Pleasant, lively dreams kept Melanie for asleep longer than she would have wanted to be. Never had she experienced such panic, and been so sound asleep in the same night. Light eventually overtook darkness in waking up, but the crystal-clear panic from yesterday still didn't overtake the inexplicable beatitude from last night. Waking up in a different bedroom, throwing off thick duvet covers to reveal having dressed down to bra and panties, she quickly put her clothes from last night back on and rushed to the room her friends were in. She got there preparing for the worse, but merely found both Geraldine and Sasha together in bed. The pair was soundly sleeping, probably naked and snuggled up against one another. Melanie's heart was left slightly conflicted between happiness of her best friends' feelings finally lovingly expressed, but also worrisome from the how and why, staring at the pair of lamia pants laying next to their bed.

It took her a moment to realize the pants had been removed, and Geraldine's lamia form had changed overnight. Lifting up the duvet from their bed, she thankfully found two pairs of legs lying next to one another. She sighed a deep sigh, thankful of things being back to normal for now, but afraid of what could happen next if the pants remained. On impulse, she grabbed the pants off of the floor and headed for the cabin's entrance.

"Mmmm, good morning."

Stopping in her tracks, Melanie looked around to see no one else but her still-sleeping friends. It only crept up on her a moment later how close that voice seemed, as if right in her ear, especially when it spoke again.

"Despite all the fun they had, I still hope you had a most...ssssstimulating night," the voice chuckled from nowhere into her ear, eliciting warm tingles down her spine.

"Who...where....what are you?"

"Look down for your answer."

Melanie looked down to only see the wood floor, her socks, and the shiny pants reflect sunlight at the right angle.

"How...is this possible?"

"Many things are possible, my ssssilly sssscientist."

The way the voice spoke struck the stunned biologist as much as what she said, somewhat failing to shake off the near-tranquilizing effect.

"You...you know me?"

"I know a lot about you, Melanie."

A speechless Melanie stood, letting the voice explain further.

"I know you've never been quite this confused, talking to a pair of pants that talk back. I know your mind is trying to process all the possibilities and theories that justify this new, unexplained phenomena. And I know a part of you, deep inside, knows that the answers you seek can't be quantified by how you study the science you know. No matter how skeptical you are."

Melanie frowned at the dissecting words, trying to deny the truth they revealed.

"Then you must know my skepticism has a point to it."

"As silly as it is, of course."

"Silly? Don't pretend you don't want something from me. From us. You're not doing this out of some ancient...altruism, or whatever."

"Aren't I?"

The quick, sly response sparked enough anger to set Melanie off, back to her original task of getting rid of the talking pants.

Putting on her coat and boots clumsily but quickly, she stormed out of the house, walking while thinking of how to dispose of them.

"Do you really think this is going to make a difference, Melanie?"

"Better than doing nothing, and letting you run amok."

"You think your friends will approve of this?"

"I'm doing what's best for them."

"And what if I'm what's best for you all?"

Stuck with thoughts of where and how to leave the pants, she stuck them behind the cabin's huge woodpile, some place they could stay hidden while she thought of a decent disposal site.

"Can't answer that, my sssssilly ssscientist? How about an easier question then: are you willing to let go?"

What she'd learned in her experience with hypnosis, that last question and all the connotations it meant rung deep inside. She'd came to that cabin with every intention of doing just that; how she felt she shouldn't, much softer than believing she couldn't, still gave the voice Melanie's answer.

"I see; then you'll be hearing from me. Sssssoon." The voice faded a bit as Melanie walked away from the woodpile, ready to try and clear her head, and make some sense out of what happened after some breakfast. And with the lingering after-effects she still felt in every step back into the house, she thought a shower should be the first thing to get.

***

Sasha's eyes took their sweet time to open, stirring out of the habit of waking up early for work. Her drowsy mind protested, mewling as it tried to pull the glorious, vivid dream of Geraldine and herself joined together, bound by mind control and mutual interest. It was easier than normal to return to those dreams, as deep breaths held her interest's perfume in the air, and the healthy scent of her skin. Confused eyes opened automatically to realize why that smell was so authentic and fresh. Geraldine's lovely bare body laid atop hers. Her dream had come true, which made her want to kiss her friend and lover awake, but memories of how that dream came true followed, making Sasha check under the covers to see the state of Geraldine's legs. She thankfully found legs, and found the strength and grace to slip from underneath her body, despite loving how she sleepily gripped Sasha's arm to keep her close.

