The Collaring of Chloe Ch. 04

Chapter 4 - Learning Naked

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Once Mittens excused herself, Chloe and Master settled in to talk and get to know a bit more about each other, seated together on the couch. Or, more accurately, for her to get to know him. He seemed to know just about everything about her already, which wasn't especially surprising, when she thought about it. Master Heron had obviously told him everything he knew about her, which was most everything there was to know. Chloe really had very few actual secrets, especially since entering into the BDSM lifestyle, which had allowed her to reveal the only real secrets she'd kept, namely that she wished to be part of it.

He already knew about her lack of actual family, her parents having died when she was a child, and Chloe coming to live with her only Aunt. Aunt Nina had been a lawyer, often not having a large amount of time to spend with the young niece she'd never expected or really wanted. Despite this, she did have more than enough money to send Chloe off to good schools and day-care facilities, where Chloe had spent her youth mostly blending in. She'd not been a bad person, just indifferent and distant, much more focused on her career than being a parent.

To be honest, there wasn't an awful lot more to her past to tell, though. She'd always been a submissive soul, though occasionally adventurous. Though pretty as an adolescent, she'd always been far too shy to really make many friends, much less ever have a significant boyfriend. She'd learned well in grade school, but had gone mostly unnoticed socially. Almost immediately after graduating high school she went straight to college, which had opened her up a little more socially, but she'd never had much luck with making truly close friends or ever meeting anyone that really made her feel a real connection.

Out of college, she'd gone to work as an underwriter for a national insurance company, crammed into a small cubicle away from everyone else. She'd made a couple of acquaintances among her co-workers, but few had really established themselves as anything like a real friend, at least until the night she'd confided in the one that brought her into the lifestyle. It had been there that she'd felt she'd finally begun to make real friends that she really connected with. That had been the only thing that had made her have pause in her decision to uproot herself and come to Master.

The people of her local BDSM community had been the first close friends she'd ever had and leaving them all behind had been more painful than she wanted to admit. However, she'd decided on the gamble in the greater hope of finally being able to feel like she really belonged to someone. She loved her new friends, but she longed for the collar of a slave, to belong to someone as a possession.

Of course, when she thought about it, Master was really taking almost as much of a gamble as she was. Sure, he had the 'power' in the relationship, but he was essentially inviting a stranger into his home to be a permanent fixture. For all he could be certain, she would prove to be more trouble than this would all be worth. One might say the dice she'd rolled held more at stake, but he was rolling dice himself and, really, their stakes were not much different.

So, he'd, of course, hedged his bets, much as she had, through Master Heron. He'd mined everything about her that he could to make sure that he was not bringing someone he'd regret into his house. It all hinged on trusting Heron to be forthright and a good judge of character. That was the same extension of trust she'd given the old man to pair her with a man who would not abuse her or their arranged relationship, but in Master's case, he couldn't be certain he could trust Master Heron either. Chloe had spent a year and half with the older man and his energetic submissive, but Master knew him only ephemerally.

Likely, Master had told as much of himself to Heron as he'd received about her, but since Chloe had actively requested to know nothing of him until she arrived, all that information had remained with Master Heron. She'd imagined a hundred times a multitude of different visions of who that Master might turn out to be, often heavily seasoning her imaginings with faults to prepare herself. She'd spent months preparing herself to obey any man who would take ownership of her, no matter who he turned out to be.

Having arrived though, she found that none of her many expectations seemed to have prepared her for the Master she'd received. Suddenly she found herself eager to know about this man, though she still wanted to keep the more intimate details still a mystery, as Chloe wanted to learn such things over time and with experience.

"My name is James Brooksend." He told her foremost. "Though you are never to address me as such. Only as 'Master', unless you are told different for some reason. Regardless, it's a detail you should obviously know, since the rest of the world knows me as 'James'."

"Yes, Master." Chloe replied with a grin.

