The crack of the bat from across the stadium echoed it loudly and was followed by an excited roar of cheers. With the ball flying in the air, nearly everyone in its general trajectory rose to be ready to catch it. Buried under a sea of raised hands and baseball gloves sat Detective Ned Ryburn, showing half the excitement of the moment. He wasn't a grump about it, nor misanthropic and unhappy to be there, but the spirit of his favorite sport wasn't there like it used to be, as his police buddies noticed when they and everyone else sat down. 

Detectives Sally Saffron and Lou Giatti next to Ned declined to poke fun at his lack of enthusiasm; attending the game was their idea, to get their friend back into a positive swing after a supposedly-huge opportunity of apprehending a major criminal, and surprisingly-huge slump. Being the kind of cop to usually hold things close to the vest, Ned had been cagey about a lot of the details; it took their trained intuition to figure that he had his sights on a reputed mob lieutenant, Richie McClure, known in the area as virtually untouchable.

"You know you're going to get him eventually, Ned" Sally commented, consoling her friend she's known relatively long. "Guys like him always give second chances."

"And cops like you never give up," Lou added. "Patience always bring the good things. But don't miss out on the good moments, like right now."

Ned laughed at their words, outwardly brightening as he tried to acknowledge their efforts and hide his true feelings. He was happy his pursuit of McClung could easily mask the criminal he was really missing - Kelli Kennedy, aka MissPlacement. He'd forgotten how long it'd been since he'd heard any word of her, or from her. The infamous street hypnotist had gotten to him, twisted his thinking as easily as a bow being tied on top of a wrapped present, and how she loved to see his thread repeatedly tugged at and unraveling. Buried as deep as he possibly could, he had to hide how much he loved it too. Every drawing gesture, every lingering glance, every snap of his counterfeit-girlfriend's fingers.

The sound of another hit in the field caught his daydreaming mind again, happy to stay seated as others rose, ready to catch something. All he caught was an ability to note how similar the distant sound of a bat hitting a baseball was to a distant, crisp finger snap was, feeling mental and physical reminders of that effect. The desire to go blank for a short amount of time, even in public, went thankfully unnoticed, and he was more than thankful that evidence of arousal from that association was solely his to notice. 

Ned stoically tried to steel himself, to focus on the intended purposes of enjoying the game, when another sound caught his attention. Light confusion shaped facial muscles as the sound was much more akin to a real finger snap, followed by another. And another. And another. Each was crisp and powerful, as if made from very-practiced fingers. Each one was a taunt, that barely anyone else noticed, until his eyes caught a woman wearing a blue-jean jacket, dark sunglasses, and a pleased smile borderlining a smirk. Further down Ned Ryburn's row, across from a staircase aisle, sat MissPlacement herself, someone that could remained altogether inconspicuous if it wasn't for her blatant staring. The snapping virtually stopped when they saw one another, raising a hand to wave politely at her old acquaintance.

"Hey Neddy Bear," red-painted lips mouthed, while giving one more teasing snap, to note who drew his attention, leaving his mind to race with questions, and his cheeks to blush at her irritatingly-cute pet name for him. Visibly tensing at the fresh wave of submission that flowed over him, it was akin to how a fluffy teddy bear must feel when hugged tightly, lovingly, affirming affectionate trust that complimented suggestive lust, promoting the desire to be toyed with. Thankfully for him, the wave wasn't nearly as strong as it used to be, allowing him to tense enough to fight the words. Ned knew more than anyone there the devious twinkle in her eye hidden behind the glasses, happy to see the effects she could still produce after a long absence.

Sally just happened to look over to see her colleague looking back in their direction. The woman staring in their direction raptly kept Ned's attention, and got him to hide a whole gamut of emotional reactions, reading the older cop's body language and attempts at seeming nonchalant. She seemed to give another little wave before rising to her feet, walking away from the stands and towards the concession area, or to make some provocative exit. It took a lot for Ned to get so flustered; Sally figured ex-girlfriend, or some kind of problematic character he wasn't too pleased to see. What seemed to catch Sally's attention more than anything was a white, snakeskin purse in Kelli's possession that wasn't on her person when she rose, and matched the outfit of the woman sitting next to the staircase moreso than Kelli's blue-jean look. That piqued Sally's curiosity enough, rising herself a minute later and heading in Kelli's direction. 

