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The pocketwatch had begun swinging in front of Kenan long ago. Maybe even hours - hours of wide, shiny arcs being drawn in the air, back and forth, right in front of his eyes. At this point, the only thing that was close to making the red dragon fall asleep was pure, immeasurable boredom. He would have glanced up to the so-called hypnotist's face if he hadn't promised to keep his eyes in the damn boring watch.

"Is this going to take much longer?" he asked, instead. "I have things to do, you know."

"How much longer do you think it can take?"

"I dunno. We've been here for hours," Kenan complained.

"For hours, heh?"

"Well, you know what I mean. It's not been hours, but it certainly feels like it's been."

The alligator chuckled. His wrist never stopped flicking the pocketwatch left and right, but other than that, he remained almost as motionless as his subject.

"You sure you aren't hypnotized then? That sounds like something someone who's been hypnotized would say."

"I don't know. Am I? I don't feel like I am, but I could be," Kenan replied, cautiously.

He knew how these things were, the golden rule of hypnosis. The moment you said you weren't hypnotized was the moment they proved you actually were, so the key to resisting hypnosis was to be open to the possibility. If they told you you were hypnotized you had to say "Oh sure, right!" and then you'd be completely awake, for the hypnotist would try to prove you wrong.

Or at least, that's what he had gathered from dozens of hypnosis videos on the internet.

"Wanna take a look at the mirror then?" the alligator asked, moving a few inches to the right.

The pocketwatch kept drawing its arcs, unstoppable, but a mirror could be seen behind the place where the alligator's body had stood mere seconds before. As he kept tracking the timepiece's movement back and forth, Kenan could see his own reflection. It was that of a really bored dragon, eyes moving left and right impatiently as instructed. No signs of intelligence loss, hyper-fixation, drooling or mindlessness at sight.

That must have meant he was awake.

"What do you think?" the alligator asked, going back to its position. His fancy tailcoat filled Kenan's vision beyond the pocketwatch. The alligator had chosen to wear it for the occasion, even if there wasn't a show to host or anything like that. Plus, Kenan thought it was actually his brother's.

"I think it seems I'm not hypnotized," the dragon answered, trying to be honest. "I think I feel like I'm not hypnotized and I even talk normally, like an awake person. So I guess I'm not, but... I could be."

"You don't sound confident at all," the alligator noted, chuckling. "Did you expect something different or...?"

"I guess I expected to have my thoughts swirling or fading or something like that," Kenan explained, trying to remember what his expectations had been before they started. Gosh, it had happened so long ago he could barely remember, but he might bet they'd been completely normal. "Or be drooling mindlessly. I expected to obey you without a second thought, I suppose. The kind of stuff you see in movies. I don't know."

"Well, real hypnosis isn't like the stuff you see in movies," the alligator pointed out, still grinning.

"I know it isn't. But I kinda expected you to make me feel like I was in one with suggestions after a proper induction. Like, I thought you'd give me hallucinations or that kind of stuff. You know what I mean?"

"Seems like someone knows a thing or two about hypnosis. Well, well. I didn't know that."

"Oh, shut up, Dominic." The red dragon smiled nervously. "You must have known from the very beginning. I was so flustered the first time I saw you do this in a party. That cheetah never stood a chance..."

"Finn? He invited me to dinner afterwards. He's really nice, you know."

"I know, although I haven't talked much to him. Are you two, er, a thing? It looked like you two were a thing."

"A thing? As in a couple? Uh, no!! Not yet, at least. I feel we're going in that direction but I'm not completely sure. I might have to bring up the subject with him sometime soon."

"Yeah. Preferably when he's not hypnotized and believing he's a cat named Cloud."

"Yeah!" Dominic chuckled. The alligator seemed to hold that memory in high esteem and, even though the dragon wasn't looking at him, he knew he was probably beaming with pride. "Preferably. By the way, how are you feeling, Rob?"

"... Rob?"

"Uh, sorry. How are you feeling, Kenan?"

"Yeah, that's not working. And I feel - Wait, Kenan and Rob, seriously? They're not even similar names, they're so different!"

"So were Cloud and Finn, and it took him like an hour to get used to it when I brought him back."

"Well, I'm not falling for that."

"Which means you don't think you're hypnotized?"

"Huh, don't tempt me. Anyway, going back to you and Finn, I'm glad you found someone to hang out with. You used to stay home every single day before you met him."

"Thanks! How are you and Monica going, by the way?"

"Oh, you know us, we're doing fine. I told her I was going to do this with you and she just scoffed."

"Typical Monica."

"Yeah. It'll be our first year together tomorrow."

"Oh, congratulations! Has she planned something for you two, Rob?"

"Nothing that I know of, but I'm pretty sure she has. And it's Kenan. Told you, you're not going to play on me the same trick you played on Finn."

"Probably not, but I have to try. Wanna check the mirror again?"

"Sure."

The brief silence when Dominic stood up to move aside, still swinging the pocketwatch back and forth, felt weird to Kenan. They'd been speaking for so long that when the flow of words got interrupted he almost felt as if he'd been taken out of some kind of dreamy space. The reflection on the mirror, however, was completely normal. His eyes were still moving back and forth, focusing on the pocketwatch, but no signs of hypnosis whatsoever.

