The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“Hey Annie, did you see this?” Sunny asked, sounding a bit like a seven-year-old on Christmas morning. She was standing at the bulletin board, looking at a poster of some sort.

Annie and Sunny were alone in the main lobby. The lights were dim, the blinds were down. No one was managing the admissions desk, and the large screens on the walls which were normally displaying scores for previous games, or times for upcoming games, or notes about future events, or advertising for local businesses, were shut down and dark.

If not for that, Annie suspected that even Altered, she wouldn’t have had the courage to come out here, naked from the waist down. Even though her long shirt dangled past her hips, she still would have been deeply uncomfortable with the idea of just anyone walking by able to see her like that. She still gave an occasional nervous glance towards the locked main door, despite knowing that it wasn’t going to open.

Sunny, completely nude, showed no such nerves. She’d even left her footwear behind (“Hey, I lost, I should have something to take off.") and was in the buff, head to toe. Annie admired that sort of fearlessness—Sunny always seemed that way, but magnified by Alteration, she was like a force of nature.

Annie walked over to where Sunny was standing, and looked at what the small woman was looking at. “’Altered LARP Society,’” she said, reading the poster. “Huh.”

“Isn’t that amazing?” Sunny said. “I’d be all over that!“

“The next meet is next week,” Annie pointed out. “We’ll be kinda busy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sunny replied, “and look at the cost, I can’t put that out.”

Annie let out a low whistle. “They must be doing what Sam did, booking out the whole place.”

“That’s why it’s an ‘estimated cost,’ ’cause the more people they get the cheaper it’ll be. Uh, per person. The whole bulk buy thing, like when there’s a block of hotel rooms for a con.”

Annie nodded. “Makes sense. Also why you gotta pre-book. Hey, maybe they have a monthly get-together or something? You could call them.”

“I’ll do that!” Sunny patted her hips, reached behind her back, put her hands on her belly. “Uh, I don’t seem to have a pen on me,” she said with a grin.

Annie laughed at that. “How ’bout we ask Liss or Tanya to make you a copy of the poster? They must have a copy machine, or maybe a scanner so they can email it to you.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Sunny grinned. “I’m gonna keep looking around out here, I wanna check out the old game machines in the corner.”

“Sure, sure, just don’t break anything. If I see Liss or Tanya, I’ll ask about the poster for you.” Annie refused to remind Sunny not to play with blinds, because that would’ve been a surefire way to tempt her into doing just that.

“Sounds good. Stay warm!” Sunny wandered off to the far corner of the lobby, where there were several vending machines, a small confectionary (closed, at the moment, although that’s where Tanya got their drinks earlier), and several arcade machines spanning generations, from one of those cabinets with something like five thousand ancient retro games on it, to the stuff her parents played like Silver Bow and Temporal Emergency XVII, to the abstract modern classic Cerulean.

Annie’s eyes wandered over the bulletin board. Weren’t a lot of paper ads around these days; most of the big players did everything electronically, through PushPush or inDraw or something like it. It actually felt a little odd, to see advertising that was so untargeted. Papers were used by groups that wanted to reach out but didn’t have the money for direct advertising—locals, community groups, small-timers. That meant that someone taking the time to make a poster and put it up in a place like this was noteworthy. No one was going to waste their time putting up random posters in random places, not with the cost of paper.

Most of the calls were Alteration-related. There were a couple ads like the one for that ALARP group; a local club was having an Alter night, probably renting a system to hypnotize the dancers; introduction to Alterations classes, for those who wanted to learn; the Third Annual Alteration-In-Film Festival. Annie took note of a poster for a weekly pick-up soccer game. Just... normal soccer, in the park, Wednesday evenings. It sounded nice.

She could ask Laine to go with her. That sounded nice, too.

Sunny made some thrilled exclamation about some game she’d found in the multi-program cabinet. She can have fun on her own, Annie decided, and wandered back to the waiting room.

Annie often felt like the designated adult of the group, and it didn’t help that among her friends only Sam was actually older. It was a role that Annie fell into fairly naturally, a role she had fallen into naturally since she was the strongest kid on the playground, since she stood up for her classmates against a verbally abusive teacher, since she argued against unsafe and downright illegal working conditions at her first restaurant job. She liked being mama-bear. Never went out of her way looking for a fight, but was certainly quick to accept one when challenged.

She scanned the room. Annie’s eyes picked out Laine immediately. She and Scarlett were sitting by the blue team’s entrance to the arena, talking in low tones. Their backs were to her, but it looked like an intimate moment that she didn’t want to disturb. They’d known each other longer than she’d known either of them, anyway, and it seemed from the start of the last game that they had something to discuss.

On the other side of the room, Fatin was leaned back comfortably, chatting with Athena who was similarly arrayed; both their feet were propped up on a chair between them. The scene looked like a normal chat, except that Athena was only wearing a pair of lacy underpants, and Fatin was completely nude.

Nearby, Sam was sitting in one of the Alter chairs, eyes closed, looking like she was having herself an evening nap. Annie bit back a swell of jealousy, not at Sam specifically, and not at Mel, certainly, but at the two of them, at the partnership. Sam and Mel were so... so happy together, happy enough to promise themselves to one another for life. It was some that Annie hadn’t managed, despite years of trying; her longest relationship was all of three months.

It was almost enough to make her try men. It seemed to work for Sam. And Chere, for that matter, even though her relationships were often no longer than Annie’s. And it certainly worked for Athena, and Laine, and Fatin... Annie shook her head. No point in those thoughts, she was how she was.

