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Cloud had hoped that the venue would be full and that they'd have to find another place to spend the evening in, but to his dismay most of the tables were still empty. He remained near the door, arms crossed on his chest and giving a worried look around. Hopefully, his body language would be enough to let his two friends know he didn't want to be there and they'd get the message.

Thunder, at least, didn't seem to be very receptive to those subtleties. The wolf was looking around with that kind of enthusiastic grin that Cloud had only seen him wear at theme parks and his tail was furiously wagging back and forth. He looked excited enough that he wouldn't even hear his friend's words in case he decided to speak up, which wasn't going to happen anyway. Rain, his other friend, was still looking grumpily at his phone and answering some messages on Twitter. The raccoon hadn't got much sleep last night and he probably wouldn't like the idea of having to walk for another half an hour, searching for a place where he could finally collapse on a seat.

The show's starting in an hour, though, Cloud thought. Maybe we can just have a drink and then go somewhere else.

He really wished Thunder and Rain wouldn't make him stay for the show. The calico cat had a special talent for feeling embarrassed in public and that was the last thing he would have planned for Halloween night. However, the wolf had already found a table and he was now pointing at it impatiently, as if urging the other two to sit down.

Rain groaned.

"Hey, calm down, will you? It's not as if anyone's going to steal our table."

"Sorry! I'm excited. Never been at one of these before," the wolf explained, as his friends sat around the table. "I mean, I'd always heard that they existed and of course you get to see some ads on TV or the internet occasionally, but..."

"They've been in our town before, though," Cloud noted. When his friends turned to look at him, he regretted his words and cleared his throat. "I mean, I've walked past this place many times and I could swear it's not the first time they're hosting one of these."

"Oh, man. Sucks that I've missed them so many times." Thunder's ears lowered, but it took them less than a second to perk up again with his usual, never-ending fervor. "Do you think that's why the place is so empty? Most people in our town must have seen this already."

"The place is empty because it's still one hour until the show starts," Rain argued, frowning. "And if it's still empty in an hour... well, then that'll probably mean that our hypnotist isn't too good."

He pronounced the word with some skepticism, but Cloud shivered nonetheless when he realized they were really doing that.

He was going to watch a hypnosis stage show with his friends, who didn't know he was shamefully turned on by the whole idea of hypnosis. In fact, "turned on" fell short of how he felt about it. He'd never mentioned it to anyone, but simply speaking about hypnosis made weird things to his body. He could feel his heart speed up at the thought of being drawn into a beautiful spiral. Whenever someone teased him about being put in trance, his cheeks went red and he had to take a deep breath to calm down. The mere mention of a pair of glowing eyes, if properly described, could have made him tremble and shudder and get all huffy in place.

He had even opened at account in a weird hypnosis app, a few months ago. It was supposed to tell you if there was someone interested in hypnotizing you or being hypnotized by you in your area. Cloud had toyed with it for a few weeks, but then he'd grown bored and had never logged in again. Most people he'd come across were creepy weirdos, anyway. Hypnosis could be a bit of a scary world sometimes.

After a few minutes, a waiter came to ask them what they wanted to drink.

"Are you here to see the hypnotist?" he asked, once he'd finished writing down their order on his small notebook. His lupine tail was also wagging excitedly at his back, and Cloud thought it must be a wolf thing.

"Yeah! Is he good?" Thunder asked. Cloud couldn't see his tail, but he could have bet it was wagging at least as frantically as the other wolf's.

"Well... I think so. Yeah." The waiter seemed to consider it for a second.

"You don't sound very convinced," Rain noted, looking up from his mobile phone.

"Eh... y-yeah! It was a cool show last time, I promise. But er... I was asked to go onstage and things got a bit blurry after that." The wolf looked away, putting the small notebook back on his apron's pocket. The sudden shade of red on his cheeks was easy to notice even under the dim lights. He adjusted his glasses, as if trying to find something to do with his paws. "I can't... remember much of it, to be honest... Excuse me."

He turned around and walked towards the bar, still looking a bit embarrassed. That one was on the app, that for sure, Cloud thought. However, he was in no position to judge the flustered wolf. As soon as the waiter had mentioned he couldn't remember what he'd been told to do, a familiar tingle had gone down his spine and his paws had begun to sweat a bit. He was feeling kind of warm and fuzzy, all of a sudden. If something as innocent as that could affect him so much, what was he going to do when the show started?

"Do you think that can happen?" Thunder asked then. He seemed curious. "Do you think someone can make you forget stuff?"

Of course he can't just drop the subject, Cloud complained to himself.

"I'd say it's possible, yeah," Rain answered, shrugging. "If they manage to put you in the right suggestible state, they can definitely make your subconscious mind do a lot of crazy things for you."

"That sounds awesome," Thunder said, with a smile. "Do you think this hypnotist could do that to me?"

"Er, I said it's possible, not that it can happen when you're standing on a stage with a large crowd looking at you," Rain clarified, raising an eyebrow. "To be honest, I've always thought hypnosis shows are a fraud. There are probably plants all over the room."

Thunder looked slightly disillusioned.

"What do you think, Cloud?"

"Huh?" The cat had been too busy trying to hide his own embarrassment in order to follow the conversation. "Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't think the 'tist can... uh, you know, do that here?"

"The 'tist?" Rain asked, giving him a suspicious look. Or at least, a look that Cloud thought was suspicious. "What's that?"

Thunder was also looking at him, puzzled. Cloud wished the ground would swallow him up.

"Er... y-yeah! Dunno why I said that. I probably need to go to the bathroom." He stood up clumsily. "Be right back."

He left the table trying not to look at his friends in the face and headed to the corner where he hoped the toilets would be. On his way there he came across the wolf waiter, who was looking much less flustered now. Cloud wished he could get rid of those feelings as easily, but it had always been kind of difficult for him. As soon as he spotted the bathroom door, he rushed through it and closed it at his back. He then walked slowly to the mirror, trying to calm down.

Damn... His cheeks were redder than he thought and there was no way Rain hadn't noticed how much their conversation had been affecting him. Maybe Thunder hadn't been able to put two and two together because his attention was elsewhere, but under normal circumstances even he would have known.

Cloud washed his face with cold water, hoping that it'd make his blush disappear. Once again, he thought about the odds of ending in that specific situation. The original plan had been spending the evening at Thunder's flat, who had organized the usual Halloween party with games, alcohol and an obscene amount of sweets. He had invited Rain and Cloud because they'd been friends forever, and then two different groups of friends that he'd got used to hanging out with since the other two had left the town to study at college. But right at the last moment, both groups had called to let the wolf know they couldn't go to the party.

In order to make the wolf feel better, Rain and Cloud had decided to take him somewhere else to have a drink. It was so, so unfortunate that they had walked past the very building they were in, with its big, flashy "Tonight: Master Domigator's Hypnosis Show - Free Entrance with your Drink" poster. As soon as Thunder had caught a glimpse of it, Cloud's fate had been sealed.

Well, if this makes him happy, at least... he thought, looking at his own reflection in the mirror. Fortunately, there was no trace of red blush on his white furred cheeks now that he'd cooled off. He took some time to brush his fur with his paws - the brown and black spots right above his eyes that spread to his forehead and that made his species' characteristic pattern. As he did this, he took a nice deep breath and tried to stay positive.

