"That's of course when I woke him up and we talked things over, because that's not exactly how he thought it would go." Octavia smiled as she recounted the story.

"Incredible…" Rowan leaned his elbows on the table, hanging on her every word.

Suddenly self-conscious, she looked at the time. "I've been boring you with stories for half an hour now…"

"You haven't been boring me at all." He sat up. "But if you need me to go because of other engagements…"

She shook her head. "I just don't want to take up too much of your time. I could talk for hours if you really wanted."

He smiled and there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Will you show me more?"

"What would you like me to show you?" She looked around her little studio, mentally opening up her portfolio to select something to show off.

"You've shown me some interesting and sneaky tricks, but I would actually like…" He took a moment to think about it and then said: "Something basic. Like the swinging pendant. Will you show me how that works? Why is it such a trope?"

She got up and went to her chest of toys at the foot of the bed. "I would be delighted to show you that. Please take your chair and put it in the middle over there."

She pushed some chains aside and rummaged in her box of pendants and pocketwatches as Rowan moved the chair. "Are you a fan of shiny crystals, or would you prefer a pocketwatch or a silly novelty thing?"

"I am a fan of shiny crystals, actually." He smiled as he sat down and looked up at her. "Does it make a difference what I choose?"

"Not really." She replied as she sauntered over to him, a pendant dangling on a silver chain from her hand. "The principle of how it works doesn't change. It's just a matter of preference and aesthetics." When she stood in front of him, she let the pendant and chain fall into his outstretched hand.

He delicately draped the silver chain over the palm of his hand as he examined the faceted, yellow crystal. "Pretty. So, is this a hypnotic crystal?"

"That's a pear cut citrine." Octavia said. "Crystals like this are not terribly heavy, even when they're this big. I like the way it swings and sparkles. But no, crystals are not inherently hypnotic. Neither are pocketwatches. Though it's fun to imagine that they are."

He held his hand up so she could take the crystal. "So, is it in the way you dangle it? In the way you catch their eye?"

"Not really." She grasped his wrist and positioned his hand above his head and in front of his face, so he could hold the chain himself, dangling the crystal in front of his own eyes. "Swing it, twirl it, do whatever you like."

He glanced from the crystal back to her with a little frown. "I feel like this is another trick."

"Are you always this impatient?" She grinned impishly. He was onto her again, but she could still steer him in the right direction. "I'm showing you how it works. Are you going to cooperate or not?"

"Ok. Fine." He kept his eyes on the crystal as it twirled and sparkled in front of his eyes. "Now what?"

"Now, you just look at the crystal and listen." She let her voice drop to that soft, smooth hypnotist tone. "I just need you to notice the way it sparkles in the light, the different colours of all the different facets as it spins and twirls and catches your eye. There is nothing particularly fascinating about this crystal, I suppose. It's just something nice to hold your attention so you don't worry about my voice slipping past your defences and into your head where I can influence you and enchant you. Because that's not what's happening, is it?"

His eyes stayed on the crystal while his voice was soft and dreamy. "See, I knew there was a trick…"

It made her smile as she continued. "No trick, I swear it. You see, the crystal is so sparkly and spinning in such a way that your eyes are just bound to feel so tired and heavy. That's just the way your eyes work. And you're holding the crystal in such a way that your arm is just bound to feel so tired and heavy. That's just the way gravity works. Nothing about that has anything to do with the way I'm talking to you, does it?"

His eyes blinked heavily as his arm drooped just a tad, making the crystal bob and swing as it spun in front of his eyes. "Not sure…" He muttered with a frown. "Makes sense… kinda…"

"Yes, it makes sense." She said in a reassuring tone. "So if I say that you're feeling more and more tired and heavy with each and every passing moment, that's just a factual statement, isn't it?" 

He tried to speak again, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a deep sigh as he sagged in his seat. His heavy-lidded eyes were too sluggish to follow the movement of the crystal anymore as his arm kept drooping further down.

