FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"So, do you know what an induction is?"

Tapa shifted on his seat, trying to get comfortable. As someone who'd hung with Azure a few times, he'd heard those terms being thrown around once or twice. The monkey didn't know much about hypnosis, however - which was why the skunk had offered to help him understand.

"Uh, isn't that a kind of hob you can have in your kitchen?" he joked.

Azure rolled his eyes.

"Maybe, if I were a chef and these were cooking lessons. But they aren't, right?"

"I suppose they're not."

Tapa watched as Azure walked around the chair he was sitting in. No matter how hard the skunk was trying to hide it, there was no denying he was excited about those 'lessons', as he had called them, although the monkey had assumed it'd be more of a demonstration.

"To simplify, an induction is the process through which you put someone in trance," the skunk explained. "And trance is the suggestible state in which hypnosis happens."

"Okay. Following you so far."

"There are dozens of methods to put someone in a trance. Some of those rely on physical inputs, while some others count on oral guidance."

"I see." Tapa had expected the explanation to be much more complex. Azure had clearly made it easier to understand - or perhaps he was just trying to save time? "So which one will it be today? Physical input or oral guidance?"

Azure, now standing in front of Tapa again, tilted his head and crossed his arms on his chest.

"Good question. A bit of both, I suppose."

"Oh, so that's possible? Will it work?"

"Sure. Accessing trance is much easier than most people imagine. It's actually a natural state that can happen? er, but sorry, I digress." Azure shook his head and stared into the monkey. As unlikely as it was, Tapa wondered if his eyes would fill with swirls at some point, just like in all those silly movies. "Are you ready?"

"What? So fast?" the monkey asked, a bit surprised.

Azure chuckled softly.

"Well, I told you it's an easy thing to do. Look, just close your eyes and focus on your breathing for me. That's good, hun, just like that. You don't need to take longer or deeper breaths than usual. It is enough that you focus on how deep and long they are as they happen and continue listening to my words. Everything else will come to you naturally."

Tapa was surprised at how easy getting relaxed actually was. He had expected to be listening to the skunk's words for quite some time before he actually felt something, but to be fair, he was already feeling much calmer than he'd been when his friend had begun talking. Azure's voice had also dropped to a different cadence, slightly softer and more pleasant to listen to.

"Right. Now I want you to keep focusing on your breathing and my voice, but also direct your attention to your right arm. You'll notice that as you listen to me it's becoming sort of tingly. A warm, cozy feeling slowly crawling over your fur, from your elbow to the very tip of your fingers. And the more you focus on that tingle, the easier it is to feel it intensify - little by little. Yeah. Just like that."

Tapa nodded absentmindedly. The tingling sensation reminded him of bathing in warm water. He wouldn't have been surprised if the skunk had picked his arm and placed it on a warm bath tub while his eyes remained closed.

"As your fur tingles, you can feel your arm getting lighter. Lighter and lighter now. So light, in fact, that in a few seconds it'll start floating. You'll feel it rise from your lap and slowly but surely float towards the ceiling. You don't even need to move it. It'll move on its own, rising nice and easy. And it'll happen naturally... now."

The skunk paused for a few seconds. Tapa wondered if he was considering where to go from there.

"Good job, hun. Okay, open your eyes now, please."

Tapa did as he was told and noticed the skunk had stepped a bit closer to him. His eyes met the skunk's piercing gaze and his satisfied smile, before lowering down to his arm.

It was floating! It wasn't like his fingers were pointing towards the ceiling, but it had certainly risen from his lap on its own.

"Wow," was all he said. "I had a feeling it was floating, but I wasn't aware that it had moved so much. I promise I wasn't the one doing that!"

"I know, hun." Azure took another step forward and placed a hand on the back of the chair, leaning closer to the monkey. "Heh. This was just a quick relaxation exercise to test your suggestibility, but now that I've seen what a good response I got from you... I think I have an idea."

