. That's far too humiliating to be enjoyable, far too dehumanising..." 

"It can be tiring, being human, sometimes people need a break from it all and I think they're the most honest folks around. Here, we've still got another girl to have one on one with." The stranger stands and guides their pet to the chain suspended from the ceiling, securing padded cuffs around the girl's wrists and clipping them to the chain in a way that forces her to stand on her toes. Training herself for those heels, Amelia presumes. 

As the girl is stripped and laid bare, Amelia turns away and looks for something to distract herself from having to watch. "Uhm, do you want me to fetch the other one then?"

"Hm? Oh, no, no that's okay. I didn't mean her anyway, when I put them together like that it helps to only choose one at random, I'm sure this girl feels so lucky right now." With a hand cupping the woman's sex and watching her writhe in that suspended state, the redhead turns towards their student. "See?"

"Wait... you didn't mean me, did you?" Amelia pushes her knees together as she sits, only enticing the stranger further as they release the naked woman and saunter back to the bench. They lower down onto it while not breaking eye contact, smiling knowingly. 

"It's not like you're hypnotised, Amy, so it's just a taste of what it's like to be in their shoes if you were. Be a good sport, won't you? I was very nice letting you back inside..."

"O-okay but you can't just touch me like you did her. Not down there, or my breasts..." She tries to steady her breathing, not sure if she can stomach being put in the same position as that girl she just watched lose herself all over again against dulcet words and bright light. 

"So I can touch you anywhere else? I already knew as much but well, it's good to know for definite." The stranger shuffles closer until their hips kiss. 

"I didn't--"

"Relax, Amy, you're supposed to be a hypnotised plaything right now remember? They don't question my orders, they sit passively with docile thoughts if any at all filling the empty space between one ear and the other. Long thoughts that don't always finish their formation, that stretch out for miles from one to the next. Sluggish perception that doesn't notice my hand on their shoulder until it's already running over their thigh." A gloved hand slips into the tight space between Amelia's thighs and firmly pries it open. The girl lets out a gasp and then huffs, wanting to protest but recognising some truth in those words. 

"You loosen them up and then... there was whispering, I only caught the end. Is that conditioning?" 

"Praise, criticism, additional induction, maybe my own personal whim. It's my voice that's important, the words are secondary. You love having it in your ear like a pacifier." The stranger holds onto Amelia's shoulder and moves those curled lips close, breath collapsing against her in steady rhythm. "It reminds you that you're owned, controlled, loved. That you love being mine and mindless and malleable. No longer having your own choices to make, feeling so liberated and relieved and usually... aroused. There are many ways you can touch a person to turn them on, I don't need the obvious places you made off limits."

Amelia hitches her breath, wondering why she's allowing this but remembering those words from earlier. If she needs to enter a submissive headspace for her study, she might as well get it over with. "You're... ah..." She remembers that thumb filling her mouth and wonders if she was already turned on by that, the girl does not quite understand arousal even when it seems such an obvious thing to her peers. At every turn Amelia is made to feel abnormal and now she has an opportunity to learn properly, the temptation as intoxicating as Eden's infamous fruit. 

"I'm just showing you how I usually do it, you asked me to didn't you? God, you're amusing. I'm really happy you came back, you're my new favourite." A hand squeezes her thigh and Amelia feels a headrush, almost choking on the praise even if she was warned that it was one of the methods used. To her the words do matter, she fights the desire to believe them. "Lap." Amelia bites her lip and nods weakly, pushing herself up and lowering down onto sir's lap with her body feeling hot all over. She can't think straight at all anymore, thoughts a complicated jigsaw with gloved hands messing up the pieces every time she tries to complete it. The college student stops trying, resting back and just letting herself submit for the next five minutes or so, hands running over her body under her shirt as she stares out at the suspended doll. It's like the atmosphere of this place makes it easier to accept things you otherwise would not. In a world where all but you submit to this one, confident person, your brain begins to trick you into thinking yourself the one who's wrong. 

A flashlight shines into her eyes and she's told to follow it, to go along with the roleplay and just imitate the girl she watched earlier. When Amelia does as she's told again, she's startled at how spacey her head feels. Like a placebo of hypnosis... though, isn't that what hypnosis is? Is she hypnotised? "Sir... is this hypnosis?" 

The stranger laughs.