He could survive that night. He just needed to remain calm and cool. He'd pretend to be somewhere between skeptic of the show and pleased to be with his friends, even if it was in a place like this. That shouldn't be too difficult - even if his embarrassment could show very clearly on his white fur, he was an excellent liar. So calm down, he told himself, giving the reflection in the mirror a strict look. It nodded in response.

As he walked back to his table, Cloud smiled and repeated to himself that he had nothing to worry about. Besides, this Master Domigator wasn't probably even a good hypnotist. His name was one of the most ridiculous things Cloud had ever heard, and he'd been on a hypnosis date app.

The cat walked back to the table thinking about this and only realized there was someone else sitting on his chair when he was finally there. Whoever it was, he was sitting with his back to Cloud and the only thing he could see were broad shoulders and green scales. He stopped, baffled, and tried to catch Thunder's attention, who was speaking agitatedly with the newcomer.

"Oh, Cloud!! Grab another chair and sit down. This is Dominic. Apparently, he thought we were very cool and he's decided to have a drink with us."

The person sitting on the cat's chair turned to him and looked at him apologetically. Cloud didn't think he'd seen him before. He had definitely never heard Rain or Thunder mention they had an alligator friend.

"Sorry," he said, with a nervous smile. "I came here alone and was feeling a bit embarrassed, so I was wondering if I could join your group. Fortunately, your wolf friend - er, Thunder I think? - allowed me to sit here."

The tall alligator was wearing casual clothes: a plain white shirt that looked slightly loose on him and ripped grey jeans. His scaled hands were partly covered by black leather mittens. All in all, those weren't clothes that would strike an unsuspecting audience as particularly odd, and Cloud had the weirdest feeling that they had been chosen to look just like that - regular.

His trail of thought derailed when the alligator stood up and, mumbling an apology, grabbed a chair from a table nearby. He placed it by his side so that Cloud could sit down again and then patted the seat with a friendly grin that clearly showed all his pointy teeth. He had beautiful orange eyes.

The cat didn't know how he knew, but he knew.

"You're the hypnotist," he said, still standing.

Rain looked up from his mobile phone and gave him a surprised look, but Thunder chuckled instead.

"You're acting weird today, you know? The hypnosis show isn't starting yet, Cloud. We still have to wait for a bit."

The alligator gave him a nervous smile.

"What makes you think that I am the hypnotist?" he asked, looking at Cloud.

He hasn't denied that he is, the cat thought. He sat down and gave a long look at the alligator, who looked back at him with that innocent, shy expression. Now that they were so close, he had to admit the scaly newcomer was slightly imposing, but he had that Gentle Giant look on his face, as if he wouldn't hurt a fly.

The cat knew that he'd basically accused him of being the hypnotist on a hunch, but he could see all the signs coming together now that he was thinking about it. The sudden realization that, in case he was right, he was speaking with a real hypnotist was about to make him blush again, but he managed to control himself right at the very last second. The alligator didn't have the looks or the attitude that Cloud had in mind when thinking about a hypnotist.

And besides, given all he knew by now, the alligator was probably just a fraudster. There was no reason to feel flustered. Calm and cool, Cloud, he told himself. Calm and cool.

"First, you came here alone? On Halloween? And you decided to talk with a group of three random people out of the blue? I'm sorry, but it's hard to believe", the cat said. He didn't want to be rude, so he made sure his words didn't sound too aggressive or judgmental.

"Well, it was only two of them before you came back from the bathroom," Dominic clarified. "And, er... well, I might be a bit socially awkward. Who knows?"

"... yyyyyeah." The alligator's tone wasn't believable at all, and that alone made Cloud smile. For some reason, he found Dominic's clumsy efforts to defend himself rather cute. He was beginning to like him, whether he was a fraud or not. "Then, there's your name. I hate to point out the obvious, but you're an alligator and your name's Dominic. Dominic the alligator. Domigator. It's really not the best name to go undercover... uh, and not a good name, to be honest. At all. It's terrible."

Dominic chuckled and his thick tail whipped the air. The shy look on his face was still there, but now he also seemed amused.

"Look who's talking. Are your names even real? Cloud, Rain, Thunder. Are you going to introduce me to your friends Sky and Lightning?"

"We get that a lot," Thunder agreed. It didn't look like the joke had bothered him in the slightest. "Right, Rain?"

"I've always blamed my name on my mom's hippy phase," the raccoon explained, shrugging.

"So you admit you're that Master Domigator guy, right?" Cloud wanted to stay on topic, but his friends were making it difficult. "I mean, it's pretty obvious."

"Well, obvious or not, I'm afraid I'm not him," the gator insisted. "But you're right about something. I'm actually a hypnotist."

Oh, come on, Cloud thought, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Now he'll offer to put someone in a light trance to test which of us is more suggestible, then ask him to go onstage.

"Wow, really!?" Thunder almost stood up when he heard those words. "Could you hypnotize me then, please? I've always wanted to know what it's like!"

Or maybe he won't need to offer.

"Would you like that?" Dominic asked, with a pleased smile. "I'm not an expert, but if you really want me to..."

"You're not even hiding your intentions anymore, are you?" Cloud mumbled, but no one listened to him.

Thunder moved to the seat right in front of Dominic, his tail spinning like a helicopter rotor as the alligator's moved slowly in wide arcs. Rain was looking increasingly interested in the scene taking place in front of him, so he put his phone away and tilted his head, his eyes moving with curiosity between his wolf friend and the scaly newcomer.

Cloud, in the meantime, was trying his best not to let his own flustered feelings get the best of him. The idea of seeing Thunder, who was usually cute enough even awake, put into trance was making his heartbeat quicken. He's not a real hypnotist, he told himself, again. But there was a part of him that couldn't help but point out that he had no way of knowing that. He just wished he wasn't so that he wouldn't have to hide his embarrassment.

"Alright. So, there's many ways to do this," the gator began, clasping his hands together. "I'm not the best hypnotist there is, but I know the basics. And fortunately, I brought with me my trusty pocketwatch."

"No way." Cloud only realized he'd said that out loud when the other three turned to look at him. "I mean, there's nothing more clichéd than a pocketwatch, right?"

"You'll be surprised when you see that it works, then," Dominic said, still smiling. There was a hint of a promise in his voice.

"Honestly, nothing can surprise me anymore," the calico cat replied. He tried to force himself to smile back.

"Do you want to bet on that?" the alligator asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cloud thought about it. There was a part of him that knew responding to the obvious provocation was a very bad idea. But he'd been feeling flustered since he'd walked through the entrance door and he really wanted to change that. Maybe pretending to be proud and cocky would help him feel more comfortable, even if right now it didn't seem the best choice. He wanted to feel in control of something.

But now he was taking a few seconds to answer, and Dominic's grin widened, as if he was certain he'd won that battle. Cloud couldn't let that happen.

"Alright. What are we betting?" he asked, trying to play it cool.

"I don't know. I'd say dinner - and whoever loses has to pay - but I'm not sure if you'll be comfortable with that."

Cloud frowned. Did that silly alligator think he was going to hold back now?

"Deal," he said. "If you manage to surprise me before the night ends, I'll invite you to the most expensive restaurant in town."