Putting on only her t-shirt from yesterday, she rushed to find Melanie, to see if she was okay. She fortunately heard the shower going from the next closest bedroom; she wanted to knock on the bathroom door of the room, but hesitated as she thought she heard moaning coming from inside the shower. Leaving the redhead to her possible coping, Sasha returned to the room to gather her remaining clothes, only to find the last of them awake in bed, yawning and seemingly happy to see her bed-mate. Just like her friends, it took a few minutes to register the previous night's events. Red highlights whipped around as she checked beneath her covers.

"Already checked, your legs are back, Gerry."

"Did....did last night...."

"Really happen? I'm afraid it might have."

Geraldine looked down at floor next to the bed, finding hers and Sasha's clothes strewn together, nearly blushing as brightly as her red highlights.

"Are...are you afraid that....well, that happened too?"

Sasha looked down at the clothing pile, imagining how each article got wrinkled, pulled at, and tossed aside, and her eyes eventually roamed upwards to the athletic, toned form beneath the covers. Crossing the room, she held Geraldine's face in her hands, giving a kiss she received back in spades.

"It's certainly not this I fear, except for how long I've wanted it, maybe."

They kissed long and hard, until one of them needed to come up for air, smiling at each other. Geraldine pulled the covers back, happy to see her legs again, but looking around the room for the cause of their wild night.

They both looked around, not seeing any sign of the pants. "I kind of hope they turn up," Sasha spoke her thoughts without thinking, to the surprise of both before they shared another embrace.

***

Thirty minutes later, the trio had ended up in the kitchen area, quietly eating breakfast, still taking in everything from last night. Melanie was mostly left to ponder, while she wasn't smiling at the couple cozying up to one another, occasionally kissing and feeding each other. It was a pleasant sight somehow offsetting the absurdity still fresh on their minds. Stashing the pants away from everyone else, she would've liked to have believed it was all over and done with, maybe even a figment of their overcharged, easily malleable imaginations. With every bite of breakfast she took for herself, even if she wanted to believe that, something still nagged at her. The perpetually-theorizing mind that made for a brilliant mind and valuable asset in Melanie's field, considering elements no one else thought of, wondered if her friends' sudden affection wasn't a mere byproduct, but an intended side-effect of the night before. She didn't want to suggest them separating from one another in fear that she didn't approve, but if the effects of the shiny pants continued to evolve into something else...

"You know," Geraldine broke the silence, "maybe we should get a room before someone tells us to," she crooned to the blushing woman before her, also making Melanie snort.

Sasha tried to shake off her natural shyness and give as good as she got.

"A room? Hell, I think we should get a show."

"A show?"

Sasha's friends were curious about the idea stuck in her head for months alongside her Geraldine infatuation. Cat out of the bag, she decided to just go for it.

"Yeah, we could call it 'The Georgians.'"

Neither of her critics could put it together at first. "I'm Eastern European Georgian, you're American Georgian. We could be the weird couple with a wild hypnofetish. Ooh, and thick accents!"

The televised suggestion earned a lopsided smile. "So...you want me to talk like this, sugah?" The southerner's typically-subdued accent got particularly thick as she closed in on Sasha's face.

"In Soviet Russia, sugar talks to you." Sasha's summoned her own thick accent and meme imitation from the country she grew up in, planting a soft kiss on surprised lips.

"Okay," Melanie enjoyed the sweet exchange, but it was getting too thick even for her, making the pairing chuckle. Short of telling them to get a room, she tried to bring up a more relevant topic. "So...does anyone want to discuss the elephant in the room?" she queried, hoping creating a neutral dialog would help see where everyone's head was at about it.

Geraldine was in retaliation-mode, finding the erogenous spot on Sasha's neck, making the blonde stammer and pale skin start to blush rosy colors. "I-mmmm. I think y-you have the wrong a-oooh, animal there, Mel."

"I, however, think I found the the right spot," lips speaking while teasing Sasha's neck found a place ripe to leave a hickie.

Laughing at their flirtations, Melanie tried to hide how deeply concerned she really was.

"No one slipped a little something, or anything into our drinks, right?"

