A curled up blonde snores softly in her bed, turning over in her sleep just in time for the alarm clock on her bedside table to assault her with its waking screech. Tyra reluctantly forces one I open to see if she can snooze the clock for a few more minutes but realises she has already been snoozing, she must have hit it reflexively the first time it activated... Groaning in disappointment that she has to leave the comfort of bed, the discheveled and disoriented girl pulls herself up with just as much sluggishness as her usual morning routine. 

The room is a mess, how drunk was she last night? She doesn't remember doing much, but Sam did drag her out for her idea of fun. Well, she needs to see if she can find some clean clothes to pull on so she can try to get to college on time for once, thankfully she has been staying in Sam's dorm for the last couple of weeks while she has her final project and Sam's roommate Aubrey is away. Tyra drags herself in front of her, or Aubrey's mirror, to get ready for the day. The half asleep blonde furrows her brow as she notices a subtle gloss on her lips, wiping her mouth with her hand and finding traces of glitter where she does. She looks confused, but concludes that it is far more likely that she accidentally got glitter on herself while working on her project in the art department at college than anything more risqué. Just as Tyra finishes her hastily thrown together makeup and brushes her hair, Sam exits the shower with a grin covering her unusually pretty face. Unusual for her that is, as she rarely does her self up like this, part of Tyra likes the look and part of her misses having a friend lazier than herself.

"What are you so happy about? You're just as late as I am, at least I'm dressed." She gives a curious glance to Sam's bare chest, water still rolling down it slowly. Neither of them have spoken about their intimate encounter in Tyra's room a month earlier, nor are they aware of the background influences that led them to it and affected its aftermath. 

Sam shrugs, not seeming concerned with trivial matters like attendance or punctuality. "Shut up and lookee here, Ty! I got us tickets for that travelling magic show, they're local right now and do a show every night while they're set up."

"Magic show? It's not going to be like that circus you dragged me to last time you got mystery tickets, is it? We were the only adults there without children, it was embarassing..." 

The tomboy, who looks a lot less like one these days, shakes her head and throws an arm around her hesitant best friend. "No, no, promise. No kids allowed in fact, because some of the tricks are dangerous and it's super late anyway."

Tyra frowns. "Dangerous?"

"Not to us, stupid, you need to loosen up! I know for a fact that you'll have a good time, so stop making excuses not to come."

"For a fact?"

"No doubt in my mind."

Sighing, the girl gives in and takes the ticket. "Fine, I've been going to sleep late anyway so no harm there... I do have my final art project to finish though."

Sam releases Tyra and reaches for an energy drink, a worrying start to any day. "I thought you said you were already finished?" 

"You can never polish something too much."

"Uh huh..."

Tyra heads out in a panic, the conversation with Sam having wasted precious seconds she needed to get in on time, not that their attendance is particularly strict given they are just coming in to finalise their projects, but she has never gotten over the scars of school attendance and the price of tardiness. In the corridor Tyra tries to fix her hair but finds it impossible while walking this hurriedly.

"In a rush Tyra?"  A snarky voice asks from behind her, Tyra turning to see two of her classmates who are far less distressed by their fashionable lateness. Both girls have strange smirks on their faces as the second one asks. "Rough night partying?" The two laugh at that, leaving Tyra confused and frustrated, if she's being picked on like they're in high school... she still doesn't understand the joke. For now she just decides to shrug off their strange attitudes as playful. 

"So Tyra, are you going to the magic show that's in town tonight? They've only got today and tomorrow then they're moving on right?" 

"Umm, I hadn't even heard of it until a few minutes ago but yeah, Sam got tickets." She waves the ticket, half-heartedly. 

"Damn, Samantha must be flexing her government handouts or something." One of the girls snickers at the other's joke and you raise an eyebrow, before realising the ticket has the letters V.I.P written on it.

"Um, yeah I never thought to ask where she bought them, so I don't know..." 

The girls seem like they can barely contain their laughter. "You sure you didn't ask her? You are a very forgetful person after all." 

Huh? 

Tyra sits at her desk, polishing her project while hunching over it to make sure the others in her course are unable to make early judgements. When they think she isn't looking, the people around her shoot amused glances her way, making her feel more than a little self conscious. Tyra finds it easy to ignore at this point, they have been doing this for a while now, at least the past week or two. Maybe the way she hastily does her hair is a subject of ridicule, or perhaps her make up is too amateurish despite a decade of passion for art. She excuses herself to go to the bathroom and stands in front of the mirror, inspecting herself. Tyra just stares for a while, fixing her hair into different styles before just giving up entirely. Just as she is about to dismiss her self-consciousness, she notices that the shape of her nipples can be seen poking through her sweater... she forgot to put a bra on... going red with embarassment, things go from bad to worse when she slides a hand down to confirm that she had also somehow overlooked wearing any panties. How did she not notice the breeze up her skirt before? The girl reflexively clamps her thighs together and bites her lip, heart racing as she tries to figure out what she should do. It's too late to go change now, her project is still in the open.

On her way back to the art room Tyra remembers the glitter she had wiped from her lips when getting ready to leave, so she stops by the art resources storeroom she usually gets the materials she needs from, checking for the type of glitter she had found before. None quite match, the colour can be found but they are all too big. Glitter in college, Tyra muses, is a sure-fire way to fail your art project. The girl re-enters the art room and gets back to her project, overhearing a group of girls a few rows ahead of her talking about tonight's magic show. They all sound so excited, two of them talking as though they have already been at least once already while the third seeming to have some expectations but having never been to a show yet herself. Tyra wonders why you would bother going to the same magic show twice, especially in such a small timeframe, but it's their money to throw away. 

