Hard to tell.

It was hard to tell if the app did anything. It probably didn’t, George thought in a moment of clarity. It was probably malware and he had just given it permission to do god knows what to his phone.

George quickly looked back up at Jennifer, not even bothering to disguise his actions as he watched her for a sign. Nothing appeared to change, but he hadn’t been looking at her when he’d actually pressed the button, so maybe he missed a small flinch or something. Certainly she wasn’t acting like anything had happened, still smiling at and gossiping with the guy from sales.

George looked back down at his phone and saw a new page open with a brief confetti animation.

Stereotyping Complete!

+ 5 EXP

You have added Jennifer to your Subject list by Stereotyping her.

George stared at the screen for a moment, then the text disappeared in another flash of animation, followed by a small image of Jennifer with new information displayed below.

Subject: Jennifer Liang

Stereotype: Bimbo

Additional Traits: Submissive

Yep, nailed it! She was definitely a bimbo, and apparently a submissive too, which… sounded about right, though George thought that he was perhaps being a bit unfair.

On the side of the profile there was a tab with several options, all grayed out, for actions such as Swap, Take, Give, and a few more. The only option available was Exit, and a small orange notification that appeared next to the additional traits, which opened up when he pressed it.

Each subject gets a main Stereotype, as well as up to two Additional Traits when they are added. These Additional Traits are designed to keep the subject as close to their original selves as possible. They will not have overlap with the main Stereotype.

George let out a sigh of relief. So a target wouldn’t just become a walking stereotype when they were, well, stereotypes. That was great to know, George thought, it certainly makes this whole thing a lot more palatable. And Jennifer only had one trait, which must mean that she really fit the bimbo stereotype well.

His eyes were drawn back down to the screen as the pop up disappeared, and a new page came up.

Achievement Unlocked!

The First Step

+ 2 EXP

You have completed your first Action! Most Actions can only be taken once per day, however to speed up the tutorial you will be given a second charge of Stereotyping today. Please select another target and Stereotype them to continue.

George immediately spun around in his chair and stared at Tara, who was thankfully still facing her monitor and didn’t notice. Two additional traits should be more than enough, George thought. It wouldn’t change her too much, and once he got to the stereotype page he would get a bunch of new intel on her, which would help with getting closer to her. How-

“You think I should dye my hair pink?”

George snapped his head back toward where Jennifer was standing. She was still standing in the same position, next to the tall, muscular guy. Perhaps her voice was slightly higher pitched and slightly more annoying?

No, that wasn’t important, George thought. Dying her hair pink? Jennifer had been dying her hair brown likely before she had even started working here. At least, she had brown hair in her company photo, which should have been from when she first joined the company. What could have made her change her mind now, at this exact moment, except the stereotyping process? And she wanted to dye her hair the classic BIMBO color? It couldn’t be a coincidence.

He hadn’t been certain, despite how invested he had become and much moralizing he had been doing over the choice of who to stereotype. Even the photo of Jennifer showing up on the app hadn’t been proof, it could have just been an AI taking her social media information off the web. But this, this was perhaps proof that he actually had something powerful in his hand.

George looked over at Tara again. She was also peering over her cubicle at Jennifer. She sat back down after a moment, then turned slightly in her chair to face him with a small smirk.

“What?” she mouthed silently, then rotated back around to her computer screen and started typing.

George grinned at her, grabbed his phone off his desk, and quickly hit the confirm button on Tara’s profile.