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Rice pudding.

Rice pudding was the best. Whenever it was served with the right amount of cinnamon, sugar and lemon peel, of course. It also felt more pleasant in the mouth if it was served cold and the rice was just a little, little bit stiff.

But of course, that was just Xyln's opinion.

He had tried to make rice pudding once and it hadn't ended well. There must have been something wrong with the recipe he'd picked, because his attempts at cooking usually didn't lead to such disastrous outcomes. He'd sworn not to cook anything he enjoyed ever since. What was the point of that, when you could go to a hotel and have others make it for you?

He finished his third bowl of rice pudding in a row under the vigilant, slightly judgmental gaze of the other guests. The waiter, a neatly uniformed arctic fox, smiled at him and walked towards the table with a gentle attitude.

"Will you have another round of that?" he asked, as Xyln offered him the empty bowl.

"Nah, I think that's enough. Thank you." The tiger licked his lips and closed his eyes happily. If there was ever one easy way to lift his spirits, rice pudding must be it. "I'm sorry to keep you coming and going, by the way."

"No problem. That's what they pay me for," the arctic fox answered, still smiling. "Do you mind if I ask why you're staying here?"

"Hm? Just taking a break from work," the tiger said. "It had been a while since I'd taken some time for myself, so I decided to come to the Canaries."

"Oh, I see! Are you enjoying your stay?"

Xyln shrugged.

"I don't really like the beach," he admitted, reluctantly. "The only reason I came is because the trip was cheap. They also have a nice waterslide park nearby, which I already visited."

"What's your job, if I may ask?"

Xyln's grin narrowed a bit. He seemed less willing to talk all of a sudden.

"Oh, sorry if that's a personal question."

"It's not!" The tiger pondered his words. "I'm a writer."

"See, I knew that," the waiter said, chuckling softly. "I think I've read some of your stories already."

Xyln held the arctic fox's gaze, bewildered.

"What, really?" he asked. "You're kidding."

"No, I mean it! They're very good. I thought I recognized you from somewhere, so that's the whole reason that I kept close to your table." The waiter smiled. "You're Xyln, right?"

"Yeah, I am," the blue tiger answered softly. The last thing he had expected was to be recognized by the service at the hotel. Who could have guessed there would be other hypnosis enthusiasts among them? Then again, he thought, hypno-kinksters happen to be where you least expect them.

"My name's Danny," the arctic fox introduced himself. "And... wow, I've been reading your stories for a long time! I'm a bit of a fan, actually."

He chuckled at that. Xyln smiled back at the waiter, feeling slightly proud, but also self-conscious. The tiger wasn't completely used to that part of his writing being shared around.

"I'm glad you like them," he said, honestly. Even if it was kind of a default answer, it was the only thing his mind could come up with while being embarrassed like that. Why didn't that stuff get easier? "I write them, uh, for people to enjoy, you know."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Danny answered, leaving the empty tray on the table. "The way you describe hypnotic states and inductions... Wow, you must be really good at that."

Xyln chuckled. Here we go again, he thought.

He couldn't help but notice that Danny had lowered his voice for the two last sentences. His unexpected fan was probably aware of how nervous discussing those topics in public made him. He ought to thank him for his discretion.

"Oh, I've actually never been hypnotized," he explained in a similar tone. "Or hypnotized anybody, for that matter."

"Really? The way you write about it is so..."

The arctic fox left the sentence dangling, but Xyln understood.

"Yeah! I know. I get that a lot. But no, I've never experienced hypnosis from any side of the pocketwatch." The tiger chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I just kind of imagine how it'd feel like. And apparently, I get it right?"

"That makes it even more impressive, if you ask me."

"Ah, I don't know. I just write what I'd like to read," the tiger admitted, shrugging. "Or the things they pay me to write, which sometimes happen to be the things I'd like to read, too."

Danny nodded.

"I, uh... happen to be a hypnotist myself."

Oh no, Xyln thought, frantically making an effort to keep his expression neutral. Red alert, red alert!

Red meaning, of course, the blush forcing its way to his cheeks.

"U-uh that's nice!!" was all he managed to say.

"So if you'd like to experience that, just let me know," the waiter offered with a gentle smile.

Pffft, of course I would! Xyln told himself. And he has to know that.

"That'd be nice, yeah," he answered, managing to keep a calm façade. Wait, hadn't he repeated the word 'nice' too much? "I just don't want to... interfere with your work."

"Oh, that's cool," Danny answered. "My shift ends in like, ten minutes. We can meet outside after that. I'll take you to a place with more privacy if that helps you feel more comfortable."

"I think that'd help, yeah," Xyln admitted.

He was excited. If someone had asked him how he imagined his first time going under for someone, he wouldn't have answered 'during a trip to the Canaries'. That would have probably been a really dumb answer anyway.

Ten minutes later, he was following the silver-furred arctic fox to a slightly secluded inner garden. Xyln had seen it before, but he hadn't walked in because, aside from a few palm trees and rocks, it didn't look like there was much to do there. The tiger guessed most people would ignore the place for the same reasons he had, but Danny was the one who worked there. He probably knew what he was doing.

"Okay, here we are," Danny said, once they were completely surrounded by palm trees and nobody from the lobby could see them. The tropical weather was always slightly humid, but pleasant. "Why don't you find somewhere comfortable to sit?"

