Dominance

“So what now? Put me back in that cell and **** me some more so I’ll be that much more grateful the next time you decide to be nice to me? You think you can break me that way?”

You stare at her until she meets your gaze. “I’m not trying to break you Diana, whatever you think that means. You’re Wonder Woman for gods sake!” You stop and look up towards the ceiling, “Sorry, no pun intended.” She rolls her eyes but doesn’t interrupt. “The world needs you, strength intact. It’s not about breaking you; it never was.”

“Then what in Hera’s name has this all been about?”

“Establishing dominance and trust.”

She cocks an eyebrow at you, “How is dominance different from breaking my spirit?”

You shake your head patiently, “We have established, have we not, that I can do basically whatever I want with your body and you cannot stop me? Correct?”

“For the moment, yes,” her eyes narrow as she says it.

“Forget whips and hot pokers and needles under the fingernails or any of that nonsense. I can make you miserable by simply not turning up the thermostat. Or not giving you water. Or not letting you sleep. I don’t have to do anything. In fact if I do nothing at all, you suffer. Is that accurate?”

“It would seem so,” she acknowledges, her voice so sharp it could cut glass.

“Or I can demean and humiliate you as much as I want for as long as I want. Or both.” You didn’t phrase it as a question so the lasso doesn’t **** her to answer, but you see in her eyes she knows you’re right. “You said it yourself earlier, what happens to you depends entirely on what I want, because I’m the one with the power here.”

She lifts her chin up, dignified, “That was the lasso forcing me to repeat your words…”

“And can you disagree with any of those words?”

“An Amazon is never without power…” she suddenly looks less confident.

“Yes yes of course, yay girl boss. But do you have any power to stop me from doing what I want to you here and now?”

Diana drags her answer out as long as the lasso will let her. “Not really. But I will never willingly submit to you, and that is the important thing.”

It’s your turn to raise your eyebrows, “Is it? Is it that important? I can do whatever I want to you and you can’t stop me. But because you choose to tell yourself that you don’t want it, you think that’s some kind of moral victory for you?”

“Try as you want, you can never touch my soul,” she insists, shaking her head.

“No offense Princess, but it ain’t your soul I’m interesting in touching. You’re not denying me anything I want, you’re only denying yourself the freedom to appreciate the experience.”

“For the moment…” she stammers, flustered, but you cut her off.

“A moment we just agreed is likely to last awhile. Sounds pretty well dominated to me.”

“…If you wish to call it that,” is the best your companion can come up with.