Melanie awoke the next day in her own room, fluttering eyelids trying to bear light into her brain, swimming upwards from the deep sleep she'd had. The night before was beset by rather blurry confusion. Everything felt blurry since she'd rid herself of those pants again, really since she'd lost herself in the story so eloquently illustrated. The drive back was slow and torturous, having denied herself the ability to reach the sexual plateau the story started. Once she arrived back home, she wanted to make sense of everything with her friends, but they were at it again; Melanie didn't feel like disturbing that, and actually wanted to run away from it, knowing they were able to achieve what she still refused for herself. Trying to sleep in her own room with headphones on wasn't any easier, as she blocked noises of pleasure with sounds of nature she sometimes used to promote sleep; unfortunately those sounds always took her to a beach, mountain, or rainforest connected to the jungle where lamia's ruled with iron wills, melting others. Several times she had to awaken to remove her fingers from inspired wetness between her legs. Frustrating sleep led to an unsunny disposition as she got out of bed.

It struck her before she could begin to change clothes that the mysterious pants had already once found their way back into the house before; eyes widened and breath halted as she suddenly hurried to put clothes haphazardly on, search for her friends. Some time after waking up, she thought she'd heard the sounds of them waking up too, but around the time of leaving the bedroom, they were nowhere to be found. Not the kitchen, not the living room, not even their bedroom. As Melanie desperately wanted to know where they were, a strange thought in the back of her mind made her ask if they knew where she was. Running to the front door to look for them outside, the door opened with Sasha standing at the front, smiling.

"Ah, morning Mel," Sasha said softly, cheerfully.

"H-hey Sash. Where's Gerry?"

Putting a finger to her lips, Sasha silently asked Melanie to keep her voice down.

"I don't know right now. We're playing hide and seek," she nearly whispered.

Unconsciously exhaling a deep breath, the redhead leaned against the door frame. "I was wondering where you two were; I was hoping something weird didn't happen again."

"Nothing weird going on with us. What about you, you kind of disappeared on us yesterday."

"I'm sorry, needed to go for a drive, decompress. Ended up picking up some snacks yesterday too."

"We saw that, thanks. A really nice surprise to wake up to, like the dawning sun we almost caught outdoors earlier."

It took a few moments to recognize the similarities between Sasha's just-above-a-whisper tenor and her usual trance voice, with the distraction of the yellow bracelet reflecting the morning sunlight.

"It would've been a great sight, I told Gerry. Sitting outside, wrapped in a warm blanket, letting the sun heat us up and bring us so much joy. It wouldn't matter how cold it was; just like bad thoughts, the warm sun, the warm contact would turn the temperature up and just make everything unwanted go away."

It seemed suddenly weird to have her head stuck craning downwards, staring at that bracelet, but the comforting hand touching her shoulder, and the back of her head didn't seem to mind that at all. Nice as the reflected sunlight and suggestions did help to make nearly everything else go away, where the pants were was the prevailing question that didn't stop being asked in her brain.

"That's right, Mel. Just take another deep breath, listen carefully, and let the s-"

"W-no. N-no Sash. I really....really need to...find...."

"Don't worry, babe. I know exactly what she needs to find."

A new voice made itself known from behind Melanie, a second pair of hands taking advantage of the scientist's disarray. Turned around without much resistance, Melanie was brought to bear Geraldine's spiraling eyes, as powerful as the first night she saw them, pulsing strong colors, highlighting red especially into the bewildered friend.

"And start to feel ssssssooooooo very happy that you've found it now, Mel. See, when Sash was said we were playing hide and seek, we were hiding from you, seeking to get you right where we wanted you."

Rapidly losing thoughts in the colors, she suddenly remembered the ability to close her eyes to block the colorful assault on her senses. With effort, lids were tightly shut, greeted with dual sets of laughter. Geraldine talked as if she expected this setback.

"It's not like you didn't want to be here either. We certainly felt your excitement that first night, and every other time you sank so deep into our control. But that first night was so very magical, wasn't it?" Melanie felt her leg being coiled up, softly stroked, kept in-place.