She looked back to Sam. The Alter system was presently offline, as far as Annie could tell, but it wasn’t hard to imagine Sam in that same position with soft music and softer subliminals coming in over the speakers in the headrest.

It wasn’t unpleasant to imagine that, either.

Which was odd. Annie had been here plenty of times, had spent a good deal of time being Altered, and she’d never thought about Alteration as anything more than a means to an end, not really. But seeing Sam there, and thinking about Sam having been there earlier, being Altered, changed, programmed... Annie wasn’t sure what she felt about that.

Annie wasn’t sure how much of that uncertainty was her own, either. Alteration could do some weird things to your head. But sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and the flow was telling her that she wasn’t sure what she felt about imagining Sam in an Alter-state hypnotic trance.

But she did feel something.

Annie listed her friends in her mind. Sunny, playing at the arcade. Sam, napping. Athena and Fatin, and Laine and Scarlett, chatting. Tanya in the arena, Liss in the party room. And Chere? Annie looked around. No sign of the older twin. She’d thought that Chere would be hanging around Scarlett, the way the two of them were looking at one another, talking to one another.

Annie wondered briefly if she and Laine were as obvious. She didn’t think they were—Hell, she was having trouble figuring out if Laine returned her interest at all, not to mention just how deep her own interest actually ran. “It was the Alterations, Laine,” she’d said. “That’s all. They’re in our heads.”

But she really couldn’t be sure of that. That was part of the deal, the price of admission for playing with Alterations. As much as the illusion could feel real, the real could start to get illusory.

Illusions, though, were for another time. Annie’s protective instincts made her want to know where Chere was, so she slipped quietly through the waiting room and made her way to the small space set aside for parties. They hadn’t made much use of it, since they had the whole building to themselves, but that was where the best place was for serving dessert. Pizza and drinks were easy enough in the waiting room, but apparently dessert was something more elaborate.

Annie quietly opened the door, and was about to call out when she heard Liss’ soft, accented voice. She stayed in the doorway, listening.

“... have no reason to worry about it,” Liss was saying, her back to the door.

“No reason to worry,” Chere repeated. She was hidden from Annie’s view by Liss’ body, but her voice sounded odd, flat.

Hypnotized.

“You know you’re safe with us. So you know anything Tanya did...” Liss paused.

“... she did for the good of the game,” Chere finished, still in monotone.

What was going on? Had Liss or Tanya (or both) done something to Chere? Or to the others? To her? Annie’s hackles rose, her instincts pushing her to move, but she held her ground; she didn’t want to go rushing in without understanding. She listened for more.

“And if Tanya chose not to act, that, too...”

“... she did for the good of the game.”

What did Tanya do? Or not do? Annie’s hands clenched into fists.

“And the status of your sister, being ‘out’ for the final game, that is something you shouldn’t worry about until that game, do you understand?”

“I understand.”

“It will be fun for you, and for her, and for everyone else here, do you understand?”

“I understand.”

Annie stayed in the shadows near the door. She had come in to the middle of something, that much was evident. She just didn’t know what, and she didn’t want to just go charging in. She didn’t think she could, given the twisting knot in her stomach and the shaking of her legs. Clearly, though, it had to do with Sunny, which gave Annie someone else to ask about it.

“In a moment you’re going to wake up, and you can leave all these questions behind you...”

Annie took that as her cue to slip back into the waiting room as quietly as possible. She didn’t know what Liss might be able to do to her, if she was caught eavesdropping—or maybe more accurately, she didn’t know what Liss couldn’t do to her. She didn’t remember what had been agreed to when they came to the party, not really; she suspected that not one of them fully recalled what had been discussed at the meeting at Sunny’s little apartment. Maybe Sam might, but then, she was resting. That meant going back and talking to Sunny, if she wanted any clue to the mystery that wasn’t going to leave her vulnerable.

As she was walking back to the lobby, Annie felt a presence at her side. “Hey.” Laine’s soft voice made its way to her ears.

Annie stopped in her purposeful walk, smiled, and turned to face her friend. “Hey, Laine. What is it?” She couldn’t help her eyes flicking downward to glance at the round woman’s pale breasts. Memories flooded back of euphoria, of kneeling in the maze over Chere and kissing, stroking, fondling...

“It’s... it’s nothing, I just want to go with you. Can I?” There was an endearing note of nervousness in Laine’s voice, and a cute flush in her cheeks.

That flush made Annie think of cherries, and she remembered the taste of Laine’s lips. “Uh, sure.” Annie nodded, trying to keep focused on the task at hand. “I was just going out to the lobby to talk with Sunny.”

“Sounds good,” Laine replied, putting her hand into Annie’s. The gesture was almost casual, almost natural. But with these Alters, she couldn’t be sure if it really was, or...

Laine squeezed her hand. And quite naturally, Annie squeezed back.

“I want to talk to you, too,” Laine said. She squeezed Annie’s hand again. “W-when you’re done talking to Sunny.”

“Well, I think you could be a part of the talk with Sunny. Maybe even should.”

The two of them walked past Sam, softly snoring, and back out to the main lobby. Sunny was still standing among the arcade machines, fiddling with controls, her back to the pair and her face lit with the unmistakably eerie glow of an old tube screen. Strange noises from the game filled the lobby, their only competition being Sunny’s occasional exclamations.

