Lifestyle Journalism Ch. 01

"Yes," Amara replied at once. "Frequently, in fact."

Emma licked her lips, and clapped her hands. "Alright! Let's go again."

Amara laughed. "You're ready?"

"I want my next question."

Amara gestured for her to get started, so Emma once again put her legs apart and started performing squats. This time, she made sure to breathe just like Amara had taught her. It helped. Once she'd finished her ten squats, she wasn't nearly as out of breath, and she was finding it easier to sink into the rhythm of the exercise, letting her body perform the increasingly-familiar motions without her head getting in the way.

"That's ten!" Emma exclaimed, as she finished the set.

"Nice!" Amara looked truly pleased. "You're doing great, Emma."

"Yeah." Emma laughed. "By the time I get out of her, I'm gonna be in way better shape."

"That's the idea." Amara winked. "Another question?"

"Uh-huh." Emma already knew what she wanted to ask. "What do you think about hypnosis, Amara? More specifically, what do you think about people who get hypnotized?"

She'd done a little digging. Amara was very discreet about who exactly she worked for. Perhaps a little too discreet. Emma wanted to understand exactly where she stood.

Amara smiled. "Emma, I'm a personal trainer. I specialize in telling people what to do. In my experience, a lot of people greatly benefit from that. Only, sometimes, those people don't realize what they need. Hypnosis can be one way of getting people on the right path, if they can't find it on their own."

"The weak-willed?" Emma commented. "I see."

"I wouldn't phrase it quite like that," Amara replied. "But some people are leaders, and other people are followers, yes. Mind control is society's way of figuring out who's who."

Emma frowned. It wasn't an uncommon perspective, and didn't reveal a whole lot. Amara seemed to think of mind control as 'fair game', the same as most people. Emma didn't mind that too much, although she wished people weren't so nonchalant about potential abuses of power.

"OK," Emma said. "Time for another set."

She began her next set of ten squats. Her body was protesting louder with each repetition, but it was getting easier and easier to push herself. The breathing technique Amara had shown Emma was working wonders. She just had to focus on her breathing, and on counting to ten. That was all. One, two, three. In, and out. In, and out.

"Nice going!" Amara commented when Emma was finished. She handed the journalist a sports bottle of nice cold water, and Emma drank from it gratefully.

"Next question," Emma said quickly, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "Do you know of any instances of people like you - personal trainers, I mean - using hypnosis as part of their work?"

"Yes."

As soon as she heard that, Emma grit her teeth and was ready to begin another set. If this was a game, she was determined to win. She needed answers. Almost effortlessly, Emma slipped back into the same rhythm as before. One, two, three, four. In, and out. In, and out.

"OK," Emma panted, after her next ten squats were complete. "Have... have you ever used hypnosis like that?"

Amara tilted her head, looking at Emma intently. "Yes."

A shiver ran down Emma's spine. "How?"

To her immense frustration, Amara just smirked at her and lifted a single finger. "That's another question, Emma."

"Damn it," Emma grumbled under her breath. "Fine."

She immediately went to perform another set, but as she assumed the starting position, she became conscious of the way her body was starting to hit its limits. Amara noticed too, and swiftly stepped forward to stop her with a hand on her chest.

"Wait," the personal trainer said, frowning. "You're going too fast, and you're gonna hurt yourself. Take it easy. Slower. Find your rhythm."

Emma was impatient, but she knew good advice when she heard it. She nodded, and then blinked in surprise when she felt Amara's other hand reach around to rest on her shoulder. Amara started applying gentle pressure, guiding the pace of her squats and her breaths.

"Here," Amara encouraged. "Like this. One."

Emma let Amara take over. She was the expert, after all. With Amara setting the pace, it was even easier to shut her brain off and focus on exercise.

"Two," Amara counted.

As she indicated for Emma to sink down into the squat, she applied a light pressure to her chest, letting her know to exhale.

"Three."

Amara's pace was slower than before. Much slower. Exercising slowly like this was strange. Emma was discovering the oceans of time at the top and bottom of each rep, when all she had to do was hold, breathe, and wait. She wasn't sure if it was easier or harder.

"Four."

With Amara taking control, though, it was certainly easier not to think. Thinking was the enemy, Emma was quickly discovering. If she stopped thinking, it was easier to simply do.

"Five."

Listening to Amara was much simpler than thinking. When she was thinking about the exercises, she had to push herself past the aching and exhaustion. But if she listened to Amara, she just had to breathe when she was told and let her body take care of the rest.

"Six."

