Turing Tested (Closed)

[wanna_be]

At least Farridan doesn't interrupt her meal. He doesn't move, save to turn his eyes back to his computer screen. That saps Sophie's fire a little, she had expected some annoyance at least, not this display of slight amusement. The meal distracts her, she is truly hungry, and the food is good. The croissants are just warm, and flake apart in her fingers, while the salad is crisp and clean tasting. She eats more than she would normally, eventually stopping with half a croissant left on the plate in front of her.

Farridan is still coding when she finishes eating. The faint clicks of the keys are drowned by the emptiness of the space. She hadn't realised how early she had risen until now, but the rays of the sun are even now shining over Farridan's shoulders. It lends him a silhouetted quality, Sophie can only imagine the theatrical image is intentional.

Beyond introducing the food and telling her about his plans, Farridan hasn't said anything else, his attention fixed once more on the screen before him. He hasn't even glanced at her while she eats. Feeling unnerved by this treatment, she struggles back to her feet, still determined not to give him a show. It's entirely possible that her struggle does just that, but she pushes away the thought as she wanders away from his desk. The room is nearly empty, she doesn't have her phone, and there isn't another computer she can use. Presumably she isn't allowed any of these things in order to prevent her contacting the outside world.

After ten minutes or so she turns back to his desk, though she does so from the opposite end of the room to make things as inconvenient for him as she can. "It's not like there's anything for me to do. I guess you don't get a lot of guests?"

In a faux whisper she continues, "Though I guess they're locked in a hole somewhere anyway."

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan glances up from his work to spot Sophie across the room. His eyebrow cocks. "Really. So you're going to start across the room and shout at me? You think this helps?"

He smiles, and it's an unpleasant thing to witness - a crocodile stretch of the corners of his lips outward, while everything else stays frozen. "You were a good girl yesterday, but if you're determined to have to learn the lesson every day, you're not going to enjoy anything about this place at all. So here's the game you're asking for: if you're not kneeling next to me in the next twenty seconds, I will come get you, and I can promise you that you'll hate it, and that you'll spend the next couple of hours regretting it."

His head tilts about thirty degrees, and he just looks at Sophie for a beat, then returns to his computer. The threat he leaves hanging, unassuming, in the air between them.

It's time to see if she believes his word is worth anything.

 

[wanna_be]

Farridan's gaze fixes Sophie like a rabbit in headlights. Having him focus on her feels uncomfortably like being in crosshairs. She wouldn't have dared to speak to him like that if she'd been within arms reach, but it doesn't seem to matter. She's not sure she could run away even if she wanted to.

That thought catches her off guard, and her confusion, had Farridan been looking, is visible. She had submitted to him last night. Twice, she is ashamed to admit to herself. She may have been cuffed both times, but too much of what she had done had been in acquiescence. This man had robbed her of her freedom and she'd opened up to him.

She realises during her train of thought that she has taken several steps forward. It's as if her body, acting on auto-pilot, wanted to obey. She stops, still a few feet from the spot he has indicated. She hasn't even checked the fucking lift, she's just walked back to him, and now is frozen in confusion with only a few seconds before his time limit expires.

Despite everything that had been wrong with it, despite the way her mind now rebelled against her behaviour, she'd responded to his actions. Now she finds her body responding again, while reason rails against instinct.

She can't really explain it, all she knows is that she completely submitted to a man who had systematically destroyed her life only a few hours early. Right now she can't reconcile those actions with the person she thinks she is.

She realises again that without instruction her body has moved, only a pace this time, but closer than she had been only a moment again. She isn't thinking properly, her mind in a spin between resistance and submission. She realises that her time is probably now long since up, her gaze snapping up to Farridan's eyes. Her own eyes are wide, frightened, and apologetic.

Why am I doing what he wants?

"I... Didn't..."