Moving through what felt like a sea of people between innings of the game, the female detective surprisingly didn't have to go far before seeing Kelli. She was standing out in the open, near one of the lines for the concession stands. The way she stood, head unmoving, maybe staring at the food menu, or just off into space, made it seem like she was half-waiting for something else. Or someone else. The white purse she clutched under her arm didn't look that uncoordinated to her blue denim outfit, and had she never paid attention to the stylish woman in white near their seating, she might've never made the connection. But Sally let her police instincts take over as she got behind Kelli. Intuitive person that she was, the hypnotist smiled to herself, cocked her head a little bit to the side, and turned it to see who had finally approached her.

She looked only slightly shocked to see Ned's companion behind her rather than Ned herself; years of disciplined showmanship kept her from acting too surprised.

"Oh, hello," Kelli greeted Sally. "Are you...one of Ned's friends?"

"I am. Sally Saffron, nice to meet you..." She extended her hand, and Kelli turned to grip it gently, with a slight but noticeable firmness to it. "Kelli Kennedy. Nice to meet one of Ned's friends." 

"Likewise," Sally said evenly, keeping her skepticism internal.

"Are you doing the concession line? I'm not sure myself. I'm not even sure the line is moving." Kelli looked ready to move out of the way so Sally could get in line.

"I might. I do need to eat something eventually," Sally admitted, trying to keep the exchange friendly at the beginning.

"Yeah, you might concede to hunger before long," Kelli smiled. The way she said it almost puzzled Sally before her new acquaintance interjected the thought. "How long have you known Ned?"

"Oh, quite a while; we came up together through the academy."

"Oh, cool. You're a police offer too? A detective like Ned?"

"I am," Sally enjoyed how subtle Kelli seemed to be at innocently probing for information.

"Even cooler. I do wonder why there aren't more women detectives out there; we arguably have a much better eye for detail."

Sally smiled appreciatively, looking thankful for the compliment while using her eye for detail on the complimenter.

"What do you do, Kelli?"

"Oh, I'm a street hypnotist."

The detective's subtle blink and the slight holding of breath made Kelli smile inwardly, her own detecting eyes twinkling behind the sunglasses, grinning at the tale-tell signs of yet another person showing reactive, subconscious interest in her skills.

"Really?" Sally tried sounding nonchalant.

"Really. It's a very fun, fulfilling profession, to be able to show people the power of their own minds, how interests and thoughts can be narrowed, how focus and deep introspection can slip into one singular thing that keeps their attention and let's the rest of them, and soon all of them, relax and enjoy..."

Kelli loved letting those words hang in the air, letting considerate minds absorb and soak up their meaning, silently embodying them.

"Granted, it's not as fun as being able to tell people 'Freeze!' and 'You're under arrest!' all day..." Using a compelling, seductive voice with a touch of dominant intonation to utter the typical police commands struck Sally more than she was expecting, momentarily standing stark still with arrested senses. "But it's still fun."

"Y-yeah, that-" It took her a few seconds longer to recover than the detective wanted, centering herself on the purpose of their meeting. "A really interesting way to make money. Nice purse, by the way."

"Thank you, it-" 

"I've never tried denim with white snake skin, before," Sally said evenly, reasserting herself as she originally wanted to.

"Weird fashion statement, I agree. But who knows what trends will start," Kelli coolly responded back.

"I wouldn't let the lady at the end of your row see you with that purse. Tackiness aside, her white outfit will make it seem like that purse belonged to her," Sally was ready to take a step forward in apprehending the young hypnotist. 

Without the mention of Ned's first name, she would've done it sooner, but she muddied the waters with the genuine possibility of them being friend's. Sally was a half-a-step behind in her mind putting it together that Kelli could've just as easily been someone Ned arrested once.

