Looking over the evidence of her brainwashing prowess, the hypnotist allowed herself a laugh that echoed around them before regarding each woman.

Each woman was taken to with soft whispers, and deep affirmations of how well they'd done, and how they would start to rise back to full awareness. Time was taken to give each woman as much aftercare for their tranced minds, with more to come the rest of the night.

Once they'd all reached a certain point of suggested understanding and recovery, the leading voice in the cabin started speaking again.

"This fantasy was brought to you by your mischievous and marvelous Miss Lamia."

Taken to newer depths than previously experienced due to pre-installed triggers and fractionation, long minutes were allowed the supposed vacationing trio to emerge back to knowing everything there was to know.

"HOLY SHIT!!!" Geraldine was the first to speak. "You actually did it!" In her previously stimulated self, suggestions were taken to heart as she slowly moved to Lamia to give her a big hug.

Melanie and Sasha slowly began to wake up with all the facts available, their eyes nearly bulging out of their heads to see Gerry hugging Serpentina. Even with acceptance suggestions, it still took long minutes to reconcile Serpentina was really Miss Lamia, their hypno-group's leader and teacher, wearing the shiny pants, having legs and bare feet to look at. Neither of them could help it but move to make it a big group hug on the couch, in awe of what was accomplished.

***

A buffet-style meal was assembled in the kitchen, portions of meats, vegetables, fruits, and water laid out for everyone to partake. Lamia took all their questions in patient stride, understanding and still amused at their disbelief.

"I can't believe it," Melanie, the most analytical of the group, having the hardest time with what she was convinced to believe. "You turned water bottles at the sink into a liquor cart. I actually got drunk on H20."

"We all did," Sasha laughed.

"I know, but..."

"I keep telling you, ssssilly sssscientist," Lamia laughed at her friend. "You are waaayyyy better at hypnosis than you think you are; you just need to let your mind realize that we're all still learning things, that analytics will only take the mind so far."

"Yeah, we're all still learning that Sasha watches too much TV. Like...'The Georgians?' I was just glad there was no suggested canned audience laughter." Geraldine threw playful shade at her girlfriend.

"Hey, that was-no, is, a great idea. By show of hands, who agrees?"

Everyone but Geraldine raised their hands.

"You don't count, Lamia," she joked. "You're the show's director, obvious bias."

"And me?" the redheaded scientist queried.

"Analytical Mel does ratings work; her vote inflates the vote," they all laughed at the logic.

"That brings it to you and me, sweetie," sweet-talking lips leaned over to Sasha who'd given her a small kiss.

"Let me guess, winner of the next duel is the deciding factor, which will be another episode of The Georgians, invalidating your claim in the first place."

Everyone loved seeing a saucier version of Sasha come to the forefront; the weekend plus Gerry's personality brought it out of her more and more.

"By the way, how hard was it to convince Gerry and me that we weren't together yet, but wanted to be?"

"Not that hard, really. I kind of went into a little time travel and memory suspension with that, just convincing you both how fun it was to relive that time just before you two became an item. Both of your subconscious minds LOVED that idea."

"Yeah, we're like newlyweds all over again," Sasha commented lovingly.

"Yeah, and my dress was still better than yours," Geraldine couldn't help but throw in a competitive line about their fantasy wedding.

"Some of that lamia stuff we did was amazing. Dare I say impossible with what I remember actually happening. How did you pull all that off?"

Something about the latent seriousness coating her light-hearted questions made Lamia enjoy Melanie's questions even more.

"That actually took a lot of time to establish, way more than I anticipated at first. I thought about props and all sorts of fancy tools to make the cabin seem like a playground, but all that ended up being too complicated," Lamia admitted, looking around the spacious area, noting how much time she'd needed for setup to do half of what she wanted to pull off. "And even though it took a lot of time to plant the seeds to let really broad suggestions take hold, it's like 'why use tools when the only modifiable one that matters is the mind?'"

Heads nodded in agreement all around the table.

"So it works like this. Scene." Immediately, three sets of ears perked up. No one stopped what they were doing, but each could feel in their muscles and nerves, the need to wait for and comply.

"Sasha and Geraldine put their utensils down and shallow their food."

The couple did as they were told, faces beginning to become blank, only shades of curiosity wondering where the scene was going.

"Sasha and Geraldine turn their chairs and bodies to face one another, ready to hypno duel."

Dueling expressions turned grins wicked, ready to reach up to highlights and jewelry to begin.

"They reach up for their hypno tools, but stop and freeze mid-way."

Grins vanished as their bodies became suspended.

"They so badly want to, need to hypnotize another, to feel the other's hypnotic efforts, to make it an even, exciting duel."

Useless struggling reflected in their faces went on as their bodies remained fixed.