"It has nothing to do with the sound of my voice." She spoke slowly in that low bedroom voice. "I'm not tricking you at all. I'm not even hypnotising you. You're just feeling so tired and heavy that it would be such a relief to close your eyes and sink down into a deep trance…"

His arm flopped down, dropping the crystal on the carpet as his head sank down on his chest and his eyes closed, deeply hypnotised.

As she picked up the crystal from the floor, she said: "And because I'm not tricking you at all, I'm going to help you remember very clearly every word I said, everything that just happened. Just take a deep breath as you settle more comfortably in your seat and you remember every detail about what just happened. What I said. What you felt. All of it. You can remember it all, effortlessly."

With a sharp intake of breath, he suddenly opened his eyes. And then scowled. "No trick, my lily white ass!" He pointed an accusing finger at her.

She chuckled and crossed her arms, holding the crystal in her hand. "And you loved every second of it."

"You said you would show me how it works!" He raised his voice, but the joyful twinkle in his eyes belied how impressed and amused he was.

"And I did show you." She replied with a smug grin. "You can remember all of it so clearly, can't you? If you just take a moment to remember what I said, and how you felt, I'm sure you can see right through me."

His pointing finger hovered in the air as his eyes stared off into the distance, remembering. A change came over his facial expression, as if he was nodding off, and his eyes glazed over.

She smiled and grabbed his outstretched wrist to pull him towards her. "Deep sleep!" She commanded.

He folded up like a rag doll, his head lolling between his legs and his arms hanging limply down to the floor.

Octavia felt her cheeks glow with joy at the sight of him like this. She gently laid her hands on his shoulders to push him into a more upright position as she cooed softly. "I suppose it feels nice to be so deeply asleep. I want you to enjoy it, bask in it. It must be such a pleasurable sensation, in your body, and in your head. Why else would you keep falling so easily for it? Again, and again?" She chuckled shamelessly.

While she was still talking, his head swayed on his shoulders and his eyes were closed. Gradually, his zonked, slack-jawed expression gently turned into a goofy, dreamy smile. But her laughter roused him, as if he had to defend himself against her little jape.

He grimaced and then shook his head, slowly opening his eyes. "And again… Why indeed? It couldn't have anything to do with your inescapable sneaky tricks! No! It must be my fault!" He gave her a dirty look. "Well, I'm not dumb!"

She stepped back to give him more space. "My dear, I bring out these sneaky tricks because you are so incredibly intelligent. And still, you are onto me."

He took a deep breath, rubbed his face and then jumped up from the seat. "So let's turn things up a notch. Gimme that." And he gestured at the crystal.

She raised her eyebrows at him, her hand still closed around the crystal. "Why would I allow this?"

Tilting his head with a cheeky grin, he said: "If you don't want me to turn the tables on you, I'm sure you could find some sneaky way to stop me."

That was a challenge if she ever heard one. And consent to keep on tricking him. She smiled and nodded as she gave him the crystal. "Alright. What did you have in mind?"

"Before you sit down…" He shifted on his feet as if he was steeling himself. "Say the thing. I want to see if it still works."

"What?" She frowned at him, not letting on that she was ready to catch him. "Deep sleep?"

"Ha!" He pumped his fist in the air with a triumphant smile. "No effect!"

In this moment, Octavia made the decision to play dirty. "Well done." She smiled at him and held her hand up in the air. "Up top."

When Rowan stepped closer to give her a high five, she grabbed his wrist and put her other hand on the back of his head. "Deep sleep!" And she suddenly pulled his arm down. He swooned with his face into her bosom and she held him close as she spoke quick, confusing, hypnotic words.