"Yes, not weird at all, but totally natural. You could say, supernatural, or extremely bound to happen," Sasha contributed her own hypnotic words, leaning close to her sinking friend's ear. "The only thing that was undecided about all this was who would get to wear the pants to help the inevitable process along. Unfortunately, I lost that chance in a duel."

"Mmmmm, yessssssss, she put up a noble effort, just like you, Mel. Fair person that I am, I even let my Sasha have the first shot in bringing you completely under, and how proud I am that she almost succeeded."

"B-b-but, how? I got r-rid of the p-pants. How?"

"Once you've gotten a taste of such power, Mel, there's literally nothing you wouldn't do, or nowhere you wouldn't go for more."

"Nor anything you wouldn't say to share that power with others you care deeply, and even deeper, about. Words that might express mutual love. For example, 'green.'"

Melanie gasped as her mind felt a surge of pleasure, envision the yellow of Sasha's bracelet and the blue of her nail polish, swirling together to create a green she could see deep in Sasha's eyes, the longer she looked. It nearly escaped her diminished thinking how her eyes popped open and head turned just to find Sasha's eyes without thinking.

"That's a very sexy color, but how would it do against...I don't know....'purple?' She was freed from Sasha's waiting gaze, only to be brought back to Geraldine's seeing spiraling colors again, but her mind filled with a meshing purple from blue nail polish and red highlights.

"Let's try 'green' again, for simple comparison," Sasha laughed. Mentally being ping-ponged back-and-forth by fixating triggers thrusted her thinking all over the place, losing the ability to think each time. The only one Melanie could hold onto, gripped tighter than any other, barely made it out of her mouth.

"Oo-oooooh-O-Or-range!" Struggling successfully to utter the other secondary color, her eyes closed while the assaulters found themselves compelled to stare into one another's eyes. Fire and resistance pushed Melanie to grasp Geraldine's waist, miraculously finding the invisible hem of the lamia pants. With faltering whispers, she coaxed the couple to stare long and hard at each other while removing the pants and accompanying powers. They fought to speak one of the colors to bring her back, fighting the silencing suggestions commanded. "Orange, orange ORANGE!" was yelled to them in the middle of removing the pants, running at the fastest speed weakened legs could manage to a storage room in the back that she could lock herself in.

She'd locked herself in the food storage closet, taking a moment to right herself, followed by immediately cursing herself for doing the dumbest move possible: voluntarily cornering herself so the only means of escape was through the persuaders that wouldn't take "no" for an answer the next time. After a few minutes, wondering if it was worth the risk of exiting the closet and sneaking out to the car, she heard noises of her friends awake and searching. She didn't trust her sub-par athleticism, or her vulnerable mind to get her to safety. She knew she was in trouble hearing the doorknob being turned over and over, and soft crooning urging her to open it, using everything the could to convince her why it was the best idea in the world. Melanie could only cover her ears to keep the bad temptations out, wondering how long she'd last.

"Quite the knack you have for getting into predicaments," sympathetic words were not blocked by hands covering ears at all; spirited words sounded like they came directly from inside her head.

"Serpentina!"

"Oh, Tina is fine as well, as close as we all have been getting the last few days."

"I tossed you over a fucking cliff! How are you back here? How did they find you?"

"Who said anything about them finding me?"

Analytically trying to parse the meaning of the insinuation, Melanie feared the worst.

"Remember what I keep asking you? 'Are you willing to let go?'"

The pair of lamia pants rested in her lap, the overhead lighting shining on them as she thought back to every time that question was asked.

"Every time I asked, you plainly, definitively answered 'no.' When your fearful self was posed the question, your desire responded, strengthening your grip on me, always bringing me back to the house to further someone's desires."

"How.....why did you do that to me?"

"I did nothing but ask a question. It was you whom answered with actions true to yourself, actions that pleased me greatly, as they still do. And it looks like I may need to pose that question again very soon."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, unfortunately for you, your options are limited in terms of not submitting to their influence. It's highly doubtful you could take your friends on by yourself. Even if you were the best amongst them, it's two against one; and you seem to be the most reluctant amongst them, which isn't the same as resistance."

"I know what you're getting at, and the answer is no."

"Saying 'no' to my idea means saying 'yes' to all their ideas."

