Beg
“You know what I want”, she said with as much strength as she could muster.
“Maybe. But I want to hear you spell it out for me in your own words”, he replied while giving her barely a quick glance over the page of his book.
Silence filled the room, interrupted only by the seconds ticking away on the clock. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? He knew, didn’t he? She squirmed, but didn’t make a sound. Not a word would come over these lips. That was the one thing she wouldn’t do.
At every move of his she jumped, expecting that he would finally act. Only to sigh in disappointment when his fingers turned yet another page. Or his hand reached for the cup of tea next to him. Or he just allowed himself a quick smirk over an especially witty dialogue. Why was his attention even on the book instead of her right now? She was literally a single breath away from complaining when she caught herself. Not. A. Word! “Go ahead.” His voice was quiet, almost like he spoke to himself. And yet she trembled. He’d noticed. Why had he noticed?! The next moment that seemed like a foolish question. Because he wanted her to speak up. It was that simple. All it would take was just one question from her and he’d put the book aside to give her what she wanted. The rational part in her had long since figured out he wasn’t really reading right now, merely pretended to since she responded to that almost as much as to his usual teasing. Her mind entertained the idea for a moment. That saying it out loud wasn’t begging. That in doing so she was merely granting something he wanted. That it wasn’t going to make her look needy and pathetic and oh so easily manipulated. But she didn’t believe it for even a single instant. Because she knew he didn’t want her to demand.
He wanted to hear her ask for it.
When had things shifted to this point? Was it when she felt coils tightening around her body, pinning her down and blocking her every move? Perhaps when she had walked inside his house, taunting him that this was never going to work without their trusty ropes anyhow? Even earlier than that? “It’s a fun thing, this speech we use, isn’t it?” “What?” His remark was the last thing she’d expected. It threw her off a little. But mostly it made her shiver. Her body, rather than her mind, sensed that there was something hidden in that seemingly silly question. Intent. An intent that a part deep inside her had already picked up on. Intend that her deep self already responded to, even as her conscious mind was still busy processing the fact that he spoke at all.
“Think about it, even now I’m merely making sounds with my mouth. That’s all a word is in the end, air vibrating in various frequencies. And yet by intentionally combining different sounds in different ways it produces something that reaches much, much deeper than our ears. It gains a meaning that we often enough don’t even need to think about. And before we know it, a simple word has an effect on us.” “Nah, really?” She hoped she made her voice drip with boredom. Because then he may not notice just how far down his words reached her. “Yes, really. Minds are good at finding meaning in things. Of course, sometimes they are much better at that then even we ourselves know. Remember that documentary about how brains immediately associate a random assortment of three dots with a human face? It’s the same concept of our brain picking up on something that our conscious mind knows is not really there. Perhaps a cloud looking so much like a bunny,” she allowed herself to ease up a bit, picturing a peacefully summer sky filled with clouds and sunshine, “…or these words feeling to the mind like a snake coiling around those limbs.” Her eyes widened, which was the only outward reaction she permitted herself—and knowing him, that already may give away too much.
She was still very much conscious, damn it! There was no way his words could do that to her. Or his calm, steady breath. Or the way he described things in that soothing baritone of his. Sure, she felt the muscles force her into captivity as scaled reptilian skin wound around her arms and legs, but that was just a trick her mind played on her. No matter how much she thought to see the snake out of the corner of her eyes, there was none as soon as she dared to actually look. There, see? It was all just her nerves, nothing more, nothing less.
“And with the right word at the right time, all that meaning gets so tight! So precise and condensed into a single expression.”
She whimpered. There was no stopping it. Not with that impossibly smooth sensation of a scaled body pressing down on her, pulling its coils ever tighter until she could no longer so much as twitch. In her surprise it took her long, surely a few seconds to realize he wasn’t speaking. Was instead quietly sitting across from her, eyes on the way her body squirmed and trembled. On her hands in their fight against an invisible force. On her mouth as it gave away all that happened in merely a single high-pitched noise. On her eyes that sought for a hint on how to get away from here. “We both probably know this already,” he said and his voice was like warm water pouring over her with how gentle it sounded, “but the right word at the right time can really make all the difference. That can easily go both ways. With as much as a single word from you that mind could be entirely yours again and all the things I say be returned to nothing but sounds that have no power at all. Does your deep self know its special word and feels capable of using it for any reason that makes you feel it is needed?” “Green,” she nodded—to gasp in surprise. “Wait, that was… easier than I thought it would be.” He chuckled. “That’s why speech has me so astonished. Our minds can easily and effortlessly say the right words at the right time—and allow them to hold power only when that feels safe and reasonable.” “Well, duh, of course they can.”
