I woke up, not for the first time these past couple weeks, feeling completely awful. Though, today was more physical than emotional.

I tried to sit up, only to find I couldn’t. My abs, my core, my back, none of it seemed to want to function. I tried moving my legs. They barely budged. I mustered up all the strength in my body and rolled out of bed, falling a few feet onto the hard carpet of the dorm room with a heavy thud. And a groan. I could barely control my body, and every single neuron in my body was with this dull, formless pain. I felt… drained, like my internal battery on 1% and about to shut off completely.

“J-…Ju…lie…” I managed to croak out. 

I heard rustling from the bunk bed above me. “Mmmhh, whaaat?” An annoyed Julie responded.

“Hel…p…”

More rustling. “Vi, what do you… oh my God, Vi?!” I heard a loud thud around my feet, then I felt her hands on my shoulder. “Vi, w-what’s going on? Can you talk?”

“Uhhhh…” I groaned out.

“Shit! L-Let me check a couple things.” I felt her hand against my face, then against my neck. “Alright, j-just wait there for a second!” I heard her rummaging in the distance, then her footsteps became louder. “Here, I have some oral glucose. I’m going to administer it buccally, so just give me a second.” I felt something kind of cold in my mouth, in front of my teeth. It started to fade away and…

Ughhhh… what am I…

What… the fuck is this… headache?!

Wait, where… my eyes fluttered open, and I saw Julie staring at me with urgency and concern I’d never seen before. “Whuh…”

“Vi! Are, are you okay? Can you hear me?!” Julie asked, grabbing my shoulders.

The world was still spinning a little bit, and I looked down at my body. I was… on the floor? “Um… yeah? What… what happened?”

“Oh my God, Vi! You… you fell out of bed and were moaning for help! I’m not even sure you were fully conscious! Here, drink this and then swallow some more of this.” She held a water bottle to my lips and I took a few swigs, then she put some kind of tube in my mouth. The stuff that came out tasted… sweet? I swallowed it, and then drank some more water. Almost immediately, I felt strength start returning to my body.

Alongside a whole lot of pain.

I moaned as I was suddenly acutely aware of just how absurdly sore every muscle in my body was as they all screamed in agony. I felt dried out, like a vampire had sucked all of the blood and nutrients from my body, leaving only a husk in its wake. And the headache… I’ve had some nasty headaches before, but those times pale in comparison to how gnarly the pain in my head was.

“What… the fuck… happened?!”

“Seriously, what the fuck? I used to sleep like a baby and wake up feeling energized! Everyone was all like ‘wow Vi you’re so perky in the mornings, what’s your secret?’ and I’d just say ‘just a rock-solid seven-and-a-half hours of sleep every day.’ So what the FUCK?!” I slammed my fists on the table, attracting some questioning glances from the nearby tables of the dorm’s cafeteria. “Literally nothing has changed! Why do I feel like I’ve been run over by a garbage truck, tossed inside it, and turned into a Violet sandwich?!” I angrily chewed on some waffles before chugging down some more OJ.

“Well, from the looks of it you were both dehydrated and hypoglycemic. You’re damn lucky I had that tube of glucose handy, otherwise I would’ve had to call an ambulance.” Julie said as she picked up a forkful of scrambled eggs.

I let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Thank you for that. Truly. I know it may not sound genuine, because I’m really fucking pissed at everything right now, but you saved my life and that means a lot to me.”

“Don’t mention it, would’ve done it even without our… extenuating circumstances.” She took another bite of egg from her plate.

I finally started to calm down as I finished the last bite of my waffles. “What’s got me worried is why that happened though. Nobody in my family is a type 1 diabetic, and I’m certainly not either. So why…?”

Julie paused to think, her fork lingering in her mouth. “You did eat dinner last night, right?”

“Yeah, grabbed a burger and fries from the main food court on campus after I finished up with Jas and Chase.” Right… almost forgot about that. Whatever - self-pity later, medical analysis now!

