A Birthday Present for the Wonderful Andrea ( @Jeaune )

Contains: Hypnosis, NBM

Warning: Contains minor spoilers for ANGA Season 3!

This story takes place a few months after the events of ANGA S3, still during the summer of 2021. The trio of Andrea, Dawn, and Julia have done a few shows as part of their summer tour, and it’ll be about a month before the summer ends and the decision has to be made on what Dawn and Julia wish to do now that the pressure of ANGA has died down. Based on their positive experiences during the competition and their tour so far, signing up with Andrea seems the most likely event.

The three of them have made significant strides in their training. Andrea has learned valuable lessons in being a magicienne and managing multiple assistants. Dawn and Julia have increased their magic reserves quite a bit, and are now able to recreate the effect Martin had introduced to them at a larger scale. Regularly when they’re not performing, they’ll each separate a leg of theirs and replace it (Usually a red gemstone obelisk for Dawn, and a blue glass replica of her leg for Julia) in order to bring Dahlia into existence again, even if she’s only a foot tall when they do. They’ve also gotten good enough that now when they perform, they can maintain the ring finger effect seen in the epilogue, and often times Dahlia has some constructive feedback neither of them would be able to think of on their own.

The girls are currently visiting Andrea’s home country of Germany. Their last show in Italy had completed just the day before, and they won’t have to perform again for at least three more days, leaving plenty of time to get some more practice in, and even some time left over to relax and enjoy each other’s company.

It’s during one of these times where Andrea invites the girls out to a local park for some brunch and something else (unfortunately, as much as they pried, Andrea kept her lips shut). Despite their tour and how recently ANGA had finished, the girls’s brunch goes off with some much appreciated anonymity.

The sun was shining on this lazy Sunday afternoon. Food had been had, and the girls were people watching while sipping some tea. One of the teacups had been flipped over, allowing for a tiny seat for the tinier than normal Dahlia, who was sipping tea from Julia’s drink via a stirring straw.

Julia looked over to Dawn with a warm smile, gently rubbing her hand. A clear indicator for Dawn to speak up. “So Andrea,” Dawn returned the warm smile, before focusing on Andrea, her smile shifting into more of a smirk as she asked, “Are you ready to tell us why you really called us out here?”

Andrea looked at her in mock offense, “What do you mean? Can’t a magicienne just want to take her lovely assistants out for a relaxing date in the park?”

Dawn grin widened, “Andrea. We’ve been your assistants for a few months now, and I think we’ve grabbed food together outside of work…” She looked over towards Julia, tilting her head slightly.

“Two times,” Julia blushed, looking embarrassed as her eyes briefly locked with Andrea’s, before looking down, “Three times if you count the time we had to grab lunch in the Enchanted Forests between those double booked events…”

Dawn kissed Julia’s cheek, the redhead blushing even redder as Dawn continued, “The first was right after you hired us. And the other was when Martin was visiting. So excuse us if we don’t think this is related to work in some way.” Dahlia stood up from her cup seat, walking over the tabletop to Julia, hugging her arm to help calm her down a little bit.

Andrea sighed, a slight giggle hidden in her voice, “Darn. I really have trained you three well.” Andrea turned back towards the crowd, the girls unable to see her eyes scanning it for someone. “The truth is… I was hoping that I could give you three a valuable lesson on a powerful skill I know…”

“P-Powerful-!” Julia’s eyes bulge out a little bit, Dawn quickly comforting her, rubbing her hand reassuringly.

“Should we go away for a bit then?” Dahlia asked, looking up at her two pseudo-mothers. Dawn reached over and kissed her on the forehead lovingly.

“No need, sweet Dahlia,” Andrea turned back to look at her assistants, “What makes this skill I want to teach so powerful is that it’s less reliant on the user’s magic reserves, and more on psychology.” That news immediately intrigued her assistants, but before they could ask for more, Andrea continued on, “Today, I want to give you girls a valuable lesson in Hypnosis!”

In a bit of a twist, Julia seemed to perk up to this news, while Dawn’s mood seemed to sour the tiniest bit. Andrea giggled, “I bet you two didn’t even know I’m actually a master at it?” The proud smile on her face shone brightly, although turned to concern a bit when she caught a glimpse of Dawn’s grimace. “What’s wrong, Dear?”