Of course Sunny would find the oldest game she could. And judging from the sounds, it was something alien-related, too. And speaking of aliens… A thought occurred to Annie, and she squeezed her friend’s hand. “Laine,” she said, “do you think they could have wired Alter triggers up to those old games?“

“Er,” Laine began. “Well. They could, but probably not legally, not without a warning label on them or something, and someone to supervise them.“

Annie nodded. “Alright, so it’s probably not hypnotic.”

Laine grinned. “I didn’t say that. First, anything an be set up to be a trigger, right? And there’s definitely something powerful about some of those games...”

Annie rolled her eyes and matched Laine’s grin. “You’d know more’n I would.”

“Hey, I’m into the modern stuff; Sunny’s the history geek,” Laine clarified, squeezing Annie’s hand again. “What do you need to talk to her about?”

Another excited whoop came from the naked woman in the corner, which brightened both Annie and Laine’s smiles. “At least that’s fun to hear,” Annie said. “But yeah. I just saw Liss hypnotizing Chere, and I want to ask Sunny about something.“

“You saw...” Laine paused, clearly trying to process that statement. “You saw Liss hypnotizing Chere?“

Annie nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“Could you see Chere?” Laine asked.

“No, but I heard her.”

Laine shook her head. “I don’t doubt that it was Chere, but could you see if she had her visor on? Or did Liss have the tablet?”

Annie bit her lip, thinking, reconstructing the scene in her mind. “They were facing each other, Liss’ back was to me, so... no, couldn’t see.”

Laine nodded, closed her eyes. “Anything can be set up to be a trigger,” she repeated.

“So there’s...”

“Words. A staff override.”

Staff override. Something about that phrase rang in Annie’s mind, but somehow they sounded ... wrong. Because Laine isn’t staff. Okay, sure, that makes sense.

“I figure it’s mostly a way to get around mental glitches,” Laine was saying. “If some Alter suggestion gets stuck in someone’s mind, or someone has a bad reaction to something, it’s a quick way to help get those problems fixed.”

“But someone who knew what they were doing, someone like Liss...”

Laine nodded. “Or Tanya, yeah. Could use it for just about anything.”

“Tanya. Huh.” Annie frowned, thinking. “Liss would say, ‘anything Tanya did,’ and Chere kept answering, ‘she did for the good of the game.’”

Laine blushed. “I-I’m, ah, I’m s-sure it’s nothing.”

Annie’s frown deepened. “Alright, Laine, you know more than you’re telling, too.”

From the arcade, a crashing noise and a loud, “Awwwww crap!” drew their attention. Laine quickly grabbed Annie’s hand and pulled her back toward the waiting room.

“Not here, please,” she whispered, grabbing Annie’s hand. “Come with me. I’ll tell you. Alone.”

Annie nodded and moved with Laine, leaving Sunny by herself again. The two of them went back into the waiting room and past Sam, who was still lounging in the chair, eyes closed. No one else was around. Laine gave Sam a quick, nervous glance, then led Annie by the hand through the main staff entrance door into the arena.

“Are we allowed to...” Annie asked as Laine yanked the door open.

“Don’t care.” Breathless, Laine pushed Annie inside.

The maze looked very different with all the lights up, and when not being viewed through a visor, Annie noted. The walls looked flat and dull, the soft floor was a strange color, everything looked harshly bright thanks to the overhead LEDs that they hadn’t had turned on even when the matches were over.

Annie recalled the moment when those overhead lights had come on, like spotlights, when she and Laine were wrapped in an awkward embrace after their equipment had tangled together. She swallowed and ran a hand over her bare scalp.

Laine quickly walked with Annie into a corner. “Okay. Uh. Um.” She swallowed.

Annie put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Laine, I’m here.”

Laine took a deep breath. “Okay. Tanya and I. When you were doing the abduction game. She. We. Um.”

Annie waited patiently as Laine got redder. The knot in her stomach twisted a little tighter, while she waited for the sentence to end.

And the words came out in a tumble. “She used the staff override on me and I watched you all playing from the back room that they have and was touching myself and Tanya was in my head the whole time.”

Annie winced, her thoughts racing as fast as Laine’s words. “Did she...”

Laine stopped her with four words, fast but unerringly calm. “I wanted her to.”

Annie blinked. “What?”

“I wanted her to do it,” Laine reiterated, then put a hand to her forehead and groaned. “Oh, Annie, sorry to just blurt this all out, but I wanted her to do it to me. I wanted her to do a lot more to me, too.”

Annie nodded, shifting uncomfortably. Too many possibilities. “Are you sure that it’s you that...“

“Yes.” Laine interrupted, dead serious. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m sure. There’s no question in my mind that she didn’t put the idea in my head.”

Annie was unconvinced, and she knew it showed on her face. “But being Altered...”

“I study this stuff, Annie, every day. I’ve done a ton of research, I’m this close to being certified, I’ve had people in the chair with my uncle’s supervision. I’ve been under more times than I can count. I know the difference, okay? I know.”

Annie nodded. “Okay. I trust you.”

“Good.” Laine let out a sigh, a puff of air. She seemed to deflate a little, and her serious look became a smile. “Because. That has to do with the rest. I think, anyway.”

“With the rest of...?”

“Uh... Chere. Sunny. Liss. All that.”