People begin to leave the room and Tyra checks her watch to confirm that they can leave if they want, but she stays behind a while to finish polishing the wooden edges of the slab on her desk, her art project has become more of a woodwork piece but still qualifies. Eventually, she picks up her bag and leaves to go back to Sam's dorm room. A familiar face passes her as Tyra walks back through the corridor she took earlier, Helena? She almost stops, but then remembers the hell that girl used to put her through in high school and decides to just keep walking. As far as she was aware, Helena wasn't even in college...

"Tyrabelle." Helena seems to have been the one to stop, causing Tyra to curse under her breath and turn around, facing the other just barely. "C'mere, it's been a while." She beckons Tyra over and the blonde is too awkward not to do so, despite clearly wanting to be left alone.

"Don't call me that, it's a stupid name." Tyra stares daggers at Helena, who seems a lot taller than her now and just as smug. 

"Such hostility, it looks like the reset worked, you're no longer obsessed with me." Helena rolls her eyes at Tyra's confused, impatient face. "How's life being free?" Her voice is dripping with sarcasm.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I guarantee the only person obsessed with you is yourself."

"Hm, that may be, but you know I can see you're not wearing a bra, so you're looking for some action?"

"Ew, not with you, you're the one thing keeping me straight." Tyra jokes awkwardly, to avoid any more discussion of her nipples. 

"You're that desperate to kiss girls, but I'm here preventing that, you must really hate me. Seems it's true what they say about art girls, huh?" Helena leans over and whispers. "S l u t s." 

Tyra expected the cheap, hypocritical slut shaming, but all the talk of kissing girls... 

The rest of the walk home is mostly quiet, a three minute stroll across a campus stretch can only be so exciting. Tyra does notice numerous posters even in the campus advertising the magic show, which does manage to build some excitement and anticipation up inside her. 

"Helena may still be a bitch, but at least she isn't pulling my hair, stealing my stuff or pantsing me in gym class. I can accept a slut shaming from an even bigger slut." Tyra vents to Sam as the two sit on beanbag chairs, competing in a fighting game that Tyra will never get a victory in. 

"So you admit you're a slut?" Sam jokes, cutting the tension down and making them both laugh. "But you do know that's the sort of stuff kids do to people they have a crush on right? At least I was like that." 

"You steal my shit all the time, Sam, you saying you have a crush on me?" 

"E-ehehe, no no, I'm just saying... yeah, anyway. Helena's doing well for herself, but don't shack up with her just for her money."

"Shut up already."

...

"This is a turning point in our lives I swear to god, how the fuck is the only dress I own one of your old ones. I barely ever used to see you out of jeans."

"Simple, you outgrew yours and became stingier when you started having to pay for your own stuff, while I need dresses for work."

"Blisscorp's marketing department has a mandatory dress policy? Is it the 1950s?" 

"It's a modelling job dummy, I wear what I need for the shoot and they let me keep the dresses afterwards. I'm kinda liking exploring my repressed femininity, while you're acting more like me with these late mornings haha."

"You were late too!" 

"Oh yeah."

"Wait... you're a model?!"

Tyra changes into the dress, looking in the mirror. "It's a bit... cute... do you have one with a longer skirt?" She seems to have once again forgotten her underwear, but Sam either does not notice or just lets it play out.

"It's very cute, hell yeah, that's the one. Keep it." 

"Right... again this isn't something I ever thought I would be asking you, but can you help me with my hair and make-up."

"When you say it like that I feel like I'm at work, or on a movie set. Sure, give me a minute though."

Sam sits Tyra down in front of the mirror and starts to make her pretty, the scenario causing Tyra to initially pinch her cheek to ensure it isn't a figment of her wild imagination. As Sam runs her fingers through Tyra's hair, the girl notices something interesting on Sam's desk. A lip gloss, with glitter...

"What's that?" 

"Oh, here take a look." Sam leans over and shows Tyra her lips, sure enough, they are coated in the same glittery gloss that left a trace on her own lips when she woke up... surely a coincidence.

The two best friends seat themselves in the front row of the theatre venue that the show is performing in, the first two rows being those reserved for VIP ticket holders and their seats in particular are first row centre seats! Tyra takes the time while they wait for the show to ask Sam where she actually got these tickets. 

"Oh nah, I didn't buy them I won them! I'll tell you after the show kay, I think it's starting ooh the lights are dimming."

An announcer's booming voice begins to fill the packed theatre and the two girls join in with the cheering and clapping, getting as excited as the rest of the crowd around them. The acts are refreshingly creative and fun, but Sam does tend to keep whispering possible solutions to magic tricks that make no sense at all, Tyra simply nods and tries to pay attention to the stage. 

"And now, ladies and gentleman it is time for out main event, please would everyone give a huuuuge round of applause for the one and only, the mesmeric, the Sensational Mistress Staaaaaaaaarrrr!"

Through the roar of applause, music, confetti and spotlights, Sam leans in to whisper. "She's a stage hypnotist, the most famous performer here."

"A what? Wait, seriously?" Tyra seems sceptical, but doubts the main event of a so far wonderful show is going to be as tacky as Sam describes it. The crowd is going wild, Tyra turns around to take in the sight of such momentous applause and catches sight of several girls from her course... and then Helena, who locks eyes with her almost immediately. The smug bitch wins this staring contest and Tyra tries to pretend it never happened, loosening up and remembering to enjoy herself not fret over people behind her.

The Sensational Mistress Star enters the stage accompanied by a number of glamorous assistants, all just as gorgeous as the stage hypnotist herself. The showmanship is excellent, Mistress Star wears the sort of outfit you would expect from a female stage magician and pulls off the look exceptionally well: Top hat, short tailcoat jacket, dazzling corset, short skirt and transparent stockings that make her legs oh so shiny. 

