Today I Fuced Up

u/ByHerGrace

TIFU by taking my girlfriend to a live hypnosis show in Britain

Hi so I'm new to Ribbit (made this account just to post this) but I'm always hearing about these threads and thought I'd share my own weird story. I mean it when I say weird, so buckle up. I'm still not exactly sure how to process all of this, it's just a whirlwind I wasn't really ready for, like most whirlwinds I guess. So my girlfriend (23F) and I (22F) have been together for about six months and we had the crazy idea to plan a trip to Europe during our respective gap years. They just so happened to line up and I was planning on travelling, so I shyly asked if she wanted to join me and to my pleasant surprise she was all for it. My girlfriend, let's call her Jess, was particularly excited to see all the shows as she's something of a thespian. We've been in London for the past weekend catching a few west end musicals and rapidly running out of cash with the extortionate price of everything here. So here comes Monday morning and we're both feeling a little spent, figuratively and fucking literally, so decide to have a more casual time of it compared to the extravagance of our weekend. We hop around local bars (pubs) and cafes, walk around the huge park nearby, etc etc etc. It starts to get dark and I have the bright idea of seeing a show but something more lowkey, like if a band's playing or maybe a comedian y'know? Nothing seedy, though maybe Jess would have been down for that anyway. I'm starting to wonder if there's anything Jess isn't down for.

You know this isn't going to end great, dear ribbiter, or I wouldn't be posting to this sub. I think I just need some random strangers from the internet to tell me I'm being paranoid, delusional, maybe clingy. We were strolling, her on my arm like the charming lass I am (if one more person calls me the 'man' of the relationship I'm going to throw hands), and I noticed the sign outside a nearby venue for a live hypnosis show starting in roughly half an hour from then. With a giggle, Jess agreed and we went in and got settled with a few drinks. It was a nice old looking place, everything in England is so fucking old! Lots of castles and history and stuff we just don't seem to have back home, it's kinda fun even if they can be sliiightly underwhelming to actually visit if I'm being super honest. It was a dazzling, eye catching advertisement that led me astray I tell you. In glittering text it read: "For one night only - The Angelic Miss Maxine!" I have a lot of dumb ideas about fate and happenstance that make me depressingly vulnerable to this kind of FOMO marketing. One night only? Sign me up! I'm such a dumbass.

Sorry for the lengthy preamble, this is where things start to get interesting. Hypnosis! They usually tack it on to the end of a stage magician's show or whatever, I've seen a few where they make the hapless volunteer bark like a dog or pretend they're a chicken and I've naturally always been very sceptical of just how 'real' this whole shtick is. Like I'm not one of those wackos who assume some broke ass performer doing a show at a dingy shitheap like this is actually hiring paid actors to act as audience plants, unless Jess has something she needs to tell me, but I have to assume the social pressure just makes them go along with it. Or I did until, as you probably guessed already, my girlfriend got selected to go up and be dazzled by that pretty lady in the sequinned dress. I cannot stress how fucking weird and inappropriate this woman was, it was all business as usual at first. A swinging watch and gentle words, my Jess slumping in the foldout chairs alongside the other two members called up. This Maxine woman was a little overly familiar even from the get go looking back, like her sense of boundaries was just a little warped. It's arguably innocuous, I just didn't love the way her fingers ran through my girlfriend's hair or stroked down her back... it was just like how I'd touch her, you know???