Annie nodded, and was about to say something when the two of them heard a loud thump and a soft moan. Annie put a finger to her lips. Laine nodded. Annie pointed back to the waiting room, an eyebrow raised in a silent question. Laine shook her head and pointed to the corner, then tapped her wrist. I’ll wait here, she was saying. Annie nodded again, turning to go investigate.

The sound of fast footfalls greeted her as she came up to a corner. Annie listened, tried to determine where they were going. She was a bit wary of being caught, unsure if they were allowed to be in the maze at all, so she headed forward stealthily.

She heard a giggle. No, two giggles. And then silence.

Then she heard a single word.

“Freeze.”

That was Scarlett’s voice.

Annie poked her head around a corner, carefully. She saw, a short distance away, a wild tangle of red hair, a slight, bony back, a cute flat backside, the muscular legs of a runner, and white socks and shoes; that could only be Chere. She was standing with her hands on her hips, and very definitely not moving.

Scarlett stood in front of Chere, bending down, stroking the twin’s cheek, running her hands over Chere’s unmoving arms. The tall sports star knelt, and Annie saw hands reach around and grasp Chere’s bottom. She could hear the slight wet sound of lips on skin, and could imagine, based on their height difference, just where Scarlett was kissing. Annie’s fingers pressed almost unconsciously between her breasts where she imagined that contact.

Annie was about to leave, when she heard Scarlett speak again. “Un-freeze.”

Chere’s arms moved immediately to Scarlett’s shoulders and she laughed softly. “I want you to be the one to program me next time,” she said.

“Hey, Tanya did a great job,” Scarlett replied. “Maybe we can just have her do it.”

“We could,” Chere muttered, stepping closer still, “but I still w—“

“Freeze.”

Chere went silent, stopped moving.

Annie, feeling like she was intruding, turned back, and nearly ran right into Tanya coming around a corner.

“Hello Annie,” Tanya said, looking honestly surprised. She was holding a small toolbag in her left hand and a familiar tablet in her right. “What are you doing here?”

Annie figured that honesty was the best policy. “Laine wanted to talk about something, wanted to be alone. We heard a noise, so I went to check on it.”

Tanya nodded and grinned. Unnervingly. “And...?”

Annie paused. “What are you doing to us, Tanya?”

The Alterist shook her head. “I’m just trying to get the maze set up for the final game.”

“Oh, come on!” Annie hissed, not wanting to disturb Scarlett and Chere. She hated all this evasiveness, her own as much as everyone else’s, but right now she really despised Tanya’s dodge. “Laine told me about what was going on during the Abduction game. Chere just said that you programmed her for Scarlett, and I heard Chere talking with Liss earlier about something you did.”

Tanya nodded, unfazed. “Walk with me a bit?”

Annie gave a quick huff, calming down. “Yeah, alright. I just want some answers.” She knew that Tanya could be trusted.

Annie wondered how, exactly, she knew that. Why did her mental voice tell her that so insistently?

“Mhmm.” Tanya’s voice brought her back from that thought. “I suppose it’s okay if Laine told you already.” The two of them started walking through the maze. Tanya’s eyes flipped down to the tablet and she turned, leading Annie down a new path. “When you captured Sunny in Abduction and sent her out of the game, I was with Laine in the observation room. Laine didn’t want the rest of you knowing what was going on, so I put Sunny in a trance to let Laine clean up.” They stopped in a corner. Tanya made a few adjustments on the tablet, and the wall in front of them promptly slid down into the floor. Annie nodded, impressed.

“Then, later,” Tanya continued, “Liss made a small change to Sunny’s memories, making her ‘remember’ that Laine had been in the room when she returned from being ‘Abducted.’” Another couple quick taps, and, with a soft hum, a wall began to rise, moving much more slowly than the one which had disappeared earlier. She looked up at Annie. “Normally I’d change these from the control room, but can’t do that while there are people in the maze. Gotta make sure no one’s gonna get hurt. Liability, right?”

Annie nodded, wondering at the damage a moving wall might do to someone. She shook her head, trying to get back on topic. “Right. So. Liss screwed up Sunny’s memory, and...”

“... and she didn’t catch a conflict,” Tanya replied, tapping at the tablet. “It happens. Anyway, that little glitch caused Sunny to start getting a bit strange.”

“Yeah, Laine said something like that.”

Tanya nodded. “She’s observant, that girl. But so am I.” She turned to face Annie. “I see where your eyes go. And hers.”

“W-what do you mean?” Annie stammered, taken aback.

“It’s not me she wants, Annie.” Tanya closed the gap between them. “And I think that want is reciprocated. What she wanted from me was a chance to be hypnotized. What she wants from you...“

“... is different,” Annie breathed.

“I have closed-circuit cameras, Annie. I saw what was going on before you all piled up in a pyramid.”

Annie waved it off dismissively. “Suggestions. Euphoria.” Hollow protests, and she knew it.

Tanya nodded. “Yep. But you two still chose how to interpret them. You found a way for the two of you to get together.”

Annie’s cheeks burned, her skin tingled with the memory of that touch. “It’s all just in our heads though, Tanya. Just the Alters.”

“Sure, Annie. But,” Tanya grinned, “that’s how it is for people who aren’t Altered, too. Just in their heads.”

Annie paused, allowed herself a moment to think, maybe to hope. Then she shook her head. “No, she’s just... she’s confused... I’m just a friend...”

Tanya pulled a little tube of lotion out of her bag. “Trust me,” Tanya said. “Hold out your hand.” Annie did, confused, as Tanya flipped the top on the moisturizer. “Some girls just love having someone to protect them.” The Alterist squeezed out a bit of cream into Annie’s hands. “So go be her...” she chuckled, “Her black knight.”

