Trainable Trickster

It’s good that people want to help, but you can always offer support, being there for them or being a listening ear and encourage to reach out, seek help and go for therapy if possible.

Using hypnosis or D/s cannot resolve or fix someone’s mental health.

I have run into hypnotists like this more than a few times so I wont sugarcoat this: If you’re a recreational hypnotist, you are simultaneously displaying incredible arrogance and incompetence.  At best, you are a waste of time. At worst, you are dangerously harmful. Just stop it.

You can’t trance my depression away. If it were that simple I would’ve done it years ago. But feeling useless sucks. So lets talk about what you CAN do if you’re a recreational hypnotist and your long-time partner is suffering because of their mental health:

Don’t do ANY play when your partner is mentally unstable. Instead:

Offer emotional support. If they’re coming to your then that means connection is important and they trust you. Be a good friend first and a good dom last.

Gently talk them down from panic. You’re in a unique position of knowing exactly how to calm your partner down. Don’t trance them, don’t use any triggers, and definitely don’t do any D/s things. Just be kind and get them to re-focus. It won’t work for a full-blown panic attack, but it helps for general panicking and anxious thoughts.

Breathing exercises. Same as above. Take deep breaths with them. Focus back on reality and actions rather than their thoughts.

Be wary of limits. Subjects in a bad place may make requests that push beyond their normal boundaries. This can be an early warning sign of slipping. Be responsible and don’t do anything until you know they’re sound of mind.

Give soft physical affection. If you have the benefit of being in-person then gentle hugs and pets can really make things easier. Don’t do anything harshly. Even kissing can make things so much worse. If your partner seems to back away from your touch then:

Acknowledge that they need space. Leaving someone you care about can be hard, but sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all.

Support your partner and encourage them to seek real help from a professional. This has already been said in this thread but it should be repeated endlessly.

LISTEN. Any advice I could possibly give should be overridden but what your partner says. Listen to their wants and needs and support working through them safely and responsibly.

Above all: Remember that their mental health is not your responsibility. If they are being too much then you are allowed to step back and draw the line. This is a really hard thing to do, but it can be necessary if you feel yourself slipping too.

And for the love of god, assess your own relationship. What works for me may not work for you or your partner. This isn’t a cover-all advice, these are just my recommendations from my experience.

Don’t pirate books, for example, because while it does hurt the publisher, it hurts the author more, since they’re only paid by their direct sales numbers. Get the book from a library instead, since that drives a sale, supports a public service, and is free to you. (The exception being textbooks. The authors have usually already been paid all they’re ever going to get, if they got paid at all, and the publisher rakes in an obscene profit.)

Don’t pirate indie stuff, whether it’s movies, books, music, art, video games, whatever. If it’s indie, you are directly hurting a creative who just wanted to put something nice into the world, and not being able to eat directly impacts their ability to make more nice things. Caution: certain industries like video games and music are very volatile, and companies that used to be indie might not be anymore but might still be cruising on that indie cred. Similarly, a well-known and well-loved studio you’ve been a fan of for years might seem huge to you but is actually still just a couple schmucks barely scraping by. Look into a company, see how big it is, and if it’s a subsidiary of something larger. If it’s just a few people, don’t steal, but if it’s actually a multi-million dollar company with several dozen employees, yeah, it’s probably fine.

The Charmed Community Round Table was a space for members of the community to meet together and discuss how we build and nurture our community. This is a list of topics the group wanted to discuss (presented in no particular order), so we may continue a wider discussion online.

- Cultural differences (generational, international, and online vs in-person) and how they affect our ability to communicate with one another.

- Spreading information (making sure it is available to everyone who wants/needs it, especially people who are new to the community)

- Distinguishing educational vs play spaces

- Parasocial relationships (ie the relationship between a person with a large platform, such as a presenter, group leader, or content creator)

- Missing stairs

- Malicious actions and how to respond

- What are the specific issues that arise from being a geographically widespread community that only meets in person 1-4x per year at cons and how to we handle them?

- Post-tumblr online spaces for the community

- Supporting new presenters + new leadership

- Supporting unpartnered people at events

- Introducing new people into the community/ what are good resources for people new to the community and how do we direct them to those resources?

“Oh, you leveled up!”

“Yep.”

I shifted in bed and stretched for maximum comfort. Lazy Sundays were the best Sundays, and few things made me feel as warm and relaxed as watching video games and getting to chat. They finished the dungeon, satisfied with their spoils, and closed the game. I made a small noise of confusion before they turned to me and smiled gently.

