The phone shook Idle from her reverie.

Idle had been half watching Midnight walk naked on the treadmill and stare at the screen as Tailor carefully dragged the dancer down into an Altered trance. It was a very pleasant way to spend an evening after a fantastic meal that had been left outside her door by a delivery person who didn't have the chance to see the three women naked. Their loss. And after a quick but decidedly good supper and some small talk, Idle had straightened up while Tailor and Midnight had returned to the computer room, where Midnight was just starting to walk on the treadmill. A few minutes later and the mood in the room was decidedly chill.

Then the familiar ringtone reached her from her bedroom.

Maybe I'm more susceptible to the screen than I thought, she said to herself, leaning forward and giving herself a mental shake, or maybe that turkey pot pie filled me up more than I expected. Getting up out of the chair attracted Tailor's attention, so she motioned to the bedroom, then put her thumb and little finger up by the side of her head to indicate that she would answer the call. Tailor nodded and gave a raised thumb in reply before turning back to Midnight's entrancement.

She managed to close her door quietly and get to her phone just before it kicked the unknown caller over to voicemail. "Hello?"

"Hi, uh, is this Idle?" The voice was somewhat familiar, male but not low-pitched, and deliberately paced.

"Yeah, you got Idle, who's this?"

"Hi Idle, nice to hear your voice. This is Tully Jacobs. Tebby Dare. Anonyma's Manager, you know?"

"Oh yeah, hi Tebby. Is this a good time?"

"Uh huh, what about for you?"

"Honestly your timing could have been better, but..." Because I really wanted to watch the cute corpie I've shaken up make my girlfriend a drooling mess of a subject.

"But you're good?"

"But I'm good, yeah."

"So what's up? Spin's missing?"

Idle sighed. "Fucked if I know, Tebby. We have a stupid fucking mess of clues that don't make any fucking sense, a missing manager, a new friend, a corpie on the scene... sex, intrigue, possibly drugs, we're a rock band away from a fucking arena concert."

Tebby laughed into the phone, a loud, short bark of a noise. "Well," he said, "what can I do? Spin's pretty awesome, generally. Everyone in the coach's forums loves them."

"Yeah, yeah, they're a goddamn saint or some shit."

"You don't sound convinced."

"At the moment I'm not." Idle sighed. "It looks like my roommate and coach has been fucking with my brains as a pastime."

"Not so that you'd—"

"No, not so that there's been any rule violations, far as I can tell."

"Yeah, that'd track. Spin's too clever for that shit. Any leads on what's happening?"

"Our corpie friend here did a D-R analysis on both me and the new girl. Uh. That's a whole story. Anyway, two D-R-As, and nothing out of the ordinary."

"But there's something out of the ordinary all the same."

"That's for fuckin' sure."

"How about you start from the beginning, then?"

Idle sighed, starting to recap everything that had happened in her life since Anonyma had bested her on Friday afternoon; the game of Fives, the meeting with Midnight, Spin's odd message, the trouble with the police, Tailor, Spin's phone, their various attempts to learn about their situation through Alteration and analysis. Throughout, Tebby listened quietly, offering occasional sounds of understanding or support, until Idle had told the whole sordid story—leaving out the details about the Alterations she'd applied to Tailor, and some of the unnecessary specifics about her and Midnight.

There was a moment of silence on the line, before Tebby let out a long, slow breath. "Phew. Well. That's... a lot, Idle."

"Try living it."

"No thanks." Tebby laughed mirthlessly. "Not sure what I'd do without Neema. You know she and I—"

Idle laughed back. "Everyone knows. Even I know you and Anonyma are fucking, Tebby, and I'm hardly part of the community."

"Yeah, it's a little deeper than that."

Idle thought of Midnight, wondering if things were heading in that direction, and what that might mean.

"Anyway, that's... I mean that's a whole other discussion," Tebby continued, snapping Idle back to reality, causing her once more to curse her roommate's distractions. "You have bigger things to worry about than my relationship status."

"Fuck. Yeah. Fuck." Idle sighed. "They did it to me again. The moment you started talking about you and Nyma, I started thinking about me and Midnight."

"Ouch, that's rough. Gotta try to keep on task, huh?"

She nodded, aware that Tebby couldn't see the motion over the phone. "It's like the worst parts of my ADHD weaponized against me and it fucking sucks."

"Guess that's why it's a good thing having the corpie around."

"If anything about a corpie can be a good thing."

Tebby laughed. "I hear ya. Though isn't Spin a—"

"Nope, fuck no, they feel the same about corpies as I do. They're a pro, not a corpie. Independent medical."

"Hey, I did my turn at A-L, they're not terrible. I couldn't hack the nine-to-five environment and got fucked on an employee review by a shitty manager, went back to house painting and mooching off Neema and Martin."

"Now who's getting sidetracked?" Idle grinned. "You can tell me about your wild threesomes another time. Or save it for tomorrow's livestream."

Tebby snorted. "Ain't a threesome. I'm just one part of two happy couples. Works out nice when my big gay actor is on big gay tour."

"I can imagine." And she could, but that was about all that she could do. Midnight was the first person in a long time to have stayed more than one night, and as of that moment there seemed little doubt that Midnight would stay longer. Spin seemed to have assured that. "Hey, Tebby," Idle asked curiously, "what do you make of the idea that Spin maybe pushed me into a relationship? As someone with two, you probably have some insight I don't."

