Becoming Angelyne

All characters in this story are over the age of 18. This story is not endorsed by any celebrities mentioned therein; all celebrity depictions are completely fictional.

Special thanks to egb3rt for his diligent editing skills and to the real Brenda McGee who is very much looking forward to visiting Los Angeles in the near future. Despite the risks.

Becoming Angelyne

Brenda knew she would just regret it forever if she didn't visit Hollywood Boulevard at least once on her trip. What's the point of having a boring work conference in L.A. if you're not going to do some Hollywood stuff. Thankfully the hotel was smack in the middle of Hollywood, so she could just step out the door and be awash in Hollywood royalty..actually not...Hollywood, truth be told, was kind of a dump.

It was hardly glamourous...it was mostly just tacky. An endless parade of souvenir shops, plump out-of-towners, swarthy celebrity look-alikes, and tourists traps. Though truth be told, tourist traps are kind of fun in a slummy kind of way. There's a certain low-stakes thrill of stepping into the Hollywood Wax Museum and walking through and looking at all the stars. Or the Ripley's Believe it Or Not museum. Low brow entertainment, but entertainment none-the-less.

Earlier Brenda had taken a tour of the Paramount studios. So much great history there. If she was truthful, she did have a slight...very slight fantasy that a casting agent would spot her and declare, "That's her! That's the woman we've been we've been seeking for our next picture!" (though no one says 'picture' anymore, do they? That's very 1950s, isn't it). William R. Wilkerson certainly wasn't going to discover her while sipping on a coke at the drugstore. Brenda knew it was a silly fantasy; she was hovering around 40, and while attractive, no overwhelming beauty by any means. A rather modest figure. A slim bust but shapely legs and an ass she kept in good shape through quite a bit of hard work at the gym. She was also blessed with good cheek bones, but what man truly appreciates that?

Fantasy or not, she still dressed for it, with a rather daring (well daring for her anyway) skirt and a rather tight top. You could almost see her nipples a bit and with her calf-high boots, if there was a casting agent about this girl would be snapped up for sure. Before she left the hotel she got a good look at herself in the mirror. Yes, she'd definitely cast herself in a movie. Something romantic...and mysterious. Maybe she's a spy who's deep undercover. Maybe she has to assume a secret identity. Yes...she's disguised as a dreaded enemy agent sent in to discover her secrets and commit acts of sabotage. Maybe she's going to get found out and only Burt Lancaster can save her...

Sadly, no one discovered Brenda at Paramount. But she did enjoy the sideways glances of several middle-aged men on vacation with their families, learned a great deal about the studio and the film making process and maybe caught a glimpse of Tom Cruise working on the new Mission Impossible movie? Maybe? Well, he was kind of far away, but the tour guide did indicate they were filming there, so it was certainly possible. In Brenda's opinion, he was one of the last great movie stars, even if his personal life was little bit strange for her tastes. She wondered if Scientology had helped him stay on top of the Hollywood game. Perhaps being a cult wasn't so awful. She made a mental note to check out the Scientology Center. Her research indicated they served a legendary brunch on the weekends.

Later in the afternoon she wandered down Hollywood Boulevard reading the names on the sidewalk. She recognized many, but a lot of these people were completely unknown to her, and some didn't make sense at all. Why was Buzz Aldrin there? Or Muhammad Ali? Alvin and the Chipmunks? Really? She found Julie Andrews. Now she deserved a star. She deserved two stars!

Brenda soon found herself near Grauman's Chinese Theater. Brenda was over the moon seeing the handprints of actual stars, not the trash that populates the screens of today. In a hundred years from now, people will still be fawning over Judy Garland, while the name Kardashian will be but a forgotten footnote of when the term 'celebrity' had been drained of all value by talentless publicity whores. She wanted to spit; she detested the name so much and all the degeneration of actual worthy celebrities. She deliberately chose not to stay at the Hilton because the brand had been so tarnished by Paris.

As Brenda stood at Grauman's, she imagined the premiers of the golden age. Kleig lights lit up the sky while the stars pulled up in their limousines, waving to adoring, but respectful fans lining the red carpet. Tuxedos, ball gowns. Nothing but class. Clark Gable would never do a Tik-Tok dance. Gary Grant wouldn't be caught dead signing autographs for schulbs at comic-con. Ingrid Bergman would never send a single tweet.

