A soft chime signaled the end of the lunch break. Meredith blinked, but remained in a trance. She was happier than ever now that she had found her place.

“This was fun, but duty calls,” Mistress Susan purred. “Meredith, I want you to float in bliss for as long as you want or need. There are a lot of things I’d love to explore with you, but they’ll have to wait until the seminar is over. You don’t mind waiting, do you, pet?”

“I’ll wait for as long as it takes,” Meredith replied, in utter submission, and the other women sitting at the table approved.

“I know you will. You’re such a good and loyal subject, after all. Always mine,” Mistress Susan declared.

“Always yours.”

The scraping of chairs and murmur of conversation filled the room as attendees began moving. Meredith felt herself drifting and moved automatically, following the subtle guidance of Mistress Susan’s hand on her elbow.

Ava and Rachel fell into step beside them, their conversation a distant buzz that Meredith barely registered. Her entire awareness centered on the light touch of Mistress Susan’s fingers, which seemed to conduct her movements like an invisible string.

Ahead, the conference room door waited. Meredith noticed Dominic already waiting there. She moved without thinking, her body weightless yet perfectly controlled.

Susan’s voice came low and close. “Stay present, but remain soft for me. You’re doing great.”

The words sent a pleasant shiver through Meredith’s nervous system. She followed, each step precise yet dreamlike, her mind floating in that exquisite space between command and compliance.

As they entered the conference room, the ambient temperature seemed to shift. Cool air kissed her skin, bringing a subtle awareness that made her hyper-attentive to Mistress Susan’s proximity. She belonged to this woman. She needed to obey her.

Mistress Susan left her pet on her chair, accompanied by the other two women, who were to monitor her reactions and help her out throughout the afternoon, if need be. One by one, people returned to their seats, eager to see what was about to transpire.

Mistress Susan waited for the room to fill up again, and her fingers tapped the podium, drawing the scattered attention of everyone present.

“I hope you had a wonderful lunch,” she began. “Now that your bodies are full, it’s time to nourish your minds once again, and I’ve got just the thing that will leave you hanging and begging for more (if you like that sort of dynamic, that is).

Laughter drifted across the room from dominants and submissives alike, all united in the name of fun.

“Let’s discuss something playful,” Mistress Susan announced, her voice carrying that same hypnotic undertone that had dismantled Meredith moments before. “Consensual power dynamics can be quite amusing when approached with creativity.”

The hypnodomme’s fingers danced across the presentation remote, bringing up a slide titled “Playful Protocols: Consensual Mind Games in D/s Dynamics.”

A series of images followed, showing various props: a rubber chicken, a feather duster, a set of oversized novelty handcuffs.

“Humor disrupts psychological barriers,” Mistress Susan continued. “When someone is laughing, they’re more susceptible to suggestion. Imagine being restrained while something absurdly ticklish happens - your rational mind becomes  confused, ready for the taking.”

Ava let out a low chuckle as if remembering an experience where that had happened. Rachel joined her: they had more in common than they thought.

Mistress Susan’s gaze swept the room, settling on Meredith, who sat still. “Let me tell you about Tommy,” she said with a mischievous glint. “A delightful subject who once challenged me to create the most ridiculous hypnotic scenario possible. I love a good challenge, so I humored him.”

Her fingers traced an invisible pattern on the podium. “We established a trigger where, upon hearing the word ‘platypus’, he would immediately start tap dancing while reciting Shakespeare sonnets - but only in pig Latin.”

Soft chuckles rippled through the audience. They were already captivated.

“The first time I used the trigger was at a dinner party,” Mistress Susan continued, “Tommy launched into a perfect tap routine, declaring ‘Ouldway ouyay oveway emay?’ from Sonnet 43 - all while wearing a three-piece suit and looking as serious as anyone can be. It was quite something, I tell you!”

Rachel nudged Ava, who was struggling to contain her laughter. The room buzzed with appreciative murmurs.

“Consent and humor,” Mistress Susan emphasized, “can create the most extraordinary experiences. And that’s what we’ll be exploring now. I want to play some more games with you and show you how you can play them too, in a safe and sane manner. As always, I’ll be needing a volunteer, preferably someone who’s okay with a bit of humiliation and embarrassment. Who’s it going to be?”

Meredith was out of the question, and so were Ava and Rachel, who already had their turn. Dominic didn’t seem to want to play along either, so who could it be?

She continued scanning the audience until she spotted Jack Reynolds and Elena Rodriguez again, the two people Meredith had introduced her to right before the grand opening. They had been watching the proceedings unfold with great interest and seemed genuinely excited to take the leap. Would they, or was that just wishful thinking?

More potential candidates popped up in her field of view. Near the back, a woman with auburn hair twisted a strand between her fingers, her posture rigid yet wavering. Beside her, a lanky man in a rumpled blue shirt kept adjusting his glasses, darting glances toward Mistress Susan and then immediately looking away.

Two rows from the front, a couple sat with matching hesitation. The woman’s hand rested on her partner’s knee, a subtle anchor of support. Their bodies leaned toward each other, communicating without words that they were intrigued yet apprehensive.

Mistress Susan’s challenge hung in the air until a hand shot upward, declaring its intent to play.

From her position, Meredith couldn’t immediately see who had volunteered, but was ready to be surprised. Mistress Susan clapped and purred,

“Excellent. Please join me, so we can have some fun.”