“So, what shall we do today?”

I covered my mouth, spreading into a shy smile, unable to hide my excitement. “Stuff? No particular thing comes to mind!” I chirped. I hadn’t expected any play today, but it was a welcome surprise and addition to the great day so far.

“Well, that’s hot, in some ways,” they chuckled, “but? Anything specific?”

“Hmm…” I pondered out loud.

“How about…resistance play? I know you do so like that.”

“Yeah!! Okay!” I propped my head up on the pillow. “What am I resisting?”

“I don’t know, what are you resisting?”

“Uh–” I stammered out in confusion. “I don’t know, I kind of hoped…you would set it?”

“Well that’s no good.” They grinned. “Are you already giving up your decisions to me?”

“No!” I huffed. “I just - hoped you had an idea in mind. Or could give me some ideas?”

They raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Well, resisting is…?”

“Is?”

“You’re supposed to be telling me.” The gently chiding tone sparked a blush in my cheeks.

“It’s uh–!” My thought was cut short by a finger. Their finger. Waving about, side to side, back and forth. My jaw started to go slack. “It’s…” My voice came out slurred and fuzzy.

“Focus.” They snapped twice.

“Huh– Focus! Focus?” I shook myself out of my reverie and blinked.

“Focus. Continue.”

“Well, it’s, um…” I stammered, flustered. “It’s about…” I darted my eyes from their face to their hands.

“You seem distracted, dear.” They snapped twice. “Focus.”

“F…Focus…” My eyes were drawn to their finger once more, the undulating and rhythmic movement capturing my attention, refusing to let it go.

“You were telling me something,” they guided me gently.

“I was…telling…”

“You were telling me what resistance was.”

“What…resistance was.” At this point, I realized how distant and faraway my voice sounded, but was unable to do anything about it but…but fixate. Fixating and focusing would help. Focus.

“What is it?”

Silence. Words ran through my head, nonsensical and random words that didn’t make sense when strung together, almost-sentences forming in my mind, but caught in my throat, my lips parted and a dazed expression on my face.

“It…is…” I blinked, trying my hardest to fit the words into actual speech. “Not…? Doing something…”

“Resistance is not doing something?” They asked.

“…Yeah.” I nodded vaguely.

“Just like how you’re not doing something?”

“I’m not…doing something…”

“You’re not doing something. What is it?”

“What…is it…?” I was unable to do much more than parrot the question back.

“You’re not thinking. Isn’t that right?”

“Isn’t that…right…” It was all I had to hang on to the few words I was being fed.

“You’re not thinking, and that’s something. So you’re not doing something. So you’re resisting?”

“I’m…resisting.” I repeated.

“You’re resisting.”

“I’m resisting.” My eyes fluttered as I struggled to keep them open.

“Good girl. You’re so good at resisting for me.” That kind voice, the one that made me want to beam with happiness. It could never be wrong.

“I’m…resisting.” I nodded, with more energy. “I’m…I am resisting.”

“Good girl.”

“…Yeah…” I vaguely registered a vacant smile on my face.

“You’re so good at resistance play. No wonder you like it so much.” They lifted my chin and lowered their voice.

“Not thinking means you’re resisting. Resisting means not thinking for me. And you’re so good at resisting.”

I nodded. Slowly. Lazily. My mind winding down. Time distorting.

“And you love resisting. Which means you love not thinking for me.” Pause.

I nodded.

“So it’s just logical to say that you love doing as I say.”

That sounded about right. I nodded again, my vision starting to fade.

“Let’s see what else we can get you to… ‘resist’.”

They snapped twice, and my vision went white.

I took a deep breath.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

I opened my eyes.

It was dark. Of course it was. The blindfold had been pretty securely attached, after all.

Tuning back into my surroundings, I could hear the sounds of the room around me. Quiet, not very many people talking, mostly hushed whispers and the low hum of the air conditioning. I felt myself starting to zone out again until a voice cut through the background noise, a voice that my focus zoomed in on, a voice that whispered into my ear.

“Are you ready?”

I nodded, a bit frantically. “Yes,” I blurted out. I was supposed to be more communicative. Had to remember that.

“Good.” I could hear the smile in her voice.

It was so different from the voice I was used to hearing from her. Somehow, lower, sensual even, the kind of voice that sent shivers down my back.

“Oh, you’re very reactive, aren’t you?” She cooed and ran her fingers up along my spine.