Eventually the crowd quiets down and after introducing herself with some basic but flawless little tricks and flair, Mistress Star begins her act proper. "Now ladies and gentlemen I shall require a volunteer very soon!" Sam excitedly reaches for Tyra's wrist to volunteer her but the girl recoils in panic and pulls away, her heartbeat racing at the idea of going up in front of everybody after the day she just had... not to mention her general lack of confidence (and underwear.)

"But first, before that." Star continues. "A demonstration. My next act will be a true display of my mesmeric abilities! For things to run smoothly I need a willing and compatible mind, so if you think yourself suitable then I want you to throw those hands up once my demonstration is over. I'll show you just a peek of what to expect, my assistants are always on hand and willing to help!" One of Star's stunning, scantily clad assistants seats herself down on a chair she brings to the centre of the stage. Star lowers her voice in pitch and with a soothing tone she starts. "I'm just going to make my assistant here more comfortable, relaxed and focussed, please pay close attention but do try to avoid falling yourself hehe~" The woman dramatically retrieves the pocket watch on her tailcoat jacket and checks the time on it with a smile before letting it drop in front of the assistant's face, swinging a little on the chain from the momentum. Mistress Star simply dangles the watch in front of her assistant, who must have done this a thousand times before. The woman sits with her knees together, shoulders slowly slumping as her eyes follow the watch swing back and forth from Star's subtle rhythmic movement. The assistant quickly falls into trance, likely giving the rest of the audience an unrealistic interpretation of how an induction usually goes, but then some members already seem more 'focused'. Tyra is one of these audience members, who found herself less focused on the swinging watch or Star's sparse, soothing words... but on the expression of the assistant, which gradually lost consciousness and control in real time. Tyra watched a woman  fall asleep on command, this is just part of the show right? She knows hypnotherapy is a thing, but still...

Tyra is too caught up in her thoughts and the assistant's empty expression to notice Star ask for those who want to volunteer to throw up their hands now, she simply hears the last part and instinctively does as told, throwing up her hand before realising what she just did.

"You there, in the front!" Mistress Star exclaims with a beaming grin, pointing directly at Tyra. 

"Who? Me? N-no I uh, I mean I just..."

"Haha don't be shy dear, it is all perfectly safe, trust me." When Mistress Star laughs, the audience laughs a little too, making Tyra flustered and embarassed.

"Okay, right, okay sure." Tyra mutters as she stands up, sounding like she's more trying to convince herself than reply to the hypnotist. Sam gives her a pat on the back and she is led onto the stage, guided over to the recently vacated chair that she notes is still a little warm when she sits down. Immediately she notices how intimidating the audience appears from the spotlight, clamping her legs together and tightly folding her nervous hands in her lap. 

"So, what's your name? I'm Star." The woman's voice is just like it had been with the assistant, but it does the job and eases the girls nerves somewhat. 

"I-I know, I'm Tyra." Red faced and swarming with nerves still despite the gentle tone of her conversation partner, Tyra tries to look everywhere but forwards. 

"Nice to meet you Tyra! What do you do, Tyra?"

She keeps saying her name, it feels so weird to the girl who just wants to curse Sam for happening to own front row tickets. "I'm I'm a college student, I like making things..."

"Oh bless you." Star touches Tyra's arm, her other hand gently holding the pocket watch. "You're adorable, isn't she just adorable?"

The audience cheers and Tyra retracts into the chair even more, even more embarassed that people she knows are in the audience, not to forget Helena. The reality of her situation only just hits her, is she now going to be hypnotised right in front of all these people. If Mistress Star swings that watch in front of her, will she really look like that assistant from the demonstration? The girl wonders why the prospect makes her heart beat so fast, but she has no more time to think about it when Star walks around her in a semi-circle and asks. 

"Are you ready to be hypnotised now, Tyra?"

The woman acts like her being hypnotised is a matter of fact, an inevitability, is she that confident that everyone who volunteers can be affected the same way? Maybe she is, after all it would be embarassing for the show to fail and realistically... what makes Tyra so special? Or maybe she only usually has volunteers who want to be hypnotised, whereas Tyra volunteered by accident... though, does she really not want it at all? Through the confusion and overthinking, she just lightly nods and decides to see what happens. Maybe she can fake it to let the show run smoothly, at the very least.

Without warning the watch suddenly falls in front of her gaze and Mistress Star holds it there, the only movement it makes from the momentum of the fall. Tyra inspects the pocket watch in detail, which is initially a little difficult due to it turning and the glint of light it shines into her eyes from certain angles. The watch is beautiful, from a purely aesthetic basis she loves the sight of it, but the idea of what watching it closely represents still gives her butterflies. Mistress Star begins to gently sway the watch from left to right, causing Tyra's eyes to instinctively follow it's movement, her head barely moving as she lets her eyes do most of the work. When she tracks the watch like this, the audience behind it starts to blur, which calms the girl down a bit. Having something to focus on is not so bad when it distracts from the hundreds of people focussing on her.

After what feels like a long silence, Mistress Star once again speaks in her deep, soft tone of voice. "Just put all your focus on my voice and the swinging watch, dear, everything else just disappearing." She echoes what Tyra had already begun to experience, the girl's tunnel vision letting her nerves start to dissipate faster and faster. "Dropping everything preventing you from relaxing, Tyra. Dropping all those tensions and worries you carry, freeing yourself from the burden of self-consciousness and overthinking. Just relaxing, just remembering the assistant dropping, do you want that too, Tyra?"

