"behind this door is a special room," adrianus said. "for now, i want you to only enter it with me. you won't be allowed to enter on your own until i tell you to."

though jim questioned why exactly that would be, he had no intention of breaking the rule.

"every time you enter this room," they continued, "you will be hypnotized. barring any emergencies, i won't let you leave until you have gone into a deep trance. it's unlikely there will be any emergencies that require you to leave before then, anyway, because i do have basic first aid supplies and food in there, just in case. and besides that, the room is designed to be as comfortable and conducive to putting you in trance as possible. you should be able to fall very quickly."

the certainty in their voice and the specificity of the rules did build his anticipation. even if he had been hypnotized by them so many times already, it managed to be exciting.

"do you agree to all of that, jim?" they asked.

he nodded. "yes, that's all fine..."

"do you have any questions?"

"no, i think i understand."

"beyond that, you will be in trance the entire time you are in the room. you will not fully wake up for a single moment, until you have fully left the room, and the door has been closed again. now, don't worry... today's session will be short, and i will give you lots of attention, so it shouldn't be difficult. but i do want you to understand that. do you think you can do that? do you think you can stay in trance, as long as you're in the room? that you can become completely unable to fully wake up, as long as you're in the room? it's very important."

just being asked that sent a chill down his spine. he was already falling into a bit of a trance, just thinking about it. it was probably intentional - if he was supposed to be in trance the entire time he was in the room, it would be easier if he were in trance before he even entered, so there was no chance of any delay.

"i can do that," he said. the verbal agreement felt as if it was binding him. adrianus was usually very loose and permissive - but they were completely serious about this.

"you will be in trance as long as you're in that room, every time you are in that room?" they asked.

"yes," he said.

"and you won't enter or leave that room without permission from me?"

"yes."

"knowing and agreeing to all of that... are you ready to enter now?"

"yes," he said, the anticipation coming through his voice, even in that single word.

"very good. i'll open the door for you, and you may enter, falling into a deeper trance as soon as you step inside."

they turned the doorknob, pushing it open, motioning for him to step in, which he did almost automatically.

it did feel like something changed as soon as he stepped inside. he was hit immediately with the atmosphere. the lights were dim, with a faint purple glow. the smell of lavender wafted through the air. there was some sort of low droning noise playing. all of the furniture looked comfortable, too - a big couch with pillows and blankets, a plush reclining chair, soft rugs on the floor, all of it with a somewhat old-fashioned kind of aesthetic, giving it a sense of nostalgia and familiarity, rather than something clinical and pristine - which actually surprised him, considering the seriousness and exactness of the rules of being there, which made him imagine something more like a laboratory. it was a pleasant surprise, though.

he also noticed pendulums, pocket watches, and a metronome, sitting around in various places, as well as other tools and supplies that could have been useful for various inductions, including mirrors, a couple of dolls, an hourglass, and a penlight.

even if they hadn't told him, he would have known, just from looking at this room, that this was a place to be hypnotized.

they closed the door behind him, and he heard the distinct click of it being locked. it was purely symbolic, because he obviously was perfectly capable of unlocking it himself, if he really wanted to. but he knew what it represented. what it meant. the symbol alone was enough to send him deeper into trance, to deepen the feeling that his mind was entirely at their mercy now.

their hands were gently placed on his shoulders as they stood behind him. "it's nice, isn't it?" they asked.

"it is," he said.

"you don't mind staying here a while, do you?"

of course he didn't mind - he had already agreed to it about as explicitly as he possibly could have. still, the way they asked, the tone they used, combined with the atmosphere of the room, gave him the feeling of being coerced, of being seduced, of being lulled into relaxation by someone who had ulterior motives.

it was a very powerful, hypnotic feeling for him.

"don't be shy, jim..." they murmured. "you can come and sit down wherever you'd like... make yourself comfortable."

he went to the reclining chair, feeling drawn to that in particular. there was a stool next to it for adrianus to sit near him, so that even they could get comfortable as they hypnotized him.

his body seemed to sink into the plush material. the simple relaxation of sitting down in a comfortable chair was amplified and made strange, almost mystical, by the atmosphere, by the knowledge that everything in this room was specifically designed to be hypnotic. he was already easing into an increasingly deep trance, and adrianus had hardly even said anything yet.

"that's right... just lean back... just relax..."

they slowly pushed the recliner back, until he was almost lying down. just the way they could change his position so easily to one that would naturally make him relax sent tingles through his body.

"how are you feeling?" they asked gently.

he felt very susceptible, very vulnerable, almost helpless. it wasn't a negative thing at all - it was just so intense, so surprising, that he couldn't describe it as a simple, straightforward feeling of comfort and relaxation, even as his breathing slowed and his muscles released their tension.

"it feels good..." he said quietly, having trouble getting himself to say anything else.

"are you falling deeper?" they asked.

the question alone made him sink. "i am..."

