"So this is one of those...I still can't pronounce it," Tricia complained, walking around the surprisingly-small club, dressed in a simple blouse and slacks, compromising between making an appearance as a professional reporter and a club-goer.

"Kala-tra....kal...kalatra..vaasa? I think I got that right," Kali responded, following behind in her own blouse, but wearing a skirt, tights and knee-high boots to blend in more.

"Whatever it is, I was expecting something more...I don't know...just more.." she gestured at the dozen and a half occupants that made up the party.

"You mean like those secret society parties held in one of the member's mansions? Probably too cliche today," Kali chuckled. "Better to blend in and look harmless or unassuming." The junior reporter tried vibing to the background music with a small dance in her walk, drink in-hand. Her bracelet jingled in time with the soft pulsing behind the trance music.

"Unassuming is what you're going for right now, Kal?"

"Hey, I don't see a reporter when I look at me."

"Funny enough, neither do I," Tricia joked back, walking through the crowd, wondering where the hell the person was supposed to meet was.

"Oh," Kali made a strange sound behind Tricia, not at all the kind of sound she expected as a reaction to a funny jab. It sounded breathless and awed. She turned to see Kali standing next to a handsome man who looked like her assistant just bumped into.

"I'm sorry, ladies. Are you Tricia?" The man in a shirt and vest spoke in a cordial tone

"I am, yes," she took his hand to shake.

"I'm Martin Boyd, sorry I wasn't there to greet you right away."

"Managing the festivities," Tricia queried as Martin guided them to one of the few booths in the small location.

"Yeah, someone has to. Always seems to be my turn though, he laughed, taking a seat a little closer to Kali who still seemed to be getting her bearings after losing an entire train of thought.

"So this...organization you have..."

"The Kalatravaasa," Kali said, achieving some flotsam to contribute to the interview.

"Yes, that's what we're called," Martin smiled at Kali who smiled back.

"What's it supposed to mean?" the junior reporter asked.

"Not really sure; I never bothered to look it up as it sounds very made up."

"And you're a manager, or proprietor of this location?" Tricia's voice leaned into her more staunchly-inquisitive tone.

"We're a bit of a roaming concern, like a traveling renaissance fair, renting spaces that work best for us."

"A traveling renaissance fair of hypnotists. Sounds..."

"...kinky?" Martin guessed.

His suggestive word elicited a laugh that kept her from out-right saying "suspicious."

"Are you a master hypnotist in this concern?" Kali asked.

"Officially I've been called that yeah, though not required," Martin admitted.

"Why is that?" Tricia asked.

"It's kind of up to the subject whether they feel...mastered or not."

"Strange way to put it for a respectable hypnotherapist," Tricia said to herself. "But maybe it's just the kinky club experience," she tried to fairly judge the strong vibe of the room.

"How does it feel to be...mastered," Kali asked, staring in Martin's direction a little longer than she meant to.

He simply smiled at Kali, then at Tricia. "Would a live demonstration be in order, as part of your interview?"

Tricia debated on whether or not that was a good idea. In truth, she was still learning about the conditions of such a club, if it was to be even called that. But she could get a much better sense watching him work, and look out for Kali's well-being as he worked since it was obvious Kali looked very ready to subject herself.

"That would be up to the woman who looks ready for it."

Martin turned back to an eager Kali. "I'm ready if you are, Master Martin."

He chuckled. "Well Kali, since this is part of an interview, it might be best if you're facing Tricia so she can see exactly what hypnotism can look like across the whole face."

A suppressed side of Tricia was looking forward to let bliss run through her body from the embedded suggestions fully hidden from public view. Kali readied herself by facing Tricia, failing to hide her surprising mirth as Martin got consent to touch Kali's head. Before the younger woman knew it, soft fingers were at Kali's temples, rubbing them in slow circles.

"So you can imagine what hypnosis must be like to have its own private club and collection of members. But it might not be that different from any other interest that can gather and celebrate it's love of something. Can you imagine how many people watch the TV examples of hypnosis and find that they have an interest. All those swinging pocket watches, the magic powers, those instantaneous moments of powerful fascination, they make many minds wonder how to achieve that and wonder even more what and hot it might feel like on the inside."