"Either choice takes us all to the same place, like those extra-enslaved villagers who became your lieutenants or whatever in ruling."

"Lamias of then and now accept such fealty and contribution, but we don't influence it. Your friends came to that conclusion all on their own after wearing the pants. Putting on the pants yourself simply drives whatever is inside you out into the forefront. It may be like them, it may be giving everyone their will back because that's what you desire most."

"Don't act like there's nothing you want out of this; you're not just a voyeur or whatever. What do you really want out of this?"

"What I really want out of this is to ask you once again - are you willing to let go?"

Melanie took a deep breath, and began coming to a conclusion, honestly wondering what she had just decided.

"If you are not willing to let go, then that is a signal that you want to embrace. Holding on to what you find important is as natural as letting go, it is a choice. It's always been the choice of humanity, to resist, to give in, to embrace, to let go. Letting go of one's desires is the choice of a selfless act, and the self knows what it has chosen for itself, choosing for a self that could desire letting go of one's desires to embrace others. How others would desire letting go to one's desires embraces desires that seem as natural a choice as letting go of the self. To be robbed of that choice is to resist desire instead of giving in to that choice you cherish and protect that allows for embracing the feeling of letting go..."

Serpentina's hypnotic cadence, poured from directly between her ears, weakened the whole of her body. Arms eventually fell to their sides, leaving ears free to ignore the soft commands from outside the closet, senses narrowed and thoughts being carried along the current of confusion happily spoken. Each thought lost along the way gave Melanie a reason to smile, to enjoy being supported by the influence she felt wrapping around her body, circling her like her options circled the mental drain.

"Sometimes, one chooses to embrace letting go, and sometimes a choice is made for the person with a choice to make. Time and choices wait for none, unable to resist the ticking seconds or the embrace past minutes lost. Time slips away from all awareness of those forgetting time and choices, choosing to let go to forces ready to choose, ready to embrace you, helpfully shedding resistance, happily assisting in the desire of giving in..."

Some of the words spoken seem to filter strength in the strangest places sporadically. Arms were allowed to move, and then legs. Breathing deepened, and nerves quietly gasped in pleasure over the feel of something velvet covering exposed skin.

"If you choose not to choose, your choice has been made. If you are not willing to let go, embrace what has been chosen for you."

She'd forgotten how long it had been since opening her eyes. As the lids rose and exposed Melanie to colors she could feel choosing for her, empowering her, she wondered why she ever shut herself off, eyes opened to embraced desires. The clear view of Serpentina's beautiful face through the spirals made her smile blissful, then confident.

"Thank you for choosing for me, Tina."

"You're very welcome, my ssssilly little ssssscientist."

***

Geraldine and Sasha took turns wrapping at the door, urging Melanie to return the pants to them in their most hypnotic voices. They each tried several different means to get to their target, knocking rhythmically while speaking, using personal information about their friend to expose weakness, both of them utilizing color triggers to force her compliance through a magnetic need for eye fixation. It became another competition between them, who would be the one, the first, to break Mel, the winner unofficially getting to enjoy two submissive treats when it was over. Geraldine had gone five minutes before deciding to let Sasha have another turn. A small kiss to the lips and a pat on her ass from Gerry gave Sasha a little more confidence, eager to see if her girlfriend would actually beat the odds and be the one to win.

"Melanie, I can feel you behind that door, your heartbeat gradually slowing more and more since you entered that room to hide. There isn't even a window in that room, and it's been so long since you've enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Such a long time alone and away, minutes that seem like hours, hours that seem like days, colder and colder in that room while you deprive yourself of warmth you so badly need. You so badly need that yellow, don't you? I can feel it, wanting to blend with another color to create green. Oh yes, Mel, green. When our eyes meet next, and they will, green will be the only c-"

The door to the closet slowly began to turn, until the hinges creaked gently. Sasha turned to do a gloating happy dance in-front of her girlfriend, graciously accepting a tongue sticking out to herald victory. She turned back to see empty darkness in the room, until a pair of hands pulled her inside the room and shut the door. The lock clicked before Geraldine could turn it to stop the tables being turned. Within the dark room, Sasha felt shrouded in near pitch-black confusion, the only light source oddly coming from eyes shimmering from spirals staring into her soul.

