Someone knocks on her door.

"Come in!"

A pink-haired girl wearing a grey hoodie and black jeans slouches in, fiddling with something in her hoodie pocket. Turning, she closes the door behind her; then she turns back towards Hannah.

Hannah flushes and gives a little wave.

"Hey," calls Rose. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"You remember the plan, right?"

"Yeah. Mid-top of my back and then radiating outwards. Design three was good, I'd like that one."

"Personally I liked design two best, but you're the client..."

"How long have you been trying to convince me to do this?"

"Yeah, fair. I can go with that. Do you want to do this standing or sitting or lying down or what?"

"Probably best if I'm lying down so I can't fall down. And you might want to chain me up."

"A bite-gag is usually useful too. Not that I don't enjoy screaming, but..."

"Makes it hard to concentrate on your work?"

"You could say that, yes."

"So I should lie down and you should get some restraints for me."

"Yeah." She pulls out three sets of cuffs and a bit gag from the console in the center of the room. "Two for your legs so you don't kick me, one for your arms so you don't punch me, gag for your mouth so you don't scream."

"Get me a telepathy pendant too so I can safeword through the gag."

"Certainly." She tosses one over.

Hannah puts the pendant on, then lies down with her arms above her head. Looping one of the pairs of handcuffs through a hardpoint at the top of the bed, she snaps them onto each of her wrists.

"I'll need a little help with the gag and the foot cuffs."

"You know you could've done it in the other order. But sure." Rose fiddles with the cuffs and locks Hannah's legs to a similar hardpoint at the bottom of the bed. "And before I get your gag, any objections to the palm brand?"

"No, I trust you. You have a lot of experience at this and... I don't. So do what you think best."

"Yeah, I just gotta be careful not to think with my cunt here. This shit's dangerous even in the Bowers."

"Tell me about it. Get my gag for me?"

"Yeah." She pulls the hard bar into Hannah's mouth, and secures it behind her head.

"Ank ooo."

Telepathic Bond working okay?

Yeah, all green here.

Rose reaches into the central console and gets out a black metal rose stamp the size of her palm.  She slips on the back-strap so that the reverse side is against her palm, tucks her fingers away into little grooves at the top of the stamp, and only then does she flick the thumb-switch on the side that makes the whole thing heat. 

"Takes a minute to warm up," she says. "Safety feature. And I like it, it gives the fear a little while to sink in."

Hannah shifts a little in her bonds, testing them, but they seem entirely secure. 

I'm starting to regret this right about now.

Color?

Green.

"Good girl." Rose pets the back of Hannah's head with her free left hand. "Just a little longer."

Hannah squirms in her bonds, breathing faster through her gag.

"Okay, it's warmed up. Ready?"

Nodnod.

Rose smiles. It is not a gentle smile. 

"I'm going to need you to hold very, very still for me, alright?"

O-okay.

She stills.

Rose presses the cherry-red palm brand down firmly just below the top of Hannah's spine, and holds it for a three-count. 

Hannah cries out into her gag, her teeth straining hard against the metal. Sweat leaps out all across her body, and tears spill over from her eyes. 

"Nnnh, hhhh, hhhh..."

Damn that's hot. 

She carefully pulls away the brand, leaving behind a ruined mass of flesh vaguely in the shape of a rose. She tsks. 

"Always messy to start with."

Hannah flops her head into the pillow and cries some more.

Rose switches off the palm-brand, and it goes cold instantly. She sets it aside on the nightstand. 

"It's very dangerous to do this so close to the spine," she says conversationally. "If the brand penetrates too deep, you could end up paralyzed from the brand down. Fortunately, we have very high-quality magic here at the Bowers; all the brands are safed to not cause permanent injury like that. Not that I think that'll be much consolation to you, since all the pain's still right there."

She pulls a knife out from her hoodie pocket, sets it on the nightstand next to the brand. Then she shrugs out of her hoodie. She isn't wearing a bra underneath. 

She sits back on the edge of the bed and pets Hannah's head a little bit more.

Hannah whimper moans. The pain fills her up, enormous, unconquerable. She's biting her gag to muffle herself, but a lot still leaks through.

"There, there. You've done the hardest part now. All that's left is the knifework and the tattooing."