“Hmmm…” We both sat there, completely stumped. I finished drinking up the last dregs of my juice, and Julie’s fork clattered on her plate as the last of her eggs vanished.

Then I saw her eyes widen for a moment. “Quick question, do you and Jas have sociology lecture later today?”

“Yeah, why?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Bring her to our dorm after class. I need to test something.”

I walked through the doorway and into my dorm room. “And here we are, バイオレットの部屋。Make yourself at home!”

“Woah, you guys have bunk beds?!” Jas squealed in awe.

“Yup! Julie gets the top, I get the bottom.”

“‘Sup.” The aforementioned redhead said as she clambered down to greet us. “How’re you feeling, Jas?”

“Good! Though, uh, still kinda getting used to the whole, y’know, brainwashed slave thing.” She looked down at her feet as she fidgeted in place.

“Hey, that’s okay. I’m still not fully used to it myself, but I’ll help all of us become more comfortable with it over time. By the way, you’re free the rest of the afternoon, right?”

“Yup! No more classes this week, and I can spend a few hours here. Vi said you needed help with something, s-so I’ll help you the best I can!” She said, pumping her fists slightly. “Is it something schoolwork related, or did you… w-want to… y’know…” She looked away, blushing furiously.

“Well, while that does sound absolutely delicious, I have other plans. But first, you,” she pointed her finger directly into my chest, “need to go into the bathroom, put in your earbuds, and completely ignore us for about 5 minutes.”

I blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what?” 

“You heard me, chop-chop!” She ordered as she turned me around, then pushed me into the small bathroom. “I need you to neither see nor hear anything that is going on for this to work, so watch a video or scroll your social media feed or something.”

“Wait, why-”

The door slammed shut in my face.

…when did she get the balls to do that? I swear, she hasn’t always been that pushy. And there’s no way my suggestions made her do that… right?

I pulled out my phone and popped in my earbuds, feeling like a dejected kid put in the time-out corner. Well, I guess I’ll find out what this is all about in a few minutes…

I was partway through a video talking about stem cell research when I heard knocks on the bathroom door.

“Alright Vi, you can come out now!” I heard Julie call through the door.

I opened the door and saw Jas sitting in the office chair facing my bed, with Julie standing next to the doorway I exited from. Jas smiled nervously and waved at me as I walked back into the room. “So, what’s this-”

“I want you to do your little titty-hypnosis transfer ritual with Jas.”

I’m sorry, what? “Whyyyyyyyyyy?”

“I’m not telling, and neither is she. You need to stay in the dark. Do the thing. Try making either of us spill the beans, and I will rip your throat out.” She stared at me with such an intensity that made my knees immediately buckle under her pressure. The logical part of my brain knows she (probably) wouldn’t actually do that; the rest of my brain just pissed itself.

“Um, o-okay?” Jas stood up and I nervously wrapped my arms around her, pressing my chest into her. “I’m transferring my hypnotic powers into you, making you feel sultry, seductive, and enchanting.” I stood there for a moment, then released her.

“Great! Now, back in the bathroom you go!” Julie said, wheeling me out of the room again.

“Wait, but-”

SLAM!

…

Seriously, when?!

Another few minutes passed when I heard some more knocking at the door.

“Um, you can come out now, Mistress!”

I opened the door, and this time was greeted by Jas next to the doorway. And across the room… was a slack-jawed Julie sitting on my bed, staring into nothingness.

“Whuh… what… um, can you explain?” I stared dumbfounded at the scene before me, my brain short-circuiting as I struggled to comprehend what my eyes were showing me.

“I think she’ll be able to explain it better? Let me wake her up first.” 

Jas walked over to Julie and snapped her fingers, and her eyes fluttered as life returned to them. Julie looked around in confusion for a moment, then burst out into a fit of raucous laughter. I looked over at Jas, and she looked back at me and shrugged, completely clueless as well. We both watched in complete disbelief as she rolled around on my bed, howling with maniacal laughter, before finally getting up and chuckling with tears in her eyes. She grabbed her phone off the desk, then continuing to giggle she shoved it into my chest.