Julia and Dahlia similarly looked at Dawn in concern, Julia reaching out and giving her arm a bit of a squeeze. Dawn looked away from the three, sighing, “I’m not… the biggest fan of it really…” she looked back, three compassionate sets of eyes empowering her to continue, “I’m not comfortable with the idea of someone else controlling my actions for me…”

“W-Well…” Julia blushed, squeezing Dawn’s arm again, “If you’re uncomfortable with it… I’d gladly be the one getting hypnotized,” she looked towards Andrea doing her best to keep her composure, but with a clear excitement behind her eyes. “I’ve always loved the idea of just… just disappearing… Having someone else make my decisions for me-!” She stopped her gushing, looking over towards Dawn who was now tensing, “-A-And obviously coming back-!” Those words rang out a little hollow, but seemed to help Dawn relax a bit.

Andrea smiled warmly, gently rubbing Dawn’s other hand. “Well, firstly, there’s nothing to worry about Dawn. Hypnosis’s effectiveness is based heavily on the willingness of the person being hypnotized. And obviously, I would never do anything that made the three of you uncomfortable.” Andrea’s comforting look, and the support from everyone at the table (and a little hug from Dahlia against her arm) helped bring a smile back to Dawn’s face.

“And as for you Julia,” Andrea’s smile shown a bit of a mischievous grin, “While I appreciate your enthusiasm, today’s lesson is really just an introduction, and it wouldn’t do good to teach you all with one of you under the influence.” Julia blushed, nodding in understanding.

“Is that why we’re in the park then?” Dahlia asked, continuing to hug Dawn’s arm, her two creators looking questioningly at her, “To find someone for you to hypnotize?”

Andrea giggled, gently rubbing Dahlia’s back, “I swear Dahlia, sometimes it seems like you have mind reading powers,” the compliment earned a little blush from the combined girl as Andrea continued, “Dahlia’s exactly right, and luckily for us, I think I’ve found the perfect candidate.” Andrea pointed her finger out across the crowd of people.

The man was seemingly innocuous, although he stood out slightly taller than the rest of the milling crowd. He had on a black t-shirt with an N-64 logo on it and jeans. A pair of glasses sat upon an unkempt face with well styled hair. He was slightly heavier than the average person, but not decidedly overweight. He was currently looking at his phone with a bit of anxiety, taking the occasional peak to scan the crowd before returning to looking at his phone.

Andrea stood up, smiling at her assistants, “Don’t worry girls, I’ll go get him. Then we can get started on our lesson.” The three girls nodded, watching as Andrea walked off.

Andrea approached the apprehensive looking fellow with a little wave, startling him as he almost ran into her. “Hallo!”

“H-Hi?” The man blushed, his voice clearly placing him as a tourist thanks to his American accent, “C-Can I help you?”
“Well, it’s more like can I help you?” Andrea laughed, looking up at him, his demeanor calming slightly thanks to her warm smile, “You seem to be looking for something? Are you lost?”

“A little bit,” the man admitted, sighing, “I’m supposed to be meeting up with a friend of mine in this park… I think?” the man blushed, scratching the back of his head, “W-We met online and I thought I’d surprise her by visiting for her birthday. We were supposed to meet up here in the park… but I’m not sure if this is the right one…” He pulled up a note on his phone with a location and a time listed on it.

Andrea looked it over, “Yep! This is the right place! Although,” Andrea read the note again, “this says you’re about twenty minutes early? Maybe that’s why she’s not here yet?”

The man blushed again, “Y-yeah. I try to show up a little bit early if I’m supposed to meet someone or when I’m nervous about something happening, and this is a little bit of both I suppose,” the man awkwardly laughed.

Andrea laughed in return, smiling at the man, warmly staring into his eyes, “Oh, I bet it can be a little scary to visit a new country. That’s really kind of you to do that just for your friend!”

“T-Thanks!” The man blushed some more at the German girl’s kindness.

“Since you’ve got some time until your friend shows up, would you be interested in helping show something to my friends?” Andrea smiled at the man, pointing over to the table where her assistants sat watching their exchange, his eyes following the slow methodical movement. Dawn waved, while Julia shied away slightly from their look.

“I-It won’t take too long will it?” The man asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he looked back towards Andrea.

“Not more than 15 minutes,” Andrea smiled back, staring once again into the mans eyes. Her look helped calm him, a wave of relief washing over him from seemingly nowhere.

