January's townhouse was long and narrow, open-concept, broken up into various functions as you moved from front to back. The sitting room was near the front of the house, then the dining room, then the kitchen, and finally, the media room, where January and Ember sat. January reclined on the long portion of her sectional, head against Ember's thigh, and Ember's tail curled to rest against January's back, the salamander's hand on January's head. The doe's work uniform had long been shed in favour of a thin heather grey T-shirt and checkered pyjama shorts, her preferred after-work attire when it was hot; Ember, in contrast, was fully clothed, with the exception of a single extra button undone on her blouse, a slightly larger V of orange-red skin inside the white of the fabric. 

The television was only light on the first floor; the kitchen was barely visible from where they sat, and beyond was nearly black. Neither of them truly watched television, beyond the odd show, except to explore various channels that might have something interesting; tonight, they'd settled on some B-movie that looked promisingly bad, and might have been entertaining if it was worse, but was, instead, simply mediocre.

"Are you watching this?" January asked her pillow, without looking away from the screen.

"No, not really," Ember replied, similarly not moving her gaze. "It had potential, but..."

"Yeah."

Ember's hand slid down January's scalp and began to gently rub the back of her neck, and January cuddled up a little closer. "Do you have any thoughts about what you might want to do instead?" January asked.

"Mm, you, but that's not new."

"As is traditional during bad movies."

"Indeed," Ember said, and gently guided January to turn onto her back, leaning over her and pressing a kiss to her lips. January reached up to cradle the side of Ember's head in her hand, and Ember shifted, and soon, January was pinned underneath Ember's weight as they made out, the clichéd bleeps and whooshes of every bad sci-fi flick ever made still emitting from the TV's speakers.

Ember toyed with January's ear, which, combined with the kissing, was pleasant enough that she began to relax into the pressure of Ember's body and the way her lover wrapped around her like a cocoon. Ember loved this feature of January's response to pleasure; it felt like she simply discounted the possibility of harm while Ember played with her, and freely allowed Ember to direct her experience.

Of course, this wouldn't have happened if Ember hadn't had such a perfectly aligned set of preferences as January, and if she hadn't spent so much time building up that trust. They'd spent a few months only playing at Spirals, the hypnosis-themed play party that recurred once a month, not that they were strangers the rest of the time. They spoke often, got to know each other, began to understand each others' boundaries and integrate each other into their lives, until after one Spirals, January invited Ember back to her apartment, and it was the most natural thing in the world.

Ember's lips wandered, moving to January's cheek, and back again to her lips, moving to her chin and under to the top of her throat, and back again. January let her, tilting her head this way and that as she wanted. She kissed a line up towards January's ear, and the doe tilted her head down to present it. Even a subtle gesture like this gained significance over time: January might not have had the words for her desires, they may not have even been conscious, but her body knew, and it told Ember everything she needed to know.

"Sleeep," Ember intoned in a breathy whisper, and a sharp snap of her fingers made January go limp.

Ember continued kissing, down to January's neck. The doe floated in the simple, easy pleasure of trance, only connected to the outside world by the weight of Ember's body, the feel of her lips, and the sound from the TV, which Ember quickly realized would be a barrier until quickly dealt with. "All the distractions of the world are fading," Ember said against January's neck, reaching surreptitiously behind her to pick up the remote; she found the volume-down button by touch and pressed it, one tick at a time, until the movie's sound lowered to mute. "All other sounds will quiet as you go deeper and deeper, except for my voice. Listen to my words. Focus. Set aside everything else."

Ember placed the remote to the side. Both arms now free, she fully wrapped around January, holding her like a treasure. Her body slid against January's, sighing, feeling the doe's soft chest press to her own, and in the blue-white light of the screen, Ember watched her drifting, face blank and peaceful. "Let the pleasure take you deeper. Every kiss, every caress, let it envelop you, let it pull you down."

Whether Ember could actually perceive what January felt, or was simply talented at imagining estimations of it, she did seem to have the ability to read January's state. As she ran her hands up the doe's sides and nibbled on her collarbones, she felt the pull of trance as January continued settling into it, letting go of the outside world more and more, until Ember felt like January had laid enough of a meditative foundation that she could build upon it.

