Octavia was pleased and surprised when Rowan made another appointment not long after. She decided not to ask after his friends anymore, whether and what Rowan told them about the date they had paid for was really none of Octavia's business. In his new message, Rowan spoke of doing fantasy roleplay with Octavia, so she donned a long, midnight blue gown befitting a lady.

When Rowan entered, his excited eyes took in her look and he gave an infectious smile. "Good thing I brought something appropriate to wear."

"Talk to me first, Rowan." She waited by the table, inviting him to sit. "What do you hope for today? What is our goal?"

He blew out a long breath as he sat down. "That's a good question…"

"I cater in experiences and feelings." She smiled. "What can I provide for you in this scenario? What is the goal?"

"I think…" He licked his lips as he took a moment. "Well, it's obvious that not being able to talk would effectively disarm me. That would be interesting, not because it's mechanically impossible to speak. But because it would get me in more trouble." 

She nodded, smiling as she made mental notes.

He continued in an excited tone. "I've always had a fascination with stories about fae, they are such magical creatures, awe-inspiring and terrifying. Making a deal, accepting their gifts or even revealing your name to them can be so dangerous. I tend to create a whole setting in just a few minutes of roleplay. I'm sure if you have any improv experience, we can make this work." 

He waved his hand dismissively and wanted to get up to change his clothes, but Octavia shook her head, stopping him in his tracks. "But if you're not speaking, I can't hear that."

He sank back in his seat with a thoughtful look. "I was picturing…" His voice died away and he cleared his throat. When he made eye-contact, he smiled apologetically. "Somehow this is harder than other roleplay scenarios I've come up with… Because this is so centered on my desires, and I'm usually focused on making it fun for others."

"Well, let me take the lead then." She smiled reassuringly, determined to put him at ease. "I'm picturing… you, barely dressed and a little afraid. Fully realising that you have been captured by a fae and that anything you say will be used against you. If I learn your name, that will give me the power to command your obedience. If I kiss you on the mouth you'll be charmed, and you're afraid you can never go back home."

"I love that." He gasped. 

She raised a finger at him. "Just to be clear. Here's a few things I want to avoid: I don't want to physically have to fight you and please don't try to escape the studio. I know how sometimes people can get caught up in roleplay." 

He nodded. "Of course. Anything else?"

"Same safeword as last time?" She got up and tightened some of the laces on the gown, getting ready to begin.

He stood in front of her and gave her a serious look. "If you pause the game too when you need it. When I do something you don't want because I'm an idiot."

She clutched her chest, his words warmed her heart. "Yes, of course. But you're not an idiot." 

"Sometimes!" He skipped off to the corner where he had left his bag. His enthusiasm was so earnest. However, when he had kicked his shoes off, something made him hesitate. "Do you mind if I change in the bathroom?" He blushed.

"Please, go right ahead." She pointed at the correct door with a welcoming gesture. 

While Rowan changed, she looked around the studio, thinking about the details of the scene. The bed looked like a good place to start, and she tucked the restraints she kept on the corners of the bed under the covers, seeing as he had not mentioned bondage in his wishes and kinks. She felt a tinge of pride at being able to intuit what he would like when he had trouble admitting to it, but a part of her was also trying to anticipate the worst case scenarios of this scene.

Rowan returned dressed in simple linen pants and a loose linen shirt. The many freckles on his shoulders showed through the soft, thin fabric. He smiled bashfully. "This is the hard part… Getting into character…"

She sat on the bed and beckoned him. In her soft, smooth hypnotist voice, meant to put him at ease, she said: "Let me help with that, Rowan. You can leave all of that up to me." 

He shook his head as he sat down next to her on the bed. "That just gives me a visceral reaction now. All the tension, just…" He waved his hand to indicate it was gone. "Just that voice."

"Good. That means you can effortlessly drop into a deep sleep." As he sat down, she unexpectedly pushed him backwards onto the bed. She had to suppress a delighted squeak as he flopped under her touch, his eyes rolling up into his head.