Wow, the words she chooses seem uncanny, like she knows Tyra too well. The girl follows her every word, the phrasing making it sound like Tyra is the one choosing the drop, like hypnotising herself, the illusion of control placates the girl and stops her from remembering how nervous she felt only moments ago. Tyra sluggishly runs Mistress Star's question through her distracted mind and thinks back to the assistant's expression, what part of that gradual transformation is Tyra in right now, she wonders? Is she closer to the before or after? She fails to realise she now thinks of this as something that will eventually happen, rather than something that may or may not. Being hypnotised looks like it feels good, so why worry about it? The girl idly nods, she is not sure why but it just feels like she couldn't move her mouth right now, not to speak.

"Good girl." Star's words seem to shake Tyra out of her stupor a little, bringing back some of the embarassment in her red face. "I think you want to keep being a good girl and following along for the show, don't you?" 

Tyra nods, still following the watch, no other response came to her.

"Good girl." This time, the girl is less surprised by the praise, instead just playing the words through her mind with a dumb grin. It's a little patronising but it feels nice to be appreciated, she wants to be as good as the assistant from before, or as close as she can be.

Mistress Star's fingers run through Tyra's hair playfully, holding her head still and tickling her scalp. Tyra follows the watch with her eyes growing heavier, the hypnotist playing with her hair makes her feel really happy and comfortable, but she could really fall asleep soon if this continues. 

In her subconscious Tyra had been expecting to grow sleepy the entire time, the demonstration acting as a reference for how it could go and Star's confidence cementing that as an eventual inevitability. So naturally, she suddenly feels more and more tired while Star seems to guide her with ease. Her head rolls around some from the hand on her head moving, but she also bobs a few times, usually whenever Star whispers the word 'drop' or 'heavy' in conversation. Her posture is much more relaxed as the tension is released, her muscles loose and body limper and more sluggish. Tyra is slumped in the chair in contrast to her rigid, straight posture from earlier, her weight is shifted slightly to one side and her lips are parted, head bobbing often now. Her eyes flutter occasionally and never fully open, each cycle from left to right seeming to make them harder to keep open. 

"You're so easy to hypnotise, Tyra, such a wonderful subject." Part of Tyra was still unsure and holding on before Star said this, but the words seem to cascade through her mind and body with the intended effect and then some. The girl assumed that she would be hypnotised eventually, but with more of a struggle and less completely than others due to her nerves and lack of comparative eagerness... but finding out that she has been 'easy' by Star's definition, shatters the preconceived notions she had conjured in her head. She doesn't even question the authenticity of Star's claim, she trusts the hypnotists, if the woman says she is easy to hypnotise then easy she is. Like a self fulfilling prophecy this idea ripples through her mind and before she knows it, the girl is much deeper, more focused and sleepy than she had been before... when she thought she was a difficult subject. 

Mistress Star walks behind Tyra while still swaying the watch in front of her, picking up the girl's arm and raising it up, placing the watch chain in Tyra's held up hand and instructing her to keep swinging. Now Tyra really is hypnotising herself, but she barely even reacts to the hypnotist controlling her like this, just going along with it all silently. Tyra has better things to think, or not think about.

"Now look at this everybody! This is my magic wand, all good magicians have one, even stage hypnotists~" Mistress Star is back out at the front of the stage, leaving Tyra behind her just continuing to swing the watch and stare at it. "My magic wand is very powerful, of course, it has the ability to sap away all stray thoughts left in a subject's mind. It only works when they're relaxed and they trust you, but if they do then it's one hundred percent effective at making mindless, obedient subjects! The power it has over minds is absolute, but not permanent of course." Despite addressing the audience and seeming to be turned away from the distracted Tyra, this speech is really to Tyra's subconscious, preparing her for when the wand is used in the next moment. Star turns on her heels with a sweet smile and swishes her wand a few times in the air theatrically before extending her arm and pressing the tip of the prop to Tyra's forehead firmly.

Tyra's eyes cross as she stares at the wand for a split second while her mind processes what it is, before the crossed eyes roll up and flutter closed. Her body slumps in the chair completely and her jaw falls open, the wand stopping her head from rolling forwards completely. The girl's arms fall by her sides, hanging down either side of the chair and dropping the pocket watch onto the stage, while her legs part and splay out to give the audience a clear view of her... lack of underwear. Sam's eyes go wide, but she isn't the only one.

"Thaaat's right good girl, just let the watch continue to sap every little thought, emptying your head little but little until you're completely blank and obedient. Making you little more than a submissive doll to follow my suggestions happily, not a thought of your own, no will other than mine."

Tyra looks completely gone, so Mistress Star loudly snaps her fingers and exclaims. "All done, mind completely gone!" She removes the wand and Tyra's head predictably drops forwards, her blonde hair falling down towards her lap and small beads of drool dropping from her lower lip onto the hem of her dress. 

Making a show of how effective her mesmeric methods have been and showing off just how blank Tyra has become, Star lifts a limp left arm by the wrist and shakes it gently before dropping it into the girl's lap. The hypnotist then carefully pushes Tyra's head up to face the audience, showing her fluttering rolled up eyes, only for her head to roll back forwards once the hand is removed. 

"And there you have it, Tyra is completely entranced by the show once again!"

The audience roars, though some applause is much stronger than others.

"Yes ladies and gentlemen, that's right. For those of you not aware, the lovely dear Tyrabelle here has been my perfect volunteer for every show I have performed at this venue for this week and the last. Please give a round of applause for her, please I insist! She has been so helpful and malleable,  from the very first show I had in this theatre. Originally volunteered by her friend, she soon became my unknowing assistant haha. Each time made to forget, to think this is her first time ever coming to see my show or being dropped into trance, to tell you the truth she has fallen faster and easier with each night~ This is my signature tradition, it is always an honour to sample the best of a city I visit and you do not disappoint! Tyra and her lovely roommate Samantha are always given a set of VIP tickets, so they always return, though only Tyra forgets this." The audience look to Sam on the front row, who has a sheepish grin, she has indeed been aware of this the entire time... but it is so much fun... and harmless too! "I do think young Tyra could do with our help, she lacks confidence, so perhaps some payback is in order to help with that~ Let's have some fun." Star gives her rapt audience a mischievous smile and turns to address Tyra. "Did you understand everything I just explained, dear?"

