"...just relax, just float and drift in your safe space. Feeling so warm, and so comfortable, and so peaceful, and you know you can return here whenever you want." The room filled with a magical stillness, the sound of twenty-seven people in simultaneous hypnotic trance. "And now I'm going to count to five," Liz said, "and you're going to feel yourself becoming more aware with each number as I count, until you awaken completely on five. One..." Some people started to stir, but Liz wasn't surprised to see that many of them remained very relaxed. They'd been under for almost an hour, now--although if you asked them, they'd probably say it had been closer to fifteen minutes.
"Two, beginning to feel your fingers and toes move a little now." Liz watched people begin to shift their position a little, still wearing those same dreamy smiles that always made her feel like it was worth doing a 'What Is Hypnosis?' panel every year. So many of these people walked into this room thinking they couldn't be hypnotized, or worrying that it might be dangerous somehow, and she loved showing them just how safe and natural hypnosis really was. Hypnosis was just a method of achieving trance, and as Liz pointed out to the crowd every year, you went into trance every time you read a good book, watched a good movie, or even just had a daydream.
"Three, becoming aware of the sounds in the room." It was probably a good idea to remind everyone that there were other people in the room--Liz knew how easy it was to just let the people around you fade into background as you went into trance. (Including the plane ride down here, she remembered. She'd managed to really weird the flight attendants out.)
"Four, almost all the way back up now, feeling relaxed and refreshed and knowing you can return here whenever you want." That was her usual 'gift' to those ShadowCon attendees who decided to show up for her panel--just a simple visualization exercise, picturing a warm, safe, stress-free place in their head and telling them that they could close their eyes and go back there whenever they wanted to. She didn't really know how many of them used it once they got home--suggestions really only took root if the person wanted them to--but she'd had a few people over the last couple of years come up to her and tell her how much it had helped, and that was enough to keep her doing it.
"And five, all the way back awake now." She watched her audience stir, some of them still a little groggy. "Feel free to take your time, folks," she said. "I'm probably the only panelist at the con who doesn't mind that their whole audience is just now waking up." That got more than a few chuckles, and Liz saw people begin to really come back to themselves. Nothing like a bad joke to get people back to their senses.
Liz saw some people starting to look at their watches with an expression of shock on their faces, and she didn't need to check her own to know that it was about time to wrap things up. "Well, folks," she said, "that's what hypnosis feels like. I'm sure many of you recognized the sensation, and I hope that all of you enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we're about out of time for now--the psychics are already anticipating that the room will be empty pretty soon." That got a round of groans instead of chuckles, but Liz never met a pun she didn't like. "But I have a panel tomorrow at noon, so if any of you have any questions about what you experienced, feel free to come by and ask me about it then."
Liz watched everyone file out, silently congratulating herself on another successful panel. There was just something so gratifying about doing this every year, seeing the smiles on people's faces as they drifted off, guiding them through their first hypnotic experience... honestly, she wished she could get the room longer. An hour just wasn't enough time to play.
But most of these people probably had other panels to get to, signings to attend, and dealer rooms to browse. Already, the room was just about completely empty. There was just one girl left, sitting there...Liz frowned. The girl's head was tipped forward onto her chest, and it was only because she had such short hair that Liz could see that her eyes were still closed behind her glasses.
Liz's frown melted into a smile. She'd had this happen once or twice before. Some people found trance to be a little too relaxing, especially on the third day of the convention after two very late nights. She walked over to the girl and glanced down at her badge. "Suzie?" she said softly, putting her hand on the sleeping girl's shoulder and applying gentle pressure. "Suzie, it's time to wake up."
"No," Suzie said in the telltale dreamy tones of someone still in a very deep trance.
Liz blinked. That was a little bit unexpected, she thought. She'd figured Suzie had just fallen asleep, but she appeared to still be under hypnosis. "Suzie," she said, her voice falling naturally into a hypnotic cadence, "it's time to come back up now. You can return to this warm place later, if you want, but right now it's time to wake up."
Suzie lazily shook her head. Liz probably wouldn't even have noticed the gesture if she hadn't been used to picking up cues from people under hypnosis. "Don't want to," she said quietly.
Liz felt a little flummoxed for a moment. She'd had a few people who needed a little additional coaxing to find their way down into trance, but she hadn't actually encountered someone who wouldn't come back up. Still, they hadn't invited her to ShadowCon and given her a panel all to herself just because she'd played around with pendants for a bit. "Suzie," she said sternly, "if you don't emerge right now, I'm never going to hypnotize you this deeply ever again."
That did the trick. Suzie's big brown eyes popped open, seeming even bigger under her glasses, as an expression of stark panic crossed her features. She blinked once or twice as her brain registered the fact that she was actually awake...and then, once it did, her expression changed from fear to abject misery. Liz had never seen someone look so forlorn over coming out of hypnosis before. She felt like she'd just taken Suzie's teddy bear away.
It didn't help that Suzie looked absolutely adorable as she started to get to her feet, stammering out apologies while trying to pretend she wasn't desperately unhappy and utterly failing. Liz generally tended to think of herself as more "open-minded" than actually bisexual, but she had to admit, she had a fetish for geeks of all genders. Something about a girl with glasses, especially one with that gorgeously pale skin that only came from spending more time in front of the computer than the sun, well...it just got to Liz. And the 'GeeKISSexy' t-shirt really didn't help matters.
Liz spotted the decision she was about to make just after she made it, and she rolled her eyes at herself when she realized what she'd already decided to do. She was really too nice for her own good, she decided, as she snapped her fingers in front of Suzie's face and said, "Down."
Suzie's eyes slammed back shut, and a smile spread over her features as she slowly sank back down into her chair. Liz had never seen a smile that big on a girl that tiny. It made her look like an anime character. She'd been hypnotizing people for a long time now, but she'd be hard pressed to think of anyone who enjoyed it quite so much as Suzie seemed to be loving it right now.
Liz looked down at her watch. The next panel would be starting to arrive any second now, and while she didn't want to take Suzie out of trance again without finding out just what made her want to stay under so bad, she also didn't want to disrupt the next guest. "Suzie," she said softly, "do you have to be any place special soon?"
"No," Suzie said, her voice filled with...with joy, there was just no other word for it. "I don't have any plans for the rest of the night."
"Alright," Liz said. "Then I want you to take my hand, Suzie." She pressed her hand against Suzie's, and the girl clasped it eagerly. "In a moment, you're going to open your eyes--it's alright, Suzie," she said in response to the other girl's obvious agitation. "You'll find that you'll be able to open your eyes and stay just as deep, just as relaxed as you are right now." Suzie sighed like a little girl who'd just been told Christmas would be every day this year. "And then we're going to stand up, and we're going to take a little walk. Does that sound all right to you, Suzie?"
"Uh-huh," Suzie responded, the grin somehow evident even in her voice.
"Alright, Suzie. It's time to go." Liz stood up, and Suzie opened her eyes and stood up with her. She had a glassy look in her eyes, and just as before, the thick coke-bottle lenses magnified them in a way that made Liz clench her thighs together just a bit. She led Suzie out of the room and down the hallway, and the other girl followed like an obedient puppy.
