Back down planet side; the buck would have soon finished with his tests and was once more released to his room to rest and let his body heal and adjust to the implants. He’d been instructed to rest for the next 3 days and given some instructions on how to train himself to use the implants to help pass the time. In this time he’d learned how to access data from the local net, not being allowed to connect the outer world just yet. Beyond that he could pull up memories and relive them at will, he’d gotten very good at that, and found that the fresher the memory the easier and more clear it was. Which suited him just fine. After the time adjusting Jin found that he quite liked the implants, they offered him a link into the world that made him feel more connected, not less as he’d feared. Everything was so much more vibrant now. So much more crisp, detailed, every little spec of information being so much more clearly observed by his senses. And some senses where augmented in a special way, such as the mere presence of his Mistress. Something about being near to her made everything suddenly even more heightened. And he could swear he heard something akin to an angelic hum coming from her now; but it was so subtle as to be imperceptible except in the most still and quiet moments. It was no surprise to him when the door opened once more and she was standing before him again. He’d moved to the doorway to greet her in fact, able to tell she was coming so soon as to have a casual time doing so. She smiled seeing the buck standing in the doorway, his blank expression meeting her smiling face. But like usual it was her that greeted him, “Good morning boy. Today is the day your training truly starts.” She rose a hand up into his sightline before beckoning him with a finger and then turning to walk down the hall. He hesitated not liking the sound that his training started today. What training, why, what on earth could she be teaching him. Needless to say it was more than a little disconcerting to hear her voice in his head start counting down slowly. She had a direct connection to his mind! What could she know now? Could she sense his thoughts? Or inject thoughts into his mind? He shook his head as she reached about 6 in her count down before stammering aloud “Y-yes Mistress. Of course...” The Dragon-tigress lead the buck down the slave’s quarters hall way towards the elevator where the two would enter and have a small talk, her choosing to use her cybernetic connection with him where as he didn't know how to respond with his yet. Her voice rang through his head filling his mind’s every inch with her words. It was as if when she spoke like this, the rest of the world faded out briefly. “I see you’re nervous. Your heart rate is through the roof, and your breathing is elevated. Calm yourself. You will enjoy this if you doso. If you panic, it will only drive the fear and worry deeper in. I don't need to be doing a deep dive on you today. You’re not ready.” The buck meekly replied with a simple “Yes. Err- Yes, Mistress.” The elevator stopped at what appeared to be a minimalist Penthouse. Sterile, white, with only a simple chair in the center of the room for now. The woman walked forward and took her place in said chair, the buck following behind and now standing before her. Behind her, the once white wall faded out and on display now was the bio-dome that this room overlooked. The sight of the beautiful grass, and trees, and shrubs only served to contrast this overly smothering sameness that was this white room. She spoke once more in his mind, “Today we will start with poses. The most basic of all slave training.” She relaxed back and crossed her legs and arms watching him once more with hungry eyes. Looking over his every inch and studying him. There came her first command “Kneel.” The buck was unsure what any of these poses where, and when he went to study them on the local-net quickly, he found that he was suddenly cut off from it. In fact, it seemed he was almost entirely disconnected from his new features. He could not see her heart rate, his own, no statistics of any kind. It was as if the implant was entirely gone now. While he’d knelt for his master before, it was not instinctual. His master the Kirin had always told him exactly how to knee, not simply to just kneel. The buck did his best, not knowing exactly what she meant so he took the most standard form of kneeling where he went down to one knee and looked forward to look her in the eye, one hand on his still standing leg’s knee. The woman growled a deep but quiet growl, closing her eyes before she sighed and shook her head. “I see then. He didn't bother to properly train you how to kneel. Instead he took the easy path and simply told you what to do when. You don't know the poses, yet he fooled me into thinking you did that first night. Seems once more he left me the heavy lifting. Fine, so be it.” She stood up, walked to his side, and with a