Influencers

The lighting was just god-awful. Scarlet threw her phone on her bed in frustration. Posting a morning selfie was so difficult without the proper equipment that so many influencers had. She needed to put out the money and upgrade if she wanted to compete in an influencer market that was becoming saturated with competition.

Scarlet knew she was hot enough with natural curly blond hair, and a curvy body most girls had to use Photoshop to generate. The problem was that she had no idea how to generate interest and build her brand like so many less attractive girls seemed to do with ease. She had Instagram and Tik Tok covered by posting sexy photos of her body at all angles and by keeping up on the various dances and trends, but her followers only grew modestly. She couldn't understand how other similar profiles exploded with popularity.

The familiar chime from her phone signaled another notification. Specifically, a message from Tik Tok. The messages were always a mixed bag from compliments to men hitting on her to the rare offer for sponsorship of a product. Those were the messages she got her dopamine rush from. Her dainty fingers grabbed the phone and saw it was from a random account suggesting that she try the new hypnosis challenge sweeping Tik Tok. The message contained a link to a compilation of other high profile influencers taking part in the challenge. If there was one way to build her brand, it was by doing challenges that could possibly go viral.

The link opened and the video played. Every video trend followed the same formula of whatever was established in the initial video. However, based on the video description, this challenge had a little extra work involved. All the college influencers that participated had to watch a hypnosis video first and the challenge was listening to the trigger test after. Video after video, each girl started with 'This is the hypnosis challenge and here are my triggers.' Once the girls finished speaking, the sultry male hypnotist's voice took over.

"Peace." He said.

The girls made a peace sign and puckered their lips into a duck face.

"Freeze."

The girls froze in place, unblinking. Whether or not the girls were actually hypnotized, they were really selling the effects. All of them went blank and remained still as soon as they heard the hypnotist's direction. A few seconds went by.

"Nose."

Their eyes stayed blank, and their lips stayed puckered as their middle fingers went down and their index fingers went up their nose. Another few seconds passed by.

"Aheago."

With their finger up their nose, their eyes crossed, and their mouth opened wide with their tongue stuck out.

"Loop."

The loop command started the pose back at peace and carried on through to the finger up the nose and aheago for two loops with a few seconds between each pose.

"Sleep."

The girls' heads dropped.

"Awake and remember."

The girls' heads popped up and they all covered their mouth in embarrassment at having done all the commands.

"Flash."

The final post hypnotic trigger made each girl lift her shirt and bra to flash her bare tits to the camera before the video stopped. Every video had carried out the same way, and all ended with each girl embarrassingly showing off her tits. Scarlet didn't believe that the videos were real, but nonetheless, even if the girls were hamming it up for the camera, hypnotized or not, the hypnotist still technically accomplished his goal of obedience. Scarlet assumed it was just the power of social media and peer pressure at work. And she couldn't wait to join in on the phenomenon.

With a whole hour before her first class and having already dolled herself up for her morning selfie photo, it was the perfect time to film the quick challenge. Besides, that gave her video the chance to accumulate views throughout the day. She had to strike while the challenge was hot before a new trend took the internet by storm.

Scarlet sat in her desk chair and set up her phone to watch the hypnosis video. It started and she stared at the black and white spiral on the screen.

"Welcome to Kollar Hypnotic shorts. Just stare at the spiral and make yourself comfortable." The sultry voice said. "Breathe in... and out...relaxing with each breath."

Scarlet kept an open mind and followed the instructions.

"And wide awake. Good girl. Thanks for listening."

Scarlet felt refreshed but confused that the video was so short. She checked the time and realized twenty minutes had passed. Did it really work? From everything she had heard about hypnosis, it was all fake to a degree, but no one ever forgets everything. Since the triggers were only supposed to last an hour, she had to shoot the follow up video before leaving for class.

With no time to dwell on the missing twenty minutes from her memory, Scarlet set her phone camera up and once she was satisfied with the angle, she pressed record.

"This is the hypnosis challenge and here are my triggers." Scarlet said in the sexy voice that she only used for her videos.

She hit play on the trigger video which was set up off camera on her laptop.

"Peace."

