Austin wakes up to the buzzing of an engine. He’s strapped in with a seatbelt, and the van is moving gently. As his eyes open more, rubbing the fogginess away with his handpaws, he can more clearly see both in and out of the vehicle. Inside of the car, he sees Luc sitting opposite him, still asleep.
‘Luc…,’ the wolf boy whispers.
No response.
‘Luc!’ he repeats, louder this time.
‘Ngh…,’ the fennec quietly whimpers. His eyebrows furrow as he seems to slowly regain his consciousness. ‘Wh… where are we…?’
Austin peers outside of the windows of the van. They’re way outside of the city by now, the wolf boy can easily make out the city skyline illuminated by the many lanterns in the distance. The van is traveling down a mountain road headed further out of the city, in the direction of a slightly more wooded part of the province.
‘I think we’re headed down west by car,’ Austin replies.
‘Hm,’ Luc mumbles as his handpaw travels to his neck. His fingerclaws travel through his scruffy blonde fur underneath his comfy shirt. ‘Where’d you get that collar, Aus?’
Without saying a single word, Austin’s handpaws fly to his own neck. To the surprise of the wolf, his pointer fingerclaw hooks underneath a leather collar. He tugs at it, feeling the resistance of the leather as it gently digs into the back of his neck. As he puts more power into it, a pink glow fills the van, emanating from a purple gem embedded in the front of his collar.
‘Nngh…,’ Austin quietly moans as his eyes go glassy for a second. His arm goes limp by his side again as he slumps forwards.
‘Don’t bother trying to remove it,’ a third voice says from a seat deeper down the van. Luc looks in the direction of the voice, and his eyes meet that of a deer boy. His hazel-brown fur is complemented with pink dots, and equally pink hair rolling down between his antlers. He, too, is wearing a collar, almost hidden underneath his comfy-looking brown hoodie. ‘I tried taking mine off before as well. Same thing happened.’
‘You passed out?’ Luc asks, throwing a worried look at Austin.
‘No, no. They just put you into a trance for a bit. This shouldn’t be news to you at this point, it’s happened, what, three times already?’ the deer boy responds.
Luc looks back in the direction of the deer, but his thoughts are elsewhere. His mind travels back to the parking lot where the synth had approached him, and his thoughts grow slightly hazy as he remembers the spiraling visor getting closer and closer to his face.
‘I guess so…’ Luc responds, snapping out of the memory. ‘So, why don’t I have a collar like you two?’
The deer boy shrugs.
‘Dunno. She doesn’t have one either,’ he replies as he points at someone seated next to him.
From over the headrest of the chair, two long pink ears appear, one with a yellow line, the other with a magenta line, followed by the snout of a bunny. Her eyes, one green and one blue, instantly laser in on the fennec boy.
‘Hi! I’m guessing you’re Luc, based on what the wolf boy called you?’ she says.
‘Y-yeah. And this here is Austin. Nice to meet you, miss…?’ the fennec responds, awaiting her introduction.
‘Miss Dozzybun. Pleasure is all mine! And this here is Robin,’ she replies as she pats the deer boy with one of her long ears.
‘Hiya. Nice to meet you two,’ Robin says prompted by the ear tap.
Right on time, Austin groans again, sits back upright and wiggles his head as he fully returns to conscious awareness.
‘H-hello Miss Dozzybun, Robin. I’m Austin,’ the wolf says, still lightly dazed.
The two strangers on the seats in front of them both nod in acknowledgement.
‘So, Luc,’ Dozzybun excitedly asks, focusing on the fennec boy once more. ‘I’m guessing you filled in you’re a dom on the form?’
As she finishes her question, memories of filling out an application for the exchange program come flooding back, both for Austin and Luc simultaneously. The fennec blushes as flashes of the photos he sent come back to him.
‘Ah, no, switch actually,’ the fennec responds.
‘Interesting… I see,’ the bunny responds with a mildly mischievous smile. ‘I think the collars are reserved for the subs then,’ she says.
‘At least it suits you, Austin,’ Robin says.
The wolf blushes deeply, burying his snout underneath his shirt.
As the conversation comes to a natural pause, the vehicle comes to a stop. Luc looks out of the window, noticing that the van has stopped in front of a large fence in the middle of a forest park. After a few seconds of standing in place, the fence opens up and the vehicle continues its path on a gravel path, approaching a massive villa.
‘Look! It’s the building of the pamphlet,’ Luc says as he points out of the window.
Right as he points, looking at Austin, he notices that both his and Robin’s collar gem light up again, combined with a near imperceptible buzz. Austin’s eyes roll back up into his skull and the wolf boy slumps over again in his seat.
‘Ah-,’ Robin manages to say before also submitting to the trance induced by his collar. The deer boy relaxes in his chair, his arms falling by his side as Miss Dozzybun watches the deer boy sink into trance with a smile.
‘Looks like we’ve arrived, Luc,’ she says.
Then, the back doors of the van slide open, revealing three figures, obscured by the darkness of the night.
Happy Hypnovember everybody! For 2026, I am writing a sequel to my story Exhibition Match, featuring the athletic Austin, theater kid Luc, and many many many cameos with my fans, friends and followers! --- Austin awakens in the back of the van, which is taking him and Luc far outside of the city. In the van, he meets two new faces who seem to be joining the exchange program too. --- Featuring cameos from Mrs. Dozzybun and Robin!
![Akko's Hypnovember 2026 Day 6 - Acceptance [A/L]](https://sf.ib.metapix.net/thumbnails/medium/6222/6222765_Akkobold_chapter_6_-_acceptance_a_l_.jpg "Akko's Hypnovember 2026 Day 6 - Acceptance [A/L]")