Neither freshly-christened lover confirmed spiking anyone's drink.

"No one slipped anyone else a post-hypnotic suggestion to that effect, right?"

That made the pair stop and look to one another with curiosity, and neither nor Melanie saw anything there.

"Kind of wish I could've come up with something that good, but no," Geraldine admitted.

"I wouldn't expect anyone we know to be able to pull that off," Sasha admitted. "Who brought those pants anyway?"

All three women looked around at each other, drawing blanks. The shared silence thrilled some of them and frightened others, wondering how no one could remember bringing pants like that, or if even someone was made to forget, intentionally or otherwise.

Melanie honestly hated such a drawback of hypnosis, the malleability of reality and memories for figuring out unsolvable mysteries.

"I can remember packing my own bag, no one touching it from my house all the way here. What about you guys?"

"Except for my stupid brother, same," Geraldine commented. "And he doesn't know shit about any of this with me. Or he'd better not. Any sneaky servants pack your bag, sweetie?"

Sasha's narrowed glance caused giggling to erupt. "No, I pack my own bags, like I do everything else myself, thank you. Unless you count as a sneaky servant."

A single eyebrow raised, followed by a thin smile. "If only I was around to do your packing for you, just so you would've come here with a bag full of sex toys. I might've been sneaky last night, but I'm looking at a servant right now. And oh how well you serve when...motivated." Waving her fingers at Sasha with a little butterfly style, her grin turned evil to have Sasha follow them unquestioningly for the few seconds she kept it going.

"I don't suppose one of Georgians would mind talking about their experience last night, wearing those pants."

It took Geraldine a moment to realize her attention had been summoned. "Oh, me. I mean...it felt like..." She thought hard about what it felt like, and honestly tried not to get sucked down into feelings leading to trancey sensations.

"Felt like I was half myself, half something inside me that came out to play, if that makes any sense."

"I mean, the half part for sure makes sense," Sasha commented.

"But there was a guide to help...I guess soothe me into the transition, a voice that sounded really jarring." She didn't want to admit how potent and soporific the voice she heard was, and how exploitable it made her sound.

"Whose voice?"

"Whoever it was, she called herself....Serpentina. Or Tina, or something." Melanie and Sasha looked at each other, confused, though Melanie also held back how familiar the details sounded.

"Did you hear this voice before you put the pants on?"

"Drunk as I was, I'm surprised I remember as much as I do."

"Wait, as drunk as we all were, did anyone wake up with a hangover?" Sasha questioned unthinkingly, answered with a silence that confirmed no one did.

"Did...did this Tina hypnotically-prevent us from having hangovers?" Sasha asked again, still met with silence. Melanie wanted to thoroughly explain the chemical makeup of an abundance of liquor to the brain, but couldn't explain the miracle that Serpentina had managed, let alone the miracle that was Serpentina herself.

"All I can really remember is before those pants, everything was normal. After those pants, my legs were gone, this voice was telling me everything was fine, very convincingly. And when you both got to my room, you know the rest."

"She hypnotized you?"

"....yeah, yeah she did. Just like...that cartoon snake." A hint of wistful enjoyment was on Geraldine's voice, but she put that aside. "That's all I can remember."

"Did you enjoy wearing the pants?" Sasha couldn't help but ask.

"I...I did. I felt dominant, even more than like I am when I have either of you under. Kind of exhilarating," she added "kind of" to mask her real feelings. "Kind of like how I'll be wearing the pants in our relationship."

"You really think so?" Sasha asked not excitedly, but as a challenge. She brought her elbows up to rest on the counter, fingers highlighting her shiny yellow bracelet suggestively. "You really think you'd be in-charge more Gerry. Just like you said with that voice last night, being led feels so much nicer, sooo much warmer."

Sasha's opening salvo did feel nice to the targeted brain, noting the warm words and sensations. Smiling wickedly, she started stroking her own hair, particularly the red highlights that purposefully drew attention, especially as a draw to the group.

"Oh Sash, warm as your words are, think more about how hot you make me when my hair comes into focus? My hot streak of drawing you deep continues. Red hot, streaking, stroking, falling..."

