Mirna sat in her seat in the theatre, waiting for her cue.

“And if you WANT to be one of our amazing volunteers- one of the STARS of our show tonight- it’s time to COME ON UP TO THE STAGE!” shouted the hypnotist.

Mirna jumped out of her seat and excitedly walked to the stage. She tried to project an air of nervousness and wonder as she passed Eva (Ms. Mesmera, she reminded herself) and took a seat. Mirna fought back the urge to give her a quick wink. That would be dumb. It would easily give too much away.
No one needed to know she was a plant. A confederate. A stooge.

After all, Eva needed enthusiastic volunteers to make a good show. And, although neither she nor Mirna really believed in hypnosis, having someone on stage who was willing to act out and be entertaining would inspire the rest of her patsies to play along with Eva’s suggestions.

That would make Eva happy.

And making Eva happy made Mirna happy.

Of course, Mirna had once also believed hypnosis was real. In fact, after volunteering at her first hypnosis show, she had waited backstage for almost 30 minutes to meet the amazing Ms Mesmera to tell her how hypnotized she was. She wanted this captivating woman to know how much fun she had on stage. She couldn’t wait to be hypnotized again.

But when she finally got into her dressing room, Eva smirked at her declarations.

‘Hypnosis is bullshit,“ she said, dismissively.

“What?” asked Mirna. “But I was just…”

Eva stopped her. “You THINK you were hypnotized on stage tonight. That’s understandable- many people who come to my shows do. But really, what you were doing was pretending.”

“Pretending?” asked Mirna. “But- no! It felt like you were controlling me! Like you were directing what I did and what I thought!”

Eva sighed and nodded. “That happens too. Tell me, do you generally find yourself wanting to make others happy? Do you want to be accepted?”

“I guess,” said Mirna.

“Do you like when you have a clear idea of what to do best? Or are you the type that likes to be confused?” asked Eva.

“Oh no, I definitely like things to be clear,” Mirna said.
Eva nodded. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “So- you were pretending, but you already had such a strong desire to feel good and be accepted and have a direction that it became really really easy for you to pretend. It was easy because you were doing things you really wanted to do. So you convinced yourself that you were hypnotized so you could keep pretending and enjoying those feelings. You’re just a really, really good pretender. So good, you even fooled yourself.”

“I am?” asked Mirna. Eva had sounded so certain. “I guess I had never noticed that about myself before.”

“Oh yes,” said Eva. “It’s a very special personality type you have. That wasn’t hypnosis, though. “

“What’s the difference?” asked Mirna.

“Well, if there were a hypnosis, people who were hypnotized couldn’t resist suggestions- they’d have to do everything a hypnotist says. Like on TV. And they’d kind of be mentally asleep while their body carried out those suggestions. But you didn’t feel like that on stage, right?”

She hadn’t. In fact, when Eva had been on stage, she had felt hyper-aware. And- Ok, she might have blanked out a bit right after Ms Mesmera said “sleep!” but- maybe she had just been pretending? After all, she could remember everything Ms. Mesmera said. And the woman had also told her she was a really good pretender.

“I guess not,” she said. “But..uhmmm..I did kind of feel like I couldn’t resist your suggestions, Ms Mesmera”. She blushed. That had definitely awakened some interesting new desires in her.

Ms. Mesmera smiled. “Call me Eva,” she said. “And you could resist suggestions, you just didn’t want to. You acted them out because that felt good to you and you’re the type that likes obeying naturally. So you obeyed. And it felt natural.“ She casually reached over and started lightly tracing Mirna’s arm. Mirna found herself focused on the slow, deliberate motions. She felt spacey. It was almost like Eva was trying to hypnotize her again.

But that was silly, she thought. Eva had just said hypnosis wasn’t real.

Eva’s motions continued. “You know, if you were hypnotized, my having that kind of power over you might be scary. Or you might feel like you had to be on your guard around me to make sure you didn’t take in a harmful suggestion. But- knowing that hypnosis is pretend can help you feel a lot easier. I’d imagine it’s much more….relaxing that way. After all, you don’t have to worry about those things if you’re just pretending. You can just know that you’re safe and you follow along with everything because, deep down, you really want to do those things. Right?”

“Mmm” said Mirna. She could feel herself smiling. Eva’s voice was so nice…

Eva sounded amused. “Do you want me to pretend to hypnotize you again?”

“Yes please,” murmured Mirna.

Before she could think, Eva’s finger was touching her forehead. With a simple uttered “sleep”, Mirna was hypnotized.

But! Now she knew she wasn’t really hypnotized because hypnosis was fake. She giggled at herself internally. Then she tried pretending to be even MORE hypnotized.

It felt amazing.

“Now Mirna,” she heard Eva say. “You and I know that you’re not really hypnotized. But- I picked up that you really, really like PRETENDING that you’re hypnotized. So- I’m going to do is give you a hypnotic suggestion to respond to. I want you to pretend that you really really want to kiss me.”

Did Mirna want to kiss her? She wasn’t sure. But she knew that she could pretend to want to kiss her. She was a great pretender. Mirna imagined how it felt right before she kissed someone she really liked. She thought about the light buzzy feeling in her head and how sensitive her lips got.

“VERY good. You can really feel that now, can’t you? I wonder if that will get even stronger when you look at me? Go ahead and open your eyes now.”

Mirna opened her eyes and looked right at Eva’s lips. She was right! Her desire to kiss her grew even stronger. Eva’s lips were plump and red and Mirna wanted nothing more than to press her mouth against them. She wondered how Eva would taste.

“Do you want to kiss me now?” asked Eva. “You can ask me if you do.”

“Please,” Mirna found herself saying. “Please let me kiss you.”

“A little louder, please” said Eva.

“Please let me kiss you!” said Mirna.

Eva smirked.“Oh, all right.”

Mirna leaned forward and pressed her mouth to hers. God, she was amazed at how much she really wanted this. She probed with her tongue, then moaned when she felt Eva take control of the kiss.

After a few minutes, they separated.

Mirna took a moment to catch her breath. “So- I was able to pretend that really easily. Does that mean I really wanted to kiss you? Deep down?”

Eva looked at her seriously. “Yes. Being able to pretend something like that means you really want it.”

Mirna tried kissing Eva again, this time not pretending.

It was true! She apparently did really want to kiss her!

Later on that night, Eva helped Mirna discover a lot more things that she would be able to pretend strongly. Things she really wanted deep, deep down.

Eventually, she even pretended that she wanted to go on the road with Eva and be her plant in the audience at hypnosis shows. And, through pretending, she discovered that it was really true. How exciting! She thought she had left her adventurous days behind her, but Eva was showing her a whole new side of herself.

And now, as she waited on a chair on the stage, she knew that she would pretend for her tonight- just as hard and as eagerly as she ever did. They would have an amazing show and fool people into believing that hypnosis really did exist. And when they got backstage, Eva would teach her more about this wild, creative, sexual side of her personality that she had never previously known she had.