"We'll have to keep the agreement on her tacky attire between ourselves; it's hard to tell another friend how atrocious their clothing choice, to the point where you just don't, and accept them as they are. Kind of like Ned assuming that he was unhypnotizable one time. I didn't have the heart to tell him how easily I hypnotized him, how the meticulous detective was under well before he started to think about resistance. He still doesn't believe that when it comes to hypnosis, it's typically already over before the subject even realizes it, that the hypnosis is already underway, and can't be stopped. And before I forget, still haven't decided about concessions myself. What about you? Conceded to anything yet?"

Sally's look turned hard, ceasing to pretend that she wasn't about to arrest Kelli. Kelli nearly smirked, acknowledging the change in tenor of their exchange.

"Can we start over?" Kelli was the one to extend her hand this time.

Sally smirked herself, taking the gesture as a white flag, ready to cuff the outstretched wrist. The smirk disappeared a few seconds after Kelli's outstretched hand managed to take the uncuffed metal bracelet and clasp it around Sally's wrist instead. She couldn't believe it as Kelli managed to uncuff the other bracelet and neatly clasp it over Sally's same arm twice without ever looking down.

"Or is it already over?" Kelli's low, soothing whispers arrested the mind looking for any feasible explanation to what had just happened, which the infamous MissPlacement was happy to supply.

"Because if a hypnotist tells you that it's already over, that the hypnotic trance has begun, then there's really no stopping it. You can't stop what is already finished. You were already hypnotized. You are already hypnotized, Sally. I already hypnotized you, in a line waiting for concessions when you never realized all you wanted to do was to make concessions, to concede, to concede to hypnosis, to know what it feels like, to know how good it feels to let it wash over you. And for the parts so curious about how it happened, allow me to explain why you feel so good right now, and how you feel better and better the more I explain."

Kelli's soft handshake was rhythmic like her words, gently pulling and leading he in every unresisting direction the hypnotist wanted.

"Ned is such a good detective that he noticed every little detail about how he sunk into hypnosis. Relaxed muscles, slow breathing, still body, listening mind, he faithfully followed where his instincts led him, into my suggestions. And while Ned is a good detective, you are a great detective, noticing every little thing taking you into deeper hypnosis. You know hypnosis already happened, and that everything happening just takes you deeper. Every muscle you feel, every breath you take, every person passing by you, every second you stare at me. And at yourself." 

Kelli stepped in a little closer, the clear reflection off her black sunglasses let both women see the profound effect of subversive hypnotic control.

"See yourself in my sunglasses, detect how you concede to my every word now, how you want to detect, want to concede to what's already happened to you. What you want to happen to you. It can keep happening to you, and you really, really want that, don't you?"

The gentlest of nods affirmed Kelli's suggestions back to her.

"Then all you have to do is listen, and do what I tell you. And it will be so easy to obey my words, because you already obey them now. Might as well keep a good thing going."

Kelli soon let go of Sally's hands, making her new subject tingle with anticipation. Sally didn't want to let go of Kelli's hand, or didn't want Kelli to loosen her grip on Sally altogether, but she believed it would happen again. Kelli told her it would, and she took it as a happy inevitability, following the hypnotist through a crowd that might as well have been a breeze passing by tree.

Pulled into the ladies room momentarily, Kelli offered a hand to be shaken again, and Sally's doubly-chained hand happily took it again, the pleasure of Kelli's control flooding back into her. It became a heightened surge all at once, being jerked forward by hand and Kelli sharply whispering "SLEEP" to her, over and over again, introducing the abyss to a Sally desperate to remain inside it.

"Now Silly Sally, tell me about who else came here with you besides Ned..."

***

Lou Giatti had his attention mostly on the game, when it wasn't on trying to keep Ned's spirits up, or glance over at any hot women he saw in the crowd. With Sally having stepped away, Lou tried out some dirty jokes that usually got a chuckle or laugh out of him that Sally couldn't stand. Ned put up a good front some time after Sally, left, but Lou had no idea how hard he was masking the panic of seeing his former controller in public again, bottling that fear while trying to figure out if she was plotting something again. And what, if so.

Lou told himself that trying hard to cheer Ned up would probably hurt more than it would help, so he didn't let any of Ned's possible brooding keep him from having a good time. And simultaneously celebrating a fresh divorce from a crummy marriage, Lou was bound to keep an eye out for attractive prospects. Sally laughed at that, glad that he was free from a terrible woman he married too quickly and stayed with too long, but he was almost too horny once the courts approved everything, dating a few times a week, and even getting into phone sex.

