Eerie Dreary Solstice
The snow pelted down making the world seem a lot smaller than it was. People bustled around with their heads down and their bodies encased in many layers of wool and fur. It was a bitter day and everyone knew it was going to get worse before the year was out.
“Why did you have to ask me to meet you for lunch on the coldest day of the year” muttered Kate as she glared at her friend Lauren.
“Because I wanted lunch. Also this is nothing, it is going to get so much worse” she giggled as she started to walk.
The café they found themselves in was a wonderful reprise from the cold and just as they closed the door they heard someone call to them. They turned to a table near the window and saw Shadow waiting for them. As they sat down she pushed two cups of steaming coffee towards them.
“I thought you would need this. Especially you Kate. Hows our cold treating you?” she said with a smile. Kate sighed but took a sip of the coffee and slowly began to feel warmer. In fact the warmth of the coffee let her feel the warmth of being with Lauren and Shadow, her poly family all together was always a warming idea. Lauren was the first to pull herself away from her coffee.
“So what you all doing for Christmas?” she said
“Well, you both know my house is open if you want it” smiled Shadow causing Kate to giggle into her coffee cup. “What is so funny missy?” said Shadow casting an eye in Kate’s direction.
“Oh just the idea of you celebrating Christmas. Seems far too cheery for you” she continued to laugh, snorting slightly as she did.
“Oh, just because I wear black make up I have to celebrate solstice or something?” replied Shadow with mock offenense.
“Well you do, so she has a point” smiled Lauren
“We both know if I want the truth I will tell you it” said Shadow sticking her tongue out at Lauren, causing all three to giggle. Once they all pulled themselves together Shadow continued to speak.
“Well, in winter festival news, some of my friends are doing an alternative Christmas party thing for charity, you all down for helping out?” she said, getting a nod from each girl. “Great! I will put you all down, I am sure we can have some fun after as well!”
“Sounds great!” said Kate as she put her coffee cup down.
“Oh are we all going to the dun” started Lauren before stopping and going red as she saw the waitress was right next to them filling Kate’s coffee. Once she left Lauren continued. “Are we all going to the dungeon party on Saturday?”
“Depends if it needs anything special” started Kate “I have so little time this week so I can’t find or build something in time”
“I am sure you could make time if I told you to” smiled Shadow causing Kate to blush
“Well, evil mind control aside, It is just a generic thing” grinned Lauren.
“Well I am totally down for that. But it is rare for you to be so pro-active dear. Is there a reason?” smiled Shadow towards Lauren.
“Well I am owed a spanking” grinned Lauren. “I mean what is the point in me being naughty if I don’t get my due punishment?”
“Such an exhibitionist” said Shadow pulling out her phone. “Well I am sure that you will get it” she said as she tapped in a reminder to herself. “Well if Lauren gets her present, it is only fair to ask what you want Kate”. As Shadow did this Kate turned bright red and looked down into her coffee cup as if she had just spotted a lost Shakespearian sonnet.
“I don’t know, nothing really” mumbled Kate, vision still fixed in her coffee.
“Are you sure?” asked Shadow, doing her best to put a friendly tone in her voice to convince her shy partner.
“Yeah. Sure” mumbled Kate at a quieter volume than before.
“Someone needs to work on their confidence” tutted Shadow. “Either way, it is not issue, I am glad I pre-spiked your coffee with truth serum, I bet you can feel it working as we speak”. Kate blushed deeper as she clamped her lips together so hard they formed a pout. She started to feel warm and foggy but she knew it couldn’t be true. Shadow wasn’t a drugs expert.
“And the harder you try and resist the serum the more it pushes you to speak and babble all the truth out of yourself” said Shadow, interrupting Kate’s thought process and making the warmth and fog grow within her. Kate kept staring at her coffee as the fog and warmth continued to march her towards blissful oblivion. She tried to hold back but every bit of resistance just made it harder to think in a straight line.
“I want to be hypnotized more” she blurted out before ducking down and looking back into the coffee looking redder than she ever had before.
“Well that is very doable” smiled Shadow. “And if you have anything more specific or any ideas, feel free to tell me. You know I don’t judge dear” said Shadow, her smile putting Kate a little more at ease. “I know you are embarrassed about vocalizing this kind of thing, but still, I wouldn’t have introduced myself to you as an erotic hypnotist if I thought of it as shameful, would I?”
“I guess not, no” said Kate, slowly raising her head from the coffee and smiling at Shadow and Lauren. After they shared a group giggle they sank into normal conversation.
Like Lauren had predicted the weather got worse. The chill was bitter and felt like it was going in to your bones. Like Shadow had promised Lauren got her spanking. Kate had yet to get her present but Shadow had promised her it was going to be something she would never forget.
Despite her urge to stay in and turn the heating up to a temperature that was more suited to the surface of the sun. Kate made her way to Shadow’s apartment to help her get ready for the Christmas party. As she arrived she found Lauren had beaten her there.
“Ah, there you are!” smiled Shadow, running up and hugging Kate so tight she thought she would burst. “Tonight is going to be amazing!” she smiled as she put Kate down and went to a box at the side of the room. After digging through it she turned around, now with a Santa hat perched on her head. Both Lauren and Kate tried to hold in their giggles but they both failed. “And what is so funny you two?” pouted Shadow as she put her hands on her hips.
“It’s just. Well. You know.” stumbled Lauren through her giggles.
“It is all darkness, doom and death metal up the body and then happy jolly fun times on your head!” said Kate her voice rising in volume due to her laughing. She tried to regain her self control but failed and saw Shadow’s face turn to a glare.