"Ah, hm. I mean, having someone around is a definite distraction. I sure wouldn't have time to deal with one of them going missing if I didn't have the help and support of the other. Maybe they want you to leave them alone?"

"If they wanted me to leave them the fuck alone, they could have just told me to leave them the fuck alone," Idle said with a sigh. "I don't get it. I just don't Tebby, it doesn't make enough fuckin' sense for me to get it."

A short chuckle came across the line. "Why would it make sense, Idle? What about any of this makes sense? Your roommate disappears in a weird way and leaves a bunch of literal detective show clues behind, including some in the head of someone they pushed into your arms. Why should this bit of the problem make more sense than any of the other?"

Idle shook her head. "Fuck, it's almost like they want me to find..." She trailed off, grappling with that idea.

"Uh huh, I just caught up." Tebby took a deep breath, audible on the phone. "What if, and walk with me on this one, what if Spin knew this was coming, and decided to spend their time leaving bread crumbs so you could track them down?"

"Yeah, that's a possibility, but... but why not just tell me straight up? I could have helped."

"Alteration, maybe? Worry for your safety, if it's someone dangerous? Divided loyalties? The other party moving quicker than expected? Hm, you don't suppose that it might have had something to do with Friday's match?"

"Nah, unless you did it."

"Yeah, that's it, Idle, I kidnapped your roommate from fuckin' Kingston. Be pretty dumb to do that after the match, especially after you lost."

"But... I do have a match Wednesday..."

"Oh, yeah, against a new guy, right? nVizzible, I think. Haven't heard much about him."

"Hell if I know. You wanna do a bit of research on him for me? Seems unlikely, but we're taking all long shots we can get."

"Yeah, okay, I'll ask Neema to check him out in the runner forums when she gets back. It's Sunday, she likes to go to evening worship, and it takes a while for her to get from place to place."

Not knowing anything about her upcoming opponent put Idle at a definite disadvantage. Normally Spin would manage research, but they weren't around. "I'd appreciate any information you could provide," she said, genuinely.

"Well, I'd ask around myself, but he doesn't seem to have a manager yet, so there's not much on that front. Seems like you'll be his first league match, though. Seems to be doing alright enough in the solos."

"Yeah, a complete unknown. No idea if he's the sort of person who would hurt a manager."

"Hm. Stupid little thought, but..."

There was silence on the line.

"What is it, Tebby?"

"Well, I was just thinking. We all know about Spin and Caden."

"You don't think...?"

Tebby hummed. "I mean. It could be that nVizzible is one of Caden's followers, right? And maybe someone from Caden's circle decided to give him an unfair advantage."

"Believe it or not, this isn't the first time Caden has come up in conversation. Not sure what that means."

"It means the bastard's indelibly linked to our sport and the sooner we can purge his influence and get his toadies out from under our feet the better."

"Amen, brother." Idle sighed. "Well, that gives me another line to look into, I guess. And especially when it's been suggested twice by two outside observers."

"I'll get Neema's opinion on your opponent and report back to you, I guess. Maybe before the stream tomorrow?"

"Wait. Shit." Idle paused a moment. "The stream. Goddamnit. Spin's not..."

"Shit. Yeah. Well, we can go as three."

Idle bit her lip. "I don't remember half the fucking match. Spin's got that magic touch with the language, too."

Tebby snorted. "Maybe your corpie wants a turn on the mic?"

Idle laughed. Then she thought about it. The thought of Tailor, stuck on stream giving analysis, hating brainhacking the whole time, didn't seem so bad. "You know, Tebby..."

There was a pause on the line. "You're not seriously—"

"Yeah, I am. If you're cool with it."

She could almost hear Tebby's shrug. "Sure, I mean, whatever, if you think she's got something to say."

Idle rolled her eyes. "The girl's always got something to say." She let out a slow breath. "You let me know if Nyma has a problem, yeah?"

"She'll be good with it. I can promise you."

"Sounds great." Idle shook her head. "I'm gonna get back to the Alteration in the other room."

"You stepped away from the fun part to talk to me? I'm honoured."

Idle laughed. "Thank you, Tebby, honestly. It helps to talk."

"Yeah, I get it. Reach out any time." There was a brief pause. "We all love Spin, I think, and we'd all love to see them back in action. I'll make a few subtle inquiries to the other coaches. Try not to cause too much of a stir until we really know what's up."

"Cool. Yeah. Thanks."

"Let me know if anything else comes up."

"Will do. Later."

"Later."

Midnight's legs were getting tired, and if they were tired enough to distract her from the screen, that meant that she had definitely been walking a while. A long while.

A sound pulled on the headset pulled her attention from the colours. A question. She nodded, still putting one foot in front of the other. Then she heard her own voice in her skull, amplified by the speakers covering her ears.

"Yes, Katherine."

She could walk a while more, she decided. And she could ignore a lot of that tiredness if she stood still and stretched a little. She was comfortable, after all. Maybe she just needed to have a sit down on the treadmill.

Yes, that was a lot more comfortable.

"Yes, Katherine," she said, in response to she had no clue what. It wasn't worth thinking about.

