#void daddy.................................

Ghouls are not creatures intended to feel trivial human emotions such as shame, but Rain is intimately familiar with the white hot, uncomfortable feeling. The tightness in his throat, the burning in his face, the unease in his stomach, all of it. He knows it well. Carrying such a heated secret close to his chest for so long, the feeling had started to loom, always just a few steps behind, breathing down his neck. Rain somehow still managed to hold himself with an air of confidence despite it, even with his carefully crafted, haughty image dangling precariously overhead. Not so simply kept with his discretion and his self interest easily stripped away from him, a feature that was by design, and one Aether was all too happy to toy with.

"C'mere guppy."

One word is all it takes to stop the water ghoul in his tracks, drawn in by the rich velvet of his voice. Rain's fins perk to the sound, subconsciously primed to hang off each syllable. Aether smiles and pats his thigh, a display that could have appeared as a simple invitation to anyone looking in, but Rain knows it to be an order, one Aether need not voice. Instructions Aether had whispered into an open, willing mind years ago replay for Rain in the moment. Rain's eyes unfocus around the edges as the fog begins to roll in behind them, and he finds himself drifting towards Aether. Walks himself right into the spider's web, happy to lose, happier to leave piece after piece of his worries in his wake.

And in Aether's lap, Rain forgets it all.

That almost nauseating rush of embarrassment does not find him here, in Aether's hands. It, among other unnecessary ideas, are pushed to the far off edges of his consciousness to make room for the obedience Aether deemed more important. It's an odd draining sensation as his capacity for higher thought slips from his grasp, a heat blooming in his belly as every thought and concern drips and drops into the warm syrupy pool growing inside of him. Sooner or later it'll be all that's left to him, sweet and heavy without an ounce of smart left to him, and that's where Aether liked to keep him, that's where Rain itched to be, left floating in a dumb happy haze. Only Aether knew that truth, because Rain refused to be honest with himself, or anyone else for that matter, and Aether was the only one who could give Rain the thing he hated craving - helplessness. Like this, without the control he so often refused to relinquish, Rain was Aether's to mold, to shape, all to his own liking.

"Daddy knows what's good for you, guppy."

The words echo in Rain's vacant brain. They catch and they stick as they slowly register till they click perfectly into place like a piece that had been missing from him. Something warm and coaxing runs down his spine. The tip of his tail twitches in response. Rain mentally repeats it to himself in some vain attempt at understanding, and he can try all he likes but the true intent of them will evade him. He isn't meant to comprehend the groundwork Aether so carefully lays in his brain every time his magic works its way inside of him. Aether still rewards the repetition with a fading surge of pleasure that hardly lasts and only leaves him wanting. Positive reinforcement that encourages his compliance, a reminder that good boys listen, and listening feels good, it helps the programming stick despite Rain's ingrained stubbornness. Aether plans to fuck it from him one of these days, but for now he enjoys the challenge.

Rain's lips part with a gasp, thighs on either side of Aether's lap tensing as the feeling washes over him. Aether chuckles as Rain's mouth hangs open dumbly. Mouth open, eyes drooping, that rich lavender hue creeping over his cheeks, Aether can't resist his selfish urges. He finds his phone on the armrest of the couch.

"Stick your tongue out for me, look at the camera princess."

Click.

"Such a good boy." Aether feels his cock fattening up against his thigh, snuggled up to the heat between Rain's legs, as he looks at the photo of Rain practically drooling at his command. "You look so dumb, baby." He coos, his smile unapologetically fiendish.

Later, when Rain's back in his right mind with no memory of his time spent under Aether's influence, he'll show him the image with a sense of pride. Rain will try to remember when it happened but Aether's too good at covering his tracks to let that happen. It will be a gamble on whether he blushes or pales when he sees it, but Aether knows he'll choke on his words. So desperate to keep his dirty little secret, he'll promise Aether more of his mind and his body in exchange for discretion. It won't be the first time Aether plays this game with him, but for all Rain knows it was - another memory Rain had wanted to forget, wanting to feel the genuine fear of exposure as Aether dangled his desired conditioning over his head.

"Been weeks since daddy's gotten the chance to play with you guppy," he tuts and presses his thumb to the center of Rain's lolling tongue. "You aren't meant to be allowed to think that long."

Rain's eyes cross as his thumb presses into his mouth and, like the perfectly conditioned subject he is, he begins to suck.

"Can tell you needed it. Dropped so fast for daddy, just had to go dumb that bad, huh?"

His moan sounds vaguely agreeable which is to be expected. Rain shifts in his lap and Aether groans at the fleeting friction.

"Poor baby needs his mind fucked to make it better, right guppy? Tell daddy what you need."

Aether pulls his thumb from his mouth with a perfect pop, a strand of saliva connecting his lips to the digit in question, and Rain's hazy eyes struggle to focus on him. He meets his gaze and Rain does not stray from it, held in place until the sapphire of his eyes starts to darken. Pupils blown out wide, surrounded by thin rings of shifting violet.

"Wanna be brainwashed, daddy." Rain answers softly, shyly, with a particularly breathy quality to his voice as he speaks the words carefully pushed into his brain. Obeying the suggestion of submitting further.