“Where do these keep coming from?!” Hailee muttered, grabbing the sock from the patch of floor where, moments earlier, an armchair had been positioned. Shaking its head, it added the footwear to the small pile of discarded clothes on the couch. Its thorough cleaning of the living room had unearthed all sorts of lost clothing and knick-knacks - in moving the couch, armchairs and coffee table in order to vacuum, it’d already found two more socks, three pairs of panties, a clothespin, a nose hook, and a gold earring. It didn’t recognise any of them except for the clothespin, and it had an eidetic memory, so either these belonged to Milo, or had been left behind by their various play partners.

Either that, or these items were breeding and multiplying in the dark space beneath the chairs. And it had to wonder why it found that mental image sexy.

But there wasn’t enough time to linger on lewd thoughts, no matter how bizarre and silly those lewd thoughts might be. It had to get the house ready for their guests. Chewing its lip absent-mindedly, it turned back to the vacuum cleaner and switched it on again. Its mind turned to the impending arrivals as it pushed the vacuum back and forth across the carpet, its heart beating faster in anticipation.

Hailee had no problem hosting other people for the local hypnokink convention - it did so every year, after all. But it hated preparing for company, especially when said company was staying the night. And their guests would be staying for the whole week. Its anxiety levels rose inexorably, no matter how organised and efficient it was. This year had presented an unexpected challenge - it had thought it’d left enough time to get ready, but now, due to flight difficulties, some of their guests were arriving earlier than expected. Plus, it only had Milo’s assistance - and while it definitely appreciated that, normally it had at least one or two friends who would pitch in as well. Unfortunately, none of them were available this morning - Sabrina and Phil were both at work until 2 PM, and Lena and Charlie would be away for most of the week, across the country at a wedding. So that slowed things down even further.

It ran the vacuum into the corners of the room, going over each spot at least five times. Once it was sure the carpet was satisfactorily clean, it turned the machine off and put it aside. As it shoved the armchair back into place, its partner strolled into the room. “Upstairs is all done,” he announced. “How you doing?”

“I’m almost there, I just, I gotta go over the kitchen and the bathroom one more time,” it said, its eyes scanning around the living room as it spoke.

Milo stepped towards it, a knowingly concerned look on his face. “You OK?”

“Stressed,” it admitted. “I just, we’ve never had most of these guys to stay, and I wanna make a good impression, and I feel like I’ve forgotten something, which I know is crazy because I don’t forget anything but what if I did this time? It’s dumb, I know, but I just, there was all this cleaning up and getting the beds made and getting all the food we need and being careful about dietary stuff and what if I missed something? This is their first con, I don’t wanna screw something up and spoil it for them -”

“Sh-shh, hey, c’mon.” Stepping in front of it and looking it right in the eyes, he put one hand on its shoulder and the other around its neck. It instantly relaxed, going limp in his grasp like a fish on a line, all the tension draining out of its body as if he’d pressed a switch - which he had, in a sense. Its whirling, anxious thoughts settled, still turning inside its head but at a more sedate pace. It couldn’t find it in itself to feel too troubled about anything with that nice, light, comforting pressure on its throat.

“Listen. You’ve got nothing to worry about,” he said reassuringly. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

It took a deep breath. “I... I’ve got nothing to worry about,” it murmured, trying to absorb and internalise his words like they were a hypnotic suggestion. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

“Good toy.” He smiled fondly, kissing it on the forehead. “The beds are made. We’ve got all the right food. And the house looks immaculate, but if you really want the kitchen and bathroom checked again, we’ve got time...”

As if on cue, the doorbell sounded. Hailee’s eyes widened, its forehead creasing as panic surged inside it again. Noticing, Milo caressed his thumb along its neck skin, sending soothing pulses through its body and mind. “Hey, it’s OK,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll handle the final checks - you go let them in.”

“OK,” it whispered. “But we - we gotta get changed, we’re not ready...”

“They’ll understand. Welcome them in, get them settled, and then we’ll get changed.” His eyes searched Hailee’s, recognising the agitation still lingering. “D’you want me to hurt you a little, would that help?”

“Mm-hm,” it mumbled.

“Alright, baby.”

Reaching up its shirt, he hooked his index finger around the chain across its chest, tugging it downwards until it was taut. “Ahhh,” it sighed, closing its eyes and smiling dreamily as the clover clamps tightened their grip on its nipples. “Thank you, Master.”

“You’re very welcome. Remember, there’s nothing to worry about. You’ll be a wonderful host, the same as always.” Releasing the chain, which pinged back upwards, he slid his palm down over Hailee’s belly, warmth spreading from his touch, and then pulled it out from under its top. At the same time he let go of its throat and turned away, heading out of the room. He shot a warm, encouraging smile at it over his shoulder as he ambled away to the kitchen.