"I'll hold you to that promise." The alligator offered his hand and they sealed the deal with a firm handshake. They even exchanged a mandatory serious look. Cloud thought the alligator's orange eyes were really beautiful. He wouldn't have minded getting lost in eyes like those.

It occurred to the cat that many hypnotists used handshake inductions - and for the brief three seconds that their handshake lasted, he was expecting the gator to pull his hand firmly or something, but that never happened. Dominic let go of Cloud's hand with a playful wink, as if he'd just guessed what he'd been thinking. The cat looked away, feeling slightly warmer.

"Hey. Hey! Do any of you guys still remember me?" Thunder called then, waving his paw between them in an attempt to catch their attention. "It's okay if you don't want to hypnotize me, but you got me really excited and I'd like to know if you're still up for it!"

"Sure! Just let me find the... Ah, here it is." Dominic pulled the small pocketwatch out of his pocket and turned to the wolf, who was still waiting impatiently at the other side of the table. "You sure you want to do this, right?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I really want to." Cloud hadn't seen him so excited since the last time they'd visited the town's cheapest buffet.

"Good! Bear in mind it might not work. These things take time and they need to be done in the right environment. I'm not sure if this is the best place to put you under, but..."

"Oh, come on! The show is going to start if you keep talking," Thunder complained. "Just do it already!"

The gator chuckled softly.

"Alright. An eager subject, I see." Those words sent another shiver down Cloud's spine, but he managed to remain cool. "Good."

There was a jingle when Dominic opened his hand and the pocketwatch fell out to hang from the metal chain. Up until that point, Cloud had always thought that the whole "pocketwatches are beautiful" aesthetic was simply a cliché - but the one the alligator was holding looked nice indeed. It wasn't because the light reflected on its surface, making it glisten, but all the opposite. The lights in the bar were dim and the pocketwatch's details could barely be seen, allowing for their imagination to fill the gaps. It was impossible to tell whether the pocketwatch was expensive or cheap, its design fancy or simple - or even the material it was made of. That made it strangely pleasant to look at.

Actually, since there wasn't much light, looking at the pocketwatch was a bit tiring. Bet he's counting on that, too, the cat told himself, resting his head on one of his paws as he watched the pre-show unfold in front of him.

With a flick of his wrist, Dominic made the pocketwatch swing back and forth. Cloud wasn't too surprised to find out that it was moving left and right much faster than he'd involuntarily hoped. Pocketwatches in silly fantasy roleplays were one thing, but in reality they worked differently. It was to be expected that they couldn't always swing in wide, slow arcs. No matter how hot that idea was.

"Okay. I just need you to look at the pocketwatch, Thunder. I know that it's a bit hard to track the fast movement now, but you'll find your eyes getting used to it in time. Left and right. Good. I can see that you're doing a good job."

Of course he's doing a good job, Cloud thought. If there was something that Thunder was really good at, it was getting distracted by all kinds of silly things, specially if they moved fast. His eyes were darting left and right, following the quick movement of the pocketwatch. However, after watching him close for a few seconds, Cloud could tell that the wolf wasn't being as successful as Dominic was trying to make him think. His eyes were missing some of the swings and sometimes they lost the rhythm, getting late to where they were supposed to be.

The calico cat exchanged a glance with Rain, who was watching the whole thing intently, just like him. It was then when Cloud noticed that the raccoon was following the pocketwatch left and right with his eyes, and that he was doing a far better job at that than Thunder was. He wondered what that meant for a second, before an answer came to his mind. His eyes moved to Dominic, who kept swinging the pocketwatch left and right. It was obvious that the gator had noticed that, too.

"You can allow yourself to focus only on the pocketwatch and the sound of my voice. Left and right. Let the rest of the room fade away as you focus more and more. It's easy to relax and just follow the pocketwatch left and right. Getting used to the movement now, right?"

Thunder nodded, but it was obvious that he wasn't finding it easy. There was a nervous tension in his face and he was licking the edge of his muzzle, moving his eyes frantically as he tried hard to get the results he thought he was supposed to get. But Dominic isn't even trying to hypnotize him, Cloud thought. His eyes moved to Rain, who had an absent-minded look on his face as his eyes moved left and right rhythmically. The raccoon was focusing so hard on the pocketwatch that Cloud doubted he was fully aware of what was going on.

"And whenever the pocketwatch swings left, it means you're calm. And whenever it swings right, it means you're empty. Just like that. It's very easy to feel calm and empty as the pocketwatch swings left and right, left and right."

Isn't 'empty' a bit overkill for an induction that just began? Cloud asked himself, raising an eyebrow. He didn't think he knew that much about hypnosis, but he had a feeling that there were certain steps that needed to be taken and Dominic had completely forgotten about them. His initial suspicions that Dominic might not be such a good hypnotist could be right, after all.

But Rain kept following the pocketwatch, and his face _did_look calm and empty. His eyes kept moving left and right, and then Cloud heard Dominic say something weird again:

"Wake."

His next thought was that the bedroom was absurdly empty, but it didn't last for long in his head. His claws moved all over the mattress of the bed he was sitting on and his bare footpaws stroke the soft carpet underneath. The sudden urge to let out a long sigh was there, but he kept it inside.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good," he agreed, with a smile on his lips. "Relaxed."

It was like floating in a cloud made of fuzzy feelings, only that he wasn't floating, but securely kept inside. Everything felt pleasant and soft and warm around him. There were green scales nearby and the shine of someone's glasses in the dim illumination but he didn't turn to look. He was feeling so good, just sitting on the bed. A bit far from everything. Comfortably far.

"Come with me," Dominic said. Suddenly, there was a scaly hand in front of him.

He took it and let it guide him to the other side of the bedroom, where there was a full-length mirror. Everything was kind of dark, but he could see the reflections on its surface. Only the details were difficult to distinguish, like a pocketwatch swinging in the middle of a bar at night.

"What do you see?"

"An alligator," he answered, making an effort. He didn't like effort. Effort was tiring. "With... glasses. And a raccoon."

"You sure of that?"

He thought about it.

"Yeah," he said, hoping that he wouldn't be asked the same question again.

"Are you Cloud?"

That was a weird question. The raccoon could feel the gears inside his mind turning slowly, trying to find the right answer.

"Cloud?" he whispered. He didn't really want to think anymore. "What's a Cloud...?"

The mirror showed him a toothy grin.

But it was so obvious that the raccoon was going to be the one chosen to go onstage afterwards that... Cloud didn't even mention it. As Thunder made his best effort to be hypnotized and Dominic's farce went on, he watched Rain's gaze getting glassier and glassier until the wolf let out a soft growl and said:

"Man, sorry. I'm not feeling very hypnotized."

Dominic stopped talking. It was then when Cloud realized he hadn't really been paying attention to what the alligator had been saying. Maybe he had fallen in trance too? That's ridiculous, he thought. I've been there before. I would know.

"Hey, you don't need to be sorry," Dominic said, stopping the pocketwatch. That simple gesture seemed to bring Rain out of his weird spellbound state. "I told you it wasn't easy in a place like this. Sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're not."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Thunder agreed, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe Mr. Domigator will be luckier, don't you think?"

Dominic grinned, putting the pocketwatch back in his pocket.

"Yeah, maybe he will." He turned to look at Cloud. "Well, apparently I'm not as good a hypnotist as you think I am."

"Oh, but you got just what you wanted, didn't you?" the cat asked, with a smirk.