"Just because your ex didn't manage to take all your money doesn't mean you should give it away to all your next future exes," Sally chastised him, half-humorously.

Even Lou knew he was hitting the dating circuit pretty hard, but he considered himself lucky that his marriage ended before he started going bald. After the game was over, he saw a few ladies in the surrounding seats he thought might be worth talking to. He thought that was his best shot at his next date, before a text came to his phone. He was going to dismiss the unfamiliar number, but was intrigued by the message itself:

"Hi, I am friend of Sally Saffron's. Please call me back ASAP at this number."

A small bout of concern filled Lou, knowing that Sally hadn't returned to her seat yet. Getting up out of his seat, he headed in the same direction Sally went, calling the number.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Is this Lou?"

"It is. Are you the friend of Sally's?"

"I am. My name's Kelli; Kelli Kennedy. It's nice to meet you finally meet you Lou."

"What's going on? Is Sally alright?"

Scanning the crowd, Lou's worried grew about not being able to find her, and what the call was about.

"As far as I know, she's fine. Didn't mean to make my message sound like an emergency, I'm sorry. I just...finally worked up the nerve to speak with you."

"What?"

"Sally told me all about you; well, warned me really. I saw you in a picture of you, her, and some friends. I commented how I thought you were cute, but she relented connecting us. I got your number from her phone though; she doesn't know about it. Please don't tell her."

As if on cue with Lady Luck, he saw Sally heading back to the seats, passing by Lou, waving to him and unaware of who he was on the phone with.

"Your secret is safe with me, Kelli. Nice to speak to an admirer."

"Kind of hoping it will be likewise, if we get to meet up soon."

Sally's friend definitely had Lou's attention, and kept it engaged; her words were cute and flattering, but the quality of her voice went beyond appealing. Lou half-wondered if Sally had befriended any call girls.

"I'm going to assume Sally has never mentioned either of us to one another, but I'm going to guess you're a cop too, right?"

"Detective, actually."

"Detective Giatti, that's impressive."

"And what do you do, Kelli?"

"I'm a doctor, a hypnotherapist."

"Wow, that's impressive too. Dr. Kennedy."

"Eh, Dr. Quack if you believe any of my patients."

"If they call you that, you should make them believe they're chickens, for good measure."

"Won't say the temptation is never there, but they usually behave once I get their breathing under control."

"Breathing?"

"Yeah, a lot of the basis for success in hypnotherapy is really just breathing. I mean, it's probably like that for a lot professions; sports, medicine, any high-stress jobs that make you take deep breaths. Mine is unfortunately one of the few that make it a thing worth paying attention to. An old girlfriend even told me once that a successful date could be determined just by listening to how a guy takes five deep breaths; even if she was right a few times, still a bit funny."

Lou leaned against an indoor stadium wall, as far away from any crowd noise as he could get, and started to take five very audible breaths into his phone for Kelli to hear.

"Did I pass muster?" he joked after finishing the fifth breath.

"More than for me; but oddly enough, one of those breaths was one that would made my old girlfriend force me to date you. It's just hard to tell which one it was."

Lou would've found the whole topic of breathing very strange for a first-ever communication, if Kelli's voice didn't take on a breathy, interested quality.

"It's said that each breath is like a snow flake or fingerprint, all of them uniquely different somehow, if you know what to listen for. Having a profession of paying attention to people all day like mine, like ours, I think we even notice these things without really noticing. The way someone breaths in through their nose, holds that breath for a few seconds, and lets it out even slower, can reveal a lot about a person. Just the way they take a deep breath..."

Kelli took a deep breath herself, delighted to hear the same on the other end.

"Holding it for a few seconds..."

She loved the silence, the patience Lou didn't know he'd have for Kelli's command.

"And....SLEEP"

Kelli appeared next to him as if by magic, holding his forehead while he exhaled without having to be told to do so, letting her suggestions steady his muscles so he could stand upright and inhale more deep breaths and deeper suggestions.

"That's right, Lou. You know exactly how important deep breaths are. Every one you take is important, every one takes you deeper, every one makes you realize how important my words are."

