The Art of Ecstasy

"Do you mind being a dear and wiping up Samual's ejaculation?" Augusta said to Tomo. "I'm far too old and frail to be wiping up cum and I'd hate for someone to slip. Though perhaps Ms. Snowe has insurance for such an instance. She must."

"Yes ma'am," said Tomo deferentially. He got a towel and cleaned up the mess Samual had made on the floor. Augusta made her way to the hot tub.

"Hand please," she said to Samual. Samual helped Augusta into the hot tub. Tabitha stared at her nakedness. Her saggy breasts; her loose skin. She seemed so comfortable around everyone. Tabitha hoped she could be that confident some day.

"Thank you dear," she said. "That was a most impressive shot, perhaps you have a future working stag." She gave Samual a chaste kiss on the cheek. She turned to Tabitha and Holly.

"Now I know you work stag," she pointed at Holly. "Emma's shown me your work and I have to say, it's quite arousing...very different than what we had back in my day." Addressing Tabitha she said: "I don't think you make films like that...well except for the one you made for us yesterday." She applauded. "Bravo my dear. You were absolutely lovely. A joy to watch and sketch. I should have some works finished up weekend's end. You will have to model for us again. Oh, I'm sorry, I don't know if we've actually been introduced. I'm Augusta."

Augusta leaned forward and Tabitha extended her hand. Augusta ignored the hand and embraced Tabitha, giving her two European kisses on both cheeks. Tabitha felt Augusta's breasts brush against her own.

"I think we're beyond handshakes, deary." Augusta said. "I think Ms. Snowe has placed us in a state of unnatural intimacy, which I welcome. I mean, why spend weeks, or years, to get to know someone before you can get naked with them and share an intense sexual experience when you can be ensorcelled in an afternoon. It's so much more efficient. And at my age, I just don't have the time for all the superficial niceties. Skip right to dessert I say!"

Augusta settled into the tub, next to Samual. She lifted his arm and placed it around herself.

"Don't be shy now, dear Samual!" she said. "I've just watched you spill your seed. Surely you can hold my breasts for me! Please, I enjoy the touch of a young man!"

Samual smiled and held her breast more firmly. Augusta snaked her free hand under the water and idly played with his softening penis.

"You don't mind do you?" She said to him. "It's been so long and I miss the feel of a cock in my hand."

"No please go right ahead." he said. "Though I don't know if you'll get much response from little Samual. It might be a while."

"I don't mind," said Augusta. "I like it when it's soft and squishy. Like a harmless toy. Or in this case, a bath toy. Please forgive me, I'm so predictable, like the scorpion!"

"I'm sorry what?" asked Tabitha.

"Like the scorpion!" said Augusta. "You must know that fable! There's a frog at the shore of mighty river, and there's a scorpion nearby who asks the frog if he can have a ride across. And the frog says, "I'm not going to do that, you'll sting me and I'll drown!" But then the scorpion says, "Why would I sting you? I would drown as well!" And the frog really can't argue with that logic and agrees to take the scorpion across the river. But sure enough, they get halfway and the scorpion stings the frog and they both start to drown. And the frog says, "Why did you sting me? Now we'll both drown!" And the scorpion says...."I can't help it...it's my nature.""

Now Augusta started to stroke Samual with a little more vigor. "So you see, set me next to lovely cock, and I just can't help myself! It's my nature!"

And everyone had a laugh at that.

Tomo had finished wiping up and climbed into the hot tub. Tabitha noticed that his penis was quite small in it's flaccid state. She remembered how much bigger it had gotten and how copious his ejaculation had been the night before. It reminded her now of Michelangelo's David's penis. She'd heard once he had deliberately sculpted it small since he wanted to portray David as scared.

"Good morning everyone," Tomo said. "It's nice to see you all." He spoke to Tabitha directly. "Tabitha...thank you again for your modeling work yesterday. Truly it was one of the most erotic displays I have ever witnessed. You have a gift...not just your natural beauty, but how you display it. I am humbled."

"That's very kind of you Tomo," Tabitha said, "But you probably should be thanking Ms. Snowe...without her pulling the strings I would never conduct myself like that. Truly, it was aberration.

"I think you're wrong," Tomo countered. "Yes, you were hypnotized...but hypnosis is merely a means by which one can remove the block that keeps one from accessing one's true self. The middle-man that stops you from accessing your unconscious desires is knocked out of commission. The things you do in hypnosis..those are the things you truly want. What we saw you do, the pleasure you experienced, the pleasure you showed us...you wanted to do those things. Ms. Snowe merely set aside your inhibitions that had prevented you in the past.

"Okay...but speaking of Ms. Snowe," said Tabitha. "and since most of us are here...perhaps we need to discuss the elephant in the room."

"I'm just big boned!" exclaimed Samual, "Oh wait, were you talking about my penis? In that case I'll take the compliment!"

"I'm talking about how we were all hypnotized against our will and shanghai-ed into participating in this art orgy!" said Tabitha. "Aren't some of you even a little bit angry about this?"

"I wasn't hypnotized against my will," said Holly. "I knew exactly what I was getting into."

"I as well," said Augusta. "Emma and I had been discussing this little project for almost a year now. She even asked me if I wanted to be hypnotized and I agreed to be without any reservations. I found the idea exhilarating and my art has benefitted from it immensely.

