I have a reputation. It is well deserved. Sometimes, it affords me opportunities. Other times, it brings me unwanted attention.

As the two women entered my office for their scheduled appointment, I wondered which scenario lay before me.

The first woman approached me. She offered her hand. I took it.

"Hello, Cyril," she said. "Thank you for seeing us. My name is Sonia Tran. This is my assistant, Courtnay McGill."

Courtnay now stepped forward. We, too, shook hands.

I appraised them both. Sonia was thirty-ish, attractive, fit, and on the shorter side of average. She had long black hair and a tan complexion. She wore a business-casual pants suit and high heels. Courtnay was five to eight years junior to her boss. She had pretty features framed by medium length red hair. Also short, her build was curvy but not heavy. She wore the same style of suit and shoes that Sonia did.

In all likelihood, their company had specifically chosen these two for this meeting. I don't keep my preferences secret. And both women definitely fit the bill for what I find desirable.

"Please, sit," I said.

They took seats in the chairs in front of my desk. I moved to my own chair on the other side and sat down, as well.

"What can I do for you?" I asked.

"We're hoping you can help us," Sonia said. "We recently rolled out a new interface. It's a huge improvement over the old one. We're very proud of it. But, for some reason, we're encountering resistance to it. This resistance comes from a very small minority, to be sure. Still, as is often the case with rabble-rousers, they are loud and persistent. They're stirring up trouble. They're detracting from our launch campaign. We need them to stop. We know that you have the means and methods to persuade them to stop. At least some of them, specifically the women."

"Hm," I said.

I knew that Sonia spoke of Eclipse, the newly designed UI for DeviantArt. I also knew of the dislike the user base had for it. Despite what Sonia said, my sources indicated that dislike was widespread, rather than marginal.

And, of course, I knew what help Sonia wanted from me. My "means and methods to persuade them...specifically the women" referenced my ability to hypnotize women and get them to do pretty much anything. She had just asked me--however politely and professionally--to brainwash DeviantArt's female users into liking and supporting a very unpopular change to the site.

"Don't you have someone already helping you with this problem?" I asked. "Do you really need two people with the same skill set working on what is such a small problem?"

"Well, to be honest, yes, someone else is helping us," Sonia said. "But, well, we don't want to put all our eggs in one basket, as they say."

"I see."

"We would offer you significant compensation for your work."

Sonia reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Then, she reached across the desk to hand it to me. I took it from her, unfolded it, and viewed the number written there. The amount was sizable.

"Very generous," I said.

Sonia smiled.

"Still, I'm going to respectfully decline."

Her smile faded.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" she asked.

"No, but thank you."

Sonia and Courtnay shared a glance. Then, Sonia turned her attention back to me. I heard a shuffling below her chair. And I saw Courtnay remove a small item from her jacket pocket.

I knew they had something planned. I wasn't worried, but I was curious. They didn't keep me waiting.

Sonia leaned back in her chair and swung her legs up. With a soft thump, she deposited her feet--crossed at the ankles--onto the edge of the desk. As I watched this unexpectedly brazen act, I realized what the shuffling I had just heard had been: her discarded shoes falling to the floor.

Thus, it was her starkly bare feet that now resided fully in my view.

Like their owner, her feet were very attractive. Clean and unblemished, they appeared recently pedicured. They were nothing if not eye catching.

Sonia wiggled her toes enticingly. As I said, my preferences were no secret.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Sonia asked again, her smile having returned.

I sighed. Her feet were nothing less than gorgeous. But they weren't going to sway me. I had made up my mind. I shook my head no.

"You will reconsider," Sonia said, seemingly unbothered by my resolve.

I wondered why she wasn't bothered.

"In fact, you will help us," she said.

Did she think that the mere sight of her feet, bare and beautiful though they were, was going to reverse my decision? What was she up to?

"You will gladly help us," she said. "You want very much to help us."