The problem with Grauman's though...is that it attracts tourists. And with tourists come all the bottom feeders that want to siphon some of that loose tourist money into their coffers. So many tacky look-alikes charging for photographs and such. Beggars really. She counted three Jack Sparrows, two Batmen, a Superman who seemed slightly drunk, an Elmo who appeared even drunker, as well as other assorted riff-raff and hustlers. Some jugglers. A breakdancer. A breakdancer! In 2022! Who would have thought?

She almost didn't notice the man who was trying to get her attention.

"Miss, miss!" she heard someone call. She turned to see a young man, who must have been a magician of some sort, trying to get her attention. At least Brenda hoped he was a magician given his outlandish attire. She could not imagine any other occupation wearing such a garish outfit, save for an undertaker with no fashion sense or sense of decency. The magician himself apparently shopped at the magician supply store, as he was dressed as you would imagine a magician to dress like if you were asked to draw one from memory. A black suit over a red shirt with a black bow tie. He even had a black top hat that had a black and white spiral stuck on the front. There was a large sign on top of the large van that read: "Magnifico the Magnificent". Completing the magician stereotype was the comically large black mustache. Brenda imagined it had to be fake.

There was a small crowd gathered around him. Whatever he was doing was getting some attention. He stood in front of the van that seemed to be a sort of make-shift stage. There was a black curtain over the door and there were two chairs just outside, that were raised slightly, as if on a small stage. In one of the chairs there was a pretty young woman, who appeared to be fast asleep, as her head drooped lazily on her chest.

Brenda looked over to see what he was cawing about.

"Miss, Miss!" he said again with some urgency to her. "How would you like to make twenty dollars?"

"I beg your pardon?!" Brenda said with some indignity. "I could not possibly imagine what you would want me to do for twenty dollars, and I could not possibly imagine that I would ever agree to it." But of course Brenda was curious. Who wouldn't be.

"However," continued Brenda. "Just out of curiosity, what is it you are proposing...exactly?"

Magnifico doffed his hat and bowed deeply. "I did not mean to offend you miss! And I apologize for my miserly offer. I would like to up my offer to $100...if you will accept a wager!"

Brenda looked around suspiciously. What was going on here? Why was everyone looking at her like they were in on some grand joke that she was about to be the butt of? Still $100..." Magnifico sensed her hesitancy.

"$200!" he exclaimed. The crowd ooh-ed and ahh-ed. "If you win the wager, the money is yours! If you lose...it costs you nothing...nothing but my dignity and my humiliation of having been beaten by such a lovely and gracious young woman!"

Now Brenda was definitely interested. She could at least hear him out. She looked again at the woman, still sleeping on the chair in front of the van. Brenda broke through the crowd and approached Magnifico. He was smaller than she thought. A good 2 inches shorter than Brenda, and she wasn't even five foot eight. And the boots helped give her a little extra height.

"What is this wager then...Magnifico...if that's your real name!" she said. The crowd laughed along with her.

"It's what my parents named me!" he exclaimed theatrically. "I don't know why! Perhaps they wanted me to grow up to be a magician! With a name like that, it's hard to fit into any other profession! Would you have your teeth cleaned by Magnifico the Dentist?"

"No!" the crowd cheered at him. Clearly, he'd done this bit earlier.

"Would you trust to have your taxes done by Magnifico the Certified CPA?"

"No!"

"So what choice did I have but to become a lowly street magician?!" He said sadly. "And now...and now..." he turned to the girl asleep in the chair. "And now my lovely assistant has fallen asleep on the job! She said something about the magician assistant's union permitting scheduled nap times and just took a siesta, right in the middle of an amazing card trick! Wasn't that card trick going to be amazing folks?!"

There was applause from the onlookers.

"So what's this wager, then?" asked Brenda with some suspicion.

"I'm glad you asked!" exclaimed Magnifico. "The wager is this: If I convince you to become my new assistant you must be my assistant for the next, oh 10 minutes or so. If I can't convince you to become my assistant, well then, the $200 is yours!" And with that two crisp one-dollar bills appeared in his hands from nowhere.

"Those appear to be one-dollar bills." Brenda said coldly.

Magnifico hemmed and hawed a bit. "Yes, well they represent the $200 which I assure you is real!" Magnifico removed his hat and raised his hand, as if he was testifying in court. "I, Magnifico the Magnificent, do solemnly swear by the Alliance of Magicians that should I fail to convince you to become my assistant I shall give to you the princely sum of $200!"