“Oh my GOD Vi, you need to see what just happened!”

“…So, you want me to hypnotize you, then bring you right back out?”

“Yes. I want you to channel your inner hypnotist like you did just last night, and hypnotize me however you want. Just a short trip into trance, then right back out.” Julie responded warmly.

“…Okayyyyy? Um, I guess I can do that.” I took a deep breath to steel my nerves. “Ready to begin?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She smiled back.

“Alright, then I want you to focus all your attention on my chest.” I cupped my chest through my sweater, moving it around in a hypnotic pattern. “Feel your eyes become glued to them as they move, they’re so enticing and hypnotic that you can’t look away. The longer you stare at my shifting mounds, the more relaxed and spaced out you become. You can already feel yourself starting to drift away, as you stare and relax into my wonderful breasts. Letting yourself go, finding you become so tired, so sleepy that you just want to rest your head on these two lovely pillows. When I snap my fingers, you’ll find you’re so relaxed that you can’t stand it any more, and you’ll fall into a deep, hypnotic slumber where you dream of laying your head on my fluffy, enticing chest. Let yourself drop deep into that perfect sleep now.”

She snapped her fingers, and Julie blinked a couple times at me.

Wh-What?! I-I swear that’s basically how I did it last night! What gives?! Why didn’t she-

“That was a beautiful attempt, Jas, you’ve become quite the good hypnotist!” Julie said, patting me on the shoulder. “If I wasn’t planning on staying awake the whole time, you probably would’ve sent me right into trance!”

Huh?! “I-I’m sorry, what? You… weren’t trying to get hypnotized? But, you said-”

“I’m sorry for not telling you, but I’m running a little bit of an experiment here. This is now our baseline. Next, I’m going to introduce our… independent variable into the mix.” She grinned as she got up and knocked on the bathroom door. “Alright Vi, you can come out now!”

A moment later Mistress Vi walked out of the bathroom, very confused. I waved at her, not fully understanding what was happening myself.

“So, what’s this-”

“I want you to do your little titty-hypnosis transfer ritual with Jas.” Julie said, completely straight-faced.

…the WHAT. 

“Whyyyyyyyyyy?” Mistress Vi asked, seemingly as confused as I was.

“I’m not telling, and neither is she. You need to stay in the dark. Do the thing. Try making either of us spill the beans, and I will rip your throat out.” She stared daggers into Mistress, who… was looking positively terrified of her?

What kind of relationship do these two actually have? I thought they were friends?!

“Um, o-okay?” Mistress Vi walked over to me quickly, and I stood up. She then wrapped her arms around me and pressed her chest against my back, which was… a strangely familiar sensation? “I’m transferring my hypnotic powers into you, making you feel sultry, seductive, and enchanting.” We stood there for a moment, before she eventually released me from her pleasant embrace.

“Great! Now, back in the bathroom you go!” Julie said, pushing her out of the room once again.

“Wait, but-”

SLAM!

…

Seriously, what is going on?!

Julie walked back over to the bed and sat back down. “Go on, take your seat,” she said, and I cautiously sat back down. “Now, I want you to hypnotize me again.”

…I can’t even at this point. 

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked as politely as I could.

“You heard me right, I want you to hypnotize me again. In fact, use the exact same induction as before! I’m also going to try and stay awake through it, just like last time.”

…I’m in Looney Tunes. This HAS to be some kind of prank.

“You realize that’s not how hypnosis works, right?” I asked hesitantly.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t.” She replied with a straight face.

She’s… she’s being dead serious.

And here I thought Mistress had a few screws loose…

I pinched my nose and let out a long sigh. “Yeah, alright, I guess I’ll try again…”

“Please do, I have utmost faith in your abilities.” She smiled warmly back.

I took another deep breath, steeled my nerves, pinched myself just in case, and then opened my eyes.

