Entering a coffee bar mid-day, Alexis waited in line to make her order, knowing she was being looked at from a few other customers nearby. Having red hair like hers always drew attention in nearly every setting, public or private. It helped for those looking for a very talented hypnotist to pick her out of a crowd, like the suited man seated in the middle of the establishment. Martin Boyd, hypnotherapist and organizer of the Kalatravaasa club experience, asked to meet Mistress Alexis in a public setting to talk about club affairs, mere days after her last friendly duel with Dazzling Lady; his stated offer was the only one acceptable, as her own squaring off with another junior organizer to protect her newest submissive Cris, and how she nearly had to rescue a fellow female hypnotist, made her wary of what the experience was supposed to be about. It's what made the redhead show up late, secretly on-time to watch Martin from outside the bar, and see how he'd react to being kept waiting, if he was packing anything fairly obvious that he'd use to entrance, or if any other patrons looked suspicious-enough to be part of a plot she wasn't meant to see coming.

She'd only had one or two small conversations with him, much of that was for club affairs, admiration of one another's reputation and skills, and a flirtatious comment or challenge here and there. Compared to the rest of the dominant club attendee's, Martin rated rather decent, but that didn't mean he was to be trusted yet. Fortunately for him, all she noticed him do was to calmly read some documents she assumed were work-related, and take off a ring that deeply caught someone's eye when light bounced off of it at them; that was enough to make her enter the bar unassumingly, put in her drink order, and "find" Martin patiently waiting for her arrival.

"Martin," she greeted as she approached his table's vacant seat.

"Alexis," he stood up to greet her, extending his hand to shake. She eyed him an intentional second longer before taking it.

"Very gentlemanly of you," she commented, sipping on her coffee as she sat.

"I try. And as I'm hearing, it's less of a case for some of men around the scene," he spoke errantly, reading her negative thoughts.

Instead of looking surprised that he'd bother to say it out loud without preamble, she gave him a stoic, acknowledging stare.

"I should start by apologizing for what you've had to deal with thus far."

"As I'm hearing, it might be more than just me," Alexis clarified, carefully watching his reaction shining more light on the elephant in the room.

"You're right, it's not just you. I was hoping this position wouldn't involve so much policing of the community, but apparently it needs it."

"Honestly Martin, as someone on the receiving end of why the policing is necessary, it has me wondering about this Kalatravaasa as a whole; even to newly-appointed staff like myself, there seems to be a limited amount of information about the whole organization's structure. I know I report to you if I have issues, but I don't know who you report to. I don't even know if you know whom you report to. Even the idea of 'human resources' in all of this so far seems to fall under the heading 'fend for oneself.'"

Shaking his head with eyes closed in understanding, Martin didn't try to correct or clarify anything, signaling agreement. Downing the rest of his coffee like a shot of alcohol, he finally replied.

"You sound like me at the start of joining this; I had questions took a long while to be answered. I know now who I'm working under, but they've made it a point to stay secretive themselves, maybe for a more paranoid reasoning of what keeps our...'niche interests' to ourselves."

"And staff like me isn't privy to that yet," Alexis questioned.

"They're picky about that; all I know is that it's a foreign creator, owner, and investor. My initial guess was some public mogul that took greater steps than most of us would to hide that side of themselves."

Martin's words made enough sense for Alexis to consider his words thoroughly, and continue to listen before levying more criticisms.

"And you might be pleased to know that they're aware of the issue themselves; granted, it would've been really nice to be prepared to meet those issues head-on somehow, but I've been given some authority to help with that, which is partly why I asked you to meet with you today."

An even look of confusion shot across at Martin, who took it with the same amount of understanding as the rest of the conversation.

"A...co-organizational head?"

"In a sense, yes. The title of 'constable' was thrown around, but that's part of it. You'd have nearly as much authority as me as you grow into the same levels of responsibility I have, while making sure the more vulnerable members, hypnotists or subjects, are given more measures of safety."

Without fully knowing how to respond to that right away, Alexis just sat in consideration, surprised that to hear of not only acknowledgment, but a hands-on solution presented to her. Cycling between genuine appreciation and deeper pangs of "too good to be true," she settled on diplomatic.

"I certainly appreciate the offer Martin; I hope you'll give me some time to consider before accepting the offer."