“Sure,” his voice was more breathy than he had meant it to sound, causing him to look a little shocked and blush. He did his best to cough and cover up the slip, “*cough* S-Sorry. I don’t think we did formal introductions. I’m Michael,” He blushed as he held out his hand.

“Andrea,” Andrea smiled again, her soft stare sending slight goosebumps over his body as he shook her hand, “Now right this way~” She grinned, gently pulling on his arm, leading him over to the table where her assistants sat.

“Girls, this is Michael~” Andrea smiled, looking into his eyes once again as they arrived at the table, still holding onto his hand as she pulled up a chair and helped him sit down.

Michael’s already red cheeks turned a few shades redder as he awkwardly waved at the three woman with his free hand, his eyes ending up fixated on the much smaller Dahlia. “H-Hi.”

Dahlia and Dawn waved back with no problems, Julia managing a polite smile, her grip on Dawn’s forearm noticeably tightening. “Hello Michael,” Dawn grinned, a hand slipping underneath the table rubbing along Julia’s thigh, her grip loosening in response, “I’m Dawn. She’s Julia, and this adorable cutie you have your eyes glued to is our merged self, Dahlia.” There was a clear sense of pride in her voice.

Dahlia politely curtsied at her introduction, asking, “Hello Michael. I hope my size is not too off-putting?”
Michael blushed and started stammering a little bit, scratching the back of his head, “Oh! N-Not at all! S-Sorry,” He blushed even harder, bowing his head a little in embarrassment, “I-I didn’t mean to stare. You look wonderful!” he chuckled nervously, “Beyond wonderful really!”

There was a bit of a silence, Michael nervously looking anywhere but at the girls, but the mood was suddenly lightened by almost everyone else at the table bursting out laughing, as though some unshared joke were shared between them. Andrea was the first to recover, speaking Michael politely, “Michael, it’s okay, there’s no reason to be nervous around us. We won’t bite.” Michael blushed even more, although he did visibly relax a little bit in his seat, his nervous chuckle giving way to a more sincere smile. “Let me ask you, how familiar are you with magic?”

“W-Well,” Michael blushed a little bit, “I mean, I’ve seen magic before on TV, and some people I talk to online are of the more magic variety,” He looked away, “But, uh… Not much magic happens back home, unfortunately. Lots of boring… Day in, day out sort of stuff.” He looked over to Dahlia, “I’m genuinely sorry for staring, Dahlia”

Dahlia giggled, smiling in return, “No need to worry, Michael. If I were a normal person, I’d probably stare at me too,” She laughed, managing to make Michael laugh and calm down even more now that situation had been handled.

Andrea grinned though, still holding his hand (something Michael hand’t even noticed until he felt her other hand gently tracing up and down his forearm), she stared into his eyes, “No magic happens? Do you not have any magic, Michael?”

Michael found it hard to look away, but he did manage a soft sideways glance at the other girls at the table, before looking back into Andrea’s eyes, his nervous demeanor calming more as he looked at her, “Well, I mean I’ve tried a couple of times but… I-I don’t think there’s anything in my family history preventing me from doing magic… occasionally I’ll write about-“

“Oh~? Are you a writer, Michael?” Dawn asked, pulling Michael attention towards her again, Andrea’s grin broadening as she noticed his eyes occasionally divert towards her. “What sort of writing do you do?”

Michael blushed, “Oh, nothing special. Just some random stories. Sometimes magic, sometimes robots, sometimes a bit of a mix.”

“That sounds very impressive, Michael~!” Andrea said, pulling his attention back in almost like a dog hearing the sound of their owner at the front door. “And while I’m certain we would all love to hear about your amazing stories, I’m afraid we should probably get started. I wouldn’t want to keep your friend waiting after all,” Andrea giggled.

“Yes…” Michael suddenly sat up again from the sound of his voice coming out in an almost dream-like state. He blushed, answering with more confidence, “Yes. What was it you wanted to show your friends again?”

“Well…” Andrea smiled, looking a little coy, “I was hoping that you wouldn’t mind if I… hypnotized you for a bit?”
“H-Hypnotize?!” Michael sat up even more, blushing as he looked between the girls and Andrea.

“Just for a few minutes,” Andrea grinned, still looking into his eyes, her hand still tracing up and down the length of his arm, “These girls have never seen a real trance before~… And you looked so nervous out there~…” Her gaze followed her finger slowly tracing a line up and down Michael’s arm, his own eyes following her gaze and soon enough following her finger.