Grinning after him, Hailee headed for the door on the opposite side of the living room, which led to the front entrance of their house. It swayed ever so slightly as it walked, a little light-headed and trancey from the pain in its nipples. Its worries weren’t entirely gone, but they were now submerged beneath layers of pleasure and reassurance. It was hard to be concerned in this dazed, happy state - and when it knew its partner and owner was there to help it, to take care of it, and to make sure it enjoyed itself as much as their guests.

With its negative feelings buried, it was free to enjoy the week with its hypnokinky friends. Its heart pounded faster as it reached for the front door handle, but from sheer eager excitement this time.

***

“Attention all passengers, we will soon be landing in San Francisco. Please return to your seats...”

Anjelica Blair - better known these days as Jelly Doll, at least to its partners and within its own head - unfroze at the sound of the announcement, blinking and rubbing its eyes. It had put itself in this state half an hour ago, after finishing its book. It could’ve selected something else from its Kindle, but it wanted a quick freeze, as it hadn’t had time for one that day with all the packing and bustling off to the airport.

It didn’t even think its boyfriend and Master, Richard Yorke, had noticed, despite sitting next to it - he was too engrossed in his own book. Doctor Who, of course, and a physical copy rather than an ebook. Jelly agreed with him that digital copies could never replace the feel and smell of a real novel, but it opted to use a Kindle on long journeys to save luggage space. He on the other hand stubbornly crammed in as many real books as he could.

It nudged him. “Hey, should we wake them?” it asked in a low voice, gesturing over its other shoulder at Alyssa/Danielle Johnson. The dual-personality plaything was slumped in their seat snoring gently, a baseball cap covering their eyes.

“Give ’em a couple more minutes,” he advised. “I’m hoping to finish this chapter.” Brandishing the book, which was entitled The Ultimate Treasure, he lowered his voice further. “There’s a decently hypnokinky bit around the page 160 mark.”

“Oh?” It grinned, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. “Might have to check it out...”

A couple of minutes of thumb-twiddling later, another message from the cabin heralded the aircraft’s descent. Jelly placed a hand on its plural partner’s shoulder, giving them a gentle shake. “Wakey wakey, gorgeous.”

“Mngh - w-we’re awake,” AJ blurted, knocking the hat off her face as she jolted back into consciousness. She sat up, stretching her limbs and wiping drool off her chin. “Ugh... How long were we...?”

“Must’ve been at least half an hour,” Jelly noted, recalling that they had already dozed off by the time it got bored and pressed its belly-off-button.

“Wow. Musta been more wiped out than I thought,” she yawned. “It was only an eighty-minute flight...”

“You did stay up late packing,” Richard remarked, and then grinned. “Or rather, you stayed up late binge-watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, and then packed in a rush at 2 AM...”

“Rude!” she spluttered. “I’ll have you know it was way earlier. Like, 1.30 at the absolute latest.” As her partners guffawed, she folded her arms. “Besides, you’re one to talk - you kept getting distracted and doing stuff on your laptop. What was it this time, Doctor Who characters’ family trees?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Never you mind.”

“And as for you,” she continued, prodding Jelly’s upper arm with an indignant index finger, “you were trying clothes on instead of packing ’em!”

It pouted. “Heyyy, look, I’m a dress-up doll. And that’s basically all I’m gonna be this week! I gotta make sure I’ve got the right outfits.”

“I’ve got two minds up here, it’s no wonder I’m distractible,” AJ chuckled, tapping her temple. “What’re your excuses?”

They giggled and bantered for the remaining minutes of the flight, and through disembarkation, which went reasonably smoothly (apart from an incident at the baggage carousel where Richard mistook someone else’s suitcase for his own, and had to quickly return it and apologise). They ambled on through the airport, carrying bags and pulling wheeled suitcases along behind them. Jelly Doll led the way, being more familiar with its surroundings from prior instances when it’d visited family and friends in San Francisco, while its partners followed close behind, casting their eyes around.

“Are we the last ones here?” AJ wondered.

“We’d be ahead of Andrew and Selena,” Richard replied, “they’re coming all the way from New York.”

Jelly glanced back over its shoulder to tell them, “No, they got here earlier.”

He gave it a puzzled glance. “I thought their flight didn’t land til tonight?”

“You don’t read the SFW chat at all, do you?” it snickered. “Their original flight got cancelled, but they managed to get seats on an earlier one. I’m pretty sure I saw Selena say they’d landed just before we boarded our flight...”

AJ was checking her phone even as they spoke, and she soon nodded. “Yeah, she did. They dropped their stuff off at Hailee and Milo’s, and then went out to get lunch.”

They finally reached the front of the airport, seeing a sunny San Francisco waiting for them outside, as well as numerous idling cars and taxis. One was their Uber, which they quickly loaded with their luggage, with the help of their driver, a cheerful young woman named Oona. Richard took the front passenger seat, while his girlfriends slid into the back. As the car pulled away from the kerb, AJ shot a goofy grin at Jelly Doll. It responded with a broad smile.

