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Bit paid careful attention as she showered. Three months of good behaviour had earned her a reward - if she didn't mess up now. Her Lady had been perfectly clear - any scrapes or scratches, even a drop of blood from scrubbing herself too raw, and Bit would forfeit her reward and have to spend another three months earning it again.Bit had no intention of losing this reward.Finally sure that she was cleaned to her Lady's exacting standards, Bit rinsed off the last of the soap and patted herself dry with a clean towel.Normally their play took slightly less preparation - but this was her reward. Not just an intense scene with equally intense aftercare (though she enjoyed that part too), but her Lady's mark drawn permanently on her skin - in her skin.Bit let her hands drift over previous rewards - the spray of wildflowers on her right shin, the butterfly hovering above them, the serpent circling her navel, the feather on her left arm and the tiny crows it dissolved into (two different rewards, there, and she was proud that she'd earned both of them, and prouder that her Lady knew she would earn both), up to the row of planets on her collarbone. The raised skin of her various marks felt smoothly enticing; sometimes she would just pet them for hours, when she needed comfort or calming and her Lady wasn't present.She wondered where her new one would be. On her back? Under her breasts? On her right arm, or left leg? (She tried not to think about how each reward she was given meant there was that much less room for others.) She wouldn't know till the scene was over; just one more thing she'd ceded to her Lady's control.The door opened, and her Lady looked her over. "Are you prepared?""Yes, my Lady." Bit stood calmly as her Lady's dark blue gaze ran over her body."Then come along." Her Lady turned and left, moving with the confidence of someone who knows their power is absolute. Bit followed happily.The playroom had been prepared while Bit was washing herself. The bondage frame, designed to immobilise her while leaving as much of her body as possible bare to her Lady's whims, was set up over plastic sheets. Off to the side, almost unnoticable, rested an innocuous trolley. The sight sent chills down Bit's spine. She knew what was on that trolley.Her Lady stopped in front of the frame. She turned and looked Bit over, eyes piercing, then smiled as she saw whatever she'd been looking for. Bit smiled back, thrilled to have pleased her."'Tch."The sound was a command in itself, and Bit obeyed, stepping forwards onto the sheets and arranging herself in the frame. The discrepancy in their heights - Bit was over 190 centimetres, while her Lady was less than 150 - meant that Bit had to be an active participant in her own captivity, stepping into position and drawing the restraints into place.She loved it.Her Lady double-checked the restraints - strong and secure enough to hold Bit without cutting off her airway or circulation - before fastening them, locking Bit in place. The stock-like piece around her neck and wrists would keep her from overbalancing or collapsing, and the padded shackles around her ankles stopped her from kicking out."Your safewords are?" her Lady asked."Bleed means I am eager to continue, wordsearch if I am becoming overwhelmed, barbeque to tell you I need safety," Bit recited."Good." Her Lady nodded, satisfied, and turned to the trolley. "Unless it's to say one of those words, you are not to speak from this point on."Bit tensed up. "Bleed."She whined when her Lady turned back to her, silver glinting in her hand. Not the switchknife, not the balisong, not the hunting knife. This blade terrified her more than any of those.The scalpel.She trembled as the cool metal was pressed flat against her stomach. "Your status.""Bleed," she said breathlessly. The metal left her skin, and she tried to look and see where it was - but the stock blocked her view of her own body, and her Lady knew just where to hold the blade so that she couldn't see it. It was pressed into her hip, trailing around her side as her Lady walked around her, then lifted away once her Lady was out of her sight.Pressure on her back.Gone.Pressure on the back of her arm.Gone.Sudden pain over her lower rib, followed by a slow trickle of something. First blood. She whimpered.Her Lady strolled back into view, and lifted the scalpel, showing her the red on its edge so she'd know what she felt wasn't her imagination.If her bonds were less secure, Bit would have fallen over with the sudden release of tension. She was tied up, she was bleeding, she was completely helpless.She was free.She didn't have to try and protect herself now. No responsibilities to fill, no expectations to meet (except those of her Lady, and she did meet them, she met them so well she was being rewarded for it), no pressure on her to do anything except breathe, and feel, and be.The next swipe of the blade made her moan.Her Lady smirked. "Good girl."She had no idea how long it went on for, the scalpel opening her up again and again - her arms, her legs, her torso, her Lady was even kind enough to make a shallow cut on her cheek. Every so often she'd be given a mouthful of coconut water, and her Lady would refuse to continue until she'd swallowed it, but she had no idea how often and didn't even try to keep track. All that mattered was the sting and throb and trickle of every cut on her, and the appreciation in her Lady's eyes as she welcomed them all."I think that's enough," her Lady finally said. Bit whined in disappointment, but part of her knew that the dizziness she felt when she turned her head to look at her Lady probably meant she was right. Her Lady ignored the sound, tapping her chest with two fingers and saying, "Stay put," as she moved away.The order was ridiculous, but it stopped Bit from panicking at the sudden loss of her Lady's presence. And then her Lady was back with a bowl of warm water and soft cloths, and unfastening the restraints holding Bit up. "Stand upright," she ordered, and Bit did her best to obey.Every single cut was washed, antibiotic cream applied in slow careful strokes as her Lady murmured how good Bit was, how proud of her she was, and then her Lady taped a small square of medical film over Bit's left hip before wrapping the rest of her wounds in clean bandages.Her Lady gave Bit a final once-over, and smiled with pure satisfaction. "Come along, good girl."Bit followed, knowing that she was being led to a meal to replenish her lost blood and then to a soft bed. Her Lady wouldn't let Bit out of her house until the scar she'd just drawn on her was fully formed, after all. Six months later, Bit let her fingers run over her hip, and smiled as she felt the cresting wave underneath them.