Ember pushed herself up and sat next to January, hand petting up and down, neither avoiding nor paying any special attention to erogenous zones or non-erogenous zones; the goal was to wake up her nerves, as many as possible, through stimulation. "Feel how sensitive you are, now. Crystallize this in your mind. Let every touch be like the first, new and intense, filling your mind with pleasure until nothing else remains. Let the rest of your thoughts be crowded out by this easy, comfortable pleasure, and be blank for me." A snap of her fingers, and January sighed again, little tensions relaxing across the doe's body as she slid deeper into trance.

Ember circled January's lips with a finger, around and around, lightly enough that the skin barely tugged against Ember's fingertip. "Your mouth is a conduit to your mind," she said. "It is what allows you to communicate with the outside world, thoughts flowing out of you. But this connection goes two ways; just as your thoughts can be projected outward, sensations and feelings transmit back." Ember sat on the couch. "In a moment, I'm going to instruct you to perform some actions for me. These actions will not hurt you, but you have the option of opening your eyes at any moment, for your own safety, and things will simply stop where they are. If you choose to continue, however, the instructions I give you will allow you to become deeper and more relaxed. If you understand..." she put the pads of two fingers on January's lips and stilled them. "Kiss me. Otherwise, turn your head."

Softly, January puckered her lips against Ember's fingers.

"Good girl. Now, fill your mind with submission. With devotion. Empty it of autonomy. You need not think about what you're doing; all you need to do is follow my words, and the blank pleasure you feel now will continue and intensify." Ember slid a finger into January's wrought-silver day collar, and pulled, not enough to move, but enough to feel. "Would you kindly sit up for me."

January rose, sucking in a breath like she'd just woken up, but her slack face and closed eyes showed otherwise. Her head lolled back and her arms remained limply at her sides as her core did all the work, until she sat with her legs out in front of her, chin resting on her chest. "Good girl. Slide off the couch onto your knees, facing me, would you kindly."

Ember let go of the collar and instead guided January by her shoulder, gently pulling her, but letting her move at her own pace. January's arm reached out, holding onto Ember's knee, and she slowly slid off the couch, lowering to a kneel, turning as instructed. Once she was in position, Ember gently took her by the back of the neck and pulled her forward, until January's nose nudged against the bulge in Ember's pants. "That's right. Let your mind settle as your body settles, and Sleep." /Snap/, and Ember felt the sigh against her, felt the tension of movement flow back out of January's body, peacefully pressed into Ember's crotch, like she'd fallen asleep there.

"Your mouth is capable of so much pleasure," Ember said. "Not only for others, but for yourself. Fill your mind with the thrumming pleasure--" /Snap/, and January moaned. "--of your mouth being filled, of sucking and sliding, of kissing and licking. Let yourself seek out that pleasure, let it come to you in whatever way is natural."

January's head moved, slowly, rubbing her lips across the bulge in January's pants, and after a moment, her tongue slid out all at once to lap across it. The flat of her soft tongue conformed to the topology of the fabric, bold and shameless in her enjoyment of the act. Ember grinned and watched this for a while, her pants growing dark with wetness, little moans of pleasure escaping January as her tongue glided against Ember's crotch again and again. "You know this isn't the end," Ember said. "You know there are still barriers left between you and the pleasure that can be yours. And when those barriers are removed, you know how good it will feel with nothing else in the way, not even your own thoughts. Remove those barriers, would you kindly. Let yourself have the pleasure you crave."

January's hands crept up to the hem of Ember's pants, hooking all eight fingers into it and the panties underneath. Ember lifted herself up and helped them along a little so January could more easily take them off, but the doe wasn't interested in getting Ember's pants down any more than strictly necessary. Her head barely moved out of the way to kiss at Ember's exposed lower belly, then the base of her cock, then the top of the shaft as it was exposed. Her tongue slid underneath the tip once she had access to it, and she drew it into her mouth. Her hands let go of the pants, instead choosing to drape around Ember's hips, wrapped around Ember's lap as she began to suck her cock.

January moved slowly and purposefully, like she was fixated on the texture of Ember's skin. Her lips slid slickly, lubricated by her saliva, and her tongue pressed softly up against the underside of Ember's shaft. She opened her throat as she slid forward to allow airflow, then closed it as she slid back, letting the suction pull the flesh of her mouth inward and squeeze around Ember's cock. She inhaled through her nose as she pulled back, and exhaled as she slid forward, mediative and peaceful, eyes closed, body otherwise still. It didn't feel like January was pleasuring Ember; it felt like January was pleasuring herself, using Ember as a tool to do so.