"Smooth," Idle said, watching the beautiful dancer stretch and sit down.

"Thanks," Katherine replied, not looking back to the other Alterist.

"Getting anywhere?"

"Not yet."

"Want some help?"

Katherine shook her head. A small smile crossed her face. "Actually, you can do something for me, Idle." She put the mic down on the table. "Can you check to see if I'm using the monitor correctly? I'm still not entirely comfortable with this method, though I think it's been working on Midnight."

"Hm? I mean, sure, it looks, uh..."

"Pretty colourful, right? Midnight seems to enjoy it, the shifting hues, the way the light draws her in?"

There was a small but significant pause. "Sure, I think you're, hm, doing fine?" The sound of confusion reached Katherine's ears.

"Thank you, Idle." She turned around and leaned back on the counter, suddenly very aware that all three women in the room were nude. Idle's gaze was lifted up over Midnight's head, giving Katherine a clear view of her ample chest. In the dark of the afternoon with the multicoloured glow, it was an oddly enticing sight. "And I think you'll find that if I'm doing well, Midnight's eyes should almost be glued to the screen, right?"

"Yeah," Idle's voice was soft. "You got it."

"Oh, good. And every breath she's taking should relax her right down to her toes?"

Idle's nod was slow, but not deliberate. It was a truly unusual combination of carelessness and lethargy.

"Great, then I'm doing things properly." Katherine grinned. "It wouldn't be too surprising if Midnight were to just lean back in her chair and drop deep into a trance."

Idle almost didn't seem to be able to hear the other Alterist. She almost agonizingly slowly started to move backwards, eyes fixed on the screen, mouth agape. Katherine imagined a drop of drool trailing out of that open mouth, for some reason, and didn't understand why that was an appealing thought. A dozen possible suggestions popped into her head that would be more than a little inappropriate, suggestions that ranged from getting information, to some revenge and turnabout, to the sort of play she imagined Midnight and Idle had got up to (and that she had fantasized about), to even more degraded and demeaning possibilities that she had never before considered. A picture of the large brainhacker and the small dancer both on leashes, out for a walk, with Katherine holding the lead herself, flashed into her mind before it was summarily banished; she only intended to have Idle leave her alone long enough to get her work done, and not to indulge in any such perverse fantasy.

The office chair squeaked as Idle's weight shifted. Her eyes fell closed. Katherine seized the opportunity and turned back to the matter at hand. Midnight had to be convinced that she was tired and that she wanted to have a little sit, and that was done. Next was opening that mind up to Katherine's care, which meant perhaps a bit of hypnotic deception.

"Midnight," Katherine said into the microphone, "I want you to imagine my voice shifting, morphing. There's a familiar voice, a voice known to you, a hypnotic voice that you know very well. The voice of your friend, SpinDoctor. After all, you're definitely hypnotized, aren't you, Midnight?"

The reply was clear, if a bit delayed: "Yes."

"And you've heard a voice hypnotizing you before. This voice. The voice you've come to know. It's a friendly, comfortable voice. Tell me, Midnight, who's voice are you hearing in your ears?"

"Yours," came the dreamy answer. "Your voice, Spin."

Perfect. "I want you to notice something, Midnight Rose. I want you to notice where you are, exactly where you would expect to hear this voice, the proper place to hear and be Altered, to be led forward down this path. Take a nice, deep breath, Midnight Rose, and tell me what you can see and feel."

Midnight's head swiveled away from the glowing screen before drifting eerily back to stare at the shifting colours. "Small white room. Comfortable chair. Very clean. Feel nervous."

That describes Midnight's apartment readily enough. "Why are you nervous, Midnight?"

Midnight took a breath. "Let them drift to the back of the mind and fade away there," she said. And again, "Let them drift to the back of the mind and fade away there."

The same words Idle had used whenever Katherine felt she was closing in on something. "What is 'them,' Midnight?"

"Worries. Fears. Let them drift to the back of the mind and fade away there."

"And can you do that, Midnight?"

"Yes, Spin."

"Very good. Very, very good." It was a challenge not to rely on the numbers in front of her and to focus on her subject, sitting with perfect posture on the rollers and staring at the screen, but something about the act of talking to her so much seemed to demand a different attention. But then again, the subject's muscular shape and absolute control over her body were a definite distraction, making it a challenge for Katherine to focus on her training and remember just what she was doing and how she was supposed to be doing it.

The numbers would take care of themselves. And anyway, Midnight wasn't holding the handbar or moving the treadmill rollers, which meant that a lot of those values were incorrect or missing entirely. The scanners on her head and the adaptational routines within the system would have to manage on their own.

"There's a lot more that you can just let drift to the back of the mind and fade away, Midnight. Anything that interferes. Anything that interrupts. It can all drift to the back of your mind and..." Katherine trailed off and waited.

She was rewarded a moment later when Midnight finished her abandoned sentence, "... fade away."

Just like in her apartment earlier. And the thrill was similar. Similar, but...

Katherine sighed. Stronger. So much stronger. To be naked in a room with two naked, entranced women and working with suggestions was a very different feeling than doing so clothed and working on analysis. It would be only too easy to—

She looked over at Idle. To be like you, Katherine said to herself. To just let go, to fill your minds with suggestions, to take you both to bed.

