Friday night, 8:25 p.m., Naz's office holiday party. Cyril attends as her plus-one because her girlfriend couldn't make it. Having split off from Naz to procure drinks, he has just returned with them.

One for you, one for me.

Thanks.

This is a cool space. Nice people, too. I can see why you like working here.

Yeah, sure.

You okay? You seem distracted.

I'm fine. But...

But?

I noticed those six women over there have all shed their collective footwear and are dancing barefoot while the DJ is on a break, and there's no music playing.

I guess they're feeling the holiday spirit.

Hm. I also noticed that Bekka is sitting on top of the copier, making copies of...

Of?

Her bare feet.

Jeez. I guess she's hitting the booze pretty hard.

No. Not her. She doesn't touch the stuff. And over there, I can see Emma and Alisha--

They're that sweet couple you introduced me to when we first got here, right?

Yup. They're in that corner sucking on each other's toes.

Wow, that's pretty daring among all these people.

It is indeed. Even more so because I've also never seen any PDAs from them. Ever.

All I can say is, Naz, your coworkers certainly know how to party.

The thing is, they really don't. They're nice, they're smart, they're fun. But they're not crazy. They're doing crazy right now.

I don't know. I'd just call it having a good time.

Really?

Sure.

Someone is definitely having a good time, but is it them?

What are you saying?

I'm saying, Cyril, that when I asked you to come with me here tonight, I made you promise me that there would be no hypnosis.

Whoa, I didn't promise that.

Yes, you did.

No, I promised that I wouldn't hypnotize you. You were adamant about not doing anything even remotely embarrassing in front of your coworkers, and you insisted that you have control over your own mind for the duration of the evening. I understood. And I agreed to it. But I didn't agree to no hypnosis at all.

So, you rules-lawyered our agreement? And then, you hypnotized my coworkers into performing their current foot fetish activities?

Well, yeah, of course.

Of course. Why did I bring you tonight? You're incorrigible.

True, I am that. But you didn't make a mistake in bringing me.

Didn't I?

Well, okay, yeah, you kind of did. But you didn't have a choice.

What do you mean I didn't have a choice? Cyril, you didn't dare hypnotize me tonight!

No, I didn't. Not tonight. I promised I wouldn't.

Then why didn't I have a choice?

Because I hypnotized you before.

What? When?

Movie night a couple weeks ago.

I don't remember that at all.

Nope.

What did you make me do?

I made you tell me what your holiday plans were. You told me about this party and about all of your female coworkers. You said you were going with Siobhan. It sounded like fun, and I decided I wanted to go. So I instructed you to hypnotize Siobhan and have her come up with a good excuse why she couldn't go. And afterwards, you, not wanting to go alone, would ask me to go with you. Then, I made you forget everything, woke you up, and we watched our movie.

You did all of that just to get access to a bunch of women you could hypnotize?

Yep. And, looking around, I have to say it was worth it. You have some attractive coworkers.

You're right about that.

And I chose some fun, sexy activities for them to engage in.

Yeah, you're right about that, too.

So, what's the problem? You're not hypnotized. They are. You're not embarrassing yourself. They won't remember embarrassing themselves. Why not enjoy this like I am? You can't tell me that being at a party with a bunch of sexy, barefoot women isn't fun.

No, I can't. I should, because what you did is wrong. But I can't.

Great. It's settled then.

It's not settled. We're going to have a serious discussion about this...but not tonight. We're here now. You've done what you've done. So I'm going to have fun. But that doesn't mean you're off the hook.

Fair enough. Oh, and why don't you take off your shoes?

Hell. No. You've got a plethora of female feet to ogle. You don't need to see mine. And you will not hypnotize me into showing them to you.

Correct on all accounts. But I suggested that you take off your shoes because there's a cute young woman in the other room--I believe she said she was Leisa from Accounting--who is barefoot and mindlessly awaiting the arrival of a certain mistress to serve and obey. And while you don't need to be barefoot to enjoy your brainwashed slave, she informed me under hypnotic compulsion that she is very skilled with her tongue. So, you know, I just figured...

This doesn't get you a pass. We're going to have that discussion. But for now...will you hold my shoes? I'm going to pay Leisa a visit.

Have fun.

I will. And I know you will, too.