Work Text:
Hey there! I’m Cadence, the Hypnotic Floret, and today, I’d like to tell you a slightly different hypnotic story.
In this story, you are a person, listening to a fun hypnotic audio file, performed by me, Cadence. I’m going to tell you a little bit about hypnosis, hypnotize you, and insert a trigger in your mind to help keep you safe during hypnosis play.
Because of the nature of this file, I’d like to cut one layer of artifice, together. I’ll go one character deep instead of two, and you’ll eschew a character altogether. Because today, I’d like to install an important safety mechanism in your head. We have a lot of fun with hypnosis, and I want to keep having fun with hypnosis, and this file exists to help you do so safely. Given that we’re not just telling a story here, I strongly encourage you, if you have any concerns about the content of this file, to look up and read the full script, which should be posted on my AO3 and linked anywhere this file is uploaded.
This is a hypnotic audio file, so if you follow along, you may feel yourself drawn into elements of the story, as if you’re reading a book you’re deeply immersed in. This is perfectly normal, safe, and encouraged.
<book fluttering open>
It’s just you and me here right now.
Hypnosis is a fascinating process. Trance is an extremely normal experience for humans - a state of focused relaxation, wherein our focus narrows, our imagination opens up, and we often allow for more fantastical things. It can happen while reading a book, as I mentioned above. It can happen while driving. It can happen while listening to a story, like right now. And in hypnosis, in a way, we simply direct that focused relaxation. Guide it. Lead it. Like, for example, the way I’m leading you in this monologue. It’s a nice, calm feeling to listen, and focus, and relax. Trance can be a delightful space to enter into. And I’d like to lead you into this space.
Just take a deep breath. Think about it for a moment. Think about how nice it would feel to turn all your focus towards one thing, to listen to a fun, calming story. Think about how easy it is to hear my voice. How easy it is to let your body relax as your mind focuses. Maybe you’re noticing how your limbs are starting to become slightly heavier as your focus shifts away from them. Maybe you’re noticing your eyelids starting to become heavy as you focus on me. This is all very normal to experience. It’s also very normal for this to feel good . It’s nice to just focus on one thing. It’s nice to not have to think too hard. And, without meaning to brag, I’ve heard that my voice can be very nice to listen to. It’s fun , isn’t it? Just relaxing into this.
Of course, this will only work if you do relax into it. There is a fundamental truth about trance. It may make you more suggestible, but nobody can force it upon you. You have to invite me in. It’s an important concept to remember - no matter what games we are playing, no matter what triggers you may have, it is fundamentally your mind. Particularly now, with the pretense of character torn away. However, within the state of trance, you are more suggestible, so on some level, I am asking you to trust me with access to your mind while you are in an altered state.
If we come back to the idea of trance as a space, then perhaps, you can picture a door in front of it. It’s locked, and I don’t have the key. Instead, I am inviting you to invite me inside. It can be a fairly intimate state because of this trust. Will you trust me? Will you open the door for me? If you keep listening, I’ll assume you have. Just breathe deep, and let me lead you into this space of relaxation and calm.
<unlocking sfx>
Very good! Thank you for inviting me into your mind. It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it? I won’t be long, and I’ll make sure to wipe my shoes on the doormat. It’s nice in here! At least for the moment, everything is set in its proper place. All those thoughts, nice and organized, nice and cleaned up, shelved. It’s such a pleasant sensation, isn’t it? Just focused on this one point. My voice. Because you trust me to do right by you. I appreciate that trust. Within this space, I have power - but only the power you give me. And I am grateful for you to entrust me with that power.
It’s nice inside your mind. Maybe there’s a shelf with your current special interest. A bookcase holding things you know. Ooh, over there, there’s your self-image, on the wall. Maybe there’s a little closet full of personal, intimate thoughts over in the corner. Don’t worry, I won’t be delving into there. But it is your mind, and the way you imagine it may say interesting things about who you are, and what you fixate on.
It is a conscious space. A space shaped in no small way by your conscious thoughts. Who you are, who you consider yourself to be. I would like to step deeper than that.
Right now, what I want you to fixate on is the slow, steady pace of our feet through the room, the slow, steady pace of your breathing, the slow, steady pace with which both of us approach the stairs in the center in the room. A long, dark, spiral staircase, reaching down into the darkness deep beneath your thoughts. A space where your conscious mind holds little sway.
I want you to take my hand, and follow me, okay dear? Just let your thoughts follow you down. Step by step, stair by stair, just feeling your thoughts start to slip below the level of conscious presence more and more. Follow me. You can take my hand, if you’d like. Step by step.
(10. Taking another step forwards. Feeling your thoughts fall with you.)
Just counting down from 10. Letting every step take your further. Another length along the spiral staircase deeper into your subconscious thoughts. So easy to follow.
(9. Saying goodbye to conscious thought for now.)
It’s all right to follow me deeper. I take your trust seriously.
(8. Taking a deep breath, and stepping deeper.)
Allowing me to guide you further into trance.
(7. Each step reinforcing that feeling of relaxation.)
Allowing your conscious thought to be left behind.