"it's so easy to just keep slipping down when you're in this room, isn't it?"

he was fully aware of what they were doing. they were just reiterating the suggestions from earlier, really, reinforcing them. strengthening the idea that the room itself would hypnotize him, that the room itself was a trigger.

but it had already struck him as completely and utterly true. even when he knew on an intellectual level that so much of it was the context, the serious conversation they had had before he had even entered, and all of those subtle things that they were saying and doing now that he was in the room, he still somehow felt convinced that the room itself was really what was causing the response. that the room itself was just so relaxing, that he couldn't resist it, that he couldn't fight it.

"it is," he said. "it is easy to just... keep slipping... down..."

"you know that you can't resist it," they said, their voice still soft, slow, pleasant, gentle. "these feelings will only get stronger, every time you enter this room..."

it was such a straightforward suggestion, such a transparent suggestion, but it didn't even matter. he knew it to be true. it was just basic conditioning. he was going to be hypnotized every single time. he wasn't allowed to not be in trance in this room. the response would naturally only get more automatic.

"now, i'm going to bring you even deeper," they said, the promise of it immediately sending warm, tingly pleasure all through his body.

he was sensitive enough that every little thing was pushing him down, keeping him down. the thought of being given an actual induction like that... it was almost overwhelming.

they started the metronome, and he nearly shivered, just at the sound.

"that's right. you know what this does, don't you, jim? you know how to follow the pace of the ticking... to let your thoughts slow down as the metronome becomes slower and slower..."

they had done this before, but it felt completely different now.

the steady ticking was slowed, almost imperceptibly.

"just relax, jim," they said, touching his shoulders, which had tensed a bit in his anticipation. "it's so nice and relaxing just being in this room... you can just let go to it... you can let your body relax... just as it wants to... that's right..."

right. it wasn't just that they wanted him to be in trance in this room. he was supposed to be relaxed, too. he was supposed to stay relaxed.

it was overwhelming, especially when he gave in. it was like he was being made completely defenseless.

they slowed the metronome a bit more, to a level where it was noticeable, where he could feel the effect on his mind. a hand was still on his shoulder, a reminder to stay relaxed, to just surrender to it. to let himself just sink, to let his mind be slowed.

"you always relax, when you're in this room..." they said in a low, dreamy voice. "it's impossible not to relax, when you're in this room... you just fall into a relaxed, heavy, slow, sleepy trance... and stay there. sometimes, when you're somewhere else, and you're being hypnotized, you become tense... even when you aren't really trying to resist... and that's alright. but in this room... you just relax... you always just relax..."

it was melting him, melting his mind, melting every muscle in his body. and this was only the first time. he knew that it was only going to become more automatic and natural. he knew he was being conditioned.

they slowed the metronome down further, bit by bit. "tick... tick.... tick..... slowing down... matching the pace of the metronome. this is around the pace your thoughts should be, when you're in here... sometimes it might be just a bit faster, or slower... sometimes, your mind might even be completely empty... but this will be your average pace. is that alright?"

it was such a strange feeling, so intense, and yet so dull, so distant. "it's... pretty slow," he mumbled.

"it is, isn't it? but i know you'll get used to it... you won't even need the metronome to guide you, after a while."

it really was slow. it made it difficult to think. it made it difficult to do anything but relax, and listen.

he was going to feel this way every time? it was going to be this difficult, or even more difficult, every time?

"just relax... completely relaxed... nice and slow... sleepy and heavy... the smell of lavender is so nice, isn't it? your chair is so comfortable... it feels so good... just being here... just being in this room... you don't really need to think about anything, while you're here..."

their suggestions were so insistent, so repetitive, so monotonous. it resonated perfectly with his dulled, slowed mind. there weren't words for that kind of relaxation, that kind of pleasure, that strange excitement that he felt even as every part of him was quiet.

"now... i'm sure you're already so deeply relaxed... so deep in trance... you may wonder if it's even possible to go deeper. but i'm just going to count you down... down from one hundred... to the beat of the metronome... and you're just going to listen, and relax, and follow along... because it's just so easy to follow... when you're in this room with me..."

the tingling sensation in his body swirled around, no longer just traveling along his spine, instead rippling and buzzing through him as the suggestions sank into his mind.

"how deeply hypnotized to you think you'll be, by the end of this countdown?" they asked softly, their voice almost a whisper. "next time, when you step into this room, and sit down... how long will it take you, to go as deep as you're about to be in just a few moments from now? when i get all the way down to zero? i wonder if it will take very long at all..."

the words impacted him, they created those waves of tingles, they felt good to his mind, but he was no longer outwardly reacting, or really thinking about it any more deeply than he had to in order to understand what they were saying.

"one hundred..."

he felt a mild shock through his spine at the first number, but his body didn't so much as twitch, and his mind was undisturbed.

each number brought him down, his thoughts becoming quieter, his body feeling more numb. he lost all sense of where his limbs were in relation to each other. his sense of his surroundings, of his physical location, became more distant, more abstract - he only knew that he was in a comfortable place where he should be deeply relaxed, and deeply hypnotized.

that was the only thing he needed to know.