Whimper.

"Now, now. Still with me in there? Give me a color."

Gr-green. 

"Brave girl." She pats Hannah's head with a smile, and shifts a little. "Give me a moment."

She pulls off her socks and pants and panties, leaving herself entirely naked. 

"There," she says. "That's better. Now we're equals." She giggles.

Hannah groans around her gag.

"Use your words, cutie."

I'm chained up and branded, I am in no way your equal right now!!

"I know. It's hot."

Hannah blushes through the pain. You're... enjoying?

"Hannah, the only reason I'm not touching myself right now is that my hands need to be steady for the rest of this."

Blushhh smile through the gag and her tears.

Privately: Holy shit that's hot.

"Okay, time for the knifework?"

Nod nod.

"Okay." 

She picks up her knife from the edge of the nightstand and settles it down at the edge of the ruin left by the brand. 

"This is going to hurt," she warns. And then she cuts. A long, snaking line radiating outwards from the rose, looping and shifting like climbing ivy. 

"Still ok?"

Tears are still running down Hannah's cheeks, but - Green.

"Alright." 

She cuts another long snaking line, and another, and another. 

Hannah moans and whimpers and holds as still as she can.

"You're doing beautifully. Just a cut or two more."

Blushhhhh head duck nod. 

Rose marks out the last of her twining-vine pattern, scarred into Hannah's back. 

"There," she says. "Now it's just the tattooing." 

She pulls out a packet of green dye from the console, and gently scatters it into the lines left by her cuts. Then she pulls out a proper tattoo iron and sets it against Hannah's skin. 

"Ready for the detailing?"

Her whole back is on fire but this can't be much worse than what she's already experienced. She nods.

Rose carefully tattoos the remaining skin to put in thorns on the vines and smaller rose-blossoms and the whole rest of the pattern they agreed on. 

It takes a while.

Hannah... starts to fall into the pain a little. It's so overpowering, so incredible, that she can just let go and drift in it for a while. 

A little while later - 

"Hannah?" Rose snaps her fingers. "Hannah!"

She blinks and focuses on Rose again. "Mmmrh?"

"It's done. You okay?"

"Mhm!" Green.

"Okay, now for the fun part." 

Rose reaches into the console and pulls out a big jug of Aphrodia essence. 

"You know what I'm going to do with this, right?~"

Instant pleasure liqueur, works when it enters the body - you're going to pour that over my back??

"Mhm. I'm told it's excellent. Better than drinking it straight."

Alright, go ahead.

Rose pours, slowly dragging the pitcher's stream up from the base of Hannah's spine until it hits her brand directly. 

Hannah shivers as the essence sinks into her fresh tattoo and the few cuts that linger far enough south, then gasps as the pitcher's stream hits a collection of open wounds, and finally screams through her gag as the stream hits the ruined mass of her brand.

Fuck, comes her mindvoice. Yellow - no, Red.

"What do you need?"

Healing and this gag off.

Rose pulls a wand of Cure Serious Wounds from the console and zaps Hannah with it. Then she reaches up and removes the gag. 

"Better?"

"Yeah, better. Wow. I might have to do that again sometime. Not, like, soon, but sometime. Can you get these chains off?"

"Certainly." She unlocks the cuffs and offers Hannah a hand up.

Hannah takes the hand up. 

"Thank you," she says. "For all of it."

"You haven't even seen your new tattoo yet."

"Oh yeah! Get me a mirror? Or two mirrors, actually."

Rose runs and fetches.

"Wow. I like the raised detailing on the rose."

"I know my skillset well. Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah, in the end definitely."

"Oh good. Now if you'll excuse me I have a date with a tenta-pet."

"You can stay here if you want, there's no reason why I should kick you out. I might go out after a bit but you're welcome to the room."

"Oh, sure, that works. Thank you. May I use your bed?"

"Definitely. I might want to watch a little, actually..."

"If you're going to do that then you might as well help."

"That's... a little too much for me at the moment, I'm kind of burnt out. Ha ha."

"Alright, I won't push. You can watch if you want."

"Actually I think I'll go out for a bit, show off a little. Just lock up behind you when you leave, alright?"

"Alright!" She smiles.

And off Hannah goes.