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan lets out a faint huff, his chest bouncing once in amusement. For all that and the crocodile indifference in his eyes, when he pushes back his keyboard and stands up, it's to walk to Sophie's side and take one of her hands, unhurriedly. He lifts it up between them, his thumb running over her fingertips.

"You've never heard this side of yourself, have you?" he says, soothing, and lowers his head to press his lips against those same fingertips. "Listen."

He steps forward, just close enough that their body heat lingers in the little space between them. Tall and with the morning sun behind him, Farridan drapes Sophie in cool shadow, and his other hand comes around behind her back to touch lightly on her shoulder, and trail gently down to just above the hem of her skirt on her hip.

His lips draw back, and then Farridan leans forward just enough to press them to Sophie's temple, and he pauses a moment there, breathing in silent unison with her.

"Stop thinking," he murmurs. "Feel. What does your body tell you?"

 

[wanna_be]

As Farridan pushes his chair back Sophie flinches. What he'd said hadn't felt like a threat, it had felt like a promise, and she hasn't obeyed his orders. At best she's only gotten halfway. She stares straight ahead in rigid terror. He's already destroyed her life, deleted her from reality, what more could he do to punish her?

Her eyes flicker down as he raises their hands between them. What is he doing?

To her shock he lowers his head and kisses her fingertips. It's almost a delicate action. It's not something she has come to associate with him, but once more Farridan appears to be rewriting the rules of her reality without even trying.

She doesn't respond verbally to his question, she doesn't have time. Her body has already answered for her. She leans in towards him as he steps towards her, almost feeling the heat of his skin. Involuntarily she shivers as she feels the pressure on her shoulder, her back, her hip. The motion makes her sway ever so slightly closer as Farridan's lips meet her brow. As if she had predicted his movements.

Whether by accident or design their breathing seems to sync, his chest rises and falls with hers, and she feels the proximity decrease and increase in turn. For some reason she isn't pulling away, no, for some reason she doesn't want to pull away. The breathing together is intimate, she feels secure with his hand resting gently on her side, the other holding her own hand between them.

The whole experience makes her feel, strangely, safe.

So she does as he asks. It's not even a conscious decision, strangely. Her mind just floats away.

It's easier than it should be.

Her eyes close, her breathing slowing as she calms. In that moment of calm her body does something else she thought she was too stubborn or too scared to do. She takes a step closer, Farridan is already close, and her movement has the effect of pressing her torso against his. Her legs run along his own. She drops her head, pulling it away from his lips but leaning it against his collarbone and shoulder. To the casual observer it might almost look like the DJ has just put on a slow song.

It lasts for a moment, before she raises her head and her brain kicks groggily back into gear. This is wrong. Her body wants to stay pressed against him, and there is a clear reluctance in her movements as she halfheartedly moves away. It's not even a few inches, but it's enough for her fading reason.

"I want to... But no... no I don't think..."

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan hums, and slides forward that bare inch, ducking slightly. His forehead presses against hers, those flat glass eyes flicking up to hers as the faintest curve curls the corner of his mouth. Then his hands come down, under the fringe of her skirt, and take firm hold of her bare hips under the scandalous miniskirt Sophie's wearing. He shifts backward in a smooth step, drawing his reluctant partner along with him, until he can sit on the edge of the desk behind him.

"Yes?" he murmurs, fondling her taut cheeks, before one hand rises up the back of her skirt, along her spine, to take hold of the back of Sophie's neck - not pulling or clutching, just firmly lodging her in place. Their heads are level now, and that polised-clay gleam in Farridan's eyes is hypnotic. "What is it that you want?"

His other hand remains splayed across her ass, drawing her hips in against the rising shaft in his trousers again; the man rolls his hips so that the fringe of Sophie's skirt flips up against his tent, frotting the fat bulge against her sensitive groin.

 

[wanna_be]

Despite her best, and at this point rather clouded efforts of her brain, Sophie went with Farridan's movements. His hands are beneath the poor excuse for a skirt, gripping her ass as he lowers himself to the desk. Trying to escape his eye proves pointless, as one hand trails up her back, drawing an involuntary shiver, and fixes her head in place. She almost has no choice but to meet his hypnotic gaze. She is unable to tear her gaze away, and her lips part slightly as he asks his question.