Unthought-of, her hands drifted, her right to her left breast, her left to her vulva, and both started working. Katherine gave a soft moan, an echo of the noise she'd heard from Idle's bedroom the night before. She couldn't decide if the presence of the two others in the room, unaware of her as they were, made the experience better, or if it was the danger of one of them waking, of getting caught, that made the finger sliding over her clitoris so much more potent than it usually was.

Easy! Katherine cautioned herself as another moan threatened to bubble up to the surface. They're just in trance. Idle especially, nothing is keeping her from hearing me. Though... The words are right there. 'Idle, any strange sounds and smells can drift to the back of your mind and fade away.'

She stopped. Did... did I just say that out loud?

She didn't know if she had or not.

What am I doing? she asked herself as she moved quickly to the bathroom to wash her hands. Did you do this to me, brainhacker?

From the other room, from the depths of her trance, Idle said nothing.

Katherine looked at the familiar face in the mirror and laughed quietly, and not kindly, at herself. I am a trained and certified Alterist. I know what is possible and what isn't, and one short session shouldn't be able to turn her into...

She didn't finish the thought. She didn't like the implications of that thought, both the idea that her thoughts and feelings were wrong or immoral, which she found unkind to the two women in the other room, and the idea that they might have been coming from herself and not from Idle's meddling in her mind. She stopped herself before she came to the only conclusion that she knew she would have to grapple with eventually: that she was having a good time.

Katherine splashed a little cold water on her face, sorted her hair, admired herself for a moment. It was warm in that room, and she'd developed a bit of a glow herself. The cool shock of the spray helped her focus, pointed her in the right direction, aimed her directly at trying to sort the programming in Midnight's mind. Once they'd sorted out this mystery, once they knew where Spin was and what had happened, she could deal with her own mystery.

She strode back to the computer room with confidence intact. I am calm, I am confident, I am professional, the training in her mind told her. She recognized the voice that spoke to her every Wednesday morning, her own Alteration sessions; AlterLogic of course uses its own technology and training with its own employees. Being in front of Alteration gear makes me happy. I'm so lucky to have a job that's so fulfilling. The work is its own reward.

And then an unfamiliar voice, as she picked the microphone one more time. Alteration can be fun.

The worst part wasn't that the voice was right, it was that she couldn't tell if it was ldle's voice in her mind, or her work programming, or her own.

ldle opened her eyes slowly. The colourful glow of the Alteration monitor seemed overly bright. The scene was just as she remembered it before her unexpected nap: Tailor standing at the console, her flawless ass just within range if Idle were to reach for it, and Midnight sitting nude and perfect in the dim light on the rollers of the treadmill. Tailor was speaking softly into the microphone, quiet enough that she couldn't be understood over the whirr of computer fans and the buzz of monitors.

How long was I asleep? she wondered, sitting back up.

The squeak of the chair made Tailor turn, seemingly unsurprised. "Back with us?" the professional asked softly.

Idle nodded. "Guess I am. How's Midnight?"

"Oh, she's perfectly fine. Doing great, in fact."

"Learn much?" Idle stood and stretched, deliberately showing off her body to her guest.

Tailor shook her head, causing stray bangs to bob about. She looked flushed and tired, though maybe that was just the odd lighting. "Not a lot. But I'm running a little experiment." She seemed about to say more, but Midnight stirred and started to climb carefully to her feet, slipping a bit on the rollers of the treadmill before finding her footing and grabbing the support bar. "I should take care of this first," Tailor continued, "and I'll tell you more in a moment."

Idle nodded as Tailor turned back to the Alteration console. "I need a walk and some water. I'll be in the front."

The blonde waved dismissively over her shoulder as Idle moved to the door, heading directly for the kitchen. The fridge was calling. Stress was draining her energy, and her body demanded sugar. She aimed to indulge it. A cold can of root beer would do, at least for a start. She took her drink to the couch. Despair was starting to creep in, and there didn't seem to be any way to push it aside. Still, there were still glimmers. Little bits of hope. Spin's phone. The pills that Idle's brain still insisted were birth control hormones. Midnight. Just Midnight. All of Midnight. Every inch of Midnight represented hope. And maybe even...

No, not yet. It was too soon for that thought. While Midnight had known her for over a year, Idle had known Midnight all of two days. Hope would be enough for now.

She tipped back the last dregs of the can, holding that hope close. I just wish I had something more than just hope. An idea. A clue. Something to fuckin' do would be great. She sighed. If I could drive or something I could at least go looking while the two of them...

Idle sat forward suddenly. "Shit!" she exclaimed as the realization hit her. "Tailor! Midnight! Damn it, I'm so fuckin' stupid!"

Midnight came bounding out of the computer room and seemed about ready to dive into Idle's arms when she came to a sudden stop, no doubt thanks to the look on her lover's face. Tailor ducked into the hallway herself, radiating concern. "What is it?" she asked. 

"Spin's car! Spin's fucking car! She asked us to pick it up from the theatre! We never even looked for it!"

Midnight put a hand to her forehead with an audible slap. Tailor gasped. The three of them stood there, momentarily dumbfounded.

"Some detectives we are," Tailor said with dark humour. "Should we get dressed and go for a drive?"

