© Copyright 2003

"You said in your emails that you met online." I asked "Is this the first time you've met in person?"

She sat at one end of the sofa, arms folded under her modestly sized breasts, while he sat at the other end, leaning away from her on the arm of the sofa. From their body language, it wasn't a promising start.

They both nodded and shot each other embarrassed glances.

"You were wise to meet on neutral ground," I continued, "and to enlist the help of an experienced person before embarking on this journey."

My smile did no more to break the ice than had the glasses of wine that sat untouched next to each of them. Well, it WAS kind of an awkward way to meet.

"I understand from your emails that neither of you has played dominance and submission games before?"

Two more silent nods.

"Then let's start at the beginning. Shea..." she gave up her contemplation of the dust on her shoe for a moment, and I continued, "What is your safeword?"

"Ah, I, well..." she flushed red, embarrassed.

"Ok, Shea, you don't have one yet. Dennis?"

He too turned red and shook his head.

"Do you know the purpose of a safeword? Shea?" I asked in my best classroom voice.

"T-to protect the submissive from doing something she really doesn't want to do?" she didn't sound too sure of herself.

"That's one reason." I turned to the sandy-haired, slightly built Dennis, "Can you think of another?"

He thought for a while, but shook his head.

"Listen carefully, then." I lectured, "The safeword, by not being used, lets the top know he's NOT exceeding the bottom's limits. No matter what else the sub says, no matter how much she pleads for mercy or screams bloody murder, unless she uses the safeword, it's all part of the fantasy. That's particularly important when the two don't know each other well, as in your case."

I turned back to Shea. "A safeword needs to be something that you would not normally say while in pain or in the throes of passion. It must be something - a word or phrase - that you can think of and use quickly even when in dire straits. You should each choose one now."

Dennis looked confused. "Why do I need one? I'm the top!"

I met his gaze coolly and his eyes dropped. "On this property, there is only one top! I agreed to teach the two of you, and there's no better way for a dom in training to understand his sub than to be one for a little while, got it?"

At his embarrassed nod, I turned to the brunette. "By the same token, if you want to truly understand your role as a submissive, you should take the dominant role for a little while, see yourself through the other person's eyes."

Shea looked a little non-plussed, but nodded.

"I have a rule about safewords, however." I held each one's gaze for a few seconds before continuing. "The bottom who uses his or her safeword will be punished severely, each time he or she uses it!"

They both gasped, but I continued, "Can either of you think of a reason for this?"

They thought for a while, then just as I was about to break the silence, Shea's face lit up.

"Of course!" she practically bubbled, "If the bottom is allowed to use the safeword whenever she feels like it, she's in control, not the top! So by punishing her, or him, for using the safeword, you ensure that they only do so when they really mean it!"

I smiled at her, "You get an 'A' for the course! Now, before we move on to something else, I want to know your safeword. Shea?"

She cleared her throat, tossing glossy brown hair over her shoulder, "I, um, I guess, uh... Oh! I know! Woodpile! Yeah, that's it! Woodpile!"

I nodded and repeated, "Woodpile. Dennis?"

"Oh, hell, I don't know!" he muttered, "How about dog-dish?"

I shook my head, "Probably not the best word you could use. In some humiliation scenes, you might wind up eating from a dog dish. Pick something that's not likely to come up in any sexual scenario.

"Crap, I don't know! Ah, Banana Slug?" he looked dubiously at me.

"Can you remember to say that, even under extreme duress?"

He nodded, and I repeated, "Banana Slug."

"Now I need to learn a bit more about you." I even sounded pedantic to me! "You should each listen to the other's answers so you'll get to know what the other's all about. I'll start with Dennis."

"Um, ok." his nerves spoke for him.

"Tell me why you want to do this." I was a little nervous about him too, and I wanted to get a feel for the kind of person I was dealing with. "What is it about dominating a woman that turns you on?"

He cleared his throat before answering. "Uh, well, it's just the idea, you know? I mean to be able to make a woman do whatever I want just really turns me on!"