Although it appeared as composed and tranquil as ever from the outside, the living toy was abuzz with excitement. It wondered what mind-manipulating mischief awaited it that week - it was, after all, opening itself up to hypnofuckery on a scale it had never previously encountered, from more than just Richard and AJ/Dani. It had a sense of the kinds of things their friends were into, just from what it’d seen and read on Discord, but it couldn’t begin to predict what was in store for it. So many kinksters, so much potential...

Whatever happened, it intended to roll with it - as long as it, and everyone else involved, was safe and comfortable. This was the perfect opportunity to be adventurous, daring, fearless... And if it was prepared to be open and receptive, who knew what new heights of pleasure it would reach?

There was a faint vibration sound from its right. Alyssa shoved her hand in her pocket, fishing out her phone, and glanced at the screen. “OK, what’ve you sent me?” she asked in a long-suffering tone.

“Just something I thought you guys could watch on our way to Miles and Hailee’s,” Richard replied in a perfectly innocent, nonchalant tone of voice that wouldn’t arouse any suspicion in their driver. Of course, his girlfriends were immediately suspicious.

“It’s like, two minutes away,” AJ protested.

“More like fifteen, with this traffic,” Oona commented. “Sorry, it’s never normally like this. I dunno if there’s some kinda event going on, maybe...?” Jelly’s eyebrows jumped up at this remark. Perhaps the hypno con was even more popular than it’d realised...

“Guess you’ve got time, then,” Richard said mildly. Again, imperceptible though it may be to a casual listener, the brainwashed submissives could hear the layer of mischief in his tone.

Of course, neither of them could argue too much without making their driver suspicious. So Jelly watched a silent struggle play out on Alyssa’s face, defiant glares and flustered grins flickering on and off as she wrestled with her inner slavegirl. As usual, Danielle’s obedience won against AJ’s brattiness, and even as they continued to bicker inside their brain, their hand lifted their phone into their sightline and opened the message.

A particularly fancy spiral appeared on the screen. Coruscating light rippled out from a central point, giving the appearance of a swirling nebula in the darkness of space. He’d sent some pretty spirals to them in the past to entrance them, but this one was particularly stunning.

Not quite as easily ensnared as its girlfriend, Jelly dragged its eyes away from the screen just long enough to get a look at their face. All signs of internal conflict had vanished as both their personas had instantly been drawn into the whirling celestial gyre, their eyes unwavering, their jaw relaxed, a tiny dazed smile on their face. Jelly giggled softly, loving the sight of Alyssa stupefied as much as ever - and loving how easy it had been to subdue her. She was a good girl really, no matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise.

Then, because it was a good toy, it looked back at the screen and allowed its own meagre little mind to tumble into the twisting vortex, its plastic body settling into perfect stillness.

***

Casting her eyes around the hallway before her, Selena Barnwell grinned rapturously. Then she unzipped her hoodie, handing it to her boyfriend Andrew Collins, who stood waiting patiently at her side. It was warm weather to be wearing a jacket, but it had been necessary outside the convention building to conceal what she wore underneath. Now she was free to be her true self.

Unbuttoning her jeans, she let them drop to her ankles and stepped out of them. No-one passing by them batted an eyelid, even if they did happen to look. It might have been different if she’d been naked, or even if she’d been down to her underwear (although that wasn’t an unusual sight at the con, either). But she was still fully clothed - just in attire that might draw unwanted attention outside. Here, the sight of a young woman clad from her neck down to her ankles in a shiny blue polyester jumpsuit was fairly commonplace, unremarkable... normal.

She was home.

She turned to beam at her boyfriend, who smiled fondly back at her as he scooped up her pants. She’d been raving to him about the con, and about how accepted she felt there, for months now. But she could tell from his awestruck, adoring expression that he was only now fully understanding her euphoria.

Either that, or he’d caught sight of the sex toy stalls a little way ahead of them. Eh, whichever. As long as they were both happy.

He took her hand, their fingers intertwining. “Ready?”

She nodded, smiling so hard she thought her face might split open. “Ready!”

“Alright, then! S3, deactivate your personality.”

Selena’s giddy excitement evaporated, her emotions dissolving into data to be stored away within the android’s CPU. Its face relaxed into a blank expression, its posture straightening. S3-L3N4 stood in its standard pose, the most neutral one possible, just as it always did when it reverted to a mindless automaton - but its hand remained clasped in Andrew’s, its eyes fixed on his. “Personality deactivated,” it declared. “User identified. Welcome, User:Andrew.”

“Hi, S3,” he said warmly. “Shall we go for a walk?”

“Affirmative.”

Without further ado, they set off at a slow trot, making their way along the chamber ahead of them, Selena’s discarded clothes in a bag in User:Andrew’s other hand. As they walked, he gawped at their surroundings, taking in the sights and sounds of his first hypno con. Although it had attended before, S3’s ocular lenses were scanning around as well, processing all the visual data it could.

