The next morning Xander exited his state room looking a bit disheveled and a little confused. Almost disappointed in himself. He started to pace back and forth in the hallway in front of his room for what seemed like hours. But was probably only a few minutes. You know how time goes sometimes. After those few minutes had passed Sandy turned the corner and started to walk towards Xander. "Well, good morning, did you...you didn't enjoy your night, did you? What happened?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
Xander saw him coming and just sighed, "I failed" he said flatly and in a rather disappointed tone.
Sandy looked a bit confused "You failed?" He started, "You didn't get the girl? I mean I saw you hypnotize the redhead. What happened? Did she wake up?"
Xander shook his head, clearly annoyed. "No, no, no. I hypnotized the girl, that went fine. I failed...after that."
Sandy frowned and put his hand on Xander's shoulder "did she wake up? Or...were you unable to... shall we say... satisfy her?" He was trying to be as gentle as possible; he could feel Xander's frustration.
Xander gave him a sideways look that spoke volumes, but mostly said 'remember, I can kill you'. His actual, verbal, reply was a bit less hostile. "Dude, I got the girl, got her to my room, and 'satisfied her' enough times for her to faint." His tone was completely serious, deadly serious.
Sandy nodded a few times then looked at him, confused "Exactly how, then, did you fail?"
Xander sighed as his shoulders visibly dropped. "I couldn't drain her... I tried it just... wouldn't work. I couldn't drain her energy, she's in there completely asleep, a natural sleep, and is going to wake up any minute now and I'm not sure what to do!"
Sandy smiled and squeezed Xander's shoulder, "Dude, it's ok. It's been probably years for you, it takes time to get back into the saddle. What you did last night, was NOT a failure. You hypnotized a girl! Two of them! And got one of them so deep she followed you back to your state room! That does not sound like a failure to me man!"
Xander folded his arms, feeling a bit insecure. "I hypnotized her the traditional way, no energy, no powers, hell I didn't even use pheromones."
Sandy looked like he was about to bludgeon Xander. "So let me get this straight...instead of using overwhelming 'mary sue' powers to get the girl, you used a hypnotic induction that required skill and planning, as well as brain power, to pull off. Yeah that's a total failure." He grabbed Xander by both shoulders and took a deep breath before continuing. "What you did was harder than using your powers, and for all I know it may take time to get the draining thing to work again. You didn't fail, you just learned you still have room to grow, but that you also have the ability to grow. Okay?"
Xander nodded but looked at Sandy "What about her memory? She's going to wake up sooner or later and without her being drained she's going to be confused, and maybe even remember the night."
Sandy just laughed "I think we'll be able to take care of any pesky memories she might have. Besides we're pulling into port in an hour or so, I'll need someone to replace that hot angel of yours on my stage till the next show."
Xander considered the idea for a second or two and then, as if on queue in an internet fictional fantasy story, the door to Xander's room opened and out popped a very confused looking Lynn. She had managed to get redressed, but seemed even more shy than before. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry" she started when she saw Xander and Sandy "I seem to have ended up in the wrong room...Hey, weren't you that guy I was talking to on the bow last night? Wait a minute, you were... you showed me how to relax... and then... I remember walking on the beach, how did I end up here?"