Annie couldn’t keep a hint of a sardonic grin from her face. “What do I do with this?” she asked, nodding to the lotion in her palm.

“Rub it on your hands. It’s moisturizer. Has Laine also told you that anything can be set up to be a trigger?”

Annie started coating her fingers with the lotion. It felt nice. Some sort of citrusy scent reached her nostrils, mixed with something floral. Not what she was used to using, but it was alright. “She’s been saying that, but I don’t see...”

Tanya wordlessly held up the tablet, screen facing Annie, a mysterious smile on her face.

Annie blinked.

Tanya was gone. The maze had shifted—

no, it was shifting—

no, she was walking.

Okay. New situation. Tanya had been talking about triggers, then showed her something, and now she was walking back to...

Laine, sitting on the floor in the corner where she’d been left.

“Everything okay?” Laine asked quietly as Annie approached. Her eyes darted past her friend, but then moved quickly back to meet the black woman’s eyes.

Annie nodded. “Nothing to worry about. But I did have a little chat with Tanya.” She sat down beside her friend.

Laine swallowed. “You did? Did it go well?”

“Yeah.” Annie blinked. Wow, I do stare at her boobs. “Uh, well, she explained things to me, anyway, and you guessed right about Sunny having an Alter glitch.“

Laine nodded. She took a deep breath. “Do you... are you wearing perfume?”

“Huh?” Annie blinked. Was she? It wasn’t something that she usually did. “No, Tanya gave me this scented hand lotion.”

She lifted her hand to brush Laine’s cheek. She hadn’t meant to do that. Not that it was a bad gesture, it was fine, and the feel of the chubby girl’s soft cheek on the backs of her fingers was quite nice, but she’d done it entirely without thinking, barely aware of the movement at all.

The effect on Laine, though, was electric. Her eyes widened. A crooked smile bloomed on her lips. She took a slow, deep breath. “Lemon,” she said, her voice dreamy. “Lavender.”

“Laine? Are you alright?”

There was a pause. “Uh huh.” Laine sounded positively stoned.

Anything can be set up to be a trigger. “Laine... are you hypnotized?“

Laine turned her head ponderously toward Annie. Her eyes were unfocused. “Yeah,” she answered, smiling.

“Did you want to be?” Annie’s breath caught. What was she hoping for, for an answer?

After a moment, Laine nodded. “Didn’t know you could,” she slurred. Her eyes had gone half-lidded, and her smile was wide and bright. She was weaving where she sat.

Despite herself, Annie chuckled. “Didn’t know I could either, Laine.”

“It’s the...” Laine pressed her cheek into Annie’s still-upraised hand and inhaled deeply. “It’s that.”

My hand? No... the lotion. The scent. “Lemon and lavender, you said?“

Laine sighed happily. “Uh huh.” She inhaled again.

Liiittle creepy there. Despite that thought, Annie didn’t remove her hand. Didn’t want to remove her hand, seeing the effect it was having on Laine. “I’ll have to ask Tanya where she got it.“

“Oh,” Laine said, something like hope and joy shining in her eyes as they rose to meet Annie’s, “Would you? Please?”

“Would you like that, Laine?” Annie asked. “If I could hypnotize you any time I wanted?”

Laine tried to nod, but only wound up mashing her face into Annie’s hand. “Mrph,” she said, taking a deep breath, with her nose pushed right into Annie’s palm.

Finally Annie moved her hand, to brush through Laine’s dirty-blonde hair. “Why do you want me to hypnotize you, hon?”

Laine’s eyes closed and she leaned back against the wall. “Love you,” she murmured.

“Yeah, I love you too, Laine.” Annie chuckled; she’d dealt with stoners before, and this wasn’t so different.

Laine shook her head slowly. Her eyes opened, and she again looked Annie right in the eye. Clear as day. “No. Love you.”

Oh.

“Is that why you kept looking at my legs.” Not a question.

“Mhmm.” Laine’s gaze was steady, despite still being unfocused. “Same reason you stare.”

Annie’s gaze dropped at the suggestion, taking in Laine’s bare chest, sweeping over those ample curves and lovely breasts before moving back up to see Laine’s smug smile. “Toldya.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess I look a bit...”

A surprising burst of clarity came over Laine’s expression. “I’m nothing special to see,” she said, apparently fighting through the fog in her mind. “I’m not pretty. I’m not fun, or fancy, or an athlete. I’m smart, and I’m percep... obser...” The word was too much for her. “I see things. No, shut up,” she cut Annie off before the black woman could speak. “I see things. And I know I’m nothing special. But. When you look at me... that’s not what you see.”

“Laine, I don’t know what you—”

“You think I’m cute, even though I’m fat,” she started. “You take me out, even though I’m ’mmbarrassing.”

“You’re not—”

“Shut up!” Laine giggled. “I’m trying to confess here. And convince you.”

“Convince me?”

“That you love me, silly.” Laine closed her eyes and leaned back again, pushing her breasts upward. “Why else d’you protect me?”

Annie sputtered. “I keep my friends safe!”