Before Program:Selena’s deactivation, she and Andrew had progressed a little way inside the building, receiving their passes for the con at the front desk, which now hung from lanyards around their necks. They had passed a few of the more SFW stalls towards the entrance - drinks and snacks, clothes, stuffed toys, and other merchandise. A lot of what was on offer was free, to Andrew’s surprise and delight. They had already seized a T-shirt each - decorated with some cool cartoony artwork of robots, naturally - which were in the bag with Selena’s jeans and hoodie.

Now, around halfway along what was basically a big wide corridor, the stalls had taken a turn for the lewd. There were the aforementioned sex toy vendors, towards which Andrew steered them, S3 allowing itself to be pulled along by him. He seemed fascinated by the array of dildos, strap-ons, vibrators and butt plugs on offer, and seemed interested in purchasing them (high quality devices such as these not being free, regrettably). S3 had no feelings on the matter. It owned one or two toys already, although it had rarely used them before they had been required in order to prepare its anus for its User. But if he wanted to get more, either to use on S3 or himself, it had no reason to object.

His gaze lingered on the strap-ons for a while. “These could be fun when we’re hanging out with those friends of yours,” he mused, squeezing the android’s hand. “If they needed a dutiful little fuckbot to satisfy them... Don’t you think?”

“Affirmative,” S3 agreed emotionlessly. Again, it had no opinion. Being a machine, it had no sexual orientation, but Selena was programmed to be heterosexual. However, it was prepared to have intercourse with others at User:Andrew’s command - as long as such things had been pre-negotiated with its human simulation and with those prospective partners, which they had. Selena, too, was perfectly willing to be a compliant robot and let him whore her out to her hypnokinky friends, regardless of her sexuality. It wasn’t like she hadn’t hooked up with them before, after all, at previous cons.

“Something to think about,” he smirked. “C’mon, let’s carry on.”

“Confirmed.”

They continued, threading past other guests. It wasn’t exactly crowded, nor would it be, ultimately. Although it wasn’t the busiest hypno convention in the country, the San Francisco con usually did fairly well for attendance. It helped that it went on for an entire week, giving more guests more opportunities to show up later and still enjoy a substantial part of the festivities.

Now though, right at the start, there weren’t many people around. But already S3 had spotted others in costumes showing off their kinky personas. Somewhat predictably, multiple pet girls could be seen in any direction, usually scurrying along at the end of their dominant’s leash. A vampire dressed in a silky black dress and matching opera gloves strolled past S3, and its data banks identified her as Countess Dafne, a local content creator with an array of adoring thralls, two of whom trailed behind her. They’d never met, but it had watched some clips from her sessions online, and it also knew Hailee and Sabrina had each played with her and her enclave a couple of times.

And, of course, there were other robots. Two that S3 had observed so far, similarly dressed in jumpsuits. One wore a silver suit covered in miniscule dots, giving it even more of a metallic appearance, with sections coloured black and lines that seemed to mark out the joints in the android’s chassis. Their face was covered by a dark beige gas mask, so it was impossible to tell whether this was one of the drones S3 had encountered in past cons, with a new costume, or a newcomer.

It glanced at User:Andrew, who seemed to be splitting his time between gazing at the stalls on either side of them, and admiring his robot girlfriend. It recognised that he was enjoying the novelty of S3, blank and emotionless, in a public space - even one reasonably separate from the actual outside world, like this convention.

It was unusual for S3, too. It was generally programmed to conceal its robotic nature from everyone around it, and the con was a significant deviation from that. But it wasn’t the first time, and it could analyse the data it had collected on previous occasions to predict to a reasonable level of certainty what to expect. It was, however, its first time accompanied by a User. And while it had no capacity for sentiment, it knew this was a memory its human program would treasure for the remainder of its existence.

“S-threeeee!” a voice in the near distance shrieked. The android and its User turned to see a short blonde woman charging towards them as fast as she could on her heels, grinning madly. “You’re here!”

“Welcome, User:Sabrina,” S3 intoned at a slightly louder monotone than usual, automatically increasing its speaking volume to compensate for the sheer noise its friend produced.

Sabrina came to a halt directly in front of it. “How you doing, cutie?”

“This unit is functioning optimally, thank you.”

“I betcha are, now you’re back in your safe space,” she said with a wink. “Can I get a hug?”

“Confirmed.” Releasing Andrew’s hand, the robot smoothly encircled Sabrina with its arms. With a little joyful squeak, she gave it a tight squeeze, nuzzling her face into its neck. It stared over her shoulder expressionlessly.

Pulling away, she tottered backwards and smiled at its boyfriend. “Hey, you must be Andrew! Nice to finally meet you face to face!”