"And as you breathe out, you only sink deeper into this trance, where I can explain the rules to you, etching them into your mind to make the magic happen automatically. You can just feel yourself opening up as you relax, allowing me into your mind to make little changes just like I did before." The hypnotic language just rolled off her tongue, giving her time to think, to construct the suggestions in her head. 

Rowan was out like a light, the only movement was the slow heaving of his chest as he breathed.

"When you wake from this trance, you'll be the captive of a fae, exactly as we discussed. There's something awe-inspiring about my countenance whenever you look at me, and there is this lingering feeling of dread reminding you of all the frightening things I could possibly do to you because I'm a fae. For example, if I give you a command mentioning your name, Rowan, you have no choice but to obey. Your body will take over and execute my orders, even if you don't want to. But only if I say your name. And the other thing that frightens you is the power of the kiss. If I kiss you on the lips, you will be helplessly enthralled, utterly charmed and enslaved by me. But only if I kiss you on the lips."

His eyelashes fluttered even as the rest of his face looked like he was asleep, he took in her every word as he lay there.

"I'm sure there is more fae magic that you dread while you're captured here, but I'm not concerned with that. As long as you remember that either of us can pause the game whenever we need it." She got up from the bed and made her voice more lighthearted. "Now just take a deep breath, and let that energise you and wake you up." 

She walked over to the mirror and made a show of preening, fixing her hair as he stirred on the bed. He ran his hand through his hair and rubbed his face before he sat up. When he looked at her, there was an audible gasp.

"Ah, you've awakened, sweet boy." She turned towards him and reached out with one hand, curling her fingers into an elegant beckoning gesture. "Let me look at you. Let me see who I have caught."

He shifted, kneeling on the bed, but he didn't come closer. His eyes strayed to her hand, like a dog, he was playing dumb.

For a moment, she regarded the soft red fuzz on his freckled arms and chest. She remembered the disparaging things he had said about his body in their first encounter, but in this moment she thought he was beautiful. She stepped closer to the bed, her hand still reaching out to him.

"Where are my manners?" She made her accent posh british. "Lady Octavia Thrallblossom, and you are?"

He meekly touched her fingers and bowed forward to lightly kiss her hand without moving it. "I have no such fancy title, milady." His voice was breathy and high-pitched as he avoided looking her straight in the eye, and a tinge of Irish crept into his accent.

"Are we shy, boy?" Her hand lunged forward to grab his chin and make him look up at her. "I asked you a simple and polite question."

His eyes widened with alarm and she could feel him swallow before replying: "Sean, Milady."

Letting go of him, she sat on the edge of the bed. "Kiss me, Sean."

He took in a quick, shuddering breath and his large, light eyes darted around the room before he bowed and kissed her hand again.

When he pulled away, she raised her hand and slapped him across the face. "Do you take me for a fool?"

He recoiled and sat there for a moment with his eyes closed. "No, Milady. But your request was improper."

She pushed him down on the bed and loomed over him, both her hands on his chest. She could feel his nipples poking through the thin shirt as she leaned in to kiss him, but he quickly turned his head. With her lips brushing his cheek, she whispered: "You are no fool either. You know what I want. But perhaps it's too soon. Perhaps we should play first…"

He tensed up as she leaned on him, holding his breath. And when she leaned in to trail kisses over his cheek to his ear and then to his neck, he whimpered involuntarily.

The pained look on his pale face and the delicious whimpering made Octavia all hot and bothered, but she wanted to know what would happen if she let go of him. So she got up from the bed and straightened the skirts of her gown.

Immediately, he turned his back to her and rolled up into a ball, hiding his face from her. The shirt was moist with sweat and clung to him, revealing even more freckles on his lower back.

"Don't be coy…" She cooed, turning up the sex in her voice. "You wanted to play before. Don't you remember? Don't you remember how I held your gaze across the glade? How you hurried towards me through the ferns. You touched my hand to help me stand after you released me from that snare trap. You wanted to touch me then, didn't you? You remember staring at me in the twilight, don't you? And then you looked deep into my eyes."

