"Is that a pocket watch?" Max asked as Ohm swung the object back and forth in front of his face.
"Yes." Ohm told him. "Stay still."
"Why are you using a pocket watch?"
"I saw it in the movies." Ohm admitted. "Stay still."
"...What the fuck are you doing, Ohm?"
"I don't know!" Ohm screamed as he threw the pocket watch across the living room.
"Were you trying to hypnotize me?" Max questioned, outraged for the first time since the start of the conversation.
"It didn't work." Ohm cried.
"No shit. Why?"
"I'm out of options, Max. Everyone is busy, so I'm trying to learn to hypnotize people so I can make them play with me forever."
"...Did you listen to that sentence when you said it?"
"I know what I'm doing."
"Do you?"
"Hey, bitches!" A voice screamed as the front door of Ohm's home swung open. Satt walked inside with a bag of food in one hand and an XBOX controller in the other. "Let's play!"
"Not now." Ohm said.
"Yeah," Max agreed sarcastically, "Ohm, is trying to hypnotize me. He needs full concentration to be this stupid."
"I'll be respectful." Satt whispered.
"Who has a better idea?" Ohm asked.
"When in doubt," Satt began, "turn to television!"
"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." Max began. "You want us to just sit and watch TV until the answers to Ohm's problems just magically appear? You don't even know what the problem is! Ohm's being crazy. He wants to hypnotize all of our friends so they'll play games with him forever."
"I'm down." Satt said. Max tried to speak, but gibberish came out as he couldn't believe what he was hearing from his friends.
"Oh, so what? This doesn't sound crazy to you?"
"It sounds bitchin'!" Satt said. "And I'm not doing anything else."
Ohm giggled as quietly as he could as the two bickered.
"...Sure." Max sarcastically agreed. "So, now, with this plan to hypnotize everyone, you think you'll just turn on the TV and as soon as you do, we'll magically happen to see something that will give Ohm the answers to all his problems, and that'll be it?"
"Yes!" Satt said. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Bet?"
"Bet." Max agreed. "If that happens, I'll give you a million dollars." Satt picked up the remote and turned on the TV. He didn't bother looking at the screen as the channel was already set to Weazel News and the main story focused on a device being shipped to the IAA building. It was said to be an experimental mind control device that was meant to better train their agents. Max pulled out his wallet and handed Satt the fifteen dollars he had inside.
"I'll pay you the rest later." He promised.
"I trust you."
And just like that, the gears in Ohm's head began to turn.
If he could get that device, he wouldn't have to swing a pocket watch in front of his friend's faces and hope for the best, and he wouldn't have to beg to see them. They would belong to him. There would be no more resistance, no faulty scheduling, no canceling, no wait. But this wasn't a simple task. This was talking about robbing a federal agency. Not only that, but a cargo truck that would no doubt be under heavy security, especially as it came into the city. He only had hours if he was going to make this happen, and even if he had a plan, which he didn't, it would take days to prepare and make this "safe". This wasn't a game. He only had one life and losing it in this scheme was terrifying and a very real possibility. However, when Ohm thought about the benefits, the problems this device would solve, he made a psychological compromise. His entire goal was to play more games, so why not treat this like a game? Why not assume he had an infinite number of lives? Why not assume that he could do whatever he liked, whenever he pleased, with no consequences? The thought itself made him laugh and this laugh evolved into something uncontrollable.