It was Friday date night again and Madison looked happy.

Madison often looked happy but Bella couldn’t help but notice she looked especially jubilant this date night.

“Whaaaat?” she all but sang, her curiosity stinging.

“Do you have anything planned at the start of the month? First weekend?” Madison asked, eyes twinkling with eagerness, “I can’t promise anything but I might be able to get out your way and see you for a little bit.”

“!!!!” a squeak of delight emitted from Bella’s throat as she broke out in a beaming smile. “Re-REALLY?!”

“Maybe.” Madison clarified, “I need to check in on some things and want you to check with everyone if I can visit okay, but… it’s a possibility.”

“I want to go to there!” Bella loudly exclaimed.

“Fingers crossed, sweetling.” Madison responded warmly.

“I just wanna see you! It’s queerphobic to make us wait!” she pressed her knuckles to her hips and pouted at the camera to punctuate her displeasure.

“I know right?!” Madison laughed, “Teleporters when?!”

Bella perked up and wiggled with impatience, “Urgh…! Now I’m gonna just be thinking about that! I hate waiting!”

“Oh…” Madison hummed with a sharp edge to her tone, “Do you need to be distracted, sweetling?”

The force of Madison’s sudden shift into a toppy tone stunned Bella completely off her guard. Her wiggling ceased instantly and she sat up sharply, lowering her head and looking at the camera with pleading in her expression. “Pu–please, Miss?”

“Good. Girl.” Madison growled, fierce in her expression and tone, “You can be patient for me, can’t you?”

“Y-Yes Miss!” Bella whimpered.

“Hmm… but what do I want to do with you…” Madison casually wondered, slipping away from her top voice a moment.

This little routine had become second nature to the pair. The way they slipped in and out of their roles and prodded one another into action. It had all the energy of an improv skit where they were always leaving room for the next ‘yes, and’ suggestion.

“Well…” Bella mused, “Kayleigh and I were watching some hypnosis scenes from TV and movies this week and it got me thinking about my favorite scenes. The ones I used to dream about.”

“Oh?” Madison asked, raising an eyebrow, “Which ones?”

“Well… I mean there’s the whole Coin of Gold thing from Scooby Doo, y’know, with the clown ghost? And I always liked those scenes with cupid arrows and love potions, like the way they just swoon and sigh? Oh I always loved that! I used to dream about just falling under a spell like that!” her enthusiasm shone through with every word, giddy and filled with exuberance.

“Mhmm…” Madison hummed, inviting Bella to continue.

“Oh and there’s a really good one in Charlies’ Angels with like a typing test and that one is really good. What about you? I noticed there was some hypnosis in the books you had us start reading!”

Madison brightened up instantly, “Yes, yes! I don’t think they influenced me when I was young… but there are a few of them. One I really want to see you react to when you get to it.”

“Oh? Oh? Oh?! What happens in it?”

“Spoilers, sweetie.” Madison said with a playful wink, “I promise you’ll know when you get there.”

Bella pouted, “Now I’m impatient about two things!”

Madison laughed affectionately, enjoying how adorable her sweetling could be at times, “There was another series I enjoyed that had vampire seduction in it. That was my vampire crush growing up. The way they described his voice was so good!”

“Ooo, I like vampires a lot!”

“Mhmm.” Madison chimed, knowing this fact full well, “I hope we can get little bits of inspiration from books, though. Maybe some of this will inspire Donna?”

Bella nodded, “Mhmm! And we have our own books that inspire. The book series we grew up with had a scene or two. Nothing super big… like one had vampires.”

“Oh? Do tell!”

“Not much to say. I remember there was a scene where they tried to hypnotize a witch but she had like a fantasy version of DID and so every time they hypnotized her she’d switch and it was like a see-saw. One goes down and the other pops up.” she scrunched her noses and shook her head fiercely, “That’s so boring, though! I know it was dangerous to be preyed on by vampires but it’s so unfair to get see-saw’d out of the moment whenever she got to be mesmerized by a vampire.”

“How rude!” Madison agreed.

“Bell would never!” Bella boasted.

Madison just chuckled, shaking her head, “As long as you are a good girl and don’t do anything that would give her reason to and I know you can respect how much Bell trusts you when you play, can’t you, sweetling?”

Madison caught the little eye flicker of an IM Window confirm that there was an internal discussion happening in reaction to this conversation. She was about to ask for context but Bella quickly nodded furiously, “I know, Miss! I know!”

Madison smiled warmly. “Good girl.”

“Aaaaanyway!” Bella exclaimed, eager to get back onto the topic of hypnosis, “There’s not a lot of hypnosis in my series… though… I guess there’s one moment that always stuck out to me.”

