"So, did you find something you liked?" There was just a touch of static obscuring Ken's voice, and Chelle found herself wishing she could turn a knob or adjust the signal or something. Then she remembered that Ken was basically talking to her from almost six thousand kilometers away, and she decided that maybe she should just count her blessings that they didn't have to do this by post or something.
"Well, not exactly," she said, settling onto the bed, "but you told me to pick something out that I wouldn't wear any other time. If I liked it, it probably wouldn't work for your nefarious plan." She rolled the 'r' in 'nefarious' just a little, putting a little chuckle into her voice as she said the words. She didn't think Ken actually had a nefarious bone in his body, but they both loved to joke about his sinister hypnotic wiles. It was a little more fun when Chelle pretended he could do anything he wanted to her.
It was a lot more fun when she pretended she wasn't pretending.
"Okay, can you describe it to me?" Ken asked. "It'll help a bit if I have an idea of what it looks like when we're talking." He didn't sound frustrated, thankfully; Chelle had long ago gotten sick of guys intruding on her ground rules to the point where it was an instant dealbreaker. No webcam, no pictures. If they didn't believe she was a real redhead, she could very cheerfully believe they weren't going to get to hypnotize her. But Ken hadn't pushed on it at all in the six months she'd been playing with him...which made it a little easier to relax when they talked. And that made a lot of...other things...easier, too.
"It's a sort of chunky red bangle," she said, idly turning it over in the hand that wasn't holding her phone. "About an inch wide, with all these little metal links that are covered with red enamel. They're at a bit of an angle, so it looks like they're all drunk. Do you want me to put it on yet?"
"Not just yet," Ken said, his voice pitched just a little lower and more even. What Chelle thought of as his 'hypno-voice'. She felt it tug a little bit at her thoughts, as her subconscious tried to persuade her that she was totally supposed to be going into trance right now, but she forced herself to listen. "Just keep looking closely at it, and tell me all about it. Why don't you wear it more often?"
Chelle kept turning the bracelet over and over as she spoke, aware that she was already drifting a little as she focused her attention on the bangle. "It's pretty enough, but it's just so awkward to wear. It stretches a bit so you can get it on, but then it kind of gloms onto your wrist like it's giving you a really uncomfortable hug. It's really hard not to get distracted by the way it feels."
Ken chuckled a little. "That's actually really perfect for what we're going to do with it. I want something that you'll notice the whole time you're wearing it." Chelle felt her pulse quicken a little at his words-he'd described the idea of what he wanted to do a few days ago, and she'd not been able to get it out of her head ever since. (Which he had already admitted was part of his plan when he told her several days before doing it, but that kind of unthreatening sneakiness was why she was willing to do things like this in the first place.)