"hey, jim. come over here," time called.

he already knew what they were going to do. this was exactly the kind of casual, friendly gathering they had been waiting for.

his heartbeat was fast as he approached them. even if he had indulged them, session after session, more times than he could count, at this point... he wasn't sure exactly how he would react in front of other people, in front of his friends.

"what is it?" he asked with annoyance, as if he didn't already know.

"just telling everyone about my little party trick."

they knew that wording would piss him off. "so it's your trick, is it?"

their face was smug as they turned to face him. "you really want more credit?" they murmured. "i can give you credit."

he realized what they meant a second too late, his face flushing as they turned back to his friends.

"he's a good subject," they said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. "it might not be fair to say it's all me."

"well, it's--" he had no idea what to say. "i mean, you- a lot of it is you, it's just..."

"it's really more like jim's trick. he's the one who's been trained."

embarrassment flooded through his entire being. "okay, it's- that's not- just because i let you hypnotize me sometimes, that doesn't mean-"

snap.

"sleep," they whispered into his ear.

their body shifted, in a quick, smooth motion, their other arm reaching in front of his body to catch him as he slumped forward.

he could hear his friends gasp.

"good," time murmured. "that's right. back on your feet. still nice and deep for me." they guided him upright. "see? he can fall into trance just like that. it took a lot of practice for him to do it that quickly and automatically. but now it's so automatic, he can't even try to fight it."

they gently rubbed the back of his neck as they spoke, sending tingles down his spine.

"that's crazy," he heard someone say. "i thought you were just fucking with us."

"if it was anyone but jim, i wouldn't believe you."

"that's exactly why i wanted to use jim for this," time replied. "you know he's not just acting."

to use him for this. they were talking about him like he was an object.

they were still stroking the back of his neck, a continuous signal to go deeper, to feel weaker. even now, as he considered the idea of resisting, it felt almost like a kind of drug running through him, numbing his thoughts, his body, his will. it felt more real than it really should have, considering it was something he didn't really believe in. these were all the kinds of exaggerated, dramatic ideas of control that time had suggested to him, just because they could. ideas that even they didn't believe in. this was all an act, a game, and a joke.

but he felt it. it was happening.

"that's not all he can do," they said. "he'll do anything i say now."

it wasn't true. he didn't like the idea of presenting hypnosis that way.

still, the words felt good in his head. his body pulsed with an unmistakeable feeling of arousal. he wanted to do anything they said. to be such a perfect subject that it looked exactly like mind control.

"so he really can't resist?"

"he can't. he won't even be able to resist if i wake him up again and bring him down slowly. here, i'll show you."

snap.

"wake."

the embarrassment came back. with his eyes open, he could see how intently everyone was watching him.

"you really can't resist?" shark asked him.

"i-" there wasn't a good answer to that question. "i mean, i could. i can, but-"

their hand was on the back of his neck again. they weren't rubbing it, but he could feel the pressure.

"but it just feels so good to listen, doesn't it, jim?" they spoke a bit more slowly, almost seductively.

he shuddered. he couldn't help it. he was sure everyone could see.

"doesn't it?" they repeated.

they wanted an answer. "it does," he said, before he could think about it.

his face must have been bright red. "it's- it's just- i'm just used to it," he said quickly. "it isn't that i actually can't resist, it's just..."

"that's enough," they said. "you can just listen now."

his mouth shut.

"see? does it look like he can resist?"

he really didn't feel as if he could say anything.

"just look at him. you'll see how it just happens." their voice softened again, their finger just barely rubbing against the back of his neck. "he just sinks... his eyes start to glaze over... his shoulders sink... he can't fight it. i don't even have to tell him directly... my voice is just pulling him down... bit by bit... until his eyelids get heavy... so heavy... look, he's still trying to keep them open, but you can tell how heavy they are. you can tell how sleepy he is... so sleepy... so sleepy."

his eyes closed, a sigh almost escaping his lips.

they pet his hair. "good. very good. that's right. you're such a good subject, aren't you?"

it must have looked creepy to his friends, but it felt unbelievably good.

"he'll do anything." they grabbed one of his hands, running their fingers along his. "just let me pose you."

he allowed them to move his arms and push on his fingers, remaining motionless with his hands up in peace signs.

"hold on, can i take a picture of this?"

