Loading Screen

Note from the author: This is not how you convince someone to let you hypnotise them. This is a fantasy. Please never do sneaky hypnosis in real life.

Matt sat down on the couch as I turned on the TV with the remote. He looked at me with his pretty boy blue eyes and asked: "So how did you like playing D&D with us the other night?"

I smiled and moved over to the shelves next to the TV to turn on more electronics, as I said: "It was kinda fun, you were right."

As he started to recall and recount funny anecdotes about that night's D&D game, I turned on the Playstation and quickly clicked my way through the menu to make it play the blueray disc I had put in there earlier. Then, I interrupted his story by reminding him: "So you said that if I tried D&D with you, you'd come and try this indie videogame that I have here." The big screen came to life, showing an intricately undulating and spinning blue spiral.

He nodded and perked up as I handed him the controller and sat down next to him. "Yes, so tell me more about this game."

"This is just the loading screen," I said as I drew up close to him, looking at the screen, hoping he would mirror my body language. And he did, his eyes ran over the patterns of the spiral as his body turned to face the TV and his hands instinctively took hold of the controller in his lap.

"When I first saw this loading screen," I fell into my hypnotist voice as I brought my face dangerously close to his ear, "I noticed how pretty and mesmerising it was. And it took rather a long time for the game to load, and I started wondering: how many hours of our gaming life do we just sit here, staring at a loading screen, waiting in anticipation, thinking of nothing?"

A dreamy look played across Matt's face as his mind wandered down the same question and recalled moments that he sat like this, with a controller in his hand, waiting, staring at a loading screen.

"It's definitely a sort of trance you slip into when you're waiting like this," I continued. "Your body relaxed and comfortable on the couch, but your mind and your hands ready for action, as soon as that screen shows any change, you have to be ready, because you don't know what's going to come."

I felt his leg sag against me, relaxing, as his eyes stared at the screen with a kind of tunnel vision, no longer seeing me. One of his thumbs twitched across the controller, touching all the familiar buttons, a nervous habit he wasn't even aware of.

"And as I sat there, staring at the loading screen, just zoning out, I wondered if I could change the shapes or colours with the controller," I said, knowing full well that neither the buttons nor the sticks or triggers would have such an effect, but I could tell by the little details on the screen that the part where the colours and shapes changed was coming up.

His thumbs found the analogue sticks and moved them as I whispered in his ear. "It wasn't simple to figure out how it worked, it puzzled me for a moment." A frown formed on his forehead as his look of concentration intensified and he worked the controller. "But as I got into the flow of it, relaxing without thinking, it felt like I controlled the waves on the screen, not so much with my hands, but more with my breathing. In, and everything moved towards the centre of the screen, out, and the ripples spread outward to every corner. In, and out."

His thumbs on the sticks and his chest under his T-shirt moved completely in sync with the undulating shapes on the screen now. I regarded him like that for a while, getting excited as his eyes turned glassy and started to blink heavily.

"And I just knew that my entire being could control the screen. If I were to concentrate and focus, the shapes would sharpen, but if I just relaxed deeper and let my eyes close for just a moment, the screen would go dark and wait for my next command."

After a few more heavy blinks, Matt's eyes closed and his fingers around the controller went slack. Excitement fluttered like butterflies in my underbelly and my crotch, as I knew I almost had him now.

"Just to try it out, I focused, willing the screen back to life," I whispered as I watched his eyes blink open and stare at the screen once more. "And relaxed deeper down, making the screen go dark and blank again." Matt's eyes fell shut and his face went slack, his lips sagging open ever so slightly.

"And again, focused, open, ready. And relaxing deeper, dark down again." I timed my words carefully as I talked him up and down a few more times, watching the reactions of his body carefully, getting more aroused as he responded more automatically to my commands.

His head drooped forward now when he closed his eyes and I softly laid my hand on his shoulder, my thumb caressing the back of his neck, stroking up when I told him to be focused, open and ready, and stroking down when I said: "Relax deeper, dark down again."

Arousal made me feel sweaty, but I forced myself to be patient, whispering softer and softer, and then omitting words, until he reacted solely to my stroking thumb. Up, opening his eyes, staring blankly at the screen, down, eyes shut, head slumping forward, breathing heavily out.

When I felt a hot flash of satisfaction, knowing that I had him, I started to only stroke down and then pause and down again, in time with his breathing. "Now Matt," I said with my lips almost stroking his ear, "You can just remember this feeling really vividly, more clearly than you remember our D&D adventures even. Just my thumb stroking your neck like a controller, and this state of completely open anticipation. You can remember it because this is how the game works: any time I stroke your neck like this, down like a controller, you will respond immediately, returning to this state of open anticipation, waiting for my next command."

I paused for a moment, nervous to try it out. He was just sitting there, in a deep trance right next to me, if I woke him up now, how would he react? Would he go back down for me? I started stroking up. "And if you were to concentrate, to focus, perhaps the game would finish loading. You could will the screen to flash brighter, waking up, ready to play." I realised that the things I said didn't make a lot of sense, but I hoped the imagery would speak for itself.

Matt stirred, his head perked up, his eyes fluttered open and his mouth closed and swallowed. For a moment, he stared at the screen and then a look of confusion settled on his face, as he tried to piece together what had just happened. Giving him no time to think it over, I started stroking down over the back of his neck, and immediately, like magic, his eyes rolled up and his head flopped down.

Thrilled and elated, I whispered: "We're going to have so much fun, Matt."