Candace walked into her apartment, having just got off from work. Her job was a shitty one, retail, but it paid the bills... and really, that's what mattered. At 22 years old, she was the definition of "wasted potential". She was a beautiful girl, with long golden blonde hair and a thin body; not only was Candace pretty, but she was smart too. She'd received a full scholarship to college years ago, but only made it a few semesters in before giving up and dropping out. It was too hard, she said, and not worth the effort. Candace thought she could do better on her own, without putting in all of the effort of getting a degree. But where had all of that thinking got her? A full time job selling clothing at a department store. Too proud to admit she was wrong, Candace trudged on through her life, slaving away from day to day in retail hell.
It was from that world that she'd just come in. The pretty young woman dropped her purse on the floor by the door and kicked her heels off next to it. Glad to be out of them, she walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer; too late to bother cooking anything, she just pulled a TV dinner out of the freezer and stuck it in the microwave and set the timer.
Wanting to kill the time until her dinner was ready, Candace headed over to her small computer desk and roused the machine to life. The first thing she did was check her email.
*You have 1 New Email!*
The pop-up email notification alerted her to the waiting missive in her inbox. Candace rolled her eyes as she pulled out the chair and plopped down into it.
"Gee, I'm so popular. One whole email. Probably junkmail anyway."
She clicked the little icon to open her inbox and found, instead of junk mail, a feedback email; a few weeks ago, on a whim, she'd submitted a story to website for erotic fiction. It had been published, under a different name than hers of course, and she really thought nothing of it. It had been a little experiment, she told herself, to see if she still had any of those writing skills that got her into college in the first place. Well, the story had posted and sat, more or less, unnoticed. She didn't think anybody had bothered to read it, and didn't really care either. It was done and over with, and out of her system. She'd all but forgotten it until this email came in.
"Oh God," She said, lightly biting down on her lower lip. "I totally forgot that I put my email address on that account. I never should have posted that damn story..."
Candice sighed as she clicked Open Mail, to read whatever lay inside. The message was a simple one, complete with a gif of a dancing, animated panda as the signature. Cute.
*Your story was fantastic. I enjoyed seeing your unique take on mind control. What made you write a story about that? It's such a peculiar topic, isn't it? Please respond. --CtrlAltMstr*
Candice couldn't help but chuckle at his username. How nerdy! The smell of her heating dinner was beginning to waft into the living room, and it served to remind her of just how hungry she really was after a long day of work. She pushed her chair back to stand up when the little dancing panda caught her eye. It was so cute, the way it spun in circles and wiggled its little spotted rear. She had to force herself to blink to even look away from it. Another glance was given to the kitchen, and she saw that the microwave still had a few minutes left on it. She was tempted to walk in there and wait, but a little nagging voice at the back of her mind compelled her to pull herself back to the computer. This fan had, afterall, nicely asked her for a reply. What would it hurt to write one for him? She clicked the button so that she could compose her message in return.
*Dear CrtlAltMstr. Cute username, it's really clever. To answer your question, I guess I just thought it might be fun to write something with a little kink to it. I've never read a mind control story before, so I didn't even know there was a category. Isn't that funny! Anyway, thanks for reading. It's nice to know somebody liked it. --xoxo.*
As soon as she was done, she hit the send button and pushed away from her desk so she could go check on her dinner; it required a little stirring, and another couple of minutes of heating. That's what she got for buying the cheap microwave. Candace walked back into the living room, meaning to go right past the computer and to the sofa. But a little flashing notification caught her eye.
*You Have 1 New Email!*
"Already?" She asked herself, shaking her head. Too curious to ignore it, she went back to the computer desk and sat down, clicking on the little button again.
*Dear xoxo. For a novice, your story was quite well done, I would like to see more of what you can do. Do you use an instant messenger? It might be easier to talk to you that way. Please respond. --CtrlAltMstr*
Talking in instant messenger? No way! Candace did have one, but she sure as heck wasn't about to give her username to a complete stranger; she was half tempted to just ignore the email completely, but once again, she felt compelled to at least give him a response.
*Dear CtrlAltMstr. Sorry, I don't have one. I really don't spend a lot of time online. Really, this story was a one time thing. I don't think I'll be writing anything else. Thanks for emailing. --xoxo*
And, once again, she pushed the send button. Candace couldn't help but have a slightly creepy feeling after going through the little email exchange; she really started to regret ever posting that story. She case a look into the kitchen and saw the timer nearing its end. Just as she was about to stand up, another notification popped up.
*You Have 1 New Email!*
"Really?!" She exclaimed. He'd already responded? This was getting out of hand! Vowing to just leave this one alone, Candace pushed back to stand up... but she didn't actually move out of her chair. Her eyes kept moving back to the screen, to that little notification. It was the curiosity, and it was killing her. Certainly it couldn't hurt to take a look at whatever he'd written. She just wouldn't reply this time, no matter how nicely he asked her to. She reached back to the mouse and clicked to open the email.
*Dear xoxo. Attached is a link to the messenger service that I prefer. Download and install it. I am looking forward to talking with you. --CtrlAltMstr*
Now he was telling her to download some strange program? This was absurd. Candace shook her head and moved to close the email. But, as before, the little dancing panda gif at the bottom caught her eye. She heard the microwave in the kitchen going off, sending shrill beeps through the apartment. But, for some reason, she couldn't look away from that absurd little thing, The longer she looked at it, the less annoyed she was by this guy's brazen nature. What would it hurt to talk to him for a little while, afterall? It was just the internet. Completely anonymous. She could always chat with him, log off and never talk to him again. With her eyes still fixated on the little gif, she moved to click the download button.
The program finished quickly, and prompted her to install... which she did without much hesitation. Within less than a minute, her brand new program was installed: BDSM Messenger.
"Oh god," She groaned, "What the hell did I download?"
Sitting there, waiting for her to click the log in button, was her username: SubmissiveAuthorXoXo
"Seriously? Okay, I am not...." Ugh, who was she kidding. She clicked the log in and watched as it connected. As soon as she had signed on, a new messenger window popped up, with the dancing panda as the buddy icon.
CrtlAltMstr: I'm glad to see you decided to chat with me afterall.
SubmissiveAuthorXoXo: Um... yeah. I guess it couldn't hurt. LOL.
CtrlAltMstr: No, it couldn't. It's just a little chat. ;)