"Awww..." Midnight complained. "And just when we all finally got naked and hypnotized."

Despite herself, Idle smiled. "Probably a good idea anyway."

"Gives me a chance to test my experiment," Tailor said. "Midnight, I would ask you to dress as quickly as possible."

There was an instantaneous change in the dancer's demeanour. Without a word she nodded and started gathering her clothes from the floor.

Idle looked at Tailor. "That's it? Post-Alteration suggestion."

"Yes, but not what you might think." Tailor was looking around as she talked.

"You left your underwear in the computer room," Idle reminded her. "Now what did you do?"

Tailor looked at Midnight, now in her shirt and with her panties pulled halfway up her legs. "Midnight, I would ask you to tell Idle the suggestion I gave you."

Midnight paused and looked up. In a soft, emotionless voice, she said, "Whenever Katherine says 'Midnight, I would ask you' I should hear the next words in Spin's hypnotist voice." She returned to putting her underwear on.

"Interesting way to get around voice-key," Idle said, actually impressed.

"Doesn't tell me everything, but it does confirm that Midnight and Spin had spoken before Friday."

Idle reached for her own pile of clothes. "Have you tried any of Spin's triggers yet?"

"Hey, how come I'm the only one dressed?" Midnight asked. "Am I missing the fun?"

Tailor chuckled. "No, Midnight, and no, Idle, I haven't. I'm going to get my underwear and get dressed, then we can hop in my car and head back to the theatre, alright?"

"The faster the better," Idle said, picking up her own garments.

The streetlights seemed to blur into a single glow as they sped down the highway. Midnight enjoyed the view, fascinated both by the sight and by whatever it was that Katherine kept saying to her that sounded so much like Spin's voice.

Even in the back seat of Katherine's car, Midnight felt like she was in that safe, comfortable chair in that clean, white room. Katherine and Idle were both asking questions and Spin was there even if they weren't there telling her to answer easily and honestly.

She answered as easily and honestly as she could, anyway. There were a lot of questions, and mostly she had to easily and honestly answer that she didn't know or couldn't remember. She did remember feeling very small in that space, very young, with those three powerful Alterists talking to her, in her mind, and eventually she started to get tired watching the lights go by and it felt right to let the other two talk and just to close her eyes.

Spin's voice cut through the haze before she slipped into sleep, telling her what a wonderful job she had done. She doubted that anyone had heard her whispered thanks.

"So that was another great big dead end," Idle sighed.

"We're just not asking the right questions," Katherine replied. "I'm sure the information is in there somewhere."

Idle shook her head. "Spin's too good. Let's just find their car."

"Where did you park Friday?"

The passenger sighed again. "I probably wouldn't have remembered that if you'd asked me Friday. Now? Not a hope. Especially after so many Alteration sessions."

"Hm." Katherine tapped her hands on the steering wheel. "Did you walk far after parking?"

"I mean... uh... Coming home, Midnight and I just grabbed a popcar outside the front door... uh..." Idle looked around. "Maybe we came up that street?"

"I'll turn around, we can start searching the side streets. You know Spin's car, right?"

"Blue two-door sedan, that's all I know. License plate XLS 223."

"You look, then I'll drive."

"You got it."

The two of them looked for about ten minutes up and down the roads near the theatre, and the only sound in the car other than Idle's occasional directions was Midnight's soft breathing from the back seat. Finally, Idle sat back in her seat. "Hopeless. If it wasn't taken by whoever has Spin, it was probably towed yesterday."

Katherine nodded. "That's probably it, then. So. What now?"

Idle thought for a moment as Katherine turned back onto the highway. "Drive a little, at least until Midnight wakes up?"

"Alright, she's had a long day."

Idle just chuckled but said nothing.

"Anywhere you'd like to go?"

"Nowhere special." Idle shuffled a bit and leaned her seat back, reclining casually. "Just want to get out. Maybe talk a bit. Girl talk, you know?"

Katherine snorted. "You don't seem much for girl talk with me."

"Are you kidding? You get my best girl talk!"

The two of them had a short laugh together before silence settled again.

"Alright," Idle said. "So. Um, I kind of roped you into a livestream tomorrow night."

Katherine's eyes widened. "You what, exactly?"

"Well, earlier, when I was talking with Tebby, that's who I contacted to find out if there was anything weird online about Spin's disappearance—anyway, Tebby and Anonyma, the girl who beat me at the hack Friday, we're supposed to all be on a podcast together. Them, and me and Spin."

"And Spin isn't around so you thought—"

"I kind of figured you wouldn't agree to it."

"What?" Katherine was feeling a bit confused, trying to drive in a straight line at the same time as navigating the conversation.

"No, it's just about brainhacking, and I know that you don't really have the Alteration experience or know-how to do a proper analysis on the game—"

"Idle, you know that I do have all the necessary—"

"It's just such a challenge for someone so new to the sport. Anyway, you don't seem like the sort that would refuse, if you were up to it, but I—"

"You figured I wasn't up for it?"

Idle shrugged as Katherine took a right turn. "Just thought it wasn't really the sort of thing you'd be good at."

"Because I'm not a good analyst."

"I didn't say that."

"What do you do on the podcast?"