Melanie would've felt the need to stop either of them, but as well as their training made them experts in their favorite inductions, it was easy to choose between whichever fixation point she wanted as the playful duel continued. Her own skills lagged behind what Sasha and Geraldine were capable of, and it felt unspoken to the group that she was the one that enjoyed slipping into trance the most. She couldn't even mutter protesting of what was happening, it was hard enough choosing yellow jewelry, red streaks, or whomever's voice filled the air.

Sasha, for her part, had a harder time trying to establish dominance. It was true that Geraldine had the best winning streak in their fun little duels. It was the gentle lilt in her voice, taking to being a hypnotist like a natural, and coupled with her attraction to her opponent, all of it left her barely to hold her own head up. She didn't know when she stopped trying to gesture at her bracelet, and instead just using both hands to hold her hair up to stare at red streaks being stroked over and over, and over again, just like words over her will to fight. Eventually, she fell onto the victor's chest, resting safe and sound. When told to look up, she smiled listlessly at a lovely, domineering grin.

"If you want to wear the pants sometimes, maybe you should learn to put some pants on in the first place. Why don't you go up and do that, just so I can have the pleasure of making them off again soon?"

Sasha whimpered an affirmative as she sleepwalked her way up to their room. Geraldine smiled at her new girlfriend slowly ascending up the stairs to do as she was told, and snickered a little to find Melanie in a light trance nearby, just enjoying the residual splash damage from the playful exchange. Snapping her fingers in-front of the redhead's face, the darker-skinned hypnotist went back to her breakfast like nothing was wrong. Waking to find some time had passed, seeing the blonde passively walking away, the smile Geraldine couldn't excise from her face was slightly infectious.

"I think I'll go for a run, to clear my head," Melanie looked at her almost accusingly.

"Not a bad idea," the sleepy scientist heard while putting her plate away and heading toward the stairs. "I wonder if that was my idea," Geraldine happily poked, receiving a disapproving headshake in response. A few minutes later, Melanie was dressed in a tight sweater and boots over her weekend athletic wear, walking past a closed door muffling what sounded like mindless muttering. Both friends walked in opposite directions on the stairs, each exchanging knowing looks.

"Try to go easy on her," Melanie commented.

"No promises," was the honest reply, sauntering hips swaying their way to the shared bedroom.

Unsure if any knocking would even register to her, Geraldine turned the knob, the sound of her voice entering the room and hopefully her vacant mind.

"I hope you're ready for me, sweetie."

***

Every step to her destination felt like an underwater trek. As nice as it would've been to simply float in undisturbed waters, following Geraldine's will pushed her forward, moving, climbing, making her way to the space featuring clothing she needed, needed more than anything, to put on. Grabbing the first piece she could find, she sat on what felt like a log, harder than a bed was supposed to feel with more awareness. Arid humidity rose around her while struggling to put on pants, slipping each leg slowly into each pocket, feeling the state of her mind change as it happened. Fitting one pant leg in, her trance went from fairly deep to very light, more aware of what she was doing, but still compelled to complete her task. Once the second leg was inserted, and the pants fitted themselves around her waist, the entire trance established at breakfast had been lifted.

Feeling fully conscious again perplexed her as surroundings didn't make sense, deep in some jungle hotter than her bedroom the night before. She had little time to process things as something thick and scaly wrapped around her waist, and further up her torso. Her body was beset by soft smothering like her eyes were beset by a cascade of colorful braids, pouring down like a waterfall. The rainbow hues ended at a inviting face with deep, dark, drawing eyes, with a light showing in the pupil, extending outwards to another pouring of colors. It was as if the prior trance was lifted to appreciate how deep she dropped at the sight of the lamia's magical eyes.

"Hello, my sssssentimental sssssocialite."

Soft whimpering turned into audible moaning, overcome by hissing, colors, and Serpentina's magnetic presence.

"W...wh....w-who....." Sasha desperately tried to question, robbed of that ability with every passing second.

"Sssserpentina, or Tina, if you prefer," the sinuous lamia giggled at her earlier-given nickname.

Hearing that familiar name, just as she felt overwhelmed by all the strangeness happening at once, so did Geraldine's earlier description, and the events of the night before. The fear of transformation, of that power she didn't understand and that never gave her a choice in cooperating. Though freeing her body from the physical bonds was futile, she freed herself from Serpentina's pressing gaze momentarily, shutting her eyes tightly, ready to scream out for help no matter where she was.