“I want you to focus all of your attention on my chest…” I cupped my breasts like last time, moving them around in a hypnotic manner. I continued the hypnotic induction exactly like I did last time, but… something was different. Julie was different. She was blinking more than she was before. I could see my words were affecting her, and she was… falling into trance? “…Let yourself drop deep into that perfect sleep now.”

I snapped my fingers, and Julie’s head slumped forward.

…What.

There’s no way. There’s NO way. There’s no WAY she’s hypnotized. I’m definitely being pranked.

“Um… are you hypnotized right now?”

“Yes.” Not a hint of emotion as she responded.

“…Finger yourself, right now.”

Her hand reached up to her face as she wet her fingers with her tongue, then jammed them directly down her sweatpants. The squelching sounds that followed only confirmed what my eyes were seeing through the fabric.

Holy crap. This is either some serious dedication to the bit, or she’s really under.

“U-Um, you can stop that. Go ahead and open your eyes, a-and sit up for me.”

Her hand and her head both lifted up, and her eyes stared forward like a glassy void into nothingness.

“W-When I snap my fingers, you’ll immediately wake up from your trance.” I then walked up to the bathroom door and knocked a few times. “Um, you can come out now, Mistress!”

The door opened a moment later, and Mistress stared in confusion as she processed the scene. “Whuh… what… um, can you explain?” She stuttered out as her eyes darted between Julie and I.

“I think she’ll be able to explain it better? Let me wake her up first.” 

I walked over to Julie and snapped my fingers, and her eyes fluttered as life returned to them. She looked around in confusion for a moment, then started cackling like a maniac.

“Wait, so that wasn’t some elaborate prank? I… actually hypnotized you, while you were trying to resist?” Jas asked, completely flabbergasted.

“Yes, and you did absolutely wonderful!” Julie praised her as she petted the blonde’s head. “I never intended to go to sleep, especially since you were using the same induction as last time. But you put me under your spell immediately, and I was helpless to resist! And that video is proof!”

I couldn’t believe it either, but… the evidence is right here staring me in the face. The difference was night and day: the first time she was completely unaffected, and the next it was lights out. “I… I really can’t argue with these results. So, what gave you this idea?”

“Well, it all started with our favorite little slave here!” She booped Jas’ nose. “I was watching the recording of last night, and-”

“Wait, you recorded all of that last night and sent it to her?” Jas cut in.

“Um… yes?” I said with uncertainty. 

“How did you send it to her?”

“…by uploading it to the cloud and sending a link?”

Her expression was completely unamused. “Mistress, as your loving and adoring slave who is concerned for your well-being, and at the risk of offending the single most important person in my life: that is the most reckless and irresponsible thing I have heard this week.”

“Whuh?! But-”

“If you uploaded it to one of the bigger companies, you may as well have just turned yourself in to the authorities. And the lesser known ones are incredibly insecure, which I know from my own experience.”

…Right. Hacker. Wants to do cybersecurity.

What the fuck, are all my slaves just waiting in line to filet me now?!

“Uhhh… Ummm…”

Jas let out a long sigh. “I will buy some encrypted flash drives so this doesn’t happen again.”

I turned my head away as my face went beet red. “Th-thank you. I’ll… I’ll pay you back.” I curled up my knees and hid my head behind them in shame.

Jas turned towards Julie. “You look like you want to say something?”

“…Good job, Jas.” She said with a knowing smile as she pet the blonde’s head. I grumbled something in response. 

“Anyways, back to what I was saying! I watched your video, and I noticed something very odd. I compared how you spoke and your mannerisms to what we could see and hear from the first time you tried hypnotizing Chase - you recorded that one without knowing and sent it to us - and I noticed a dramatic shift in not only your confidence, but also the effect of your hypnosis.” Julie explained.

I finally popped my head up again. “Well, that could be explained by the fact that Jas was hypnotized, and Chase was just brought out of a hypnotic state. One was more focused on the task without as much room for emotions and shame, while the other would be drastically easier to hypnotize as a result.”