He nodded. “Of course. Which makes it so impressive in my eyes how a word can tease.” She hated how excited that prospect made her. “It makes me wonder what would happen if I found words to express the sensation of a snake coiling around that body changing. Shifting.” She felt it, felt the reptile slither across her to find a new target. “What if I spoke about its head moving closer to your head? Or the noise your ears hear as it seems to deliberately hover there for a moment. Almost like it were talking to you, whispering and hissing words so softly that they slip right past that mind and reach somewhere deeper?”
She would say. Not. A. Word! He was merely talking possibilities, for goodness’ sake! She wouldn’t allow him the triumph of knowing his words conjured up all kinds of sensations in—“What if,” he dropped his voice a little and her mind seemed to drop right with it, “I pointed out how that scaled tail sneaks between your legs and moves to find the right spots, rubbing against them in just the right way.” She only noticed her hips bucking and grinding against that invisible touch when she caught the faint smirk flicker over his face for a moment. She wanted to give a witty reply or something, but nothing would come to mind right now. Well, nothing except: “Green! Ohmygodyes, green!”
He knew now. No more hiding the effect he had on her. But right that sounded heavenly, given that he would make her feel even better and then… “Feeling it rub and stroke and touch and tease and caress. Just like that.”
Each word was another jolt of pleasure, another wave running through her nerves to her brain telling her that she was being toyed with by a huge snake. Regardless of how she struggled and pushed, her muscles clearly told her that there was an overpowering reptile squeezing her tighter and tighter. Each breath caused her nipples to brush over scales she could not see, but that all the same made her dizzy by evoking such excitement. Was he still talking? Or was she hearing the snake hiss in her ears—and in his voice—how helpless she would be if the reptile were to coil around her neck. It wasn’t going to do that now, but it could if it wanted and none of the strength in her arms, none of the speed her legs were capable of could bail her out of it. Her eyes darted over to his face, to the calm, knowing smile on his lips while he watched her. Part of her was so very conscious of the sight he saw. She whimpered and gasped now, didn’t even care that he heard it all clearly. That right here, right now she was stripped of all her strength, all her power to be rendered helpless prey for a snake conjured up by nothing but fleeting words.
His smile grew a bit wider still as he casually remarked: “Well, I’m sure many interesting things would happen. If I were to talk about all those things a snake could do to you. But I am not. Not now, at least.” What?! What was he on about, she felt it around her, felt so completely shackled by it… didn’t she? Certainly the sensation seemed to fade more and more already, like a blurred memory of a dream. “Not until I hear it from your own lips.” His cadence made her shudder. Was it simply part of her imagination that he seemed to be drawing out that last ‘s’ to a soft, cold hissing noise? “Because, my dear, the right word at the right time is something so wonderfully powerful. You and I, we both know in our own way exactly how powerful. And true, there is a time for me to use words that take all your power away before you ever know what hit you.” Despite his best effort, he couldn’t hide the boyish sparkle in his eyes at the memory of them experiencing just that. “But, my dear, there’s also times like this. Times where you try so hard to hide how much you want something, especially as that same something is drawing closer and closer already. Times that leave you shaking with need, trembling with anticipation. But never more. Times, pretty girl, that need you to say the right words at the right time so that for both me and you there is no more hiding, no more holding the desire -back.”
When had he managed to lean in so close? She felt his breath dance over her skin, cherished the soft caress of his hands on her skin. All the while however she could only stare to meet his gaze, transfixed by the lurking passion she saw in there. By her own reflection in his eyes telling her all she needed to know. Part of her, a part deep, deep down, recognized this feeling. How could she not when over the past months she’d become so very familiar with it? But… But not yet. No matter how good it would feel. Regardless of the mind melting torrent of pleasure that she could practically sense already behind that flimsy sheen of conscious thought, ready to drown her in lust. She could hold out longer than this, couldn’t she? Surely she wasn’t already so deeply conditioned to the way he made her feel that he could sway her so easily. Was she?
His thumb brushed over her lips and she shuddered in delight, suddenly feeling lightheaded and drunk on his presence and fuzzy and a lot of wonderful things all at once. The very idea of holding out suddenly seemed so far away while his mouth curled into evil joy.
“Now, my pretty girl. Beg.”
She no longer consciously registered what she said. But she knew she found the right words—just like she always did in the end.
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