A smile flickered across Emma's face. What was going on in her head? Thinking about not thinking? That was a little like how hypnotists loved to talk.

"Focus, Emma," Amara warned. "You need to concentrate. Don't lose your breathing."

"R-right," Emma said apologetically. She hadn't realized how much her mind had been wandering. "Um. Sorry."

Amara just nodded. "Seven."

This time, Emma made sure to stay focused. She let her mind sink into her own body, until all she was thinking about was her form. Her movements. Her breathing. She became one with the strain that was flooding her body.

"Eight."

Those numbers were starting to lose all meaning. Emma felt as though she might have been doing squats forever. And she might have gone on doing them forever more, without Amara there to stop her.

"Nine."

As she heard Amara count that number, Emma felt herself on the cusp of something. Something big. But she didn't know what. She just knew she had to keep going. Keep focusing. Just a little more. She could do it, with Amara there to guide her.

"Ten!"

After that, there was nothing. Amara stopped moving her. She was left completely still, simply waiting for what was coming next.

"Emma," Amara prompted. "You're done."

Emma twitched, like she was just waking up. She certainly didn't feel particularly awake, though. "O-oh! Right."

She looked around. Amara was standing there, very close to her, with a strange smile on her face. "Feeling OK?" the personal trainer asked.

"Yeah." Emma giggled self-consciously. "I think all this exercise is really taking it out of me."

"That's only natural," Amara replied, nodding.

Somehow, Emma felt like she was both awake and asleep at the same time. That last set of squats had felt special. Meditative, maybe. She could remember feeling, just moments ago, a sense of perfect clarity, but now her brain was sinking into fog. Her body and mind both felt so heavy.

"You had a question?" Amara prompted again.

"R-right." Emma blinked. She'd almost forgotten what she was even here for. How was that even possible? "I... uh..."

She couldn't remember.

"Something about hypnosis?"

"O-oh yeah." Emma's cheeks turned pink. This was so unprofessional of her. "So, um... hypnosis and exercise. How, uh, does that work?"

Amara's strange smile widened. "Well, ultimately exercise is all mental. It's all about willpower. Discipline. Motivation. Some people struggle with that. They might find it easier if someone else takes over."

"You just hypnotize someone and then make them work out?"

"That's right." Amara nodded. "You can see the appeal, right? I get the sense you know just how hard it can be to make yourself get to the gym every week. What if all it took was for someone else to snap their fingers?"

"Willpower..." Emma glanced at Amara's prominent bicep muscles. "You don't seem to struggle with that."

Amara grinned. "I guess not. Maybe that's why I'm such a good hypnotist, Emma. If it comes down to a contest of wills, I know I'll never lose. Not everyone can say the same."

Emma shivered. "Wow. That's..."

It felt like a red flag, although she was struggling to figure out why. She felt so, so tired.

"Wanna give it a try?" Amara offered.

Emma shook her head slowly. "Uh... no thanks. I'd rather stay in control of my own head."

Amara shrugged, her grin widening. "Suit yourself. Any more questions?"

Somehow, that left Emma dumbfounded. Of course she had more questions. But she was struggling to call any of them to mind. She felt like she'd had the perfect thread of questioning right there on the tip of her tongue, and now it had completely unraveled."

"I... I..." Emma struggled. "Uh... yeah."

"Well, you know what that means," Amara replied.

Emma nodded. More squats.

Again, when Emma prepared herself for the next set, Amara stepped up to guide her. Already, it felt perfectly natural to have the personal trainer's hands on her body, showing her how and when to move.

"Even slower this time," Amara warned. "This is your last set. Time to warm down."

Emma didn't question her. She just nodded.

"You count this time," Amara added. "But count down. From ten."

Emma nodded. "Ten," she counted.

As before, Amara set her pace. Amara showed her when to breathe. Once again, Emma slipped into that thoughtless, almost robotic state, simply going through the motions she knew she was supposed to.

"Nine."

"I can tell you're slowing down," Amara told her quietly. "You're getting tired."

Emma's ears pricked up, but she was too focused on her squats to answer, or to even really comprehend what Amara was telling. The personal trainer's words simply passed, unfiltered, into her empty, open, receptive mind.

"Eight."

"It's why you can't think," Amara continued. "You've used up all your energy, Emma. None left for thinking."

"Seven."

"But you're still working. Still using yourself up. You can feel your thoughts slowing down with each rep."

"Six."

"Meanwhile, your body is filling up with endorphins. It's overwhelming your nervous system. Making you feel dizzy and light-headed."