"Wasn't expecting less. I trust your judgment, and hope to hear from you soon about it," Martin said, glancing at his watch, his expression noting that he needed to depart soon, probably back to this therapy practice. The two hypnotists stood up, and wordlessly shook hands once more as he left graciously, leaving Alexis to think about the entire exchange. For the good parts she expected to question, which was most of it, Alexis had to admit Martin's soft sell was effective. He didn't soften the blow of the issue with small talk, didn't avoid the unpleasantness, and set straight to giving explanations he was privy to, and looking for improvements in someone he seemed to trust.

The "trust" issue was the most perplexing; despite their short time knowing one another, the strongest vibe she got from him was his respect and trust of her. It could be just his read on the strength of her character, causing the admiration and knowing she was unlikely to manipulate things on their level. It could've been just compared to the very questionable members sticking out like sore thumbs, like Brian Parker. She wondered how Martin would take to her issuing stern reprimands, or even expulsions; of course, that was if she took the position to begin with.

Convinced she was ready to write-off the Kalatravaasa completely and quiet-quit her duties, now she was left with the consideration of going deeper into it.

"I really was dealing with a hypnotist today," she laughed to herself, as she got up and exited the bar, inadvertently reminding herself of another scheduled appointment.

***

"Why can't this week be over yet?"

"Maybe it'll feel like it when we finally get to her door."

Down the corridor leading to Alexis' apartment, Cris and Stacy walked together toward their Mistress' condo. Weeks before, both women would've balked, or even taken offense to the idea of having any kind of mind-subverting authority over them; circumstances, and the magnetic force calling herself Alexis, changed that quickly. The hypnotist was so unlike what they're idea of a mistress was supposed to be; no BDSM items abound, no typical whips or chains. The only thing that might've qualified was the chain of Alexis' pocket watch, the one item they felt drawn to being attached to, something that made for pleasant daydreams in their day-to-day. She was domineering, but gentle, like a sexy drill sergeant ordering them to feel wonderful, sexy, and worth it with every word; such a relationship made it easy to return every time they were summoned, their pace quickening as soon as the elevator doors opened to her floor.

"God, I could really go for some wine and cheese this weekend," Cris almost giggled, as Stacy shot her a dirty look.

"Will you ever find better material, Cristine?" Stacy chided like an annoyed older sister.

"Will you ever live that down, Claudine?" Cris wheedled at her given French persona.

"Best not to go to war with a Frenchwoman, little girl," Stacy's improving accent for her other persona uttered with flair towards the shorter woman with adorably-short hair.

"And here I thought the French were experts at surrendering," she laughed, until she heard what sounded like more laughter the closer they got to the apartment. The pair looked at each other as they approached the door, before Stacy used the key her Mistress gave her to enter. It sounded like she had company, but how it sounded was weird as they searched her entrance and found no one. Walking to her office, they found Alexis in-front of her computer, smiling as her long-distance subs were in the middle of laughing fits.

Alexis eventually turned to notice the rest of her harem had arrived.

"Ah, my in-person sweets. Come in, join in the fun."

"What...fun?" Stacy asked curiously.

"A bit of an amateur stand-up moment staring your Mistress," the redhead feigned a humble, almost nervous smile.

"Oh, what jokes do you know?"

Her smile turned a hint of wicked as she turned back to the monitor with other faces ready for the next quip.

"What do you call a diminutive psychic recently escaped from prison?"

Silence rang from every recipient as they tried to guess the answer.

"A small medium at large."

Loud laughter erupted from the computer speakers, while Stacy and Cris looked at each other, confused.

"Dad jokes?" Cris giggled.

"I seem to be killing it today," Alexis noted.

"If 'it' is a decent sense of humor," Stacy muttered, pretending to be surprised as Alexis caught her with a strange look.

"I had a happy childhood. My dad used to put me in tires and roll me down hills. Those were Goodyears."

The digital harem was deep in hysterics, while Stacy shook her head. Cris snickered a little.

"Really?" Stacy whispered.

"That one was really decent," Cris admitted.

"How much does a roof cost? Guess it doesn’t matter, it’s on the house."

Cris felt tickled at that one as Stacy wondered why she was being subjected to dad jokes of all the cruelest tortures possible.

"That was a bit stupid," Cris commented.

"They why are you trying not to laugh at it?" Stacy retorted.

