Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!/Adelaide Spenser

The main character in Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!.

Adi is egotistical, and sure she's smarter than everyone else. Possibly autistic; shows some behaviours such as hyperfocus, and failing to interpret other people's comments in the context of what they do or don't know.

She loves writing reviews and sees them as a kind of performance art, rather than being secondary to another art. She used to do them for music and movies, but later specialised in reviewing hypnosis files available online, because that's the only area she got any feedback at all. Her kind of review is more like a comedy roast than an actual analysis.

She also has tried learning to play bass; briefly dreamed of being in a band. She has some skill, but there's no way she'd ever have the confidence to play in front of someone else. One of her secret desires is a particular guitar that's on sale second hand in a local music shop. It's more expensive than she could ever afford, almost as expensive as a new one. But it's been on tour with a couple of relatively obscure bands, including at least one player who Adi idolised in the past. One of the bands was called Franklin’s Muse; they did a tour once that covered half the West Coast, but it's implied that's the most success they ever had. She can't tell her family about that, though, because she thinks it's illogical to want something like that and she knows her father would disapprove (because he judges presents purely in terms of their list price, and has an irrational distrust of buying anything that isn't new).

Hypnosis

She has a few triggers, instilled by different hypnosis files:

• "Adelaide" - makes her act out all her baby behaviours (chapter 1)
• "If I was a baby I would ________." - Self-trigger only. Creates a new baby behaviour (chapter 1)
• "What baby behaviours do you follow?" - Makes her list all the behaviours she's following. (chapter 34; described in chapter 32)
• "What's your baby name trigger?" - compelled to answer; was in the same file as the one above (chapter 34/32. First used by Mom in chapter 57)

Her current baby behaviours are:

• "If I was a baby I’d wet myself” (chapter 2)
  • “Like I don’t know how to hold my pee at all." (added later)
• "If I was a baby I wouldn’t be embarrassed about wearing and using diapers,"
  • "but I still wouldn’t give the secret away to people who don’t already know it." (added later for safety)
• "If I was an adult baby I’d do what I could to get turned into more of a baby, or to change my room into a nursery." (in the mall with Toni)
• "If I were a baby, then I’d assume a grown-up would take care of any problems I can’t solve" (added deliberately by Britney, chapter 63)
  • "If I was a baby I'd look up to
• “Baby can’t say big words!” - chapter 141. Repeating the suggestion given to her that she can't remember words with more than two syllables, or any compound word, but that she'll laugh and think about something else rather than stressing about it.

Hints

She has a bunch of badges she can use to indicate how old she wants to be treated. They came off birthday cards, saying she's 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, and 16 years old. She also has one saying "It's a girl!" which she can put on to indicate that she wants to be triggered but isa too shy to ask.

The main indicator is a T-shirt which Toni bought for her. She has two copies of this one; one at the back of her closet at home, and one behind a drawer in the guest room closet at Toni's house. Pink, with yellow and orange butterflies made from tiny scraps of fabric sewn all across the shoulders, and the word “Babe” in large letters across the front. There was a unicorn on the back as well. It was really childish, but made in adult sizes,

If she wears this dress, that's a sign that she wants to be forced into babyhood no matter how much she protests. The only way she can stop after that point is to say the safeword "Deontological".

Education

• Seems to be aiming to study some kind of media course (chapter 66-68).
  • Wants to do a proper academic study on the evolving role of literary reviews over the years
    • That's how she started the hypnosis thing
• Is pretty good at maths
• Not so good at literature, because she tends to reach too far for abstract interpretations of a work, and miss the surface layers
  • Learned a little from Toni, even if she won't admit it
• Might have had a different course mentioned earlier; if I find that I need to correct it

Relations

• Best friend: Britney
• Friend / admirer: Toni
• Mother: Nyxoriña Spenser
• Father: Aiden Boone
• Little brother: Garfield
• Nemesis: Belle Carter

Family background

Adelaide was conceived before her parents really had a stable relationship. It was a kind of on-again/off-again thing, which means that they were only about 90% sure that Aiden was really her father. This never mattered when she was young, because he did his best to be a good father and never raised the question. But her dad was married to his job, and always seemed a little detached from his family. Eventually he left, choosing his job over his family. He invites both Adi and Garfield on holidays two or three times per year, but they always seem to go to places that don't interest Adi, and he's never willing to schedule around other people. He'll take a week away when it's convenient for his work, and expect the kids to skip a week of school or whatever to be with him. Adi decided when she was thirteen that she cares about her education enough to start turning him down.