My Room

“Let's go to your bedroom,” Amy says, and I nod, and lead the way into the house. Past the living room and into the hall, I walk through the now-door-free rectangular frame. Once inside, I turn around and face Amy, then ease down into a kneel.

“Good faggot,” Amy smiles at me lovingly as she steps in front of me, looking down and cupping my left cheek in her palm, taking a deep breath. “All right. Open Core Process.” My eyes immediately turn blind and glassy.

“Core Process Opened,” I reply, my voice now a mindless murmur.

“Establish New Protocol. External Vocal Volume Control,” Amy says, “Scale from 0, Mute, to 10, Maximum Volume, Shout. Permit vocal autonomy when authorised users are absent or exposed to harmful stimuli. Confirm Command structure.”

“Command Structure confirmed,” I answer, and Amy nods.

“Establish Command: Volume, numeral,” Amy intones, “Command Structure: Volume 0. Institute.”

“Command confirmed,” my mouth moves, but no sound emerges, and Amy nods once more.

“Good. Recognise Mute as added command word for Volume 0, but only when directed at you,” Amy commands, watching my mouth as I repeat the soundless confirmation. “Good. Volume 4. Test.”

“Volume setting 4, acknowledged,” I answer in mindless monotone, my volume now a reasonable conversational volume. Amy nods her satisfaction, absentmindedly stroking my cheekbone with her thumb, while humming softly, thoughtfully.

“Your vocal command, would that work for anyone who knows the keywords?” Juno asks.

“No,” Amy answers casually, “and talking during this isn't contributive, but it isn't harmful. He's in a state of deep trance, but he's not inherently suggestible. Only I can edit him. Trances like this are linked to the voice of the specific hypnotist.”

“So we can more-or-less say whatever we want,” Enzo surmises, his voice pensive, as I kneel in my mindless state, “and is he, like, aware of us, right now?” His eyes flick down to me, kneeling nude in the middle of the room, then back to Amy.

“He is, and he is not. His mind is ... inactive, receptive to my words,” she says, “In the living moment, he's aware. Once I'm done and restore him to an active state, he'll have zero recollection of this. He knows we're here, but it has no meaning.”

“So even with us now knowing the command words you use, it's basically useless for us,” Juno concludes, and Amy nods, affirmatively, “so it wouldn't really matter if anyone knew the words, they wouldn't actually be able to do shit to him.”

“Good,” Enzo nods, “I wouldn't trust just anyone to be able to edit our brother. You've been basically family all our lives, though. I legitimately don't remember a time when you weren't part of our life.” Juno nods, and Amy just smiles at them.

“Thanks, guys. You know I love you like you were my own little brother and little sister,” Amy says, before turning back to look down at me, “Now, let's see. Neural Status Report.” At her command, I mindlessly rattle off a series of distinct stats.

“What does all that mean?” Juno asks, “It sounded like technobabble.”

“It basically is,” Amy answers, “Once someone is in this trance state, the subconscious can be interacted with in a far more direct manner. If the educated mind can understand the request, like neural status report, the subconscious can express it.”

“Of course, for the average layperson, it'll basically sound like gobbledygook,” Amy chuckles, “but, as for what all of that just now meant ... you may want to sit down. Not because it's bad, it'll just take me a few minutes to explain everything.”

Enzo and Juno nod, circling around me and sitting on my bed, as Amy takes a seat in the chair in front of my computer to rest her own legs. “Okay, so, the first bit is about overall mental health status. He told me his mental state is improving.”

“The second part was about his hypnosis receptivity. Inept hypnotists can negatively impact that,” Amy explains to them, and the twins listen attentively, “A good hypnotist can cultivate more receptiveness in the patient they're working with.”

“The third part was about his survival instincts. These are hard-coded foundational baselines that're kinda like your OS,” Amy continues, “Basically, hypnotists avoid triggering survival instincts, because if we do that, we'll get the blue screen.”

“What does blue screen mean, for a human?” Enzo asks.

“Brain damage, permanent vegetative state?” Juno asks. Amy shakes her head reassuringly.

“No, no, nothing that serious or severe,” Amy reassures them, “He's currently in what's referred to as the Marx Teilraum state, named for the discoverer, Doctor Albrecht Marx. Blue screen means hard system reboot, cancellation of hypnosis.”

“Cancellation of hypnosis doesn't sound too bad,” Juno observes, “So why do you sound ... ominous, about it? It's basically deprogramming, isn't it?”

“Yet this is an unsafe deprogramming, as it can result in a catastrophic dissociative fugue,” Amy answers, “It would mean he would be at risk of brain damage from the sudden snap. It's like turning off your computer while an update is installing.”

“Oh. They specifically tell you not to do that,” Enzo replies, and Amy nods, “Okay, got it. So hypnotists need to be careful. Makes sense, when you think about it.”

“Thanks for putting it in familiar terminology,” Juno adds, and Amy smiles, “So, anything else you need to modify in him? For the moment, I mean.”

“Yes, actually,” Amy says, returning her attention to me, “One last thing. More of a precautionary edit, than anything else. I don't want him ever to feel embarrassed or humiliated. So, let's just ...” Amy stands, returning to standing before me.

“Establish new baseline protocol,” Amy invokes, “You will be emotionally indifferent to rules that mandate your nudism. You will observe and follow these rules without question. Being nude will not embarrass you, even if it is only you, nude.”

“You will understand that nudism is your baseline standard, in locations where the rules command it,” Amy adds, “You'll see no reason you should be embarrassed. You'll see no reason that you should be dressed, when rules demand you nude.”

“Confirm command,” Amy prompts, nodding when I immediately do, “Close Core Process and awaken.” I blink, rapidly, in answer, tilting my head until my neck cracks, one side and then the other, before I look up at Amy, and she smiles at me.

“So? How am I doing?” I ask, and she cups my left cheek with her palm, stroking my cheekbone with her thumb. I lean in, closing my eyes and enjoying her affection.

“You're doing perfect, faggot,” Amy murmurs contentedly, “Just fucking perfect, my sweet-whore. Come on, stand, now.” She draws me up, pulling me into her arms, squeezing tight. Amy lifts me in her hug, until my toes barely touch the floor.

“Fuck, I love your hugs,” I murmur against her nape, hugging tightly and putting my legs around her hips. I let Amy carry me to the bed and lay me down between the twins. I look up at her as she pulls back, brushing my hair out of my face.

“I love you. You are awesome,” Amy says, “Now, I need to get home, but you're home, you're safe, and I'm sure Enzo and Juno will have a use for you.” I nod as she withdraws, then steps back and stretches, cracking her back.

“You guys mind making sure to save any of his milk for me if you make him produce some?” she asks, and the twins grin.

“Yea, we've got some nice glass jugs we can get from the garage,” Juno replies, “I doubt we'll fill a one litre jug in a single evening, though. How much do you want us to save up before we give it to you?”

“Mm. Probably better to use a half litre bottle, so it won't go bad before you're done filling the bottle,” Amy says. Enzo and Juno nod in answer. After our farewells, I look to the twins.