I stared at her feet. There was something about them. They weren't just lovely. No, they were more than that. They were...radiant. They were all but glowing. No, they were actually glowing.

"You will gladly help us," Sonia said again. "You want very much to help us."

Now it made sense. I understood. And I nodded my understanding.

Sonia's smile grew larger. She knew she had me. She repeated her last two statements.

They weren't just statements, of course. They were suggestions. Specifically, they were hypnotic suggestions. Repetition of such suggestions is key to implanting them in a subject's mind.

And for best results, a subject needs to be in a trance. The most common way to place them in that state is through eye fixation. My eyes were most certainly fixed on her feet.

But that was only part of it. The other part was played by Courtnay. She had removed an item from her pocket. It was a miniature projector of some kind. And while I was focused on Sonia's gorgeous feet, she had begun projecting a rhythmically pulsing glow onto them, hypnotic in its own right, and all the more so because it accentuated the objects of my desire.

I must admit that I was impressed. They knew what they were doing. They had all the elements in play needed to hypnotize a female foot lover. And I was nothing if not such a fetishist.

But what I wasn't was susceptible to an unwanted induction.

It's not that I didn't absolutely love the sight of Sonia's feet. I surely did. But this wasn't the first time someone had tried to put me under by tempting me with what I desired. I didn't get where I am today by losing a battle of wills. I can resist all manner of temptation when necessary. And now, it was decidedly necessary.

They had started this battle. Now, I would win it.

I lifted my gaze from Sonia's feet. Then I turned my head and looked at Courtnay. We locked eyes. Hers widened in surprise. Why wasn't I looking at her boss's feet? Why was I suddenly staring at her?

Perhaps they hadn't done their due diligence in researching me. Or, maybe, I simply caught her off guard. Either way, poor Courtnay was doomed the moment she looked into my eyes.

My eyes held her. Captivated her. Enthralled her. Hypnotized her. This was the power they wanted to hire me for. And now, they would witness it firsthand.

"Take off your shoes," I said in a whisper-soft voice to my new thrall. "Place your bare feet on my desk, next to Sonia's."

Courtnay trembled. Her lips quivered. She swallowed. And then she did as I had instructed.

"What are you doing?" Sonia asked her assistant. "Stick with the plan! We don't want to lose him!"

"Look at Sonia's feet," I said to Courtnay in the same whispered tone as before. "Look at them and lose yourself in them."

Courtnay shifted her gaze to Sonia's feet. The soft light from her projector continued to shine on them. Her head began nodding in time with the hypnotic pulses that had been meant to ensnare me. I smiled. That would keep her occupied.

Now I turned my attention to Sonia.

"No, no, wait," she said, as our eyes met.

I drew in her gaze. She shook her head. Whether she did so in denial of what was about to happen or just as a reflex, I didn't know. It didn't matter either way. Like her assistant before her, she found herself inescapably hypnotized.

"Look at your feet," I said to her. "Look at them and lose yourself in them."

No longer possessing a will of her own, she obediently lowered her gaze down to her beautiful, glowing feet. Almost immediately, her head began to bob to the mesmerizing rhythm of the projected light that shone on them.

I sat back in my chair and sighed. My reputation had initially brought me unwanted attention. Thankfully, I had skillfully turned the situation into an opportunity.

And what an opportunity it was! Two gorgeous, barefoot, hypnotized women sat before me, their lovely feet in full display upon my desk. They would follow any suggestion I gave them. And I had many to give.

Of course, I would eventually need to send them back to their company. They would return there with thoroughly washed brains and explicit instructions as to what to tell their superiors. They would ensure that their company respected my answer. No more attempts would be made, either to win my favor, or to coerce my behavior. Let DeviantArt handle this Eclipse problem on its own. I wanted nothing to do with it.

Yes, that would all happen later. But now, I had the brains of two lovely ladies to wash. And then I had all of my well known desires to sate....