"Mm." 

"Good girl, now be honest with us all, there's somebody in this theatre right now who you need to get a teensy bit of payback from, right dear?" 

Tyra responds in monotone. "Yes Mistress Star."

The hypnotist gives a smug grin to the audience and continues. "I believe this would be your friend Sam sat over in the front row by your empty seat, would I be correct in my assumption dear?" Usually at this point in the show, Tyra would nod and Sam would be brought onto the stage, but this time something has changed. 

"No Mistress Star." Tyra answers plainly, much to the surprise of Star and the rest of the audience. 

"Then... who?" Star asks, legitimately unsure where this is going but wanting to put on a good show. She welcomes the unexpected change in the programme, keeps things more interesting. It is at this point that Tyra points out Helena's seat, the bitch who had mocked her earlier in the day not to mention their past. Helena looks shocked to have a spotlight on her, but makes no motion to get up when Star beckons her onto the stage. 

"Oh hell no, I'm not going up. I've been before and I'm not kissing and making up like that, okay?" She crosses her arms and taps her foot.

Mistress Star smiles suavely and tells the girl. "I cannot make you do anything you seriously don't want to do, remember... oh and the stronger the will, the less effect I can have." Her words seem to evoke the exact reaction she was looking for as Helena feels challenged, but also smugly superior. The cocky ones are the easiest to manipulate. 

Helena picks herself up out of her seat and heads down the centre steps towards the stage, entering from stage right. She figures that the magician has no idea who she's mocking, so why not humiliate the costumed hypnotist. An intern for corporate mind control versus a stage act with a shiny watch, her mind is not as weak as Tyra's. Time for tonight's show to end differently to the scheduled programming. 

Another chair is retrieved and pulled across the stage to sit alongside Tyra's, which is turned sideways so that the two chairs face one another and give the audience a side profile. Helena sets her handbag aside and removes her scarf, looking down on the blissed out Tyra. "Please take a seat miss and tell us your name." Mistress Star continues in her soft, sonorous voice. 

Rolling her eyes, Helena plants herself in the seat opposite Tyra and looks up at the hypnotist impatiently. "Helena." She states plainly, not intending to give up any more personal information than that. 

"Eyes on her, not me dear." Star commands, twirling the watch's chain in her fingers. Helena does as she is told, not wanting to hold up the show for no reason, so she sets her eyes on Tyra. The sight before her is a strange one, but not an entirely unfamiliar one. Firstly, she knows the face well, having known the girl since they were children. Additionally, she has had the pleasure of witnessing this girl's various states of trance from sports day to the private correspondence with 'Belle', a since removed alternate personality given to Tyra. Actually, it was Helena who removed Tyra's programming, though she notes it took no time at all for her to fall back into trance again. Are the activated girls just that succeptable to this kind of thing? Either way, this control seems much more promising than the life she had laid out for her with Blisscorp...

"As you can see ladies and gentlemen, her eyes have become more focused, her breathing slowed, she's starting to slip just from looking! It won't be long before she mirrors our first lovely volunteer."

"Wait, no I, what? I was just thinking." Helena suddenly feels herself tense up, she had just gotten lost in thought, did people think she was falling into trance? That's ridiculous.

"You know what happens next, right dear?" Mistress Star holds Helena's shoulders gently from behind.

"What? I drop down into trance right? Well sorry to disappoint, but it's not going to happen..." Mistress Star smiles at this.

"Oh really? Well then, I suppose there's no harm in looking wherever you want on the pretty, empty face of hers. You can imagine yourself kissing those lips without running the risk of obsession~"

"Yeah I'm not like Sam, I ain't fawning over Tyra with insatiable lust so that's that, you're wasting your time." Helena's eyes trace over the lips in front of her, noting that Tyra is wearing lipstick which is unusual for her... not that she really pays attention to these things, she just knows how incompetent the blonde usually is. 

Sam chews her lip nervously, feeling a mixture of emotions and sensations rolling over her. Unwittingly, she has been hypnotised every night as well? Hypnotised to kiss Tyra? The girl finds it hard to decide if that revelation is more important than the strange feeling she has now that she realises Helena is taking her place tonight. It's... not fair, she thinks, before pinching herself.

"Have you ever kissed the girl in front of you before, dear?" Star's fingers just work at loosening Helena's shoulders, while she barely speaks above a whisper.

"What? No, I haven't. I'm not going to tonight either." The girl huffs, folding her arms and moving to cross her legs but finding them bump into Tyra's. Their legs are so close they're hard to avoid touching. Helena tints red and looks to see if Tyra reacts, but finds her expression just as void as before. No fair, she takes all the embarassment. 

"Oh, well I think that's a shame, Helena. Though I notice you said 'Not tonight', instead of 'Not ever'. Hmm, when were you planning to do it then, I wonder?"

Helena laughs. "We're not the close friends you think we are, we hate each other's guts. Sorry to disappoint, but we're not exactly girlfriend material."

"Oh ho." The hypnotist says mockingly, leaning close to Helena's ear. "I never said anything about you being her girlfriend, did I? Is that what you want? Saving your first kiss until the two of you are dating?"

"That's not..." Helena is getting frustrated, rather than relaxed, this woman is just going to keep twisting her every word to fit her own narrative. "Look it's not like we've never kissed before, so it's a little late for the first time."