I don't mean to come across as possessive or controlling, but I was certainly a little weirded out by that stuff. That was nothing though, it was only after the snapping of her fingers and those three rolling heads that I started to realise what sort of club we'd cluelessly stumbled into. I'm not going to say that it's a swingers bar but I'm not saying it's not, either. It's exactly the sort of seedy I was hoping to steer clear of, curse that dazzling sign that led me astray in its classy allure. I'm going to try and describe this in a way that doesn't feel like I'm telling strangers about something wholly indecent involving the love of my life, but I seriously need someone to tell me I'm not crazy (or to confirm that I am) and this is hardly a matter I can discuss with friends or family IRL. The hypnotist woman stands behind Jess holding her head up with a hand placed tenderly under her chin. That gentle touch made me squirm in my chair, but I didn't want to be a spoilsport especially given I dragged us in there. The hypnotist smiled and winked at the audience, like she was sharing a secret with us even if I found myself alarming lost at that moment. The woman whispered to my girlfriend, occasionally snapping her fingers like she was cementing the instructions, Jess buckling with every snap. By the last few finger snaps she was making noise, too, but that's all I'm going to say. A few seconds later, the hypnotist lady decided to stop depriving us of context, wanting to give a good show she began to explain to Jess (and us) what she was about to feel and how she was about to act. I'm still anticipating the chicken routine at this point, because I'm slow on the fucking uptake apparently. I had to wonder what all that whispering was about if she hadn't actually given the instructions yet, but Jess tells me it was asking for consent which does make sense given what comes next but also... huh??? That sure isn't what it looked like to me, the amount of talking and the firm, commanding snaps more looked like she was being

told

to be okay with it rather than asked. This is where I might be crazy, readers, but the next part is where I assuredly fucked up.

I'm nursing my cola like nothing's wrong as the performer gives a tame speech about how she's tying string around each of Jess's wrists, how the string is attached to balloons full of helium that will slowly pull those wrists up into the air. I think I've seen a similar act before but with just one arm, they have it hang there in the air for a while and the subject is none the wiser even after being lifted out of trance. I'm more than ready to have some good ammunition to tease Jess with later and so I get ready to enjoy the show, but when my girlfriend's arms began to raise they did so with fingers curling into her shirt. We were dressed pretty casually after our past weekend of exhausting our fancier wardrobe, so she's just wearing this longsleeve grey top and starts lifting it up over her belly on autopilot. I'm fucking horrified at this point, naturally, but when Maxine winks at the crowd and plays innocent like this isn't part of the damn show the entire audience erupts into playful laughter. As Jess slowly exposes herself on stage, revealing inch after inch of skin to these strangers in the crowd, Miss Maxine primes the other two participants for the same humiliating display. All three are women of course, something I'm beginning to think is no coincidence even if my bisexual ass wouldn't mind some tight pecs either. I don't think I could've enjoyed them in the oppressive atmosphere of that room, Jess's chest dropping out with a heavy bounce as her black bralette protected what was left of her modesty. I'm not a prude, but come on.

That obnoxious British voice filled the silence once the laughter finally subsided. I remember thinking: What the hell is so fucking funny? I'm even a bit pissed off just reliving this in my writing, please don't take this post down for my poor manners. Maxine began to ask the audience what they wanted to see next and my heart SANK. Jess and the other two women had their arms all the way up in the air now, straightened out, their tops resting in a crumpled mess over their exposed chests. None of them went braless, but in the end that only worked in service of the show. A kinky, hypnotic strip tease I'm supposed to believe was fully consensual even now. Jess tells me it was, assures me she was just feeling bold and swept up in it all, that she's always had a bit of a wild streak like that. Has she? I remember being unable to convince her to come skinny dipping with us only months ago. Whenever I try to talk about it with her, she just shuts it down with this bored look on her face. Not quite bored, it's hard to place. Just sort of dull and uninterested, I see the shift and know I'm not talking to the same Jess who excitedly engages in my passions. It's like I'm talking to the Jess who was up on that stage, 'gifting' her bra to someone on the front row when that snap rang out and beckoned her into action. She was stood on the edge of the stage, literally drooling onto her naked chest while holding hands with the girls either side of her in the same position. Jess wouldn't do that.

So that's where I'm at, Ribbit. We're in the hotel right now and it's a little tense because apparently I 'just won't drop it' but how could I? Today I fucked up by taking Jess to a hypnosis show where she lived out some kind of exhibitionist fantasy I'm told she's always had. If I believed her, I think I'd be okay with this to be honest, even if I'd be personally uncomfortable dating someone happy to hand her used underwear to strangers... oh god I forgot to mention the panties went too, but at least she didn't have to expose herself for that one. I just can't shake the feeling, as much a conspiracy theory as it seems to actually type into words, that Maxine coerced her into doing something I really believe she wouldn't have. And... that my girlfriend is still under that woman's influence now. I'm expecting this post to either get no attention at all, have everyone telling me it's fake, or get a wave of comments calling me delusional or telling me to break up with her. Sorry, I'm asking for advice and then being negative! Please be kind to me, I'm feeling pretty vulnerable atm. Thanks for reading, internet folks.