“Y-Yes,” I stammered out, my voice trembling. I bit my lip to try and stop, to try and stay calm, to not sound so already lost.

“Uh uh,” she chided. “No hiding your reactions. But good for saying yes. Your lips are for saying yes.” Her fingers slid up the back of my neck, into my hair as she ran them up and down my scalp, petting my hair. I couldn’t help but moan and lean into it, the sensation too calm and relaxing to sit perfectly straight. My breath hitched as her fingers tugged lightly at my hair every so often, much to her delight.

“Ah fuck.” She giggled. “It’s like, I can’t just pet you, you make all these good noises and it’s like ‘uff I need to pull your hair’ because damn, you’ve got some cute moans.”

“Uh– ah- um!” I flustered, the heat rising to my cheeks. “Y-You know, you can, right? That was part of–”

“Oh I caaan?” Her voice turned sickly sweet. “Thanks so much!”

“Yeah, of co–”

“So like this, right?” She grabbed at the roots of my hair, her fingers curling and tangling themselves into my hair, pulling at the roots.

“Aahhh, ff, fuck!” I gasped, caught off guard. “Yes, yes like–! Yes!”

“Yes what?” Her grip loosened.

“Yes to that.” I blushed.

“To…what?” Her voice dripped with anticipation. “You’re going to have to be more specific.” Her fingers teased at my scalp gently, the faint promises of more to come.

“To…to!” I stumbled over my words, my embarrassment rising. I heard more whispers around me, soft giggles and sounds of intrigue. I clutched at the sides of the chair and froze, looking down instinctively, even though I couldn’t see anything.

“Shh shh, it’s okay. Look at me.” I rose my head towards her voice as she tugged on the blindfold and my vision returned. “It’s me. Yes?”

“…Yes.” I found my voice.

“Look at me. Eye contact now.” She rubbed my back.

I swallowed and nodded, staring into her, feeling my world narrow until it was just the reflection in her dark brown eyes.

“You were saying?” Her hand trailed back up to my hair and started ruffling it gently.

“I…I. Yes, to the uh…hair pulling. A little rougher, I like when it gets a little…rough…” My cheeks were hot and I fought every urge to avert my gaze as she stared straight into me, into my core, into my desires.

“Mmm, good…” She started to smirk. “So like about thiiiis rough you think?” Her grip started tightening.

“Ah, ah, yes, yes, yes…” I groaned, my words sounding distant and dazed. “Almost hard to think, haha, with your hand in my hair…”

“Mmm, almost like your hair is just connected to your brain, and ruffling it kinda fuzzes you out, and pulling it kind of just scrambles your thoughts?” She grinned, pulling harder, tighter, further back slowly as the pressure grew stronger and stronger.

“Yes, yes, yes…” My voice faded into whispers and guttural moans as my world started to fall away, as my eyes rolled and felt pulled back into my head.

“Eye contact, I said,” she chided, her voice sharp, but with a smile behind it.

I fought to keep my eyes open, my eyelids fluttering with effort, my eyes only barely focusing on her face, catching a glimpse of her widening smile, losing myself in the predatory look in her eyes. Her hand loosened, then readjusted and pulled my head back again, the grip in my hair tighter and tighter as my scalp tingled and burned.

“I bet it’s real hard to think like this, huh?”

“Fuck, ahh–! H-hard, think?” I babbled and repeated after her, my mind too jumbled to form my own thoughts, latching onto hers instead.

“Aww, that’s right, it is isn’t it?” She mock pouted. “It’s so hard to think when it feels so good, isn’t it? Say yes, dear.” She nodded my head up and down for me with my hair still ensnared by her fingers, cooing as she puppeted my agreement. “So glad you agree. You love agreeing, don’t you?”

“Yes!! Yes, yes…” I trailed off, my voice wavering, soft, whimpering.

“Aww, you love the control, don’t you? And you love that I’m helping you agree? Don’t worry that it’s hard to think of saying anything but ‘yes’. Your poor brain’s so fried that’s all you can think of. Your lips are for saying yes.”

“YES!” I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding once she loosened her grip and returned to rubbing my back.

“Everything okay?” She whispered.

“Yes, yes, uh, good! Green!” I babbled.

“Good.” She flashed me a warm smile before her eyes widened with excitement. “Oh, an idea I have…”

“Ah?” I asked, more of a gasp.

“You said you liked the control of the hair pulling earlier…” She weaved her fingers back through my hair, yanking my head back, pulling firmly and taut.