"I..."

They close again as she is drawn more tightly against him, her groin pulled against the tightening fabric of his trousers and his already hardening cock. She tries not to respond verbally, but a small squeak escapes from her as the sensation stimulates her already sensitive skin.

"I..."

She pauses, concentrates. That effort is obvious, it's difficult to think while Farridan is staring into her eyes like that and his hand is gripping her ass. Worst of all is the gentle pressure just above her pussy. She catches herself wishing it was directly against her pussy. It takes a long time, too long, but she tries to pull back, if only a little. She has little success, she's not trying hard enough and Farridan's grip is strong. It lends her some room to think at least, and she manages to force out a coherent sentence.

"I want to know... how you made me... do that... last night..."

That shouldn't have been so hard, but she was still gazing into his eyes, and, question asked, relaxed her resistance, letting her body fall back against his.

 

[Obuzeti]

"I didn't make you do anything," Farridan corrects, gentle. "You wanted something, and I gave it to you. I fucked you, and you didn't have a choice in that, but by the end you wanted it just as much as I did. I didn't have to change you. I just made you pay attention to what it is you want."

While he speaks, calm and reassuring, his right hand slides down Sophie's leg, over her bare and smooth thigh, coming to cup it from behind - and then he lifts her knee up to plant it on the desk beside him, leaving her legs spread and her skirt slightly lifted by the angle of her stance. His other hand glides down the curve of her rear to her newly exposed pussy, exposed by her spread legs, and begins rubbing her puffy lips from behind with two fingers, long and slow strokes over the sensitive flesh. His thumb presses up between her cheeks to rub against her anus, and there Farridan gently rocks her back and forth between thumb and fingers, letting her precarious weight dangle across his lap and the hard shaft straining in his pants.

"So let me guess something. Tell me if I'm right," Farridan murmurs, his eyes hooded like a cobra's, unblinking as he watches the confusion and lust cloud Sophie's features. "What you want is here."

His fingers press up against her clit on the word.

"Does it feel good to be spread? To be filled?" Farridan continues, gentle as dripping honey.

 

[wanna_be]

"But you di...

She trails off as she realises it's true. Farridan might have cuffed her, he might of forced her down on the bed. But he hadn't forced her lips onto his cock, she'd done that all by herself. He hadn't even told her to do it, she'd just known what he expected and acquiesced. And through it all it had just felt so right. She'd felt good in making him feel good.

She's so focused on his calm voice and her own confusing thoughts that she hardly notices as one hand slides over her leg, and she certainly doesn't resist as he lifts her leg. If anything she assists him. The skirt is now little more than an afterthought, a thin strip of black fabric around her upper thighs, her ass and pussy completely exposed to anyone that might walk in. That means she's totally exposed to Farridan, and her lips part on her intake of breath as she feels the pressure of his fingers.

Her breathing begins to grow heavier. It must be obvious to Farridan that she is already wet, her lips growing engorged with arousal. The pressure against her anus reminds her of last night that threatening moment when she'd thought he was going to take her there. He hadn't, instead driving her out of her mind with pleasure and lust. And he was doing it so easily again, showing her just what her body could experience.

She has to work hard to concentrate on his words, distracted by the gentle rocking rhythm he is moving her through and his transfixing gaze. Then a bolt of lightning shoots through her body from her clit. Her breath rushes out of her in a cry and she stiffens until the rush of pleasure ebbs.

It takes Sophie a moment to regain enough breath to speak. "It feels... it's so good..."

Her fingers dig into his side as she seeks to stay in control "I've never..."

 

[Obuzeti]

"I know," Farridan replies, soft like silk. "It's new to you. But I can show you."