Mistress Star smirks conspiratorially at the audience, Helena unable to see from her sitting position, not to mention her fixation on Tyra. Helena is unable to notice how she keeps opening up more and more, while Star lets her subconsciously disguise it as retort. 

"You've kissed before then, hmm? Do you remember what her lips tasted like? How soft they were? Were they warm?" Star's knead Helena's shoulders, relaxing the girl even when she thinks she is too frustrated to relax. The hypnotist is merely distracting the girl from how focused, relaxed and open she is slowly becoming. 

"That's none of your business." Helena bluntly responds, her face growing red... from anger. She is unable to avoid recalling the events of sports day, the very first Blissfuel activation test, of which she herself was a subject. It was barely a kiss, but she did share spit with the girl in a sense... she looks at Tyra's lips but draws a blank, she never got to feel them, taste them... wait, what is she thinking? 

The hands on Helena's shoulders tap rhythmically, while Star continues talking before the girl can collect her thoughts and get her head straight. She needs to keep focussing, keep distracting. "I can tell you enjoyed kissing her, you want to kiss her again." Helena is prepared for a 'don't you?' she can answer in retort, but no question comes, leaving her confused. Star simply stated fact, Helena's response is not required. Helena taps her foot nervously, the hypnotist was not wrong but she refuses to admit it, she also refuses to admit that the woman's words or touch could have an effect on her, leaving her ironically all the more susceptible to both. If you convince yourself that you are immune to something, you will naturally turn a blind eye and be vulnerable to said thing if your assessment is false. In the case of Helena and Mistress Star, the evidence speaks for itself, the effectiveness is clear to everybody but herself.

"You have fallen silent, I take it you have no protest to my statement then? Of course not, we can see how much you want to kiss her. Even with my words failing and having no effect on your mind, you simply want to kiss her because you want to kiss her, right?" 

Helena again feels confused. Star is giving her the victory she wanted, right? If she admits to this, she has won. "Right." She mumbles, wishing she could feel more smug but feeling weird.

"We all knew it, so don't be shy, you want to kiss Tyra, right Helena?"

"Yeah, but not because of your magic show."

The hypnotist giggles and continues to tap Helena's shoulders, while Helena taps her foot subconsciously. "Of course, of course, you don't want to kiss her because of what I've said. You want to kiss her because you have a crush on her~"

"What?" Helena shifts in her seat uncomfortably, feeling hot in her cheeks and only her cheeks...

"You want to be her girlfriend, but she never took the hint right? Looks like you have more in common with the guest you replaced after all." There is strangely no hint of mockery in the woman's voice this time, but sympathy?

"Where are you getting that from?" Helena asks defensively, still staring at Tyra's lips and tapping in sync with Mistress Star's fingers. 

"Ah ah, you were the one who admitted you wanted to be her girlfriend."

"No, but I, I said we wouldn't be... not that I wanted to be?"

"Yes dear and the disappointment in your voice was transparent just as it is now. Why hide it? We all know how much you want a kiss from her already."

Helena's head is swimming, the girl only now realising that she is indeed being affected by Mistress Star's words, just as she had probably been similarly manipulated by the Blisscorp CEO in their conversation. Her pride starting to slip the girl accepts the possibility of being hypnotised, creating a crack large enough for Star's talons to sink into deeply. If you accept you might be hypnotised, you have lost already, so resisting starts to feel pointless. Helena fails to notice how much she has sunk into the chair at this point, her knees kissing Tyra's, Mistress Star's hands moving with her body had given her the illusion that she was still sat upright. 

"Just keep staring at her, the object of your desire, be honest, you like her don't you? You wouldn't mind being hers."

Helena gazes at Tyra with softer eyes, no longer trying to hide her desire or pretend to disagree with Star... everyone already knows, right? She nods softly and is surprised at how heavy her head feels, like she is inebriated. "This has nothing to do with the stupid stage show, though..." 

Once again, the performer shoots a secret grin to the audience, who applaud. "Very well dear. Now ladies and gentlemen, you remember my magic wand? Remember it's brain drain effect? Hehehe yes it works on any and all minds, even resistant ones, just look. Helena dear would you look up here for me?"

Her mind still heavily distracted, Helena sluggishly pulls her gaze away from her crush to look up, only for the tip of the wand to plant itself between her eyes just like it had on Tyra. The initial wave of confusion is soon placated by a tingly, sleepy warmth that takes her too quickly for her to even think. Her eyes cross and she goes limp in her chair, too weak to resist the perceived power of the prop wand.

"Thaaat's it good girl, just letting all your thoughts spill out into the wand leaving you a blank, empty doll for Mistress Star~ Well done, Helena, it must have been hard for somebody like you to give up control I'm very proud."

Betraying her better sense, Helena smiles dumbly at the praise and feels pride swell through her, not enough mind left to really overthink it. Star remove the wands and Helena drops down just as Tyra had, while the hypnotist turns to face the audience. "See ladies and gentlemen, the wand really is magic!" The woman exclaims to a foray of laughter and applause. The magician then snaps her fingers in front of Tyra's face. "Tyra, awaken for me now, slowly, just letting your mind drift back up to the surface in 3... 2... and 1 fully awake now, eyes wide open and feeling refreshed."

Tyra's eyes flutter open and she wakes up to applause from her left, looking around in sudden panic before Star gently moves around to now hold her shoulders and calm her down. "No need to worry sweetie, you're still in the show, you just had a nice nap."

"Oh, alright." The girl responds passively, feeling calmer already, like she can trust anything Mistress Star tells her without worrying. She notices the knees touching hers and looks over to find the slumped Helena, deep asleep just as she assumes she had been. The sight makes her confused and she looks up at Star, who disarms her with another smile. 

"To catch you up dear, I put you into a deep trance with my mesmeric abilities, then you informed us that you had some making up to do with this one. I placed her into just as deep a trance after letting her admit how she really feels, also you will follow all of my instructions and believe what I tell you completely."