"go ahead. he won't stop you."

he still didn't move. he couldn't even bring himself to feel particularly self conscious about it.

"can you make him do the like, heart? like this?"

"yeah, sure." they touched his hands again, manually moving and bending his fingers, and pushing his hands closer together.

he was being played with.

"good," they murmured near his ear. "you're doing good. you can't resist."

he wanted to do this forever.

"you can just let go now. you don't have to hold your arms up anymore."

they fell to his sides.

"there's some more impressive stuff i can do with him, too." they pulled his wrists behind his back. "see, if i just motion like i'm tying his hands together..."

he felt it.

"that's right... i'm tying them together... just tight enough that you can't pull them apart... feel the rope against your skin... feel that little bit of pressure..."

it didn't quite feel like actual rope, but he could feel it.

"that's right. now, i'll turn him around so you can see." he was facing away from his friends now. "try to pull them apart."

he didn't try particularly hard, a small, distant part of him worried about ruining it.

"they won't come apart. come on."

he pulled a bit more, but they didn't separate.

"he'll try a little harder if i wake him up." they moved back to his ear. "it'll only feel more real when you're awake. it'll feel tighter the more you pull on it. you really won't be able to pull them apart."

snap.

"wake."

he felt self conscious about having his back to the crowd. he turned his head to look at them, although seeing everyone only made it worse.

"come on, jim. pull your wrists apart. you can see there's nothing actually tying them together."

he hesitated to even try, even as they goaded him to.

"you don't feel silly keeping your hands together like that? you said you can resist, right?"

reluctantly, he pulled.

he could already feel it tighten.

he pulled again in disbelief, a bit harder, finding that it was difficult to move his hands at all.

he pulled more, trying to change the position of his hands, as if he could break or wiggle out of it if he just moved the right way - but he was just struggling against imaginary rope. there was nothing there.

a couple of people laughed.

"he really can't do it," time said. "you can tell he's really trying now."

"i'm not- i could try harder," he said.

he figured he had nothing to lose - he tried, he really tried, putting in an amount of effort that he was sure would break the illusion.

but his wrists still didn't separate. they hardly budged at all.

his eyes widened, his mind going blank for a moment, his heart pounding.

"come on. try your hardest."

he did. he didn't feel as if he was holding back. he was trying. it just wasn't happening.

"is that it?" they asked. "you can't do it?"

"i... i really can't," he mumbled.

"he said it himself."

"i actually can't," he repeated. it was embarrassing to admit, but he was too mystified by it to even think much about that.

"you can stop trying," they said. "you'll just have to wait for me to untie you."

he felt helpless, even while he was awake. he had never tried so hard to resist and still failed. had he really been that well conditioned? how was that even possible?

and people were watching him.

not to mention that the thing being demonstrated was hypnotic bondage. it was hard not to think about the implications, the things someone could presumably do to him using this.

snap.

"sleep."

he sank deeply, finding the relaxation sort of merciful.

"let me just pull this apart..." they mimed untying him. "there. you're free now."

his wrists came apart with ease, and his arms were at his sides again. they turned him back around.

"good. very good." he still couldn't help but melt at their praise. "but there's still something even better than all of that."

it was directed at his friends, but he could feel his own anticipation.

"i can take his memories."

he was already at the point where the phrasing didn't bother him, where he could almost believe that they were capable of taking his memories, rather than just directing him to forget using a process they taught him.

"i can make him forget all the stuff i just did with him."

he wondered if that was really true.

they leaned close to his ear again, stroking his neck with their finger. "it's alright to forget. it's natural to forget."

his body tingled.

"i'm pulling those memories away... pulling them away from you... you can just let them go. you can let me take them. normally, you keep such a tight grip on them... the way you'd hold onto something with your hand... that's right... making a fist... hold it up..."

he did so almost automatically.

"you keep such a tight grip on them... too tight... too tense... it's tiring... you just want to relax. you need to relax." they held his hand in their own. "it's tiring, holding onto those memories... clenching down like that..." their thumb rubbed his closed fingers. "just let them go... let me take them... relax..."

his grip loosened a bit, and they began to gently pry his fingers open, bit by bit, as they continued cooing at him.

