"I made us some tea, since we're not going anywhere soon"

"Hm"

She placed the cups on the table between her and the fire, and she noticed little to no movement. She sat on the couch next to her, and still, nothing. She was just watching the fire burning, not really paying attention to her, or anything else.

It's like she was mesmerized.

She looked tired, too.

An idea ran through her mind. She had been waiting for a chance to catch her off guard, the other times didn't work so well. She thought this was a good opportunity. But she had to be really subtle.

"The fire is nice"

She spoke softly, but not without any distinguishable infliction. Just stating a fact.

She paused.

"You can just watch the flames as they form into different shapes,"

She waited a few seconds to speak again. She didn't get any visible reaction, so she kept going.

"It's easy to lose yourself when you're watching it for a while"

She chuckled. Not very subtle. She was fully expecting her to jerk her head away and break the silence, but she didn't. She was paralyzed, staring. In a way, so became the other, not moving a muscle trying not to snap her out of it.

Gradually, she began putting more intent in her voice.

"Also the sound of it cracking, it's nice to listen to. It's... Relaxing"

She could see that she was lightly slumping forward. Her breathing was getting slower.

"...It's even more relaxing when you can feel it warming you up"

She almost whispered.

"You can just close your eyes and take all that warmth in"

Her eyelashes fluttered, and then her eyes slid shut. The other felt a flutter in her chest. She smiled.

"That's nice"

She saw her furrow her brow as she was trying not to let her own head droop and fall forward. She panicked and placed a hand on her shoulder, as gently as she could in the moment.

"W-why don't you lean back so you can relax better?"

She guided her with her hand to lean back on the couch. She surprisingly went along with it, her head against the headrest. Her features softened again.

She sighed.

"...There. That's nice"

She admired her companion's face as she slept. She reached for her hair, but she stopped herself.

Hello. My sillies are still a thing (tweaked them a little too). Angel and her spoiled guard dog

Based on this meme

Alternate version:

So I looked it up, and there are two Barbie movies that have a hypno scene involving a necklace:

Fairytopia has the protagonist hypnotized by the villain, she's forced to put a necklace around her friend's neck so the villain can have her powers

Then there's The Diamond Castle, where one of the main girls loses her necklace that protects her from the villain's hypnotizing music.

I like both of them, the Fairytopia one has the villain enchanting the protag with granting her something she's wanted all her life. It also has a repetition thing going on. The eye shot when she snaps out of it is cool, even if it is Barbie movie animation quality

But the Diamond Castle one has blank stare + no talking, and it has the trope of the hero watching their friend put themselves in danger, and then she gets to hold her limp unresponsive body which makes me go !!!!!!!!!!! Reminds me of She-Ra's Save The Cat episode. Ough

(Parts 17-19)