"Huh... wha--"

"Forget that last part and focus on the girl in front of you, Helena, tell us what you think of her."

Tyra brings her legs together, remembering the breeze from her lack of underwear, then looks at the dozing Helena. "I... don't like her very much." 

Star then exclaims, more to the audience than to Tyra: "Then we have to fix that!" Before returning to softly speaking into Tyra's ear. 

"You don't like her at all?" 

Tyra bites her lip. "I don't know, I don't like how she treats me."

"If she treated you better you'd like her more?"

"Well, yeah, of course." 

Star chuckles. "You're a very forgiving person, some people would hold a grudge."

Tyra shrugs. "I was taught to pity bullies, I guess."

"She's a bully?"

"I think so..."

"You're not sure?"

"She's picked on me, but it's not as bad as I remember now I think back..."

Sam can't seem to get comfortable in her chair, feeling tense.

"I think she wants a kiss from you." Star beams.

"A... a what?" 

"Do you want to kiss her too, Tyra?"

"I'm not... I mean, I don't think I-"

"You want to kiss her too, don't you?"

"I..."

"You need to kiss Helena, so badly, isn't that right dear?"

"..."

"What do you want to do to Helena, Tyra?"

"I want to kiss her." She looks extremely embarrassed, idly fixing her hair. 

"Hmmm, I don't believe you!"

"Whaat? It's true, I want to kiss her! Wait, what am I-"

"You want to kiss Helena."

"Yeah! I want to kiss Helena."

"Why?"

"I... because I... uh, because you-"

"You want to kiss and make up, right?" Star uses Helena's choice wording from earlier, rather smugly.

"Yeah that's it, we need to make up, yeah." Part of Tyra knows this sounds wrong, but she feels compelled to agree. 

"Good girl, sit still~" Tyra shudders at being called a good girl, squeezing her thighs together as she stares at Helena.

The Sensational Mistress Star releases Tyra and walks back around to Helena, waking the girl up just as she did with the other, then letting the two infatuated girls gaze longingly at each others' lips. 

"You both want to overcome your differences, to kiss and make up, right ladies?" 

Significantly more embarassed now that their focus is awake, the two girls avoid eye contact and pretend not to hear the question, or otherwise ignore it. Star moves to be between them, centre stage, placing a hand on each head and turning them to look at each other. Like magnetism, once their eyes meet they lock in and the two no longer need guiding. "No need to be shy or embarassed, least of all too prideful. You want to kiss each other and make good, don't you dears?" 

"Y-yeah." "Mm yes..."

"And how about the audience tonight, should they kiss and make up?" The audience roars, clearly just as riled up for this display of affection as the girls involved. Sam does not cheer, attempting in vain to remember when she was up on stage in Helena's place.

"Hmm..." Star decides to drag this out a little longer, to tease both audience and volunteer alike. "Tyra, what would you do for a kiss from Helena here?"

"A-anything..." She immediately replies, dreamily gazing into Helena's half open eyes. 

Mistress Star, clearly amused, repeats the girl's answer as a question. "Anything?" Only to recieve more shameless desperation from the blonde.

"Yes! Anything, anything! Please I-" 

"Would you even go as far as to give me your underwear?" The hypnotist asks with a naughty wink to the audience. 

Without even answering Tyra reaches to unclasp and remove her bra only to find nothing there, she then reaches down between her legs only to once again find that she has no panties to hand over... she also unwittingly feels her own building lust between her legs. The girl frowns and weakly mumbles to Mistress Star that she has no underwear to give her, looking crestfallen at the prospect of being unable to kiss Helena because of this. 

Star's eyes widen, the woman not having accounted for the possibility that Tyra would head to the show going commando. "Why did you not wear any, Tyra?" She asks, genuinely confused. 

Tyra squirms, still upset that she can't kiss Helena, who is equally impatient but better at hiding it. "I... ran out, but I-I didn't notice... because-"

"Oh my!" Mistress Star has a look of gleeful understanding on her face. "This has never happened in the show before, but I think I understand. When Tyra has handed over her underwear in past nights, she has gone home without it each night but my orders instruct her to forget all evidence of ever having been to the show before so that the next night can again be a surprise. It would appear, ladies and gentlemen, that sweet Tyra does not own as much underwear as past volunteers! She appears to have ran out, but her orders made it so she would not focus on the missing underwear too closely, it would create suspicion! This is proof of how good a subject the girl is, programming herself to better follow instructions even outside of the show. How was your day without underwear, Tyra?"

"I got picked on, called a slut..."

"Oh dear, was this Helena's doing, I take it?" 

Tyra nods, still desperate to kiss and make up. 

"How perfect, that explains the change in programming! Now, I think you have more than earned your kiss with that! You will get your underwear back soon, just be patient okay? Helena, why don't you go ahead and give Tyra here that kiss if you still wan-"

The two girls lunge forwards, wrapping their arms around each other and pressing their lips together eagerly, neither experienced kissers but neither seeming to care. Their mashing of lips is so passionate and absorbed that it would be unsuitable for pre-watershed television, some members of the audience wolf whistle as the two girls make out while Sam simply slurps her drink aggressively.

As the girls finally kiss and make up, shedding aside years of resentment and miscommunication, Mistress Star leans in and whispers to Tyra "Tomorrow is my last show in town. How many times have you read the book I gave you on the first night, girl?"

Between kisses, as the girls part for breath, Tyra replies "Three, ah, mistress!" 

"Good girl, do you have college tomorrow?"

"Hahh, yeah, to present our projects."

