Hypnotherapy

“What have you been nerving up to?” he asked, feeling a surge of protective paternal instinct. If she was facing a challenge, of course he’d help her. It wasn’t even a question - until she spoke.

“Hypnotherapy,” she said, promptly. “It can be so hard to get people to relax- “ for emphasis, she kneaded hard, leaning into his lats, extracting a strangled groan. “And working with their mind rather than their body can really help. But who can I practice on?”

He hesitated, still panting from having his back tension worked like a slab of pizza crust. “They don’t have classes at college about it?”

She made a small grumpy noise. Sweet-tempered as Ruth was, she could be bratty when frustrated - or just when teasing, if she got the devil in her. “They do, but I don’t meet the pre-requisites to get in yet, and I’d have to sign a waiver saying I wouldn’t use it commercially without certain certifications. ‘Massage therapist’ is not one of the certificates on the list. I’d need medical stuff, not recreational, and I don’t want to wait years for that. It’s really interesting, Daddy - control and release, taking away stress. Other things, too. The power dynamics kinda fascinate me. So I need to learn outside class, where I don’t have to sign a waiver. I’ve been watching hours of online video tutorials and practicing, but I can’t tell if any of it really works!”

She continued, in a competent, professional manner, to wring her frustrations out of his back, leaving me as tenderized as a veal fillet, and only barely able to answer her.

“It sounds like it takes a lot of trust, and… vulnerability.”

“That’s exactly right, Daddy,” she enthused, and he took another deep breath, imagining for a moment who she might end up practicing on. Her college friends, Amber and Kayla, were both a little wild. Wild was fine for young women her age in general, but it didn’t exactly spell a good hypnotic partner. Her high school bestie, Chloe, had only been over twice in the past year. He worried about that; Chloe was a good kid, confident, a good influence even if she came from a bad family. He hoped their friendship hadn’t broken up. But everyone else he imagined was worse and less likely. Co-workers? Crunchy hippy types, too easy, not real practice. Older students who had taken the class she couldn’t yet and were willing to bend the rules? Not trustworthy. Boys looking to impress her? He’d never interfere in Ruth’s dating life but practicing hypnosis was more intimate than any college fling. Nope, couldn’t countenance it.

Her mother was too busy. Her Aunt Joy, just as wild as Amber and Kayla. That left one option. He sighed.

“You know, Ruthie, if you want to try hypnotizing somebody safe, you’ve got a subject at hand. Know it works on me, I used to hang out with carnies.”

Ruth stilled, sucking in a surprise breath, her fingers still splayed on his back. “Really, Daddy? You’ve done this before?”

“Not much, and not in a long time,” he cautioned. “I’m no expert.”

“But…a test subject? You’d let me try it out on you?”

He sighed again. He didn’t want to fully explain his reasoning and come off as an overprotective, patronizing dinosaur. He genuinely didn’t want to control or restrict her. It was just…

“Of course, Ruthie,” he said. “I want to be somebody my little girl can trust. If you’re looking for a safe person for anything, I want to be there. Just promise me you won’t embarrass me in public by implanting a trigger that makes me quack like a duck, or anything.”

“Of course not,” she told him, obvious fondness in her voice. “What happens on this table, stays on this table, just like all your trips to Vegas.”

She had no idea how true that was, he mused. But then, it didn’t really stay in Vegas - he always told Essie all about his adventures abroad.

“Thank you, Ruth. I trust you.” Was what he finally settled on saying, wonder if she could feel the shift and play of tension as his back as he wrestled his way to finding an honest response that didn’t reveal too much. “Did you want to try it now?”

“Absolutely, Daddy,” she said, with quiet fervency. “Let’s take the plunge together. I’ll keep massaging, and you just close your eyes and focus on the sound of my voice.”

“Good deal,” he murmured, as her hands began to knead at his back once more.

“Forget the table beneath you,” she suggested, her voice low and breathy. “You’re resting on a cloud. All you see are the colors behind your eyes. All you hear is my voice. With every breath, you taste the fresh air and fall deeper into a trance, like each breath is working a hand pump on an elevator, taking you lower and lower into the cloud. The cloud is so soft, you can barely feel it. All you feel are the movements of my hands, working in time with that pump. Nod your head just a little if you understand, and you feel what I’m telling you you feel.”

She repeated the instruction five times, and he did his best to enter that pleasant fugue a massage could all too easily bring on. He nodded in all the right places, and almost missed when she said something new.

“You can answer my questions aloud now. Can you feel yourself getting more and more relaxed?”

“Yes, Ruthie,” he murmured, unsure if it was working but enjoying the journey nonetheless.

“As you relaxed, with each breath you feel your mind getting more clear and focused. You feel nothing else but that. How do you feel, Daddy?”

“Clear and focused,” he murmured, indulgently, to assure her he was paying attention. He was still breathing evenly and deeply, but she must have stopped massaging him, he thought. Or maybe not. He couldn’t feel her hands, but he could feel the slow pulse of his tension continuing to unwind at just the same rhythm. Surely that wasn’t all in his head?

“Very good, Daddy. Follow the sound of my voice as it guides you deeper into the trance. Your thoughts, the narrative voice in your head, is going quiet, drifting away. It’s okay. You don’t need that. You have my voice to tell you anything you need to do, everything you need to think about. You’ll obey my voice like you’d obey your own. Tell me that?”

“I’ll obey your voice like I’d obey my own,” he said, feeling warm and floaty. Silly girl. Didn’t she know that was already true?

She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “That’s right, Daddy. For as long as the trance lasts, you want nothing but to serve me and make me happy. You exist solely for my pleasure. Do you understand?”

“I exist solely to please my lovely stepdaughter,” he said, and thought nothing further about it, wallowing pleasantly in that warm emotion.