"I suppose some people might consider me as 'rich', I think of myself as...really well off." He chuckled. "I got into commercial property investment early in life. I've managed to make shroud investments and good decisions along the way. It's not all self-sufficient, yet, but I rarely have to spend more than a few hours a week dealing with actual business matters. Otherwise, my monthly income is pretty far past 'comfortable'."

"Oh?" Chloe asked. It wasn't really that surprising to learn, considering the rather large and luxurious home he had. The dining room table alone had to cost a fortune. It would have been a much bigger surprise had he told her that he was simply middle class.

"I own a good bit of land around the area, many of them high quality bits of land with well-paying tenants." He continued. "I really never have to worry about money, to be honest, and I'm free to be whoever I wish to be in life. Because of this, I am also afforded the freedom to be open with our lifestyle without much worry of financial repercussion."

Chloe looked at him with a note of surprise. "How open are we talking about, Master?"

He gave a little laugh. "Mittens openly refers to herself as my pet and anyone who knows me, knows about my lifestyle. You can assume it's safe to introduce yourself as my slave and property to anyone you meet, unless I specifically instruct you not to do so."

Chloe looked at him with her mouth agape. One of the more unfortunate details of the lifestyle was the negative reputation and opinions that the general public had for it. Most people in a BDSM community had to closely protect their status within the community, which could potentially cost them jobs, respect, or even family and friends. It had been a bitter pill for Chloe, though one she'd already known she'd have to accept. In all honesty, she'd seen the lifestyle in a negative light herself prior to entering it. She'd felt she had to be ashamed of her desires and fantasies, something enforced by media and popular culture, even despite the growing proliferation of lifestyle themes in both.

The idea of being able to openly flaunt her position as his slave and property, something she'd expected would not be the case, thrilled her to the core. She had an impulse to jump straight up and run outside and shout it at the top of her lungs.

Apparently, the delight was evident on her face, as Master chuckled. "Like that, huh?"

"Yes, Master." She said with a broad smile. "I love that we don't have to hide the truth of our relationship. I can't believe the local 'vanilla' community is so accepting of the lifestyle."

"Oh, it's not that accepting, Chloe." He said, lifting a hand up to slow her enthusiasm. "I'm pretty well known and regarded in the town, being that I own so much of it and am compassionate with those who rent from me. Still, I have a good share of detractors, people who think I am a pervert and what I do isn't right. I like to think I enjoy more acceptance than disdain, but it would be misleading to believe that you aren't going to experience a lot of negative comments."

He smiled and brushed her cheek as he saw her face fall a little. "Regardless, I refuse to hide who I am and I want you to be proud of who you are. Though we still have to maintain a degree of decency in public, I assure you that you will wear your collar everywhere you go and often be on a leash while out in public when accompanying me." He gave her face another caress before adding. "Still, you're going to want to be careful in public. Some people can be very horrible. Mittens has endured some terrible comments and even been openly threatened. If you find that it makes you uncomfortable, we can modi—"

"Oh, no, Master." Chloe quickly cut in. "Nothing is going to steal away from me the ability to openly show that I am yours. I can handle some insults and ugliness. I've wanted to be able to openly announce myself as someone's slave since I first realized that I wanted to be one. You couldn't give me a better gift than that, Master."

He smiled at her warmly, seeming truly touched by her sentiments. "Good. I like loyalty, Chloe and I reward it. Still, I will never punish you for hiding these things from someone you feel uncomfortable admitting them to."

"I understand, Master." She replied, though she doubted that would ever be the case. She thought about Mittens and the extreme lengths she'd gone to in order to show her loyalty and devotion. It had soothed her a lot to know that the body modifications she'd undergone had not been at their Master's command, but were her own, independent, requests.

However, she the discussion moved to more pertinent details of protocol and expectations before she could try to ask more about Mittens. There was quite a bit of it, deeply enforcing their Master-slave relationship. There was much he would control and much she was expected to learn. Among them were some new behaviors and habits; as she would be groomed into someone of his design, as per her own request as part of the arrangement. She would be expected to learn it all and abide by it faithfully, though he allowed her some time to get herself adjusted before there came real consequences for missing something.