He stirred, she could tell he was listening even if he didn't move. She sat on the edge of the bed, giving him space as she continued in her hypnotist voice.

"A familiar feeling came over you. As if you had been fascinated by my eyes before. And the soothing sound of my voice instilled you with such a comfortable peace. You remember that feeling, don't you? Though your memory is hazy when it comes to my words, you remember feeling enchanted by me. You remember my voice and my touch and the playful joy between us."

The ball of Rowan began to unwind, shifting into a more comfortable position on the bed. She couldn't see his face, she had to trust that her story was having the desired effect.

"And you remember how you held me in your arms, don't you? My beauty and my touch stirred something inside you. I seemed like such an ethereal faerie then, so delicate and enchanting. You felt safe with me then, didn't you?"

He shifted again and a bulge in his pants became clearly visible as he rolled a little more onto his back, relaxing a little more into her story as she continued. It was time to turn it up, she decided.

"Do you remember the words I said that made you feel so comfortable and relaxed? It feels like it was long ago perhaps, but if you remember now I'm sure you could feel the same way again. Do you feel those words? As you feel their effects again, you can just say it."

His head turned and then slumped on the bed, and she could finally see the dreamy smile on his face. His eyes were closed as he made himself more comfortable. "Deep sleep." He mumbled.

She smiled wickedly, working hard to keep that hypnotically reassuring tone while she was getting excited. "What I remember most clearly is that feeling of trust between us. How you let me touch you and hold you, and say those words to you. Do you remember how that felt? That trust in me?"

"Yeah…" He sighed with a goofy smile on his face.

Octavia took in a quiet, deep breath and then said in a sweet, soft whisper: "Give me your name."

"Rowan." He said in a dreamy voice, unaware of the consequences.

"Good boy. " She chuckled and petted his hair.

In the silence that followed, he frowned. The realisation started as tension in his jaw and then turned into a cringe that made him shrink on the bed. He recoiled from the hand on his head and got up from the bed on the opposite side from her.

With a little huff, she made herself comfortable on the bed, rearranging all the pillows to comfortably support her. She reclined as if on a throne. "Was that not a happy memory?" She patted the space beside her on the bed. "Come sit."

"I shouldn't be here, Milady." He said with his back turned to her. "You stole me away and I don't belong here." The Irish lilt in his voice was one of those little details that enhanced the fantasy, like the costumes. It helped Octavia keep her voice stern and noble.

"I said, come sit with me, Rowan." She extended her hand with that beckoning gesture again.

The muscles in his neck and shoulders tightened as he turned around. He glided towards her beckoning hand as if she was reeling him in. His breathing was quick and his eyes were large with alarm. 

She opened her arms and wrapped them around him as soon as he sat down, pressing her bosom against his chest as she sniffed and then licked the side of his neck, tasting him. "I know I seemed like such an ethereal faerie then, so delicate and enchanting, but now you see what I'm truly like. What I truly like… And there's nothing quite like the whiff of fear coming off you right now, delicious boy." She purred like a cat.

He couldn't suppress a tiny gasp when he felt her wet tongue against his skin. He clenched up as she groped his back, as if her hand was a giant spider, but he yielded to her touch when she pushed him into the pillows to nuzzle his chest. It quivered with his quick, shallow breaths and she could feel him swallow.

"Hush now…" She shushed him and pressed a finger against his lips. "I promise not to hurt your frail little body. I just want to play with your head. Don't you want to play?" One of her hands moved to ruffle his hair.

"Please, Milady…" He squirmed under her touch, his face averted. "I beg of you…"

"What are you begging for?" She studied his face as she played with his hair. She slowly crawled over his scalp to the back of his head and then made a fist. "Look at me, Rowan."

His head jerked towards her and his eyes widened with a look of helpless anguish. His lips parted as he whimpered.

"You're not sure, are you?" Her voice turned to a hot whisper as she turned his head from side to side with her fist in his hair, watching his eyes stay on hers. "It's so hard to think when you're under my control. It's so hard to think when you're so fascinated by my eyes. Is this what happened when we met in the forest? Is this how I captured you and stole you away? Did I mesmerise you?"