“Ah, yeah, you too,” he chuckled awkwardly. She held out her arms to hug him too, which he accepted after a moment’s hesitation, clumsily moving into her embrace. S3 observed that he was nervous, as he often was upon meeting new people - especially forces of personality like Sabrina Hart. Once she let go of him, it quickly took him by the hand again. As it had predicted, he seemed to find this reassuring, shooting her a quick, grateful smile.

“There you are,” came another voice, this one with a distinctive Irish lilt, as Phil Raleigh, Sabrina’s roommate and hypnotist, approached them. “Can’t take my eyes off you for one minute, can I?” He put a possessive arm around Sabby’s shoulders, pulling her close to him. She gave him a meek, devoted smile in response. Ignoring her, he reached out with his other hand to shake Andrew’s, exchanging greetings with him and S3.

Phil was dressed in a white vest top and navy blue jeans. Sabrina wore a bright yellow strapless mini dress, decorated with sequins in no particular pattern, spiralling around her like a snake’s shining tail. As was usually the case, her skirt barely made it past her hips, and certainly wasn’t long enough to hide her sheer underwear - the same colour as her dress - from view. (She had on many occasions remarked on how proud she was of her ass, and so wore clothing designed to show it off whenever she could get away with it.) A dainty yellow lace choker completed the ensemble, with a heart-shaped metal ring sitting on her throat. The fact that she had elected to wear the choker rather than a collar indicated that she was in a switchy mood, although the way she still gravitated to her Owner implied she was leaning towards submission. Together, the two of them gave a smoulderingly sexy vibe - or at least, S3 calculated that was the effect they would have on humans.

The three real people chatted away, with the fembot speaking only when it was spoken to or when it deemed it necessary. “How’re you finding it so far?” Phil asked Andrew, gesturing around them.

“It’s... it’s amazing,” he replied. “But it’s... a lot. I mean, all at once...”

“Oh, I know,” Phil nodded wistfully. “I remember my first con. Hard to know where to start, what to look at, right?”

Andrew nodded, and got sympathetic smiles back from his new friends. “Well I know this place like the back of my hand,” Sabrina told him. “We’ve got you, dude, don’t worry.”

“Take your time, ease into it,” Phil advised him. “Besides, we don’t have to dive in all at once...”

“Yeah, I know. To be honest, as intriguing as all this is, I think I’d rather hang out with you guys at Hailee’s first, y’know? Get to know you all, have some fun, then maybe circle back to the con later, with some of you guys as, uh, backup, or something. I mean, I’ve already met Hailee and Miles, and they seem great, so...”

“Oh, they are,” Sabrina grinned. “If you want, we can go back to theirs now. Cool with us, right?” Phil nodded his assent.

Andrew shot a glance at S3, biting his lip. “What d’you think? I mean, I know we only just got here, so if you wanna stay...”

“This unit has no desires of its own,” it reminded him. “It exists to serve your needs and wishes. If you decide we must return to User:Milo and User:Hailee’s residence, this unit will obey.” He smiled gratefully, reaching behind it to give its rear a fond squeeze.

With the android’s acquiescence, it wasn’t long before the quartet were making their way back out of the convention hall, lingering only long enough to glance at the schedule for events across the week. Although all the information was accessible online, Andrew grabbed a pamphlet anyway, remarking that it ‘made it seem more real’.

Although it did not voice its opinion aloud, S3 believed they were making the right decision by leaving the con for the time being. Andrew clearly needed more time to come to terms with it all - now that he’d had a preview, caught a glimpse of what to expect, he could process it in his own time and return later. And in the interim, he could experience the new hypnokinky world he’d discovered in a more private setting, with a small group of people S3 knew to be trustworthy and empathetic.

Of course, if he’d elected to stay at the con and dive right into the craziness, experiencing as much mesmeric, erotic mayhem as he could, S3 would have followed him without hesitation. It was his loyal butt-bot, after all.

***

“Your drinks, m’ladies,” Hailee chuckled, setting down two glasses on the coffee table, and then perching on the armrest of one of the sofas, next to Milo. With giggles and thanks, Sabrina claimed the rosé wine, while Jelly took the Riesling. “Afraid we don’t have any green or orange, so I had to make do with those,” Hailee added witheringly, smirking at them both.

“Aww,” Sabby pouted up from her spot on the carpet, lounging gracefully between the couch and the armchair. “Shame. Nothing hits the spot like orange wine.” Hailee rolled its eyes. It was a running gag that whenever it asked its longtime friend and play partner what wine she wanted, she’d respond with a random colour. Having been asked next, Jelly Doll was quick to join in with the joke.

“Careful, kitten,” Phil chuckled. “Keep it up, these guys might make us get our own drinks.” Hailee pointed at him as if to say, listen to this man!

“Hey, if you ever do get sick of hosting duties, I know a good maid who could step into the breach,” Richard remarked, playfully nudging his plural partner with his foot. “Isn’t that right?”

“Oui, monsieur,” Danielle simpered, smiling coquettishly up from where she knelt in front of her Master, who was sitting on the other couch with Jelly.

