She gets closer.

"Should I ambush and take her by ****? Seems to be the simplest way, but it's not the most fun. Perhaps I should take some equipment with me so I could mess with her more efficiently."

Beth managed to check a few more shelves without being noticed. The loot she chose to keep was a polished one inch tall steel collar that sported a massive ring on on its front and five big letters that said: "S L A V E"

"If she doesn't like it, I can drag her around by that ring all I want."

The sound of the pink-haired girl's boots hitting the floor could be heard all over the hall. She was heading somewhere, but very unconfidently, and Beth could not figure whether the steps were approaching or withdrawing. Either way, she was still out of her sight by the end of the row, so she continued with great caution.

"Aaah! Ffffuck! Owww, ow-ow-ow! No! No!"

"Nevermind. She fell. Here comes the rescue."

Beth rushed towards the voice, trying to step on the floor as rarely as possible. She knew she needed to emit dominance for her scheme to work, and that meant not only to take the pain, but also to not show it.

As the naked girl dove out of the labyrinth of furniture, she saw the pink-hair struggling on the floor just yards from the closest bench. Shivering and stressed out, she could not take hold of her own body and stand up on the heels she was not used to. The freezeburns were only adding to the panic.

"Hey. Hold my hand, beautiful." — the distressed girl saw a completely naked brunette giving her welcoming speech, gesture and smile. Freezing in place in disbelief for a second, she then quickly accepted help and stood up. Even in the boots she was barely taller than her.

"Gosh. It hurts. So. Much. But if there's anything I believe in, then it's the fact I cannot break the character, or else I ruin the story. Look, it's working."

"Why don't we get to this bench and then introduce ourselves?" — Beth said before marching up to it, holding the lost girl by the hand. She was tripping, but thankfully kept the pace.

Beth jumped on the bench. Her feet were crimson, she could barely feel them, but the worst part was over. Now it was time to continue the performance.

"I'm Amy. That's all I know about myself." — Amy said with sadness in her voice.

"Do not mourn over the lost memories. Make new ones. Call me Driad, and I'll lead you through this jungle." — Beth responded calmly.

"Driad. What is this in your hand?" — Amy pointed to the collar, and the brunette happily revealed it for inspection. To her delight, reading the letters on it did not get a negative first impression out of Amy.

"Bullseye. She's submissive by nature."

"It's a gift. For you."

"Me?" — Amy was seriously conflicted, so she had to ask someone with authority over her. — "Driad. Uhm... There's another voice in my head. It likes you a lot and it loves the gift even more, but... I don't know if I should take it."

"Just trust your heart, Amy. Do what you feel like doing. This is my advice to you."

Amy took the collar and admired the handiwork. She rubbed the letters engraved on the outer side and a hint of warm smile flicked through her cute face. She was loving it, loving it so much that she was seriously considering putting a "****" label onto her own neck with no foreseeable way of removing it.

Her trembling hands twitched, and both of the girls raised their brows slightly and threw glances at each other. Beth smiled as she witnessed Amy proceeding to wrap the steel collar around her neck and shut the clasp closed all on her own. The ring fell down onto her chest, almost touching her breasts, and she smiled too, even letting a chuckle through.

"She's mine. I only need her for one thing, but I can do a lot of different stuff in theory."