“Oh?” Madison’s curiosity had been piqued.

“Hold on, hold on!” Bella excitedly chimed as she dove out of frame of the webcam and started to dig through a box. Swiftly she returned holding an orange and purple hardcover book. “Here it is!”

She peeled open the cover and looked at the first page. Her smile faded instantly.

Madison had become acutely aware of Belladonna’s micro-expressions over the course of their relationship, especially when Bella was the one expressing. The brief and distant look in her eyes meant something was happening inside of her head. It wasn’t the sharp pang of an IM Window, it was dull and lingering. Either a memory or a distracting thought.

“Sweetling, are you alright?” she asked, carefully.

Bella perked up instantly and shook her head fiercely, paused, recoiled and shook it again.

“Sorry, sorry…” she all but whined, “We got this book at a– tough time… there was just a reminder, is all…”

“Do you need to talk about it?” Madison’s voice instantly had become serious, she knew to be flexible about these shifts in mood, she was not immune to them herself, “I promise, we can come back to this later.”

Bella looked to the camera with firm eyes. It was undeniably Bella’s wide and emotive eyes looking at the camera but the expression was far more firm than Madison was used to her sweetling displaying. Her fists rested on her hips and she shook her head firmly, “I wanna keep talking.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I am.”

Before Madison could question further Bella rifled through the book with keen intention.

“Here, here it is!” Bella exclaimed as if her little moment of vulnerability had not even happened, “So, so, Miss Susan, she’s Death’s granddaughter and she’s inherited the family occupation and the powers that go with it and she can step out of time and speak into people’s minds with her VOICE!” she performed a showy gesture of expanding her hands out from her mouth to emphasize the importance of this capital letter and bold text ‘VOICE’ that she seemed so taken with, “I want that. I want that very much!”

Madison just affectionately shook her head, melting back into the casual discussion, “Oh sweetling…” she sighed, as smitten by her antics as she had been months ago during their initial encounter. “Maybe show me the scene?”

Bella nodded eagerly and started transcribing from book to keyboard. She wanted to make sure every word was captured perfectly. This book meant a lot to her. She didn’t want to paraphrase and ruin any of it.

'Algebra?' said Madam Frout, perforce staring at her own bosom, which no one else had ever done. 'But that's far too difficult for seven-year-olds!'

'Yes, but I didn't tell them that and so far they haven't found out,' said Susan. It was time to move things along. 'I expect you wanted to see me about my letter, madam?' she said. Madam Frout looked blank. 'Wh-' she began. Susan sighed and snapped her fingers. She walked round and opened a drawer by the motionless Madam Frout, removed a sheet of paper and spent some time carefully writing a letter. She let the ink dry, rustled the paper a bit to make it look slightly second-hand, and then put it just under the top of the pile of paperwork beside Madam Frout, with enough of it peeking out so that it would be easy to see. She returned to her seat. She snapped her fingers again. '-at letter?' said Madam Frout. And then she looked down at her desk. 'Oh.' It was a cruel thing to do, Susan knew. But while Madam Frout was not by any means a bad person and was quite kind to children, in a haphazard way, she was silly. And Susan did not have a lot of time for silly. 'Yes, I asked if I might have a few days' leave,' said Susan. 'Pressing family matters, I'm afraid. I have prepared some work for the children to get on with, of course.' Madam Frout hesitated. Susan didn't have time for this, either. She snapped her fingers. 'MY GOODNESS, THAT'D BE A RELIEF,' she said, in a voice whose harmonics went all the way into the subconscious. 'IF WE DON'T SLOW HER DOWN WE'LL RUN OUT OF THINGS TO TEACH THEM! SHE HAS BEEN PERFORMING SMALL MIRACLES ON A DAILY BASIS AND DESERVES A RAISE.' Then she sat back, snapped her fingers again, and watched the words settle into the forefront of Madam Frours mind. The woman's lips actually moved. 'Why, yes, of course,' she murmured at last. 'You have been working very hard... and... and,' and since there are things even a voice of eldritch command can't achieve and one of them is to get extra money out of a head teacher, 'we shall have to think about a little increment for you one of these days.' Susan returned to the classroom and spent the rest of the day performing small miracles.

As Madison read it, Bella continued to squee with joy about this character and why they brought them so much joy.

“A voice whose harmonics went all the way into the subconscious, huh?” Madison grinned, “I think I can work with that. Are there any other things you want to explore, sweetling?”

Bella looked a moment, “Hmm… well we need a suggestion for when I am frozen, right? Like something to tell me to do?”

