"Relax, and let your eyes fall shut," Josh said to Katie, his girlfriend. "I want you to concentrate on your body. Try and be aware of everything you're feeling and experiencing."
"OK," said Katie, in a subdued voice.
"Good," Josh said. "But you don't need to respond to me, unless you want to. Whatever comes naturally. For now, just close your eyes and concentrate on your body. I just want you to be as relaxed as possible."
Katie obediently closed her eyes. "I'll try. But it might be hard. This is... you know..." She gestured to herself.
"I understand," replied Josh, and he did. Or at least, he was trying very hard to. He and his girlfriend were sitting cross-legged on her bed, in her dimly-lit bedroom, facing each other. Unlike him, Katie was completely naked. That was the source of her discomfort.
Josh and Katie had met just a couple of months ago, through a mutual friend, and he'd asked her out almost immediately. The deer-in-headlights look she'd given him as she said 'yes' was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. She'd told him up front that she was trans, and he'd told her it didn't make any difference to him at all. They had quickly become very close, but at her insistence they'd taken things very slowly when it came to kissing and touching. Josh was more than happy to respect her boundaries and didn't want her to feel at all pressured, but he'd had to confess to being at a loss about why she was so incredibly hesitant.
A week ago, Katie had mustered all her courage and told him she wanted to have sex with him. Josh had been surprised by her sudden boldness, and had wondered if she was worried he was getting impatient. Still, he hadn't been able to say anything other than 'yes'. As he often told her, to him she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he wanted to show her he really felt that way. So, that night, after dinner, she'd taken him into her bedroom so they could finally have sex with each other.
It had not gone well.
Almost the moment Josh had put his hands on her, Katie had started crying. Tearfully, she'd explained that even though she badly wanted to help satisfy his needs, she just couldn't bear the thought of being naked around him, or of having him touch her. It wasn't his fault; it wasn't anyone's fault. It was just that even though she knew it was completely irrational, she couldn't help feeling like her body was something ugly and grotesque. A thousand gnawing insecurities added up to her not being able to handle anyone seeing or touching her body. The idea of it simply revolted her.
Josh had stayed with Katie for hours, reassuring her that he didn't resent her and wasn't going to break up with her. Then, he'd gone home and buried himself in research. He'd read anything he could find that might help him understand her, and he'd looked into anything he could think of that might provide him with a way to help her. In the end, he'd finally hit upon something that he thought might be a solution: hypnosis. It had seemed crazy at first, but the more he'd researched it and thought about it, the more reasonable it started to seem. When he'd proposed it to Katie, she'd readily agreed; anything that might work, she had said.
She'd been less enthusiastic when Josh explained he needed her to take all her clothes off, but she'd still gone along with it. Katie had blushed fiercely as she'd stripped, and had instinctively reached to cover herself up with her hands. Josh found her bashfulness incredibly cute, and he found her intensely beautiful. Her shoulder-length brown hair fell across her face in neat curls, half-hiding her aristocratic cheekbones and large, round eyes. She was slightly chubby, but thanks to her hormone treatments it was all distributed to the right places. Her boobs were quite a bit more than a handful, and the curvaceous swell of her hips had been one of the many things about her that had first caught Josh's eye. She was about as tall as him and her legs went on for days, and between them was her small, limp and somehow feminine cock. All in all, she was completely adorable.
"Katie," said Josh. "I'm going to describe a scene for you, and I want you to picture it in your mind, as vividly as you can. Let yourself fill in anything I don't mention with whatever feels most comfortable. Just make it seem as real as you can - imagine all the sounds, smells, everything. OK?"
"OK," Katie replied.
"Picture a sunset," Josh instructed. "A huge, golden, glorious sunset, one that turns the whole sky red. Really picture it. Imagine the the blazing rays the sun sends scattering all over as it touches the horizon. Imagine how impressive it is, and how that makes you feel. Got it? Good. Now, tell me where you are."
"At the beach," said Katie, softly.
"Great. That's great." Josh closed his own eyes, so he could imagine the scene he was going to paint for his girlfriend. "You're sitting on the warm sands of the beach, and you can hear the waves lapping at the shore just a short distance away. You feel completely relaxed and safe. You're just watching the sun slowly set, enjoying you beautiful it is as it slowly, slowly sinks further and further below the horizon. Look down at yourself. What are you wearing?"
"A skirt," Katie answered. "And a tank top."
"Great." Tank top was good, Josh thought. It meant she was relaxed. "What colour is the skirt?"
"Blue," Katie said, after a short pause. "With a yellow pattern."
"Great," Josh said again. It didn't actually matter, of course. He just needed her to imagine the scene as vividly as possible. "Keep imagining all those little details, like the colour of your clothes, what the weather's like, the rhythm of the waves. OK?"
"OK."
"Good, you're doing really well." She was. Josh could see Katie swaying from side to side very slightly, in time with the waves only she could hear. "Now I want you to imagine the sun sinking, sinking, sinking. Sinking below the horizon. And as it sinks, the light will grow dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. As the light fades, you'll find yourself feeling very sleepy, very calm, very relaxed. All you need to do is enjoy the sight of this beautiful sunset, and let that lovely feeling was over you. How does that sound?"
"Nice," replied Katie, distantly.
"That's right. The sunset is simply amazing. It lights up the whole sky. You've never seen such a beautiful sunset. In the face of it, all your thoughts and worries just switch off. Why think about anything other than this wonderful sky? You can still hear the waves lapping at the beach. In, and out. In, and out. Let your breathing fall into that rhythm. Perfect. And with each wave that flows in and out, the sun gets lower and lower in the sky. Lower and lower. As it does, the light fades. It's getting darker and darker all around you, but you feel completely comfortable in the dark. The darker it gets, the more relaxed you feel. Are you feeling sleepy now?"
"Yeah..."
"That's right, so sleepy. The sun has almost set now. There's hardly any light anymore. Everything around you is growing faint and indistinct. The waves are quiet. Is your mind nice and quiet too?"