The hand that isn't currently rubbing her folds slips away and dips into a pocket, then pulls out a tiny silver plug, with a fattened head and some clear gemstone set in the round handle. He lifts it up in front of Sophie's eyes, and presses it gently against her lips. "Make it wet," her captor says, "and I'll show you just how hard you can come."

His other hand still rocks her hips back and forth, a little more insistent now; long strokes down the bead of her clit and over her folds transition into firm presses against Sophie's tight pucker with his thumb, but the pace is slow enough that she doesn't have the time to achieve a full climax. Then, he pauses just long enough to reach down and unzip his pants - and his thick cock springs out, pressing hard against her thigh and bobbing with each heartbeat. The peak of each bob brushes it against Sophie's lower lips, and soon it's drizzled wet with her arousal, ready to slide in and fuck her.

 

[wanna_be]

Eyes wide, Sophie lets her lips part around the strange object. She sucks on it instinctively, before realising that probably won't have the effect Farridan wants. Instead she starts swirling her tongue around it, trying to get it as wet as possible. She has no idea what it is, thinking maybe it's some kind of dildo, but he's given her an instruction.

Her initial reluctance is gone, submerged under the waves of pleasure his fingers are eliciting easily from her clit, folds and asshole. She almost doesn't care that his thumb is pressing against her asshole. Moaning in reproach as she stops, she looks down to see where his hand had gone, releasing his thick cock. Soon enough that joins the teasing, driving her a little higher, but not quite high enough. It is almost as frustrating as last night.

She reaches down to slip her fingers around his now slick cock. Slowly at first, but gradually increasing in pace, she starts to slide her hand up and down his shaft, while guiding it ever nearer to her entrance. She almost can't believe what she is saying when she speaks. "Please?"

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan smiles like a picture from a book - flat and unmoving, the eyes still. "You have my permission," he says, hips bobbing up into Sophie's touch on instinct. The fat head of his shaft rests just underneath her slick folds - it won't take much to slide himself in, but he wants her to take that step, admit that she wants it. He shifts slightly backwards onto the desk so he can support their weight, and draws Sophie with him - but makes no move to penetrate her on his own. "Go ahead."

He can fuck her for his pleasure - but the next step is persuading her to pursue it for her pleasure, too. Farridan cares nothing for unwilling slaves.

The plug she'd been sucking on he slides down, the wet, round tip nuzzling down into Sophie's cleavage displayed by the scandalously low-cut blouse. So much skin is left on display that it's no effort at all for him to brush aside the fabric and press the cool, wet steel against her hardened nipple, pressing against and flicking the nub.

 

[wanna_be]

There is an undeniable hesitation in Sophie as he permits her to do as she pleads. She hadn't known what to expect in response, but then she'd never expected that question to spring forth from her mouth. Now she is caught in the desperate desire to have him inside her, and the confusion that even this simple act seems to bring with it.

Meanwhile she feels the cold wet end of the metal object he has had her sucking on sliding down her chest. It comes dangerously close to her nipple before it goes all the way, pressing hard against the sensitive flesh. She gasps and at that point lust wins out. Almost in instinctive reaction to his teasing she guides his cock as she lowers her hips, allowing him to enter her.

She gasps as she feels his heat. In any other situation she would be worried about his lack of condom, right now she doesn't care. He's driven her to a point where she desperately needs release, and some deep part of her knows that she won't get it unless she does this. Sinking lower, she pushes until he is balls deep, pressing her navel against his and her chest to him, trapping the metal plug between them for an instant.

She holds herself closer for a moment. Beginning to move her hips against his, grinding her pussy on his cock and revelling in the rush of sensations it sends through her. "You're really fucking with my head…"

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan's hand slides down Sophie's back to clench on her ass, fingers clutching at the firm derriere as she sinks down on his cock. Her wet warmth takes him all the way in to the base, and he purrs low in enjoyment as he rolls his hips up against hers. Her bare thighs sink over his, and with the blouse parted he has a fine view of her cleavage.

