Learned Helplessness

The table could feel the tension. The air seemed to lie heavy in the room, even as the warm smell of food sought to disarm it. Erica finally broke the silence.

"Were you in the kitchen?"

Olivia did not break eye contact. "I was."

Erica looked down. "I didn't have a choice."

"Really? It didn't sound like he was forcing himself on you to me..."

Erica stumbles over her words, Olivia's anger only rising in steady waves. "There were manacles, a milking machine..."

"You weren't screaming the whole time. You weren't kicking him off with your legs. In fact, you're the one who gave him permission, said something to the effect of 'It's ok.'. He didn't even push his cock into you. You seemed to quite enjoy his tongue. Not that I don't know that you were fucked by him too. I saw you leaking like a slut this morning with his cum."

"That wasn't him, it was the machines. You have to believe me, I'd never..."

Olivia stands, nearly knocking over her chair. "Betray me?! Fuck him?! Then why does he get what I don't. You haven't had sex with me in the last couple of days. Yesterday when I needed to cum... You told me that you'd make me cum, just like always, but then you kept putting it off... You said you didn't feel like it, that you needed to clean, felt humiliated after your milking. It was never a good time. When you left, it was so sad, so depressing I couldn't... And now I see why, you've replaced me. And you've become his submissive little bitch, just like the rest of them."

"That's why you couldn't do it. You couldn't be my mistress, because you can't even look at yourself that way. You're just his mooing little cow, to go with his sex kitten, and breeding bitch. You've all been tamed, like dumb animals. Dancing for your master's cock like a pet begging for a treat. I'm the only woman left here."

Erica stands up as well, her face angry, but also betraying a sense of fear. "It's... You're wrong... There's just no point to it. If I fight, I only get punished harder. If I do nothing, it still finds reasons to punish me. So I play the games it wants to play. You... You've gotten some of it, but nowhere near the amount I've gotten. Every chance it has to humiliate me, it does. You should know that. You helped me before, he has helped me since. Please, you have to understand." By the end, the angry defense became a teary eyed plea, to understand, to forgive, to support.

But there is no forgiveness in Olivia's eyes. Only a fury, a fury you feel you deserve. You had never intended to break up Olivia and Erica. You'd never intended any of this. But you were responsible. A domino long ago was now crashing with the **** of a tsunami.

"Then fight. Fight until it takes your mind from you. We don't need to eat this food. We could go on hunger strike. Join me, if you want me to forgive you, if you want me to understand." And with that, Olivia picks up her food, and throws the plate against the wall. The milk soon follows. And part of you knows, it's going to be Erica who cleans that up. That thought is at once incredibly erotic and incredibly frustrating. In the end, the latter wins, as you stand up.

"She's just tired of fighting and not getting anywhere. In Psychology, it's called learned helplessness. She's been through so much, how can you say she hasn't done enough? You haven't had something assigned to you yet, you haven't..."

Olivia smiles, glad that finally you had shown up to the fight. "Oh, I haven't have I? What was that dark dimension in the bathroom, where I was edged for what felt like hours? Did you know what it was like in there? There was a voice... and on the inside of the blindfold, videos. Like some sick vr headset. As I looked down, I saw myself being teased, rubbed. The movements followed the vibrators, and the vibrators followed the movements. And as I looked up, I saw your face. Taunting me, smiling at me, looking at me with hunger and lust. And the voice, it was distorted, but I could hear your voice in it as your face spoke it. Telling me that you would soon take me. My collar spoke, trying to tell me how much I'd love it, how much fun it would be to finally submit to you. And slowly, I broke. Until finally, I was just about to nod, to moan and beg. Then you came in, and the place was gone. The dimension was gone. I was ready to give myself to you, and you came."

She points at you. "Do you think he's still innocent? It purposefully trained me to associate pleasure with this bastard. He has to be behind it."

You want to yell at her, to say that she's lying, or that she doesn't understand. To put distance between you and this shocking revelation that you haven't even processed. But you feel a hand on your chest. Erica moves in front of you. "You don't know. He brought it up himself to me. There is a possibility that he is not in league with it. That he is not in control, not any more than the rest of us. That he is being shaped just as much as any of us. We are all helpless, but he is given the appearance of power, of control. If we're animals, he's the hapless farmer to be. He is just as innocent as any of us."

Rebecca speaks up from the floor. "Yeah, Rex would never hurt us. He's a good guy. He's tried to protect me, has had to be encouraged to play rough. He's been too good sometimes. He's not some sex fiend. It basically took a blaring sign for him to even ask me out, to give me what I've wanted and needed. If anything, he's too stupid to be some grand puppetmaster."

Rebecca finishes, but you can't help to feel two very different things. Ouch. and Yeah, that all makes sense.

Sephora tries to appear calming. "Now, that does make sense, doesn't it Olivia? Now, you should go get another plate. Or if you can't we'll share our food. We can just have a nice dinner. You and Erica can sort this all out later, in private..."

But Olivia doesn't move to sit. Instead, she merely steps away from the chair, walking to the entrance of the room. "So is that your answer, all of you? I gave you a way to resist. If this place wants us as sex slaves, we just show our displeasure like any other prisoner. But you'd rather sit in here, like dumb animals and moan and bray at your Master's beck and call." She says the word Master like it threatens to make her throw up even going through the syllables. "I'm leaving. And if you want to be people, not animals, you will too. If you stay here... You're part of them. Just one more **** trying to make me bend my knee to this sick fucker."

She waits, hoping that somebody will stand up. She turns, breathes, steeling herself. And walks away.

The dinner did not go well.