"3...2...1...Wide awake!"
Slave's eyes drifted open, then stared over at her Master for a few seconds, slightly confused. Her mind was always a little fuzzy for a while after coming out of trance, and she was never fully out of trance when she was in this room. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner that Master sometimes used as a focus always made her mind soften a bit, and the strange patterns on the wallpaper sometimes made her drop a bit just by looking at them.
But even beyond that, something seemed unusual. She and Master both still had all their clothes on, and she was still in the same chair she'd been in when Master had put her under, rather than in one of the more compromising positions he usually preferred to wake her up in. The box of toys was still sitting in the corner, unused. That meant that Master probably wasn't done with her yet, but why had he woken her up?
Vaguely, she remembered that Master had wanted to test out something new on her. A new trigger? No, it was something else, but Slave's thoughts were still too hazy for her to remember what it was.
"Here, come with me." Master offered his hand to help her up. Almost without thinking, Slave took it. She still wasn't sure what was going on, but a command from Master always made her decision of what to do very easy.
Slave followed as Master led her out of the room. As she passed through the doorway, Slave -- no, Sarah -- felt her name return to her as her thoughts cleared, and she remembered just what they were trying to test.
She and Malcolm -- the compulsion to call him 'Master' in her thoughts was also gone -- had been dabbling in D/s dynamics in their relationship for quite a while, but it was only a few months ago that they'd begun to spice things up further with hypnosis. In that time, Sarah had discovered that she was a much better hypnotic subject than either of them had realized at first. Perhaps even a little too good of a subject.
That was why she'd asked Malcolm to put in the block. While it was undeniably hot how easily he could put her under, and how powerless to resist him she was once he did, it was still important to establish boundaries. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but she wanted to make it clear to everyone, her own subconscious most of all, that whatever kinky roleplay they did inside the "playroom", as they called it, when they were outside of it, she and Malcolm were equals.
"I think it's working," she said as she followed Malcolm into the living room. "As soon as I walked out of there, it was like everything cleared up in my head."
"That's a good sign. Still, we should test out your triggers to make sure they're working." He paused. "Or rather, that they're not working."
That was the other reason she'd wanted to put in the block. All of her triggers were keyed to Malcolm's voice, but her subconscious could be...generous in interpreting that. There had been a few close calls where a stranger whose voice had sounded a bit too much like Malcolm's had inadvertently used one of her trigger phrases. Fortunately, she'd always been able to get away before the situation could get messy, figuratively or literally, but she preferred not to take any more chances.
"You, uh, might want to sit down," he said. "Just in case they're still working."
Sarah took a seat on the couch. She was pretty sure that safety wasn't Malcolm's main concern; most of her triggers wouldn't be particularly dangerous if she were standing anyway. But whenever Malcolm was physically above her, so that she had to look up at him, it made his commands that much more powerful. If her triggers didn't affect her even then, that would be a clear sign that their experiment was working.
Malcolm stepped forward and reached down to tilt her chin upwards so that she was looking directly into his eyes.
"Slave." He snapped his fingers.
Normally, such a direct trigger would send Sarah deep into her 'Slave' persona, possibly even before she had a chance to consciously process the word. But not this time.
"Nope. Still me, Sarah," she said.
Malcolm didn't break his intense stare. "Good Girl."
That was one of the first triggers he'd implanted in her. Sarah half-expected to hear her own voice saying the mantra with no conscious input on her part. But, a few seconds passed, and she didn't say anything. She smiled at Malcolm, and shook her head.
"And what if I were to, say, Turn up the Heat? And Turn up the Heat a little more? Then Turn up the Heat even more."
Malcolm almost never used 'Turn up the Heat' in rapid succession like that; the slow buildup was half the fun with it. And yet, despite so many quick triggers, the room felt exactly the same temperature as it had a moment ago.
"I think it's safe to say it worked," Sarah said.