It felt good, nonetheless, and Ember allowed herself a moment to enjoy the sucking, letting January move at her own pace for now. Her legs were trapped in place, but there was no way to help that without getting in the way of January's experience, and that was what mattered. "That's it. Now. I said the connection of your mouth to your brain is two-way; as you fill your mouth, let your mind fill with pleasure, and as you pull back, let your mind empty of everything else. In, thrum. Out, void. In, thrum. Out, void." January began to moan as her head dipped down, and trailed off into silence as she bobbed back up, her mouth and Ember's words adjusting to each other until it looked, and felt, like Ember was controlling her by voice alone.

Ember could hear the desire in her own voice as she continued this mantra, as much as she tried to keep her tone even and musical. She got off on the slackness in January's face, the slowness to her movements, the quiet moans through her nose, her relaxed, limp posture, even if January's mouth would be the thing to eventually make her come. Ember's hands wrapped around January's head, and got a firm, if gentle, grip, wanting, needing to do more. "Let me control your head just as I control what's in it. Let yourself be guided up, and down..." Ember felt January relax into the grip, and suddenly, she had complete control of the doe's head. "...hh. Up... and down. Let me take you deeper, and let me pull out your thoughts, replacing them with--" now, she let her arousal colour every syllable "--so much delicious /pleasure/, until you can't think of anything else."

January began whimpering around Ember's cock, a sound like catnip to her; she felt entranced herself, focused totally on January's mouth and her hands, everything else secondary to the scene unfolding. She stopped blinking, and her voice modulated into a low and intense lilt, like the intonation of a ritual. "Feel it build now, like a spark that starts a fire, consuming everything else. Your pleasure is a runaway reaction... hnn... a burning flame... bright and hypnotic... taking you deeper..." She could feel herself building up to orgasm, only resisting as long as she felt she needed to in order to optimize the experience for January, and give her everything she could possibly want. "A-ah, close now, building, and three, nn, two, two... two..." it was so hard to time it, letting herself concentrate just enough on it to talk, the rest geared towards building pleasure in both of them. "...two... two... one... /Come/, come for me." She let go with one hand to snap in January's ear.

January stiffened, writhing, mewling around Ember's cock, and Ember let herself come in January's mouth. She got lost in it for a few moments, allowing her mind to fill with pleasure and the satisfaction of a moment well-executed, gradually slowing the push-pull of her hands until the doe's mouth stopped, full of cum, twitching cock still deep between her lips. She settled like that for a moment, running her fingers through January's hair, watching her drift, inert and still and comfortable. She knew that January was at peace there, that until directed, she would kneel like that indefinitely, letting herself float for as long as Ember kept her under. She felt herself talking without even thinking about it, letting the gap between unfiltered thought and carefully chosen words close to nothing.

"I love you, January. I love the trust you put in me. I love this structure we've built together, this home in our minds. I love the pleasure you let me give you. Fill your mind with that, for a while. Let yourself overflow with it. And come back to me." Snap.

January faded back into herself, cooing softly, and slowly sliding off of Ember's cock. When she did, she covered her mouth with her hand for a moment, and -- glk! -- swallowed, then let out a deep breath, returning her head to nuzzle face-first into Ember's groin. "I love you too," January said in a quiet, submissive voice, her breath coming in sighs, her arms hugged around Ember's hips.

Ember leaned back. "Are you comfortable there? You can get up if you need to."

"I know. I should, for the sake of my knees, but... I feel good here."

"Mm. But wouldn't you be so much more comfortable laid out? Out of your clothing, under your heavy, soft blanket, pressed up against my body?"

"You make a strong case." January heaved one more deep, satisfied sigh, and then pushed herself up to her feet.

"Good girl." Ember waited for January to shake out her legs, then pulled her in and kissed her belly, a gesture that made her smile. "Besides, you'll thank me in the morning when you aren't sore for work."

"I appreciate your concern." She offered a hand, and Ember took it as she picked up the remote and turned the television off. "But I'm sturdier than that, I think."

Ember stood up in the blackness of the room, and pulled January against her. "And yet I can push you over whenever I want," She said in the doe's ear. "Are you really that sturdy... or am I just that powerful? Void." With a snap, she went blank.

There was barely any light to see outlines, let alone features, but Ember still took a moment to look at her lover in the blackness, breathing silently, head resting against Ember's shoulder, eyes open and blank. "So much power, and yet I never forget it's your gift to me." Ember kissed January's ear. "Take me to bed, would you kindly," she purred, and January began walking, leading Ember by the hand through the darkened house and up the stairs.