swift motion of her own foot had forced the buck’s still standing leg to suddenly be under him, sending him forward with such a speed that he ended up catching himself on all fours. Then came a weight on his back forcing him to hold that pose while she put her soft, oddly cold paw on the warm fur of his back. “This is the pose I expect for ‘Submit’.” She moved a hand to his antlers, grabbing them and forcing his head to look straight down at the floor. “Back straight, elbows slightly bent, hands facing each other, head down, hands and knees shoulder width apart, and tail held up proudly.” She moved to check each of these criteria, keeping one foot on his back while she looked at his elbows which where indeed slightly bent, his back she felt straightened a bit under her foot, but of course the first of many failings that pets had with learning poses was the position of the tail. Lifting one’s tail in this way was more degrading for some than others, but it was a requirement none the less. She reached over and sternly grabbed his fluffy little tail pulling it up so it stood proudly showing off his purple silk covered ass. “Now, bow.” She said simply pushing down harder on his back, forcing his elbows to bend more and his rear to lift higher and more freely expose that tight ass of his. She smiled seeing this and gave only a minor critique. “Very good, but close your eyes. When bowing or worshiping, you are to act as if you are praying to me.” The tigress let off his back and moved to stand in front of him as he had his chin hard to the floor, eyes closed, ass up, tail up, and elbows out to the sides with his hands pressed between his chest and the floor. The buck in all of this was still breathing quickly and didn't know what to do, each order, each instruction heightened his panic and fear. But it was then that she took her foot off his back, spoke gentle praise about his second pose, he realized that unknowingly, he’d been craving that. The two simple words ‘very good’ where like a shot of pure dopamine. He felt more relaxed and more centered with that praise, the foot off his back, and with her seeming to quietly purr now. She spoke in a quiet tone now, the buck able to hear her setting back down in that lone chair. “Hold that pose. You will hold any pose command until I, or any other dom or higher tiered slave say otherwise. You will obvously break the pose to proform other tasks, so don't be stupid and use common sense.” Jin held the pose, and the woman slowly instructed him to breath. “In, two, three, four, five, out, two, three, four, five.” Over and over, the sound of her voice in his head turning into a mantra that he found himself repeating in his mind. He found he was able to hold this pose quite comfortably, the only thing that happened was his tail started to lower, which made the woman’s quiet, contented purr turn to a deep growl once more. He was quick to correct this, and made it a focus to keep his tail up. Going against his nature to keep it down unless excited or happy. But... he was happy. Maybe not thrilled, but he was happy. Something he thought to himself and could not deny. Gone was that panic, the fear. It had slowly melted away with the woman’s purring as he simply lay himself before her. Well that was until there came the sound of the elevator door opening and the rapid, yet timely, clip-clop of hooves coming quickly towards him from behind. Meaning they could see his ass, tail held high, even if covered by those silks, it was still more than a little embarrassing and degrading. Her voice said simply “Hold your pose boy. You’re alright.” But he felt far from that. His mantra was broken, his breathing rhythm went with it and soon he was trembling and tried to open his eyes and turn his head to see who this was that had come in. But to his horror, even when he opened his eyes, there was only blackness, and his head would not move! PANIC. Pure terror set in before he wanted to start crying and scream, but he had no control. It was all gone. It was then that he saw her in the black void, clear as day, her face appeared and she simply put a finger over his snout with a quiet gentle “Shhhh... You’re okay. Keep breathing. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two three, four five.” Meanwhile outside of the buck’s little personal bubble, behind him now stood another buck. This one was also clearly part dragon some how, though it was by no means a good meld. He was pieced and parted together it seemed. Left arm that of a dragon, lower body, save for hooves that looked out of place on draconic legs, muzzle, spines down his back. He was a Chimera, not a genetic hybrid like the woman. And unlike her, he was dressed much more like the buck that lay there between them. Though his silks where red with gold chains, and he was covered in harem jewelry, each one a badge of honor, each jingling chain, each gem, or trinket a point of pride that he wore gladly. Though the