Madison nodded, “That we do. Would you enjoy feeling that love spell? You seemed enthusiastic about that one.”

“Mhmm! If it’s okay? I know that messing with emotions can always be a little… risky.”

“We can, so long as you understand that it is artificial and temporary. It means a lot to me that you are safe and feel safe during play like this and you know not to let anything that is temporary become a lasting attachment.”

Bella nodded meekly, “I think I can…”

“Good… then I think we can play with this suggestion.”

Bella’s hands clapped together merrily, “Please Miss, please? Oh I would so very much enjoy that! Pretty pretty please, I’ll be ever so good, I promise!”

“You are good.” Madison interrupted, the toppy edge to her tone returning in full force. “That’s it… you know exactly what it means for my voice to that this tone, don’t you, sweetling?”

Bella whimpered in anticipation and fell right into her role, crossing her hands in her lap and leaning towards the camera, “Yes Miss…!”

“I think you should get comfortable, don’t you, sweetling?”

Bella quickly rearranged her pillows so they would catch her weight when she sunk into trance and eagerly vibrated with anticipation. Her complete lack of patience on full display.

“There you go… now you can just focus on my hypnotic voice, can’t you, sweetling?” Madison growled in her mesmerizing voice. Bella had become quite familiar with the tone she took when she was working on her mind and had become quite susceptible to it.

She then raised up a crystal to the screen. A familiar item that Madison had enjoyed using as a focus. The mere sight of it was enough to command Bella’s focus.

Bella leaned in lightly and gasped out as soon as she saw the crystal. The association between that sight and deep hypnosis was irresistible. Seeing it was always an invitation to let go completely.

“You know exactly how to dip down into trance for me, don’t you, cutie?”

Bella distantly nodded, allowing herself to settle down, her kinetic energy subduing with every passing moment of this blissful invitation.

“Mhmm…” Madison hummed, “Settling down, easing in… it’s okay, you can just let your thoughts clear. You don’t need to do anything but listen to my hypnotic voice…”

Bella’s eyes began to flicker in the twilight between wakefulness and trance. She struggled to keep watching the sparkling gem on her monitor.

“Drop.” Madison finally commanded.

Bella’s body slumped and flopped against the pillows, her lips delicately parted as she just relaxed and listened.

“Good girl…” Madison hummed, “That’s exactly right. Settling down and sinking further. You can listen to me for a little while, can’t you?”

Bella nodded softly as Madison worked on deepening the trance, reinforcing and focusing Bella’s attention. Every moment giving her permission to let go completely and slip under Madison’s spell.

“Now, Sweetling, you had a very good idea for a scene… and you shared it with me in hopes that you’d get to experience it.” Madison watched to see Bella’s expression blossom into a serene smile before continuing, “And you know what happens when Miss Susan snaps her fingers, don’t you?”

“Stops time…” Bella mumbled peacefully.

“Mhmm… And that means that when you see me raise my hand and with intention snap, you can feel your thoughts freeze in time. Any thoughts you have can just stop right there. Your body can take care of you in that thought frozen space but your mind will just ignore the flow of time until you see me snap my fingers again, and if you break line of sight or there’s any distractions or things that require your attention you can just settle back in to the flow of time naturally and normally, but as long as you can see me and you understand that the scene is still ongoing, you can just relax and let time stop for your mind, can’t you, sweetling?”

Bella’s eyelids fluttered as the words mingled with her docile thoughts. Her head lightly bobbed up and down to indicate she did understand and was willing to follow along like the good girl she was.

“That’s it… and when I freeze your thoughts you’ll find that my voice can slip all the way into your subconscious, can’t it? You don’t need to think about it, you’ll just listen and follow easily and readily, won’t you?”

“‘s Miss…”

“Knowing the same safeties we apply to hypnosis will always apply. You will keep yourself safe. All of you safe. You’ll do that for me, won’t you sweetling?”

“‘s Miss…”

“Good girl…”

Madison took her time cementing the complicated suggestion and wrapping as much safety as she could think to include in the suggestion. When it seemed Bella had absorbed every word she finally gave her a 3-count to bring her back.

“Hey there, sweetling. How you doing?” Madison asked, pleasantly.

“Gooood!” Bella sang out.

Madison watched Bella’s face curiously, an air of mischief in her eyes as she raised her hand with thumb pressed against finger, “Whatcha thinking?”

“Just how nice it feels to g-” she stopped mid-sentence. Madison had snapped her fingers.

Madison took a moment to mask in the sight of Bella paused mid-animation. Her eyes wide and open, her mouth round and open. She was still blinking and breathing, but she was frozen in action.