The moistened plug he draws back now, and as Sophie begins to slowly ride him, his other hand clutches down on the taut cheek of her ass and draws it wide, exposing her pucker yet again. The wet metal tip comes to rest against it, the blunt, slick sensation electric against the sensitive muscle, and he starts to rub in counterpoint to his thrusts - his hips press up, cock thrusting deep inside of Sophie, and as he draws back the plug inexorably works against the tight ring of her anus, turning and rolling against it in his grip.

And for all that, it's still only a counterpoint to the fat shaft that slides up between her thighs, fucking her, and Farridan's lips as he plants soft kisses on Sophie's neck and collarbone, wordlessly encouraging her in their fucking.

 

[wanna_be]

Farridan's response is wordless, and probably intended to simply be a continuance of said fucking with her head. This is in direct counterpoint to how he fucked her last night. Then it was brutal and uncompromising, this is gentle, intimate even. This is the kind of thing she'd expect from a boyfriend on Valentines day, not from a captor. Then again, she is playing along with his game, she begged to be allowed his cock inside her. Begged.

She feels a strangely pleasurable sensation against her asshole, the small metal object is cool and slick on her skin. Farridan works it so that it massages her anus, providing an insistent pulse of pleasure every time it moves against her. She's beginning to realise what the object is, and some reservations begin to slip back into her mind.

Wrapping her arms around Farridan, she digs her fingers into his shoulders as she continues to rise and fall on his lap. The multitude of sensations engulf her, from the gentle pressure between her ass cheeks, to his lips on her neck and collarbone, to the insistent movements of him deep in her pussy. She rotates her hips, trying to move away from the metal plug that he is pressing against her. She doesn't want that, but she's too far gone in the throes of pleasure to stop what is happening.

 

[Obuzeti]

"No," Farridan says, gentle. His eyes rise to hold Sophie's, dark and unblinking. "I won't hurt you when you listen to me, Sophie. So understand that I'm not going to hurt you now. I'm just showing you - what your body can learn to desire."

The plug rubs up against her anus and pushes in, just a little, but he's not trying to penetrate - when her ass seizes up against the intrusion he draws back for a few seconds, then begins to rub in deep, pressing motions until she tenses up again. The cool, slick touch is almost as much as a tease as the actual plug itself, and he wants her to be curious about what it will feel like, the next time. He doesn't need to rush. Instead, he uses the teetering sensation of partial penetration to keep Sophie's hips bouncing on his, her hips grinding into his when she pulls back from the sensation.

"Don't worry about it," the man soothes, his nose brushing against her cheek. It's oddly intimate from the inhuman programmer he'd come off at first glance. His thighs smack up into hers, lightly bouncing Sophie on his lap as his shaft plunges deep into her pussy. "Don't you want to come? Don't you want to fill yourself until you cream?"

Farridan gives a sharp, sudden thrust up, his hips clapping against Sophie's, then settles into a series of short, rapid flutters. "What do you think it'll feel like when I cum in your pussy instead of your mouth?" he says, and a smile curves the corner of his mouth that she can see.

 

[wanna_be]

The teasing is driving her crazy. It feels good, but at the same time she's not willing to take anything in there. Like a lot of women, she's had some experience with anal, and it hasn't ended well. This contradiction doesn't help with her confused and pleasure addled mind. That the constant teasing of her asshole makes her move into his cock only heightens that pleasurable sensation. Every time she rushes away from the plug she grinds against him, her clitoris grinding against him and sending bolts of pleasure through her system.

This whole situation is so wrong, but her body, and parts of brain are preventing her from objecting. She keeps bouncing on him, keeps moving up and down his thick shaft. His voice is oddly calming, for some reason/ She finds herself relaxing into the experience once more, enjoying the sensation of pressure against her asshole rather than shying away from it.

Not that she wants it to go any further.