“Then maybe ’s’not love, love.” Laine’s fingers slid up and down the outsides of her thighs, pressing her skirt against her legs. She didn’t seem terribly disappointed by the possibility. “But you do wanna fuck me.“

“Well yeah. Course I do.” Wait, what am I saying? “But that’s not why I try to keep you safe!“

“Don’t care.” Laine’s fingers gripped the sides of her skirt as they played, pulling the hem upward inch by inch. The way she leaned back, the way her eyes were closed, the dazed expression on her face, all suggested that the movement was innocent, maybe even incidental. The way she said, “There’s nothing under...” contradicted that impression.

Annie couldn’t help but watch, fascinated, as her friend displayed her body openly, and more and more of it with each passing moment.

Wait a moment... which one of us is hypnotized, exactly?

She thought of Scarlett and Chere, and leaned over towards Laine. “Laine, hon?”

The younger woman’s eyes fluttered open. Her hands didn’t stop their inexorable drift. “Yeah?”

Annie shifted from a sitting position, rolling to her elbow and knees, her body curling over Laine’s, looking her in the face. Laine gasped and shivered.

Annie paused, just a moment, to let the effect sink in a bit, before...

“Freeze.”

The effect wasn’t immediate, nor strong, not like she’d seen with Chere. Laine stopped playing with her skirt, slowly, her hands coming to a halt, but she was still weaving, not statue-still like the redhead. Still, Annie felt a rush of power.

Holy shit, I’m actually... Annie let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. The force of the air made Laine blink, but otherwise neither of them reacted. Annie wondered briefly if her command had affected them both, if the two of them were going to be posed there as an erotic sculpture, staring into each other’s eyes, until Tanya or Liss came along to rescue them.

It was a bit ridiculous, Annie didn’t feel frozen in the least, but it was an interesting thought, something to be remembered for later. She edged closer and kissed Laine’s cheek. “How about you lie yourself down on the floor?” she whispered into her friend’s ear.

Laine’s smile grew, seemingly glad for a direction to follow. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she slid down the wall to lie on her back on the soft floor.

Annie leaned over Laine, her hands in fists on either side of her supine friend’s hips. “Seems things’re getting strange,” she muttered. “Not a bad thing at all.”

Laine’s head moved a bit. “No. Not bad,” she mumbled, smiling.

Annie, on all fours, bent down and kissed Laine’s navel, causing the entranced woman to moan and shiver. “Mmm, I didn’t even know you were into girls, Laine.” She kissed higher, moving little by little up towards Laine’s exposed breasts.

“M’not,” Laine sighed happily. “Really into you.” Annie paused. “What? M’not much into boys either. As a bunch. But I dated a few. Some good ones.”

Almost as a response, Annie shifted her weight, lifting her left hand to brush Laine’s cheek. “We’ll talk about that later.”

Laine’s head turned towards Annie’s hand; she inhaled deeply. “Later...”

Annie ran her hand through Laine’s hair, as well as she could. “Later. For now, hon, just breathe deep and enjoy.”

“Mmm...” Laine looked like she was trying to nod. “Enjoying...”

Annie turned her head again, putting her lips on Laine’s left nipple, sucking gently. Laine was too far gone to respond coherently, but she managed a soft moan and a shiver.

Annie hadn’t heard anything so lovely in a long time. So she did it again, and got a similar response. And again, each time stronger than the last. Annie could see Laine’s arms twitch, could feel the younger woman’s legs quiver against her own.

Annie shifted forward, lifting her bare ass in the air. She nibbled at Laine’s earlobe, earning a sharp gasp. “Knees up, Laine,” she whispered.

The reaction was immediate. Laine, who a moment earlier couldn’t muster the energy to form words, slid her feet towards her core, lifting her knees. Annie could feel that long green skirt bunching up against the back of her calves.

“Beautiful, hon,” Annie said, giving Laine a pat on the cheek. “I’m gonna push against your legs. Hold them up.” She used her right foot to separate Laine’s legs a little, putting her own leg between them, then slid herself back so she could push her crotch against Laine’s rigid calf. A shock of pleasure ran through her as she leaned down again to bury her face between Laine’s breasts.

She felt Laine’s hands on her head, rubbing lightly, fingertips searching every inch of her scalp as she tasted and kissed her friend’s chest. Annie ground against Laine’s leg, feeling the soft flesh grow damp and slick with her arousal. She nipped lightly at the sensitive skin around the base of Laine’s breasts, earning soft, half-asleep giggles and an encouraging pressure on the back of her skull.

A soft voice in the back of Annie’s mind chastised her. This isn’t what Laine needs, it said, as a wave of warmth worked its way through her body. No, she answered it, pushing her head up into Laine’s hands so she could kiss higher on Laine’s breast, but it’s what I want. She adored Laine, adored them all, stood with them when they needed it, comforted and supported them in trouble, laughed with them when they laughed, held them when they cried, and all that time, she was looking outside her circle of friends for sex. She kept her friends to one side, her lovers to another, and it had just never occurred to her that the two groups could intersect.

Hearing Laine’s hypnotized moans, feeling her languid but forceful movements, she realized that maybe that had been a mistake. At least this mistake was one she had time to fix. Annie redoubled her efforts, rocking against Laine’s leg, gripping Laine’s shoulders, sucking Laine’s breasts. She wanted to give the girl orders, to see just where this control could take her, but between the utter breathlessness of the energy moving through her and mashing her face into Laine’s chest, Annie didn’t think that she could possibly voice a coherent thought, let alone give reasonable direction.