"Cinderella was annoyed when her photos hadn’t arrived. She said, 'Someday my prints will come…'"

Cris suddenly stopped trying to hold back the laughter. "Oh god, what's....wrong with....me?" Cris spoke between chuckles.

"At least someone has a good sense of humor," Alexis stuck her tongue out at Stacy, while blowing a kiss to Cris, making her feel tingly all over for a separate reason.

"I don’t like elevators, and l’ve started taking steps to avoid them…"

Cris was laughing like the rest of them, shaking her head as if to convince herself that last one wasn't funny, as Stacy sat confused.

"Yeah, but don’t trust stairs: they’re always up to something," Stacy tried piggybacking off of Alexis' last joke, giving Cris a reprieve as no one but Alexis reacted.

"Good one, Stacy," Alexis praised. "Cris? Survey says..."

"...eh," Cris admitted, looking to Alexis, realization coming into her eyes as her mistress smirked.

"Please no," Cris tried to say, interrupted.

"To the guy who invented zero: thanks for nothing."

Cris' no's were swiftly overruled; it took a few moments for Stacy to put together what was going on, but once the light bulb turned on, she looked at the redhead with her own smirk.

"Diabolical," she commented.

"I don't know what you mean," Alexis' feigned. "I'm a simple joke-teller."

"That's the best joke you've told thus far," Stacy countered.

"Oh really? Knock knock."

Everyone but Stacy, even a very resistant Cris uttered "Who’s there?"

"Hypnotic trigger."

"Hypnotic trigger who………?"

Alexis snapped her fingers "...drops into trance"

Three quarters of the harem faded a bit, before another snap woke them up.

"Knock knock."

"Who’s there," Cris didn't bother trying to resist.

"Invisible Gag."

"MmMmmmMmph Mmph Mmph" was the collective sound in the office, minus Stacy's snickering.

"Good girls," Alexis giggled, the sound and the words created fluttering waves of pleasure in everyone's head.

"A plateau is the highest form of flattery."

Everyone but Stacy was back to laughter.

"I can't wait to hear why these jokes don't affect me."

"Me..too," Cris wheezed, catching her breath.

"I can’t decide if I like pocket watches: the thought keeps going back and forth…"

All the deep breaths taken to resume laughing caught, as a familiar pocket watch flashed in their mental eye. Stacy herself gasped she felt affected by any part of the show for the first time. She looked towards Alexis, catching her "who says it doesn't affect you" smile before her mind pictured the pretty watch that always told her it was time to focus on Mistress.

"Yeah, back and forth...back and forth...back and forth...such a tough decision that renders us decision-less. How can we decide if we can't conclude why we may, or may not, like pocket watches? If we do like them, more than any other object in the world, why is it so hard to decide? Why is it so hard to think? Are we supposed to think if it's too hard for us? Is the decision truly up to us? Or is it in the cards that it's better if we just go with the flow?"

Each woman felt like they were being spoken to individually, Alexis' lips close to their ears, turning questions into sly commands.

"And what if that flow was simply back...and forth? Back...and forth...back...and forth....back....and forth..."

She looked around the room, loving the sight of multiple pairs of eyes staring at a shiny watch just above their eye-level, making tired eyes strain and tire staring at the only thing keep sleepy eyes helplessly open.

"You follow the watch...back...and forth....you follow the motion....back...and forth....you go with the flow...back...and forth...the currents of my words pulling you back....and forth....guiding you back....and forth....stretching your arms out....connecting with another who is drifting back....and forth....hand-in-hand, side-to-side, you all join the swinging watches and bodies moving back....and forth....back....and forth...."

A wicked smile grew wider as Alexis finally put an old idea of hers to use. She'd wondered what would happen if her harem could all be present in-person, joined in a circle, moving like a tribal ritual, in service and worship of their hypnotic mistress. Seeing a collection of women, present and on-screen, move in near-perfect synchronization from left to right, got the redhead very hot. She whispered to them "back...and forth" over and over, silently urging them to whisper in-kind. The more they joined the chorus, the more her hands slipped under her shirt, to caress her bra-less bust, and in her pants, a slickness making it very easy for her fingers to move back and forth.

The chorus was strong, a chant Mistress Alexis felt deep in the center of, absorbing their submission, making her own dominance hotter and hotter, until she involuntarily came. Suppressing it with a stifled moan, she collapsed and sagged onto her office chair, waiting for the sounds to continue or fade as her subjects all floated into a collective trance state.