“What? You think the Goth girl should go back to her demon gods?” she said with a hint of anger in her voice. The girls tried to reign their laughter in but found themselves unable to, the image of Shadow in the hat was just too much for them. “Well that is it, I am done with your petty insults brats!” said Shadow marching towards them. “Katey Sleep, Lauren Sleep” she said as she quickly snapped in front of both of their faces. As she saw the laughter drain from their faces and become replaced by blank void Shadow smiled.
“You girls are far too easy” she said to the girls who were far too gone to understand her gloating “Now let me explain how tonight is going to go”
Kate opened her eyes and waited for the blur to clear. She thought last night must have been a wild one for her to blackout like that. As she went to rub her body she realized she couldn’t move. She would have been scared if her thoughts had not been interrupted by the sudden yelp of Lauren.
“I can’t move!” said Lauren, causing Kate’s eyes to focus on her friend. Except when she looked she saw her friend was dressed rather differently than normal. Rather than her usual attire of jeans and t-shirts that screamed function over aesthetic, Lauren was dressed in a black military uniform. Over her shoulder Kate could see a shiny bit of metal and as she worked out what it was she felt one on her back too.
“Um Lauren?” Kate said, still trying to move, “I think we are wind-up nutcrackers”
“What?” Replied Lauren slightly confused.
“We have keys in our back” said Kate trying to get her legs to listen to her pleas.
“Oh man, we are!” Said Lauren with a sudden hit of realization. “That explains why you have the lines over your mouth, but why can’t we move?” Just as Kate tried to answer she was once again interrupted, this time by Shadow’s voice over a microphone.
“And now ladies and gentlemen, our two wonderful nutcrackers are going to perform a special, seasonal version of the very famous ballet” As Kate moved her eyes to find Shadow she saw something that made her tummy fill with butterflies. An audience. They were on a stage. Sat in front of that stage were at least 100 people.
“Oh, I just remembered, I need to wind them!” continued Shadow, seemingly oblivious to the confusion on stage. “How can a wind up doll dance without any clockwork in it’s body?” As she finished she moved on stage behind Lauren and turned the key on her back. The key made a very loud clicking noise as it went round. It sounded like Shadow could really have replaced Lauren’s insides with cogs and springs. Once finished Shadow moved to Kate and turned her key the same way. As she turned she leaned in and whispered into Kate’s ear. “I know this is terrifying you” whispered Shadow. “But just go with it, your body knows exactly what to do” she finished as she gave the key one last turn and moved back to the microphone. “And now ladies and gentleman, the Nutcracker suite as you have never seen it before!”.
Shadow pressed a button next to the microphone and cheery music started playing. Kate found a smile grow on her face as her arms slowly lifted in front of her.
“Have an eerie dreary solstice! ’Cause the stars are right this year!” came a happy sounding woman over the speakers as Kate’s leg flew forward taking her body into the centre of the stage.
“You’ll be slain” it continued as Kate’s body made an over the top stabbing motion, more akin to a pantomime than a horror film. Just as Kate tried to ponder what was happening the line “or go insane” hit her ears and she felt her hands rise up and pull her mouth open as her tongue stuck out and her eyes rolled back in her head. As the song continued and Kate’s face returned to normal she had time to consider what was happening. She felt like she was riding in her own body, it was dancing and she couldn’t stop it. It seemed to know the steps even if her brain didn’t. She caught the odd glimpse of Lauren as they crossed each other and she seemed to be in exactly the same situation. Kate wondered if Lauren was finding this as arousing as she was. Sure, performing in front of a crowd this big was her worst nightmare but this was different. Her body just going through the motions freed her of responsibility somewhat and the arousal from the slight humiliation kept washing away anxiety that formed.
By the time the song got round to “don’t try the elder sign, such a stupid tool” Kate had forgotten even fighting. She just wanted to let her body dance and enjoy the arousal. In fact she found herself admiring her bodies choreography, both athletic and pretty funny at the same time. As she stopped doing what a generous person would term a pirouette she realized why this felt so nice. It was trust. Catching glimpses of Shadow reminded her she was safe. While Shadow had a lot of madness, she had a lot of method too and would never do this unless she had a plan and a backup plan. She realized that the choreography regularly sent them past Shadow at the side of the stage so they would get a little smile of encouragement every few bars.
As the song wound down Lauren and Kate found themselves facing each other, their bodies slowly and jerkily leaning in for a kiss. As their lips touched Kate felt all the energy drain out of her and her body slumped forward and she felt her eyes close. As the darkness and the feel of her head on Lauren’s shoulder and Lauren’s head on hers enveloped her Kate realized it was time to let go and allow sleep to take her and with a contented breath out she did, and faded into trance. The last thing she perceived was loud applause from the crowd.
As Kate slowly came to again she was immediately face to face with Shadow. “Well, did you enjoy that?” smiled Shadow, a mischievous glint in her eye.
“It was wonderful!” replied Kate with enthusiasm. “I never thought I could dance in front of a crowd like that!”
“Well I think you two made a great pair, now why don’t you both come give me a hug?” said Shadow opening her arms as the girls piled into her. Once again Kate found that warmth inside her, her family all together for the holidays. “Well” said Shadow looking at the two girls “You better get out into the party, a lot of people want to congratulate you on such an inspired performance!”
“Well I give all credit to our choreographer” giggled Lauren.
“Yes, despite not suiting a Santa hat she has a way of getting a good performance out of her dancers!” smiled Kate, getting herself straightened out.
“You know some say she uses hypnosis to get those results?” continued Lauren, trying hard to keep a straight face.
“Well those are only rumours and they are totally wrong” smiled Shadow “Now out you two. Go meet your adoring public!” she continued as she pushed the two out into the party. “Oh and remember to plug your summer solstice performance” she shouted after them smiling as she put the nutcracker costumes into her bag.