Mistress Star smiles widely. "Ah, of course! 'll be waiting dear, you'll have to tell me all about it. Don't forget your uniform~"

The next day Tyra is curled up in bed, snoring softly. She turns over in her sleep just in time for the alarm clock on her bedside table to once again disturb her slumber. It's too important a day to hit snooze so she groggily slides out of bed and heads to the mirror. The girl can taste a hint of strawberry on her lips, but figures that she is still half asleep and was probably having a pleasant dream she no longer remembers. With no time to waste, Tyra gets ready for college and rushes out, today is the day her course has to present their final art projects! She takes to her desk in the art room and checks her work, giving a triumphant last look at the project she spent the past two weeks slaving away at. The pieces were all lined up across one side of the room with white cloths covering each one so that they could be unveiled one at a time. Each student would reveal their project and explain it to the others. The presentations go on one by one this way until reaching the white cloth covering Tyra's woodworking project, the girl is called out to but nobody answers. All eyes fall to Tyra's usual seat only to find her absent. After a few minutes and several unanswered phone calls, it becomes clear that the girl will not be present to reveal her project. While the lack of a presentation will hurt her grade, the piece will still be graded, so it falls to the class representative to announce and unveil the project. The rep takes the sheet of paper on Tyra's desk and reads out "The Volunteer, by Tyra Dayone." They then walk over to the piece and pull the cloth, revealing the girl's submission. The piece is a polished, wooden plaque, beautiful in design and finish, engraved on it are the words: I, Tyrabelle Dayone, hereby declare myself the newest assistant of the Sensational Mistress Star! 

The class is left dumbfounded, most of them were aware of the hypnosis show and Tyra's role in each night's performance, everybody was talking about it afterall... but none of them saw this coming. 

Tyra sits in Sam's dorm room in front of the morror again, flicking through the book she had been given by Star as she copies make-up instructions from one of the pages. She has to look perfect for tonight's show, she saw how glamorous all of Mistress Star's other assistants were, now she is to join their ranks so she needs to impress just as much. She carefully slips on the outfit that mistress had sent to her, at first she was reluctant to put it on due to her lack of confidence, especially given the fishnet stockings and the almost entirely exposed back... but she remembers what she had read in the book about how good assistants always exude confidence and are never ashamed of showing off their bodies. Sam helps touch her up, to make her perfect for her first show, but she knows she will have to make it on her own moving forward. The two girls give each other a long, meaningful hug, knowing that it will be a while before they see each other again. Sam kisses Tyra on the cheek. "I'll keep my eye on Rach, wherever she is, so go see the world!" 

"Heh, don't be so dramatic, we're not a world tour dummy. I'll miss you, Sam, don't change."

"Never." 

Helena holds a cigarette to her lips, taking in smoke only to sigh it out almost immediately. Shit, what's her problem? Did she feel pity for Tyra, or is she simply having second thoughts about this operation? She initially joined to find the truth, but that CEO has a way with words and next thing she knows she's their loyal lapdog. Maybe she just did it to get back at them for treating her like their indebted servant, a way of showing she does what she wants. 

Who is she kidding? She knows full well that the company could reprogram her at their earliest convenience, she's one of the activated after all. In the height of her paranoia the girl even had an x-ray taken to see if this 'activation' really was a chip or implant of some sort, but it came back inconclusive, which is to say she's 100% organic. 

Another dissatisfied sigh. She freed Tyra from this because she felt like it, that's all there is to it. If she continues to feel rebellious, so be it, there's no helping it. She just needs to act smarter, going against Blisscorp is not something you can do by yourself. The girl decides to play the good employee for now, one freed subject, activated or not, should not be enough to have her disciplined. 

"Enjoy yourself, idiot."

Tyra rushes out onto the stage, almost tripping on the assistants either side of her, but the women support her and seem happy to have more company. The world looks different from a stage, she thinks, smiling brightly from behind Mistress Star. This is going to feel more natural after a few nights, she notes with a grin.

The distant past.

"Girl's don't kiss girls, weirdo!"

"Shut up, what do you know?" The girl in a white tee pushes another wearing black into a puddle, before her eyes soften. "Oh, whoops, sorry."

"I'm drenched! You bitch!"

A third girl chimes in. "No swears, mom's Christian a-and she'll get mad if she hears." 

The other two girls giggle, despite being in the middle of a fight. "Ty we're like, on the other side of town to yours!"

"I know, but... she might be shopping or-"

"You're such a softie!" Sam points at Tyra and laughs, standing up and wiping the mud from her shorts. "You need to grow up like us already, I bet you still have baby teeth!"

The girl in white frowns and almost pushes Sam back into the puddle, before smiling at Tyra. "I don't think that, I think you're like uhm, a princess, heehee!" 

"That's lame, you're such a weirdo Helena. You owe me new shorts too, these are new!"

Tyra blushes, playing with a lock of hair. "You're always fighting over me, its funny... but I think you're cool."

Helena puts on the finishing touches to the daisy chain she was making. "You can have this if you want, I make loads. Uh, do you wanna be-"

"I want one!" Sam snatches the daisy chain, the two girls pulling it until it falls apart and the daisies land in the wet muddy ground beneath their feet. 

"Hey! That wasn't for you, idiot! You ruined it!" Helena's face scrunches up in a mix of anger and distress. 

"B-but I didn't mean to and you said you have loads, so get over it!"

"I made that one special, just go away, I don't wanna see your..." Helena sniffles. "...stupid face."

"Fine by me, cry with your daisies... my dad should've bought batteries for my gameboy color so I'm going home, c'mon Ty."

"Oh, uh, yes." Tyra jumps down from the rock she was sat on and gives Helena a short wave, before following after Sam.

Later that year, when school started started up again, Helena no longer tried to get Tyra's attention with flowers. 

BlissGirls - Tyrabelle: End