FSE

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"Okay, then. What are we betting?"

Airis looked back at the blue tiger sitting in front of him, whose tail was wagging back and forth excitedly. He couldn't help but smile at the feline's obvious enthusiasm, even though he was supposed to not let anything happen.

"You sound very confident for someone who's been hypnotized so many times," the fox noted, with a smirk.

"That's exactly why I'm confident. I'm probably familiar with most of the stuff you're going to try, so it'll be easy for me to avoid it." Xyln shrugged. "Besides, last time I checked you weren't that much into hypnosis. You probably just have some basic knowledge and that's it. I can fight that."

"You forget I'm a fox," Airis reminded him, with a wide grin. "I have a powerful instinct to disrupt natural order."

"And you forget I'm a cat. Big and all, but still. My powerful instinct involves refusing to do what I'm told."

"An instinct you must have betrayed many times," Airis teased.

Xyln scoffed, crossing his arms on his chest.

"If you think you're going to get anywhere with that, you're wrong. Teasing will just make me flustered. Not suggestible," he claimed, raising an eyebrow.

"Fair enough."

The fox decided Xyln was probably right. Besides, he didn't need to convince the tiger that his shenanigans were going to work. His friend would probably find out in time. He moved on his seat, trying to find a comfortable position, and then looked up into Xyln's orange eyes. He seemed excited.

"Dinner," he said, then.

"Dinner?" Xyln repeated, puzzled.

"Yeah! What we're betting. Remember?"

"Oh! Hmm. I guess dinner is alright, yes." Xyln smiled. "But I'll only accept fancy places, you know? Cats have standards."

Airis smiled back and nodded.

"That's fine by me." He cleared his throat. "Okay, so I have a pretty good idea of how we're going to do this. It's simple enough that you shouldn't have any problem trying to resist. In fact, you're right that I was planning to do something basic. A countdown."

"A countdown?" Xyln asked. He seemed surprised, but Airis could see the curious glint in his eyes.

"Yeah. But with a twist, so to speak. This is how I think we should do this." Airis leaned forward and clasped his paws together. "We have ten minutes. If in this time I don't manage to put you under, you win. If you can't stay awake and you end up slipping into trance, I win. That's pretty easy, right?"

"Ten minutes. Yeah. It's a short time," Xyln noted, although he knew that there were some talented people out there who could do it in five. Not like hypnosis was a speed contest, though.

He had to admit that he hadn't expected Airis to be so self-assured. The orange fox had always had that cocky streak, but Xyln had always assumed he'd been kidding. Maybe he'd always been serious after all.

"So, uh, going back to the countdown," Airis continued, "it's pretty simple, actually. You'll have to count down from ten, and when you reach zero you'll be deep asleep."

"Pffft. Classic."

"I knew you'd say that. That's why we're making things a bit different." The fox's cyan eyes gleamed enigmatically. "You only have to count down to the number that would make ten if you add the tails that you're watching."

"What?" Xyln asked, confused.

"It's easier than it sounds like. For example, right now I have one tail." As the fox said those words, the big, thick tail drew a slow, wide arc at his back. "So you only have to count down to nine. Does that make any sense?"

"Uh. So basically I have to count to ten minus the tails you have," Xyln said, frowning. Then, he smiled. "But that doesn't make any sense, Airis. You only have one tail."

"Do I?" Airis asked. Xyln was about to answer the question, but then the fox kept explaining. "Once you reach the number - nine, in this hypothetical case - you have to go back to ten and begin counting down again. Oh, and you'll have to do this while staring at my tail, obviously. Do you think you can do that?"

"Repeating ten and nine for ten minutes straight?" Xyln rested his head on one paw, while his other paw's claws tapped on the table. He gave his friend a toothy grin. "Booooring. Easy, but terribly boring."

Airis smiled back and started his wristwatch's timer. He then placed it on the table, right in front of the blue tiger.