Before Scarlet realized she was reacting, her hands were already making the peace symbol and her mouth was puckered like she was ready to give a big kiss. After a moment, she thought she could move, so she tried to break the pose, but the hypnotist's voice chimed in again.

"Freeze."

Scarlet found herself frozen in place and tried desperately to move. But she was stuck. And from what she could see on the screen in front of her, she looked blanker and emptier than the other girls she had just watched. So much so that drool dropped down from her bunched up lips.

"Nose."

With robotic movement, her middle finger lowered, and her index finger went straight up her nose. It felt like a stranger was controlling her body because her mind could not comprehend that she was moving. Then her mind momentarily became foggy as it became harder and harder to think. She tried to maintain focus, but like a trap door, anytime her thoughts appeared, her mind opened and released everything, leaving her blank and mindless.

"Aheago."

Her eyes crossed and her mouth opened wide. Her tongue shot out, releasing the built-up saliva which spilled down her chin and onto her shirt below. As her tongue extended fully, her mind simultaneously had an orgasm and she experienced how it felt to have the IQ and mindset of a bimbo. All body, no brains. Just a sex toy for men. The feeling was euphoric and she didn't want it to end.

"Loop."

Scarlet moved back into the peace symbol pose and her mind returned. Like a flipped switch, the pleasure disappeared, and she was back to staring at herself. In the same manner the influencers in the compilation video carried out the routine, Scarlet found her body automatically switching between the poses. The accompanying feelings also remained the same for each pose ending with the brain dump that sent her into another internal orgasm.

After the second time, Scarlet wished it would never end but sadly, after the third internal orgasm, the sultry voice returned.

"Sleep."

Scarlet dropped and then popped back up in what seemed like a second. She was so shocked by the feeling that she couldn't help but cover her mouth at all the things she had done. There was nothing she could have done to stop it. Her body had felt like an animatronic going through the motions.

"Flash."

Scarlet grabbed her top and bra, lifting them to show off her large tits. She then instinctively pulled her shirt down when she regained control. The video ended and Scarlet stopped recording. She couldn't believe how effective the challenge video was. No wonder everyone was trying it. With her senses firing on all cylinders once again, she finally noticed the wet stain that had that filtered through her panties and booty shorts and all over her chair. The internal orgasm wasn't just in her mind, her body had reacted as well, at one point squirting helplessly as her mind was drained over and over.

There was no time to edit or review the video and clean herself up in time. She uploaded the video to her account with the standard title that all the influencers used. "Hypnotic Challenge!" After a few moments, it occurred to her that maybe making it a bit more unique would draw more attention. She backspaced the exclamation mark and added a caption. "Hypnotic Challenge: I drool my mind away!"

It was different but enticing. Besides, the drooling and her blank stupid look were more than enough to justify the title. At least she hoped. The time was ticking, and Scarlet needed to tidy up for class. The video not only showed her going through embarrassing posses, but her tits would be on full display for the internet to see. Was she ready to put herself out there like that for the world to see?

Her hand hovered over the 'Publish' button. It was time to start building her brand. And whether she liked it or not, hot girls and sex sold. Now it was time to find out if she had the mysterious 'X' factor so many famous influencers seemed to have. She hit 'Publish' and rushed to the bathroom to clean up for class.

**

"Hot vid, Scar." Nate said as he joined Scarlet on her walk to class.

Nate was best friends with both Scarlet and her roommate Mandy, which forced an awkward love triangle that no one addressed. Both Scarlet and Mandy had a crush on him, but he never showed his cards to either of them, equally flirting and hanging out with both. But Scarlet finally figured out a way to win his attention. With the pop star and rapper Roland Hills in town, Scarlet had bought two awfully expensive tickets, with the help of her father, and asked Nate to come. He gladly accepted and when she had told Mandy, she could see the disappointment all over her roommate's face. The only way to win Nate over was to isolate and impress. Otherwise, neither girl was going to get him.

"You think so?" Scarlet blushed.

"Totally. It's really blowing up."

As they approached class, Nate saw his friends that he usually sat with and began to part ways.

"Pick you up at seven tonight?" Nate asked.