For Laine’s part, she kept her legs firm and strong, and guided Annie’s head and mouth to where she wanted them. Annie obliged her, following the subtle pressure from Laine’s fingertips, moving from the base of a breast to its swell to the nipple, and then down the north slope to Laine’s collarbone and neck, all the while more and more desperately grinding and rocking.

Annie’s legs clamped together, gripping to Laine’s, and she pushed back, up, and away, letting out a moan of pleasure. Laine’s hands took hold of her head at the sides, forcing Annie to keep eye contact, her unfocused stare surprisingly powerful. An orgasm rippled through her body and mind as she half-knelt there, trapped between Laine’s strong legs behind her and tight grip and unflinching gaze in front of her.

Something about those eyes. As Annie’s body shook and shivered in her friend’s grip, those grey eyes drew her attention, kept her watching, waiting. With every gasp and shudder, the eyes she was watching grew clearer, sharper. The expression in them went from dull, to bright, to...

Shrewd.

“Laine?” Annie breathed. “What are you...”

“... thinking?” Laine grinned. “I’m thinking that after all that, maybe it’s time for a nap.”

Huh?

Annie felt warm. It was a nice warmth. Her legs trembled. Her arms felt shaky. She was melting, slipping down onto that wonderful, soft body, her head slipping between those soft mounds she had just been adoring. There was motion. Laine was saying something, but she sounded very far away. Which was silly, since she was right here. So close that Annie could taste her. Even in this darkness, Annie could taste her.

Still, it sounded, it felt like there was some kind of barrier between them, blocking the sound of moans and gasps and words. Words were still understandable, at least, if she cared to pay attention to them, but those hands were there on her head, directing her, caressing her even through the warm, soft , now direct, now gentle, but always with softness and warmth, even in this darkness.

It felt, to Annie’s sensitive scalp, that Laine’s hands were wreathed in cloth. Not gloves, not really; it was more as though that cloth were running down her back and arms, even on her bare backside, and that Laine’s fingers were pressing through it. That same sensation was under her, under her arms and elbows, under her knees. Her feet could still feel that soft floor, and her fingers were still engaged with Laine’s soft, pale skin, but from calves to crown she felt flowing fabric fluttering over her.

Laine was moving, writhing, moaning, sending waves through the enclosing darkness, through Annie’s skin, through Annie’s mind. Every joyful shift felt like direction, direction that Annie followed with a certain glee herself. Her actions in the fog made Laine respond and reply, and Annie’s replies made the fog thicken, and the movements grow stronger, and even made the taste intensify.

And the sensation. More than just the flutter of fabric, it felt like Laine herself was all around Annie, pressing on her deliciously. Warm, soft, inviting. Annie loved this feeling, loved that it was Laine giving it to her, loved that she could return it. Loved Laine’s hands on her head, Laine’s legs on her shoulders, Laine’s hips in her hands.

Annie blinked. Something didn’t make sense about the position. The darkness was confusing; wasn’t she face to face with...

She was kissing, licking, sucking, between Laine’s legs, as that pretty green skirt pressed on her above and below, as soft legs under her strong arms tense and squeezed, as Laine’s orgasmic moans and cries echoed past the fabric barrier that had muffled so much of the last few minutes.

Memory flooded back, a wash of thoughts and feelings: Laine speaking hypnotic words to Annie; Annie agreeing to sink deeper and deeper; the sense of sedation; Laine asking questions, and Annie agreeing; a slow, gentle movement towards Laine’s knees, and under Laine’s skirt; the sound of... footsteps? Leaving?

But that couldn’t be right, she and Laine were still on the floor, they hadn’t moved. It couldn’t have been Scarlett, or Chere, and the only other person in the maze with them had been...

Tanya.

It dawned on her, then. She hadn’t walked back to Laine alone.

She and Tanya had been talking about triggers, then Tanya showed her the tablet, asked her a bunch of questions, got her agreement on... well, on everything. Then, together, they walked back to Laine.

That whole time, Annie thought she was walking back alone. She had agreed to think that. And Laine seemed nervous because Tanya was there, beside her, watching as her hands took Laine down into a trance, watching as she took control of her friend, as she rode Laine’s leg to orgasm. Laine hadn’t said that it was time for a nap to Annie, she had said it to Tanya, who again slipped that tablet in front of her eyes.

“Laine?” she said, raising her head into those strong, sensitive hands.

The nerdy girl giggled. “Be easier to talk if you came out from there.” She pulled the skirt up as best as she could, and Annie backed up a bit, carefully, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed.

“Is...” Annie looked around, rising up on her knees. “Are we alone?”

Laine scooched back and propped herself up against the wall, nodding. “Yeah. Tanya left as soon as you were under.”

“Okay.” Annie let out a slow breath. “That was... intense.”

“It was, yeah.” Laine patted the floor at her side. Annie crawled over and cuddled up against her.

“You asked me,” Annie realized. “Once Tanya showed me that...” She paused.

“The trigger image.”

“Yeah. Once I saw that, I heard you asking me. All kinda things. Checked with me to see if everything was fine.” She remembered answering ‘yes,’ so many times, to so many questions. To being hypnotized. To being made to go down on Laine. And so many more. Between Laine and Tanya, she had been asked more questions in the last few minutes, in trance, than she ever had at any job interview or qualification test.

“W-well, I didn’t want...”