“Well, one thing about this position is that it lends itself very well to control…” Her other hand slid up my chest and rested around my throat. “And you’re practically presenting yourself to me like this.”

My heart leapt into my throat, where it was caught, kept, seized by her fingers caressing my increasingly sensitive throat, my skin alight and buzzing with shivering sensations that made my body tense with cool shivers and trembling heat alike. As her fingers squeezed lightly, shifting position and grasping more of my neck, my heart stood still, though I could hear the sound of my heart rapidly pounding in my ears, along with her soothing, soft words as she whispered control and obedience into my thoughts. My consciousness focused on her while my eyes unfocused, first fluttering and blinking, then threatening to roll back again, kept only by my sheer will to keep eye contact with her.

“Oh, you don’t need to anymore. Sometimes it’s soooo hard to keep your eyes open. And that’s okay. Sometimes it just feels better to finally slip into darkness and sink, and drop and fall, and close your eyes while opening your mind. That sounds lovely, doesn’t it?”

Vaguely, I felt my head being nodded by her fist still clutched tightly around my locks, and the last thing I saw were her piercing eyes. Unable to stay sitting up, I slumped forward in my chair. She whispered affirming words into my ear, into my mind, how good I was for sitting up straight for so long, how good I was for keeping eye contact, for agreeing with her, for sinking for her. How good it felt to continue agreeing with her. A sleepy ‘yes’ slipped from my lips and she giggled, a light and happy sound unlike the commanding tone she had taken with me before.

I felt her fingers on the sides of my arms as they trailed upwards slowly, as she counted upwards and encouraged me to open my eyes, to take my time waking up.

“Flutter flutter,” she whispered. “Slowly now.”

As my vision flickered back alive, I took in the surroundings around me - the room, the people around, her.

“Hey there!”

I opened my mouth but the words wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t help but stare into her eyes, unable to break contact even as I felt the flush forming.

“Hey, hey!” She waved a hand in front of my face, breaking eye contact, the other patting my shoulder gently. “You can talk now. Let your words come to you now. Your lips can be for more than just yes, you know.” She winked.

Stunned by the lapse in eye contact, the events that had just transpired hit me all at once as I buried my face in my hands, blushing furiously.

“No wai– Nuh uh!” Her tone was firm, but gentle. “No hiding! I want to see you.” Her hand ruffled my hair and tugged lightly until I looked up at her shyly. She cupped my chin in her hand and tilted it up towards her, cooing.

“Good.”

A nervous energy tingled across my entire body, trembling with anticipation and excitement.

“That was,” I started. “Um. Uh.” Staring into her eyes, it was hard not to feel a bit embarrassed about gushing.

“It’s okay, take your time,” she reassured me, one hand rubbing my back and the other petting my hair all the while.

“That was, um.” I looked down briefly to gather my thoughts, the eye contact suggestion no longer as compelling as before. “That was…amazing. And great, and so so so creative and inspiring and oh gosh that just flowed so well and–!!”

“Shh, slow down, slow down,” she chuckled. “We have all night.”

And so we talked late into the night, shared our words, our thoughts, hugs as we sat by each other and leaned against the other when we were out of words, when all we had to share was silence and our existence in one another’s space. Finally, as we stood up and made our way towards the door, ready to leave, I found myself trailing slowly behind her, coming to a pause.

“What’s up?” She turned back and looked at me, concerned.

My fingers touched my lips. “The…the ‘lips are for saying yes’ part, that was…I know I gushed about it a lot just now, but that really was great. It kind of almost feels like a call and response, the kind that I really love, the kind that just exudes that level of control…” I found myself biting my lip.

She smiled softly, though the mischievous glint in her eyes was not lost on me.

And as they covered much the same area I thought I should FAQ them.

If your hypnotist…

Did something they knew you didn’t want

Did something you had told them you didn’t want to try

Told you they would do something and actually did something else

Told you they would take a trigger out and didn’t

Put suggestions in designed to increase their control without discussing this with you

Put suggestions in designed to stop others being able to give you tranceplay without discussing this with you

Knowingly pushed your hard limits

Ignored your safe word

Did something to prevent you giving your safe word

Then YOU ARE NOT A BAD PERSON TO FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE, END THE SESSION, RESIST, OR BREAK THE SUGGESTION.

What has happened, in fact, is that THEY HAVE TRIED TO PULL SOME SERIOUS SHIT ON YOU.