"Oh, it's pretty simple, if you know what's going on," Idle said, with a little edge in her voice. "Kind of like an instant replay with commentary, you know? You watch the game unfold, see the stats, talk about what you see happening... The sort of thing you probably do every day for your job. Doesn't sound like the sort of thing you'd do for fun, but what do I know?"

Katherine's head swam a bit. It was tough to keep track of the conversation and drive all at once.

"Then again, maybe I wouldn't have beaten you if—"

"I'll do it."

"What?"

"If it'll get you off the topic, I'll just... I'll stand in for Spin, okay?"

Idle seemed quietly smug. "Alright, I'll make sure the sponsors know and me 'n' Tebby'll smooth everything over."

"Sure. Fine. Got something else you want to talk about?"

Idle chuckled. "I think so, yeah." She paused a bit. "I heard you talking with Midnight earlier, so I know what you told her about why you started, but what really interests you about Alterations?"

Katherine turned onto the main road out of town. "What do you mean by 'really'?"

"You know, what one thing could I take out of Altering that would make you say, 'nah, I'm good, I don't need to do this ever again.'" Idle paused. "For me, it's vulnerability. I get to open up the deepest parts of someone's mind. It's like having the key to their diary, only they handed it to me and told me the code that it's all written in and all I have to do is ask."

Katherine thought about that for a moment. "But... but isn't brainhacking about not being vulnerable?"

"You'd think that, and some people certainly treat it that way. But to me... Hm, how to explain?" Idle took a breath. "Okay. So. When performing brainhacking, what you're doing is opening yourself up to the opponent. There are some people like Caden Collier who work differently, but for most of us, we trust each other to be safe. Safe with ourselves, and safe with each other. We open ourselves up, because that's the only way to make our opponent open up. There's no stonewalling; if you're not accepting Alteration and suggestion, you're going to trip the resistence programming and forfeit the match."

"So... how does someone like Caden win, then?"

"Ego, and skill. Arrogance is a strength, after all, when the idea is to open up your mind. Take the attack, absorb it, engage with it, dismiss it, but above all, take it. Bring it on board and let your own personality override it." Idle's voice grew impassioned, though she kept her tone low to avoid waking Midnight. "It's part of the training, and you can get away with a lot. The key isn't to influence someone with suggestions, after all, but to drop them into deep trance, and those sorts of—we call them 'kill switches'—those sorts of suggestions are free to be refused. So you have to either slip past someone's guard, or influence them to accept the kill switch, or just overwhelm them with brute force."

"Options, then?"

"Exactly. Caden wasn't a bad Alterist. Really good, in fact. Just because he's an utter prick doesn't change that. But he had a talent for letting himself be vulnerable in the right ways, and being tough where he needed to be, and he had a lot of fun being a cruel asshole." Idle reached up and tapped on the window. "Me, well. That vulnerability matters to me. And to Spin, too. Which is what Spin was trying to tell me, what they did tell me, after my loss Friday. They want me to trust, to be vulnerable, to remember what's important to me, and mostly to trust in myself. Which I haven't been doing. So. Yeah. Vulnerability. Take that out of the picture and I'm not really interested in Altering people. For someone like Caden, it's abuse, control. So what is it for you?"

A period of uneasy quiet followed Idle's admission. They passed the city limits, and Katherine turned the car onto the bypass.

What one thing could be removed that would make me step away from Alteration altogether?

And suddenly, she knew the answer.

"When I was seven."

"Oh, this is going to be good."

"It'll be better if you let me talk," Katherine said with a grin. "But it doesn't start happily. Just so you know. My dad travelled a lot for work, and south of the border... uh." She steeled herself. "There was... a mass incident. My father was one of thirty-three, including the shooter."

"Jesus Christ. Shit, Tailor, I'm—"

"Don't have to be. It was over twenty years ago now. But, what no one could figure out was, why. Why this man decided to..." Katherine took a breath and collected herself. "Anyway, that was probably the primary motivator. Is. It's what I like about analysis. It's honestly what I like about helping you find Spin. And while I'm being honest..." She sighed. "It's kind of why I like not really knowing what you've done in my head."

"Heh. Really."

"Not interested in more, mind you."

"Oh, of course not."

"But you've given me a puzzle. Something to sort out and solve. Makes my mind work well, you know?"

"Mhmm." Idle nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. So, me 'n' Midnight, we're just puzzle pieces for you?"

Katherine laughed. "Not just, but I guess, yes, you're parts of a puzzle. Of more than one. You have your own puzzles in your heads, and I like to pretend that without me, you might not ever solve those puzzles."

"Yeah, you're a real fuckin' hero." But Idle's taunt didn't have any bite to it that Katherine could detect. It almost seemed to be automatic.

"You're welcome," Katherine replied.

"Pfft, you must have mistaken me for Midnight. She's the polite one."

"My apologies."

Idle took a breath. "You're probably right, though. About the solutions." She turned her head to look at Katherine, and the driver could hear the grin in her words. "Midnight and I would probably be too busy fucking to answer any of these questions."

Katherine made a deliberate show of exasperation. "Don't you ever think of anything else?"

"I can see you smiling, Tailor," Idle pointed out smugly. "And of course I do."

"Of course you do. You think about fucking me."