Kali's breathing grew softer, her vision blurrier. Tricia was nowhere to be found in her eyesight as her mind easily ran to the suggested imagery, playing it in an endless slide show. As her breathing slowed, she tried to lift her hand, but it didn't get very high before plopping to her side, the sound of the bracelet joining a deeper pulse playing in the background. All she could piece together was hypno moments on screens and  fingers softly drilling into her mind pleasure she was looking for.

"My favorites were always the cheesy ones, with the dramatic music, the hapless victims who looked stunned before the hypnotist did anything, like his presence was all it took to begin the induction. And though it was never needed, the silliest or smallest thing to take them deeper, like a shiny ring..." 

As Kali's temples were stroked, Tricia's vision grew glassy. Every small rotation, Martin's ring flashed light directly at Tricia, bright enough to attract, but soft enough to not repel her senses. The rhythmic tactile induction became linked to a rhythmic visual induction for Tricia, also lost to the words being spoken more than a foot apart, but also in her own head.

"You'd never think a shiny ring could bring someone to the still state she's in, with just a glimpse, your body knows not to think, and let's your mind know that's how it should be. It keeps you still, let's you breath slowly as the ring flashes its brilliance. What can you do but sit still, stare, and listen? As you do it more and more, nothing else feels as good to image doing, so you don't imagine doing anything else and just do as you feel, and do as you are told, because you are being told, to stand still, and listen..."

Master Martin quietly smirked to himself, utterly surprised at what great subjects both Kali and Tricia were. Kali was easy to convince as he'd come behind her in the crowd to give her a shock induction and quick suggestive inclination to get more of the bliss she'd sampled. Tricia though, he had to wonder if she was already pre-programmed by someone else, like just snapping his fingers at her could take her down. 

Holding Kali's head still with one hand, he reached out to snap in Tricia's direction.

"Sleep!"

The senior reporter's head lulled forward, staying still in her seat. 

"Oh yeah, you've had practice. I can't wait to see from who," Martin said to himself.

"Nice work with these ladies," a comment from nearby made Martin's head turn, and made him smile again.

"Hello, Mistress Ursula. And here I thought this was a fairly private affair."

The blonde hypnotist smiled broadly. "I still happen to be a member, and members should be told when new events are happening, even for a place as cramped as this."

"It's cramped for a reason, my dear. When reporters come sniffing around, it's good to get them in an innocuous, controlled setting, to control the narrative, to make sure there isn't a public one."

"Control the narrative, among other things," Ursula gestured with her hands at the ladies, making her hand motions enticing and graceful.

Martin simply shrugged, at pulled out a remote that started another background recording. A snapping sound was produced from it. And another. And another. Loud, crisp snap after snap, made the small crowd slow down to a complete halt. Some with enough energy stood, and those weakening from the constant sound sat comfortably, all waiting to be programmed.

Ursula stared at the phenomenon, and wondered why her own limbs grew as contented as the crowd's looked. With a soft gasp, she turned to utter a louder one as Martin snapped his fingers in her face, giving her a nice view of the ring the suggestions in the back of her mind quickly connected to.

"A ringing endorsement of no endorsement sounds necessary, doesn't it?" he flashed the ring a few times across her eyesight, watch familiar compliance fill her face again.

"Yes, Master."

"I hope you've enjoyed playing with Master Brian as I have enjoyed playing with you, Ursula."

"Yes, Master," she said easily in her soft accent. He loved how Dazzling Lady's apprentice looked so surprised that the whole crowd was made up of Martin's submissives, not knowing she was apart of the same collective.

"Now ladies," Martin sat them all down at the booth, "I suggested we get acquainted with the going ons of late, and who's been putting each of you up to things." He pulled out a mic hooked into the pulsing sound system of the small club. 

"And soon after, I think we can have a lot of exciting, brainwashing fun. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Louder than the continued snaps or the pulsing, or Martin's own booming voice was the collective agreement of furthering Kalatravaasa influence.

"Yes Master Martin."