Page 143 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

Part Three

Brats have a much differentway of requesting domination than any other submissive. Not only must you be willing to play their game, but in order to tame them, you must be better at it. To do this safely and stay within the lines of negotiation and consent, extremely detailed and clear communication is necessary between all parties.

Learn to think like them and recognize the difference between disobedience and asking for domination.Learn also to recognize the qualities in your brat that you like and appreciate. They are conniving, clever, and creative, and they tend to be very critical thinkers. They like to argue because they like to explore concepts, and because they are competitive and like to win. They are bold, brave, and very strong. These are positive traits and should be encouraged and built up.

It can be a challenge to encourage these traits but punish their negative behavior. Remember the goal of punishment is to correct negative behavior, not to change them as a person. If your true goal is to legitimately tame your brat, you shouldn’t have one.

~How To Tame a Brat, Chapter 1, by Reuben Weston

Chapter 35

Alice lived with mefor a week before I realized I was in way over my head. The girl was more than a brat. She was a loose cannon was completely out of control.

She’s like a small child, testing the boundaries to see if their parent means it. This is good,I told myself.She needs this. This is part of the process.But that didn’t make it easy. I considered myself a fairly patient person, but Alice seemed to do everything in her power to test my patience and my commitment.

The morning after Alice arrived at my house, we sat down over coffee and decided what her main tasks and chores would consist of. I asked her if she had the desire to pursue getting a job and another apartment, and she said “I want to work a job that matters. I want to help you.” We decided for the time being, she would split her time between here and Cullowhee until she was comfortable staying with me full time.

She would clean the kitchen after I cooked, keep the laundry done and the fridge full, and run errands for me as I needed. But I also wanted her to grow and pursue her own interests. We decided she would start a video blog on a new social media app called TikTok and make videos about space and stars and all the other stuff she loved. She also texted her old brat group that usually met at The Underground to let them know she was back in town, and although she wouldn’t be attending the club anytime soon, she was open to meet-ups and lunch dates.

That morning after breakfast, I took her to the local bookstore and had her pick out a new notebook that she liked. She wrote her rules on the front page. The rest of the notebook would be used for her tasks and punishments. I didn’t want her to have to hand over her personal notebook for that purpose, and I encouraged her to write about her feelings and emotions through this adventure we were about to embark on so she knew she would have some privacy in her writing.

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