“Very good, sweetling. Very good.” she paused a moment to think through how she wanted to phrase her suggestion before proceeding, “Now when you come back you’ll find that, until you finish what remains in that bottle, any time you take a sip of water it will contain a fast acting infatuation potion, you know them so well, and it will only last for a little while, but while you are under the impact of that potion you’ll just be completely spellbound and love struck.”

There was no visual sign of compliance and comprehension this time, but Madison was confident it was going to work out fine.

With another snap of Madison’s fingers Bella resumed her animation, stumbling out of her trance and trailing off, “-ood… and…” she blinked heavily, something felt wrong.

“Shh, don’t think about it.” Madison warmly offered. To her delight, the worry melted from Bella’s expression, “And sweetling, you should get some water, I think.”

Giddily responding to the surprising mischief in her love’s voice, Bella reached over and grabbed her water bottle and took a quick swig from it. Madison watched expectantly as Bella turned her attention back to the screen and was visibly struck by the power of the hypnotic suggestion.

“Oh.”

The focus of the world softened into obscurity as the vivid and present form of her girlfriend sharpened until it was all Bella could perceive. She swooned out a sigh, allowing her shoulders to sag down and her heart to skip. She knew that she was in love. The pair had exchanged the word and yet this spell was unlike anything she had ever felt before. Love, the ideal of romance and affection suddenly seemed too small of a word.

“How are you feeling, Sweetling?” Madison playfully prodded, eager to see what was going on beyond Bella’s lovestruck expression.

“Oh Miss!” she sighed sweetly, her voice resonating with the instilled affection, “I love you! So so so very much! And I get to say it!” she giggled in glee, realizing this truth as if it had been a secret until now, “I can say it! I love you! I’m infatuated! Enchanted! Bespelled! Besotted! Taken! Swayed! Charmed!”

“Yes. You are.” Madison growled in her top voice, she attempted to glare at the camera to punctuate her words but she was too delighted by Bella’s enthusiasm. “Oh Sweetling…” she signed, smitten, “I’m so very lucky you trust me like this…”

The effects of the potion wore off with as much a visual wave of emotion as they had initially hit. “Oh wow…” she sighed, a grin plastered to her face, “That was amazing.”

Madison grinned, satisfied with this reaction, “Oh, Sweetling?” she waited a moment for Bella to turn her face to the screen before snapping her fingers again.

The suggestion hit as firm the second time as the first, the soft hypnotee sat with her quizzical expression frozen to her lips. Madison took a heartbeat to appreciate the trust and compliance being offered to her before continuing, “Any time I use an amnesia suggestion like this I want you to let it hide away at the back of your mind to help you be a good obedient girl for me, but when I tell you to ‘Recall’ you can let those memories flow back to you, can’t you, Sweetling?”

Bella did not react. She was frozen in time, after all.

“Good girl.” Madison smiled, snapping her finger again. “There you go…” Bella tilted her head, not sure how to react to the confusing behavior of her partner. Madison decided to release her from her curiosity. “Recall.”

The memory hit suddenly. Her eyes went wide and she beamed in delight. “That’s SO COOL!” she elated, clapping her hands together. “Oh, Miss! I love it! I love it so much! Can I keep it? Please? Please? It’s such a useful and fun suggestion!”

“As you wish, Sweetling.” Madison fondly giggled. The infatuation potion seemed to be impacting her too.

Before the pair could continue their play a knock sounded on Bella’s side of the screen.

“Oh, sorry. One second, please?” she turned and called off camera, “Come in!”

Madison politely busied herself with her phone, not wishing to intrude on Bella’s home life unless specifically invited.

Bella, meanwhile, was greeted with the sight of Kayleigh, one of her partners that she shared a home with.

The pair briefly discussed logistics for an event at the house before Kayleigh leaned into the frame of the webcam’s boundaries. “Hiiii~!” she sang to the monitor.

Madison looked up from her phone and regarded the familiar face. She had known Belladonna online for longer than she had known Kayleigh’s online persona, DozyDaydreamer, but had met Kayleigh in-person many times before Belladonna had even started appearing at hypnosis events. The pair did not have a strong relationship but they were familiar enough and enjoyed one another’s presence enough to converse.

Especially now that they had a certain partner in common.

“Hello, Kay. Sorry for stealing Bella for a little bit.” Madison chirped, brightly.

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I’m not taking her away. I just needed to tell Bell about a thing and then wanted to say ‘hi’! while you were here”

She was about to pull away from the frame when Bella grabbed her wrist. “Wait, wait, wait!” before swinging her head to the monitor, “Miss, can I show her? The new trick?”