Still, she found that he'd left quite a bit of room for her to be somewhat relaxed with the relationship. Though she'd have duties and rituals to perform on a regular basis, she would also have lots of time to her own to pursue her own desires and interests. She found that, while he planned to shape her into his ideal, he wanted her to retain a measure of her own self, considered it much more interesting to have her season his ideals with her natural personality. In fact, he confided that he only was expecting the majority of the changes to her habits and behavior because it was something she had wanted.

"I'm as interested in what makes you Chloe, as I am to make you into the Chloe I decide you to be." He asserted. "My goal is to change aspects that aren't about your more specific self, but things to improve you as a general person. I don't want a drone, I want a unique and surprising young woman. I expect obedience at all times, but I also expect you to bring yourself to this relationship."

"Yes, Master." She said, grinning at him. She found it very comforting to have the strict protocols and expectations, but also the little bit of freedom to still retain something of herself. "I want to be made into someone new, Master, as you know. I like that you are expecting me to conform to your vision, but there was a little anxiety at the thought of having to let go of everything I've ever known and been. I'm prepared to let go of anything you tell me to, but I'm grateful that I won't have to let go of everything that makes me, well, me."

"On that note," He added. "You may negotiate, during this trial period, anything that you either don't think you can change or honestly would be hurt by having to change. And, you are welcome to retain connection with everyone you had to leave behind. You can even have them visit, though you must ask official permission first."

"Thank you, Master." Chloe said gratefully. "But I am prepared to give you control to change anything about me you wish. It was part of what I wanted in the first place, to be fully reshaped by my owner. However, I do appreciate that you are letting me blend myself a little into it. And to allow me to keep connection with my friends. I actually assumed I'd not be allowed to."

He laughed at that, looking at her with a bit of surprise. "Chloe, I'm your 'Master', not your 'Monster'." She chuckled with him at that, though still felt amazed by the fact that her worst fear and pain wasn't one she'd have to suffer. "I want you to have friends, both back in your previous home and in this new one." He continued. "You belong to me, but I don't expect you to be a hermit. In fact, I plan to introduce you to the community here once we've fully solidified our relationship. You'll also have some freedoms to play with others that I approve of, if you wish."

He went on to explain that he had a handful of others in the local community that he had differing relationships with. Mittens, prior to Chloe's arrival, was his only full-time personal submissive, serving as pet, toy, and dear companion, but there were a few that he engaged in lesser manners of relationship with ranging full sexual congress to just 'play' or very regulated arrangements. She would meet all of them in time and would even have some degree of input into those connections, slave or not.

"That's not really necessary, Master." She said to that last notion. "As my Master, you should be free to do anything you like."

"Be that as it may, Chloe, I want you to tell me if there is ever someone you meet that you are uncomfortable with." He returned firmly. "What good is the right to do what I want if it is going to damage my connection with you? You and Mittens are my primary partners, all others are only playmates. I am the Master, but you and her are my first concerns always."

The notion of him being with others didn't really bother Chloe, having already expected her new Master to be active his own local BDSM community and not expecting to have been living the life of a monk. Learning about Mittens had been a surprise, but not even a bad one. The lifestyle was very much about sexual freedom and it was rather commonplace for people to have multiple playmates, though most in a set relationship had strict rules of where lines were in what was 'acceptable'. Chloe had engaged in her own share of adventures within her own community, though always being very careful and selective about who she did exactly what with.

She sensed that Master was of the same ideal, and that suited her well enough. She didn't see herself as having any say in who else he might do things with, seeing herself as very much a true slave and without any say any desire he might have. Obviously, Master saw things a little more like a relationship, which was really not a bad thing, even if it didn't quite perfectly fit into the purest form of her fantasy.