“W-Well… I don’t…” Michael managed a sideways glance at the girls, who all seemed to give him a pleading look, Dahlia in particular catching his gaze, her little lips seemingly mouthing ‘Please?’. He sighed, looking back up to Andrea eyes, “Are you sure you can do it?”

Andrea grinned, nodding as she said, “I’m certain I can. And I can promise you right now that it’ll help you calm down about meeting your friend, and that I will be unable to make you do anything you do not want to do.”

Michael stared into her eyes which Andrea closed suddenly and pulled her arm away in a quick movement. Instantly, he found the haze in his mind lifting for a moment, allowing him to see with certainty that this German girl meant what she was saying. He found no difficulty this time in looking over at the girls that sat across from the table, what he thought were pleading looks were simple smiles and supporting looks of understanding.

It took him a minute, he glanced back at his phone briefly, then turned to Andrea, “Alright. What do I have to do?”
Andrea smiled, opening her eyes once more and slowly grabbing his hand. This time, Michael was more aware of the haze that seemed to seep back into his peripherals, his eyes locked almost in tunnel vision towards her lovely face, “Nothing more than you’ve already been doing Michael. Just talk with me, and listen to the sound of my voice~…” Her words were soft and well spoken, an intoxicating cadence hidden underneath them that was lulling Michael back into an even deeper trance. “Tell me, Michael, why are you nervous to meet this friend of yours?” Her eyes drifted once more to her hand, which was stroking up and down Michael’s arm.

His eyes drifted down with her vision, following her arm up and down his arm. Up and down, up and down. “She’s…” he was finding it slightly harder to talk, his words coming out slowly in rhythm with his chest, almost like they were his breath given a voice, “so wonderful… I’m afraid of disappointing her…”

Andrea smiled, an almost angelic halo appearing around her head in Michael’s vision, although he was too busy following her hand as it traversed up and down his arm to really appreciate it. “Well Michael. Would you like for me to make those worries go away then? Would you like to be relaxed for your meeting with this wonderful woman?”

Andrea’s hand had seemed to start to slow down, at least to Michael. Or maybe it was the world moving in slow motion? Regardless, her seemingly slowing pace led his eyes to look into hers once again. Her face was now almost completely blurred out in his vision, replaced with a soft white, pleasant light. Who was this person? He couldn’t tell anymore, but his body clearly yearned to answer her question with the truth. “Yes~”

This seemed to please the white light, and although he could no longer see Andrea’s face, he could just sense the smile that must have been on her face. The white light neared, features fighting their way into Michael’s consciousness. Andrea’s words seemed to penetrate his mind like a whisper, “Well then Michael… I need you to…”

“Sleep~”

The other girls at the table watched in astonishment at Michael’s head slumped forwards, his entire body, which has slowly been relaxing, now slumped limply in his seat, as though there was nobody home. Andrea grinned as she turned towards them, her words remained gentle in their cadence, lest she wake up Michael, “As you can see girls, Michael has now entered a trance like state, where his body is now more susceptible to the suggestions I’ll be giving him.”

The girls nodded, holding their applause, unsure if such a loud noise would awaken the newly entranced assistant from his slumber. Andrea turned back towards Michael, talking in that calm tone once again, “Michael~ Can you hear me?”

From Michael’s point of view, it was almost like he was witnessing the entire event in the third person. He swore he could see his body, limp, sleeping, resting in it’s chair. He could sense four balls of light, one in front of him, asking him questions, three more off to the side, with one of them being significantly smaller than the other. The question Andrea had asked cut through his hazy existence for a moment, and he felt compelled to answer it, “Yes~…” His voice sounded distant and not like his own, but it had been what he had wanted to answer.

Andrea smiled, “Good, now, I want you to find all of that nervous energy bundled up inside of you attached to the memory of your friend…”

Michael watched, as it almost seemed like the skin of his body began to bubble. from out of his pores, purple balls of fuzzy light slowly began to seep out. The little balls of light were wispy like cotton, and collected together into a sort of fuzzy shield over his head and his chest. He couldn’t help but stare in awe, his thoughts seemingly made physical based on Andrea’s trance.

Of course to everyone else, Michael just sat still, not seeing any of the events his entranced mind was visualizing. “Can you see the energy?” Andrea asked him.

“Yes…” The response came out slowly from the limp body.

“Good,” Andrea smiled, “Now, I want you to sever your connection with that energy. Let it evaporate into the universe.”