“Very true!” She confirmed. “However, something didn’t feel right; if it was bog-standard hypnosis, Chase’s natural instincts and sexuality probably would have kicked in. Let’s be real, using your tits to hypnotize someone is literally the most ham, over-the-top kind of induction. Anyone that isn’t male or named Violet could just look away. Don’t make that face, you know I’m right~.” I stuck out my tongue at her. Even if she is right. “But then I thought back to what you said about when you first hypnotized her Vi, and then thought about yesterday night. There had to be some kind of connection there.”

“Conditioning?” I posited. “She experienced the same kind of thing twice, so the second time was a reinforcer.”

“That’s true, but not what I was referring to.” Julie countered. “Vi, do you remember what your sleep was like the night after you first hypnotized her?”

“Honestly, my sleep’s been shit lately. Couldn’t tell you, it’s all been a blur.”

“You’re lucky I remember then, because I had to wake up early. And I remember you were very, very slow that morning. Slower than you’ve been lately. And after your little incident this morning, along with my own test, I’m starting to feel confident about my hypothesis.”

That got my attention, and I cocked my head to the side. “I’m… not sure I’m following. What is your hypothesis, exactly?”

She chuckled, then grinned at me. “You’ve been channeling your magic hypno powers into our shy little friend here without realizing it. If it really was Jas just being a confident hypnotist, I would’ve fallen the first time. But you shared your powers with her, and that knocked me out against all odds.”

I sat and thought about it for a second. If that was true, that would make a lot of sense: I might’ve way over-taxed myself last night, which is why I crashed this morning. This is still assuming that I’ve got magic powers in the first place, and that using them causes me to exert myself, but… considering everything that’s happened, it’s only gotten harder and harder to rule the magic possibility out.

“I’m sorry, what’s this about magic hypno powers?” Jas asked, genuinely lost.

“Oh, right, never told you. Um, so I may or may not have magic hypno powers or something? We have no idea how they work, but considering the fact that you two, Amber, and Chase have become my perfectly brainwashed slaves in a matter of days - even less than that in Julie and Amber’s case - I’m really starting to believe it.” I explained.

Jas stared at me for an uncomfortably long time, before she finally pinched her nose. “Yeah, okay, sure! That’s… totally normal! We’re living in a fantasy book right now! I’m not insane, I swear doctor! I just forgot to take my schizo meds this morning!” She rubbed her temples and groaned as she tried to wrap her head around this completely alien information we bombarded her with.

“It’s okay,” Julie comforted her. “If it helps you any, we literally understand why this is happening as much as you do. We’re all in the dark as to why the hell this is all happening.”

I sat there, not sure how to comfort my slave.

And then the idea hit me.

A wicked idea.

One I know I really shouldn’t entertain. 

It’s literally the reason I’m even in this mess to begin with.

…

But it’s too enticing to pass up.

“Hey Jas, do you want to make a bet?”

Both girls’ heads immediately swiveled my way. “A… bet?” Jas asked.

I nodded my head. “I want to stress-test this hypothesis of Julie’s. I want you, Julie, to try and hypnotize Jas. Jas, you will try your best to resist it with every fiber of your being, because I will command you as your Mistress to not become hypnotized. However, I’m going to channel my magic hypno powers into Julie the entire time. This will test its effectiveness against someone who is bracing against it with literally everything they have, and I’m honestly just curious to see who wins. If this magic mumbo jumbo doesn’t exist, the odds are heavily stacked in your favor; if it does, well… I’m not even sure what’ll happen.”

She thought about it for a moment. “Alright, what’s the wager on this bet?”

“If you can successfully fend off her attempt to hypnotize you, then Julie will become whatever you want for the whole weekend. She can be fanatically devoted to you, a nymphomaniac bimbo, your personal sex-bot, your butler, pretty much anything you want her to be. But if you lose, Julie will be able to do the exact same thing to you.”