His affirmation was a series of deep breaths, and simply standing still and enjoying the voice somehow not coming from his phone, but from deep in his mind which didn't bother him in the slightest.

"You are definitely the man Sally warned me about, easy and horny. And how horny you are will make you easy to control. And how easy you are to control will make you sooo very horny. You can't wait for that to be true. In fact-"

Facts were seemingly stolen from Kelli all of a sudden, feeling both hands firmly placed behind her back, followed by handcuffs firmly on her wrists. All of a sudden, she was apprehended and being carted off somewhere; there was barely a presence of mind to look behind to identify the abductor. It was Ned Ryburn, her original submissive cop, wearing an expression bordering on angry, unwilling to look the prisoner in the eye, lest she managed to trick his mind again.

***

It was a blur all the way to the nearest jail cell he finally made it to. Once deposited and behind bars, neither of them said a word to each other, just glaring and figuring out what to say next. Kelli found her words first, frowning as she spoke.

"Honestly, didn't see that one coming." The momentarily admission was followed by a smile. "And how pleased my little Neddy Bear must feel, finally bringing the dreaded MissPlacement to jail."

"To justice," Ned tried correcting allowing himself a smile of his own, still ignoring the endearing, embracing trigger while hiding his love of it.

"No, jail certainly doesn't to a girl like me justice, at all. Some people just aren't made to be imprisoned. While others...heh, they're either too easy to capture, and keep confined, or they just want to be held in a prison they can't ever imagine escaping from."

"I don't know, maybe you're the kind that's just too arrogant for your own good, thinking you can get away with stealing anything. Brazenly trying to take cops in full-view of the public."

"For some reason, stealing one gave me the impression that it wasn't that hard. Though it certainly wasn't soft, once I got you deep enough," she teased the conditioned reaction, making him happy to be facing her alone, in-case showing evidence of the inability fight off the hopefully-faded suggestions.

"Well, your mistake that you think you could pull that off."

Kelli was about to rebuke with a witty reply, but something he'd said made her start to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Ned asked.

"Your amusing word choices again. 'Your mistake;' had you known me when I started my career, you might be saying 'you're, you are MissTake' instead. Ah, my original persona, a lot less subtle than MissPlacement, but still my favorite. How you might've loved to catch a 'clumsy, accident-prone' woman, infecting others with the affliction as jewels, wallets, and minds fell into my hands for some reason. How you might love to get caught up in MissTaken circumstances yourself, Neddy Bear."

He kept a stern look in-spite of the words inspiring his imagination. "I can only imagined how easy a less-refined, reckless version of you would've been that much easier to catch. But then again, recklessly taking multiple cops at a ball game shows that even you can me MissTaken."

Kelli's smile darkened, just short of frowning. She hated admitting that Ned could be a stinging wise-ass when allowed to be conscious of it, just like hating the fairly-valid point made.

"Who said that was why I was there? Maybe I was just working on my viral advertising. Maybe after a 'persuasive' meeting with the people running the jumbotron, and persuading your friends to take a little break elsewhere, the whole stadium could catch another attraction, growing to be just as interested, enamored, magnetized as you. And just imagine if the helplessly helpful staff gave me a microphone during the intermission, broadcasting my voice to the open masses, letting hundreds hear what it means to be the one that has my attention."

The stream-of-consciousness explanation Kelli gave became a shared one, altering her cadence, and gesticulateing with hands through the bars. Graceful fingers flowed in a gentle, fluttering motion, their fascinating gesturing and shiny black nail polish narrowing focus. Amongst the glistening nails was Kelli's signature black-and-white manicured spiral nail on her left index; he still dreamed about that design, with the line running through, alternating the colors on each side. Of all the nails dancing in fixed eyesight, Ned involuntarily searched for that one, often losing and finding it again as it dragged its audience in wherever it lead, inching his body towards the bars separating them.

"The inability for eyes to stray away from a hypnotist working her magic on a willing subject, the impossibility for ears to not be flooded, filled with the sound of my voice, just makes them willing as well, growing to like it like my subject loves it. Growing to want it like my subject needs it. Before long, everyone will want to be a part of my act, acting as I instruct, instructed to go as deep as my subject, subjected to my will. Will that convince you of my good intentions, Officer Ryburn?"