Michael watched, as the purple light seemed to begin to rise upwards, tendrils shooting out, desperately trying to reattach itself to his body. One tendril tried to burrow into his ear, but from his third person perspective he found he could walk over, pulling the tendril out, finding that the wispy appendage offered no resistance. He smiled to himself, grabbing the fading purple lump of nervous energy, and launching it upwards, the light briefly causing the black sky to shine purple in this weird place he found himself between consciousness and unconsciousness.

“How do you feel?” Andrea asked, looking over towards the girls, a smile on her face.

“Better…” Michael’s body responded. The relaxed smile on his still hunched over face speaking volumes.

“Now Michael,” Andrea grinned, “Let me ask your subconscious self… Are you able to do magic?”

Michael looked at the ball of light that had clearly been Andrea, confused at what she meant. Had she seen through his deception earlier? That he wasn’t able to do magic, try as he might, which was why he would write about it in his online stories. Michael made to try and speak. His spectral mouth moved as normal, but try as he might, the words themselves would not form.

“Yes…” Michael stared at his body in shock. Hearing his own voice responding without his control. And with an answer he wasn’t expecting no less!

Andrea smiled, the girls getting equally excited now, completely unable to see this inner revelation. “Well then, we still have a few minutes before your friend will arrive. Would you like to perform a quick magic trick for my friends?”

Michael was in shock. To discover that he had the ability to do magic. While he would obviously want to try it out, he wasn’t sure he was in any state right now to really-

“Yes…” Michael’s body answered almost instantly, completely ignoring the worries and fears being raised by his consciousness. This response obviously got smiles from all around the table.

“Okay then,” Andrea grinned, pushing the table away slightly, the girls worried that the sound of the metal scraping against the rocky patio would awaken Michael. Thankfully though, his body remained inert. “Michael, would you please stand for me?”

Michael’s conscious self was reeling. This couldn’t be happening right now. He no longer felt scared about meeting his friend at all, but he was very much nervous about performing in front of an audience. Especially after after having discovered moments ago from his body that he was able to do magic.

Deep down though, he knew that he wanted to do this. He had wanted to experience magic more than anything in his life. So, it wasn’t shocking as he felt his body standing up on its own, head still lulled over with half closed eyes.

“Now Michael,” Andrea smiled, as she moved behind Michael, gently placing her hands on his shoulders, “I want you to slowly lean backwards while focusing on letting your physical connections to the earth disappear…”

Michael slowly felt like his insides were shifting. Muscles never used before churning as on command, his body began to slowly lean backwards, Andrea doing her best to support the much larger man. His conscious self was curious how she was able to support his weight at all, but she kept his leaning consistent. Eventually, it was to the point that Michael was confused how he was even leaning back so far without just crashing to the ground. And it was just at the point where Michael’s body should have fallen over that Andrea commanded.

“Become weightless”

Michael felt almost like one did when they were falling in a dream. His feet no longer touched the ground, and his natural instincts were to prep his body for impact, and yet that impact seemed hundreds of thousands of miles away, when really, his body wasn’t hovering more than 2 feet off the ground. He marveled as Andrea’s light circled the body he was still viewing from third person.

In the real world, Dawn, Julia, and Dahlia were similarly astonished, the 6’2” man was now completely hovering in the air, his body completely slack and relaxed, as if the concern of falling never even entered his head. Andrea grinned, making a hoop with her arms, and walking down the length of Michael, showing off to the girls that, yes, he very much was floating of his own accord. Even going so far as to briefly jump up and sit on his stomach to show just how strong the effect was. This time, the girls let out an appropriate amount of applause.

After hopping back down, Andrea looked over Michael once again. “Excellent job Michael… Now, for the proper magic trick,” She smiled, gesturing over for Dawn and Julia to come over and help her. They were obviously more than happy, especially since by this point, they had managed to gather a small crowd of silent onlookers. Dahlia gave the crowd a quick scan, smiling as she sat on her tiny teacup seat once more to watch.

“Now Michael, I’m going to put some restraints on you now, so please raise your arms,” Andrea giggled a little bit, pointing for Julia to stand next to Michael’s head, while Dawn stood by his hovering feet. His body slowly obliged, his wingspan causing Julia to have to step back slightly.

“Dawn and Julia will be holding onto them. But to you, they will be like the tightest metal shackles you’ve ever experienced. No matter how much force you give on them, they will not budge a single inch,” Andrea grinned, nodding towards her assistants, who proceeded to wrap their hands around his wrists and ankles.