If Dominic was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, the alligator just raised an eyebrow.

"Get what? I think you're obsessed with the idea that I'm a powerful hypnotist. Like I just proved here, I'm just a beginner."

"We'll see about that when you're onstage," Cloud said.

Dominic scoffed. Then he stood up and took a look around. The gesture seemed a bit planned, in the cat's opinion.

"Anyway, I don't want to make you waste more time. It's obvious you guys don't meet that often and I don't want to interfere in a friend reunion."

"Oh no, come on! You can stay as much as you like, man," Thunder offered. He looked like he was about to ask the alligator to try and hypnotize him again, but he didn't.

"Yeah, you can stay," Rain insisted. He was finally looking aware and Cloud wondered if he'd realized something weird had happened with his mind for a while.

It didn't seem he knew.

"Nah, I think I'll just leave," the alligator said, giving them an apologetic grin. "But I hope I'll see you around sometime."

Thunder looked like he was about to insist, but Cloud gave him a warning look and he remained quiet instead. The alligator waved one of his green, scaly hands and began to walk away from the table.

Right at the very last moment, Cloud decided to stand up and follow him. He reached him almost at the other side of the room and placed a paw on his shoulder. The alligator gave him a confused look.

"You're going to call Rain onstage, aren't you?" he asked.

Dominic blinked a few times before answering.

"Think about it this way. If I'm not that Domigator guy, then I have no idea what you're talking about. And if that's really me, then why should I tell you when I've been keeping it secret all this while?"

"But it's going to be him," Cloud repeated, just to make sure.

Dominic chuckled. His orange eyes observed the calico cat with a new interest.

"I think I'm going to love having dinner with you," he said, after a few seconds. "I think it tastes even better when someone else is paying."

"I guess I will find out soon," Cloud replied, smiling back at the alligator. It was then when he noticed that the reptile was actually quite handsome. He got lost in his face for a second, but then he shook his head and decided to clarify something. "I'm only expecting completely normal stuff to happen tonight."

Dominic's eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

"Perfect. Then I think I might see you later."

"Yeah. See you onstage."

The alligator chuckled again, before turning and walking round a corner. Cloud stood there as he watched him leave and then he went back to his table, where Thunder was already complaining that he hadn't been able to get hypnotized. Rain was nodding at everything the wolf was saying, but Cloud didn't think his friend was considering the idea that he'd been put in a slight trance.

"By the way, what was that?" the raccoon asked him, once Thunder stopped talking.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. Even I know what he's talking about," the wolf said, with a wide grin. "I hadn't seen flirty Cloud since... well. I don't think I'd ever seen flirty you."

"I wasn't flirting. I was just... stating facts," Cloud explained, looking away. He could feel his cheeks burning red again.

"Riiiiight. That's why you agreed to have dinner together. And teasing him with that 'you're the hypnotist' thing wasn't flirting at all." Rain gave Thunder a meaningful look. Both chuckled.

"Well, it's not my fault that you didn't realize it was him." Cloud shrugged. "He was playing you guys like a fiddle."

"Then, why couldn't he hypnotize me?" Thunder asked. He pretended to feel proud about it so that Cloud would get his point, but the cat knew he would have actually preferred being put in trance.

"And since when are you an expert on how stage hypnosis shows work?" Rain added, looking at Cloud suspiciously.

The cat didn't answer any of the two questions.

"I wasn't flirting," he restated, crossing his arms on his chest. "You can believe me or not, but you'll see. I know what's going to happen tonight, and when it does, you'll realize I was right and things were extremely predictable all along."

* * *

The show began a bit later than it was supposed to.

Thunder, Rain and Cloud had been gossiping about their other friends and drinking, so the wait didn't feel too long. However, none of them could resist the impulse to look at the stage occasionally, wondering when Master Domigator would decide to make his appearance. Cloud was especially impatient, since he wanted to prove once and for all that his theory wasn't wrong. His friends never mentioned it again, but the cat could see Thunder glancing impatiently at the back of the room, as if expecting the real hypnotist to finally show up. Of course, that didn't have to mean anything. He had always been impatient.

Finally, the lights got even dimmer and someone walked into the stage. Their silhouette remained hidden in the shadows for a second before a red spotlight whirred somewhere and shone on it, making the reigning darkness dissipate. There was a round of applause when the robed figure was clearly visible onstage. Cloud couldn't say he was surprised, but Thunder and Rain looked at each other as if there had been no way they could be expecting that.

Dominic, or rather Master Domigator, bowed with a huge smile on his face. He was wearing an elegant dark grey tailcoat with intricate copper-colored patterns that had a certain steampunk touch to it. The chain of his pocketwatch could be seen hanging out from one his pockets. Even though the alligator had been sitting with them ten or fifteen minutes ago at most, he looked like a completely different person now that he was dressed with his whole stage hypnotist attire. Not even the expressions on his face looked the same.

"You were right, Cloud," Rain whispered, when people stopped applauding. "He was the hypnotist all along."

"I told you." The cat felt a sliver of pride building inside him, together with the understandable flustered feelings of watching Dominic playing his role onstage. He had to admit the alligator made a very hot hypnotist dressed like that. Under the red spotlight, he looked even more handsome.

Hopefully, no one would notice his red cheeks under those lights. Not that he'll call me onstage, Cloud thought. He's definitely going to call Rain. He knows he's the most suggestible of us.

"Good evening, folks," Dominic began talking, clasping his hands together. His voice was completely different now and Cloud guessed he was using his signature hypnotist voice. That's a voice I could melt to, he thought. He tried to get rid of that thought as soon as possible. "I'm very happy to be here again. Apparently, some of you like these shows enough that I was invited again. I have to say I'm not really surprised to see some familiar faces here and there."

Some people in the audience chuckled. Cloud was starting to wonder if they were the only ones who still hadn't seen the hypnotist in action. He wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing.

"As you probably know by now, my shows aren't too long, but I try to make them a bit different," the alligator explained, walking around the stage. Cloud could have sworn he was looking at him when he said those words. "I will spare you the talk about hypnosis that I've given you so many times. Most of you probably know what this is all about by now."

"We don't," Thunder complained. Cloud was about to chuckle when he remembered that, less than an hour ago, the wolf had basically interrupted Dominic's explanation.

"However, I need to remind you that bad jokes, insults or simply mocking any person who comes onstage with me tonight won't be tolerated." He frowned as he said those words.That's nice of him, Cloud thought. He'd heard of some hypnotists who gave that kind of warning before their shows, but it wasn't as common as he would have liked. "We're here to have a good time. We can of course laugh all together at the situations that unfold here, but this is a safe space. Is that understood?"

There were a few "yeah!"s in the audience. Cloud thought he could see some other people nodding in silence. Many faces looked familiar, and the cat wondered if he'd come across them in that silly app. He was regretting ever having installed it - now he could know who was a hypnokinkster much more easily, and he wasn't sure he was comfortable having that knowledge.

Dominic grinned onstage. All those teeth showing made him look even more handsome and Cloud moved uncomfortably on his seat, thinking that they were going to have dinner together, whatever the result of their bet was.

"So, today I'd like to ask someone special to come onstage," he announced, still grinning. "You know that I usually ask for one volunteer, but this time I think we're going to do things a bit more differently. I also have a bet I'd love to win, so bear with me."

