they really meant to keep focusing on their game. they really thought they could, even with his hypnotic murmurs near their ear and his gentle caresses. but their mind was already lagging, every single input they made a little slower than the last. suddenly, the stuff that was so automatic to them just a few minutes ago felt so complicated, like it took so much energy and thinking.

"are you having trouble?" adrianus asked softly.

blood rushed to their face. "man, i just... just give me a second."

"oh, is it getting difficult? is it getting difficult to focus on anything else?"

he'd said similar stuff hypnotizing them before, but it hit harder when they really were trying to do something else.

"i've gotta at least get to a save point," they mumbled.

"you poor thing," he cooed. "that's going to take you a while, isn't it?"

"you're the one making it hard in the first place," they said.

"is that how you talk to me, shark?" he asked, his voice still slow and gentle.

all of their thoughts stopped in their tracks.

"no, i..." they mumbled blankly. "i'll listen," they said.

"even if you don't save, you can close the ds for a few minutes and come back to it later, can't you?"

it felt like something their body was doing on its own, closing it, putting it off to the side, staring off into nothing.

"that's it... very good," he cooed. "you hadn't made much progress anyway, had you?"

"no, not really..."

"that's right."

they weren't even bothered by it. they didn't even care. normally they'd hate being interrupted like that while they were trying to do something. but right now, it didn't matter to them at all.

"you're becoming so well-behaved," he said softly, and they just melted.

they really could've resisted this just a few months ago. or maybe a year ago.

but when he framed this susceptibility as an improvement, it really was hard for them not to see it that way, too.

"and i'm sure you can get even better... can't you? you want to be good, don't you?"

they nodded.

he really had them under his thumb.