A recording of @ellaenchanting‘s Hastily Written Touch Porn, recorded by yours truly from the (seemingly omniscient!) dominant’s perspective!

Is the Pin Is Coming Back in 2020?  Nobody asked, but I’m going to deliver!

After you’ve bought @h-sleepingirl‘s The Brainwashing Book (now available digitally on Amazon and soon to be paper) you should put aside a few dollars to buy the Hypnosis Event Pin!

How you wear the 1-inch collectible enamel pin is a signal to the world.  The gold arrow signals where you want to start negotiations - are you a hypnotist? A subject? Switchy?  Just point the gold triangle in the direction you’re hoping to go.

These were distributed at Entranced 2018, @mindquakesf 2018, and sold through one person who I never did ask where. But I digress - someone has expressed interest in helping to sell these at a con in 2020, so if you missed it you’ll get another chance to flag your kink!

Thanks for your support with these in 2018! I hope I can get these in your hands in the new year.  Get one for yourself. Get one for your special someone.  Get a bunch of them for your metamours.  Funds raised through sales of the Hypnosis Event Pin will pay for the run of the Hypnosis Event Pin and also my lunch.

I’m on vacation as we speak so the next few stories are going to be short. 

Alyssa wanted to test this nlp trick she had read about on the internet. It all seemed a little fantastical, but she had been trying to get the attention of the cute girl in chemistry all year long and kept tripping over her own shyness. She needed something to boost her confidence.

Jiyeon was the girl’s name. She was so dreamy and Alyssa would die happily if she could be her girlfriend. But Jiyeon didn’t even seem to know Alyssa existed. At this point, Alyssa was desperate and willing to try anything to connect. Maybe this trick would at least help Alyssa work up the nerve to actually talk to Jiyeon?

Alyssa made sure to sit right next to her in class, just like she always did. She observed her behavior, just like she always did. But today, she was also going to copy her every movement. The internet said that this would help Jiyeon feel closer to her on a subconscious level. Maybe after this, Jiyeon would even strike up a conversation with Alyssa and she wouldn’t even have to make the first move. That would be nice.

As class started, Jiyeon began to lean to the side of her desk a bit. Alyssa also leaned, trying to do it subtly. The internet had said that subtlety was key. 

When Jiyeon tapped her pencil, Alyssa tapped her pencil lightly to match.

When Jiyeon pushed back her hair, Alyssa pushed back her own bangs.

She didn’t know if this was affecting her at all, but Alyssa definitely felt closer to Jiyeon at the end of class. She made it out into the hall first and tried to work up her courage to speak to her.  But, somehow, she got distracted for a second  and Jiyeon just passed her by. Alyssa tried to say something quickly, but the moment was over and Jiyeon had already disappeared down the hall with a friend.

Tomorrow, then.

—————————-

Alyssa had kept up the mirroring all week in chemistry class. She was becoming slightly worried about how much chemistry she was missing (it was definitely hard to listen and pay so much attention to Jiyeon at the same time) but the Jiyeon project was showing progress. By Wednesday, Alyssa had been able to actually lead their interactions subtly. She discovered this when she had accidentally coughed in class and Jiyeon coughed right afterwards.

Eeee! Success! Just like the website predicted!

Alyssa kept trying to lead Jiyeon to do more and more things. Scratch her nose. Lean back in the chair. Tilt her head just so.

It all worked beautifully. It was like Jiyeon was a puppet on a string. Alyssa had gained so much confidence that she knew that today was the day she would talk to Jiyeon. She might even ask her out! She was practically vibrating.

Somehow, Jiyeon had beaten Alyssa out into the hall this time, but Alyssa was able to catch her in front of her locker. “Hey Jiyeon!” she said, casually leaning next to her locker. 

“Hi Alyssa,” said Jiyeon, quirking an eyebrow. “Have you had fun mirroring me this week?”

Oh shit. 

Alyssa stammered “What..what do…you know I saw it on the internet and ..”

Jiyeon cut in. “You know mirroring goes both ways, right?” 

She stepped in front of Alyssa, backing her into the lockers behind her.  With a quick sharp motion, Jiyeon flung her right hand back.

Bang! Alyssa’s hand flew back too. Only hers flung against the locker- and it wouldn’t move.

Bang! Jiyeon threw her left hand back and Alyssa’s hand followed before she could even think. Now both hands were trapped above her head.

Jiyeon smiled at Alyssa, tiger-like. She leaned forward. Alyssa felt herself tilt helplessly in response. She was shocked when she felt Jiyeon’s mouth on hers in a deep kiss. Alyssa closed her eyes, totally overwhelmed.

