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?"