His mouth sagged open and the brightness in his eyes dulled as his mind drifted away on her hypnotic words. But even in this dazed state, he mumbled breathlessly: "Please don't do this to me."

"Do what?" She let go of his hair to hold his face in both her hands as she gave him a piercing hypnotic stare. "What am I doing to you that you object to? Doesn't it feel good when my gaze bores into you, melting all your thoughts away? Doesn't it feel liberating when I strip away all your defences with my enchanting words?"

He moaned and his eyes rolled up. She could feel his neck turn to rubber in her hands. As she watched him sink into her mound of pillows, she realised that she could kiss him on the lips right now and he would be unable to stop her. So she decided to make it a little more interesting. 

"I like the way you beg, delicious boy. And that look of abject fear in your eyes is exquisite." Her whispering became a little more fervent and excited. "Is it because of that dread that lingers in the back of your mind, warning you how dangerous I am, nagging at you to wake from this trance? Is the realisation sinking in that you are truly powerless and the only thing that could possibly save you is your gift of gab?" 

She realised this was swerving away from what he had originally asked for in this scene, so she let go of him and gave him some space. With a soft pat on his shoulder, she whispered: "And remember that you can always pause the game."

Rowan scrunched his eyes shut as he struggled to wake himself from trance. Again, his shoulders tensed in a cringe that made him shrink. He hugged himself and gave her a sideways glance.

"I still seem to have all my faculties…" The boyish quality of his voice was striking and beautiful. "Which means you must have some doubts about making me your eternal servant."

She turned towards him and narrowed her eyes at him. "Do I?"

He gave her a disarming smile. "I understand completely, Milady. I am not the most handsome specimen of masculinity. Unless you keep me out of direct sunlight, I turn into a spotted tomato except I'm not as juicy when you bite into me. I require near-constant feeding lest I turn into a useless mush, and the part of me that will go stale the quickest is my humour. You could do s…"

She cut him off by grabbing his throat and leaning in so close that their noses almost touched. "I think you're delicious and perfect." She showed off her tongue emphatically licking her teeth. "Are you saying I'm wrong?"

His eyes widened and his breathing quickened. "I would never presume to know better than you, Milady. But isn't there perhaps something else I could offer you instead?"

"So, bargaining…" She grinned and asked in a low, threatening whisper: "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know…" He inched away, staring innocently up at the ceiling as he tried to take on a dreamy, captivating voice despite his fear. "Perhaps I could infiltrate a human settlement on your behalf and find the absolutely perfect subject for you to enthrall and then lure them out into your waiting clutches. Pray tell, Milady, what would you imagine your ideal thrall to be like?"

She bared her teeth in a wicked grin and spoke slowly, drawing out the rolling Rs into a growl. "My ideal thrall is right in front of me… writhing and wriggling… you make me hungry."

"Please no." The words escaped his lips before he had really thought about it. He shrank away with his eyes downcast, his hands groping for the edge of the bed.

"Good. Plead." She smiled and gave an approving nod. "Don't try to distract me with your words. Plead for your freedom."

The look in his bright eyes changed from fearful to thoughtful, even though the high pitch of his voice and the speed of his words still betrayed his despair. "Milady, I beg for your commiseration, for I have nothing to offer that might dissuade you from your portending intentions."

"On the contrary…" She made herself comfortable on her throne of pillows. "As a fae, I have no need for possessions and riches are useless to me. We interact with mortals because they inspire us, and we inspire them in return. I selected you because you have a poet's soul and the voice of an orator." She tilted her head at him with a smile in one corner of her mouth. "Now Rowan, kneel for me. And plead for your life."

A sudden burst of movement shook the bed. Rowan's eyes widened with involuntary fear as his body kneeled on the bed without his conscious intervention. There was a moment of hesitation as his hands leaned forward on the covers and then he bowed his head and grovelled before her. "I cannot even begin to describe the dread that chills me to the bone in this moment, Milady…" 

It was fascinating to listen to him improvise a speech, she could almost hear how he spoke slowly to give himself more time to think, much in the same way she did when she spun her hypnotic patter. But while she constantly needed to concentrate to keep her language in line with the fantasy they created together, he simply opened up a register in his vocabulary that contained words like 'commiseration' and 'portending'.