"So, is it about having power over another person," I prompted, "or is it about her willingness to do what you want?"

He thought for a few moments, then said, "A little bit of both, I guess, but mostly it's just having control over a beautiful woman. I don't know."

"What will you do with that control?" I tried to keep my voice neutral, but I was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Pretty much anything I want, right?" He wasn't even being flip! He was serious as a heart attack! "I mean that's what being in control is all about."

I watched Shea's mouth drop open from the corner of my eye, and signalled her to keep quiet. I wanted to make sure she knew why I was about to do what I was about to do.

"What about your partner's needs?" I asked in as neutral a voice as I could muster.

"Well, if she's a sub," He shot back, "then that's what she gets off on. As long as she keeps me happy, then we're cool!"

"And you, as top," I fed out a little more rope, "don't have any responsibility toward your sub?"

"Well," he waffled, "I mean, I'd stop if she used her safeword, but like you said, she'd get punished if she did! I don't think she'd use it much after that!"

He sounded like he was trying to impress me, and he was, but not in the way he thought.

"Ok, Dennis, that's all I need from you," I stood and motioned for him to follow me. "Let me take you and get you situated. Shea, if you'll wait here for a few minutes, I'll be right back. Ok?"

I blindfolded Dennis and led him down to the dungeon by a circuitous route. Czar, one of my wolf-malamute mix dogs followed in our wake, while his brother stayed to keep Shea company.

"Go ahead and hang your clothes on those hooks over there." I instructed as I removed his blindfold.

He was a little self-conscious about undressing in front of me, but managed to get it done without too much blushing.

With his slender build, pale skin, poor muscle tone, and light coloring, from behind he looked almost like a pre-pubescent girl.

I'm no Mr. Universe, but I keep myself in shape with weights, martial arts workouts, and working around this place, so compared to this guy, I might as well have been King Kong. I manhandled him into the stocks, over his protests and ineffectual struggles. Locking him securely into place, I lubed a medium butt plug and shoved it unceremoniously into his ass. When he screamed, he sounded like a little girl.

"Oh, shit!" he cried, "Banana Slug! Hey, Banana Slug motherfucker!"

These stocks were built low to the ground so that their occupant had to be on his knees, ass exposed, while head and hands were locked into cutouts in the board. I walked around to his front end and asked mildly. "Are you SURE you want to use your safeword right now?"

I pulled the oiled, knotted strands of a well-used cat through my fingers in front of his face. I had removed my shirt and my biceps and chest showed to advantage through the tight singlet I wore.

"Fifty lashes with this little toy is your alternative." I continued.

He swallowed hard, and realized at the same time that his ass wasn't hurting quite as much as it had at first.

"Uh, never mind." He mumbled.

"Very well." I kept my voice calm, as I let the other shoe drop, "However, there's still the little matter of the disrespectful way you addressed me. In the future, you will call me 'Sir', not 'motherfucker'. For your first offense, the punishment is ten lashes. If you fail to address me properly in the future, the number will increase by five lashes for each infraction. Now prepare yourself. This will hurt."

"Wha? Wait! I didn't know! Please!" He begged.

I had gotten to my feet, but at his protest, knelt again. "Again, you neglected to call me 'sir'. That is your second infraction. Fifteen strokes will be added to the original ten."

He started to say something else, and thought better of it, electing to cry, instead.

I striped him thoroughly from neck to ankles, aiming the last stroke between his legs, but didn't use enough force to break the skin on any of my blows.

By the time I had finished, he was a blubbering mess.

"Why? Uh Sir?" he whimpered, "Why are you doing this to me?"

"I'm being the kind of top you want to be." I answered mildly, "I can do pretty much anything I want until you use your safeword. But I'd think twice about that. What you just received was half of what you'll get if you use your safeword, and I wasn't hitting you full force. You'd be a bloody mess right now if I had hit you as hard as I could have. I'm going up to talk to Shea now, but I'll leave Czar here to keep you company."