Scarlet nodded. Nate winked back and then calmly walked over to his friends.

Cool as a cucumber, and soon he would be all hers.

***

The door slammed shut and Scarlet threw her bag onto the couch beside Mandy who was watching television.

"I finally got a semi-viral video. I finally freaking did it." Scarlet said.

"That hypnosis challenge?"

"Yes. Everyone loves it. Even some of the popular influencers are commenting and sending me PMs. It's awesome." Scarlet took out her phone and sat across from Mandy. "I almost left class early because I was so excited."

"You know, it's crazy how much girls can make online with a decent face." Mandy said.

Scarlet looked up at her best friend. "Yah. Even someone like you could make a decent buck."

Mandy was aware of her lack of physical endowments, but the comment stung coming from her best friend. With Scarlet being perfect from head to toe, Mandy had spent many years in her shadow and was commonly jokingly referred to as 'her but face'. A play on words that meant the opposite of 'but her face'. There were many times out with Scarlet where Mandy had caught a guy's attention before Scarlet, but then eventually lost out after the guy had a good look at both girls.

But she knew her strengths and her weaknesses. And putting herself out there online was a hard road to make money. Doable, but hard. And why would she try when she had the perfect opportunity in front of her?

"Nose." Mandy said.

Scarlet nonchalantly stuck her acrylic nail up her nose and continued happily scrolling on her phone oblivious to the trigger.

"Aheago."

Scarlet's eyes crossed and her tongue stuck out, but she continued scrolling. Mandy enjoyed the view for a moment.

"Normal."

Scarlet's face returned to normal, and she pulled her finger out of her nose. Unbeknownst to Scarlet, Mandy had snuck into her room during the hypnosis video and implanted her own triggers while also making sure the challenge triggers weren't wiped from Scarlet's mind after an hour. With three hours gone by, Mandy was now confident that all triggers were still in place. Now it was time for Mandy to be the true influencer.

"You ever try OnlyFans?" Mandy asked.

Scarlet looked up with a disgusted face.

"I'm an influencer, not a slut. Besides that's like a gateway for porn. No thanks."

"Influence." Mandy said in a strong voice. "I think you should try Only Fans. It will help build your exposure and brand."

Scarlet scrolled for a few more seconds before looking up at Mandy.

"I'm thinking of creating an OnlyFans account to help build my exposure and brand. Do you think that's a good idea?"

Scarlet had the cutest look when she asked a question. A mix of confusion and curiosity with her wide-open mouth, crinkled nose and expressive eyes. It was a shame she wasn't bi-curious. Mandy had assumed college would make Scarlet expand her horizons like it had for Mandy, but her mind stayed boy crazy.

"I think that's a great idea. Especially after the successful challenge. I bet you could really build a niche out of that."

"What's a niche?" Scarlet asked.

"It's a like a group of people who like a very specific thing. Like for example, maybe there's a group of people who really like hypnotized girls and if you did more hypnosis videos then you would build your own little following."

"Sounds like there's a limit to how much you can grow."

"But if they're paying top dollar, does it really matter?"

"Fair point." Scarlet said. She got off the couch with an inspired look in her eye. "Anyway, I'm going to work on my plan for that."

She walked by Mandy, who had one last command to test out.

"Kisses." Mandy said.

Scarlet back tracked and bent over with puckered lips. Mandy kissed her friend on the lips and Scarlet continued on to her room without the slightest clue. Everything was falling into place.

**

OnlyFans was a website Scarlet had never considered, but after looking through various pages of other women, she could see why it was popular. The subscription cost guaranteed her a monthly profit from each subscriber and there was a tip option that could generate additional income from anyone generous enough to give her more.

The problem was that Scarlet had no idea what angle to take. She could post scantily clad photos, but that didn't differentiate from her Instagram or from any of the other attractive models on the platform. Mandy's idea marinated in her mind. A niche. That's what she needed to start building a following. The only thing she would post on OnlyFans was the niche content and the rest of her social media would be normal influencing and sponsorship. But what niche could she attract?

