The realities of life

So this is a pretty sfw chapter from Emi's perspective. No worries, though, the next one should be spicier. To join my discord click this link: https://discord.gg/kEK7rCsxXH

There you can check out AI slop of what I imagine things to look like and critique my horrible writing ;P

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The next day, Emi woke up feeling better than ever. No dreams, no frustrations, just a perfectly calm night of restful sleep.

It had been a while since she'd felt this in tune with herself. That annoying itch that had plagued her for years was finally gone. And it felt wonderful, freeing even, to not feel unfulfilled.

This strange thing she now had with Michael worked better than she could have ever imagined. He was just as much of a sweet, caring guy as she'd always known him. Her worst fears of him turning into a controlling and abusive asshole at the first chance hadn't come to pass. Instead, he was almost too considerate, a fault that she was more than willing to forgive.

And their sex...

God, it wasn't like she usually didn't take care of her needs herself, and yet yesterday's tousle had released tensions that must have been there for years.

She simply felt great. And her mood had only improved further as she touched the wonderful collar around her neck. She'd spent almost ten minutes admiring how to clung to her neck in front of the mirror when she went to brush her teeth.

Her mood rapidly worsened when she remembered the reason why Michael wasn't with her, though. And thought back to the awkward, **** smile he'd shown when talking about how no one would expect him to have become her master. Her own, happy grin had turned into a guilty frown by the time she refocused on brushing her teeth.

She'd been careless. And she hadn't even noticed until it was way too late.

Emi knew that men who went into the arts and sciences faced some ridicule. If she was honest, she was fairly sure she'd joined in a couple of times. But she had thought that that was something of a university and college thing. That once they'd all entered the real, working world no one would give a shit about old gender roles or who worked which job.

In retrospect, it was a stupid assumption. All of the shitty stereotypes that affected herself had persisted as well. The sexist jokes about how women were only fit as bedwarmers. The crude comments on how pet girls shouldn't work in the first place, since they were only doing so to find a good owner.

She had always known that people could and would be shitty to people different than themselves. For some reason, she had never thought that it would apply to people different than herself. Which did fundamentally shake her self-perception.

That willful naivety had hurt her master. Worse, it had hurt her employee. Someone for whom she was responsible and who had to rely on her handling of the firm.

The realization had hurt quite a bit. But she was glad that she'd realized it now. Because now she could actually do something about it.

By the time the meeting was about to start, Emi had gotten dressed and set up her workstation. She spent the last few minutes skimming through some new emails and organizing them to reply later. Then the time had come, and she entered the video call.

Six other people were in the call. Five of her female employees, many of them agnesian pet girls like herself, though two didn't want anything to do with pet culture at all. And then there was Michael, her wonderful, kind Michael. Who looked a little pale and nervous underneath a determined mask.

"So, gi-", she caught herself, a little shocked how fast she'd tripped up. "-people. Let's get this meeting started!", she opened a window on the main screen and shared it. "We've got three main points on the agenda today. Lyanne has to-", before she could finish her sentence, a grainy, excited yelp interrupted her through the speakers.

"Is that a collar?", Jane, one of the two puppy girls on the team, asked with barely restrained excitement. The golden-haired puppy girl didn't wear any clothes, and her collar had a leash fastened to her work table. She was the only member of the team who lived out the whole traditional agnesian pet lifestyle, completely nude and leashed by her owner.

Emi rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress the gloating grin that snuck onto her lips. Her reaction seemed answer enough, and the rest of the girls started shrieking as well, their elation more than audible.

"Who is the lucky man?", Ikana, one of the two non-pets asked.

"Or women!", Lyanne added with a shit-eating grin.

"Or non-binary person!", Ikana threw in, not to be outdone.

Emi shook her head in amusement. "Girls, please calm down. This IS a work meeting after all."

"You can NOT show up with a collar around your neck and expect us to stay calm and not ask questions!", Jane complained. "So, spill, who is it? The faster you tell us, the faster we can get to work!"

Emi hesitated for a moment, her gaze skipping to the window showing Michael's face. He looked tense but a little proud. Nothing in the way he looked at her said that he had changed his mind. Confirming this, she took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"It's Michael.", she stated and closed her eyes, bracing for the reaction.

Silence followed.

She opened her eyes, concerned by the lack of hysterical noise. Everyone looked shocked. Even Michael seemed a little out of it, as if he hadn't believed it to be true until she had said it out loud. Knowing him, that might have truly been the case.

"Guys?", Emi probed carefully. She really hoped they wouldn't make this a horrible experience for everyone involved. She knew they felt a little weird about Michael, but she had hope-

"Congrats!", Zoe shouted into the speakers, the resulting distortion hurting Emi's ears. It was quickly followed by more congratulations and everyone telling Michael how happy they were for him. The poor man looked entirely overwhelmed by the situation, forcing out stiff thanks and replies.

She allowed this to go on for another minute before clamping down.

"Ok, team. This was fun, but back to work. Lyanne, you have to finish the presentation for the client. I want you to send the finished version to Ikane for proofreading!"

The rest of the meeting went over relatively fine, and Michael's face regained some healthy color by the time it finished. After disconnecting from the call, she immediately texted him.

'You good?'

The answer came a couple of moments later.

'Yeah, the reaction was intense as expected. *laughing/crying emoji*'

She breathed out a sigh of relief at that before texting another question.

'Coming over at 6?'

'On the dot. Don't forget to be a good girl'

She almost let her phone drop at that.