Tapa held Azure's gaze. The bigger skunk was now much closer - so much that the monkey's breath could have easily misted his friend's glasses if the temperature had been lower.

"Well, go ahead," the monkey said. "You're the expert after all."

Azure chuckled softly.

"Still feeling nice and relaxed, hun? I can't help but notice you haven't lowered your arm."

Tapa's eyes briefly parted from Azure's gaze to regard his floating arm.

"Well..." the monkey stuttered. "Yeah, it's still light and fuzzy."

Something in the way he said those words seemed to make the skunk's grin widen.

"Great. Let's focus on that feeling again, shall we? Eyes open now, if you don't mind. And if you don't know where to look, well..." The skunk's voice lowered to a whisper. "I guess you can always_look into my eyes_."

Tapa nodded slowly. There was nothing out of the ordinary about those big, golden eyes, other than they made a nice spot to focus his attention on.

"Good. As you think about the feeling in your arm, I want you to notice how it spreads to the rest of your body. Climbing from your elbow, spreading on your shoulders, then dripping down your back. That's good. Feel it slowly reaching every single part of your body. I see that you've decided to look into my eyes. That's good."

Tapa felt like he was being praised, which caused a new wave of warm, fuzzy feelings to join the ones already swirling inside him. Azure's eyes remained unswirling, though - but Tapa kept staring.

"Lighter and lighter. You don't need to worry about floating for this, hun. You can simply feel that light feeling intensify as you listen to my voice and look into my eyes. So warm and relaxed. So calm and fuzzy. And the lightness spreads even more, seeping into your brain, making your thoughts just as weightless as your body. And it feels sooo good, doesn't it?"

Tapa would have nodded again, but his neck felt weird. His body was tingly and warm, like it couldn't hold on to anything. Like a leaf that was hanging from its branch only through a weak, tiny stalk, he had a feeling he'd simply fly away if the right blow came his way.

"That's right. We're going to make something a bit different now. Just for fun. I want you to repeat after me. Light in weight."

The velvet-like words caressed his ears like a soft whisper. Azure was so close now that Tapa couldn't look away. He felt his lips moving, just like he'd felt his body getting lighter before - automatically.

"Light in weight," he muttered.

"Light in thoughts," added Azure.

"L-light in... thoughts..."

The wind was about to come, Tapa thought, and then that weak leaf would be completely blown away.

"Seeing the light."

"See... seeing the light..." The words felt heavy on his light tongue. Tapa's eyelids were lowering, even if they were feeling as weightless as the rest of his body. "W-what light...?" he managed to ask groggily, one last thought clinging to the sides of his mind.

Azure chuckled softly.

"Don't worry, hun. Just keep looking. You'll see it soon enough. Repeat again for me."

Tapa did as he was told. It didn't feel like anything else mattered other than repeating. It didn't feel like there was anything else that he could think about, other than the words he was repeating.

Light in weight.

Light in thoughts.

Seeing the light.

He kept looking straight into the skunk's eyes. His weak eyelids trying to stay open with an effort that he wasn't really feeling. His body was so light. There was no way his eyelids were heavy. They couldn't be closing.

Light in weight.

Light in thoughts.

Seeing the light.

... But there was no light to see. He was simply staring into those eyes as his own voice droned on, repeating the same sentences over and over - how many times now? Tapa wasn't sure. No light at the bottom of those golden eyes, but he couldn't look away.

He had a feeling he wasn't even in the chair anymore. He was floating, floating towards that piercing gaze as his body rose weightlessly. Searching for that light, trying to find it, trying to--

"Sleep."

The command fell on Tapa's vulnerable mind like a stone. The monkey's body suddenly grew loose and limp, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he collapsed on the chair. His arms dangled at the sides before coming to a stop. During a fraction of a second, the monkey believed his eyes were still open and he was still floating towards those golden irises, until he realized they had actually fluttered closed.

Right in front of him, mere inches from his now slumbering expression, Azure grinned and his eyes glimmered mysteriously.

"And now, hun, let me show you what a deepener is..."