I stared boldly at that pimple-faced lad the whole time he scanned our purchases. My very glare dared him to ask me of my accessories. He only looked ...t you once, directly in the eye. That was enough for him to avert his eyes the rest of the time -- except for when it came to staring at me.Lord knows I'm no "looker", so I knew it was the collar and leash that had him staring. That's why I stared back at him. "Ouch!" I damn near felt the leather cut into the tender skin of my neck as you jerked. Nobody turns down a call from The Empress. And I didn't have a lot of time to waste on this with unnecessary civility, given that I have an entire solar system to run. The time for politeness had passed when they'd turned down my representatives so abruptly.The man seemed to keep his composure, but to my finely attuned sensors he was so discomforted I'm amazed he wasn't quickly sitting down — if not something more drastic. As it was, he swayed a bit the way I do when I'm so involved in what I'm. “Pardon my manners, have a seat. Can I get you a drink ... or something?” I asked.“No, I’ve got one at the other table. Would you like to join us? I noticed you were here all alone. You’ll probably remember some of the girls too.” She was trying hard not to be awkward.“Uh ... yeah ... well ... if you’re sure I’m won’t be a fifth wheel,” I managed.“No, not at all. We usually come here after work on Friday to unwind. Come on over. We won’t bite,” she giggled, now having decided I was comfortable. He’s not even talking about a few smacks on the back of your legs which I might be prepared to do if you ever did something so outrageous that you deserved that. He’s talking about full on belting you. I can’t imagine ever being so out of control that I would hit one of you like that. There’s nothing about my condition that would make me do something like that either. You understand that, don’t you?”“I understand Mum. I completely knew all that today in that stupid meeting. What freaked me out.