"Okay," he said. "We start."

Xyln nodded and focused on Airis' big tail. He'd seen it plenty of times - there was nothing weird about it. The fox's tail was orange with its mandatory white tip. The only unusual thing in his fur pattern was the cyan line that went from the base of his tail right to the tip, splitting it in two. As it moved left and right in front of him and behind his friend, Xyln didn't have any problem following it. It was then when he remembered he was supposed to count down.

"Ten, nine." The tiger wondered how much time he was supposed to leave between countdown and countdown. His eyes moved down from the fox's tail to his eyes, waiting for him to intervene. When Airis remained silent and simply pointed upwards, telling him to focus on the tail, he groaned and repeated the same words again. "Ten, nine."

Those ten minutes were going to be really long if things kept going that way. He clasped his paws together and tried to think of something to do in the meantime. Airis hadn't said he couldn't speak between countdowns, but he didn't want to risk losing his bet because of a silly loophole. He decided he'd only answer when asked, and kept focusing on the tail.

"Ten, nine. Ten, nine."

Airis' fur coloration was... weird. Xyln couldn't really judge, since he had blue fur and orange pawpads - but his friend's shades seemed to be more saturated and, consequently, more difficult to keep track of. As the big tail moved back and forth, the tiger could almost see both colors blurring. The weird optical illusion was enough to break his concentration for a second, and when his eyes focused on the tail again, it actually looked like...

It looked like there were two tails.

"W-what..." Xyln began, losing track of his countdowns. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Airis asked. His grin got sharper. "Keep counting."

"Ten, nine. Eight." Xyln still wanted to say something, so he risked opening his mouth, even if that meant losing his bet. "You never told me you had... several tails."

"You never asked," Airis answered. "Keep counting."

"Ten, nine, eight. So does that mean you're a kitsune? Ten, nine, eight."

"It means I have several tails." Airis pointed at the timer and grinned. "Keep counting."

He sounds like a broken record, Xyln thought, feeling a bit annoyed. But sure, if he wants me to keep counting, I'll keep counting.

"Ten, nine, eight. Ten, nine, eight. Ten, nine... w-what...?"

Xyln didn't notice both tails had split into two until they were swaying back and forth in front of him. There had been no process the tiger could see - the rhythmical movement had been uninterrupted and smooth, drawing wide arcs at the back of the fox. At some point there had been two tails and now there were four. That was the only thing Xyln knew.

He quickly adjusted his countdown, trying not to let his stupor get to him. Ten minus four. Six.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six. Ten, night..."

"So how much time do we have left?" Airis asked.

Xyln's eyes glanced down to the timer set in front of him. It was running backwards from ten to zero, and it currently showed 8:11. Ten minus eight... two. No, wait.

"E-eight minutes." The tiger answered, as his gaze moved back to the swaying tails. How could he have made such a silly mistake? It was difficult not to follow the same process with the timer that he was using for the tails, but that was ridiculous. Airis was definitely trying to play some mind tricks on him. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six... five." Xyln had been so busy thinking about his friend's intentions that he hadn't notice the additional tail at his back. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five."

They had moved from one tail to five in over a minute. The tiger wasn't even sure how many other tails the fox was keeping hidden, but right now he hoped they weren't many. Focusing on the swaying tails was taking all his attention. It wasn't difficult to keep track of all of them, especially now that he had to keep counting them every now and then, making sure one extra tail hadn't appeared. His mind kept counting up one, two, three, four, five, while his mouth kept counting down "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five," and the tension between both processes was quite difficult to bear.

Under any other circumstances, Xyln would have guessed Airis was counting on that, and would have been surprised that the fox had found such a simple way to confuse him. But those two inversely proportional counts were enough to keep his mind focused, and there was no room to think of anything else. If he did, he might lose his bet, and that was the last thing he wanted at that point. He'd win. He would...