"Green is an amazing color, Sssssasha," lamia-Melanie hissed playfully at her friendly prey.

"Though rather unusual how it breaks down and devolves into weakened vessels like yourself. The body and makeup of the average human female really has no choice but to break down green once exposed to it."

At the mention of "green," ever-dulling eyes caught the color in the myriad flowing into her, feeling it weaken in power.

"Behind those veritably vacant eyes, you can feel green undergoing separation, shedding a weaker yellow, showing the real power in a shimmering, sparkling blue, flowing more and more into you."

Somehow, every color flashing through Melanie's eyes grew less noticeable, barely notable, except for the blue that did indeed shimmer as suggested.

"And as that blue flows deeper, and deeper into you, you know colors like 'green' or 'yellow' are only a mere invitation to the blue that you seek, that you need to be inside you, filling your mindless vessel with the stability of my control. Melanie'ssssssss control. Isn't that right, Ssssssasha?"

"Y....yesssss...M-Melan..ie..." The blonde socialite trailed off with a smile, ready to do all that was asked of her, just because of the blue inside.

"I know you can hear me out there, Gerry," The newest lamia called a little louder to be heard. "How quickly things change, don't they? From aggressive negotiations, to a hostage situation. Must get the heart really pumping out there, all that hot, red blood running through your veins, trying to flow into your mind to figure out how to right the situation you find yourself in. What if what's happening is the right way? What if all that hot, red blood pumping from your heart, to your brain, to everywhere else inside, was moving as it is right now, pulsing within to help you along to the next right thing?"

Bewildered and too stunned to move, Geraldine stood a few feet away from the door, the lightly muffled sound of Melanie's dominant, persuasive voice coming through clearly enough to drag her thinking along with her words. Her pulse suggestively reacted to the words, getting slower, except for the moment the door creaked open, showing an empty darkness she knew was filled with inevitably.

"And did you know, that the right combination of human and lamia can alter body chemistry a great deal, even turning blood from red to shades of something else. Deep inside of yourself, can you see your blood gradually turning purple?"

The spoken color shifted forward movement into the only friend outside the closet, halted only by something he hadn't noticed emerged from it, until it was right in Geraldine's face. The tip of Melanie's long lamia tail pushed against her Gerry's stomach, making her look down to notice the blue tail. Pockets of red, yellow, and green appeared across the blue, but the primary blue color seemed to get shiner the further from the waist it got, until the tip shimmered prism blue like Melanie's nail polish, but with a stronger visual pull than ever. Eyes stayed fixed on the tip as it caressed upwards, trailing the cleavage imprint in her t-shirt, reaching up to her neck, caressing her chin like fingers would.

"As you feel that sinuous contact, can you describe how your blood feels as it begins to turn purple?"

An instinctive step forward was halted again as the tip of her tail pushed against Gerry's forehead. Programming telling her to move forward took surprisingly less priority against staring at the tail that nearly made her eyes roll up and back into her head.

"The longer this fascinating contact happens, do you think it begins to yield a different color altogether? Could red transform to purple, and then reach a final form of blue?"

Ushered to stand still, the tail waved itself in-front of Geraldine's eyes, unable to take her eyes off of it, even as it leaned in to caress her face.

"Shimmering, prismatic blue. A space full of blue stars that you simply must explore, sinking deep into them. The more you explore, the more the blue circulates through you. Into your heart, your mind, every muscles and miniscule part that sums you up. So blue inside, even your highlights turn blue."

A wanton smile crossed the Southern woman's face as that tail stroked her hair, her highlights, feeling them become the color of submissive surrender defining her.

"Now, are you ready to join your lover in sweet surrender?"

The tail motioned up and down, making Gerry follow and nod in affirmation. She followed the tail into the waiting blackness, as the door closed behind her, leaving any semblance of resistance behind.

***

The sun was setting outside as lamia-Melanie rested in the living room, Geraldine and Sasha snuggled up in her coils. Somewhere in her predatory brain, the redhead was as happy as she could remember being in a long time, dreams of being the hypnotic dominant she always wanted being lived in the moment. She knew the weekend was almost over, and that it would probably be more fair to share some more of the dominant role with her friends. The considerate notion she had seemed best, but she couldn't help but share it in a way that continued to satiate her seductive heart.

