Eve felt a little nervous as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her. The many hours spent online letting videos and faceless chat partners hypnotise her didn't quite prepare her for doing these things in real life, or so it felt right now… But Haidar seemed like a sweet man when she met him over coffee yesterday to talk everything through, beautiful dark eyes and a lovely voice and all.

He was already waiting for her in the room, sitting on the couch, laying out a pocketwatch, a crystal pendant and some other shiny things on the coffee table. The moment they made eye-contact, he started to smile radiantly.

"Eve! I'm so thrilled we're finally doing this. That's a very pretty blouse."

She walked up to the couch with her hands in the pockets of her skirt. "What? This old thing? It's too tight, I'm always afraid that one button is going to pop off." She pulled her long ponytail forward over her shoulder, so that her hair wasn't stuck between her back and the couch as she sat down.

"That's kinda why I like it." He chuckled. "Is that ok?"

She blushed. "Yes. Thank you."

"We talked about lots of things yesterday." Haidar said as he gently laid his hand on her knee. "That you'd be ok with me touching you, among other things. But you didn't tell me your safeword."

"This is my safeword." Eve raised her finger in the air, like a student in school who wanted to ask a question. "This is what comes naturally to me when I need your attention, when I need to interrupt you. It means I would like to speak. And just giving me space to tell you what I need is enough."

"Thank you, that's very helpful." Haidar pointed at the pretty objects he had put on the table. "Is there something here you would like me to hypnotise you with?"

Eve wiggled on the couch for a moment, looking at the shinies while keeping her hands in her lap. Then she bit her lip and said: "The crystal, please."

Haidar grinned. "An excellent choice, miss." And he picked the crystal pendant up by the chain and let it hang down from his hand.

Eve giggled. "I've thought of the trigger I'd like."

Haidar looked at her, sitting there with her knees together and her skirt draped over the couch around her. In the soft light of the veiled window behind the couch, her blouse was slightly transparent and the many freckles on her skin were visible through it. He smiled and focused on her pretty face again. "Please tell me."

"Drop like a stone." She said with a bashful smile.

Haidar smacked his lips. "That's a delicious phrase I'm going to enjoy saying."

Eve giggled. "I thought you might."

"Why don't you recline and relax as you stare at my crystal?" He said as he lifted the pendant up above her eye height. "You can trust that I remember everything we talked about and that this is just preparation. You can just stare and relax."

Her pretty eyes opened further, crossing ever so slightly to focus on the crystal. Her lips parted as she breathed out. She let her hands slide off her lap onto the couch.

"There's a word I would like you to think about while you stare and relax, Eve. One word, nothing more. You can just ruminate on it as your eyes are held captive by the crystal, and as I speak to your mind, guiding you deeper into a hypnotic trance. The word is 'Fascinated'." Haidar let his voice slip into a soft, dreamy tone, where the melody and the cadence of the words were more important than the meaning of the words. "What does it feel like to be fascinated by my crystal? Think about what this word describes. Your eyes locked on the crystal as it spins, glistening in the sunlight. Enchanted. Captivated. How does it feel to be fascinated? Your thoughts just as trained on the crystal as your eyes are. Nothing else going on in your mind as every word I say just hypnotises you deeper and deeper."

Haidar kept a close eye on her reactions. The muscles in her face started to relax, giving her an open, dazed expression as she stared at the pendant. Her shoulders started to slump against the back of the couch, and her head swayed ever so slightly, as if it was held up by a string, just like the pendant.

"And as you sit there, so fascinated and entranced, your body seems to get heavier and heavier. As if your muscles have forgotten how to move. Your limbs so heavy and limp and helpless as you stare, fascinated. Your body seems to sink further and further out of reach, heavier than stone, impossible to move, as you sink deeper and deeper, helplessly fascinated."

Slowly, her legs sagged apart and her mouth fell open. She looked so beautiful and vulnerable right now. Haidar shivered with excitement as he watched her and continued to weave his words into a hypnotic narrative.  

"And now that your mind is so focused on being fascinated, I would like you to think about your trigger. Drop like a stone. In a moment, I will use that trigger for the first time. I will snap my fingers to make it stronger. And when I do that, you will. Drop like a stone. Deeper into trance, deeper even than you are now. Your body, limp and paralysed, will drop like a stone. Sudden and heavy. Even when I say these words later, no matter how awake you are then, no matter what you're doing, you will drop like a stone."

There was a visceral reaction every time he said the trigger, twitches travelled over her skin and her body kept on slumping more and more. Her eyelids drooped and her mouth hung open in a vacant expression. She was ready.

Haidar fumbled to put the pendant away so he could snap his fingers, but she was blissfully unaware. He poised his hand in front of her face, ready to snap. "So deep now. So fascinated. And now, you drop like a stone!" He snapped his fingers in a downward motion.

She flopped beautifully. Her head dropped dramatically down to her chest as her eyes slammed shut, and her body lay still on the couch, like a rag doll.

He licked his lips trying to contain his excitement. "And this is how it will go every time I say these words. Sudden and immediate. Uncontrollable. When we are done playing and we leave this room, the words will magically lose their power over you, but for now, you cannot resist. Perhaps, every time I say it, the effects will become more sudden and heavy and impossible to resist. Even when you're awake. And you are. Waking up. Take a deep breath in and feel how that energises your body. Notice how you can move. It's ok to sit up and stir and stretch as you become more and more awake. Hello."

Eve rolled her shoulders before she lifted up her head to look at Haidar. "Oh wow…" she whispered hoarsely.

"How's it going?" Haidar put the pendant down on the table, suddenly feeling shy again.

