Ramona held the end of the silver chain loosely between her fingers. She didn't move it at all, but something about the way that the light played up and down its length as it lay on the velvet cloth made Hal feel as though it was shifting under his gaze. He could already imagine the way it would look as she lifted it up off the table and the pocket watch spun on the end in a wild, chaotic dance for a few moments before settling into a steady rhythm that drew his eyes to its gentle sway.
"Are you ready to be hypnotized?" Ramona asked, and Hal smiled gently in anticipation. He'd been watching her all night from across the room, staring at those dark, smoldering eyes of hers as they locked onto one helpless submissive after another. Every time she dangled the watch in front of their faces, Hal had imagined that it was his expression melting slowly into blank, dreamy tranquility under her hypnotic power. It took him almost the whole evening to work up the courage to come over to the low sofa where she held court over a minor fiefdom of hypnokinky attendees, and even more courage to sit in the chair reserved for her next subject. But now it was all real. It was all going to happen.
Her fingers tensed on the end of the chain, and Hal's smile grew wider as he realized Ramona was looking forward to this too. Hal was a little surprised-he didn't think he was particularly good-looking. He had a cute chin, he thought, and his eyes had a nice hazel color once he took his glasses off. But he could never get his hair to be anything other than a tangled mass of raven strands if he let it grow at all, and he still felt like a clothing-optional environment like this was far more clothing-optional for people with actual muscles instead of pipe-cleaner arms like his. And who didn't risk blinding people with their pale skin when they took off their clothes.
But Ramona was looking at him with a hunger in those dark brown eyes of hers. And Hal was sure she could have anyone in the room she wanted, hypnokinky or not. She had the most beautiful long brown legs, and an elegant smile that was even now quirking with refined amusement at something or other. And those eyes...Hal dreamed about eyes like that. Eyes with such power, such depth. He could lose himself in that stare forever, and that was exactly what he wanted to do. He couldn't wait.
"Hal," Ramona said, her voice like warm velvet. "I asked you a question. Are you ready to be hypnotized?" She didn't sound angry at his lack of a response. If anything, she sounded like she found the whole situation quietly humorous. Hal felt like he'd done something right by accident, but he didn't know what it could possibly have been. They hadn't even started yet.
Hal remembered this time that he needed to answer. He let out a quiet, "yes," as he let his eyes wander back down to the watch at the end of the chain. The watch had a smooth, simple silver face that caught the light perfectly, and Hal could already imagine the way that the gleaming reflection that he was staring at now would turn into an unbroken arc of dazzling white as it streaked from side to side, back and forth, moving in an unceasing rhythm that caught and held him the same way it had caught and held so many others tonight. Ramona had hypnotized everyone who sat in that chair, men and women, and they'd all looked so blissful. So peaceful. So happy.
Hal could already picture that same vacant bliss stealing over his face as he watched Ramona's watch, his eyes growing heavy and exhausted from the effort of following the motion until he finally realized that it would be so much easier to stare into Ramona's eyes instead. That was how she had taken Valerie, weaving that fantasy into the other woman's mind until Valerie's gaze had gone fixed and glassy and she stared straight ahead, unseeing. Hal wanted to be like that so much.
"Alright, Hal," Ramona said, her words cutting through the distraction in his mind and drawing his attention with crystal-clear focus. "Then in a moment, I'm going to show you my beautiful pocket watch. When I do, I want you to follow it with your eyes. Just your eyes, there's no need to move your head. Simply watch the watch and listen to my words. Do you understand, Hal?" Her words had an almost ritualistic nature to them-Hal had already heard them five or six times since he'd made his way over to her corner of the room. He felt as though he could recite them right along with her.
But talking felt like too much effort right now, so Hal simply mumbled out, "...mhmm." He was really thinking more about how good it was going to feel to be hypnotized. He'd heard Ramona describe it to Valerie as a soft, warm blanket wrapping around her thoughts, and to Gordon as a gentle, lazy river carrying him deeper into stillness and submission. He wondered what it would be like for him. Would it be a warm, comfortable bed that he could sink into? Perhaps an elevator, each number counting him down and down and down as he descended into Ramona's will?
He hoped he would be a good subject, certainly. If he was a good subject, then there was a chance that Ramona might do this again with him sometime. Hal remembered her explaining, between volunteers, that what she really looked for in a permanent relationship was someone whose mind was truly open to being shaped and molded by her commands. Resistance bored her, she said. The true erotic beauty of hypnosis was best explored once it had vanished entirely. Hal shivered slightly just thinking about how sexy it would feel to be in someone else's power that completely.