"that's good... that's right... and as you let go... as you loosen your grip... you're letting go of those memories... of everything that happened since i called you over here during this gathering... letting go... giving them to me... letting me take them... all of them..."

he couldn't stop them from opening his hand. everything was slipping away from him, becoming quiet, blank, distant.

"and as you give me those memories... you become empty... empty like your hand... ready to accept what i give you. i'll tell you exactly what to think. i'll fill in the blanks for you. i'll give you something else to hold onto when you wake up. you'll like it. it will feel right."

he felt completely open.

"that's right. when you wake up, and you feel a little tired, blinking your eyes, you'll realize that you were just resting them a bit. your eyes just felt tired. we were having a conversation here, and you zoned out for a minute. you weren't really paying attention. but that's alright. just let me put this in your hand... and slowly close it... accept it... hold onto it. and once your hand is closed, you'll be ready to wake up."

his fingers curled, in a strange, jerky and inconsistent sort of motion, until his hand was closed.

snap.

"wake."

jim rubbed his eyes. he wondered if he was getting a migraine, or if he didn't sleep well enough the night before. sometimes gatherings like this were tiring, anyway. he hadn't been paying attention to whatever his friends had been talking about, although there seemed to be a lull in the conversation, because they were quiet now.

they were all looking at him. maybe they were concerned, or they noticed he wasn't talking.

"sorry, i just... i'm just kind of tired. what were we talking about?"

"you're kidding me," shark said.

"i just kind of zoned out. i wasn't trying to ignore you."

no one said anything.

"did i miss something important? or... i really am fine, i'm just kind of tired. if you could just tell me what you were..."

"we were just talking about hypnosis," time said. "so it's kind of funny that you zoned out like that."

"it wasn't because of that. i really wasn't paying attention."

"no, i believe you," they said. "you wouldn't just slip like that when we're casually talking about it. you're supposed to save that for the demonstration."

his heart pounded. "we're not really going to do that, are we?"

"well, how about this," they said. "i'll use some really simple hypnotic language, and if you start to fall into trance, that means you're ready for it. if you don't want to do it, you can just resist. i won't even tell you to sleep or give you any kind of direct commands."

he felt strangely susceptible already. he didn't think he was in a state of mind where he could resist.

still, he didn't really want to say that in front of everyone. "alright," he said quietly.

"good," they said, getting closer to him. "i know you're extra suggestible right now, jim," they whispered.

he shivered and twitched almost immediately.

"that's not- you said you'd just-"

"just relax. it's alright. just relax..."

he responded more quickly than he expected.

"yeah, there you go... see? you're not even that nervous about being watched, are you? you don't mind if everyone sees you get hypnotized."

he supposed he was a little less nervous than he would have expected to be.

he felt strange in general.

"you want to be a good subject for everyone. it feels good. it feels natural."

now that they mentioned it, it did feel natural. maybe it was because of all of the training they had done with him.

"they love to see it. look. we haven't even done anything yet, and they're already impressed with you."

a chill ran down his spine. his friends were looking at him as if something had already happened. they weren't reacting the way they should have.

"you can just relax. you don't have to think about it." another whisper. "you don't have to think about the fact that something feels wrong about this."

shudder.

"what am i missing?" he asked.

"you're not missing anything," they murmured.

it felt a bit unsettling to relax so quickly at their words, when he knew they were lying and keeping something from him.

"that's right... you're slipping into trance again... so easily..."

"i'm not..." he could barely think, let alone speak. "what is..."

"shh," they whispered. "keep your eyes open, just enough to see. you're in a trance, but your eyes are open."

he wasn't sure what the point was, but he obeyed.

"shark, show him the picture."

he wondered why they were involved in this.

they tapped something on their phone, then turned it toward jim, putting it in front of his face.

a picture of himself, in their camera roll, from that same day, being posed while in a trance.

he didn't remember it, but he immediately understood what it meant.

"that's right," time said quietly to him. "you've already been such a good subject. you don't even know what they've already seen, or how long we've been doing this for, do you?"

he didn't.

"well, you don't really need to know." they stroked the back of his neck. "do you?"

"i- i want to know," he mumbled.

"maybe i'll give your memories back to you later," they said. "see? he really can't resist. he wants to know, but he still doesn't."

he knew they would give it back later, but in that moment, he was helpless.

"tell everyone how you can't resist, jim."

"i can't resist..." it slipped out more naturally than he expected.

"you can tell he means it."