He placed his hat back on his head and took a step closer to Brenda.

"Do we have a wager...Miss?"

"Brenda."

"Miss Brenda?" And he held out his hand.

For $200 wouldn't you accept this offer? What is the worst that could happen? Brenda took his hand.

"We have a wager." she said.

"Excellent!" said Magnifico and he began to move her hand back and forth, refusing to let go.

"Now I need you to look at my hat for a moment Brenda" he said. Magnifico's voice suddenly dropped a bit lower. Quite a bit lower. The glee had evaporated. Suddenly, it was a commanding voice. Brenda obediently looked at his hat. It was hard not to as the spiral that sat atop the brim began twirling, drawing her attention. It suddenly occurred to Brenda that he was going to hypnotize her. Or rather, TRY to hypnotize her. What nonsense. It would explain the sleeping girl over on the chair. But she looked like a dumb bimbo. Probably easy to hypnotize. She probably just looked at the spiral on the hat and fell right under. Brenda was an executive, dammit. She managed a staff of people. She worked in HR for goodness sake! She was the one who told people what to do! She's the one who hired assistants! But a wager was a wager and she'd let him take his best shot; fail; and then pay her the money she was owed. In her mind, she was already spending it.

"You're doing very well, Brenda," Magnifico said again in a calm, smooth demeanor. "You take instruction so well, you're going to make a wonderful assistant, just keep looking at the hat and listen to my voice, and soon you're going to notice that your eyes are going to get heavier and heavier...just a little drowsy...yes...just like that."

Brenda didn't think her eyes were getting drowsy. But it was hard not to get a little bleary eyed being so focused on that spiral. But she was determined not to close them. She'd keep them open to show him she wasn't some simple minded bimbo who would go down at the drop of a hat. Ha! Drop of a hat.

Magnifico watched Brenda begin to glaze over a bit. He knew she was almost his. She probably wasn't even aware that he was still moving her hand back and forth. He saw her blink heavily, she was almost there. Time to strike.

"You're doing so well Brenda, so focused on the hat, and my words, and OH MY GOD IS THAT NICOLE KIDMAN!"

Everyone, including Brenda turned to look where Magnifico was looking and pointing. Of course there was no Nicole Kidman. Only SLEEP!

Magnifico simultaneously pulled on Brenda's arm, snapped his fingers in her ear, and commanded her to, "Sleep!" which of course, rendered her completely helpless. That momentary excitement of seeing Nicole Kidman, the physical shock, the snap in the ear...it was all too much for her conscious mind to handle. In moments of sensory overload, the conscious mind desperately seeks out something to latch onto...something that could possibly make sense of all this simultaneous confusion, and of course Magnifico was ready to give her that thing her mind could handle. The suggestion to sleep. Her conscious mind accepted this suggestion as a reasonable idea and quickly sent her down helplessly into hypnosis.

Magnifco was there to catch her. He pulled her close to his body and deepened her trance, running his hand reassuringly down the back of her head, down her arms, stroking her with genuine care and affection, while rocking their bodies ever so slightly to keep just a bit off balance. To keep her reliant upon him; to let her know he was there to keep her safe.

Even those in the crowd who'd witnessed his last victim succumb to the Nicole Kidman induction, had still turned their heads, unconsciously thinking, nay hoping, that Nicole Kidman would be there this time. It was an automatic desire we all share to witness Nicole Kidman in the wild.

"Deeper and deeper, Brenda," Magnifico cooed in her ear. "Feel yourself becoming more relaxed and slipping deeper and deeper into trance with every word I say...it feels so nice and so pleasurable to be in trance for me...you're such a good girl Brenda...and every time I say 'good girl' you're going to go even deeper for me and feel a pleasurable rush travel throughout your body...'good girl'..'good girl'...

Magnifico felt her tremble slightly upon hearing 'good girl'. She was quite receptive to suggestion. Magnifco thought about people who thought they had 'strong wills'. What those people don't realize is that a strong will means a strong subconscious. And that's who really runs the show. And once you've got the subconscious on your side...well...anything goes really.

"Well it looks like I've got a new assistant folks!" said Magnifico, "And my money is safe once again! Never bet against Magnifico. Brenda, I'm going to count to three and when I do, I want you open your eyes and to have a seat there next to my assistant...I mean my FORMER assistant and go back into hypnosis...twice as deep as you are now....one, two, and three."