*SNAP*

Ned blinked slightly-drowsy eyes a few times, senses waiting for confirmation for if Kelli's finger snap was meant to wake him or take him deeper. All he received from her was a deviously-sweet smile, and being referred to as Officer Ryburn instead of Kelli's Neddy Bear, suddenly missing the praise and surrendered feelings that came with it. Hands holding his shoulders, they let him know how close he'd gotten and certainly didn't intend on getting. She giggled as he gently pulled away from her grasp, a full retreat stunted as a hand managed to caress his cheek softly; she let the lingering warmth keep him rooted as she kept talking.

"Sorry to say, you're not MissTaken, at least not about my intentions today. Funny story, did you know that not all couriers are actually couriers?"

"What?" Ned asked, confused at the sudden topic change.

"I know, right? Even the fake ones are convincing as hell. They all seem to have that identical demeanor. Stoic face, stiff body language in tailored suits, hurried disposition, literally chained to their responsibilities with those, heavy, heavy briefcases weighing them down. A girl like me sees someone like that, and we just feel the need to help relieve them of their unfair burdens."

"MissPlacement's peculiar type of relief?"

"Peculiar, but effective. A common MissTake, with men thinking that's all there is to life. They have no idea how much they need someone like me to step onto their path, noting how tired they look, how they're dragging their own spirits along. Those spirits deserve to just take a moment to relax, to stop and listen to the sounds of nature, or voices naturally bringing them peace. They miss so much of the good things in life if they don't stop and smell the roses, like the butterflies on top of the roses, coming to greet you, following the beautiful motions they make as all your other cares and worries just float away. Nothing else to think about, but what comes natural to enjoy..."

Ned's consciousness was several steps behind awareness of his eyes following the fluttering fingers yet again, eager to be taken away before another loud finger snap seemed to shake him back to reality. Ned tried fighting that and the hollow sense inside him just waiting to be refilled with Kelli's trance.

"But anyway, I helped this courier out. Before he knew it, he was practically floating on air, driven away from his responsibilities, and off to a quiet place where I could remove his burden for a while, and inspect why his burden was so high. As I found out later, the guy I helped was just pretending to be a courier; he hospitalized the original one something awful, and couriering his way to his boss."

"Who was his boss?"

"Didn't know or care at the time. I just emptied the briefcase and wallet and sent him on his merry way. On foot, after I took his car, of course."

"You really are a kleptomaniac, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately for you, I'm the weirdest kind of kleptomaniac; the first thing I ever learned to steal was a mind. Jewels, purses, cash, cars, everything is fun to steal; I don't even need to be a hypnotist to be an exceptional thief. But once you take a mind, it's just so easy to take everything else. Technically, it's not really stealing if they just give you whatever you suggest, in return for the mere pleasure of obeying your suggestions."

Unwilling to admit to the ultimate truth MissPlacement spoke, he ignored her assertion. "Who did you end up stealing from?"

"You mean who unsuccessfully tried to steal first? Well, that's the rub. The guy who wanted the briefcase was someone you'd know in law enforcement - Richie McClure."

Hearing the only other name that had been on his mind the last few weeks, Ned quickly sobered from the light trance she'd kept him edging on.

"You stole...from Richie McClure. Are you shitting me? Do you have any idea how much danger that puts you in?"

"With his reputation, it's hard not to know. I was going to quietly try to leave the acquired items to be found at random, but..."

"But with your reputation, someone figured it out," Ned concluded, watching his criminal mistress act sheepish for the first time ever.

"You really are MissTake, you know that?"

Silently grumbling at the deserved double entente, Kelli eventually responded. "I am aware, which is why I thought it prudent to invest in some security, so I asked you to make an introduction with some honest cops for me, to get something of my own little dedicated secret service for myself started, while I figure my options out."

"Why not just come in, make a statement, get immunity and police protection the normal way?"

"Quite an assumption that I would get immunity, or legitimate police protection when men like McClure could have a few cops in their pockets easy, none of which would appreciate me making statements or standing trial. No thank you, he can have his cops, and I'll have mine." She reached through the bars again to touch his arm, running fingers up the weakening biceps. "And such a good boy you've been, helping me to grow my own private force. They'll all know pleasure in serving me, but not nearly as much as you."