Dominic's body got in line of sight again. Kenan's eyes relaxed a bit - following the pocketwatch when he didn't have to focus on the background was much easier.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah. Everything alright. Looking normal."

"Depends on your definition of 'normal', I suppose."

"And what's your definition of 'normal' then, huh?"

"Well, I mean... My definition of 'normal' is not important - yours is. When it's hypnosis we're talking about, you should always consider I have open access to your mind so I can change whatever I want."

"... that sounds a bit overdone, to be honest."

"Hmmmm maybe. What I'm saying is I could easily change your definition of 'normal' so that whatever you're seeing fits that definition for you, no matter how much you look into it. Put a filter over your eyes, so to speak."

"I'm not sure I understand. So, you could technically make me think a chicken wing is a hot dog?"

"Er, yeah, I suppose I could. I don't get why I'd do that, but sure!"

"But you couldn't possibly have done that. You haven't..."

"... hypnotized you yet?"

Kenan took a deep breath in. He had almost pronounced the magical words.

"Everything's possible, I suppose."

"You don't sound very convinced."

"That's because I'm not very convinced."

"That I have hypnotized you or that I haven't?"

"... both?"

"Okay, let's convince you then." Dominic paused for a second. When he talked again, his voice had that slow, deep cadence typical of a skilled hypnotist. "Kenan, I want you to follow the pocketwatch as it swings back and forth. Take a deep breath in for me. Hold it. Now leeeet it out. Gooood. Left and right, back and forth. Baaaaack and forth. You're getting veeeery sleepy. Very, very sleepy... Keep following the pocketwatch as it swings right in front of you, Kenan. Your eyelids are soooo heavy. Keep breathing for me and relax. That's right. You're doing a wonderful job, Kenan."

"Wow, you're pretty good at this," Kenan admitted, blushing a bit. "That sent a chill down my spine."

"Thanks! I've practiced a lot. Feeling hypnotized already?"

"Not feeling hypnotized, no. Maybe I am," he added, quickly, "but definitely not feeling like I am."

"Ah, that must be the filter. Wait a second - yeah."

Dominic snapped his fingers.

At that sound, it felt like something in Kenan's - Rob's - Kenan's mind snapped in half, too.

He had... wait, he hadn't been staring at that pocketwatch for so long. Or had he? It had been less time that he thought it had, but at the same time... Hours and minutes and sentences and reflections were all mingled in his head, as if someone had decided to overlap them. He was so confused for a second until everything fell back into the right place and memories came back to his exhausted brain.

The filter. The reflections. As his mind adjusted back to it, he could see the picture he'd seen in the mirror clearly and it was not the one he'd seen, or it was, only his brain had decided to read it differently because it had been instructed to and it was deep, deep - sinking into an endless pool of pure trance.

He'd seen a very dumb-looking dragon. He'd seen a very hyper-fixated dragon, focusing entirely on the pocketwatch. He'd seen the dragon's drool dripping down his chin and onto his chest, a practically inaudible moan coming out his throat. If there had been signs of any living mind inside his head, it must have been sleeping. But at the time, his eyes and his brain had thought...

No signs of intelligence loss, hyper-fixation, drooling or mindlessness. Yet everything had been there, every single piece of the puzzle, and he'd decided to ignore it because Dominic had told him to, then made him forget what he was supposed to do.

He tried to speak. How had he been able to speak before? His tongue felt light and heavy like a piece of cloth and his eyelids were having a hard time trying not to simply close and give into the dark corners of his subconscious mind. His brain was so exhausted, his eyes were so tired, having been made to follow that pocketwatch back and forth all that time - which hadn't been so much time actually - and look into his completely normal reflection - which hadn't been normal at all - as they had a pleasant conversation - which he wasn't even sure had taken place now that he thought - barely - about it.

"Rob, dude, are you okay?"

Kenan wasn't even sure Kenan was his name now.

"You look like you're melting over there. Well, that's what you've been looking like for the past half an hour, but I thought I'd let you know. Although _you_know now, don't you?"

An involuntary nod. The pocketwatch was still swinging in front of Kenan's - Rob's - Kenan's eyes and he must keep staring.

"Are you hypnotized, Rob?"

Kenan nodded again. A little piece of his mind that had been pushed to one corner by Dominic's snap thought that must have meant he was still awake.

"Nice. You seem very convinced now, just the way I like it. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I have to wake you up now - otherwise you might become dehydrated or something."

Another snap.

Kenan's half mind took a few seconds to process the sound and start rebuilding itself. The next time he blinked, he found himself sprawling in a chair, clothes wet and tongue lolling out. He closed his mouth, swallowed and tried to sit still. The pocketwatch had stopped swinging and Dominic was sitting in front of him, grinning. The alligator seemed to be really proud of himself once again.

"Any thoughts, now that you're capable of them?"

"That was... weird." Kenan mumbled, rubbing his chin. It was definitely wet with drool. "It felt like I was able to think all the time."

"But you weren't, right?"

"I'm not... sure. Honestly, I don't think I could explain what happened back there. It was definitely one of the most surreal experiences of my life."

"Anytime you want."

The red dragon grumbled something and scratched his forehead. He still felt like his thoughts were moving in slow-motion.

"Oh, god," he whispered, with a weak smile. "I'm so glad my real name is Kenan."

Dominic couldn't help but cackle.