"you stayed up too late, didn't you?" adrianus cooed, stroking shark's back. "and you were anxious... and you didn't eat enough today... you must be exhausted."

"yeah," shark mumbled. "i mean, i am kinda tired... i've been slipping a little..."

"that's just fine... it happens, sometimes. you just need to relax, don't you?"

"i feel like if you start doing any hypnosis stuff, i'm just gonna fall asleep..."

"there's nothing wrong with that," he said softly. "you just want to relax, don't you? to relax completely... to not have to think about anything..."

"i'm really gonna... like... actually become empty, if you keep saying that stuff..."

"well, that's a nice opportunity, isn't it? you can remember that nice feeling of becoming empty... and you can feel it at any time... can't you?"

the idea of him kind of taking advantage of it was fun, but in their exhaustion, they barely reacted.

"you poor thing," he cooed, a little condescendingly. "just let me take care of you, alright? you don't need to think about anything... you can truly become blank... completely blank... completely empty... unable to think about anything. that's what you need right now... that's what's good for you right now..."

they melted in his arms, more than they'd ever melted before. they were going to drift off like that. as much as they wanted to stay awake, to be aware of everything, to focus on how nice it felt, they were already slipping away.

"that's it... there you go... just sleep... sleep deeply... that's what you need right now..."

it was true. it was genuinely true.