She was rubbing her chin with her hand, deep in thought, when Julie spoke up. “Okay, while that idea sounds hot as fuck - and if I win, I can get revenge for that little suggestion you gave me when I was under - I just want to make sure that we keep in mind appearances! The only stipulation I’ll add is that we should act that way only when we’re not in public, so we don’t raise suspicion going to and from each others’ rooms.”

She makes a good point. “Fair enough. It sounds like you’re on board - and quite confident in your theory - but what about you, Jas? Want to give this a try?”

I could see the electricity course through each synapse as the neural processor in her head thought about it and weighed the odds. Eventually, though, she let out a long sigh and looked at me with determination. “Alright, bet.”

I grinned.

“Alright! Then as I said before, this is an order from your Mistress: Jasmine, do not let yourself be hypnotized. Resist with every fiber of your being, and try every tactic you can think of to stay awake.”

She nodded back, eyebrows furrowed and poised in preparation.

“Julie,” I addressed, “I’m going to close my eyes and try and transfer my power into you. It’s your job to hypnotize her the best you can; even if she doesn’t seem like she’s going under, have faith and continue on, ok? Do you… want me to use the trigger on you as well, so you’re entirely focused?”

She blinked at me, dumbfounded. “I… honestly, I’m kind of surprised you even asked.” She thought about it for a moment, then responded. “Alright, say the magic words. That way it’ll be as even a playing field as possible.”

“That’s what I thought too. Julie, I want you to help me test this by hypnotizing Jasmine. Use everything you’ve been learning, and try to make her fall.”

She nodded, grinning with determination. “As you wish!”

I closed my eyes, and began thinking of how to channel this power.

“Oh, one thing before we begin, Vi?”

I opened my eyes and looked at Julie.

“I don’t have another glucose tube, and we shouldn’t repeat this morning. If you start feeling tired, please, do not push yourself.”

I gave her a firm nod. “I’ll try to be careful.”

She nodded back and turned to Jas, as I placed a hand on her shoulder and closed my eyes. So, how the hell do I channel this? It just kinda… happened before, when I was in the moment, I didn’t even notice it. Maybe I’ll try thinking back to that moment, and try to remember exactly how I felt. Imagine myself transferring this magical hypnotic titty power through my chest into Jas’ chest, except this time I’m gonna channel it through my arm.

God, this sounds SO reta-

Wait, what was that just now? 

Those goosebumps on my arm weren’t there before. I can… feel something. It’s like… some kind of energy? I don’t even know how to properly describe it, it’s like… I’m acutely aware of something moving from me to Julie. Like, imagine if during a chemical reaction, you could actually see the heat and energy transfer from molecule to molecule. That’s what I’m sensing, it’s like there’s a reaction between me and Julie, and I’m releasing heat that’s absorbed by her.

This is incredible! How long have I even had this?! Has this been something I could do my whole life and never known? Or is it… something I… just…

Wow… I’m kinda… tired?

Wait… shit… 

Off…

…

My arm fell to my side and my body collapsed back onto the bed, my head slamming into the wall behind my pillow as it fell. Pain radiated from that spot on my skull, and a familiar sore numbness spread through my cataleptic body. All I could do was groan and wince in response.

“Vi, are you okay?!” I heard Julie call out in the distance. “I told you not to over-exert yourself! Here, drink some of this, it’ll give you energy.”

She held a bottle up to my lips, and I slowly drank the liquid as it filled my mouth. It was sweet and fruity, like… a sports drink? Right, Julie took a few with her when we visited Amber. As the liquid ran down my throat, awareness slowly crept back to me.

…Ouch… I think I’m feeling alive again… though I kinda wish I wasn’t…

…

…Did I slam my head into the wall or something? This headache’s a LOT different from the last one…

I slowly opened my eyes, and Julie was watching over me. “Oh thank God, you’re okay! Vi if you ever do this again, I’ll make sure the next thing I help you with is strangling you to death! Why didn’t you turn it off?!”

