Claire Seymour/Supports

**Luinne:** Your highness…

**Claire:** You’re Luinne, aren’t you? Luinne Ridley.

**Luinne:** I am.

**Claire:** Wonderful! Cas told me about you. He said that you could, well – he said that you could put  people into a sort of trance. Like magic, except you weren’t a magician. I can’t say that I fully believe him, so I came to see if it was true.

**Luinne:** Are you asking me to hypnotize you, Princess?

**Claire:** Hypnotize? Is that what it’s called? In any case, yes, I suppose I am.

**Luinne:** Well, this ought to be fun. Are you ready?

**Claire:** Beg pardon? Right now? Don’t you have to… prepare, or something of the sort?

**Luinne:** Oh, no. Hypnosis is no spell or ritual. It’s little more than a jester’s trick.

**Claire:** I see… Er, I hadn’t expected you to be ready so soon, otherwise I wouldn’t have approached you now. I’m afraid I have a – a matter I must attend to rather urgently.

**Luinne:** Of course. I am at your disposal whenever you desire.

**Claire:** Thank you. Please excuse me.

**Luinne:** …Well, well. I think I see how it is…

*C support achieved.*

### **B:**

**Claire:** Luinne!

**Luinne:** Good day, Princess. Have you had enough time to settle your nerves?

**Claire:** Pardon?

**Luinne:** Pay me no mind. I presume you’re here to prove Cas a liar.

**Claire:** If you must word it like that, then you would be correct. However, I do take it upon myself to remind you that I am a princess, and any wayward behavior will result in dire consequences. Even if it’s meant in jest.

**Luinne:** You insult me! I would never dream of such a thing.

**Claire:** Hm! I trust that be the case.

**Luinne:** Trust, yes… I aimed so near, when you chose to meet me in such an ill-traveled wing of the palace.

**Claire:** What do you think you’re insinuating?! C-Cas told me that in order for your ‘hypnosis’ to work, the atmosphere had to be quiet!

**Luinne:** Of course, Princess! It requires a quiet place, a mind free of distractions, and some measure of trust between the two parties. Do you think we’re ready?

**Claire:** …Yes, I think so.

**Luinne:** First, you’ll have to close your eyes. …Ah, ah, don’t look at me so balefully. You need a mind free of distractions, remember? Everything you see around you is a distraction.

**Claire:** Very well.

**Luinne:** Good. Don’t think, now. Just breathe. Listen to my voice as it pulls all the thoughts out of that pretty head… All thoughts of kingdoms and crowns, of wars and countries, of music and philosophy… Your mind is empty, now, wrapped up safe in the quilt of darkness… Breathe in.

**Claire:** …

**Luinne:** Slowly, slowly… Breathe out. Breathe in… and *sleep.*

**Claire:** …

**Luinne:** Hm… I’m a little surprised it worked on you… Good thing it did, though. Cas would be upset to lose face to you.

**Claire:** …

**Luinne:** I could wake you up now, but you could probably use the rest. Sleep now. You’re safe here with me.

*B support achieved.*

### **A:**

**Claire:** There you are.

**Luinne:** Your highness!

**Claire:** I haven’t seen you in days. Have you been avoiding me?

**Luinne:** Far from it, Princess. I haven’t seen you either, so I thought you weren’t speaking to me.

**Claire:** Hah! Fancy that. Well, I just wanted to thank you.

**Luinne:** What for? From what I gathered, Cas has been holding your misplaced disbelief over your head ever since…

**Claire:** Yes, he has been a tad insufferable about that, but… It was relaxing. Your hypnosis, that is. It was nice to let someone else… be in control for a time.

**Luinne:** It’s my pleasure to serve.

**Claire:** Hm. You know, you’re not so bad, despite having no sense of how to properly treat a princess.

**Luinne:** Properly treat…? I kept my promise. I never asked you to do anything unbefitting of your station.

**Claire:** Oh? You and I must have drastically contradicting opinions on what’s unbefitting.

**Luinne:** Ahhh… *That* was no doing of mine, Princess.

**Claire:** I heard many things cross your lips, and a protest was not one of them.

**Luinne:** All this talk of propriety, and yet – if I may be so bold as to suggest it – a princess shouldn’t have made the noises you made, nor should a princess put her hands where yours have wandered.

**Claire:** And who would presume to chastise me?

**Luinne:** Certainly not I.

**Claire:** …We aren’t going to work out, you know.

**Luinne:** Of course not. You’re a princess. I’m a Navitian dog.

**Claire:** Luinne!

**Luinne:** …It’s fun while it lasts, though.

**Claire:** I wholeheartedly concur! Now bring those pretty lips a little closer. …While it lasts.

*A support achieved.*