Jiyeon leaned beside her, somehow moving comfortably even as Alyssa was still frozen. She whispered in her ear.

“Tomorrow, you should finally ask me out.”

Then she turned and walked away. 

Alyssa unfroze, still reeling. 

“Hey, you ever notice how Idiotic contains the word ‘Id”?”

“No”

“Id-iotic. ‘Iotic’ means something you want.”

“Now I KNOW that’s not right.” 

“And your id is that base, primal part of you, right?”

“I guess”

“And that’s the part we play with when we do hypnosis”

“So? Where are you going with this?”

“Because Id-iotic. It’s literally what you want deep down”

“Huh?”

“What you want deep down…”

“What?”

“..is to be idiotic”

“I do?”

“You definitely do. It’s in the definition. Try saying it.”

“Id-iotic”

“Again. Does that make it stronger?”

‘Id-iotic”

“That desire to be dumb?”

“Id-iotic”

“You don’t have to fight that, y’know”

“Id-iotic”

“Just give in to what you know you need”

“Id-iotic”

“It’s pretty hard to think now, huh?”

“Id-iotic”

“Good. That’s a good toy”

“Id-iotic”

“Nice and sweet and dumb”

“Id-iotic”

“It’s ok, I’ll take care of you”

“Id-iotic”

“You don’t have to think for a while”

“Id-iotic”

“Oh sweetheart, you don’t have to keep repeating like that. Are you out of other words?

 Yeah? 

Belinda had played around with using verbal triggers before, of course. When she and Ray had started dating, one of the first things she had done was condition him to respond effortlessly to a “sleep” trigger. It wasn’t hard- Ray had a hypnosis fetish dating back to grade school- but she loved being the one to show him new things. In their first long weekend together, she had demonstrated to Ray both how quickly and effortlessly he could go into trance and how easily he could be trained. Now, years later, all Belinda had to do was slightly change her tone and Ray would be in trance before even having to think about it.

They had also played around with visual triggers. When Belinda bought something new that she liked, she would routinely make Ray very fixated on that item. Recently she had bought a lovely new shade of red lipstick and Ray found himself having real difficulty looking away from her lips for days afterwards. This could work subtly too- she could slightly shift her expression or body language and Ray’s headspace would respond without a word passing between them.

Belinda even used tactile triggers. One of her favorite ones was “drugging” Ray with kisses so every time she kissed him he felt woozier and more helpless. She also tied her touch with arousal and arousal with obedience- tying those ideas together so tightly that one would always follow the other in Ray’s head. After all, Ray was naturally pretty submissive so she was not so much training him as giving him permission for his natural reactions.

Perhaps it was her background in neuroscience that made her hesitate to use scent-based triggers for so long. Smell, after all, affected emotions and memory in a much more primal way than the other senses tended to. Even dementia patients tended to retain their scent-tied memories long after others had faded. The way that scent affected people was also much less consciously processed than other senses. Belinda had worried about the long-term ethical implications of using smell for kinky training. She wasn’t sure that she wanted to condition someone in ways that she might not be able to reverse.

But then, Ray had stayed with her. And stayed with her. And after a few years, she felt confident that their relationship was going to actually last.

To be fair, by that time most of her work had already been done for her. Ray already loved going down on her and pleasuring her already made him feel very happy and submissive. It only took a little bit of tweaking to tie those feelings to the smell of Belinda’s wet, aroused cunt. Whenever Ray tranced himself out by licking her, Belinda shifted her voice and talked to him about how good she smelled and how happy he was to be able to please her like this. She told him that whenever he smelled her arousal, it would make him feel trancy, submissive, and overwhelmingly focused on worshipping her cunt. When she went on business, she even made a special recording for him to listen to that would reinforce these suggestions. She instructed Ray to listen to this recording nightly while smelling her panties and touching himself.

It almost worked too well. For example, Belinda had been masturbating one day, trying to relieve some tension before Ray came home. She had managed to get herself off about 10 minutes before he walked through the door. Ray greeted her and started talking about his day when his face suddenly changed and took on a look of soft euphoria. Belinda barely had time to get to the couch before Ray was on his knees, rapturously licking her to a second orgasm.

Belinda had also woken up from sexy dreams at night to the feeling of Ray’s head burried in her cunt. He would tell her later that he didn’t quite realize what had come over him- he just woke up in the night and knew without a doubt that he had to make her cum. Belinda quickly figured out that he was so attuned to her smell that he could respond to the trigger even while deeply asleep.