“Might take you up on that,” Milo smirked, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I can see the appeal in having a maid for a couple days - huh, babe?”

“Hell yes,” Hailee grinned. It shot the kneeling slavegirl a predatory look. “And I’ll take great pleasure in showing her the ropes, and training her up, so she can serve us perfectly.”

Dani (or maybe Alyssa, or maybe both) blushed prettily, burying their face in their palms. Their Master laughed and patted their head fondly. “We brought their uniform with them, for the record,” he told the others.

“Costume, not ‘uniform’,” AJ grumbled from behind her hands.

As the rest of the group snickered, Hailee glanced down at its own Master, placing its hand on his thigh just above his knee, its wrist nestled amongst the folds of his plaid skirt.

“You look super cute by the way, Miles,” Selena commented offhandedly. She was snuggled up close to Andrew on Milo’s other side, wearing only her nanosuit, her human personality restored to help her boyfriend ingratiate with the group a little more easily.

“Really?” Milo said with a dubious smile.

“Oh yeah, it’s a really nice look.” The others nodded and made noises of agreement.

The conversation naturally moved along within moments, but Hailee noticed Milo still looking a little anxious - although so subtly that only it could tell. After the way he’d helped it cope earlier that day, it was definitely its turn to reassure him now. Letting go of his thigh, it took his hand and gave it a squeeze, and he responded with a nervous smile.

He’d been growing more and more comfortable dressing femme - he had worn skirts in the privacy of his and Hailee’s home for a long time - but this was one of the first instances where he’d put one on in front of company. Hailee was sure Phil and Sabby had seen him in feminine attire before, but Selena hadn’t. As for the others, this was their first time meeting him in person, but he’d posted selfies on the Discord server before, and it only recalled him selecting photos where he presented as masc. It was really proud of him for taking this step, and very grateful towards their guests for being so normal and nice about it - complimenting his outfit, but not making a big deal out of it.

Thoughts of clothing reminded Hailee of how uncomfortably warm it was getting. It was late afternoon at this point, their assorted guests having all arrived, deposited their belongings, drifted off to get lunch and poke their heads in at the con, and returned for a cosy chat in Hailee and Milo’s living room. Given that it was August in California, it wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it could be, but it wasn’t exactly chilly either. And Hailee had been dashing around getting everyone’s drinks, so it was no wonder it was warm. After checking everyone else was fine with it (not expecting a huge number of objections), it removed its top, draping it over the back of the couch.

Alyssa gawped at its bare chest. “Wha- have you been wearing those the whole time?!”

“Yup.” Hailee used its upper arms to jostle its boobs a little, its clover clamps chain bouncing in mid-air. “Honestly, I kinda forgot about them.”

AJ and her girlfriend both did double takes, as did Andrew. “Does it not... hurt?” Jelly asked incredulously.

“Oh sure, but I like that.” It grinned, licking its lips. “And honestly, it’s not that bad... for me. I think I have a higher-than-average pain threshold - maybe from all the BDSM! Now, a clothespeg on the cunt - that hurts...”

This time AJ’s double take was so dramatic, she almost fell over backwards. “What the fuck,” she spluttered, her hands up in front of her as if in self-defence. “You put a - what?!”

“Post-hypnotic suggestion,” Hailee explained, perfectly matter-of-factly. “One peg on my pussy, one on each nipple, then I went to work. Suggestion lifted when I got there, and I took ’em off pretty soon after - just so they wouldn’t distract me from my job. Which they would’ve, because, yeah, it was bad. Bad.” A wide, wistful grin spread across its face as it recalled the agonising experience. “Just talking about it, I kinda wanna do it again.”

“You’re fucking wild,” Jelly laughed, shaking her head in astonishment. “Even by our standards.”

Sabrina giggled, nuzzling against Hailee’s leg. “Yeah, it’s a big-time masochist,” she said fondly. “I’m sure you’ll see soon enough.”

“Oh, totally,” it nodded. “I mean, hypnosis is a massive kink for me - but pain, even more so. Milo’s pretty ingenious at combining the two - why we’re so perfect together. It’s just, I dunno how to explain it - I just, I fucking love pain. All kinds of pain. Sharp, blunt, hot, cold, electric shocks...”

“Ahhhouch,” AJ blurted, covering her mouth with both hands.

“I saw a clip on Twitter the other day of a girl getting her mouth stapled shut, and I can’t stop thinking about it.” The horrified reactions of its newest hypno-friends were enough to break even Hailee’s composure, and it dissolved into flustered laughter. “Yeah... I might be broken!”

“Well, hey, no, you’re not broken,” Jelly insisted, while AJ nodded fervently. “You’re just - you’re wired differently. We all are. We probably shouldn’t all get off on being dominated and dehumanised - or doing the dominating and dehumanising - but hey, we do. It’s just the way you work - pain is good. It’s tied up in pleasure for you. And that’s totally OK, long as you’re keeping yourself relatively safe, right?”