With that, I pulled the plug from his ass and signalled Czar to mount. I got him lined up and when he was properly seated, I left to a serenade of anguished cries.

"Oh God, no! Please, Sir!" my victim shrieked, "AAAAAAAAGGGH! Oh no, Sir! Please, not the dog! ARGH! He's too big!"

Shea must have heard some of that as I opened the hidden pantry door to leave the dungeon, because she wore a look of concern when I got back to the living room.

"What did you do to him?" she asked.

"Just gave him a taste of what it would be like to be a sub to somebody like him." I replied, off-handedly.

She looked a little dubious, but let it drop.

"Now, where were we?" I started, settling onto the couch beside her, my thigh just touching hers, still wearing only the singlet. "Ah yes. I was going to ask whether you still wanted your first experience as a sub to be with Dennis."

I cocked an eyebrow in her direction, silently asking the question.

Her face was flushed and her breathing a bit faster at my proximity.

"I, uh, from what I heard," she fidgeted with the folds of her skirt, then, noticing, quickly folded her hands in her lap, "I don't think so, Mr. Brenneman."

I smiled and said, "That's probably a wise decision. But let's not send you home disappointed. Tell me, Shea, why do you want to try being a sub? What is it about the idea that lights your fire?"

She fidgeted some more, staring off into space, before answering, "I don't really know! I mean, I do, but I don't know how to describe it, or what to call it."

"From what you told me in your emails," I said, "you have a great deal of responsibility in your daily life. A lot of people depend on you. Is it that you want, for however brief a period, to abdicate responsibility - to make someone else responsible for your pleasure and his?"

"Yeah, I guess that's a big part of it," she nodded, "but there's more, you know?"

"There usually is," I smiled, "people are not generally one-dimensional, despite our tendency to think of each other that way. How about the potential danger, and the fear that goes with it? How does that play?"

She flushed again, and nodded, studying her lap.

"Helplessness, being in someone else's control?"

Her blush deepened and and I noticed her fidgeting had become thigh-on-thigh rubbing as she nodded again.

"Tell me Shea," I probed further, "are you interested in pure dominance, or do you want to expand into related areas?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." She gave me a puzzled look from under a glossy brown wave of hair.

"I'll demonstrate." I said mildly, then hardened my voice."Stand up, please!"

She looked alarmed, but obeyed. I stood and walked deliberately around her, speaking in her ear as I passed behind her.

"I'm going to give you a series of commands." My volume was low, but my tone brooked no disobedience. "You will obey each one without question or hesitation, is that clear?"

Shea was trembling as she nodded. I completed my circuit, ending in front of her, inches from her face, looking down. Next to my six-foot-plus frame, her slightly less than five and a half feet or so seemed small.

"Unbutton your shirt and pull it out of the waistband of your skirt." My voice stayed low and hard.

She looked apprehensively at my face, and her hands shook as she struggled with the buttons.

"Remove your bra." I've always been fascinated by the way women have of removing a brassiere without taking off the outer garment. She had a little more difficulty than most, in her nervousness, but got the bra off in short order. I took it from her trembling hand and dropped it on the sofa.

"Turn your back to me."

I thought her knees would buckle as she turned, but she managed to stay upright. I could almost feel the tension increase as she realized she could no longer see me, and would get little if any warning about anything I decided to do to her.

"Drop your hands to your sides, and keep them there." I grasped her shoulders lightly and pulled her back against my chest, sliding the shirt partway down her arms.

She gasped and threw her head back when my teeth took hold of the muscle that attached her slender neck to her shoulders. I didn't bite hard, but her breathing quickened and her hips bucked involuntarily.

My hands molded to her B-cup breasts, letting the rock-hard nipples dig into their creases. I flattened my hands and used the roughness of my work-hardened palms to scrub the hard little nubbins, causing her to inhale sharply and thrust her chest outward.

"Drop your skirt!" I whispered as I nibbled at the delicate shell of her ear.

She struggled to do as I commanded while I pinched and rolled her nipples between calloused fingers, and nibbled and sucked at the sensitive skin between ear and shoulder, grinding my pelvis against her ass.