Was that an additional tail? Xyln had to double check. Okay so there's six tails at his back now, the blue tiger thought. That means I have to count six numbers down. His internal dialogue calmed him down a bit, and he began to count down out loud again. "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five..." Wait, no. This is what I counted last time when there were only five tails. Did I get it wrong back then? Did I... His trail of thought interrupted, froze and took a few seconds to restart again. Ten minus six - four. Yeah. That's right. "... f-four. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four."

He couldn't believe he'd made such a silly mistake, but he didn't think about it for long. His mind was straining a bit trying to keep track of all those tails, swaying back and forth as they intermingled in front of their eyes. Cyan and orange blurring in front of him, an eerie feeling crawling up his spine with a cold shiver as he fought to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four."

His eyes were focused on the arc those six tails drew, trying to make sure he'd spot any additional tail that would appear. Six was a lot to follow, though, and he wasn't even sure he could do that with many more tails. At some point, the blue tiger considered he might lose that bet after all.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four."

But that thought was soon pulled away to the back of his mind. He had to focus on the tails. He had to keep counting. He had to keep track of the tails in case a new one showed up. Then, he had to adjust his countdown. It was a difficult task, but it was what he had to do.

He was so focused on the exercise that he barely realized the seventh tail had appeared until a few seconds had passed.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, t-". He stuttered, stopping himself from continuing the countdown. "T-ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three."

He was too busy staring at the tails to tell, but he could have sworn that Airis was grinning. The tiger didn't mind and just kept on doing his job. He was supposed to keep counting down. He had become so familiarized with the wide arc of those tails and with the sound of his voice counting out loud, repeating the numbers with the same exact tone, that the whole process was sort of automatic by now. He wasn't really thinking about the countdowns now as words came out of his slightly open mouth, deep orange eyes moving back and forth following the smooth, rhythmic yet chaotic movement of all those tails.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. Ten nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two."

He was counting one more number down now. That must mean there was another tail to stare at. The tiger tried to find it.

_There_it was.

The part of his mind that was counting down had noticed the new additional tail before his eyes did. That was weird, but not enough to stop him or snap him out of the hyper-focused state he found himself in. He wasn't even aware of how much time had passed since he'd begun doing that. The memory of the timer was blurry in his mind, just like those eight - nine tails swaying left and right in front of him. He'd forgotten about it.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one..."

It was taking him longer now to restart the countdowns once they reached one. It felt tiring. Nine tails to focus on was a lot. His mind tried to resist the exhausting task, but it was too much. His body was heavy and sinking, almost slumped on the table now. He felt like he was dreaming.

Airis chuckled, and it sounded far away for some reason.

"Look at the timer, tiger," he said then.

Xyln's eyes moved down from the nine waving tails to the wristwatch. As his eyes unfocused from the dreamy motion, the whole world seemed to tumble and swirl around him. Everything was blurry. His tired eyes had to make an effort to understand the number displayed on the wristwatch. His sluggish tongue found it hard to move as he counted down in a whisper.

"Ten, nine, eight... seven, six, five, four... three, two, one..."

0:00. That was the number on the small screen.

There was something he was supposed to do when reaching that number, he recalled, right before his mind extinguished like the feeble flame of a candle. The whole weight of his body fell on the table and his eyes closed heavily, too tired to stay open. Slack-jawed, drooling and limp, the tiger drifted into a deep, confused trance as the image of the nine swaying tails faded out and was replaced by pleasant, empty darkness.

Airis' grin widened as he took his wristwatch. He hadn't expected the tiger to resist for so long and, to be fair, he'd only dropped into trance after seeing the number zero on the watch, which officially meant he'd won the bet. There goes my free dinner, the fox thought.

However, he wasn't disappointed with the results he'd gotten. Free dinner or not, now he had a very suggestible tiger to play with and the fox's mind could think of a few possibilities to make up for the lost bet.

"Let's see," he said as his only tail stroke the air gently. "What should I do with you now?"