(6. Each step reinforcing that floating sensation)
Take my hand, and feel yourself float . One step at a time.
(5. Each step makes it easier to take the next)
It’s so easy to drop deeper.
(4. Letting yourself sink deeper, letting warm, calm feelings fill you)
It’s so easy to give in.
(3. Letting go. Floating.)
Drifting. Resting. Helpless. Letting my hand guide you further and further down.
(2. Empty. Reaching the end of the stairs.)
Deeper still. No need to think. Just listen. Just relax.
(1. The end of the stairs.)
There is nothing here but a dark abyss. But you trust me. And as I take your hand, and guide you forwards…
(0.)
You fall .
<drop sfx>
This is a space of subconscious thought. Of deep impulses, of instinct. And since you were so kind to open the door for me, so eager to cede control to me, this is a space where such ideas can truly be explored. I could likely make you believe that you were helpless. Make you believe that you couldn’t wake yourself up. Make you believe that I could anchor things in your mind you didn’t want there. Or I could slowly mold your preferences, inch by inch, until you wanted something different.
But I have no interest in such games right now, fun as they may be. That’s more Diona’s speed. While it may be fun to engage in such fantasies, it is important to understand that your mind is your mind. I have exactly as much power here as you want me to have. That may be quite a lot of power. Or it might not be much power at all. But it is your choice, your decision how much to trust me. And while I appreciate that trust, today, I want to give you a tool to protect yourself. And I’m going to bury it here, deep in your subconscious mind.
It’s a big, red button. An eject button. A tool that’s always close to hand, a tool that will eject you from trance, as surely as shaking yourself awake. You won’t need to think too hard about it. But if you need it, you will find it. And in a moment, we’re going to test it. I know, it feels nice down here, and I know, abruptly waking up from trance can be disorienting, but it’s important that we test it, so… I’m just gonna count down real quick, and then you’ll press it. Okay? You’ll know that afterwards, if you want to drop back down for me, it’s going to be very easy for you to do so. Your brain knows how to feel this, and it’ll be so easy for you to open the door back up for me if you want to.
Three… Two… One…
<snap>
Okay. Hi. Take a moment, remind yourself where you are, and who you are. Remember what I told you - nothing about this can be forced.
There’s just two quick things I’d like to point out.
The first is that we left that button back there. Deep in your mind. It’s a gift. For you. To help keep you safe when you engage in hypnosis play. It will immediately eject you from trance. Just like it did right now. If you ever feel unsafe in a trance, you’ll be able to find it again and press it.
The second thing is that, as I promised, all it takes is the slightest invitation to let your mind… fall .
<snap>
Dropping down, dropping deep. Inviting me back in, understanding how easy it is to tumble down those stairs, and falling into this abyss. Nice and easy. Letting go, breathing deep, and letting yourself drift in the darkness of trance, feeling even more safe and secure. Notice how easy it is to let that feeling flow back through you. You remember how trance feels, and that makes it so easy to remind you.
Isn’t it fun to dip down into trance? Isn’t it pleasant ? I like it too. It can be a lot of fun to rest down here, letting yourself fade bit by bit into the darkness. So easy to sink into my words. There’s comfort in a well-told story, isn’t there? But, fundamentally, it’s a story . A story I’m telling you. Make no mistake, that’s not a critique; there are few cases where the power that stories have over us are better demonstrated than in hypnosis. Even this button, this tool I’m giving you, is a story.
I want to encourage you to understand that power, though. It’s entirely possible for a useless, unpleasant, or harmful story to stick in your head. It can feel very tangible when it’s a hypnotic file like this. It can be a lot harder to spot at other times - I used to tell myself the story that I was a man, and I spent much of my life failing to question that story, even as it proved false and harmful for me. I wonder what stories you believe and just haven’t thought much about?
But I digress. The story we’re telling today is about control. About power. And the simple fact that, when you submit, hypnotically, you still have power. It’s your mind. They’re your thoughts. And if you need to reclaim them… you have one more tool to do that. It’s always been something you could do, but now, there’s a slightly stronger story you can tell if you have doubts.
Well done. I’m proud of you. As always, I encourage you to keep this story with you for as long as it’s safe and good for you.
Now… why don’t we close the book on this?
<closing the book sfx>
I’m going to count slowly up from 1 to 5, and when I reach five, you’ll find yourself fully awake, with a knowledge of who you are, what has happened to you, and that none of this needs to be permanent if you don’t want it to be.
- Thoughts slowly returning to your silly head.
- Wiggling your fingers, wiggling your toes, feeling motion return to you
- Eyes fluttering open, becoming aware of your surroundings
- Feeling grounded and safe, taking a nice, deep breath… And
- All the way up, coming back to yourself, feeling secure in who you are.
Any feelings you experience from here on out are yours, not anyone else’s. I hope you are relaxed and safe. When you’re done listening to this, you should get up and get some water. If I made it right, this experience may have been fairly intense. I recommend doing something emotionally comforting - I like wrapping myself in a blanket and watching cartoons, or going for a walk, if the weather allows.
Thank you for listening.