She took another deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment as she sat up. "That was delicious and beautiful. Thank you."

He shook his head, not ready to take the praise. "I would like to test a few things."

"Yes, of course." She nodded to signal that she was ready.

He laughed nervously. "Please stretch out your arms in front of you. And tell me how awake you are."

Feeling silly, she reached out, her hands level with her shoulders, and said: "I may still feel a little groggy, but I'm def…"

"Drop like a stone!" He interrupted her. 

Her arms flopped down onto the couch and her head slumped against her shoulder as she fell over against Haidar. He gently put his arm around her and looked at the empty, unconscious expression on her face. As he took her wrist into his hand and lifted it up, her arm was limp and moved in every direction he took it. 

"I know you're in there, even though you feel so helpless right now." He said softly, his lips brushing her hair. "I want to test something. I want you to pretend that you really need to go to the bathroom right now. What would you do if you really need to go to the bathroom right now?"

Her right arm trembled and then her finger rose up in the air. She inhaled and without opening her eyes said: "Hey…"

"Very good, thank you." Haidar helped her sit upright. "You can feel yourself waking up now, it's happening so easily and effortlessly. Waking all the way up now."

Eve hugged herself and let out an embarrassed laugh. "Thanks for checking."

"If you need to go now, the bathroom is right over there." He pointed.

"I'm fine, thanks." She smiled at him. "Although I'm crushing on you pretty hard right now…"

With a shy smile, he said: "It will pass. Write a scene report for yourself maybe. That can be a nice memento." He gave her a sideways glance. "Can I test another thing?"

She frowned. "Sure…"

He gave her an intense look and snapped his fingers dramatically. "Drop like you're stoned!"

She laughed at him and shook her head. "Umm… No. Did you really think that would work?"

"I just wanted to check." He rubbed his hands together. "Would you like to get to the main event now?"

She nodded fervently, her eyes twinkling.

"For my good conscience..." Haidar gave her another intense look. "I'd like you to say out loud what you want me to do."

She took a deep breath and softly said: "I want you to drop me unexpectedly. And maybe catch me. I want you to touch me. Stroke me and grope me through my clothes. Kiss me if you feel like it. While I'm helpless and I can't react. I think that would be really hot." She gave him a mischievous grin.

A sigh escaped his lips. "Yes… But if you want it to happen unexpectedly, I guess we're going to have to do something else to take your mind off it." 

"I thought of that." Eve said. "I figured I could practice my presentation for tomorrow."

"Alright." Haidar perched on the edge of the couch, leaning with his hands on his knees. "Let's do it."

"Maybe I should stand, like I would do in class?" 

As she rose to her feet, Haidar leaned towards her and quickly said: "Drop like a…"

She stared at him, her eyes large with anticipation.

He stuck out his tongue at her. "I am going to keep doing that until you no longer expect it."

Suddenly, she realised that she was frozen in place, waiting for him to complete the magic words. She shook it off and paced the room for a few seconds. "Ahem. So…" She turned towards the couch as if she was addressing a class. "My name is Eve, and I'm going to talk about…"

"Drip!" Haidar grinned impishly.

She froze, staring at him again.

He threw his hands up in the air, exclaiming: "Good grief! Who would have thought that the word 'unexpectedly' would become the biggest challenge?"

Eve shifted on her feet and averted her eyes. "I'm excited ok?"

"Don't make me have to resort to hypnotic amnesia." He pointed at her with a stern look.

She looked up at the ceiling as she tried to calm herself down, but her hands fidgeted nervously.

He got up from the couch and walked over to stand behind her. She gave him a confused look over her shoulder.

"The audience is on the couch. Give your presentation. You won't see it coming." He waved his hand at her. "Go on."

She turned back towards the couch. She rolled her shoulders for a moment, and then started anew. "My name is Eve, and I'm here today to talk to you about rapport."

He lurked behind her, watching her body language, only slightly distracted by her hourglass silhouette outlined in the veiled light from the window behind the couch.

"Rapport is a very vague term, like most NLP jargon. But I'm not just going to talk about what we mean when we say rapport." She finally started to relax, getting absorbed by her talk and what she was planning to say. No longer thinking about Haidar behind her. "I'm also going to tell you about some strategies and techniques to build rapport, and we're going to do an exercise that…"

"Drop like a stone."

Instantly, her eyes rolled up into her head and her arms fell to her sides. Haidar moved in to embrace her just as her knees gave out and she swooned. He managed to gracefully guide her to the floor, even though his heart was pounding in his chest. He sat down beside her and regarded her for a moment. She looked so serene.

He reached out to stroke her cheek and her head sagged sideways at the slightest push. He took a deep breath to contain how very aroused he was right now, knowing that she wanted this. Then he picked up her limp hand and played with it for a moment, enjoying the weight of it and the way the fingers moved.

As he tenderly put her hand back down on the floor, his hand brushed past her bosom in the tight blouse. It seemed so obvious to touch her there. So crass. But they were so beautiful. He stroked lightly over the curve of her breast up to her neck and her jaw. Her skin was so unbelievably soft.

"And just when you thought you had reached the very deepest trance…" He whispered to her under his breath as he leaned in to bring his face closer to hers. "Because you dropped like a stone. So very deep and mindless and helpless. Now you find that my every touch…" And he brushed his fingertips over her jaw to her lips. "Takes you deeper and deeper. This is your fantasy. Your dream. And you can do nothing now but helplessly undergo it."

He closed in until their lips touched. No reaction. Her eyes didn't even flutter. He held her chin and he kissed her, and it was like kissing a doll. A beautiful, warm, lifelike, limp doll.