[A/V Summary: The audio recording of the script sharing the same name, including visual components. A hypnotic induction formed around a discussion about the function of cages and elements of their construction.] - A/V posted 08/30/2020

Suffice it to say, I've finished the audio recording for Comfortable Cages. Patrons received access to it a few days earlier, as per usual.

But I won't delay any longer. Here you go.

Comfortable Cages - Vocals Only

Comfortable Cages - with Background Binaural

Comfortable Cages - with Binaural and Visual

As always, enjoy.

-C

[Summary: A hypnotic induction formed around a discussion about the function of cages and elements of their construction.]

What makes a cage?

Don't worry, we'll not dwell on the philosophical too much. I'm interested in functionality, here; a cage needs to be able to confine. But while confinement is necessary to work as a cage, it's not quite sufficient - restraints can confine, but we know a rope is not the same. Let's add that whatever thing we're evaluating should confine via containment...that is, you're perfectly able to move around within the bounds of the cage, but helpless to leave it at will.

That's simple enough for the intent. A "good" cage, then, is one that is inescapable: unyielding metal bars, a perfectly sealed box, or a deviously designed dungeon. After all, if we're going to construct a cage, it should be a good one.

That dungeon idea deserves some exploration, a bit of delving down deeper, if you will. It's easy to get stuck on the idea of a cage as something small and very restrictive, but it doesn't need to be. The purpose is to keep you trapped. Anything that can serve that purpose will do, and it's not especially important how much room there is inside as long as you can't get out.

Which is, funnily enough, a bit like asking you not to think about a pink elephant. When you're put into a cage, and you realize it, the normal response is to immediately try to escape: test the bars, search for cracks in the wall, even formulate a plan. That's counterproductive.

A perfect cage, then, wouldn't elicit that reaction...so how do we accomplish this? There are a few methods.
On the stealthier side of things, the cage can be cleverly disguised; you're unlikely to attempt to find an exit if you never realize you're trapped.
But maybe it's important to let you discover your predicament. In that case, it certainly helps to make the cage comfortable.

That is, of course, provided your desire to escape isn't already compromised.

Let's consider comfort. Dungeons don't deserve the dreary undertones, ideas like cold, dark, damp. There's no reason your captivity can't be adorned with pillows and warm lighting, no point depriving a guest of the pleasures of silks and soft padding in the restraints. If, of course, those furnishings appeal to you.

Which leads us, conveniently, into the next concept - a cage should be a customized creation, whether altered (from the basic functionality we arrived upon earlier) to suit the desires of the detainee or, more likely, to serve the additional purposes and preferences of the keeper. One size does not fit all. Maybe the sensation of cold metal chains is something you find appealing, in which case the added "comforts" could compromise your enjoyment of containment.

But can your cage be adaptable? Can it respond to your inner desires? Certainly not a physical one. There, we'll have to find a happy medium between my preferences and yours. I could cater to the notions that are appealing to my most common captives, or decide that my decisions about the appropriate sort of aesthetic approach will be the dominant ones. Either way, concessions must be made.

If the goal is to construct the perfect cage, perhaps we'll need to ponder another. What about a mental cage?

How would that confine you? In precisely the same manner as the physical one, naturally - your thoughts are free to roam around within its confines, but your mind can go no further than its boundary. This allows your cage to adapt to suit both your predispositions and my plans; after all, it's inside your head.

There are clearly some merits to this notion. Construction is also somewhat simpler, interestingly enough. I could build the bars with my words and ideas while you are preoccupied, perhaps sidetracked by a discussion about cages. By the time you've noticed the structure forming, your fate is likely to be inevitable.

It's easy, after all, not to perceive the limits of your mental prison until they begin to slowly, inexorably, draw closed. Your mind was able to move freely enough, wasn't it? But while mental "space" doesn't behave like the physical form, the restriction of it is no less effective...as you are currently discovering.

My words have been building a box inside your brain, and only now has your mind begun to bounce off its boundaries. Go ahead, push against the walls a bit, if you like. I did say, however, that we'd build a good cage - you know, an inescapable one - but it's also as comfortable as you need it to be. Adaptability is key. Does that equate to silk or satin slipping subtly across your skin before restraining you in a bed covered in plush pillows? Or do you prefer the rigidity of metal bars, ensuring your thoughts are thoroughly trapped?

That's up to you, but it's only fair I inform you that this cage is nearly complete. It may not feel like you were expecting, if you were expecting it, and that's part of the beauty of these modular and flexible forms of containment. But you'll want some manner of demonstration, I expect, and that's perfectly reasonable.

Let's go with simple, for now; there's a phrase floating around your head. Since it's outside the confines of your cage, this phrase echoes. It feels emphasized, as if the words are in bold, underlined italics. It will repeat, on a loop; maybe you'll chant it softly, maybe you'll let it echo purely inside your head...that's not important. The phrase? You are comfortably caged.

"I am comfortably caged." Go on.

It's stuck. You might as well say it to yourself for awhile.

But we'll take things a step further. The next time you touch yourself, that phrase will get stuck in your head again. You'll once more feel the enclosure forming around your thoughts and shrinking. You can try it now, if the talk about being confined has aroused you, or later...the result is, like your cage, inescapable.

I do encourage you to try, if you enjoy the helpless feeling washing over you when you, inevitably, fail. That can be very enjoyable, as I understand it.

Either way, take a few deep breaths, and I'll open the cage for you.

Up you go.

-C