Belinda began doing some reading and learned that olfactory hallucinations were a surprisingly easy hypnotic phenomenon. She tested this out when they went out to dinner one night. During a lull in the conversation, she fixed Ray with a stare, then leaned across to him. She adjusted her voice and murmered in his ear, “Can you smell how wet I am?”

Ray looked struck as that familiar expression of rapture lit up his face. Belinda quickly commanded him that he couldn’t go down on her in a restaurant- bystander consent was important to her- but he was welcome to keep smelling and thinking about her cunt for the rest of dinner. He could just crave it and need it until they got home and he could beg for it properly.

Matt oozed down the hotel hallway, surveying the crowd. He had dressed to impress this hypnocon with his favorite sports coat and some brand new shoes. He waved over at one of his older friends in the corner- a guy he went way back with. Matt was glad to see that there were some good people still around in the community. It had all gotten too PC and self-victimizing lately for him.

Matt couldn’t help but notice this year that there were quite a few female attendees who wouldn’t meet his eye. He hated how the hypnokink community had become so judgmental against men. Matt had never hurt anyone- not without their consent at least. It wasn’t his responsibility that some of these younger girls wanted some fucked up things. Matt had always and only been fulfilling both mutual needs. This was kink, after all, not meditation class. Matt had been around awhile- he knew that people wouldn’t do anything under hypnosis that they didn’t secretly want to do anyway. Matt just freed people from their self-imposed baggage. It wasn’t his fault that some previous partners had figured out that kink wasn’t for them and left the community. Everyone was an adult here.

As Matt walked near the registration table, he noticed a young woman that he had never seen before. She was Asian with long pretty hair. Her Pokemon dress hung loosely on her slim body. She was standing all by herself, looking around nervously.

Maybe con wouldn’t be so bad after all, Matt thought to himself.

He walked over to her and waved. 

“Hi! I’m HypnoMaster69! But you can call me Matt. Are you here all by yourself?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m Amy. I just saw that this was happening on the internet and I live close by so I took the chance and showed up. I didn’t know that I needed a different name.” She looked down abashedly at “Amy” written in big letters on her name tag.

Matt laughed, pleased. “Maybe we can find another one for you here. Can I give you a hug?”

“Errr…..sure I guess?” she responded, awkwardly leaning in to the hug.

Matt smiled after letting her go. “I’m glad you aren’t weird about physical touch. This is a VERY touchy community- people sometimes find it off-putting if you’re too frigid about that.”

‘Oh,” said Amy.

“I’m happy that I ran into you!” said Matt. “I don’t really have a lot of plans for this con and I like showing new people around. It can be hard to learn the community ropes sometimes. For example, your badge- did you know that putting all the stickers on the top of your badge like that usually means that you’re a hypnotist?”

Amy’s eyes widened a bit. “It does?”

Matt giggled. “Yeah. You’ll probably have thirsty pathetic men falling at your feet all weekend begging you to hypnotize them. It’ll be hilarious. Don’t worry though- I’ll protect you. I’ve been a hypnotist for decades- people around here respect that and won’t mess with me. By the way, have you ever been hypnotized before?”

Amy smiled. “Once or twice” She seemed privately amused by something.

Great, a newbie, Matt thought. ‘Well you’ll have a chance to see and experience all KINDS of things this weekend. You’ll love it. If you’d like, maybe we can play together a bit later on? I’d like to show you what you’re capable of.”

“I think I might like that,” said Amy. “Come to a few classes with me so I can see some things I’d like to try and then we can talk about planning some play. Deal?” She extended her hand for a handshake.

“Deal,” Matt said, also extending his hand. 

For a moment, Matt’s attention felt diverted somewhere- something was odd.

Matt blinked.

Meh. It probably wasn’t important to think about.

“C’mon, “ said Amy. “Let’s go to the class on anchoring.”

———————————-

Matt sat besides Amy all class. 

Matt was having a hard time paying attention today. The class was so boring that he felt some of his morning sleepiness again. He had thought he had chased those feelings off with coffee but… apparently not. Matt would have definitely presented this class better. He should have insisted on presenting this year.

Fortunately, feeling bored had given him plenty of time to watch Amy. She seemed really engaged in the class. It was endearing watching her take notes and bounce a little bit when she heard something that excited her. Matt would be sure to show her some anchoring tricks later on that would really blow her subby little mind. If she liked this lecture, she would LOVE all the things he could do.