"Uh, like this rock?" Xyln asked, pointing at it with a sarcastic smirk.

"Yeah, that'll do nicely." Danny chuckled. The blue tiger thought he liked his smile. "So, I know you're a fan of swinging stuff, pocketwatches, all that stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't bring any of that with me, but if you happen to have something that will do the trick..."

"What about this?" the tiger asked, pointing at the tag hanging from the thin silver chain around his neck.

"Oh, yeah! That should work."

"Gotta say I don't usually wear this," Xyln explained as he handed Danny the necklace. "You're lucky I decided to put it on today."

"Uh, yeah, real lucky! Anyway, you don't need to give me that," the arctic fox said. His grin became slightly shrewd. "You're the one who's going to be holding it."

Xyln blinked a few times, confused.

"What, really?" he asked. "I thought the hypnotist was the one supposed to be holding it. Uh..."

"Yeah, usually! But I have something different in mind. Could you please hold it at eye level in front of you?"

Xyln did as he was told. He'd written a lot of inductions involving pendants and pocketwatches in the past, but the concept of a subject holding his own swinging trinket was new to him. The sunlight flashed on the silver tag - wait, no, it actually was a bit copper-colored. It was weird that he had never paid more attention to it.

"Good," Danny said. Even if it was only a word, his voice felt... much more pleasant, suddenly - as pleasant as the weather around them. And it only got more pleasant as the next sentence came to Xyln's ears. "I want you to focus on the tag in front of you. That's right, you know how this is supposed to work. It's okay if your eyes stay fixed to the tag as it hangs in front of you. You can look away if you want, but you don't have to."

Xyln did his best to stare at the tag, slightly cross-eyed and a bit confused. Most pendulum inductions that he'd heard about involved the pendulum swinging at some point, and so far the tag he was holding remained mostly motionless, except for the occasional twitch of his hand that made it shake and spin almost imperceptibly.

"Now, what I want you to do is think about the word 'yes'". That was an unexpected command, the blue tiger thought. Weird way to begin with an induction, but then again, his knowledge of hypnosis was limited. "Just repeat it over and over in your head. Yes, yes, yes... That's good. I want you to notice how the tag begins to move on its own now."

Xyln noticed a few seconds before Danny told him to. The tag had actually began to move back and front, swinging the opposite way a pendulum was supposed to swing in a pocketwatch induction, getting closer and further from him. What the heck, he thought, even more puzzled.

"Notice how the more you think about the word 'yes', the more you repeat it in your mind, the wider the swinging gets." Xyln had to agree with that. He was still listening attentively to that soft, velvet-like voice. Listening to it felt so pleasant that even if the arctic fox hadn't been trying an induction at all, he would have simply kept listening to his words. "Now, let's make things a bit different. Think about the word 'no' and repeat that in your mind. No, no... Exactly. Can you see how the movement changes?"

It was a gradual thing. At first, the pendulum started moving in circles, and then it changed to a classic swinging, left and right, back and forth, just like in all those stories Xyln had written about. Now, this is more like it, he thought, as another part of his conscious mind kept on repeating 'no' and 'no', over and over.

Each and every iteration of the thought seemed to make the tag swing left and right in wider arcs. His eyes were so focused on the movement that he could barely see the palm leaves behind it - they had simply become a leafy blur to him.

"Yes. That's good. And now, I want you to start thinking about 'maybe'. Can you do that for me, Xyln?"

"Sure," the tiger heard himself say. His voice was calm. Soft. Not as soft as Danny's voice, but definitely relaxed. Almost... a bit sedated. When had that happened?

"Focus on the tag as you repeat the word 'maybe' in your mind. Over and over. Just like you've been getting used to. What's happening to the pendulum, Xyln?"

Xyln blinked heavily.

"It's... it's coming to a stop," he managed to say. Again, his voice sounded distant. Slightly disconnected from reality. But I'm awake, the part of his mind that wasn't repeating the same word over and over managed to think.

"Mmmmhm. Slowly, it's going to stop. And as it comes to a stop, you will stop thinking about the word 'maybe'. You will stop thinking about anything else, too. You're going to let your mind come to a stop together with the tag, and then you're going to listen to me and fall deep asleep. Do you understand?"

Xyln nodded this time. The movement felt lethargic. Danny's voice was sweet, thick and extremely pleasant - like rice pudding.

"It's almost stopping now. You can feel the voice in your mind that repeats the same word over and over getting quieter. Your thoughts are slowly fading away, too. Fading... coming to a stop. Coming to a stop, now. That's good. Now, sleep."

The blue tiger barely had time to wonder how the whole induction had worked before the part of his mind that was in charge of thinking about it got disconnected from reality and plunged into a deep sleep. Danny grabbed his wrist gently, shook it as if to get rid of the tension in the tiger's arm, and then let it dropped on his lap. Xyln felt himself sinking deeper as the limp paw hit his leg.

"And that feels goooood, doesn't it?" Danny's voice asked, pouring like honey over his ears.

Xyln had a feeling of a nod. Everything was soft. The fox's voice, the weather, his brain on the inside. Even the rock he was sitting on. Everything was so soft...

"Let's see," the arctic fox whispered, getting closer to the blue tiger and placing a gentle paw on his ears as he began petting tenderly. Xyln purred softly, still holding the tag that Danny had asked him to bring the day before. "So what should I do with you today...?"