Annie nodded. “I know. Thank you.” She kissed Laine’s cheek gently. “But I’m supposed to be the one lookin’ out for you, you know.“

“You can’t look out for me all the time. And you try to look out for everyone.” Laine gently rubbed the small of Annie’s back. “Maybe I should look out for you once in a while.“

Annie thought about that. Laine was just a kid, though. Still in school, still learning. There was only three years’ difference between them, true, but Annie had been out in the world, working, since Laine was still in high school. Before Laine had even moved here, before she met Scarlett, before any of them wound up in Sam’s orbit, before this little group had formed up, Annie had been working her way up the corporate ladder. Not exciting, but... adult.

Annie often felt like the designated adult of the group, but right now, she didn’t feel like it at all. She felt like a schoolgirl with her first crush. And she suspected that Laine felt the same.

“Annie?”

“Hm?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, hon. Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“I dunno.”

“Then why are you thinking about it?”

Annie sighed happily. “Because it’s nice to think about.”

“What is?”

“I dunno.”

“Then how do you know?”

“’Cause I feel good thinking about it.”

“Oh. Good.”

“Mhmm.”

The two of them cuddled in silence a while.

“Annie?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you think everyone else is doing?”

Annie thought back to before she had run in to Tanya. “Scarlett and Chere are prob’ly doing what we just did. Sam was napping, she might still be. Sunny’s likely obsessing over whatever game she was playing. God knows what ’Theen and Fatin are gettin’ up to.”

“Probably not this, though.”

“Nah, prob’ly not this. Maybe they started on dessert already.”

“Maybe, yeah.”

Another moment passed as the topless student held the bare-bottomed clerk.

“Think we should?”

“Think we should what?”

“Think we should get dessert?”

“I dunno. I kinda just ate.”

Laine snorted. Annie grinned and curled up tighter against her.

“Annie?”

“Hm?”

“Think this would’ve happened without...?”

Annie shrugged. “Don’t care. It did happen. Now what’re we gonna do about it?”

“Well, I kinda like the idea of going home with you.”

“I kinda like that idea too.”

Laine’s hand found Annie’s bottom and gave it a squeeze. “Was I any good?”

“Huh? Oh, uh... yeah, why?”

“Just that... you’re... my first... y’know... girl.”

Annie patted Laine’s stomach in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture. “What you don’t know, I can teach,” she said. “And what can’t be taught, you already do just fine.”

Laine looked confused. “Uh, what?”

Annie smiled and kissed Laine’s shoulder. “People worry too much about technique, and not enough about talk, and listening, and care, and...” She dared the word. “And love.”

“Oh.” Laine smiled. “It’s the same with Altering, I guess? Thats what my uncle’s been trying to teach me, anyway. Technique’s important, but not as much as making a connection. Even if it’s with a random customer for a one-off job… you have to get to know them and trust them, and let them do the same to you.”

Annie nodded, lifting herself up some. “Yeah, I guess it’s a lot the same. And you understand intimacy.”

“Mmm. Thank you.” Laine was blushing, maybe because of the talk, maybe because of their recent activity. It was a cute look.

Annie disentangled herself from her lover and got to her feet, then helped Laine to stand. “We’ve been gone too long. And I do kinda want some dessert, even after that.”

Laine nodded. “Should probably clean up, too...”

“I’d ask if they have a shower, but I don’t think I could handle seeing you naked right now.” Annie grinned.

“Heh, yeah, I understand,” Laine replied, blushing further. “Maybe we should go separately?”

Annie took Laine’s hand. “Not a chance.”

They had entered the washroom together, but Annie needed a stall while Laine went to the sink. By the time Annie had finished, Laine had left, so Annie cleaned her face in solitary silence, still thinking.

About what? she asked herself.

Dunno.

Then why are you thinking about it?

Annie grinned into the mirror. Because it’s nice to think about.

Refreshed and with a spring in her step, Annie emerged from the bathroom and nearly ran right into Liss and Tanya.

“Hello, Annie,” Liss said. “We were just looking for you.”

Annie paused. Liss looking for her could mean any number of things. She thought back to walking in on Liss’ earlier discussion with Chere.

“Feeling better about everything?” Tanya asked.

Annie laughed, a bit nervously. “Yes, I’m fine, thanks.”

“That’s fantastic,” Liss replied. “Sam is still napping, and we asked the others already, but we figured that we ought not to wake her just yet.”

“She’s had a long day, and she’s kinda busy right now,” Annie said with a nod. Careful words. Everything was so easily explained, but that didn’t mean she wanted to have Liss messing with her. At least, though, Tanya was here. Tanya could be trusted.

“For sure,” Tanya agreed. “Dessert’s all ready, anyway, so head on in.”

Liss indicated the party room door. Annie acknowledged the pair with a nod of her head and went inside, thoughtful.

There was pleasant music in the air. Annie didn’t recognize it, but there was a curious, uneven beat behind it that drew her attention. It didn’t even seem to fit with the melody, which had a unique, middle-Eastern flavor to it.

Annie looked around the room, still paying attention to the soft music. She spotted Laine immediately, sitting with her back to the door at a long table with eight chairs on one side, staring at the wall. There was an empty seat beside her, then Chere, in the nude, also staring straight ahead. Scarlett sat beside her, unmoving. Another empty chair, then Sunny, staring, and Fatin, staring, and of course on the end, Athena, staring at the wall.

Annie nodded, her feet guided by that unusual rhythm to the chair beside Laine. She carefully pulled it out, not wanting to disturb anyone, and sat, sliding up to the table.

The wall drew her stare. She took a single, deep breath, and happily settled in.