Someone chuckled at the back of the room. Cloud frowned and he needed to remind himself that it was impossible anyone knew about his bet with the alligator, except for his two friends.

"Anyway, I don't want to keep you waiting. You've come to watch a show and that's exactly what you're going to get." His eyes gleamed with amusement. "I'd like to ask my friends Thunder, Rain and Cloud to come up to the stage with me!"

"What?!" exclaimed Thunder, visibly surprised. The following round of applause muted his voice, but he turned to look at Cloud with wide open eyes. "I thought he was supposed to call you onstage?"

"Me?" Cloud asked, confused. There was something about the situation that he didn't like at all, and the worst thing was that it didn't even have to do with him getting hypnotized in front of an audience. "It's obviously Rain that he was going to call!"

"Oh, shut up." Rain complained, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't even paying attention, but I thought he'd want to prove to Thunder that he'd really been hypnotized or something. That makes much more sense to me."

"Hey, guys! Can you hear me? You're not supposed to be asleep yet," the alligator clarified from the stage. Several people laughed. "Come on, get closer! Don't be shy."

"Alright, let's do this..." Rain grumbled, standing up and beginning to walk towards the stage. Cloud wished he could be as determined as him.

Thunder was still a bit confused, but he finally saw the opportunity to really get hypnotized that he'd been waiting for and followed the raccoon's steps, unable to hide his enthusiasm. Cloud was left alone in the table, and it took him a few seconds to react.

"You too, Cloud! I'd love to have you here with me," Dominic insisted. He was looking at the cat with a wide smile. "Oh, and I hope this wasn't too unexpected for you."

"Not at all!" he exclaimed, trying to make himself heard. He stood up and walked towards the stage, trying to hide his embarrassment the best way he could by keeping it under a layer of cool indifference. The audience clapped again and he felt uncomfortably self-conscious.

Once on the stage, his heart began to beat faster. That was exactly the kind of situation that he hadn't wanted to get involved in. He should have been more worried about it and, instead, the only thing he was feeling was the absolute need to prove Dominic he was wrong and that there was nothing that could surprise him. Maybe the fact that he had a bet to focus on was making him less vulnerable to his bashful vein. He hoped that was the reason, anyway.

Another theory was that he'd been hypnotized by the alligator in advance and, even though he knew it didn't make any sense, that sent a weird wave of aroused and vulnerable feelings down his spine that he didn't want to have at the moment.

As soon as he climbed up to the stage, he realized that three chairs had been put in place in a matter of seconds. They were all facing the audience - as if to make their embarrassment fully visible, Cloud thought - and his two friends had already sat down. When the cat looked up, he realized Dominic was offering him one of his strong scaly hands to guide him to his seat. The cat gave him a playful grin and shook his head, instead sitting without his help. Dominic smiled back at him.

"I know what you're thinking, folks," he said then, turning to the audience. "Thunder, Rain and Cloud? They totally sound like fake names, right?"

"Hey, we're not to blame for our mothers' questionable decisions!" Thunder complained, getting a few laughs from the audience.

Dominic chuckled softly too.

"I know, I know. I'm just teasing. Sorry about it, guys." The alligator walked until he was standing between Thunder and Rain. He placed his left hand on Rain's right shoulder and his right hand on Thunder's left shoulder.

Cloud was looking at them from his chair, trying to imagine what the hypnotist's next move would be. He still believed that Rain had proved to be the more suggestible out of their group, so he was probably going to be the first to be put in a trance. That's how those shows worked, as far as he knew, and then Dominic would move to Thunder - who was really looking forward to being hypnotized and would have it easier when he'd seen it work with Rain.

"So, an hour ago more or less, I tried to hypnotize you, Thunder," the alligator said then, talking to both the wolf and the audience. "Can you say how that went?"

"Oh, yeah! Hmm... you basically used this pocketwatch thing to try to put me in a trance," the wolf recalled, scratching the back of his head. "You were swinging it left and right and saying things like I should feel calm and relaxed and stuff."

"Did it work?" Dominic asked.

"Er... no, it didn't," Thunder admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. "Guess I wasn't focusing that much. But you're going to hypnotize me now, right?"

Dominic held his gaze for a second, then smiled.

"Well, Thunder, that depends on you," he said, "but I think you're going to find it much easier this time. Sleep."

There was a brief moment in which everyone in the room thought that last word had been aimed at Thunder, and a confused look went across the wolf's face. However, when Rain slumped forward like a puppet whose strings had just been cut, it became apparent who it was that Dominic had really intended to put under. The alligator's hand was still on the raccoon's shoulder, rocking his body back and forth slowly. Rain's arms dangled freely at both sides and his body seemed to relax even further every time the alligator made him sway.

"There you go. Bet you'd been waiting to feel this good for a long time, hadn't you?" Dominic whispered, softly. The raccoon let out a soft moan, but that was his only reaction. "Getting more and more relaxed every passing second. That's good. Thaaaat's good."

The audience was suddenly much more silent, as if a part of them had been put in trance with Rain. Cloud knew that was ridiculous. They were probably impressed with how easily the hypnotist had put his first subject under. Of course, they didn't know what he knew - that Dominic had paved the way beforehand, when no one was watching.

"W-wow..." Apparently, Thunder didn't know that either, since he was looking at his friend with an open mouth. "That was... amazing."

"It was pretty fast, wasn't it?" Dominic said, turning to him with a smile. As he spoke with Thunder, his hand kept rocking Rain back and forth. "Your friend is very suggestible. He dropped into trance like a rock. I think he was really looking forward to it."

Thunder nodded, but it didn't look like he could understand any of that. Dominic turned to Cloud, who was still sitting in his chair and watching the whole scene unfold in front of him.

"Surprised yet, cat?" the alligator asked, with a smirk.

But Cloud tilted his head.

"You know I already guessed who was going to be your first subject. The only difference is I thought he was going to be the only one. That's not a big deal."

"So you're not surprised, then." It seemed as if Dominic was trying to make sure before making his next move.

"Maybe a bit impressed with how quick it happened, but you're an expert, am I right?" Cloud said, shrugging.

However, he was internally fighting the urge to look away from the alligator. The vision of his friend getting hypnotized so easily had ignited a flame inside him... one that wasn't not only threatening to make him blush crazily, but that also had woken something else. Red lights, he thought. No one will see you blushing. Just try to play it cool. He adjusted his posture, crossing one leg on the other.

"Apparently I am, yeah," was Dominic's answer. "Wanna see your other friend hypnotized too?"

Thunder gave them a questioning look.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asked. "Are you going to..."

"Sure, why not," Cloud said, shrugging. The mere idea of seeing the wolf slipping into trance sent a shiver down his spine and he had to adjust his position again.

Dominic gave him a toothy grin and turned to a very puzzled Thunder. His hand finally moved away from Rain's shoulder and the raccoon remained as limp and relaxed as he'd been since he'd received that first, sudden command to sleep. Then, the alligator took Thunder's paw and shook it gently, keeping eye contact with him.

"You're going to be hypnotized, Thunder," Dominic stated. His face had never looked more serious. "You know that. You gave me permission before, right? And now I'm going to fulfill my promise."

The wolf looked back at Dominic, still a bit confused. After a second, he nodded and gulped. The alligator's face slowly turned into a smile.