Madison tilted her head expectantly, “I think you shouldn’t just be asking me, Sweetling.”

Bella quickly turned her attention to Kayleigh who was patiently sticking around, “Kaaaaaayleigh? Can I show off a hypnotic trick Miss just gave me?”

Kayleigh nodded eagerly with a positive sound of affirmation and made herself comfortable. No one enjoyed a display of hypnotic shenanigans more than DozyDaydreamer.

With permission given, Madison raised her hand with her fingers prepared to snap before firmly commanding, “Plead for it.”

Both ladies on Bella’s side of the screen made gentle sounds of surprise at the firmness of Madison’s tone before Bella spewed out into a desperate plea, “Please, Miss! Pretty please! Let me show Kayleigh how good I am! Please, please, pl-”

She snapped.

Bella froze again and looked to Kayleigh, “And now she’s frozen and letting my words slip into her soft and eager head. Nooow… What should I say…?” she paused a moment, guaged Kayleigh’s comfort at being included in their scene before proceeding, “Next time I call you a good girl you’ll feel me press a thumb firmly to your forehead and draw you right back into trance, won’t you, Sweetling?”

Bella remained motionless and caught in the midst of her pleading. Satisfied, and enjoying Kayleigh’s eager expression, she snapped her fingers again.

“-ease?! Please, Miss! I’ll be such a good girl! I’ll make you look good! Please, Miss?”

Madison chuckled, “That’s it. Good Girl.”

Bella’s eyes instantly rolled back and she flopped against Kayleigh.

Madison chuckled and Kayleigh joined in laughter, stroking Bella’s head.

“Okay Sweetling, back on 1-2-3.”

Bella shot up, confused and yet full of life.

“How was that?” Madison asked, Kayleigh.

“She’s a good girl.” Kayleigh confirmed, “And that was fun.”

“Wasn’t it though…?” Bella swooned.

“Do you even know what you’re agreeing with, Sweetling?” Madison teased.

“Hmph!” Bella defiantly pouted, putting her fists on her hips, “I am just happy to be a good girl.”

“You are a good girl.” Kayleigh affirmed, enjoying this private show very much.

“Before we continue, I want to check in, Kayleigh. Are you okay with this?” Madison was always careful and sincere about ethics and boundaries within scenes, this was not pre-negotiated and Bella was fractionated. She was okay with sharing the space and letting Bella show off but she was still going to be careful about it.

“I am.” Kayleigh primly responded, “I’ll let you know if I’m uncomfortable.”

“Then, Sweetling? Do you want to explain what happens if I have you drink from your water bottle?”

Bella beamed at the invitation, “It’s an infatuation potion.”

“Oh that’s fun! May I see it?”

Bella looked to the screen and received a nod so she eagerly grabbed her water bottle and took a drink. The swooning enchantment fell over her instantly and her expression melted into pure rapture. “Ah…!”

She flung her arms around Kayleigh and squeeze with all her might. “Feel me do to you what I do to Kayleigh!” she joyfully exclaimed, reaching up to kiss the hazel haired woman she clung to.

“Sweetling…” Madison said slowly in warning, “I don’t think you should be making decisions like that while altered.”

Though dulled by the impact of the spell, Bella could feel a Bell shaped emotion scolding her.

We haven’t kissed yet. No using kinesthetic triggers for kisses until we have.

Bella may have been discouraged or deterred if she was not enchanted by a love potion but such sadness and doubt had no place in this world, instead the emotion turned to affection that she was so safe with her Miss, that she had their first kiss to look forward to and that she was able to love on two partners at once.

The Bell shaped emotion in her heart could only be astonished that their life had changed enough that such a thing could even come to pass.

“Sorry!” Bella squeaked, hugging Kayleigh tighter, “Then feel me do this instead!” and she began nuzzling her cheek against Kayleigh’s arm, pouring every ounce of affection into the other woman, knowing it could be felt across the miles that the computer monitor represented.

Kayleigh laughed in delight, Madison closed her eyes and savored the hypnotic sensation of proximity.

The spell faded once again and Bella melted against Kayleigh. Madison checked in and made sure all was well and Kayleigh agreed to stick around and hang out with the pair for a little bit, company.

“I think that’s enough demonstration, though.” Madison said, realizing that the spell may need a little safety modifications going forward, “Oh and Sweetling? Recall.”

The memory of her pleading being interrupted came back and she merrily nuzzled into Kayleigh again, content as a kitty and surrounded with love.

“How did I get so lucky?” she sighed to the world at large. She didn't need a magic potion to know how smitten she was.