Rayne sat in her dorm room with her nose buried in a book. Not a novel or a school book, not from a class she was taking anyway. No, her nose was buried in a book filled with hypnotic scripts and techniques. In fact there were several other books scattered all around her on different topics within hypnosis, written by authors from various time periods. You could say she was becoming a bit obsessed.
Her current topic of study was instant inductions, a type of hypnotic induction that takes less than five seconds to achieve and in many cases is...as the name would imply...instantaneous. Of course, her intense focus came at the drawback of not hearing the sound of approaching footsteps in the hallway.
The sound of keys jingling in the door knob, however, snapped Rayne out of her self induced trance. She barely had time to realize what was happening before the door opened and Klaire walked in. The short brunette had barely taken a step into the room before she noticed Rayne and instantly rolled her eyes. "Ugh...what are YOU doing here?" She said in a disgusted tone. It was a greeting that Rayne was quite familiar with, but had yet to get used to.
Rayne sank into her chair and checked the clock. "Sorry, I lost track of time. I can pack up and leave if you give me a minute." She placed a bookmark into her study material and started to gather her things.
"Don't bother, you've already ruined my mood. I have no desire to be in here knowing you were just here." she said as she pushed past Rayne. She angrily grabbed the bag next to her bunk and started to rifle through the bookshelf, looking for the right book to occupy her.
Rayne somehow sank even further into her chair, but as she did the book she'd been holding slipped from her hand and landed in her lap. She flipped it open to the bookmarked page...a page on instant inductions. More specifically, on handshake inductions. "Could...that work?" she thought to herself. She quickly looked back and forth between the book and Klaire. "This is crazy!" she thought as she gently closed the book and stood up, moving strategically behind Klaire and waiting for just the right moment.
A moment later the frustrated young coed flung her book bag onto her shoulder and turned around, only to come face to face with Rayne. The shock of seeing her roommate standing so close to her was such a surprise that she actually gasped and took a half step back. The look of anger on her face completely drained away for a split second as her brain tried to figure out what was happening.
This was the exact look Rayne was hoping to see. It was a sign that she had managed to interrupt Klaire's thought process, leaving her temporarily open to suggestions while her brain assessed the situation. She acted as quickly as she could, extending her hand to Klaire with a soft smile. "We got off on the wrong foot..." She started in a soothing tone that she had read helped with hypnotic inductions. "I'm sure you can...see the benefit to starting over, starting fresh with me, now. I'm Rayne..." she extended her hand a bit more to imply that she wanted to shake Klaire's hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
Klaire's mouth opened just a bit. The shock of the situation and the soothing tone of her voice seemed to be playing right into Rayne's hand. Klaire stared at Rayne intently as she talked, and as her redheaded roommate extended her hand in friendship...Klaire subconsciously found her own hand slowly reaching out toward Rayne's.