"Nice."

He lifted his other hand and placed it in front of Thunder's eyes, forcing him to break eye contact. He kept it there, motionless, and then his fingers began moving slowly, fluttering around like the wings of a butterfly.

"Huh," the wolf said.

"You're going to follow my fingers now, Thunder." From his point of view, Cloud thought that there wasn't much else the wolf could do. The swift, subtle movements had to be overwhelming, at least if Thunder was trying to keep track of them. And knowing him, he was probably trying way too hard. "That's right. Up and down, left and right. Follow them. Good. Goooood."

Thunder's head was moving, unable to follow the motion just with his eyes. Cloud's gaze lowered down to Dominic's other hand, which was still holding the wolf's paw and gently moving it in different directions. The calico cat tried to understand whether both movements were related, but his eyes couldn't follow both hands at the same time. He had a feeling that he'd seen that kind of induction before, somewhere, maybe in a random video he hadn't found hot enough to keep. He didn't know how it worked, but he knew it'd be effective.

Thunder looked like he was focusing too hard on the fluttering fingers to anticipate Dominic's sudden and firm yank on his paw. The wolf slumped forward much like his friend had before him and his body seemed to lose all strength, his hyperactive eyes closing down almost immediately. The alligator kept swaying Thunder's arm back and forth, helping his muscles relax, and then he let it drop on the wolf's lap with a thud.

Cloud had to admit he was surprised Dominic hadn't needed to tell his friend to "sleep". Instead, it seemed as if a part of the wolf had been expecting that to happen. Again, he didn't know how any of that worked, but he could tell now that the alligator was actually a much more experienced hypnotist that he'd thought when they'd met.

"Two down," he said, grinning at Cloud. "One to go."

Thunder looked so deeply asleep on his chair that Cloud felt a familiar tingle taking over his body. He squirmed on his seat, hoping that no one would realize how flustered that was making him feel. Dominic walked slowly towards him and he tried to calm down.

"Are you okay, cat?" the alligator asked, once he was by his side.

Cloud gulped. Trying to keep his cool façade was getting harder and harder by the minute.

"I'm a... I'm a bit nervous," he admitted.

"Yeah, I can tell." One of those heavy hands fell on the cat's shoulder. He shivered. "You're trembling. Your breathing is fast and shallow. And you're... blushing, aren't you?"

"Oh, shut up," Cloud groaned.

He didn't know what the audience would think of that interaction, but Dominic was right, of course. No matter how hard he tried to pretend that whole situation wasn't affecting him, it must have been obvious to someone who was as close to him as the alligator was. And apparently, Dominic liked teasing him. Maybe that was his revenge for having doubted his hypnotic skills before? There was no way Cloud could know.

However, he wasn't expecting what the alligator said a few seconds later.

"There's an app on your phone," he said, squeezing his shoulder gently. "You know perfectly well what app I'm talking about. Would you be so kind as to open it now, please?"

"W... what?!" the cat asked, pulling away from Dominic's grip and glaring at him as if he couldn't understand what he'd just heard. "Are you insane?! I'm not going to open that in here!!"

"Hey, calm down." The alligator walked around the chair until he was in front of Cloud, blocking the view of the audience from the cat's position. Then, the hypnotist squatted down in order to look him in the eye and gave him a reassuring smile. "I promise this is not to embarrass you. There's something I need to show you. And besides, only you and I are going to see what's on the app, okay? You don't have to do it if you don't want to but... well." He winked an eye at his subject. "It will be a very nice surprise. You'll see."

Cloud had no idea what Dominic meant by that. He breathed in deep a few times, trying to calm himself down. His mind couldn't stop repeating that walking into that place had been a very bad idea and that he should have opposed to that plan from the beginning. There was nothing he could do about it now, though.

"You can trust me," Dominic said, and Cloud thought he meant it. "It's alright. Nothing embarrassing is going to happen."

He wasn't fully sure why he finally decided to trust the alligator - maybe because they'd made a bet, after all - but in the end he just let out a long sigh and took his mobile phone out of his pocket. After unlocking the screen, the cat searched for the app and tapped to open it, glancing nervously at Dominic, who was standing by his side again. A load screen with a suggestive spiral appeared on his mobile phone, and Cloud wondered if that was what the alligator would use to put him into a trance. Didn't look like that was what he had in mind.

The cat finally managed to log into his account and he could see that there were a few matches nearby. Well, that's not surprising at all, he thought. His eyes moved all over the screen, trying to find whatever Dominic thought he needed to know. Then, he reached his profile section and he frowned.

"What... what's this?" he asked, confused.

"Your profile," Dominic answered, as if he'd been expecting the question.

"No, it isn't," Cloud said. He shook his head.

He'd never liked posting many pictures of himself on social media, so there were only two in which he could see himself clearly. And it wasn't... him. He could see a raccoon who looked quite similar to Rain, smiling back at the camera. In one of the pics, he was wearing shades and looking back at the camera with a sheepish smile... that did look like his own, he had to admit it.

And the profile's name... It wasn't Cloud.

"This isn't my profile," he insisted, turning to look at Dominic. The alligator rewarded him with an amused smirk, the kind that would have made him blush under any other circumstances. But all his embarrassment was buried under a thick layer of confusion now. "I don't know who that guy is, but it isn't me."

"I must have hacked your account then." Dominic shrugged. "That's the only possible explanation."

"I don't how you did it, but..."

"Or maybe I hypnotized you into changing your profile info," the alligator suggested. He looked as if he was having a lot of fun with the situation. "What do you think?"

Cloud looked at his phone once again. Then, he closed the app and put it back in his pocket.

"I'm not hypnotized," he said. He wasn't too convinced now, but still.

"Right. But we're about to fix that, if you don't mind."

Cloud heard a familiar metallic sound right next to his ear. He was about to turn and look, but then the pocketwatch appeared on his field of vision. Dominic lowered it slowly until it was right in front of his eyes.

"You're not going to hypnotize me with a pocketwatch," he said under his breath.

Dominic chuckled softly.

"We have one bet going on," he reminded him, calmly. "Let's not make it two, okay?"

Cloud was about to complain, but then the pocketwatch began moving. His mind was still wondering what that whole profile thing had been about and whatever part of it that wasn't busy trying to find an explanation was still feeling utterly flustered. His eyes began following the shiny trinket as it swung back and forth and he couldn't even muster the strength to stop himself from doing that.

"Okay. I just need you to look at the pocketwatch, Cloud. I know that it's a bit hard to track the fast movement now, but you'll find your eyes getting used to it in time. Left and right. Good. I can see that you're doing a good job."

"Isn't... isn't this the same you said to..." Cloud began.

But Dominic interrupted his words by squeezing his shoulder gently. The hand that wasn't making that pocketwatch swing back and forth had found its place on the cat's shoulder. It felt heavy and reassuring.

"You can allow yourself to focus only on the pocketwatch and the sound of my voice. Left and right. Let the rest of the room fade away as you focus more and more. It's easy to relax and just follow the pocketwatch left and right. Getting used to the movement now, right?"

Cloud nodded slowly. Something weird was going on. It wasn't that the audience was becoming an indistinct blur the more he focused on the pocketwatch. It wasn't that Dominic's voice had never sounded better and he wanted it to ease every single spot of his mind. It wasn't that all his conflicted feelings were being replaced by pleasant relaxation. All of that was reasonable. He was being hypnotized after all. It was to be expected.