The cloth finally fell away, and I dropped my right hand into the front of her panties while my left continued abusing her tits. Her pussy was soaked with her arousal and I had no trouble slipping two fingers inside to collect some of her fluid. Those two slippery digits backed up and trapped the tender bud of her clit, sliding up and down each side of the sensitive nerve bundle.

Shea gasped again and pushed against my hand.

Abruptly, I stepped away and sat in a chair nearby.

"Shea, drop your panties, then come stand in front of me, feet shoulder-width apart."

She looked a little dazed, but did as I asked, gazing intently at my face. She looked so utterly sexy and vulnerable with the shirt hanging half-off her shoulders, wearing nothing else.

I slid the same two fingers deep inside her dripping pussy. "Now, Shea, fuck yourself!"

Her expression slid from shock to outrage to arousal to unbridled lust and her hips ratcheted back and forth on my stiffened fingers. She was still locked on my eyes when, after only a few strokes, she came, collapsing forward as I caught and held her, waiting for the spasms to pass.

I settled her in my lap and stroked her hair as I spoke, "THAT my dear, was pure domination. A forceful person can control a person who is inclined to be submissive without resorting to restraints or punishment devices. When you've had a little chance to catch your breath, we'll go down to my dungeon and let you get acquainted with the bondage and discipline aspects of dominance and submission."

While I was waiting for Shea to calm down, Amy, my part-time slave (See 'A House in the Woods - Bethany') drove up. As she was trained to do, she removed her clothing on the porch before entering the house to kneel before me, thighs spread, hands behind her back.

Amy was too well trained to say anything, but her eyes were hungry as she took in the attractive brunette sprawled across my lap.

"Shea, this is Amy. Amy has been my slave for some time now, and is quite an experienced submissive." I introduced Amy to Shea.

"If you remember," I turned the brunette to look at me as I spoke, "I told you that you should spend a little time in the dominant role, so that you better understand your chosen role. You will practice being a top with Amy."

Shea was shocked. Her gaze shot from me to Amy and back to me.

Eyes wide, she shook her head slightly and stammered, "B-but, I've never, that is, I'm not... I mean, uh, I'm not, uh, experienced with, uh women!"

I turned her to look at Amy's delectable form, her auburn hair shining in the light from the windows, while the the rings through her nipples rose and fell with her breathing.

"Look at her, Shea!" I whispered through her hair, "Doesn't she look delicious? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like with a soft, gentle, smooth-skinned woman? No scratchy stubble on your thighs. No calluses, no hairy arms or legs. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have someone who knows what pleases a woman, without having to guess? Now think of her as your slave for the next couple of hours. She'll do anything you want, please you in every way you command!"

As I spoke, Shea's breathing got fast and shallow, and moisture ran down my thigh where she sat. Finally she nodded microscopically and breathed, "Yes!"

Shea hadn't moved so I whispered, "What do you want her to do?"

"I - I want her to make love to me?"

"If you were in her position," I murmured, "how would you want to be informed of your mistress' wishes?"

Shea cast a sidelong glance at me before turning back to Amy "Make love to me, Amy!"

Amy, of course, didn't move.

Shea looked to me for guidance.

"Amy hasn't been ordered to obey you yet, Shea." I answered her unspoken question, "And that won't happen until you ask my permission to use her. Remember, you are in my house, and she is my property. Before you use anything of value that belongs to me, you must, out of courtesy, if nothing else, ask my permission if I don't volunteer it."

Shea flushed, embarrassed as much by the reference to Amy as property as by my reminder.

"May I use your slave, Mr. Brenneman?" she asked meekly.

"You may," I answered, "on the condition that you don't cause her injury. She enjoys pain, but I will not have her damaged in any way beyond a few welts or scratches, is that clear?"

At her confirming nod, I turned to Amy. "Slave, until I tell you otherwise, you are to obey Shea as you would me, understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" I could see the gleam in Amy's eye. She was unabashedly bisexual, and it had been a while since I let her play with another woman.