"Orange," she crooned to the sleeping couple. On the command, two sets of sleepy eyes opened, making their bodies move just to stare into each other's eyes. As they rose on their knees and were about to turn their heads to make eye contact, "blue" was spoken aloud, confusing the pair that wanted to stare as directed, but suddenly torn by the distraction of the most powerful color they'd known, paired with hands sporting fluttering fingers waving at their heads. Sasha wanted to stare at Gerry, but blue out of the corner of her eye pulled her away, just to follow the prismatic nail polish in every direction. Gerry was more insistent, trying to pull Sasha forward, but also got caught in the same motions that caught the blonde, until fingers waving especially for her pulled her into blue sparkles.

"Ah, I love this episode of the Georgians," Melanie laughed, "when the couple come across a hypnotist they just can't beat, and learn cliche-but-true valuable lesson - if you can't beat them, obey them."

For as much time of their vacation remained, Melanie was intent on mastering more of the butterfly induction, and taking their minds into blue worship, rather than whatever inspired, insipid ideas Serpentina would ever give. At that thought, the surroundings in her peripheral vision got a little brighter. Unwilling to stop the induction, she noticed sunset colors were still abound, but giving off stronger shades of green, as if in the middle of a jungle all of a sudden. She turned her head to see evidence of the change, complimented by arid heat against lightly-freckled skin, the smell of thick greenery, and phantom touches running along the tops of her arms. Invisible fingertips trailed from her shoulders, to the backs of her waving hands.

It wasn't enough to get Melanie to stop, nor was the butterfly with brown wings flying so close to her face. Normal inclinations to shoo it away where nowhere to be found, merely a deep need to follow wherever it flew. A trick of the eyes might've told her it was a russet-brown skinned hand fluttering fingers in her face, but she believed it was a butterfly, deep in the thoughts that remained.

"What a fortuitous, and fabulousssssss find you've made." The hissed trigger struck the trio, beginning or deepening each descent into trance. "Rare butterflies, deep in the jungle, are ssssooooo friendly, they want to share their beauty with everyone. Blue butterflies, brown butterflies, leading everyone to place of peace. And if they're lucky, which they most certainly are, leading them right where they belong."

The brown butterfly disappeared, freeing the redhead's gaze to show how thick the jungle was around her, and how familiar legs replaced her lamia form without warning. Her hands stayed exactly where they were, still moving of outside volition, enchanting her friends. Not too far away from where they stood, Melanie saw remnants of a small temple, made up of all colors, favoring green more than anything else. There was a statue standing near it, with an impressive stone design of a lamia, Serpentina's smiling face carved into it the way the spirit carved it into their minds.

"And where they belong, as my inspiration deems, is empowered and in-service of me," Melanie gasped at feeling and seeing brown arms wrap themselves softly around her neck, draping over her shoulders. "Lovely little puppets I own, stringing along whoever I want them to, as long as I want them to. Floating...until they drop." Serpentina's fingers made a scissor motion to the arm hypnotizing Geraldine, at it fell, followed by Geraldine.

"Floating...until they drop."

Puppet strings cut the arm hypnotizing Sasha, as it fell, followed by Sasha.

"Floating....higher and higher," fingers turned into butterflies again, taking Melanie's eyes everywhere they went.

"Higher and higher," Melanie didn't notice herself rising from the ground, wrapped in Tina's coils, only concerned with the brown-winged butterfly.

"Higher and higher," all muscles but her neck and eyelids rested, fixed and mesmerized.

"Higher...until you drop." Melanie's string was finally cut, and she slid down the length of the thick, green coils, diminished senses enjoying the roller-coaster ride down to complete the pile of surrender her friends started.

"What a collection I've amassed; a ssssplendid sssssoutherner, a ssssentimenal sssssocialite, and a ssssilly ssssscientist." Each descriptive title made each corresponding woman shudder in pleasure. "Three little toys, ready to please. Some of you took a little longer than others to get here, but you all did wonderfully. Actually no, you did fabulousssssly in my opinion. Don't you agree?"

"Yessssss, Missssss Lamia," they all lazily hissed back.