Update: Sorry I haven't gotten around to reading comments yet but I see there are quite a few more than I had been expecting. I'm not quite so in the mood to speak Ribbit today, if I'm honest. I probably have bigger priorities right now than updating this post but writing the main bulk really helped me sort my thoughts out and again I feel like I just need people to agree with me that this entire situation is INCREDIBLY FUCKING WEIRD!

This is a day after the original post in case you're reading from the future and I haven't deleted this entire thing by then. There's actually another reason why I'm wasting my time typing all of this out into Ribbit right now and it does make me sound crazy again so take it as you will. I want this to be documented somewhere just in case anything happens, like I'm talking disappearance or something. I want to state for the record now that me and Jess both intend to return home from our trip, so if any authorities find this please pay heed to that!

Delusional ramblings aside, let me actually update you on what happened. You won't believe my stupidity, dear internet, but TIFU again by taking my girlfriend to the same hypnosis show. I know what you're probably thinking, that it was 'for one night only' but I guess they say that every fucking night! I had actually assumed it to be true which is perhaps why I was so relenting with Jess this morning when she became strangely insistent that we attend the show again tonight. I was obviously dumbstruck, still processing the events of the night before after having written my little post about it all and left it to fester. The entire morning was bizarre, I felt like I had walked into some twilight zone alternate reality to the life I had been living up till now, but that was NOTHING compared to the evening I just had.

I'm sitting alone in the hotel room as I write this, genuinely wondering if I just got dumped or if I need to call the police out of concern for my girlfriend's freedom. We attended tonight's show, it was at a different venue and yet somehow Jess knew exactly where to go. She led me there with a pep in her step, a lilting tone to her voice that betrayed how unnaturally eager she had become. The girl was practically humming and skipping on our way to Maxine's lewd show, somewhere along the way I managed to convince myself that she was just excited to have discovered a free natured side of herself. Little did I know she was planning on volunteering again, though I really should have in hindsight.

When Jess stood up to head to the front I genuinely considered grabbing her hand and pleading with her to sit down and let somebody else take her place this time. Again, I felt it wasn't my place to be so controlling, that's not the sort of partner I want to be. She skips up to reunite with Miss Maxine, except at this venue she's going by 'Mistress Angel'. It's definitely the same woman, though, same dulcet tones I wish would leave my memory. I can't get my head around why Jess was so eager, when I first proposed we see the show yesterday she was even a little reluctant but tried her best. It was the complete opposite tonight, I was just appeasing her thinking we wouldn't find a repeat showing that I now sat alone in, surrounded by a crowd that made me feel wholly other. A part of me felt that maybe it was a good thing that we came a second time, that I could come into it with a fresh mindset and lay my paranoid worries to rest. I knew, of course, that this was the first time I was definitely deluding myself for real. Jess sat herself down on the foldout chair and beamed up at Mistress Angel, who praised her for coming back like it was something they had arranged ahead of time. I have Jess's jacket here, she left it at her seat in the audience and never picked it back up. Her phone was in the pocket and I found multiple text notifications, it turns out Maxine had coaxed her number out of her during the aftermath of the first show.

I'm either witness to the most bizarrely exhibitionistic and extravagant affair of all time, brought on spontaneously from a single night of contact in a foreign country... or this hypnotist lady has done something deeply disturbing to my girlfriend's mind. She had the three women on the stage compete this time, a game of chicken in which the one who gave the most titillating, most revealing show to the lucky audience would be awarded the chance to speak with Angel backstage at the end of the show. I really didn't like that, I hated myself for it but I began to lose faith in my girlfriend the moment the opportunity was brought up. She just seemed SO determined to win that prize, like she'd do anything. And she did. She did everything that was asked of her and more, I couldn't bear to watch and yet I couldn't quite bring myself to look away. I felt that if anybody in that wretched audience SHOULD be seeing these things, it was me and me alone. Jess removed articles of clothing like it was just some game, once again gifting out underwear. I knew then that she wasn't simply experimenting with her free spirit or whatever bullshit she told me that Angel probably fed her anyway. I knew this, because tonight she gave away the lingerie I gifted her for out most recent anniversary. Even after everything that's happened over the last two days, I know in my heart of hearts that she's not that cruel.