I slowly sat up, nursing the goose egg on the back of my head. “I… tried, but I’m not exactly good at doing that yet.” I looked down and noticed I was completely drenched in sweat. “That was… really stupid of me. I’m sorry, I’ll… I’ll make sure not to do this again.”

Julie sighed in exasperation as she handed me the bottle, which I graciously accepted. “At least you learned from this mistake. Though, if nothing else, your stunt has provided some juicy results!”

Oh, right, the bet. I looked over, and…

Jas was completely zonked out in the chair. Her body was slumped over, her eyes stared into nothing behind those glasses, and a sizable strand of drool was pooling on her chest.

“So, question,” Julie asked as I stared in awe at my tranced slave, “do I have to decide one thing for her to do, or can I switch it up whenever I please?”

Jas licked the back of her own hand, then nestled her face against Julie’s thigh. Julie reached down and pet Jas’ head, scratching behind the ears and making her purr in delight.

“Feeling better now?” Julie asked me as she continued to scratch away.

“Yeah, much.” I responded, taking a bite out of my chicken tenders. “Back of my head still hurts, but the headache’s finally gone. Feeling way more human again. Um, I’ll pay you back for this, thanks for running and grabbing it for me.” I dunked the last bit of my current tender into the barbeque sauce, then popped it in my mouth.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. Glad to hear you’re doing better though, because there’s something aside from your magical witch powers that needs to be discussed.”

“What do you… Oh, right, that.” I dipped a fry into the barbeque sauce, and popped it in my mouth. It stung my tongue a little bit as I chewed, I didn’t realize they were still hot. After managing to swallow the mass of molten potato, I took a deep breath. “So, all of this got me thinking yesterday on the way back. Do you remember what I told you freshman year about what I wanted to be?”

“You wanted to be a nurse, right?”

“Mhm, still do. I enjoy helping people. That’s the reason I wanted to help Amber with her calculus. I just… like helping people become the best versions of themselves they can be. I think back to all the times I’ve helped you with your homework, when I helped my labmate sophomore year get over her breakup, and I feel proud about what I did.

“And then I think back to what I did with you guys, and I feel the same pride. It doesn’t make sense. Why would I feel proud about what I’m doing? I know I didn’t when I enslaved Amber, I was a fucking train wreck after that. But then I enslaved Jas, and… I felt it. It wasn’t the same, and it was still muted under all my disgust, but I still felt it. And when I managed to… ‘fix’ her later, it came back. And now, with you and Chase under my wing, I’ve felt it a lot more each time. Pride. Vindication. This… self-affirming feeling that I’m supposed to be doing this. I know what I’m doing is wrong, and it literally flies in the face of what I wanted to be. I wanted to help people, not… not fucking obliterate their lives! Even if I were to snap my fingers and return everyone to normal, none of you would be the same. I’ve permanently scarred each of you, left a stain on your life that will never be removed.

“At this point, I feel like all I can do is help you all try to grow despite what I’ve done. I know I’m a terrible person, and this… dark urge of mine keeps pushing me to spread my influence like a miasma across campus. I’ve… always had a bit of a fetish for hypnosis, to be blunt. But never anything this radical, just using hypnosis to have fun with someone’s head! And now, somehow, that innocent little fetish has been warped into this drive, this desire to corrupt every girl I meet. I can’t control it. And… there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to. Like I said, it’s all self-affirming.

“I don’t know what happened to me. It was so… sudden, too. I’d never have dreamt of doing this to people in a million years. I know I never did, because when I saw and read fiction about hypnosis that bordered on the unethical side, it creeped me the hell out. And yet… I’m literally making those stories a reality. And I don’t feel that same way now. It’s like some kind of switch just flipped in my brain a few weeks ago, and Amber happened to be the first victim of it. Some secret desire that only came out now for some reason. I can’t even think of anything that sparked it: I wasn’t really stressed, I didn’t read anything that made me feel a certain way, it just… happened.

