Carmine stood in front of his mirror, with a powerful, confident, perhaps-too-wide stance. As he looked at his reflection, he contorted his face into a sly grin. Eyebrows inwards, mouth closed, lips curled just enough to be noticeable.
He'd seen variations of that grin many times on many different faces. It would usually be followed by something hypnotically fascinating. Spiralling eyes, a dangling pendulum, a swirling sigil from a mind-control spell, sometimes even a weird little device. More variations on a different theme from there - the theme of placid mindlessness, a comfortable, calming fog descending over him like a nice blanket. Whether his body went slack or stiff, that quiet comfort was always a crucial part of his trance.
It was a wonderful feeling. One of his favourite states of mind, really. It was easy to let himself float in them and just...exist, no cares, no desires, just bliss.
But in those states of sleepy calm, there were the odd errant thoughts arising now and again.
Particularly when he saw the smile or the eye-glimmer of his hypnotist, just before he dropped, and just after he woke.
They're clearly enjoying this...
What would it be like for me to be the one in control?
As amazing as it was to go under all the time...he didn't want to just be a hard sub. Not out of a sense of boredom and fatigue, more of a desire to see what it was like to make someone eat out of the palm of his massive, crimson-fuzzed hand.
Obviously, he didn't have the money for a hypno gadget, or the training to make his eyes go all swirly. He had to start somewhere, and where better to begin than the basics?
``Hey~'' he said to his reflection, trying to mimic a recent encounter with a street hypnotist in a park. ``Can I have a few minutes of your time?''
He felt the little crystal in his clenched paw- an amethyst carved into a teardrop shape and nestled in a little gold plated harness.
``I'm just wondering if you could have a look at something for me, and tell me what you see in it.''
Carmine couldn't remember anything else the hypnotist said after that. But he could probably wing it.
And besides, this was just practicing technique. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to put himself under.
Carmine takes his first step towards becoming a hypnotist.
This was written in return for a donation to a dear friend of mine when she became homeless!
This is just a preview; the full story will go live next month, but if that's simply too long to wait, head over to my Subscribestar to read it, and other stories like it, before everyone else~!