At this point you're probably writing this story off as fake (believe me, I wish) or judging me pretty heavily for sitting there slack jawed, doing absolutely nothing. I'm judging myself enough so I don't need any assistance there, I just didn't know what I could do anymore, what I was allowed to do as her girlfriend in this situation. So I just watched, passively I watched, as she proved just how much she needed to win. She proved, definitively, that she was the biggest slut in that entire room. The same girl who has to wear a one piece bathing suit in the pool presenting wet and sticky fingers to the crowd after Angel told her to show how wet she is after all the attention. The worst part is that I had gotten wet too, though I'm definitely oversharing on here now aren't I? Are there NSFW guidelines on here that means this post is going to be taken down for that? So be it, I'll go down with the ship, captain fucking clueless over here.

I've hinted at where this is going rather liberally but here's the truly insane and heart wrenching part. Jess, completely dazed and acting like the slut I know she isn't, leaves at the end of the show with her arm around Angel's shoulder for support. I watched her disappear into the backroom thinking I was gonna have to spend the next fifteen minutes fretting over whether or not my girlfriend is cheating on me before having a long and awkward talk in the hotel room. That didn't happen. 15 minutes later and Jess still hadn't left the venue, I was kicked out due to closing and waiting out in the cold with her jacket over my arm. An hour later, Jess was still inside. Three hours, at this point I was just... what do you even do in that situation? It'd have been justified to call the police, right? I called her in a panic only to hear the jingle coming from her jacket, confusion giving way to this agonising, gnawing belief that this Angel woman was like... brainwashing my girlfriend.

I know, I know. Even typing it I can see how much it looks like I'm the girlfriend left in the wind coping as hard as she can, coming up with any excuse for Jess to avoid admitting that it's over between us. I walked back to the hotel room after another hour and don't think I'll be getting a wink of sleep until she's back. She will be back, right? If not I'm getting the cops involved, I don't care if I seem crazy. Coercion, threats, blackmail... all real things that DO happen. Maybe Jess didn't feel safe and felt she had to stay. It doesn't match up with that soul crushing giddiness of hers from beginning to end of tonight's show, but I'm trying to be pragmatic.

Is hypnosis like what I'm describing possible? Please let me know your thoughts, I've a feeling it's going to be a long night.

Update 2: I think I get it now.

Another day has passed, I'm not in the hotel room this time. I'm walking. I'm thinking. I remembered that this thread existed and I read a lot of your comments. They weren't very insightful, especially the ones badmouthing my girlfriend. I don't know what Ribbit Gold is but you can keep it, I think I've found something better. Some actual understanding, some meaning, in all of these confusing events that have transpired over the last few days. Let me start from this morning. I was so relieved to find Jess in bed with me when I woke up, you have no idea. The girl snuggled up to me like nothing was wrong and so I indulged in the fantasy of everything having returned to the way it was. It hadn't of course, Jess was even more determined to visit Angel's show this time and I sort of knew immediately that nothing I could say would have the power to stop her. I don't have the same sway on my girlfriend as Mistress Angel, you see. So I had the choice of getting upset and letting her go alone, or being there again and hoping I could have the will to reach out and stop her this time. I didn't. Thank god I didn't, or I wouldn't have gained a new understanding. I wouldn't be here walking, thinking.

She didn't just raise her hand this time like I thought she would, my hands unmoving in my lap as though giving that persuasive woman passive permission to steal my girlfriend for another night. No, this time Jess raised my arm along with her. We were both called up, much to my surprise... and horror. I felt this was a good opportunity, somehow, though looking back I have no idea why I would think that. What was I expecting to do? I certainly wasn't expecting to learn, my mistake.