Olivia’s Investigations — The Direct Approach
All around the world, a dozen people sat talking. They were among the best of friends, and most of them felt safe in turning to the others with any problems that might pop up in their lives. The weird thing was, most of the people in this group hadn’t even seen each other’s faces. It was an Internet community, a chat room attached to the site known as Controlspace. A place for people into all kinds of mind control to congregate. There were those who liked to read stories of mind games, control and helplessness; and there were others who liked to explore the possibilities of hypnosis for real. Though a lot of people might find its fun to be handcuffed in bed occasionally, the people here might have found that it could be even more intimate to allow a lover to tie up your mind directly.
Livvy Durden walked casually into the room, and treated those present to a grin. She was one of those people who seemed to punctuate every sentence with a smile, which probably marked her as one of the younger members of the group. You could never be sure though, in a place like this. You couldn’t even know for sure if the persona someone presented was who they really were, or an escapist alter-ego, or completely made up.
The new girl in the corner, for example, CallmeCandy, said she was 18 and had been curious about hypnosis ever since some scene in a kids cartoon. She was oh so new to this, but wanted to find out if the reality could live up to her fantasies. Joanna, the group owner, reckoned that Candy’s word choices and style of speech more likely indicated someone who was almost old enough to have seen that cartoon as a child in the 60’s. This sweet little girl might just as easily be a woman or a man, or some other non-binary option. But she said she was a young girl, and everyone in the group was expected to respect that. Here, more so than anywhere in real life, people could reinvent themselves and the unwritten rule was that you didn’t ask or guess.
“Hey Livvy,” 0Finian0, “Can I offer you a drink?”
“Hi Finian,” she responded after a slight pause, “That’d be great.” He couldn’t really send a shot of absinthe over the network, of course, but from what he’d said before everyone assumed he’d be making a toast for Livvy at whichever bar his laptop was resting on tonight. It was a superstition updated for the online age, a way of acknowledging a friend and showing that they matter, even if the physical alcohol didn’t reach them. 0Finian0 took anything that promised good luck very seriously indeed.
“How’s it going?”
“Not bad, thanks. Got a bit of a puzzle to work on, though. I wonder if any of you guys could help me?”
Quite a few chatters – Joanna, AllyKat, Someone Else, and Master Tomas – looked up at that. Livvy was quite surprised to find so many people suddenly active and paying attention to her, but didn’t type anything to show it.
“You want to know who’s living in your house, right?” Tomas was the first to actually respond. “Thing is, Doctor Darkside was in earlier, and he kinda asked us all not to give you any clues.”
Livvy was disappointed, but not too surprised. That was the kind of thing she’d come to expect from her lover, always thinking one step ahead. “Us guys? I guess that means you can’t help Jules either?”
“You got it”
“Who is Jules, anyway? I didn’t recognise their name, but I don’t know what they go by on here.”
“Sorry Princess,” AllyKat answered this time, “We’re not allowed to help you with that one either. No clues that might point you towards their triggers, that’s what the doctor said. I can’t wait to meet this ‘Jules’, though, sounds like you guys have got a whole lot of fun lined up!”
“Can you at least tell me about that?” Livvy put on a petulant face, not comfortable with being the only one who wasn’t in on the secret, even though she was normally so well informed.”
“No, sorry,” Ally started, but Joanna silenced her and interrupted.
“I think we might be able to give you a little clue,” the room owner offered a noncommittal smile, “He did say that the whole point of this was for you to have fun, and I think some things might be more fun if you see them coming.”
“What are you going to tell her? Not too much I hope.” Somebody Else didn’t speak often, but was one of the room’s informal guardians of etiquette, so people usually listened when he (or she; nobody really knew) gave advice.
“No, just going to say, I hear Livvy will be having some fun when she hears a bell ring. And if I was her, she could do with making sure she only rings that bell when she’s around people she knows will enjoy it.”
“Oh God…” Livvy didn’t know what else to say. A few moments later, the door swung closed as she walked out of the room again.
“Well, that went well,” AllyKat commented, “I hope I can see the bell thing for myself.”
“What’s happening?” Candy looked around blankly, having missed the earlier conversations leading up to this point.
“Don’t you worry yourself about it, Candy,” Master Tomas reassured her, “But tell me, apart from reading those stories, have you ever been hypnotised before?”