Meanwhile, in the dark in between, Michael had to politely chuckle. Surely the light that was Andrea couldn’t be serious. While he wasn’t the most fit person around, Michael knew that if he really tried, he could easily overpower either Julia or Dawn, whom he had to assume were the balls of light at either end of his body.

And yet, as Andrea finished giving her command, almost like magic, a set of metal shackles materialized over his wrist and ankles. Well, Michael couldn’t tell if they were metal exactly, they seemed to be made of the same hazy light everything other than his body appeared to be in this place. In any case, they definitely could not have been the hands of the girls he had met earlier.

“Now Michael,” Andrea’s words cut through the fog again, “I want you to show us that you can’t escape these shackles. Try as hard as you can to break out of their grip~” Michael grinned to himself, while in this place they were metal shackles, he simply had to remember that in the real world, it was just Dawn and Julia.

The gathered audience applauded as they watched Michael’s body strain in the air. His chest puffed outwards, the muscles in his arms clearly tensing, a look of strain even appearing in his slack face. His hands and feet seemed to bend in various directions, and yet the parts of his body that Dawn and Julia held remained completely still.

Michael meanwhile was befuddled. Why couldn’t he escape these shackles? Didn’t Andrea warn him that she couldn’t force him to do anything he didn’t want to do? Did… did he want to be trapped here? Or maybe… he just didn’t want to ruin the show? After all, there was no harm in his currently trapped position, and while he couldn’t see it, he had to admit that this was probably rather amusing to the girls.

Yes, that had to be it. Michael relaxed, knowing that at the end of whatever Andrea had planned, he would be set free, so he might as well enjoy going with the flow. Plus, this would make an excellent story to tell his friend when they finally met up.

Andrea smiled as she watched Michael’s body relax once more. “Okay Michael, just a few more things, and then we’ll be done~” She walked over to the nearby table that she had been enjoying brunch at only a few minutes earlier, picking up the butter knife that had been laying on it. “Now Michael, I want you to focus and make your body like clay for me~”

Michael was confused. Make his body like clay? He knew you could do a lot with magic, but he was still getting used to the fact he could do magic at all. All the same though, he watched in amazement as the body he was watching in third person, his body that he’d lived his entire life in, seemed to change. The shine of his normal skin seemed to almost become muted as his skin tanned. Features seemed to smooth out, until the body resembled more of a Michael shaped lump of brown clay than his normal self.

Of course, that effect was still solely in his mind. To everyone else, it looked as though nothing had outwardly changed. Andrea rolled up his shirt slightly, pressing her thumb into his stomach slightly, and smirking at the result. There, clear as day, was her fingerprint embedded into Michael’s skin. Her focus was still solely on Michael, the rest of the crowd almost as invisible to her as it was to Michael, “Well done Michael. I hope that you’ll enjoy this~” With little other fanfare, Andrea plunged the butterknife into Michael’s stomach, eliciting gasps of astonishment from the now growing audience.

Michael watched the knife that appeared in his view intently, nervously watch it get close to the lump of clay that was formerly his body, until suddenly it stabbed downwards. He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting it to feel like, maybe cold? But no, the blade, which had been out in the pleasant German sun was quite nice. Warm, without being downright uncomfortable? Maybe a tad bit ticklish as the knife dug in and out of his clay body, circling around his former waist.

Michael felt like he should have been worried, after all, this was far from normal, and theoretically he could be bleeding out right now, and yet there was an exhilaration that was keeping him utterly entranced. He so desperately wished he could remove those shackles and rub the new surface of his clay body.

Andrea huffed as she completed the circle, pulling out the blade and inspecting her handiwork. It was only now as she placed the knife back on the table, Dahlia giving her a thumbs up, that she realized that almost the entire restaurant and several park-goers were staring at the trick, and were now politely applauding at the theatrics. Andrea smiled, addressing the crowd, “And now Ladies and Gentlemen, the reveal!” She smiled, motioning towards Dawn and Julia, who immediately picked up on what they were supposed to do,

Each girl took a step back, and as they did so, the crowd went wild. Andrea walked in-between either still levitating half of Michael, the cut surface now covered in a fresh layer of skin. She took a bow to cheering applause.