buck knew none of this. His scent was distinctly dragon, reminding him somewhat of their lord, almost making him fear that it was his master breifly. The woman spoke aloud “Ah there you are Artemis. You’re just on time as always. Just the one report today? Nothing new happen with Set’zan then?” The deep draconic voice growled out “No Miss. Just the one report. All is well.” She purred at this and some beeping and tapping could be heard as she handled a data pad briefly before she stood to the side of the chimera. “So Artemis, what do you think of the newest recruit? Isn’t he simply... delectable?” The way she purred and growled at the same time for that made his heart race and his breathing spike once more, even if in his mind, she was there, before his eyes, instructing him to breath slow steady, using her hands to emphasize breathing as the counted and kept the pace. “Yes Miss Kiri, as always, the lord has a weakness for small bucks. I think he enjoys them almost as much as you Miss.” This made the woman giggle before there was the sound of claws against scales where she traced her claws up his chin. “You do enjoy this privilege of speaking freely I've given you, don't you? Just remember that even if I permit you to speak freely, those words can still land you in trouble.” to which there was a deep growl, or perhaps a purr of his own followed by a succinct “But of course Mistress. I know my place. But I know well you enjoy my comments. Punishing me is just another bit of pleasure for you. So I do not hold back.” Then there was the sound of commotion, a few clops of those hooves against the floor then a thud, the sound of jingling chains. The woman had effortlessly pinned the larger male against the nearest wall by his throat and there came a hard gulp and some wheezed breaths. The woman speaking freely “But you broke the number one rule of speaking freely. You disrespected our Lord. Even if in jest, this is no light issue.” There was this sound from the male chimera, one of distressed breathing, a quiet whimper perhaps, or maybe a choked plea for forgiveness, but ultimately a simply wet croak and quiet squeak coming from him as he was pinned against the wall, and made no effort to fight back. This all made Jin even more terrified, these sounds, the swiftness and ferocity of the violence taking place just beside him as he was in such a compromising position. But it all faded away. Slowly his hearing of the outside world faded out now, leaving him there, alone, with just that pose he was forced to hold, and his mistress, instructing him calmly to breath. And so he did. He breathed slow, steady, focusing harder than ever before on that. Meanwhile the woman threw the chimera to the floor, where he instantly when tinto the submission posture, not saying a word, not asking forgiveness, not groveling, crying, or pleading in any way. Instead, his breath seemed to directly match that of the other slave’s. The woman sighs and walked before him. “Whats worse, you wherent supposed to be this disruptive to the new slave’s training. You where only supposed to be a minor test. Instead you have almost entirely destroyed his Zen. This bears some serious punishment, Artemis.” The chimera finally responded, but not with begging, nor pleading, but simply “Yes Mistress. As you say Mistress.” The woman sighed and moved back to that chair before the smaller younger buck. As she set down, his hearing of the world faded back in now, able to hear the steady stable breathing of the other slave that seemed to match his own. “Artemis, You are to return to your quarters. I shall deal with you latter. Until then, you are to strip yourself of your garb. You are temporarily demoted to the rank of Shamed for two weeks time. May the other slaves have mercy on you for I will not.” She then waved dismissively at him and turned her attention away from him entirely. The chimera simply stood and removed his clothing altogether, leaving it all in a pile on the floor, revealing he was covered in scars of all forms, not just the ones where the bits of his body seemed to have been stitched together like some frankenstenian monster. The chimera walked towards the door and bowed respectfully before speaking his last before he’d depart. “At once Mistress. Farewell Mistress, and Sir.” The sound of the elevator door behind him let the buck know the other was gone, more than a little confused how at first the other had talked down about, but called him sir at the end. It was now that he was gone that the buck could feel his control had been given back. He kept his breathing even though her instructions stopped. There came a sigh from her as she looked back down at the slave at her feet. “Kneel boy. Knees together, then set back so your jewels are in front of your thighs. Kneel sitting on your legs with your palms on your knees, head down.” And just as ordered he moved to kneel just as his master had previously instructed him to do, but