Knowing fingers dragged their nails over his arm, up to his shoulder blade. Past suggestions gave his skin the impression that there was no clothing to mute the rapture her touch brought. The longer she stroked and spoke to him, the more it felt like he was variably naked before her, exposed to MissPlacement in every way possible. "Others serving me will trail behind you in realizing how much pleasure there is to experience from all of my suggestions, and the realities of the addictive nature of my hypnosis."

Kelli could practically feel the shivers and tingles of bliss pulsing across his shoulders and throat.

"A one-time experience is potent enough, but repeat indulgences reshape you, and become habit forming. It becomes that unbreakable habit, feeling it surging in you, coursing through you. That pleasure travels on the same path the sound of my voice does, from your ears, into your brain. My voice cleanses your thoughts, washes it clean, removes any that MissPlacement doesn't believe should be placed there. And a clean mind, saturated with my words, lets my words drip down into the rest of your body. From the forehead, to the face, to the jaw, to the shoulders. Arms, hands, fingers, fingertips tingling. Your chest, your back, your stomach and lower back, tingling. Your hips, your thighs, knees, and legs, sturdy and tingling. Your feet and toes, strong and tingling. You have returned to the relaxed, refreshing reality I have created for you, and you are so grateful to be here."

Caressing his serene, mindlessly-happy face, she appreciated the shape she molded him in multiple ways.

"Not only does my hypnotic control shape you're reality, but you need it to shape what reality is for you. You need me to construct truths, make them vanish, and give you new ones, completely at my whim. Just like you need me to remind you how much you need to be hypnotized by Kelli, how no one brings you more pleasure than her, how you exist to serve Kelli. You feel empty without a fresh dose of hypnosis, and all my little teases make you even more needy than usual. So when I suggest leaning against these cell bars gives you pleasure, there is no question in how you can feel stirring in your pants, as if being stimulated in that special way."

Standing, staring at her slave, Kelli grinned evilly at how Ned believed an extension of herself had sank to the ground, beginning to give her "boyfriend" mind-blowing oral. But they both knew that even physical, sexual touches and simulations were a distant second on the pleasure scale compared to being hypnotized, of no oral being more orgasmic than MissPlacement's lips and tongue dictating his thoughts.

"You need me to remind you of the reality of who is really behind bars, because you were in such a rush once you found me, carting me all the way to the closest jail you could find, that you simply locked up the wrong person. Or perhaps, you knew what you were doing all along, carrying me off to the nearest cell so you could lock yourself up, and keep yourself from ever escaping my control again."

The blinding, hypnotic pleasure eased enough to allow his eyes to find his side of the cell the one for prisoners, and hers for those with the authority to imprison. His law enforcement instincts would've screamed at him for his error, but they screamed in pleasure for following the only law Ned could stand to acknowledge, standing in a dominant pose, watching her slave barely able to remain on his feet, so close to another defining orgasm. 

Kelli's grin growing ever wider and more evil, she proved the reality true by walking away from his cell, free to leave at her leisure, leaving a controlled, eroticized mess. His face contorted, unable to comprehend what would break in him first if left unattended. He nearly cried as he heard footsteps coming back, stepping up to his cell again, gleefully feeding of radiating fear.

"Remind me again, Neddy Bear, whom do you obey?"

"You, Kelli. I obey Kelli. I obey MissPlacement. I obey," he answered in labored, broken breaths.

"Aren't you forgetting one?" Kelli asked, loving the perplexed lack of thought that was his expression.

"Ah, your...MissTake," she playfully hinted.

"My MissTake. I obey MissTake. I obey My MissTake!" Kelli laughed heartily, reaching in Ned's cell to praisingly tap his nose between words again with her middle finger.

"Yes. You. Do."

*SNAP*

His body was controlled enough to understand her loud snap in his face finally allowed the hypnotic release every cell of his body begged for. Ned fell to the floor, exhausted and happy as all of her suggestions continued to saturate and shape his mind during his recovery. Kelli smiled down at the puddle of submission she'd created, cleaning his drool off the wooden bars, thankful that was all that stained it.