She was beginning to realize that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that he was taking this new relationship so seriously and with so much care. Some part of her realized that he was truly trying to make sure this would not be just some short-term thing, but something that really would last. For that, she would comply with his wishes to let him know, should the matter ever come up, though she intended to make sure he knew that she merely was uncomfortable and would never try to take something away from him.

She thought again of how much devotion and love Mittens had for him and found that it was starting to make a lot of sense just why. It was becoming clear that Master Heron had done well in finding her the Master she wanted. He'd proven full of surprises, not the least of which was Mittens herself. She might not have expected Mittens, but the idea of having a sister submissive to play with and enjoy experiencing things with was already gathering great excitement in her. There was something very endearing about the girl, despite the brief amount of time she'd spent with her so far. She felt certain that she would come to love Mittens as much as she expected she was going to come to love Master.

"Master, may I ask a question?" The thought of the petite girl brought up a bit of curiosity in her.

"Please." He replied. "Now is the time for them."

"You mentioned that Mittens had a 'special story'." She began, thinking back to his saying that the girl's loyalty was someone biased. "What is that story? Why is she so extreme in this whole 'cat' fetish? I mean, to go as far as implants and body modifications."

Master sighed, leaning back and chewing carefully on his thoughts. "Honestly, Chloe, her past and herself are her own tales to tell. All I will say, for now, is that she is my devoted pet and your sister submissive. She is not considered a 'slave', though some might consider a 'pet' in the lifestyle as mostly the same thing. I do own her, but she has a degree of freedom that you do not as a slave." He sat forward raising a finger. "However, Mittens is not 'over you' in any way, despite having been here first. Nor is she 'under you' either. You are on the same footing as far as I am concerned, just she has some subtle liberties that you don't, though you might never really see much difference. In truth, Mittens choses to be as loyal and obedient as a slave on her own, not on my command."

Chloe peered at him in a bit of confusion. "Then wouldn't that, and her being here first, mean she's supposed to be 'Alpha', Master?" The term 'Alpha', as far as submission in the lifestyle went, meant simply that some submissives had preference and a sort of 'rank' over others. Some Alphas acted as a kind of 'assistant Dom', helping to organize and lead the other submissives in a household.

"No." He replied firmly. "There is no 'Alpha' here. As far as both I and Mittens are concerned, you are not being added to our relationship. This is the creation of a brand-new relationship with all three of us. Taking ownership of you has been as much a decision of Mittens' as it has been mine and we both agreed that this would signal the beginning a fresh relationship, not just an extension to our old one. Should there ever come a day when we added a fourth to the circle, all three of us will have an equal say in the matter, regardless of who is in what role, and we will treat that as a fresh relationship then too. Not that I have any plans to ever expand things further than this."

Chloe nodded at this, taken a bit aback at the revelation that she'd been equally chosen by Mittens, as well as Master. It shed a new sort of light on the adorable girl. Suddenly, she wasn't just another submissive of her Master's, but someone Chloe belonged with, if not to. They'd chosen her together and the idea made her feel strong and warm feelings to see the cute little cat-girl again and put her arms around her.

"As for her body modifications, well, that is something that I've actually tried to discourage her from." Master went on. "While I am honored by her desire to make such extreme changes, just to better suit her role as my 'pet cat', I sometimes worry that she is taking it too far. Still, she has a way of getting to agree to things that she wants, even when I think it might be a bit much." He gave a chuckle. "I'm starting to get a sense that you're going to fall into that same vein yourself."

Chloe gave a little laugh, chewing on a lip, but paused before she could respond back. A nagging need seemed to land on her with unexpected urgency. Through all their talk, Chloe had become so absorbed in things that it surprised her when it occurred to her that she needed to pee and glanced for the first time in quite a while out the glass door leading to the pool. Though it was not yet dark or even dusk, the look of the light outside made her realize that it was soon going to be. It had been some time since she'd first arrived, but it felt like no time at all had past. She blinked in surprise at the revelation and almost forgot the reason she'd been pulled out of her absorption in listening to him.