Maria failed to hold back a bemused giggle. “Seeeee, told you I can’t be hypnotized~” 

 

“Ugggh no, wait, I’ve got this, just…just keep watching the pendulum okay!” Carrie’s cheeks were beet red. Hours and hours of watching tutorials and practicing in front of a mirror, and the first time she tried to trance a friend she could barely get her subject to blink, let alone drop! “This stuff is real, I swear! Just give it another minute. Keep following the pendulum!”

 

“Look sweetie, don’t worry, I believe you, I’m just saying I can’t be hypnotized. That stuff only works on people who let themselves give into it, you know? But sure, we’ll give it another minute,” Maria beamed a kindly smile at her friend before dutifully returning her gaze to the swinging pendulum.

 

Is she making fun of me!?! Oh I’ll show her. Just you watch, soon you’ll be crawling at my feet, BEGGING to be my pathetic little hypnoslave! Just the thought made Carrie all warm and tingly inside, and the excitement only made her more agitated. She started swinging the pendulum harder and faster, desperate to see the slightest hint of trance on Maria’s face, until eventually the pendulum was being roughly swung side to side like a wrecking ball, any rhythm to it completely lost.

 

Maria finally gave up trying to follow the pendulum and shook her head. “No…no, look you’re doing it all wrong.”

 

“What do you know!?!” Carrie snapped, before taking a deep breath and admitting to herself that this wasn’t exactly the kind of calm, soothing environment that would get a subject to drop.

 

“I mean, just what I’ve seen in movies and TV and stuff, but isn’t it supposed to be, like, slow and rhythmic? Making the subject relaaaax, just getting them into that nice, placid state where they don’t have a care in the world except the pendulum. Getting them to follow that nice, even, back and forth~....there you go, now you’re doing it!” 

 

Huh, Carrie hadn’t even noticed, but her pendulum swings were back to their earlier, even cadence. Back and forth, baaack and fooorth…Ha! I’ve got her now!

 

“And now that you’ve got the rhythm going, all you’ve gotta do is keep your subject’s focus on it. ”

 

Carrie blinked. “Y- yeah, duh, of course….I knew that…”

 

“Of course, of course. I’m just reminding you! Reminders are an important part of hypnosis, aren’t they? Like reminding your subject of the pendulum, of its nice, even swings, of the baaack and fooorth…all that stuff! It’s all about, like, establishing that rhythm, right?”

 

Carrie’s head moved up and down in a slow, lazy nod, even as her body swayed from side to side. Maria did make a good point.

 

"So don't forget to keep your focus. There, just like that. Back. Forth. Back. Forth."

 

"Back……forth……."

 

“Now, like I said before, this won’t work on just anyone. You’ve gotta let yourself give into it. Let yourself give in to the baaack and fooorth. Let yourself watch the pendulum. Let yourself follow the nice, even swings.”

 

“Let yourself….give in…”

 

“Mmhmm~ exactly, you’re doing such a good job, sweetie. Such a good job. You've got me right where you want me. Just give it a minute…”

 

Carrie’s chest swelled with pride at those words. She was doing it! She was finally actually hypnotizing someone! She didn’t notice that Maria’s eyes were no longer on the pendulum, but rather on her. She didn’t notice the mischievous grin on her friend’s face, even as Maria slowly stepped closer and closer to her. She didn’t even notice the thin stream of drool starting to sloooowly drip from the corner of her own mouth. 

 

But in Carrie’s defense, it was hard to notice such things while she herself was so intently watching the pendulum swing back and forth. Back and forth. The nice, even swings. Baaaack and foooorth. No other care in the world...

 

*SNAP*