never trained him that it was a command. “Slave; One of the greatest rules we have is to show respect to our Lord. Artemis broke that rule. For that I demoted him to a shamed slave. This means that he is below even the lowest of slaves. Freely given any order from anyone, no matter how degrading, no matter how painful. And should he fail to carry that out with the proper respect, then he will be severely punished. Pray you never make this mistake. He was just given permission to speak freely around me four days ago. With new freedom comes new chances of failure. New responsibility. And he will not lose that privilege when his rank returns. But instead he will be tempered by the wisdom that this punishment will bring.” She looked the young buck over with a smile, loving to see his intact body. The only adulterated bit now being that implant in his skull and his eyes. “Now boy, let's carry on. Worship. Slide your hands from your knees, point them straight at me, and let them keep sliding until your upper legs are straight up like before. This time put your head under yourself. May be hard to do with those cute antlers, but do it as best you can.” And after a deep breath he did as ordered, sliding himself down so that he was laying before her in full prostration with that tail held high once more, this time not even having to be told. The woman purred quietly and stood up once more before moving behind him and saying simply. “ Well done. Now cross your ankles boy. And pull your knees together. This is a harder pose to handle so I wont have you hold it as long.” The buck did as best he could but had a little trouble bringing his knees entirely together as his jewels had dangled down between his thighs in this time. There then came the most intimate touch she’d given him yet as her hand casually reached between those thighs and pressed the buck’s jewels gently forward making him inhale sharply and his ears pin back and his tail go down instantly. Only to be met with a light slap on his ass. “Tail. Up. And breathe.” She said sternly but not with any venom or disdain. It was now that he realized she’d been speaking aloud to him again, and without realizing it it was as if her voice, no matter wether in his mind or aloud seemed to fade the world out some. But how could that be? In his head he could understand, but aloud how was it he was so much more focused on her voice? The female tiger purred a deep growl as she noticed the boy’s body start to quiver at the tighter position that this was, since he was having to keep his back straight at such a harsh angle with his arms straight out before him. “Good, now kneel. Slowly. “ She had been walking around him watching his every move as he slowly returned to that simple kneeling pose. “Good. Now, ‘Display’. Spread those knees wide as you can, move your psalms to face up on your knees and tilt your head back so that you look straight up. And if you can, lightly flex your pecs as you do so. No need to go Mr.Universe with it, just tense them some so that they are prominently displayed. You may have to hold this pose for a good deal of time. Tensing too much will cause you to fail.” The buck’s ears pinned back at this order, but he did comply, slowly spreading his thighs open and putting the backs of his hands on his knees and leaning his head back to look straight up, which incidentally means looking up at his mistress who stood behind him for now. “Good. Flex your core boy. Show off your muscles what you can.” She walked around the front of him and noticed he was failing another bit of his earlier training. “Aaaannnd? Breathe boy. You’ll pass out if you try to hold this pose and do not keep your breathing as I instructed.” The buck did as instructed but found it hard to both breath and flex his core. It was a balancing act to say the least. The mistress let him hold this pose till he started to tremble a bit as well. Only to kneel in front of him and trace a claw down his exposed chin, neck, and chest, letting that claw glide over his skin and tease the nerves beneath. She loved watching the chill run up his spine directly opposing the movement of her finger down his body. She stood and moved to a section of the room that was void of anything. Only to have a Saint Andrew’s Cross come up from the floor. She called him over politely, though once he’d see the cross, any thoughts of her being polite went right out the door. “Come here please boy.” Jin slowly stood, feeling wobbly on his knees as he started to panic again, his breathing losing its cadence, and his heart raceing. She spoke simply. “Face the cross and help me get the cuffs on.” This was not at all what he was wanting or expecting. Without thinking he whimpered and turned to her asking “Please.... No...” The woman’s eyes narrowed and what could be considered the most one-sided staring contest of the century took place. The woman saying nothing, the buck doing nothing for what seemed like eyons.