The sudden, unannounced thrust makes her moan involuntarily and her head leans back a little to allow the sound to escape from her lips. His movements interrupt her thoughts, thrusting almost into her mind itself. She doesn't know how to answer his question. She'd sucked his cock willingly last night, and now she's riding him even more willingly. She'd begged to have his cock in her, begged. Right now, all she can know is that given the same moment again, she would have begged once more. She'd never begged.

She's still responding to his movements, bouncing on his hips, grinding against the base of his cock. She finds her lips seeking his neck, moving down towards his collarbone and stymied only by the collar of his shirt. She pauses at his last question, not her hips, those continue to rise and fall, but her lips stop against his skin. Cum in her pussy? She hasn’t even thought about condoms.

Sophie's no idiot, she knows how STDs work, her implant would hopefully prevent pregnancy, but can't protect against anything else. Right now… she doesn't care. She moans, increasing the speed of her movements, moving her mouth closer to his ear. "Cum in me…"

 

[Obuzeti]

Farridan laughs, low, and rolls his hips up against Sophie's in short, sharp bursts. His eyes lock onto hers and hold her gaze, razor sharp now. "Someday soon," he says, "You'll beg for me to take you however I want. You'll spread your lips, your thighs, or your ass when I ask for it. You'll take my cock as deep I I want it whenever I please."

He straightens just enough that their noses brush, hooded eyes locked, and keeps pumping. Their lips brush as he speaks, just close enough for the feather-light contact to register. "And you'll ask for this, too, every time. For me to fill you up with cum. Because this is what you're here for."

Farridan slams up a few more times, his thrusts growing ragged, and then he slams deep and seizes her ass in his hands, clutching Sophie tight and driving himself balls-deep into her pussy. The plug presses hard against her ass as he spends himself in his plaything, releasing streams of seed in tight jerks as he gasps at the release. Sophie's mouth last night had been satisfying, but the sensation of claiming a new woman is divine. It makes him feel, in a way he otherwise cannot.

He pants for breath, and leans his forehead against Sophie's. "This is what a good girl does," he murmurs.

 

[wanna_be]

Some part of her wants to argue, she won't ask for this every time. Her brain sends the message to her mouth, but it gets intercepted on the way. "Cum in me..."

His movements grow faster and stronger, his hands fastening on her ass and taking control of her motions. She is completely under his control now, not that she fights, she moves her hips with his hands, only resisting as much as it takes to move away from the metal object pressing against her anus. His words set her off, pushing her over the edge and into a wave of pleasure.

She can only move with him a little as firm hands grip her cheeks and hold her in place. Farridan's next few motions make her feel like a fleshlight, a simple toy to use and discard. Her first orgasm is already replaced by a second. She writhes on his lap, her pussy contracting around the hard, taut flesh of his cock as he empties himself into her.

She leans against him, needing his presence simply to keep her upright. Breathing heavily, she responds to his last comment, "Am I a good girl?"

She's not sure what she's expecting, or wanting to hear, but a flush of pleasure shivers through her body at her own question. Inexplicably, it's what she wants to be. Her hands, on his broad shoulders, loosen their grip a little, one stroking a little over his collarbone to the centre of his chest. The plug is still pressed tightly against her ass, and it takes her a moment to realise it is still there in the post-orgasmic bliss she is floating through. Her movement away from it this time is far smaller, far gentler, and altogether less reluctant than it had been earlier. She's not as afraid of the small object, or of Farridan as she had been, that much is clear.

 

[Obuzeti]

"You will be," Farridan answers, setting the plug aside to run his fingers through Sophie's hair, as she rests her head against him. He slips an arm beneath her legs and lifts her up, then carries her back around to his chair, where he seats himself - lowering Sophie down to the floor in front of it, where a cushion awaits her. He leaves her there, fingers still running through her hair, as he returns to typing with one hand. "You have the heart for it, and you're ready to learn. You will be."

