Rayne followed Laura into the commons area that she had tried to hypnotize Laura in just an hour ago. Sitting on the couch at the far end of the room was a rather thin girl with long brown hair. She seemed to be rather plainly dressed in just jeans and a shirt, and her hair had been pulled back into a simple ponytail. But yet there was still a down to earth, natural beauty about her.
"Hey!" Shouted Laura excitedly as she moved around the coffee table to give the young woman a hug. "Thank you so much for coming to help us out!"
The brunette smiled and nodded to her, "My pleasure. I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but I'm here nonetheless." The young woman's voice had an odd cadence to it, almost like she was speaking sarcastically even though she wasn't. But her warm smile helped to convey her emotions without confusion.
Laura gave her a playful smile "Oh, we'll see about that." She turned toward Rayne as her smile became more devious. "This is Rayne, the pledge for the psychology sorority that we are trying to organize. Rayne, this is Jackie, a friend of mine from drama class."
Rayne and Jackie exchanged the usual pleasantries before Jackie jumped right to her point. "So, I take it that you're the one who is going to try and hypnotize me?" she asked Rayne. "I have to tell you, I'm not a believer. I don't think hypnosis is real. And despite what Laura may try to tell me, I don't think I can go under. But I'm willing to let you try." Her comments were genuine, which made Rayne smile and blush at the same time. She appreciated the young woman's honesty, but was starting to feel embarrassed about trying to hypnotize a person who didn't think they could be hypnotized. Almost like the stakes of the situation were, somehow, higher now.
Laura winked at Rayne and then turned to look directly at Jackie. "I know that you don't believe in hypnosis, Jackie...but it is actually real."
Rayne couldn't help but notice that Laura's voice had changed dramatically. She was speaking more slowly, more clearly. A second later it dawned on her that Laura was using her 'hypnotic voice' while she was talking to Jackie. She was trying to prep Jackie to be hypnotized.
"The thing with hypnosis..." Laura continued "is that it's really misunderstood. When most people think of hypnosis, they think of girls acting like chickens, or sleepwalking with their arms out like zombies. This couldn't be further from the truth. It's simply a state of focus. A state where you simply find yourself following every word that the hypnotist says...and just relaxing into those words. You can see how that might be nice, can't you Jackie?"
Rayne's quickly turned her attention to Jackie to see her reaction. To her surprise, Jackie looked more skeptical than ever as she stared back at Laura. The only change in her posture was a small eyebrow raise. "Umm...I guess, but I still think it's fake."
Laura simply smiled. "Well, that is a common opinion. But what I have learned is that if you can't see yourself being hypnotized, Jackie...then maybe seeing someone else hypnotized will bring you around."
Rayne watched as Jackie thought the idea over and started to nod. "That's a pretty good idea." Rayne thought to herself "If she sees someone else get hypnotized, then she'd have evidence that it can...wait a second! I'm the only other one here?!" Rayne screamed in her head as she realized Laura's plan. Fortunately for her, Laura was too focused on Jackie to notice that she had been outed.
As Laura continued to try and work Jackie into a more agreeable mind set, Rayne slowly started to move closer and closer to her blonde mentor. She could tell from the conversation that Laura was setting it up to 'prove' to Jackie that hypnosis was real...by hypnotizing Rayne. But Rayne had another idea. She waited patiently for the right moment, which came just as Laura said "to help you understand how hypnosis works, I can just hypnotize... " She turned to face Rayne, only to find the younger redhead right in front of her. Two fingers were perched at eye level a few inches from Laura's face. "Oh!" she gasped "Rayne...What...what are you doing?"
"Shhhhh" Rayne said softly as her fingers started to move slowly and rhythmically back and forth in front of Laura's eyes. "Just relax...and follow my fingers." She said in a smooth, almost seductive, voice as her fingers continued to sway from side to side. Laura was instinctively drawn to them. She followed with slight turns of her head as they moved left...and right...left...and right. She struggled to form a reply, but nothing ever came out. Rayne winked at Jackie before letting her fingers move to the center of Laura's gaze, and then raise straight up. The blonde followed her fingers and tilted her head up just a bit further so she could keep sight of them. But just as she did, Rayne brought her fingers down as quickly as she could while Laura's head followed them down. A finger snap echoed through the commons area, along with a forcefully spoken "Sleep!"
Laura never really had time to figure out what was going on. She followed the fingers up and then straight down so quickly that her curly hair bounced behind her. But as her head came down, her eyes slammed shut and her mind simply went to sleep. After all, it seemed like the thing to do in this situation. It seemed perfectly logical to Laura. And so there she sat with her head down on her chest, completely hypnotized in front of the two girls she had planned to hypnotize, herself.
"Holy shit!" Jackie exclaimed with a surprised laugh. "You just...you just got her didn't you? She didn't even see that coming!"
Rayne giggled innocently. "No, she didn't! Her plan was to hypnotize me to prove it could work. I had another plan." She took on the kind of pose you might see a model using to display an item on a commercial. Except this time the item on display was the hypnotized Laura. "Whaddaya think?" She asked with a smile.
Jackie had leaned in to examine the sleeping Laura, who was now slumped forward in her chair. "That was...pretty cool, actually. But how do I know she isn't faking it?"