"Well I had no idea Ms. Snowe had been hypnotizing me," chimed in Samual. "This is the first time I've ever been hypnotized that I'm aware of...and quite honestly I love it. I'm sitting in a hot tub filled with beautiful people, and yes I'm including you Tomo, and I just masturbated shamelessly in front of these girls. There's no part of my life where these things would ever happen."

"Have you attended the screenings here at the gallery? The ones Ms. Snowe narrates?" asked Tabitha.

"Yes. I quite enjoy them. She, or whoever writes them is quite knowledgable." replied Samual.

"Have you ever nodded off in theater while listening to them?" she followed up.

Samual thought for a moment. "Actually, now that you mention it...I have. Quite a number of times. Was she hypnotizing me? Is that how I ended up like this?"

"That's how she snared me," Tabitha said. "I'm betting that's how she got you too. But with me, she kept hypnotizing me! For the past few months I've been producing these paintings...for an unknown patron...or so I thought. Turns out it was Ms. Snowe all along. She would call me, direct me to make these paintings for her, and then erase my memory of our conversations! I'm not quite sure how I feel about this! It's...It's...It's such a violation!"

Augusta moved across the tub and sat next to Tabitha and Holly. She put a delicate arm on Tabitha's arm.

"Yes...you are absolutely right," Augusta said. "But look at what she pushed you to do. I have to be honest with you. Your art....it was pretty stale. It lacked life. It lacked passion. Every person you painted looked like they were completely devoid of a soul. Almost corpses. But the series you did. The sleeping series. So much desire and lust in those! Masterful. Erotic and...ripe! Yes, that's what they were, ripe! Living flesh in it's most vulnerable state...asleep! Looking at those paintings I could imagine the artist and the subject and the trust they must have of each other....to allow one's self to be displayed like that....to portray arousal in sleep...absolutely magnificent. I was shocked when Emma told me you were both painter and subject and she explained to me how she had hypnotized you into creating these works. I was awed by the transformation of your work! That's when I insisted she hypnotize me! I wanted that to turn off that inner critic that held me back! And having Holly here as my model...such a fine specimen of womanhood. Working with her when she was similarly hypnotized and allowed to be posed and displayed the way she was...it elevated my art similarly!"

Augusta held onto Tabitha with two arms now.

"Yes, she violated her mind, but would you have willingly allowed her to transform you so? She did this to you to elevate you and at great personal risk. Can you imagine the scandal that would arise were this little display of hers to be made public?"

"No one would believe it." Tomo spoke up. "Ms. Snowe approached me with this idea...art produced under hypnosis at one of my shows in New York. She described what she was planning to do to all of us and asked if I wanted to participate. I was hesitant at first, it sounded so extreme and decadent. I asked her, "Aren't you worried someone will talk?" And she just laughed and told me about how Bill Murray would often do something bizarre and outrageous, like take a bite of some random person's sandwich and the follow up by saying, "Who would believe you?"

Holly squeezed Tabitha tighter now. "Plus, if you hadn't travelled down this rabbit hole, you and I might have never met."

Tabitha felt Holly's fingers brush against her labia under the water. She breathed in sharply and made no attempt to betray what was happening.

"I think you should forgive Emma for the liberties she took with you." Holly said. "More than that, I think you should thank her." Holly had now sunk a few fingers inside Tabitha and was slowly plunging them in and out, as if make her argument more convincing. For a moment, Tabitha had a cynical thought; she wondered if Holly was being nice to her under Emma's instructions, possibly hypnotic. Those thoughts vanished as Holly increased her speed. Tabitha did everything she could to remain calm.

The moment was interrupted by bathroom door sliding open again. Willow, Marcus and Emma herself walked in. All naked of course. Marcus and Willow made their way to the toilets. They looked a little vacant. Tabitha wondered if perhaps Emma had hypnotized them this morning for some unknown purpose. Emma headed straight for the tub. Tabitha was still awed by her beauty. Her height, her heft, her striking pale skin and silver hair...and those eyes. Those mismatched colored eyes. She wanted to get lost in them.

"How are my artists today?" she asked, smiling. "Inspired for more creation? Has the spirit of Eros arisen yet? And can we please have a round of applause for the star of evening? My dear Tabitha....Ecstasy personified! And yet the shiest among us I would imagine! Well done my dear...well done."

Everyone applauded politely. Including Holly; Tabitha felt some relief that she was no longer being fingered and that she would not have to try to hide the orgasm that was bubbling inside her.

Tabitha feigned modest acceptance. "Thank you...you're too kind...and Ms. Snowe--"

"Please, you can call me Emma. We are friends now."

"Emma," continued Tabitha, "I wasn't sure what I was going to say to you this morning. On one hand, I feel completely violated. I mean, like my mind has been raped. I know that's harsh, but it was my first thought. But...after talking with my fellow creators...and thinking about how much I've actually enjoyed creating these paintings over the past few months...and they're actually good. I'm actually proud of them....I've come around to thinking this was the for the best. You made me a better artist, even if it was in a somewhat ethically-challenged way. Thank you Emma. Sincerely. Thank you."

Emma looked so happy, she might have cried. She stepped into the tub, walked over to Tabitha and hugged her tightly, nearly smothering her in her breasts. "You're welcome. You're welcome. I'm so relieved you're not cross with me. You certainly had every right to be. I know my methods are...questionable...but..."

Emma sank to her knees and held Tabitha's face in her hands. "But I do it out of love. I do it to make you a better artist. I do it for the sake of art. I can't help it. It's my nature."

to be continued?