“Aw, what’s that, Mage? Already starting to feel that haze, huh?”

There’s a clear smirk in Lavender’s voice as they play with the mind of the black cat. The dragon circles around Mage, using their tail to keep the cat seated upright by putting the very tip underneath their chin.

“That’s a good kitty. There’s no point in resisting my words when they’re already so deep inside the back of your mind, huh?”

“N… no, Lav…” the cat weakly responds, staring back at the dragon. Their eyes are unevenly opened, and their body would’ve slumped forward long ago were it not for Lavender keeping them in place.

“Good kitty.”

The dragon snaps their fingers, and Mage softly purrs - vocalizing the pleasure that Lavender is bringing them with their control over mind and body. Lavender, meanwhile, is drinking in the joy of that control, unable to contain a smile on their face.

“Now, what do you say we take things up a notch, hmm?” Lavender asks, sitting down on a chair in front of the cat. They replace the tail with the tip of their claw, now making the sleepy kitty look directly into their eyes.

They move their claw up and down gently, allowing the heavy head of the cat to follow it, making them nod in agreement.

“There you go. So how about you-”

Before they can finish their sentence, they’re rudely interrupted by the door swinging open as Akko walks in. His eyes immediately drift towards the scene in the middle of the room - Lavender and Mage both seated directly against each other - and the kobold immediately turns around whilst mumbling “Sorry for interrupting you two, carry on.”

“Get back here, Akko.” Lavender commands playfully. The dragon still has that distinct smirk in the back of their voice, suddenly having a secondary target to take control of simultaneously. “We weren’t doing anything you aren’t allowed to witness.”

The kobold peaks around the corner of the doorframe again and wanders back inside the room.

“That so, hmm?” he asks, whilst throwing himself down on the sofa next to the hypnotized cat and the smiling dragon.

“Indeed.”

“Then what do you call all of this?” Akko replies, gesturing at Mage’s sleepy expression.

Lavender’s grin widens as they point at the sofa, inviting the kobold to sit down. “Don’t worry about it, Akko. Allow me to explain what I’m doing.”

Akko nods and sits down, curious about what the dragon has to say. He sits down on the sofa next to the two, staring at Mage, whose head had sunk down to their chest while Lavender was distracted.

“I’m helping them relax! They had a very long day today and could use a little help with… [i]unwinding”,[/i] the dragon explains as they turn back to face the cat again, dragging a fingerclaw over their cheek and whispering something into their ear. Immediately Mage sits upright, opening their glassy eyes. Despite their unfocused, blurry look, they’re aimed right at Lavender - a wobbly smile on their face.

The dragon smiles as they look back at the cat, still grinning widely, occasionally glancing at the kobold sitting on the sofa. Unbeknownst to Akko, their attention has now shifted to the both of them simultaneously. But they’d have to play it tactfully.

“So, allow me to run it from the top to demonstrate,” the dragon says slyly as they put their claw underneath the chin of the cat once more.

“It starts with helping them guide their focus to their breathing. I direct their attention to the pattern of their breathing, making sure that it goes from an irregular pattern to a more slow… deliberate one. In for five… hold for five… and out for five.”

Akko nods again, attentively listening to the dragon, watching how they follow the pattern of the breathing they just described, serving as an example for Mage who obediently mimics it.

“We repeat those cycles a few times, taking in those nice, deep breaths, noticing how they fill the entire body with fresh relaxing oxygen, and having it replace the built-up stress and tension. Very easy, just like that. In… hold… and out,” Lavender continues, paying close attention to the breathing pattern of Mage, but also that of Akko.

“Now, as their breathing becomes automatic, settling into that comfortable relaxing pattern, I start diverting their attention to their body. Telling them to notice how every breath is actually relaxing them more and more.”

As Akko listens to Lavender explain their little ritual, the kobold leans backward a bit into the chair. Lavender chuckles, continuing their demonstration.

“First noticing that relaxation in their toe-claws… slowly feeling it spread upwards into their pads and up their feetpaws,” the dragon continues, “every breath spreading that relaxation upwards a bit more. Ankles… knees… thighs.”

“Mhmm..” Akko mumbles, paying very close attention.

“And you [i]are [/i]feeling incredibly relaxed, isn’t that right, Mage?” Lavender asks.

“Yes Lav… relaxed…” the cat responds weakly, nodding along with their fingerclaw underneath their chin.

“Adorable thing,” Lavender says, “no point in resisting my words anymore. Just follow along, obediently, because it’s so easy to follow my guidance as you relax even deeper.”

The kobold on the sofa continues to listen in, feeling themselves getting more and more comfortable as time goes on, wholly unaware of the dragon’s ulterior motives. The cat on the stool, too, continues to get more comfortable and relaxed, at this point being nothing more than a tool for the dragon to exert their inevitable control over the kobold.

“And as that relaxation settles into your stomach… chest… shoulders… you’ll find it more and more difficult to keep those walls up… struggling more and more to resist my words… sinking deeper and deeper into that wonderful relaxed state. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah…” Mage mumbles silently.

“Mhmm…” Akko says absentmindedly.

“That’s a good subject. And it’ll be so easy to feel that relaxation spread even deeper into your arms now… slipping down your shoulders, elbows… into your handpaws…,” Lavender continues, glancing at the kobold more frequently now. He’s struggling to keep his eyelids open already, damning evidence that the dragon’s plan has worked.

“Now… finally, feel that relaxation spread upwards with every breath… into your neck, past your jaw… cheeks… up past your eyes and into the very tippy top of your head, finally letting go of all stress and tension when I snap my fingers and you’ll sink into…”

As they finish their sentence, barring the last work, they suddenly and unexpectedly turn to face Akko, holding Mage’s chin up with their tail, and snapping their fingers loudly in front of Akko’s face.

“Sleep.”

The kobold blinks once in surprise, before going fully limp on the sofa. His mind surrenders to the fog that the dragon has draped over them, letting their hypnotic influence guide them into deep trance.

“That’s a good boy,” Lavender says, smiling as they approach the kobold.

“Now, let’s have some fun with you two, shall we?”