"But the word 'orange' brings their focus to their eyes instead. Faces turning blank, staring into each other's depths. Sasha and Geraldine dream about their next kiss, how the taste of a juicy orange will linger on their lips at the kiss, making the kiss hotter and hotter. Allowed to kiss when I say 'it's time.'"

Melanie watched how their lips started puckering, slightly moving only to try to reach for one another.

"Slowly approaching one another, it's time."

It all transpired as scripted, the couple held each other for a full minute before hearing "End scene."

The kiss lasted a little longer before they separated, breathing and licking their lips.

"It's like...mandarin orange-flavored lipstick," Sasha commented.

"Yeah, I'll definitely have to use that suggestion myself later," Geraldine added.

"Now you all see why it took so much planning, preparing, asking consent for this vacation," Lamia spoke of the boring lull of questionnaires and consent before the trip took place.

"I can't speak for the others, but fitting all my wants in? Resistance play, mystery-solving, power exchange, etc.; I'm still amazed," Melanie admitted.

"Ask me nicely, and ye shall receive. And you were such a nice hypno guinea pig whenever I wanted..." Lamia lowered the tone of her voice, giddily watching her guinea pig sink suggestively to a light trance. She opened her mouth to say more, but snapped her fingers casually to wake her back up.

"Tease!" The freckle-faced switch accused.

"I still can't believe you made yourself practically invisible to us all weekend, I hope you had some kind of fun too," Sasha was still wrapping her head at the enormous prep efforts it took.

"Oh, I had plenty, laughing most of the time. And making you all believe it was just a weekend instead of a week-long vacation was just as fun; I might've gotten carried away, even forgetting myself that it was more than three days. We might all be mindless wrecks before the week's out."

"I'll drink to that," Geraldine downed her water like a shot of liquor.

"And don't forget, as Serpentina, I wasn't completely invisible."

"God, Tina was the best; we've got to invite her back next outing. To Tina!" Sasha raised her glass of water to toast Lamia's wicked alter ego.

"To Tina!"

"Oh, she'll be there, with sequins on," Lamia laughed. "So what was everyone's favorite parts?"

"When I was wearing the pants." Geraldine was quick to respond.

"When I was wearing the pants and Gerry was wrapped in my coils," Sasha answered next.

"I think...the lamia lore was the coolest part for me," Melanie concluded.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was so well put-together, so believable. The villages, the tiers of subjects. You put so much into that, I still have a hard time believing it wasn't real."

"That tells me you want some more, Mel."

"You have no idea, Lamia."

"You might have that backwards, as soon you won't have any ideas, but mine..."

"Hey, before we get into that bit of fun again, may I request a normal-but-mind-blowing Lamia trance? I feel like I've been missing that forever," red-streaked switch nearly pleaded, stroking her hair, not in a dominant way, but the way she hoped her superior would, something the rainbow-braided hypnotist caught.

"Awww, so eager, so willing," The two black hypnotists scooched their seats closer to one another. "So close to already being under, that this might not last as long as you want..." Fingers purposefully trailed upwards from elbow to the fingers stroking the red highlights. So lost in the experience she'd been hoping for for months, the feeling of the back of her hair being pulled abruptly, and being told to "sleep," took her Geraldine into trance. Thralling words were whispered into open ears and a receptive mind, bidding the tranced woman to walk safely to the living room couch, sit, and collapse into trance, waiting to be played with. Receiving a compliant nod, Lamia whispered "fabulous" into her ear, and set her friend off into the next room.

By the time she looked at Sasha, her next subject looked even more than ready. It was easy to suggest her following the wide, yellow bracelet brought up to her wrist, and falling back to cover her small bicep. Every time it dropped down, Sasha's eyelids fluttered more and more, trying to stay awake until they were too heavy to open, and was given the same command as her girlfriend.

Lamia smiled to see the sleepy couple laying atop one another. Looking over to Melanie, she was surprised to find her relatively unaffected by the triggers, staring in her direction, but not necessarily at her.

"Are you okay, Mel?"

"I....I can't help it. The mind is that good for creating illusions?"

Lamia gave her an understanding smile, before asking if she wanted a regular trance like the rest. Receiving a nod, she took her arm and turned Melanie's hand towards her face, asking if she's seen any butterflies. Taking the hint, she started trancing herself with her blue nail polish.

"Eventually, you'll find out how amazing the mind is, believing that anything can happen right before your eyes. That feet can turn to sexy snake tails. That Lamia spirits live in shiny pants. You can even believe that lamia's really exist, using regular hypnosis to enjoy keeping a small harem of slaves all to herself."

She tried to say something amidst her own trancing, but it felt like something pressed against her lips, something soft and scaly, silencing further inquiries. Knowing both of Lamia's hands were holding her arms, she decided to finally let go and relish whatever the illusion was.

"Enjoy the fabulousssss fantasies, Mel. They might never let you go."