Work Text:
Syden sat in front of Cela, holding up his black cord necklace with the little pentagram dangling at the end. He swayed it back and forth before her dark eyes, speaking in a low, rhythmic tone.
“Follow my voice. You are getting drowsy. The world is fading away…” he droned. “Sleepier, and sleepier… It’s ok to close your eyes… you’re safe with me.”
Cela’s eyes slowly began to close, but he continued the swinging movements of the necklace before her face.
“Take slow, deep breaths… no need to rush. You’re home. You’re safe with me.”
He looked her over, saw that she appeared to be more still, and calmer than earlier.
“Imagine you’re on a beach. What do you see?”
She was silent for some moments, then she spoke, in a soft, somewhat distant voice.
“I see the ocean, its waves coming to shore, and a pale blue sky over it.”
“What do you feel?”
“I feel… soft sand beneath my feet.”
“What does the air smell like?”
“Salt… and mist.”
She had been feeling some pain from recent training sessions, and he had offered to help. He had studied a bit about hypnosis out of curiosity, and while he was not an expert at it, he had tested what he knew on his younger siblings and a few friends at school, in a less intimate way, and it had been effective then. So he thought he would try it on her. After all, what was the use of having a skill if one could not use it to help one’s loved ones?
“How do you feel?”
“Warm. The sun is hot.”
Syden hesitated. He wanted to try something, but he wasn’t sure, as he hadn’t asked her beforehand. Then again, this was supposed to be relaxing. The idea was to bring one’s mind away from the pain. His duty was to transport her somewhere else.
“Would you like to… go for a swim?” he asked her, as if the two of them really were at a beach together.
“Yes.”
“Then… you should take off your clothes first. It’s hard to, er… swim in a dress.”
He wasn’t sure if she would do it at first. There was a long pause, then…
She started with slipping the delicate strap over her smooth shoulder, over the mounds of her breasts, and down further, unraveling her body little by little.
Syden watched in enraptured silence.
When she was fully naked, he stared at her from the small distance between them, sitting with her legs bent on a soft rug. Her skin looked invitingly smooth, and her soft, feminine curves had a healing affect on him just by looking at her.
He got up to go open the window, so that a pleasant breeze was let into the room, to caress her as in the scene in her mind.
“Feel the breeze flowing over your skin… like gentle fingers touching you lovingly. There’s only pleasure in it. No pain. Like the water when you step into it...swirling around you, making you feel light as a floating feather.”
She appeared fully relaxed, her breath coming gently, chest rising and falling as if she were asleep. He let her sit for a good stretch of time in the trans-like state, undisturbed, watching the sand in the hourglass on his dresser. When it was down to the last few grains, he decided to wake her up, and bring her back to the present with a slow countdown.
“…five, four, three, two, one. Open your eyes.”
Cela’s eyes fluttered open. She blinked, looking at him wordlessly, then at her surroundings, realizing they were in his room.
“Where am I…?” she asked. Then she saw her dress in a pile on the floor next to her, and became suddenly aware of her exposed body. She looked at him with an unexpressed question in her eyes.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t do anything. I told you, you’re safe with me.”
He got up and gathered her dress off the floor, then handed it over to her.
“How do you feel?” he asked, as she took the clothes from his hand.
“Better,” she said. “I think it worked.”
“Good.” He smiled.
“What about you? Would you like me to try it out on you?” she asked, as she began pulling her dress back on.
Syden paused. He glanced at the standing mirror he typically used when practicing hypnosis on himself.
“It’s alright,” he said, glancing at her somewhat shyly. “I think that session was enough for the both of us.”