"Perhaps you do feel some effects, but that's ok. It feels so good to drop into a deep sleep like this. It feels so good in fact that it keeps tempting you, doesn't it? The look in my eyes, the tone of my voice, sometimes it's just my touch. Things like that just keep reminding you how good it feels to sleep deeply like this. And that effect just keeps compounding on itself and getting stronger. Enjoy it, bask in it. It's so distracting while you do whatever you have planned. It makes you feel a little hazy and fuzzy in the head. Makes it hard to remember what just happened. I didn't say much at all, did I? It was just you, checking whether my words would affect you. Perhaps you do feel some effects, but that's ok. You can just take a deep breath, fill your lungs and there you go, wide awake." 

"Whoah…" He clutched his head as he staggered away from her. "Failed my wisdom save, I guess." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Everything ok?" She asked innocently. "What just happened?"

"No…" He straightened up and made a gesture as if he brushed something off his shoulder. "Nothing happened. I'm fine." He dangled the crystal from his hand. "And you're going to sit down."

She chuckled as she sat on the chair. "Oof, Rowan." She fanned herself with one hand and blinked at him with her best impression of big doe eyes. "So forceful and dominant."

He shushed her as he stood in front of her, dangling the crystal in front of her face. "Shh. Pay attention."

She looked up at him and said in her smooth hypnotist voice: "I suppose you're going to tell me that my eyes are locked on the crystal, hypnotically compelled to watch and stare as it sparkles and twirls, drawing me deeper and deeper with every breath I take. Something like that?"

He paused, his eyes glazing over for a second as he looked down at the crystal. Then he blinked heavily and sighed deeply. "This is not gonna work." He said with his eyes closed as he threw the crystal away.

"Oh…" She batted her eyes at him. "But you were doing so well."

He stepped in closer, looming over her and touched the back of her head in the same way she had touched his. He gave her a smouldering look.

"Good!" She said in her bedroom voice. "I'm sure you can hypnotise me if you look deep into my eyes. Eyes are so fascinating and beautiful, aren't they? The deeper you look, the more colour and detail you can see in the irises, and the more fascinated you become. Deeper and deeper, very good."

His expression softened, no longer forcefully staring down on her, his eyes widened, his jaw loosened, but he caught himself. Taking a deep breath, he scrunched up his face and turned away, exclaiming: "How do you keep doing that?"

She crossed her legs and folded her hands with a smug grin. "I'm cheating, of course."

"No no no…" He mumbled, his back still turned to her as he stared off into the distance in contemplation. As he continued to speak, his voice turned soft and smooth. "There's something about the cadence of your voice as you capture my attention, there's something about the timbre of your voice and the way it caresses my skin, there's something about the subtle repetition and the dreamy lack of grammar in your words and that… that's really what gets me every time…"

She stared at him, her hand reaching up to cover her open mouth, shocked by the near-perfect impression he did of her. He didn't try to imitate the pitch or the femininity, but he copied the deft stringing together of words in a fascinating tone so well that she was compelled to listen quietly.

He stood there, with his back to her, swaying ever so slightly on his feet, one hand lazily drawing vague circles in the air as he continued. "There's a certain melody to your hypnotist voice, Octavia, it reminds me of the swinging pendant. There's repetition to it, but it's just a little different every time… Just enough to keep me completely fascinated, to keep me wondering what's coming next… even though I know what's coming next, because the conclusion is always the same, and…"

She got up to stand next to him, laying one hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"I want it so bad…" He turned his head to look at her with dull eyes, his mouth open as if he was thirsty. His voice turned raw and hoarse. "I know what you did. I remember what you said. Clearly…"

She nodded, to acknowledge that she had noticed how impressively he imitated her. She only hoped he could see the pride and admiration in her eyes.

"You're so fucking brilliant." He sighed and he blinked heavily. "I surrender."

"Then go ahead and drop so deeply for me." She wrapped her arms around him as his knees went weak and his head slumped forward. Her voice was soothing and sweet. "No more games. This time you can sink deep down into trance for real. You can rest in this deep sleep with me. It's all good. I may have bested you and put you in your place, but now, I'll take care of you. Just follow me."

And she led his heavy, sluggish body to the bed where she laid down beside him and hugged him.