"You know it." A small, warm chuckle escaped Idle's lips. "Holding you from behind, my hands cupping your gorgeous breasts as mine press into your back, nuzzling my way through that silver mass of hair to kiss and kiss the back of your neck, then whispering soft hypnotic words into your ears and pulling you down into my arms... Should I continue?"

Yes, please, yes. "Probably not, I am trying to drive." But after, when we're back home...

No one had spoken to her like that in what felt like forever. No one had ever, in her entire life, expressed that sort of dominant sentiment to her at all. Something within her stirred at the thought.

"Still," Katherine continued as she turned the car back toward town, "maybe you'd enjoy it more if it were me, placing a headset on your head, draining the thoughts out of your mind, and while you stand there insensate, slipping every stitch of clothing off your body and... well, I think you can imagine what comes after."

"Oh, I sure can, but if you think I'm not going to needle you into telling me more about what's on your mind..."

"Needle me enough and maybe you'll find that I've left my own post-Alteration programming in your head, and I can drive in peace."

Idle snorted. "You're having fun."

"Yes, I am. But I do have to drive."

"Okay, fair, I'll back off."

"For now."

"Yeah, for now. You're learning."

"I guess I am."

"I thought you didn't like guessing."

"I don't," Katherine said. "I want answers, I want certainty, I want solid ground under my feet. I don't like all this speculation."

Idle chuckled. "I speculate all the time. I live in uncertainty, Tailor. I bounce from passion to passion, learning enough to keep myself above water. I love that danger of it."

"What danger tempts you now, Idle?"

"Inviting you back to my home to spend another night."

"And what happens there?"

Idle's hand reached out. Idle's fingers trailed gently along Katherine's arm. "Maybe you spend another night on the couch."

"And maybe I don't."

"You're learning."

Katherine took her hand from the steering wheel and laced her fingers with Idle's. "You did say you had things to teach me."

"I said we have a lot to learn from each other."

Katherine sighed. "It's... been a while, for me. For any of this."

"Won't be a problem, I promise you." Idle squeezed her hand. "If you want to learn."

What am I getting myself into? Katherine asked herself. But Idle's hand in hers felt so very, very good. "My place is closer."

"My place has Alteration gear."

"I don't really want to be—"

"But maybe I do, and definitely Midnight does. Or did you forget about her?"

Katherine smiled, turning the car back towards Idle's building. "Who could forget about Midnight?"

"So are you two friends now?" asked a small, sleepy voice from the back.

"Wouldn't go that far, Midnight," Idle replied. "How long were you awake?"

"Couple minutes." Midnight yawned. "Listening to you two makes me happy."

"Or sleepy."

"Or that, but that makes me happy too." The dancer giggled.

Katherine smiled into the darkness, slowing for a traffic signal. "I have conditions."

"You think you've got conditions?" Idle said. "Wait'll you hear mine. But you go first."

"Alright, well. If I'm staying over, that doesn't mean there's anything more than staying over. Anything beyond that..." She realized she was still holding Idle's hand. "Anything beyond this," she squeezed the other Alterist's hand, "comes from me. I know what I'm being invited into, and it's a wonderful thing I'm being welcomed to, and you can invite me again, but I'll make any moves, alright?" The light changed, and Katherine resumed driving.

"Got it. That's easy. Any more?"

Katherine shrugged. "You don't make fun of me, you don't hurt me, you don't put me back on your Alteration gear. Once was enough."

"Not hurting you and not hypnotizing you, well, that's easy enough. Not making fun of you, though—"

"About serious things."

"Yeah, okay, I can handle that."

"And I do have one more thing." Katherine turned into the winding side streets that led to Idle's block.

"Oh, here it comes," Idle said, mock-bracing herself in the chair.

"You solve a puzzle for me."

"I must answer thee these questions three, huh?'

Katherine snorted. "Just one. And honestly. No dodging. What did you do in my head?"

"I knew it!" Idle said melodramatically. "My secrets exposed! How will I ever live it down?"

Katherine parked the car. "I could just let the two of you out and head home."

"Like I told you, it's—"

"Nothing too inconvenient, I know."

"Idle?" Midnight said. "Why not just... tell her?"

"You're both no fun," Idle whined, undoing her seat belt. "Upstairs."

"We have a deal?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Idle hopped out of the car. "You coming?"

Katherine smiled. "Yes, of course."

The three of them were inside a moment later, climbing the stairs to Idle's apartment. Katherine kept her enthusiasm in check, not wanting to tip her hand at how excited she was to finally get an answer. Something concrete to work with.

"You really wanna know?" Idle asked once she closed the door.

"Yes, I do. Please." Katherine slipped her sandals off and stood just inside the door, a bit impatiently.

"Okay, well, like I said, I have conditions too." Idle stood imperiously by the hallway, arms crossed in front of her. "This apartment is an underwear-only zone until the morning," she said. "No shirt, no pants, no skirt."

"That's hardly a threat," Katherine countered. "We just spent much of the afternoon naked."

Midnight was already removing her jeans, and Idle was working on her shirt. "Not supposed to be a threat," Idle replied. "Just a rule."

"Living room?" Midnight asked. When Idle nodded, she pulled off her t-shirt and said, "I'll get everyone a drink."

