The Internet is a wonderful thing, where you can find people who are on your wavelength even if there are only a dozen like you in the world, and you can say what you like without anyone knowing who you really are. Since I discovered it I've drifted in and out of a dozen groups and chatrooms, but the one I've made myself at home in is TrainHer.Net. It's supposed to be Gorean, but the discussions roam over the whole idea of female slavery. You get to know which of the people are obviously fantasising, and which of them sound as if they really know what they're talking about, and there's a core group who are serious about discussing real Master-slave relationships. Now I had something that would get their attention. I had a slave of my own, a real one!

I had to be careful how I told it, because they're dead serious about how M/s must be consensual and based on mutual respect and stuff like that. But they also agree that once a girl's given herself to you, you have every right to push her harder than she expects and shape her to suit yourself, so once I'd skimmed over the start I could tell them everything I was doing to break her in for my pleasure. It was sheer joy to be able to share how good it felt to whip her, and how she fought drinking from the pet bowl but finally gave in, and how I'd had to judge her time in the cage carefully because too much of that could have broken her for good. (They'd like that bit, they're hot on a Master's responsibility for the slave's welfare.)

While I was finishing typing that, the IM chime sounded and I called it up. The message was from Albus, a regular and one of my sources for real life Retroactive Consent; I'd noticed him as a sensible voice when the discussions got silly, and someone literate in a medium where too many people can't even spell.

 

I have some thoughts about your new acquisition.

 

That was Albus all over: no-one else would use a word like 'acquisition' in an IM, and spell it right too. In a minute, I sent, and logged off, promising the group to come back as soon as I had new delightful events to report.

 

Im here, a very happy Master indeed.

 

Well you may be. Your images have an authenticity that convinces me that the young lady really exists.

 

By 'authenticity' he meant they were too scruffy to have been lifted off the Web, I'm no photographer. I didn't take offense; people who went on about imaginary slaves were a regular topic on the group.

 

Shes real. Her hair is blonde but her pubes are brown, and her cunt goes dry and closed when shes scared, and her sweat stinks just like a mans.

 

Well put. But I have another intuitive feeling which grew on me while you were writing, and before you answer, remember that this is the Internet and I have no idea who or where you are and couldn't find out if I tried. Am I right in suspecting that the young lady's enslavement wasn't, in the absolutely strictest sense of the term, consensual?

 

For a moment I wanted to switch off the computer and run, but he was right, he couldn't do anything about it... and it is good to share. Yes, I typed.

 

Good to know my intuition is still sound. Was it a game you persuaded her to play and then didn't stop?

 

No, I really kidnapped her.

 

It felt giddyingly thrilling to tell someone the truth.

 

I admire your enterprise while deploring your ethics. Do you hope to persuade her to accept the situation? I gather that you have a deadline.

 

Ive got 12 days. If shes not converted by then Im dead.

 

Challenging but not impossible, given the right subject. Some brains are more washable than others. I don't wish to intrude, and you seem to have done all the right things so far, but would you like some advice?

 

The idea was an almost shocking relief. I'm so used to coping with things alone, I hadn't realised how good it would be to have help I could trust.

 

I thought you were hot on consent?

 

Since the eggs are already broken, we may as well make an omelet. I can't rescue the young lady, and if she has slave potential, the kindest thing I can do for her is to help you to evoke it. Then she can be happy with you instead of spending the next few years non-consensually dominated by police, lawyers and trauma therapists...