The weird thing was that the pocketwatch was swinging slower now than when Dominic had tried to hypnotize Thunder. Cloud was absolutely sure that it had been moving faster back then. His eyes found it very easy to track the constant movement and it wasn't only because the alligator was suggesting that they should. It was because the pocketwatch's wide arcs were easier to follow now, too. He couldn't explain it.

"And whenever the pocketwatch swings left, it means you're calm. And whenever it swings right, it means you're empty. Just like that. It's very easy to feel calm and empty as the pocketwatch swings left and right, left and right..."

Isn't 'empty' a bit overkill for an induction that just begun? Cloud asked himself. The tiny part of his conscience that wasn't focusing on something else felt slightly amused. But then the pocketwatch swung right and the amusement got replaced by a big load of nothing.

"See? So very easy. You're doing a very good job, Cloud. I knew you'd be a natural." There was a small pause. Left, right. Left, right. Calm, empty. "I can see you're drifting easily into that space. And I'm pretty sure you're familiar with it, aren't you? Just let yourself fall into it again. That's right."

Cloud would have liked to say or think something, but at that point the only thing that he could really focus on was the pocketwatch swinging left and right. His eyes followed the motion automatically and his mind kept track of his eyes following the motion that his mind was keeping track of. There was only room for that and he was calm and empty. Left and right. He was so lost in it that he didn't even notice the hand on his shoulder had moved to the side of his neck.

"Let me do something else to you now, Cloud," Dominic's wonderful voice said. Something pulled down from his body to the right, and then to the left, and he found his body rocking back and forth subtly. It took the cat's hyper-focused mind a few seconds to realize that whenever the pocketwatch swung right, his body swung left, and vice versa. "Remember that whenever you go left you feel calm, and whenever you go right, you feel empty. And keep following the pocketwatch."

It wasn't as if Cloud could do any other thing, but it was getting increasingly difficult to focus. The pocketwatch was swinging in a direction, but his body was swaying in other, and his mind was beginning to have trouble trying to tell them apart. He could only feel himself rocking back and forth constantly as his eyes followed the slow, wide arcs obediently. Each time that happened, his consciousness slipped a bit further out of reach.

"Can't think, can you, Cloud?"

Cloud couldn't. There was too much going on in order to think. He was trapped in the same motions going on that didn't mean anything at all but that he was following nonetheless even if he didn't know what the difference was, and as the pocketwatch and his body kept swinging rliegfhtt and rliegfhtt and he felt ecmapltmy and ecmapltmy he barely heard the word:

"Sleep."

* * *

Finn wasn't enjoying the party half as much as he'd thought he would.

When Artie had invited him, he'd supposed they would spend some time together, or at least tried to catch up. He hadn't seen the easily excitable wolf in quite a long time and he'd really missed his company. Sometimes, when he was alone, his pessimistic vein grew too powerful and he needed someone around who would just inject him with the kind of positivy that made his days easier. Artie had been that kind of friend in the past, but now that he'd moved to a different town to study, they hadn't been able to do that as much as he would have liked.

The wolf had invited some other friends to his Halloween party, too. People that Finn didn't know, but that really seemed to make Artie laugh with inside jokes that he wasn't invited to understand. He'd assumed those must be his friend's coworkers, but he couldn't tell. It wasn't as if Artie had introduced them either, so he probably wouldn't find out in the near future. In any case, he could see that they were having lots of fun together and he didn't want to intrude. Now, sitting in a couch at the corner of the room and eating some snacks while looking distractedly at his phone and smiling whenever someone made a joke that he totally didn't get, he wasn't angry or anything.

He just felt... left out.

"Eh, excuse me." Someone's voice startled him. He hadn't expected anyone to pay any attention to him. "You're Finn, right?"

The raccoon looked to the left to find a tall alligator that was giving him a shy, kind of cute smile. Finn remembered seeing him when one of Artie's groups of friends had arrived at the party. He'd thought that the alligator was quite handsome, with that red fannel shirt he was wearing and those glasses over his beautiful orange eyes. He'd also expected not to be approached by him in any way.

He'd always had to make the first move when it was about speaking with other boys, and right now he didn't feel like it.

"Yeah, that's me," he answered, smiling back. "You're... wait. Ugh. I'm terrible at names, sorry. Donnie?"

"Dominic."

"Close enough. I usually say something that's too different from the original thing and people wonder if I was paying attention or not when they introduced."

That was probably too long for a justification, but the alligator chuckled and sat down in the couch next to him. He then dragged it closer and placed it in front of Cloud's seat so that they could look at each other directly.

"So, uh..." He scratched the back of his head. "There's no easy way to say this, so I guess I'll do it right away."

"What is it?" Finn asked, feeling a bit worried all of a sudden. Of course, there was something bad going on. Why would such a handsome guy talk to him otherwise?

"I... hmm." Dominic stopped. He looked away. Then he looked back at Finn and cleared his throat. "I found you on Zonkr."

"Zonkr? What do you- oh, no." Finn felt his cheeks turn red suddenly. "Uh... I..."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to!" Dominic reassured him, with a nervous smile. "It's just that... well, I thought I had to tell you. I'm not going to shame you or anything."

Finn held his beautiful orange gaze for a second and knew he was being honest. He sighed, trying to get rid of his embarrassment. He was constantly getting flustered at the silliest things. He hated it.

His eyes turned to the table at their right. An enormous amount of plastic cups and alcoholic drinks rested on it. No one was supposed to start drinking until seven, but...

"Have you ever tried..." He made a quick choice. "... vodka-gin... melon?"

"... no?" Dominic answered, looking a bit confused.

"Neither have I." Finn tried not to topple the tall tower of plastic cups someone had built, clearly thinking they were very original. He took two cups from the top and grabbed the bottles. "Want to... want to have some with me?"

Dominic looked puzzled. Finn couldn't blame him.

"Eh... sure."

The raccoon nodded and poured the content of the bottles in two cups, trying to measure the quantities correctly. He'd never been too good at that, to be honest, but that wasn't his main worry right now. He mixed the three liquids and stirred everything with a straw. Then, handed Dominic his cup of... whatever that was.

"Cheers!" he said, trying to smile.

They both drank from their cups and Finn practically took it all in one long gulp. It was definitely stronger than he'd anticipated and his eyes filled with tears, but he managed to keep cool. At least, until the very last time, when he coughed.

"Sorry," he apologized, once he stopped coughing and noticed Dominic's look of disgust at his own drink. "It's terrible. I thought this three things should mix well, but I didn't get the right quantities, did I?"

"That's okay," the alligator reassured him, chuckling. "I've probably had worse drinks. This doesn't even reach top ten."

"Oof. Wonder what's on top one, then," Finn said, relaxing a bit. He'd never been very resistent to alcohol and he could feel it getting to his head. It wasn't enough to make him drunk - not in an embarrassing way, at least - but he felt slightly more unhibited now.

"Maybe I'll tell you some day." Dominic winked an eye at him. Finn thought that if he had been more drunk, that alone would have made him melt like a candlestick. "I still want to speak about Zonkr, though. If yo're comfortable with that, of course."

"What about it?" Finn asked, looking down at his drink. He stirred the remaining contents of his cup with the straw. "I guess you're not going to tell me that its messaging system sucks, right?"