Katherine let her skirt fall to the ground before carefully picking it up. "Thank you, Midnight." She turned to Idle. "What other 'conditions' have you got, in order for me to learn what you've done to me?"

Idle's smile turned dark as her hands started to push her sweat pants down. "You're going to tell me all about that picture on your fridge with your nieces and especially your ex. I want to know everything about the sort of guy that gets close enough to you to be part of the family."

"That's a long story."

"We got all night."

The two women made their way to the living room where Midnight was already setting out three glasses of ice water, two in front of the couch and one by the armchair.

"Alright," Katherine said. "I agree. But only after you tell me what I want to know." She pulled off her top and occupied the armchair, folding her clothes carefully.

Idle seemed to consider the idea for a moment. Midnight sat beside her on the couch. "Yeah, alright. Sounds fair. You've been bugging me about the programming for longer. Anything else you wanna know?"

"What else have you got?"

"Heh, not much." Idle took a long drink of water and ran her hand through Midnight's hair. "I don't hide a lot."

Katherine couldn't help but agree. "How about you, Midnight? Any conditions you want to put on the evening?"

"Oh!" Midnight perked up. "I, um... wasn't expecting to be asked... I don't really have any? Whatever you two wanna do with me is cool."

Midnight giggled as Idle ran her fingers over the dancer's belly. "I think this is mostly between us, Tailor."

"I'm fine with that."

"Me too."

"So." Katherine looked to Idle expectantly.

Infuriatingly, Idle took a long, slow drink of water. She put her glass down, and smiled in cat-like manner. "So."

"The Alterations."

"In your head."

"Those ones, yes."

"Honestly?"

"If you don't mind."

Idle laughed. "Honestly, I didn't do much. Loosened things up a bit. Reduced inhibitions. Tried to make you pay a little more attention to when you're having a good time. But I gotta say, Tailor," she continued, picking up her glass of water again, "I know it, you know it, those sorts of suggestions don't really take hold that well if the subject doesn't have an interest in them, right? Certainly not for this long. Why are you so curious, Tailor?" Idle's voice became a familiar taunt. "You know that there's nothing that could make you so open if you didn't want to be."

It was Katherine's turn to pause and take a drink, considering Idle's words. She wasn't lying, not exactly, but... "You're a brainhacker, and you're using equipment and techniques I'm not familiar with. You might be able to accomplish things that I'm not able to understand, you might have techniques I don't know about."

"You asked for honesty, I'm giving it to you. Nothing I did to you yesterday should still be affecting you now if it's something you don't want to still affect you. Though," Idle looked up to the ceiling, "I guess it's technically possible that there might be an odd interaction with your corpie programming. You get that shit injected into your brain once a week, right?"

"Yes, Wednesday mornings. It helps me keep focused. The AlterLogic Alterations help me stay on—" The look on Midnight's face, and the grin in Idle's eyes, made her stop. She listened to the memory of her own voice, and realized just how she sounded, how easily the words came to her.

"Yeah, now you hear it, right?" Idle chuckled. "AlterLogic employees tend to be a certain... type. You have to want that kind of structure and control or eventually you'll just burn out in time. The Alterations can keep some people around longer than they might intend, but eventually, unless you want to be locked down like that, you're not going to hold on the suggestions forever. They're only allowed to mess with you once a week, right? By law? And shit'd look real bad if AlterLogic wasn't following the law with its own employees, right? So the people that are long-term corpies, they either love their job so much that the Alterations don't really bother them, or they love being Altered enough that the job doesn't really bother them, but they like one more than they hate the other, and eventually the Great Corporate Sorting Machine, tee em, divides us into two groups: people who can handle that shit, and people that can't. And two thirds of the people of this room at least are in that second group."

At least.

We have a lot to learn from each other.

Katherine nodded, trying to give no indication of her inner turmoil. "So, you didn't do anything to me but... lower my inhibitions?" I'm sitting in my underwear. I was naked earlier. With these practical strangers. "And make me focus on..."

"On fun. You know, that thing you were having Friday night? And yesterday? And earlier? Or is it such a foreign concept to you that you didn't even notice?" Idle's teasing grin was firmly in place. "Bet you're having some right now."

Katherine laughed. "Yes, yes, I guess I am." And she was, if she had to be honest with herself.

"Alright, are you satisfied, then? Happy with the answers?"

She sighed. "Yes, I'm satisfied. I'm not sure that I'm happy, though, but that's hardly your responsibility."

"Yeah, if anything I've been trying to make you more happy, but, eh, whatever." Idle drained her glass and handed it to Midnight, who hopped to her feet immediately and went to the kitchen. "Now, on to the infamous ex." She raised a hand. "But before you do."

"More conditions?" Katherine tilted her head.

"You like certainty. I like speculation. I want to speculate."

"I don't understand."

Idle stood up as Midnight returned with a refilled glass. "You're gonna tell me what I get right about you. Basically, Tailor, I'm gonna tell you all about you. I'm gonna speculate. Guess."

Katherine leaned back in her chair, admittedly curious. "Alright, go ahead."

"Comfy?" Idle grinned. Midnight nodded enthusiastically, stretching out on the couch. "Good. Well then." She spun on her foot to face her guest. "Katherine Tailor Hensel. This is your life."