That's the most attention he pays her for a good while - whatever else the man may be, he's also a workaholic, and he codes for hours at a time without stopping. His only pauses are for feeding himself and the bathroom, and while he gives Sophie a reader with access to a nearly infinite amount of reading, it doesn't have internet access or any kind of news or current events. The sun is setting by the time that he stretches and glances about the office, then moves to what he calls the sunset couch.

It's a wide, low couch set on the rise behind the staircase, so that anyone seated on it faces away from the sunset and out over the elevator and the ocean beyond that. He seats himself on it then calls, "Sophie, come up here."

He's left her alone most of the day. It's time for another lesson.

 

[wanna_be]

A considerable feeling of disappointment settles upon Sophie at Farridan's words. It's difficult to explain, but she desperately wanted to hear those words from him, like she was some kind of dog. She doesn't say anything though. She has learnt her lesson by this point. Mostly anyway.

His movements deliver her to the cushion he had indicated earlier, and she rearranges herself to settle on her knees. She pushes her head up and against his fingers as they run through her hair, reacting in the same way a cat might.

She has some time to dwell on that, and her other reactions, as the day continues. Farridan barely looks away from the computer for what feels like hours. Sophie is left with what effectively amounts to her own company. She alternates between actually reading and mulling over the events of that morning and the night before. The mulling gives her little in response and reading offers only distraction. Perhaps there is more information hidden within the reader, but she has no idea how to locate it.

It has been several hours since the last time Farridan shifted when he stretched. Lost in her own reverie, Sophie is surprised by the movement, and moves away in alarm. She settles back into her position on the cushion as she realises Farridan is just stretching, but puts down the reader he had given her.

She watches as he moves across the office in his strangely graceful way, all the way to a couch looking out over the ocean. She wants to follow him, wants to earn his approval, but she doesn't move. His movement after so long stirs something within her, and she feels her body respond. She wants to go after him immediately, but he told her to kneel by the desk, and the memory of the spine-numbing terror when she failed to do so the first time holds her in place.

Eventually his voice echoes through the empty glass space. She starts, then awkwardly climbs to her feet. With only brief breaks to eat and go to the bathroom she has hardly moved in the last few hours. Her legs groan at the movement, feeling weak and wobbly. Hesitantly, she walks to the couch, unsure of what Farridan has planned. The whole building might be glass, but the couch is more prominently placed than most. You can see most of the city, and all of the ocean from up there. No doubt any curious passer by could look up and see them there.

Knowing Farridan's… proclivities slows Sophie's approach, though part of her doesn't fear what might come. That part of her revels in the prospect of what undoubtedly is to come. Adjusting her blouse and skirt for the maximum coverage she can possibly acquire. It isn't much.

Carefully, almost professionally she sits beside him. She can feel the heat between her legs at obeying him, at being close to him and within his reach. Part of her is trying to maintain the illusion that she is fighting against him, but everything in her body is saying she wants him.

She sits on the opposite end of the couch, though everything about her body language seems to lean towards Farridan.

"Did you want something?"

 

[Obuzeti]

"To illustrate a point," Farridan says, and crosses his legs comfortably. "Look down at 5th Street below, if you would."

It's no different than any other time when the work traffic hits - jammed bumper to bumper, stretching as far as the eye can see in either direction until the bend of the coast takes the traffic jam out of sight. Capillary flows of pedestrians trickle down stone sidings, into and out of buildings, so far below that the details are indistinct besides the mass of grey and black suits interweaving.

"Those," Farridan says, voice soft and eyes intent, "are people that don't matter."

"Every single person down there is a person you'll never meet and that will never matter to you. There are over four million people in this city and of them I would perhaps guess you knew perhaps twelve on a casual or friendly basis. The national average is seven, if you account men, which have a significantly lower ratio of personal relationships. The culture, you see."

Farridan is silent. He stares down at these humans, far below.

"This would have been the same situation if I had not taken you," he says. "And when I did, you vanished from among their number without a ripple. The protean herd cares nothing for the survival of an individual, Sophie. Even to the people you claimed as your friends and family, you will come to represent a statistic instead of a person. They'll give you up. They'll donate to charities and have sob little dinners where they remember how you acted, what politics you endorsed, instead of who you were."