"Five." Emma could feel it. It was just as Amara described.

"But you're still going. Still exercising. You can't stop. Not until you've finished your set. Even though it's making it harder and harder to think with each rep."

"Four."

"It's making you dumber and dumber with each set."

"Three."

"You know, when most people finish a hard workout," Amara whispered, "they just drop. They go limp. Mind and body, all at once."

"Two."

"That's what happens when you push yourself to your limit, Emma. Just like you're doing now."

"One." With what little mind Emma had left, she expected to stop there - but Amara didn't release her.

"One more, Emma," Amara urged. "One more, and then you can drop."

Emma was just a puppet in her arms. She couldn't refuse. Deaf to her own body's protests, Emma obediently completed another squat.

"Z... zero?"

"That's right." Amara was grinning like a wolf. "Now drop."

Only some basic, fundamental instinct kept Emma upright. But her head fell against her chest and her arms slumped limply at her sides. It was just as Amara had promised. Most of all, her mind was completely and totally empty.

"Listen to me, Emma," Amara said. Her grin faded; she was all business. "You're hypnotized right now. Do you understand that?"

Emma just nodded. She had no other reaction.

"Good," Amara continued. "But you won't remember that. You'll just remember being tired after your workout. Too tired to finish our interview. Understand?"

Emma nodded again, eyes blank.

"But you'll remember enjoying the exercise," Amara went on. "And you'll remember that you agreed to come back for another session to finish asking me your questions."

Emma's open mind absorbed that information without question.

"And you'll remember something else," Amara added. "Not consciously. But in your subconscious, where it truly matters, you're going to remember this one thing very, very clearly: working out makes it hard to think. Working out makes you dumber."

Emma shivered, but nodded.

"Say it."

"Working out makes it hard to think," Emma intoned. Her voice was empty of emotion. "Working out makes me dumber."

"That's right," Amara affirmed. "Working out makes you dumber. The more you work out, the dumber you get."

"The more I work out, the dumber I get," Emma echoed.

"But," Amara said firmly. "Working out feels good. Working out makes you dumber, but it feels good."

"Working out makes me dumber, but it feels good." Emma shivered.

"And that means getting dumber feels good."

Even that didn't register to the hypnotized Emma as dangerous. She simply let that thought become part of her. "Getting dumber feels good."

"Getting dumber feels good, and working out feels good," Amara insisted. "It feels good here."

She reached around Emma and started slowly, gently, rubbing a few of her fingertips against the front of Emma's pink leggings. Against her pussy. Emma shivered and gasped, but didn't wake.

"Working out feels good here," Amara told her. "Getting dumber feels good here. Doesn't it?"

"Y-yes," Emma whimpered.

"Working out turns you on. Getting dumber turns you on."

"Working out turns me on," Emma chanted, her emotionless trance-voice now slightly soiled with pleasure. "Getting dumber turns me on."

Her body was on edge after all that exercise, and responded eagerly to Amara's touch. Within moments, she was distinctly wet.

"And hypnosis - that makes you dumber too." A slight, crooked smile returned to Amara's face. She was a professional, but she enjoyed her work. "Which means hypnosis turns you on."

"H-hypnosis turns me on," Emma echoed breathily.

"You want to be hypnotized."

"I... I..." That suggestion finally prompted a moment of resistance - but only a moment. Amara's skillful fingertips soon massaged it away. "I... want to be hypnotized."

"Good." Abruptly, Amara lifted her fingers away. "Then I think we're done here - for now."

Amara stood in front of Emma, raised a hand, and snapped her fingers to bring the hypnotized journalist back to wakefulness. Emma blinked a few times, then looked at Amara and blushed - embarrassed by the way her mind seemed to have wandered.

And, of course, by the sudden wetness between her legs.

***

A few minutes later, Amara said goodbye to Emma and closed the door to her apartment after her. Emma had apologized profusely for the way their interview had gone off the rails, and had eagerly agreed to a follow-up in just a couple of days.

If the poor journalist had been thinking straight, she might have noticed that she was feeling a little too eager.

But she wasn't, of course. And this was just the beginning. Emma's transformation had barely begun.

Amara was looking forward to taking her deeper. She was a great personal trainer and an even better hypnotist, but it wasn't just aptitude that had led her down this career path. She loved getting into someone's head and making them hers.

Emma wasn't going to be hers, of course. Not in the end. This was client work, and Amara had to make sure her client got exactly what they wanted.

She picked up her phone and fired off a quick text message to her employer.

'First session - total success'