Fantastically, it turned out that Amy was the kind of touchy that Matt was. She would lean over during class and make comments to him- some that he would pay attention to and some would slide right past him in his boredom. He noticed that sometimes when she was talking or when the presenter said certain things, she would lean over and touch his shoulder lightly. That felt nice. She must really be into him.

At the end of class, Amy let Matt see the knitting needles and wool she had brought to con. It was the kind of girly hobby that he wouldn’t have normally been interested in, but Amy’s enthusiastic rambling about it was captivating. She spoke about the beauty of repetitive patterns. She said that if there was something it was important for her to think about or focus on, sometimes she would repeat that thing to herself with every stitch as a kind of mindfulness exercise. Sometimes she wasn’t even aware of what she was thinking- her brain would just repeat important thoughts over and over with each stitch she made and she could just enjoy how good that felt. She also talked about knitting projects as a metaphor for beauty of social cohesion- all the threads working together for a greater whole. It was certainly an interesting perspective.

At the end of the conversation, Amy gave Matt her knitting needles to hold. They felt good in his hands, somehow. Better than he would have thought.

After the next class, Matt asked if Amy wanted to go back to his room to play. Amy declined, saying she wanted to go to more classes. She had really been enjoying sitting next to him, though. Wouldn’t he like to come with her and see another class?

He found that he would.

As the day wore on, Matt was pleased to find that he might have a better reputation than he had originally thought. People, especially women, who hadn’t talked to him in years came up to him and Amy to speak to them. Amy apparently already had a bit of a reputation online and had connected with many people over Skype prior to con. Matt was surprised about her popularity. He was also surprised to find how many people wanted to speak to him or give him a hug or touch him on the shoulder. He was still feeling tired and wasn’t quite keeping track of all the conversations, but it was nice to feel like a part of the group again. People even responded with enthusiasm to the knitting that he held in his hands- saying that they were happy to see him engaging in a new hobby.

Matt kept going to classes with Amy. He was feeling unusually charitable today and let her pick their schedule. He had already seen everything anyway- and watching Amy was encouraging. It was nice to see old ideas through new eyes.

The last class that Amy wanted to go to that day was the Women in Hypnosis panel. Matt pointed out a note in the schedule that men were encouraged not to attend this class, but Amy had talked to the group leader and they were going to make an exception for Matt. That was really nice of them. Matt was glad that they recognized his expertise.

The Women in Hypnosis class ended up being a bit of a bust. From the time he entered the room, it seemed like so many people were talking at once that it was hard to keep track. Women’s voices sometimes took on this droning sound and the effect on Matt was pretty soporific. He had fallen asleep early in the class, only occasionally awakened slightly by a touch on the shoulder or someone saying his name. But during those times Amy, still sitting right next to him, would lean over and whisper in his ear that everything was ok- he didn’t need to consciously listen to what was going on. He could just go back to sleep.

Despite the sleepiness he experienced in class, Matt felt really great afterwards. The grogginess had lifted and he felt more positive than he had in years. He also felt much more positive towards the women that had been in the class with him. Matt admitted to himself that he had been kind of a jerk in the community sometimes- ignoring women, making rude comments about trans women, showing female partners a lack of respect- but somehow sitting in that class and actually listening to those women for an hour had done him a world of good and given him a lot to think about.

So much to think about, actually, that he wanted to give himself some proper space to process it. Matt decided that he didn’t really need to attend the rest of the convention after all. He had already learned everything anyway and it might do him good to take the rest of the days allotted and just enjoy a normal vacation. He heard that there was a beautiful local park nearby.

When he told Amy about his decision, she hugged him again and told him that she understood. She thanked him for being her companion for her first day of her first even hypnocon. She even let him keep her knitting needles and yarn to remember her by.

When the next year rolled around, Matt decided that he needed a change. Instead of attending the hypnocon again, he would go to a knitting convention that was being held at the same time. He had gotten really into knitting this last year- it relaxed him and made him feel really good about himself. He had been welcomed into that community with open arms, appreciated as one of the few men who shared the hobby.

Matt also kept up with some of his hypnosis friends, including Amy. They never actually did hypnosis together, but they would often chit chat and knit together on calls. Matt loved to listen to her voice as she excitedly talked about knitting projects or kink or other things that were going on in her life. Her life seemed to be going really well. He reflected that his life was going well too. He was so happy to have met Amy at hypnocon last year.