#Noah in the rice krispies fic doesn't have a phobia of hypnosis (yet) but if he did?

[total-drama-brainrot]

Love your Alenoah Hypno Story... Out of curiosity, how different would the story be if Noah has a secret fear of hypnosis, before World Tour... And when Alejandro offered to entrance him, Noah simply BOLTS out of the room... then Noah tries to avoid being left alone with Alejandro, so the Latino can't hypnotize him... I think Alejandro would totally enjoy the challenge and he would feel even more satisfied, when he finally has a chance to entrance Noah (like maybe Alejandro promises not to let Owen get voted off, if Noah would let Alejandro hypnotize him)! 😈

Anon why would you open this plotline up to me it's giving me The Brainworms.

Because Noah having a genuine phobia of hypnosis or something adjacent to it- like a phobia of automatism in general, or just a severe disliking of not having control over himself- suggests that he's experienced something similar before, either first-hand or as a witness. Which means he would have intimate knowledge about the extents Alejandro could hypothetically abuse his talents as a hypnotist to.

I doubt he'd actually bolt away from Alejandro after the other offers to hypnotise him, Noah's a bit more savvy than that (even if he is pretty socially illiterate), so he'd probably just insult the idea and dismissively saunter off- whilst trying his best to breath evenly around the ice in his lungs and quell the terrified shaking of his hands. Alejandro, of course, would notice just how petrified uncomfortable the idea of hypnosis makes Noah, which would only pique his interest and motivate him to try and somehow ensnare the nerd under his control.

Of course, that becomes increasingly difficult when Noah begins to go our of his way to avoid interacting with Alejandro at all, to the point where the two of them are hardly ever within talking distance of each other, let alone left alone together (which is impressively frustrating, given the fact they're essentially trapped on a jet. There's very little space Noah can occupy without encountering Alejandro, and yet he somehow manages to consistently evade the Spaniard). Also, Noah's always surrounding himself with others- namely Owen, but he also begins clinging to Tyler as well. There's safety in numbers, after all. Alejandro would never try anything nefarious in front of potential witnesses.

I like the idea of him incentivising Noah into undergoing hypnosis- either by bargaining his vote/Owen's safety in return for Noah's compliance, or by having the rest of Team Chris help in having Noah "face his fear"- which could be a fun little call back to the Phobia Factor episode in Island.

Because Noah was one of the few contestants who never had to face his fear, and it's super convenient that Alejandro is capable of 'helping' him face it. Really, it'd be doing him a favour.

(i.e. Alejandro tries something nefarious in front of potential witnesses.)

And having the rest of the team around for 'moral support' would pressure him into compliance, because Al is only trying to help, and there's nothing scary about hypnosis, and they'll be right here the whole time, he has nothing to worry about. Any arguments he can conjure up to dismiss the idea come off as him simply being too scared to face his phobia, so his protesting is ignored until he eventually gives in. He's a pretty passive person, all things considered, so Noah wouldn't waste his energy fighting a losing battle when it's easier to just get it over with. Even if the idea has his usually unshakable self trembling with fear.

The thing about hypnosis is that, at it's core, it's about settling someone into an agreeable mindset- that's considerably hard to do when the person you're trying to hypnotise near enough has a panic attack every time they see a pendulum. It'd take a lot more effort on Alejandro's part to actually get Noah to fall into a trance, even with the extra assurance of their company. But eventually, Alejandro's talents win out against Noah's fear (and rationality).

And once he's under the trance, Alejandro ushers the rest of their team from the room, claiming that the ensuing hypnotic process is highly volatile and that their presence could hinder/harm Noah's subconscious- or something along those lines. It's all a lie, of course, but Owen and Tyler are both considerate and naïve enough to trust Alejandro's judgement as neither would ever want to intentionally hurt Noah, so they leave Alejandro alone to do his work.

(If Izzy is still part of the team, Alejandro would convince her to leave by giving her some sort of 'special mission', or by sicking her on Chef for yet another Izzy v. Chef smackdown.)

From there it's a question of whether Noah's deep-rooted phobia hinders the effects of hypnosis to the point where he has a natural resistance to the trance and thus does his best to defy him, or if he's just as susceptible to Alejandro's spell as anyone else and lives out the rest of the competition living in constant paranoia because he could be enthralled at any given moment.

Either way, I doubt someone as terrified opposed to the idea of hypnosis would take Alejandro's attempted breach of his autonomy laying down. He'd react a lot more volatilely, fuelled by his all-consuming fear.