"Uh, Mr. Brenneman?" Shea almost whispered, "What's her safeword?"

"Good question." I smiled. I had thought I'd have to remind her to ask. "Why don't you ask her?"

"What is your safeword, Amy?" Shea asked softly.

"Ticket, Mistress!" Amy answered, "Mistress, may I make a request?"

Shea nodded.

"Mistress," my young slave continued, "I am a slave by choice. I enjoy being a slave and all that goes with it. It would please me more if you would treat me as a slave and not worry about hurting my feelings. And please, call me 'slave'. I get a little tingle every time someone calls me that!"

"Think of how you'd like to be treated as a submissive," I added, "and do my slave the courtesy of treating her that way."

Shea flushed again, and said "Yes, of course..."

"Slave Amy!" she addressed the kneeling girl sharply, standing up from my lap, "I'm going to sit over here, and I want you to make love to me!"

Then, as an afterthought, she added, "And you'd better do a good job or you will be punished!"

"Yes, Mistress," Amy moved to comply, "So that I may fulfill your wishes as best I can, would it please Mistress to tell me how she would like me to proceed?"

I had not instructed Amy about what to do when I put her under a novice, but she was instinctively training Shea about her duties and responsibilities as a top.

Shea had obviously not thought that far ahead, expecting Amy to take the initiative, so she had to collect her thoughts before responding.

Finally she said softly, "Begin by kissing my neck, then slowly work your way down to my breasts. You may use your teeth, gently, but don't bite hard! I will give you further instructions as you go."

Amy smiled and moved to comply, kissing the tender flesh under Shea's jaw line. Shea trembled and gasped as, for the first time in her life, another woman made love to her.

"Aaaah, that's it!" she cooed, "Ooooh, yes! Just like that. Oh, that's good. Now lower. Work your way down the slope of - Aahh - my breast! No, don't go for the nipple yet! Yeah, kiss the underside of my tit. Ooooh! Your mouth feels so good!"

Shea was starting to fuck the air as Amy's talented mouth worked her upper body.

"Now. NOW do my nipple - Aaagh! You little devil! I'll get you for that!" Shea cried as Amy bit down on her erect nipple just enough to send a shiver up her spine. The brunette's hips ratcheted against the air and her hand crept to her sex, two fingers delving deeply into its folds.

Shea panted and heaved, instructing her temporary slave "The other one! Do the other one now! Oh shit! I never imagined... ! Oh God!"

Shea's pelvis was a blur and her fingers sloshed and slurped as they stirred her honeypot. Her left hand was buried in Amy's auburn hair, pulling her this way and that.

Suddenly, the brunette's fingers ripped from her sex and with both hands she grabbed Amy's head and shoved it unceremoniously into her dripping pussy. Amy lapped gleefully at the gooey mess, slipping her own slender fingers into the entrance just far enough to stroke Shea's G-spot.

Shea's tight little butt raised a foot off the chair as Amy's magic mouth first sucked gently at her clit, then nipped and nibbled, sending bolts of electricity through the brunette's body.

"Oh DAMN, you little minx!" Shea cried, "You're driving me crazy! Oh! Oh! Oh! YESSS! RIGHT THERE! GOD THAT'S GOOD! Oh SHIIIIIITTT!"

Shea's pubic bone slammed into Amy's mouth, then jerked away, only to flatten her mound against the girls face one last time as she shrilled through her climax. Not having been told to stop, Amy enthusiastically continued her ministrations, driving the incoherent woman through one pinnacle after another until Shea finally capitulated and jerked Amy's head violently from her crotch.

Instantly, Amy was again on her knees, hands behind her back, Shea's juices smeared over the lower half of her face.

"Oh my GOD!" Shea panted, sprawling like a teenager on the seat cushion of the armchair, "Thank you both! I was always curious about what it would be like with a woman, but I had no idea!"

"If my slave has pleased you," I said softly, "don't you think it would be a good idea to reward her, so she'll be even more eager to please you next time?"