"No. Although it does!"

Both chuckled at the same time and Finn took a sip from his cup with a big smile on his face. He was beginning to feel a bit flustered now, but for completely different reasons.

"The thing is..." Dominic began, that shy smile appearing on his face once again. "We matched."

Finn looked up from his drink. He moved on his seat, crossed one leg on the other, went back to his original position. Finished the vodka-gin-melon thing. Had an impulse to leave the cup on the table. Then decided he didn't want to get rid of something he could fiddle with. He cleared his throat and looked up.

He was blushing. He didn't try to hide it this time.

"D-did we, now?" he whispered.

* * *

"So now you understand how everything happened, right?"

No. Cloud couldn't understand anything.

There were too many people and directions and places and memories and they were all intermingling. He didn't know where he was, if he was somewhere at all. RLiegfhtt, rliegfhtt.

"You were never at a bar watching a hypnosis stage show. Cloud, Thunder and Rain were never there either. They don't even exist. You've been hypnotized from the beginning. But you couldn't remember, right?"

Cloud could remember a lot of things, but he wasn't sure which of them were real.

"And each time you saw Cloud, Thunder and Rain getting hypnotized in your dream, it was simply you getting put into a trance again, over..."

... and over...

"... and over." There was a brief pause. Cloud kept floating in the pleasant void. His mind was a window to nothingness. "Were you expecting that, Cloud?"

It took him a few seconds to answer. ECmapltmy, ecmapltmy.

"... no," he answered, finally. His voice sounded far and weak and sleepy and clueless.

"Did I surprise you, Cloud?" The other voice, however, had a playful tone.

"Yes..."

"And are you going to invite me to that dinner?"

He hesitated.

"I... I guess..." he mumbled. There was a part of him that should have felt more worried that he'd lost the bet, but it wasn't as if he could remember exactly what that bet had been about. At least, not right now.

"I don't know why I'm still calling you Cloud. That's not your name, right?"

Cloud tried to think about it for a second. It was like entering a maze blindfolded.

"I... dunno..." he heard himself saying.

Someone chuckled, very close to him. There was a warm sensation in his ear.

"Alright, then. Wake."

There was a snap somewhere and every single wall in the maze fell down silently. He still felt lost for a few seconds and his head was full of that wonderful sensation of being underwater, but he could tell he was rising slowly.

When Finn opened his eyes, the very first thing he noticed was that his head had been resting on Dominic's shoulder and that he'd been... drooling. Not much, fortunately, but his chin was all wet. The raccoon cleaned it with the back of his hand, knowing perfectly well that it was too late and someone must have seen him. He felt a bit embarrassed again, all of a sudden.

As if he'd been expecting that, Dominic chuckled. Finn could feel his body vibrate with the deep reverberation.

"Hey, welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"... good," Finn admitted. He tried to sit up and rubbed his eyes. The bed he was sitting on was soft and comfortable. He had a feeling that he'd been aware of it at some point. "Hmmmff. For how long have I been... out of it?"

Dominic took a look at his wristwatch and smiled.

"Not as much as you probably think. Twenty minutes, more or less."

"Twenty minutes..." Finn shook his head. "You're right. It felt much longer."

The alligator nodded.

"See? Told you I could surprise you," he said, patting the raccon's shoulder. "If you had just admitted I could, you wouldn't owe me dinner now."

"It's not my fault," Finn complained, stretching and purring softly as he felt his body adjust to being awake again. "An evil hypnotist tricked me into thinking I had a chance."

"You didn't?" Dominic asked. He was still smiling and there was a gleam in his eyes that was half-amused and half-proud.

"Apparently not," Finn answered, smiling back. He rubbed his head, enjoying the touch of his own fur. Hypnotic afterglow always made him feel all kinds of sleepy and fuzzy and soft. It was a completely whole different experience on its own. "Thank you, by the way. It was awesome."

"You're welcome."

Some noise was coming from behind the bedroom's door. They were still at Artie's house, Finn remembered, and even though they had looked for a more private place for the session, there was still a chance someone would find them there. However, that didn't look that terrible after having dreamt of being hypnotized in front of a whole audience.

"So you're not a real stage hypnotist, right?" Finn asked then, sitting next to Dominic. He had to admit that, even now that his whole hypnotist aesthetic was gone, Artie's friend was quite handsome.

The alligator adjusted his glasses and gave him an embarrassed smile.

"No, I'm not. My brother Xavier is, though. He taught me a lot."

"Uh. So your brother is a hypnotist too," Finn muttered, blinking a few times in disbelief. "Guess it runs in the family."

"Yeah." Dominic looked at him, hesitant, and then placed one of his big hands between the raccoon's ears. He purred in appreciation.

"Well, stage hypnotist or not, you did a wonderful job," Finn admitted, closing his eyes and enjoying the attention.

"Heh, I guess I did. By the way, the sound you're making... It's a bit weird for a raccon, don't you think?"

Finn opened one eye.

"What... what do you mean?" he asked, although he knew the answer.

"Raccoons don't purr."

The statement floated in the room for a few seconds. Finn had a feeling that he knew what was going on, but he decided to play dumb.

"Maybe some do," he said, rubbing his head against Dominic's scaly hand. "When stroked this way by handsome gator hypnotists."

He could tell that comment had made the alligator blush. He felt a bit proud of his achievement.

"That's highly specific," Dominic joked. "I don't know what Nature could have been thinking when it made raccoons that way."

"Maybe she wasn't thinking at all. Maybe she was hypnotized." Finn closed his eye and chuckled softly. "Maybe she was made to think she was a raccoon."

There was a brief silence and Dominic chuckled, too.

"So what are you then, if you're not what you think you are?"

"Doesn't look like I'll know 'til you wake me up, right? But probably something that purrs. Like a... Wait, have I been a calico cat all this time? That would be..."

Dominic stroked his head again and he left the sentence hanging there to purr instead. The alligator brought him a bit closer and the racoon let out a soft sigh.

"Will I be in this room when you wake me up?" Finn asked quietly. He sounded a bit worried.

"What do you... Oh. Yeah, you'll be here. This isn't a dream. You just don't remember what you are," the alligator explained, smiling warmly at the raccoon. "But I think you're going to wake completely... now."

He snapped his fingers again. It wasn't a very loud snap, but it brought back Finn's species to his mind. They both stayed in silence for a while.

Then, the cheetah chuckled softly and he gave up.

"Okay. Good! I'm surprised! I didn't' see any of this coming!" he admitted, lying on his back and shaking his head in disbelief. "I'll invite you to that dinner. Maybe not the most expensive place..."

"... yeah, that's not necessary..."

"... but I promise it'll be a nice restaurant," Finn concluded. "Man, that was amazing. If you're this good, I don't want to know how your brother is."

"I just said he's a stage hypnotist, not that he's better than me," Dominic reminded him.

"Yeah, right."

"However, since we're talking about stage hypnotists..." Dominic's voice got slightly lower and he gave Finn a suggestive smile. "You know that tailcoat you saw in your dream? You seemed to like it a lot. Well, I... I actually have that one at home. In case you're... interested."

He winked an eye at Finn, who considered the idea and held his gaze, fascinated.

It seemed like the party hadn't been such a waste of time, after all.