Her audible giggle interrupted their words, making fluttering in everyone's brain and loins. Forgoing leaving the room to clean herself, Alexis looked over towards a seated Stacy and Cris literally floored from laughter, rocking herself left and right from the floor. She sat next to Stacy to privately whisper her almost fully awake.

"Good girl, Stacy. How did that feel?"

"A-a-amazing," she whispered in a light, but still foggy trance.

"Does it always feel good?"

"A-mmmmmm-a-always," she moaned a shiver.

"Are you still interested in the other side of it? In how I do it?"

"Oooooh yesss."

Stacy had admitted to Alexis, consciously and while deeply under, that the power her Mistress made her look so sexy, and how she dreamed of being that powerful and sexy. But the hypnotist knew what was coming after admitting she wanted it; Alexis' first in-person harem member always second-guessed it when the idea of possessing that power was presented. It was clear how much she wanted it, but was almost afraid, in staunch reality or the wildest dreams, to have it. Determined to give her subs lasting pleasure and making their dreams come true as sexy slaves, Alexis thought of a way to fulfill that dream, and found a convenient compromise to use.

"Good, because we're going to help a part of you learn to possess it. It's a very important part of you, one that represents your freedom, your fortitude and fortune of being mine. You know that part of yourself, Stacy. You can feel it, coming up inside you, rising to the surface, as I say 'éveiller' to you."

Stacy took a deep breath, eyes fluttering gently as she awoke to the French invocation that brought Claudine to the surface.

"And as Claudine comes back to her Mistress, feel the gathered power of the harem bestowed unto Mistress Alexis; feel it in my hands as I grasp yours, placing power allowing me to command and hypnotize, in your hands..."

Light gripping and caressing symbolically pushed the gathered energies of the session into an awakened Claudine's hands, until she came back to herself, affirmed and filled with new purpose.

"Hello, Mistress Alexis," she crooned in a thick, heady accent.

"Hello, Mistress Claudine," Alexis crooned back. "Why don't you help our little friend down there into a more...agreeable state?"

"With pleasure..." the grace of the French maid-turned dominant shined as she lowered herself to where Cris slept in trance, gracing her ear with whispers designed to bring her attention to enough awareness to face the new hypnotist.

"Hello, Cristine," her seductive voice sounded soft and pristinely-penetrating.

"H-hello?" The sleepy woman only half-recognized who was facing her; but how she looked, how she gazed at her with intent, she was facing someone entirely new.

"Do you know what time it is, Cristine?"

"N-no?"

Out of pure instinct, Claudine reached for something in Stacy's pants pockets, pulling a black, silvery pocket watch on a chain for Cris to stare at, right above her eye-line. Rather than giving how she knew how to effectively hold it a second thought, she let what felt like second nature take over.

"When the sun hangs directly above you in the sky, you know what time it is.

"The...sun?" the color of the object confused Cris' subjective thinking.

"Yes, Cristine. The black sun. Soleil Noir," she crooned the named she dubbed her pocket watch, something Alexis never bothered to do with hers. It was fun having Stacy/Claudine pick out a watch for herself to use, and let her mind decide what symbolism her imagination could carve into an induction. Taking cues from experience under Alexis, and the kind of hypnotist she envisioned herself being, the senior hypnotist was happy to watch her junior blossom.

"Soleil Noir, different from the sun you should never look direct at, because it blinds you. Soleil Noir is the sun you cannot look away from, because it blinds you from everything else, leaving you warm, focused, and in deep pleasure. It hangs directly above you, telling you what time it is. It is that time when you should be most awake, but your want to get off your feet, you want to sit or lie down, you want to slip into that forbidden nap that calls to your sleepy head. Everything else tells you to stay awake. Soleil Noir tells you to focus, and feel warm, pleasure, and sleepy. Your eyes want to close, but you cannot take your eyes from my watch," Claudine grinned heartily, feeling the hypnotic power imbued into her making her black watch and her own essence practically magical. Seeing Cris respond to her every word, slackened jaw, unhurried breathing, drooping eyelids always opening back up to stay focused on the watch, Claudine and Stacy were learning how intoxicating it was to be on the giving side of a pocket watch.