"Your power over me is absolute. I am a mere puppet and if you were to say 'dance' my legs would make me do a jaunty jig. No matter what you say, my body would simply do your bidding. And you commanded me to plead for my life. Subsequently, words started to tumble out and I cannot stop them, Milady. Blarney and fawning will pour from my mouth until you bid me to stop."

Octavia watched him with excited wonder. The linen clothes clung to his skin in a way that left nothing to the imagination about the shape of his tense, stocky body. At first, his head was bowed, showing her only his mess of wavy red hair, and when he finally looked up at her, he had a wild-eyed look about him, as if he was surprised by the things he said.

"I wish I could dwell on your ethereal beauty, Milady, for that was truly what captivated me when we first met in the woods. I wish I could spend more time idly gazing into the magical brilliance in your eyes, but I must confess that I have become fearful of it. I realise all too well that as soon as you grow tired of my waffling, and for the life of me I cannot fathom why you've let me continue for so long, that brilliance in your eyes, Milady, may become my whole world, eclipsing everything else I have ever known. And while the thought of basking in your brilliance for the rest of my life is tempting, I must admit, the idea of losing everything I have had the fortune of collecting in my short life fills me with indescribable dread."

She smiled serenely, trying to keep a calm and collected appearance, but the joy his words gave her made her eyes twinkle. She extended her hand, her fingers turning in a circle to spur him on and he immediately latched on with both hands in a gesture of desperation. His face was almost as red as the tip of his tongue that came out to lick his lips between sentences and his breath quickened as he started to speak faster.

"You must know, Milady, that I am a man with no backbone to speak of. I would sooner lay down my life than deny someone a simple request. I have felt obliged to do many things for many people in my life and I can say with the utmost certainty that I have never felt as helplessly controlled as I do now. Your power over me is…" He drew a shuddering breath as he lowered his eyes. "Intoxicating. I can feel myself going mad as I scramble to find the words that might appease you, Milady. A fool such as myself is simply not worthy of the attention and affection you have lavished upon me, while also simultaneously not wretched enough to deserve to lose everything. And yet…"

As he paused and closed his eyes, she could hear his ragged breath. Impatient for  him to continue, she pulled on his hands, dragging him closer to her. A change came over him as she grabbed his chin with her other hand to force him to look at her. His eyes looked distant and a strange smile curled the corners of his mouth. 

"And yet… Despite my misgivings… you, Milady, in all your otherworldly wisdom have deemed me worthy somehow… Of your attention. Of this touch…" He slowly shook his head as her hand crawled up to caress his hair. He gasped and his mouth hung open for a moment before he continued speaking. "It's not that I was ever very judicious to begin with, but I fear your power over me is driving me mad… I find myself wondering… what it would be like…" He blinked slowly at her. "To kiss you, Milady."

She leaned in closer and grinned at him. "Is that what you want? What about that indescribable dread?"

"Well, you see…" His eyes lingered on her lips for a moment. "The dread is there, gripping my heart in the same way it did before. Nothing will change that. And what I want is wholly irrelevant in this situation where I have been rendered powerless. I have no recourse but to submit to your wishes, Milady. This is the simple truth, as it has been from the very start. Whether or not you kiss me is up to you. I am a mere puppet in your hands."

Gripping his hair, she turned his head from side to side to inspect him as he passively looked back at her. With the index finger of her other hand, she traced his parted lips, and then traced up his nose over his forehead into his hair. When she suddenly let go of his head, it wobbled and swayed on his neck. He blinked slowly, utterly acquiescent.

She leaned in closer, tilting her head as if to kiss him and then whispered: "And if I were to command my puppet to dance more?"

His voice was hoarse and breathy. "Your puppet would dance and dance until you told it to stop, Milady."

She wrapped her ams around him and pulled him in for a long, hot kiss that made his eyes roll up into his head.