"No! I don't...I can't..." she weakly managed over a covered mouth, trying to gain strength.

"Sssssssshhhhhhhhh," the long, silencing hiss was deposited directly into her ear, the hush traveling deep inside, bringing all attention to that sound versus trying to make any of her own for pleading’s sake.

"That's right my ssssentimental ssssssocialite," the words seemed to weaken her further as she found an identity she'd lost in them. "You don't.....you can't.....you don't want to fight this......you can't fight this.....not when it feels sssssoooo goood."

"And it feels sssssooooo good, sssssoooo incredible, doesn't it?" The question posed felt like she was hearing it from the inside out, gasping as it echoed within. "To be sssssoooooo......fabulousssssssssss..." A soft caress traveled over her forehead, just beneath her eyelids, than another caressing her torso, lightly traveling down over her the shirt material covering her breasts.

The touch made her bite her lip, undeniable aroused. It had to be a coincidence that her lips found their way from being bitten to uttering "fffaaa...bulousssss...?"

"Indeed, my fabuloussssssssssssseentimenal ssssssocialite."

Sasha's eyes rolled up behind her lids, the muscles keeping them down weakening. Weakened even more by the caress traveling to her waist, a scaly touch crossing a scaly border that felt so warm, and comforting. She never imagined the sensation of scales touching scales, like snakes engaged in an erotic mating dance. Her parted mouth barely repeated Serpentina's words, giving in quicker than she realized.

"Jusssst look at how beautiful, how fabulousssss you truly are."

Muscles and motions answering to Serpentina's will opened to the light peering from the dark pupil, flowing outward with deep colors fixing Sasha inexorably. Waves of green, blue, reds, and yellows washed over the ability to think independently, the surf destroying a castle of thought and shaping one where Serpentina ruled. A mirrored gaze of colors looked into Tina's eyes for as long as she could, before staring down as was suggested. The ever-blushing, ever-aroused woman mindlessly smiled at the beauty of her own lamia tail, bands of every color from the spirit lamia's eyes painted upon herself, but the yellow bands in particular were thicker, and shimmered a great deal more, the strongest color in Sasha's rainbow.

"I'm......ssssssooooo.....fabulousssssss."

"Yesssss, you are," Tina giggled in her ear, laying her down on a soft surface beneath, whispering into her ear, insistent commands meeting deep desires long held, turning her dreams excitable as she laid in the cabin bed, dreaming of Geraldine, of Serpentina, and the power they both wielded. Only the sound of the door opening woke her, hearing a familiar voice she'd craved.

"I hope you're ready for me, sweetie."

Sasha didn't let anything else escape from unsuspecting lips as she pulled her into the room, pressed her against the door and stuck her tongue deep into the surprised woman's mouth. As expected, Geraldine was too distracted by her awake, assertive lover to realize how much her wearer of the pants suggestion had turned on its head. The kiss lasted for long seconds, exploring one another's mouth with vigor, until Geraldine was breathless, too aroused to think. It didn't strike her with much realization when she opened her eyes to find the bands at the end of Sasha's tail, a glowy, magnetic yellow, fixed confused eyes.

"You remember that one time when I caught you, Gerry? That one duel between us where the so-called indomitable switch you claim to be found yourself domitable, dominated, happily swept away by yellow?"

Geraldine tried to remember the moment that never happened, fixed on the image of Sasha holding up her hypno-bracelet, caught in the ever-constructed memory.

"Beautiful sunset colors, the dusk of your winning streak, bringing hypnotic light to hypnotized darkness. Light becomes dark as you fall for me, lover. Give in for me, fall and celebrate my, our, fabulousssss victory."

Lamia-Sasha almost slurred the triggering word as they both fell a little into the subconscious meaning.

Geraldine felt herself twisting around, uncoiled by Sasha's tail, but still following the tip, until she was free.

The yellow tip curled around her lips, caressing them, pressing themselves against her to be kissed. Giving it a soft kiss as wordlessly commanded, the worship continued along the long length of the tail. Eyes wide and deeper kisses over every yellow band, Geraldine crawled and climbed her way up, past her waist, kissing pale skin, suckling on rock-hard, rosy nipples after removing her t-shirt. Staring into colorful eyes, filled with waves of shivering tingles with every yellow band, they kissed again, and found themselves back in bed.