"Like the sun, Soleil Noir holds a strong gravitational pull, everything around it is drawn to it, everything else revolves around it. If Soleil Noir were to move, so would you..." Claudine implied, pulling her watch away from Cris' face; her new sub finding her body desperate to follow, Claudine helped Cris to her feet, leading her to the office desk, with Alexis' other subs still present. Claudine sat down in Alexis' chair, making the smaller sub sit on her lap, holding her still as Claudine moved to introduce Soleil Noir to the group. She let it twist by the chain, explaining to everyone else and reminding Cris of the gravity of it, the pull of the watch and her words.

Standing nearby in case assistance was needed, Alexis watched with pride as her pupil showed her budding skills. While she'd set Claudine's first official session with the training wheels on via working with an already-entranced audience, she was getting a feel for how deep they could go, and how every little thing about her would help even the most awake mind arrive at the destined state she wanted them in. She loved how she weaved more French terms into her induction of the group.

"You must listen...you must écouter. Écouter means you must listen to Mistress Claudine."

"You must obey...you must obéir. Obéir means you must obey Mistress Claudine's commands."

"You are hypnotized...you are hypnotisé. Hypnotisé means you are hypnotized, and under Mistress Claudine's control."

"Just as you listen, obey, and become hypnotized for our Mistress Alexis, you écouter, you obéir, you are hypnotisé for Mistress Claudine."

The French terms themselves sounded close enough to their English counterparts to understand, but they held distinctly-deeper meaning when Claudine spoke them, and showed any of the Soleil Noir to emphasize her control, whenever necessary.

Eventually everyone was awake, and Cris wondered why she was sitting in the taller woman's lap, mostly perplexed by why she felt no need to move. It was only when a familiar word in French got Cris to kneel on the floor next to her chair without complain or thinking hard about it. And as if the session had not been paused at all, Claudine took over from where Alexis left them.

"Why did the lady fall down the well?" The Frenchwoman asked with more interest than reluctance in the joys of dad jokes all of a sudden.

"She didn’t see that well…"

The eruption of laughter helped to get a few laughs that slowly turned into everyone laughing.

"Why didn't Barbie get pregnant?"

Alexis wondered the answer to that herself...

"Ken came in a different box"

...before she roared in laughter too.

***

"I cannot believe you pulled that off," Stacy told Alexis after the session was officially over, still feeling the residual effect of being the dominant, letting Claudine be a close reminder of what she could be on her own.

"I didn't do as much as you think; you showed me, showed everyone how much you wanted this. Needless to say, you convinced them all," Alexis praised.

"Even you?" Stacy teased, pulling out the black pocket watch out of her pocket begin to swing it in Alexis' face, presenting her Mistress with a friendly offer.

Alexis giggled, throwing her off-balance. "You convinced me more than anyone, your deep understanding of the trance state. Inflicting it, and becoming one with it," teasing with a gentle push off the watch's cool surface against her forehead, something about it turned Claudine and Stacy into a momentarily blank slate.

"And don't worry, there's still so much to learn..."

***

It was a little after everyone had departed, when a call notification came up on Alexis' computers; recognizing it as one of her regulars, she answered the call.

"Hey Melanie. Everything going alright?"

"Fine, mostly fine," he greeted, sounding hesitant.

"Why 'mostly' fine? Something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. It's more...weird predicament, and something you should probably know about."

"Okay..." Alexis let Melanie carefully find the words she was looking for.

"You know my line of work is like non-stop traveling, like every other week or weekend."

"Right, makes these glad remote hypnosis sessions are a thing."

"Makes me super glad, but...do you remember that recording you gave the group for relaxation?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"Well..." Melanie's blushing somewhat worried Alexis, but made her curiosity skyrocket. "I work closely with some pretty important clients. Celebrities really, which is why I've been vague about my profession to date. Long story short, one of my clients got to your file on my player somehow, and enjoyed it. Like, really enjoyed it. I told them it was something private from a friend, and they seemed understanding about it, but I imagine they made a copy for themselves. I really apologize on this, Mistress. I should've been much more careful when it came to that."

"It's no issue at all, it doesn't sound like your fault; and flattered that someone else enjoyed my work that much."

"Enjoyed might be underselling it; there are subtle indicators there, but your recording might've pushed some...kink buttons she didn't know she had."

"Oh really? And dare I ask who this new admirer might be?"

Melanie relented one last time, before blurting the name out that had Alexis shocked, amongst grinning, giggling, and planning a proper, future introduction.