“Yeah, and sorry if we came off as judgy,” Andrew added earnestly. “Please don’t take our shock and awe as revulsion or anything, seriously.”

Hailee smiled, waving a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry, I didn’t. You guys are fine. I get this kinda reaction whenever I tell almost anyone about it.”

“At least we all have experience with kink and BDSM,” Phil noted, “even if not all of us go quite as hard as you! We’re at least partly prepared for your outrageous stories...”

“Yeah, just imagine if someone outside of all this found out what you get up to,” Andrew mused - then laughed awkwardly, as it seemed to occur to him that this could possibly be a sore point.

It wasn’t - at least not with Hailee. “I’ve thought about that a lot,” it laughed, “how I’d tell them. What I’d say, to someone at work, for instance. ‘Oh, I saved up all my vacation days so I could spend a whole week being brainwashed and beaten up’.” Milo and Sabby snorted with laughter, almost simultaneously.

As the others shared their thoughts on how their family and friends might react if they discovered their kinky ways, Hailee checked its phone and saw a message from Ryan in Richard’s server, apologising again that he and wordslut hadn’t been able to attend the con, and wishing them all a fun and sexy week. It was a shame they couldn’t make it, but wordy was still struggling with her mental health and needed time to recover. At least she had her devoted dom/lover/author/pretend-stepbrother taking care of her. Hailee had no doubt Ryan would look after her as well as anyone could.

On the bright side, their absence made sleeping arrangements a little easier. Hailee and Milo were giving their bed to the LA throuple, while Milo slept on the sofa. Hailee would be perfectly comfortable in its toybox in the corner of their bedroom, in which it spent most nights anyway. They had one spare room, which Andrew and Selena would be using. Sabby and Phil had their own apartment to go to, and it was likely Ryan and words would’ve ended up staying there had they shown up. Of course, depending on how the hypnotic, erotic chaos of the week unfolded, they might not all end up sleeping in their assigned beds anyway!

A little commotion drew Hailee’s attention back to the conversation, to find Richard, Phil, Andrew and Milo all wearing sinister grins. Apparently Alyssa and Sabrina had been particularly snarky, and now the doms were united in their desire to punish the subs.

“All of us?” Jelly protested, pointing a finger at itself. “It didn’t say anything! That’s not fair, why does it get punished too?”

“Sub solidarity,” Milo smirked.

“Because we said so,” Phil remarked at the same time.

“Both,” Richard chuckled, sitting forwards in his seat a little. “True, it would be fair for us to just punish AJ and Sabby for their infractions.” He reached down and tapped AJ on the nose, making her splutter indignantly. “But, when we were discussing what we’d get up to this week, I don’t think any of us, at any point, said anything about fairness.”

“Quite right,” Milo grinned, running his palm over Hailee’s back. “You’ll find we’re going to be very unfair to you guys most of the time. And why?”

“Because we said so,” Phil repeated, sniggering.

“Because we’re in control,” Richard added.

“And because you love it,” Milo concluded.

Its cheeks burning, Hailee glanced at its fellow subs, who each wore expressions of strong arousal and mild panic. It felt sure its own face closely matched theirs.

“Of course, if you want to try to resist, just for the fun of it, you can,” Richard said with mock nonchalance, grinning wickedly. “You could even work together to try to fight back, to bolster your resistance with your combined willpower...”

“... but what willpower?” Andrew suddenly joined in, earning grins from the other three men. “I mean, you don’t have willpower, do you? You gave it up to us... or you never had any in the first place.”

“Well, exactly,” Richard nodded, his eyes flicking from one squirming sub to another, his left arm wrapped around Jelly Doll’s shoulders, his right hand on its thigh. “Your so-called willpower is just a pretence, a façade, as flimsy as tissue paper, as insubstantial as mist.” His left hand took hold of the back of Jelly’s head and gently nodded it up and down, as it looked back at him thunderstruck.

“So sub solidarity really won’t protect you for long,” Phil chimed in, reaching over the side of his armchair to play with Sabby’s hair as she gaped up at him. “It might even work against you, pull you down faster.”

“Very true. After all, we gotta figure that seeing others like you falling under our control so easily would have an effect on you,” Andrew noted, “show you that resistance is futile.” He idly stroked Selena’s boob with the back of his hand, enjoying her efforts to avoid eye contact with him.

“So you can try to stand together against us,” Richard said with a note of triumphant finality, “but all that’ll happen is you’ll each bring the others down with you, falling one by one. Like a line of dominos.”