***

Looking around the room, Kelli Kennedy felt like taking a bow, wishing there was an audience to congratulate the intricate show she'd directed. The baseball stadium in her reality was no larger than the size of a spacious living room, with Sally and Lou laying asleep and hypnotized on the couch. The game seemed real enough and in-person enough to them as they watched it on the flat screen TV. The concession line and crowd was merely the space behind the couch, close enough that Kelli could keep an eye on all the play's players, as was the "jail" Ned dragged MissPlacement to across the room, consisting only of a foldable wood partition that looked enough like a jail cell. She loved performances like this, making well-conditioned slaves act within seemingly-normal circumstances, able to recapture and further condition their minds, and enjoying the thrill taking them down all over again, even if somewhat pretend.

Truthfully, she'd wished everything she'd said was controlled fiction, but ripping off a man like Richie McClung was unfortunately too real for her tastes. It was real enough that once she knew whom she was dealing with, Kelli started her recruitment of allies early, actually sending Ned to introduce her to some colleagues, Sally and Lou. She walked away from her "boyfriend," doubled over in ecstasy, over to the couch where the newest slaves rested, totally oblivious to the jail scene, barely looking awake themselves. Gently making space between them, Kelli sat between the pair, pretending to watch the game, as the officers pretended to be awake. She pulled out an expensive lighter from her pocket, emblazoned with the shape of Ireland on the front. She was still practicing a new fixation technique, flipping it open and shut and lighting it with the same hand. She was getting better at it, but upon the third try, it still flew from her hand, landing on Sally's lap. She picked it up, cursing herself, but also reminding herself she had to diligently practice to excel at all her tricks. 

Putting the lighter away, she turned in Sally's direction, and began whispering hot, libidinous things in her ear. The spoken words were meant to deepen the trance, but familiar conditioning helped Sally's mind interpret it as enticing, sexual innuendos her erogenous zones fully surrendered to. The game and the rest of reality went away as she was whispered and whipped up into a stupor, silently whimpering and edging towards cumming as she repeated her simple mantra, to eventually be expanded.

"I obey Kelli, I obey Kelli, I obey Kelli..."

As Sally's body was pushed off to fall on the cushions on the arm of the couch, Kelli turned her attention to Lou. Unlike Sally, Kelli regarded Ned's other detective friend with contempt. The first time she met them, she trusted Ned's word that they were straight, lawful arrows, that they could be trusted. It turned out, Ned was half-right, never realizing that his friend had been on McClung's payroll for years. The stage for the stadium and jail illusion was actually Lou Giatti's home, a very nice, pricey house that McClung indirectly helped pay for; Lou was even loaned McClung's divorce lawyer to keep all his money; Ned and Kelly probably never expected McClung's corruption to reach the likes of their friend, just like Lou never expected Kelli's corruption to be powerful enough to get him to reveal his ties to organized crime, and his secret plan to deliver her to Richie the first chance he got.

Looking across the room, she imagined how genuinely-shocked Ned might be to find his long-time friend in bed with mobsters. "You're so adorably-trusting," she cutely chastised him in the past. "Just like I love and programmed you to be."

Kelli whispered commands to Lou similarly to what Sally heard, though with a harsher, dominant bite to them. He felt the same growing arousal as his friends, slipping deeper but plagued by sensations of being restricted in the most uncomfortable of ways. The mental chastity belt completely covered his arousal, chaffing it with every part that succumbed to her influence.

"I obey Kelli, I obey Kelli, I obey Kelli..."

"Yes you do, but unlike Silly Sally, or my Neddy Bear behind bars and held captive, you, dirty little rat, are the one locked up, and suffering great..agony."

The last word gave Lou the impression of sharp, radiating pain in his genitalia, as if kicked by her boots. He reactively crouched and fell off the couch, onto the floor, hoping the pain would go away.

"Wow, Lou, you really look like your dealing with some agony."

Pain racked him again, denying him the pleasure he was still conditioned to seek. Through the groans of pain, he still managed to condition and pledge new allegiance.

"You certainly do obey me. And now, we're going to have a long, probably agonizing talk about Richie McClure..."