Farridan is silent.

"I have taken five girls before," he says eventually. "Helena Loom, Siobhan Deschall, Obara Marshall, Tiffany Summit, and Elizabeth Prior. I know their names. I know where they are now, and they live lives of luxury and service. They know each other, and have formed a network of communion that strengthens them all. You will not be alone, now or in the future. And should something take you from my sight there is no earthly power that will hold you from it."

He turns and catches Sophie's eye. "You're going to learn to leave those people behind. You didn't matter to them, and they won't matter to you. Not in the end."

 

[wanna_be]

Sophie shifts on the couch, suddenly uncomfortably aware of how exposed this spot is. It's silly. She is just sitting on a couch with Farridan, and so far away that probably no one can make out the details, but she still feels as if she is in full view of everyone down there. She keeps her eyes fixed on the gently shifting crowds below. It's strangely hypnotic, and she feels herself being lulled by the somehow natural motions of a decidedly unnatural place.

Then he mentions her, and her eyes drag themselves away from the crowds to his face. He's not looking at her as he speaks, and somehow that makes her hang on his words all the more. His words hurt, a little, but they have an awful sense of reality to them that she struggles to shift. It settles heavily upon her, numbing her resistance as she waits in breathless silence for him to continue.

She's not the first girl…

That sparks a strange pang in her stomach. An emotion that she comes to realise is in fact jealousy. Only last night she had struggled and fought against him, now she's jealous that he's had other women before. She's not going to see her mom again, her friends. Is he proposing that these women will instead be her new 'social network'? His words are powerful, frightening, but also somehow comforting. As if now that he has made her his he will protect her with everything he has.

She finds herself unable to pull away from his gaze, feeling more than ever that she belongs to the man at the opposite end of the couch. Her lips part slightly as she tries to speak. She finds that her voice has fled, and it takes her a moment to regain it. She regains some courage as well, a little of the defiance returning to her voice.

"Do I matter to you?"

 

[Obuzeti]

"You do," Farridan says, without hesitating. His gaze is steady. "I took you and you are mine, now. You will change, but you will be happier. You will know your way and it will be by my hands, and to my hands you will return should you fall astray. I have taken you, and I will not give you up, Sophie. You are mine, and precious to me."

He leans forward and cups Sophie's chin. "You are mine, Sophie," he says, soft. "I promise that what I ask you to do will only benefit you in the end, or bring you pleasure. I want you to experience the wildest ecstasy at my hands, and feel unmitigated joy in my service. I want you to be free of any pain, save that of my displeasure. And these are things I can make true, if you willingly submit to me."

Farridan's head tilts. His pale gaze swallows her soul, fathomless and opaque. "Are you willing to learn, Sophie?"

 

[wanna_be]

Sophie imagines that drowning feels something like Farridan's gaze. To be totally helpless, knowing exactly what is happening, yet unable to stop it. This is in a completely different manner to last night, then she had been restrained physically, now she's held almost entirely still by his eyes alone.

She tries to pull her gaze away again, finding a little success, only to find her chin held in a gentle hand. She can still pull away if she wants to, but even that light touch is enough to keep her enthralled.

Her mind strays momentarily back to her friends, her family, her life outside of this building, before those thoughts too are swallowed by the unending void that gazes out at her. It will be so easy, to just let go and let herself slip into that void, to surrender freedom, thought, even her will.

It would be so easy…

Sophie's mouth is half open her breathing unconsciously heavy as she loses herself in the void. Eventually she blinks, realising that Farridan is waiting for an answer. For a brief second, in that moment she had surrendered her will, everything had been easy. She'd almost felt more secure. She wanted that strange freedom back.

Breathlessly Sophie nods. It's easier to make this decision than she would every have thought, easier to just surrender once more. "I want to learn…"