There was a brief moment of silence as the dumbstruck hypno-subs tried to process the speech the doms had just delivered, and the immense fluster it had caused all of them. Alyssa opened her mouth as if to speak - probably to argue - but was interrupted by her own hand rising in front of her face, index finger outstretched. “Wha- crap,” she muttered as her eyes locked onto its tip, following it as it tick-tocked back and forth. The spark of personality faded from her eyes within moments, her well-trained brain responding as readily as ever to eye fixation. When her arm went limp and dropped back into her lap with a thud, she was left staring mindlessly into space, all signs of consciousness absent - no AJ, no Danielle, just an empty shell.

Richard nudged her with his foot. “Go and stand in that corner, facing the wall. Walk over there with your arms out, like a zombie.”

“Yuhs, Masterrr.” Drool trickling from its slack mouth, the brainwashed girl clambered unsteadily to her feet and plodded away in the direction he had indicated, arms floating up in front of her. They fell bonelessly to her sides as she reached the corner, and stood and stared vacantly at the wall.

Hailee exchanged a bemused glance with Jelly. “Why - what did she - why did she do that?”

“It doesn’t know,” the other living fucktoy shrugged, gaping after its girlfriend. “Maybe Dani decided to drop them both, so AJ couldn’t brat any more? Or, she agreed so much with what they said, she just wanted to give in and go into tra-a-” Hailee blinked in surprise as Jelly Doll’s voice stuttered into silence, its face and body locking in position, eyes wide, mouth agape.

“Wait,” Selena murmured, “did it just -”

“Freeze itself? Yeah,” Sabby confirmed. “It pressed its off button.” Hailee realised that in its peripheral vision it had indeed seen Jelly’s hand moving towards its navel, which was exposed by its crop top.

“Without realising?” The robot girl blushed and hugged herself. “Um, well, that’s just a little bit concern- personality deactivated.” S3 sat up straight, its arms smoothly unfolding from around its chest, its palms coming to rest on its thighs, its glassy eyes gazing ahead. “Domino protocols engaged.”

Hailee gulped. “Uh oh.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t bode well,” Sabby giggled nervously.

Trying its best to ignore the poised android on the couch, the motionless mannequin on the other couch, or the salivating zombie slavegirl in the corner, Hailee instead shot a baleful glance at the assorted hypnotists. “So I guess there’s a trigger working on them, dropping them one by one? And presumably, us too?”

“Maybe,” Phil teased. “Or maybe they’re just accepting the inevitable. Letting go of their futile resistance. Giving in to trance, and to our control, one at a time...”

“Falling like a line of dominos, just like Richard said,” Milo chuckled. “Seeing how good it feels to lose themselves, to sink, and drift, and obey...”

“Watching each of them drop into brainless bliss, and deciding to join in...” Richard continued, as he adjusted the frozen Jelly Doll’s legs and head into a slightly different pose.

“Sooo... whichever way you look at it, we’re f-fucked,” Sabby snickered. “’C-cos if it is a trigger, we’re gonna feel it in a second. And if it’s just about wanting to give in, to be like them... m-mindless slaves, and dolls, and robots...” A quiver went through her, and she bit her lip and clutched at her thighs. “Well, we’ve got no chance, ’cos we know how good it feels, huh? To be helpless and horny... controlled and brainless...” Leaning back against Phil’s armchair, she closed her eyes and let out a soft moan.

“Uh, Sab?” Hailee arched an eyebrow. “At least try to hold on!”

“Nnuh... c-can’t.” She shuddered, her eyelids flickering open again to show only white underneath. “Can’t hold on... mm - thoughts... like... feathersss...” And with that she collapsed, slumping down until her back was on the floor, her limbs sprawled around her, as if she were a ragdoll. Her head was still held up by the chair, her eyes open but stuck staring up into her skull.

Hailee was so busy watching Sabby get KO’d by her own brain, it didn’t notice S3 standing and moving towards it, until it felt the robot seize it by the hair and yank its head back. It let out a surprised yelp, its eyes rolling like marbles as its mind was pulled along with its hair. It had to admit, being something of a ‘sympathetic trancer’, it’d already been feeling increasingly lethargic as it watched the others dropping - particularly during Sabby’s disoriented monologue - but the sting of its scalp made it ten times more dazed. It hung loosely in the robot’s grasp for a few moments, swinging gently from side to side.

Managing to regain just a fraction of clarity, it looked up at S3’s expressionless face through hooded eyes. The automaton ran its palm over the fucktoy’s face, almost tenderly, even while remaining as devoid of emotion as ever. Then the hand lifted away, and Hailee knew what was coming next.

It had time to wonder, with the remaining fragment of its mind, whether there really had been a trigger - or if, on some level, each of them had decided to just dispense with the small talk and get on with the hypnotic fun. It hadn’t escaped Hailee’s notice that they were dropping, or being dropped, with a method specific and familiar to each of them. In its case, it was being dropped through pain. And although it was capable of putting itself in a trance, it much preferred to be slapped into a mindless daze by someone else.

As S3 did exactly that, with a deafening crack, the last thing Hailee heard before its brain broke apart was Richard wryly remarking, “And so it begins...”