"I don't really get spirals, y'know?" Querying, but confident. It was a simple enough start, two perfectly wholesome hypnokinsters bonding over tropes. "There's nothing really special about them - I mean, a visual focus, sure, but I've never really gotten the appeal."

This was exactly the kind of innocent conversation that Blaer wanted to start with Ash who, predictably, was already starting to bounce in their seat and awash with ideas.

"I know! Right?" Ash was terribly cute when the subject of hypnosis came up. They'd get terribly excited and, even if you didn't listen to everything they said, it was always adorable to watch. And if it happened, however predictably, that Ash's excitement turned to such a deliciously tranceful notion that Blaer ended up well and properly mindfucked - well, that was just a happy accident. It was all Ash's idea and Blaer was nothing but -

"Perfectly wholesome." That was exactly the thought that, right in the middle of a back-and-forth about the unashamed silliness of spirals in hypnosmut, Ash had interrupted with "We should try it."

Wait. What? That couldn't be right. Blaer replayed that last few seconds. Ash had been rattling on eagerly about visual stimuli, but there wasn't anything obvious to try when Ash's words simply ground to a halt, paused for a heartbeat, and became "We should try it."

Blaer managed out a surprised "hnh?" just as they started explaining, gesturing eagerly. Oh hell. Ash was really into it this time. "Spirals. We should try spirals. Like, the way they're imagined to be. Like, 'you can't look away', 'your eyes are drawn in...' - all of it. It does make for lovely smut, after all."

Oh right. The spirals. Somebody had posted a particularly cute animation of a girl messaging away on her phone, opening a link, and her eyes just... glazing as she realised she was staring at a classic black and white spiral in their group chat. Unrealistic, sure, but hot.

Ash's gestures had turned to fetching a phone from their breast pocket and excitedly tapping as they talked. "Like, let's not even make it hypnotic. Just a compulsion." Ash's voice lost just a tiny bit of its playful lilt. Something was about to happen. "I'll show you a spiral and you have to look at it. Unable to look away, falling right in anyway, but wide awake and aware. That way you get to think about it and watch your brain twist itself into the compulsion."

"Like this!" And all the sudden, there was a screen with a tiny little spiral filling it. A strangely compelling black and white number that caught my gaze and - "Fuck."

"I'm definitely not hypnotised." Can't take my eyes off of the spiral. Can't resist the compulsion. Don't even want to resist the compulsion. But definitely not hypnotised.

"I agree. You're definitely not hypnotised. Try to stay that way, will you?" Blaer couldn't glare - glaring would've required looking away - but a dripping, dubious, "mmmhmm" could be managed.

"You're not hypnotised, but you are acting on a suggestion. I want you to notice that. Indulge in it. I've put a spiral there, and you can't look away from it because it's a spiral. It might not be hypnotic, but it still catches you, doesn't it?"

I guess I nodded?

Ash's excitement is palpable. When they're not using that matter-of-fact, calm voice like when I'm hypnotised, it's a-mile-a-minute with eager questions. A puppy with a treat. "Exactly. You're not hypnotised, but you're compelled. How does it fit in your head, the compulsion? Is it like a fact? 'Spirals are compelling.' 'I can't look away.' Or is it more subtle? How does it feel? Take your time, though. I'm really curious."

I'm feel like I'm in my head again. Ash is still babbling adorable and listening to me, but they asked me to daydream about the spiral's effect on me so I'm only half listening. 

Ash is always so sweetly excited. It's so easy to listen when they talk - even if you're not really paying attention. I like how it feels to know that I'm caught in the spiral. I can try to break out, but I know it won't work. It just feels like a fact. You showed me a spiral and I can't look away. I know it's because you told me, but that doesn't make it any less true.

"And if I gave you another suggestion - you know exactly how it'd feel now. You know it'd just slip right into your thoughts. Don't you?"

Wait, had I been saying all of that that out loud?

"You know exactly how it would feel to be suggestible, exactly how each new compulsion will slot into your psyche, and how, if you want to be compelled, you'll fall right into trance for me. Do you want to be compelled, hun?"

Fuck.