Magnifico snapped his fingers and Brenda opened her eyes. Without a moment's hesitation she sat down next to the sleeping girl and immediately sank back into hypnosis. Her body flopped over on Magnifico's assistant...former assistant...and unwittingly gave a few people the unexpected pleasure of a view up her short skirt. More than a few camera clicks could be heard.

Magnifico addressed his crowd again. "Well I think Stephanie is about to lose her job. It almost breaks my heart to tell her."

Magnifico arranged Brenda so she was sitting more or less upright. He knelt down next to Stephanie and tapped her on her forehead. "And awake but still very much stuck to your seat!"

The young blonde woman sat straight up and exclaimed, "The three diamonds! It was the three diamonds!" The crowd laughed. Magnifico seemed disappointed.

"Oh Stephanie," he said, "We did that trick hours ago! You fell asleep on me...right in the middle of your audition! I don't think I'll be needing your services after all. But you did a wonderful job and you seem like a lovely person! Let's all give The Sublime Stephanie a round of applause as she leaves the stage!"

Magnifico and the crowd began to applaud. Stephanie tried to stand up. Tried. But she couldn't.

"What's the matter Stephanie?" said Magnifico, very concerned. "It's time to go. I'm auditioning someone new...let's move it honey!"

Stephanie struggled to get up but was apparently well and truly stuck to the chair.

"I can't! I'm...I'm stuck!" she pleaded as she struggled further.

"Well this is rather embarrassing," said Magnifico. "Being stuck to the chair like this...but I think we have some butt-glue removal in the van...though it's not entirely painless I am told. But worry not. I still have plenty of this to ease the transition!"

Magnifico produced from his pocket a small bottle with a nozzle on it.

"Do you remember what this spray does Stephanie?" he asked.

"Yes of course it-" she began...but was cut off when Magnifico sprayed the bottle in her face and she quickly dropped back down into her hypnotic trance.

"That's right my dear. It puts you back to sleep. Back into a deep deep sleep." He turned to the crowd. "And now for the disappearing former assistant trick!"

He raised his arms in a dramatic gesture. Stephanie's chair began to rise slowly and then disappeared, along with Stephanie into the van through the black curtain.

"Some applause please for the Sublime Stephanie who will be joining us once again, but loaded with gifts and thanks for her wonderful performance!" The crowd applauded as she disappeared through the curtain. No one even gave it a second thought thinking that there might be something sinister about a helpless woman being loaded onto a van.

One person in the crowd wasn't watching Stephanie disappear. One person was watching, and filming Brenda. Presently he was on the phone. Speaking with someone. About Brenda.

"Well folks," said Magnifico. "It looks like I have a new assistant to break in! Let's get her warmed up."

Magnifico tapped her on the head and commanded, "Open your eyes Brenda, look at me."

Brenda did as she was told.

"How are you doing today Brenda?"

"I'm doing great." she said, quite naturally. "I'm going to win $200."

The crowd laughed.

"How are you going to win $200 Brenda?"

Now Brenda laughed. "You bet me that money that I wouldn't be your assistant! And I'm not!"

"I see," said Magnifco. "And what is it you do for a living Brenda?"

"I'm an HR director at a major credit card company!"

Magnifico looked at her questioningly. "Are you sure?" And he tapped her on the forehead suddenly. "Deep sleep".

Brenda's head dipped forward.

"Good girl...good girl," Magnifico coo'd. "When I tap your forehead again you will open your eyes, but you won't be able to remember what you do for you living. You will find this very distressing. Very worrisome. In fact, it is so distressing that when I tell you what you do do for a living, you will be very relieved and happy that you have such a wonderful job...and open your eyes Brenda!"

Magnifico tapped her again.

"So Brenda," he continued. "You were about to tell me what you do for a living..."

"Yes I..." Brenda began. And then a worry crossed her face. What did she do for a living? She should know, right? It was very distressing. She felt like she was going to have a panic attack.

"Are you all right there Brenda?" Magnifico asked.

"Yes," Brenda lied. "It's just that I'm...I'm...."

Magnifico put a tender arm on hers. "That's okay...sometimes I forget what I do for a living...that's why I put that huge sign on my van to remind me! Maybe you have a business card you could show me? Do people still have business cards?"

"Oh that's a great idea!" said Brenda and she began to go into her wallet in her purse. But before she could find purchase--"