To Michael, he watched both halves of his former body separate, and the ball of light stand in-between them. And then a distant sound of something… It almost sounded like rain? Whatever that sound was, it was definitely bringing about a warm feeling of joy in his heart, he was so glad that he had the chance to do this.

Andrea took one more bow, before motioning for either girl to take Michael’s half to a nearby unoccupied table, which was rather easy to do, as his body was still utterly weightless. Andrea pulled off the table cloth, and had the two girls push Michael’s halves into each other correctly before letting go. She threw the cloth over him, whispering into his ear. “Michael, would you like to be able to do this again?”

“Yes…” Michael found the words easy to escape his body when they matched what he knew he wanted to say.

Andrea smiled, continuing to whisper, “Okay then, for my final command for you. Your body will restore to how it was prior to me hypnotizing you, except that those worry you felt towards visiting your friend will remain lost to you.” Michael could already see his body beginning to shift back into its former self, the two lumps of clay gaining features and returning to his palish skin tone. “You will forget the specifics of how I hypnotized you, however you will remember the steps to recreate the magic you helped perform. And more importantly, when you are in a safe location alone with your friend, if you believe she will like it you will feel the confidence required to demonstrate your newfound ability not only to change your body like clay, but to change others like clay as well if they so desire such an effect~”

Michael watched, as he could already feel the world coming into focus around him once more and his view being pulled back into his body. Although now, it seemed like the light that was in Andrea, Dawn, Julia, and Dahlia was beginning to glow in himself.

“Now… Awaken”

Michael sat up, gasping almost like he had been underwater, again to massive applause from the audience. His cheeks blushed bright pink as he realized what he thought was a private demonstration to friends had ballooned to an impromptu show. Andrea smiled brightly as she helped Michael down from the table, turning towards the audience with Julia and Dawn suddenly flanking them. “Thank you everyone! I hope that you enjoyed the show! Please give a wonderful round of applause for my brave volunteer, Michael!”

Michael blushed even brighter red as the entire audience erupted into cheers. Andrea grinned, as from her pocket she pulled out two golden tickets, handing them into a fumbling Michael’s hands. “For being such a good sport about helping me out, Michael here has earned himself two free tickets to our big show this Tuesday at the GOP Variete-Theater Essen!” More applause from the crowd as Michael gave Andrea a look of equal parts thanks and surprise. Andrea returned the look with a wink continuing her closing statements, “You can all go back to what you were doing now!”

As the crowd dispersed, Julia uncharacteristically began badgering Michael with questions. “What was it like? Do you remember anything? Were you really trying to break free from us? Did you feel like your body was a different person? Could you-“
“Julia, settle down now,” Dawn chuckled, kissing her cheek and rubbing her shoulder, the redhead blushing profusely.

“B-But-!”

“Dawn’s right Julia,” Andrea grinned, ruffling her hair a little bit, “You’ll be able to ask Michael all those questions to your heart’s content when he’s backstage with us after the show.”

“B-Backstage?” Michael looked at his tickets, finding indeed that they were actually backstage passes.

“Oh yes!” Andrea grinned, “After all, I very much want to hear how things go with your friend now that you can do some magic,” she winked.

“M-My… Oh gosh!” Michael looked at his phone, “Oh shoot, I’m late! She should be-” Michael’s eyes darted over the crowd, until he spotted who he was looking for, raising his hand up in the air and calling her name.

The girl that the others saw was not exactly who they were expecting Michael to be meeting up with. For someone seemingly rather normal, the woman he was meeting up with stood out rather well in the crowd. Primary amongst those reasons was because she was an anthropomorphic horse woman.

She wore a green t-shirt with jeans, and had a gorgeous pair of green glasses. Her mane was a pleasant chocolate with accents of white, and she had a gorgeous head of hair tied up in a braid. A long flowing tail swung behind her, and her own eyes seemed to be scanning the crowd that was dispersing, seemingly looking for Michael.

Michael turned towards Andrea and the girls. “Thank you. So, so much. If there’s anything I could do to repay-“

Andrea raised her hand, grinning, “Go hang with your friend now Michael. She seems absolutely delightful, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty to talk about when you two come to the show.” She winked.

Michael paused, seemingly ready to say another word, before deciding against it nodding and running off into the crowd to explain the crazy events he’d just experienced to her.

The girls watched, amused as the two had an adorable first meeting in person, uncertain of the words shared between them. Andrea seemed to have a knowing grin though as she commented to some unseen narrator, “You big goof.”