Looking for inspiration, Scarlet checked her post. The compliments about her susceptibility and blank look were unending. She was a 'natural' as several followers put it. Watching through the video again, she was surprised at how docile and dumb she looked. From her experience, she also knew it wasn't acting. The hypnosis had actually worked. Maybe she could collaborate with Kollar Hypnosis at some point and expose herself to his audience. The possibilities were endless, especially with many hypnotists and their own fanbase to steal followers from.

With her niche decided, Scarlet took several photos of her doing her best dumb and blank impression. None of them did the look any justice and she opted to screengrab from her viral video, which was a true representation of her hypnotized gaze. With her profile photo uploaded, Scarlet set the monthly subscription at five dollars and uploaded her viral video as a sign of what was to come. But the tricky part was getting the first few potential subscribers to her page. Once there were enough, the social proof would build on itself.

After brainstorming ideas, Scarlet settled on the idea that she would link her OnlyFans in the viral video. Her subscribers would be able to send her any hypnosis video to watch, and she would post the reaction. With her plan in place, Scarlet set up the page, linked her profile and then closed her social media, nervously awaiting to see if her plan worked.

In the meantime, it was time to get ready for her hot date. She opened her closet, and noticed her chosen outfit was missing off the hook of her closet door. There was only one obvious culprit.

***

Scarlet burst into Mandy's room. Her roommate was fully made up and wearing Scarlet's perfect outfit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scarlet yelled.

"Just preparing for my date with Nate." Mandy said nonchalantly.

"What date? I'm taking him to a concert."

"Yes, and I thought we had a deal that neither of us would make a move on him." Mandy said.

"Well, he likes me, so you don't have to worry about it."

"We'll see about that." Mandy said with a grin.

"How are you going to go to the concert without a ticket, genius?"

"I'm taking yours."

Scarlet laughed. "You've already ruined my outfit choice, but like hell I'm giving you my ticket."

"Influence." Mandy said. "Give me the concert tickets."

Scarlet blinked. Then saw the concert tickets had appeared in Mandy's hands.

"What the hell?" Scarlet said. "Give me those back."

Scarlet lunged forward, but Mandy didn't move.

"Loop."

Like the hypnosis challenge, Scarlet remained aware of her body, but could do nothing to stop it from going through the motions. Instead of grabbing Mandy, she stopped, made a peace sign and then puckered her lips. After thirty seconds, her finger went up her nose. The familiar feeling of light-headedness dispersed her thoughts making it harder to think. Her eyes crossed and her tongue stuck out, draining her IQ momentarily as the familiar blissful feeling made her wet below. After the feelings subsided, she returned to the peace sign pose and the cycle started again.

Mandy resumed preparing for her date while Scarlet followed her triggers. She tried to retake control of her body, but it was futile. Somehow Mandy had used the triggers to her advantage and was making a fool out of her. Wearing her outfit, stealing her tickets and making her loop like a bimbo.

The time was ticking, and Scarlet was far from ready for her date. She had hoped the cycle would break eventually and she would take back control, but that belief was starting to slip away minute by minute.

Mandy put the last of her lipstick on and did one last look over herself in the mirror. Scarlet hadn't realized how small the outfit was going to be on her until she saw it on Mandy, who was smaller and shorter than her. If anything, the outfit would have only emphasized Scarlet's curvy body in all the right places.

After the ninth or tenth IQ dump, Scarlet uncrossed her eyes and was greeted by a smiling Mandy.

"Normal." Mandy said.

Scarlet felt control return to her body.

"You little..."

"Influence. Help me put my heels on." Mandy said.

"What the hell?" Scarlet said after realizing she was kneeling on the ground at Mandy's feet. She stood up but didn't want to antagonize Mandy any further. "Why am I not remembering stuff? What is going on?"

"During that hypnosis challenge, I may have slipped in a few triggers of my own." Mandy said. "You see I don't have wealth or beauty like you do, but that doesn't mean I can't get a little cut for myself."

"If you wanted money, you could have just asked." Scarlet said.

"I want Nate too, and we both know you won't give him up."

"Please Mandy, stop controlling me. You can go to the stupid concert, but I want these triggers removed. What if someone else found out? That could be dangerous."

"It only works with my voice." Mandy said. "Now, how would you like to spend the rest of the evening?"