"Uh, well, yes, but I don't know," Shea mumbled, "I mean, it doesn't seem, uh, in keeping with the, uh, role to return the favor? I mean, I'm all for it, but, well, you know... !"

"Since you are not familiar with Amy's likes and desires," I lectured, "and we don't have time for the two of you to go through the familiarization process, I will tell you this: Amy's biggest orgasm's happen when she's bound face down over something, or on hands and knees, with a large dildo plowing her from behind."

Amy had the audacity to smile gratefully at me.

"But I don't have..." Shea began, but I stopped her.

"Perhaps it's time we moved to the dungeon."

So saying, I headed for the kitchen. When I looked back, Shea was behind me, but Amy still knelt where she had been.

I looked at Shea. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

The brunette, her shirt hanging off one shoulder, fetchingly framing one lovely breast, flushed deep red.

She turned back to Amy and commanded, "Come along, slave!"

Amy rose to her feet and followed, two steps behind her temporary mistress. While these days, the following behind is considered subservient behavior, I've always believed that it originated in the days of sword and knife when a man preceded his family at a distance that would afford them protection while giving him room to wield his blade, should trouble arise. Strange how customs get transformed over time...

Shea gasped, and Amy giggled when we got to the Dungeon. Dennis still knelt, locked in the stocks, with Czar standing butt to butt behind him, his knotted cock still firmly locked in the panting man's ass. Cum coating the mat underneath him, and dripping from his chest and belly, spoke of Czar's total conquest.

"Well, Dennis!" I said jovially, "It would appear that the role of dog's bitch pleases you!"

I squatted where he could see my face if he strained upward a bit. "I'm going to tell you something, and if you don't listen and understand, you will eventually wind up in jail."

I waited for him to look up at me before continuing, "Your idea of being a top sucks. Self centered people make lousy lovers no matter what role they take. I've just given you a taste of the kind of treatment a sub could expect at your hands. I gave no thought to your pleasure. For my amusement, I let one of my dogs mount you. Did that give you pleasure?"

His face turned bright red with anger, "No! Uh, Sir! I hated it! I don't know why I came, because I didn't enjoy it!"

"Your ejaculation had little to do with desire or pleasure, I suspect." I let him off the hook on that one to make a bigger point, "You came because that big knot of Czar's practically forced it out of your prostate. My point is this: You might have enjoyed your experience as a sub had I taken any interest in your pleasure. I did just what you said you would do as a Dom, pretty much anything I wanted, not what YOU would enjoy. Had you realized that the dominant person is responsible for the pleasure of BOTH parties, and not just his own, I would have treated you somewhat differently. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I understand that I'm going to kill you the next time I see you, you son of a bitch!" Spittle flew from his mouth as he spat this at me.

"I see you're a slow learner." I said mildly. "What did I tell you about how to address me?"

I took the cat from the wall as I stood up. Czar, not wanting any part of the cat, pulled himself out of the guy's ass before he was quite fully deflated.

"OH GOD, NO! PLEASE SIR, I DIDN'T MEAN IT, SIR!" he blubbered as I walked behind him. Dog cum ran down over his balls and dripped on the mat.

"This being your third infraction," I said evenly, "your punishment will be twenty lashes."

I laid them on somewhat more vigorously this time, though still not full force, and a few small streaks of blood showed on his back by the time I had finished.

Shea stood, hand to mouth, eyes wide with shock throughout this. Amy simply smiled and looked hungry.

"Shea," I thought I'd better give her something else to do while I finished Dennis' lessons, "What would you like to do to my slave, now that we're better equipped?"

Her whole body shuddered as if coming out of a trance. Her glance swept around the room, lingering on this piece of equipment, or that device. Finally she went over to the X-frame.

"Can she be bound to this," she asked tentatively, "head down?"

I glanced at Amy before replying. She was suppressing some emotion but I wasn't sure whether it was glee or fear. I decided that it must be the former, since I had given her no reason to suppress her fear, but had made her suffer a couple of times when she got TOO happy about something.