“So… yeah. I just… I don’t know anymore. I feel like something happened to make me this way, but I’m not sure if that’s just me trying to deflect the blame for the horrible things I’ve done. I just want answers. That’s… that’s all I want.” I brought my knees up to my face, curling up as my brain continued to try and process everything. Tears were already running down my face.

Julie stared at me, concern and sadness in her eyes. She looked down in thought, then over at the girl she’d been mindlessly petting the whole time. “Jas, return to normal and remember everything.”

Jas blinked a couple times, then her expression went from loving and content to mirroring Julie’s. “Oh, Mistress, that’s… wow. I had no idea.”

“Honestly, me neither.” Julie admitted. “I’m glad you could finally speak about this though, I can imagine it’s been eating away at you for a while. It’s hard for me to console you properly, given… y’know… but just know that you’re not alone. Both of us, brainwashed as we may be, are here to help you when you need it. You don’t need to bottle up your feelings, it’ll only make things worse.”

I chuckled, wiping away a tear. “Well, a certain someone did have a hand in those bottled up emotions, after all.”

“And I’ll do it again the moment you start getting too comfy.” She threatened with a wink. 

I could only chuckle in response.

God, I’m glad I have a friend like her around.

After another moment, Julie looked back at me, puzzled. “Vi, when… when did you say your sleep troubles started again?”

I raised an eyebrow. “… A little over two weeks ago. Do you… think that’s correlated somehow?”

She shrugged. “Truth be told, there’s a lot we just don’t know about this situation. But if these dark desires surfaced, your sleep schedule became terrible, and these magic powers all appeared at the same time…”

“Then there might be a reason behind all of it.” I concluded, and then chuckled to myself. “Well, if that does turn out to be true, it’ll make me feel a little better about all this. Just a little.”

“Mistress,” Jas chipped in, “I-I don’t know anything about this magic stuff, and before today I would’ve thought you were crazy for saying it. But… now that I know it’s true, maybe… you’re not the only one? What if something happened a few weeks ago that none of us knew about, that started making some people secretly awaken to all sorts of magic powers?”

I thought about that for a moment. “I mean, it’d make sense. Nothing really happened that made the news, but given that magic isn’t exactly normal, who knows. Maybe the government is keeping it hush-hush. Maybe people just don’t know about their own powers.” I shrugged. “Sky’s the limit, we have literally no idea! But just in case, can you research the news and websites over the past few weeks in your free time? If there’s a lead out there and similar cases keep popping up, we should probably chase them down and learn more.”

“As you wish, Mistress!” She looked up at Julie. “…not sure how much I’ll get done this weekend, though.”

“I’ll make sure you stay busy when you’re not servicing me, little one.” She ruffled Jas’ hair, then turned to me. “Well, I think we can keep that going as our running theory for the time being. I’m basically 3-for-3 at this point, so sorry if it turns out I’m wrong on this one.”

“Not like we have much to go on, anyways. And, uh, thank you for hearing me out and holding me to it. I, uh… I really, truly appreciate everything you do for me, as a friend.”

She pulled me into a hug. “Honestly Vi, that’s what friends are for.”

I’m so lucky to have her as a friend.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Julie said as she pulled away, “there’s still time left in the day and I really want to play with my new toy~”

Jas shivered, partly out of fear and partly out of arousal.

I grinned. “Honestly, that sounds like it’d-”

“Vi, there’s NO way in hell you’re coming with us!” She snapped at me. “Do I need to remind you that you basically went into hypoglycemic shock twice today?!” She stared daggers into me, and I immediately shrank into a little ball again.

“Oh, yeah, I… kinda did…” I whispered out.

“You need to rest up and regain your strength. You’re not allowed to leave this room until tomorrow.” She ordered.

I grabbed a french fry and shoved it in my mouth, pouting. “Alright, Mom~.”

She smirked as she picked up her backpack. “Come along, Jas, let’s leave her be for the night!”

The very confused blonde quietly followed behind as the door closed, and I was left with my thoughts and some slightly cold fries.