A bit of honesty

"Remember that you can trust me, alright? I wouldn't hurt you." Once the fog cleared from her dark eyes, Jessica quirked an eyebrow at me expectantly. I nodded, continuing. "When I shut someone down, I sort of absorb their power. It goes into me and I get a similar power of my own."

Watching her carefully, it was impossible to miss the way Jessica stiffened, despite the reminder. Just the barest hint of suspicion.

"I was inexperienced with it. Didn't know how it worked. But that's how I tried to get Mrs. Thompson to not stab herself."

"Okay..." Jessica said slowly, "So you're a mind controller now?"

"I haven't really had a chance to experiment with it, of course... But my version of Killgrave's power works differently." I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable, but seeing the opportunity. I did want someone else who knew what was going on, and I'd have to spend time with Jessica regardless to finish replicating her powers.

"I wouldn't want to experiment on someone without their consent." I continued nervously, telling myself that it wasn't a lie. I didn't like this, didn't want to do it, not really. "But you trust me, don't you Jessica?"

The raven-haired detective nodded, glassy-eyed and smiling slightly, once it took she slammed back another shot and shook her head ruefully.

"Yeah, you're a good kid." She said, eventually, "If there has to be a mind-controller running around, I'm glad it's you."

"Thanks..." I muttered, hesitating briefly.

This was a shitty thing to do, but I did need to experiment with it. Find out what the limits were. And protect myself. And finish siphoning her powerset. So many reasons.

"You wouldn't mind experimenting with me, right? Since you trust me. You'd want me to learn how it works, so I don't accidentally harm anyone."

"Let you use your powers on me...?" Jessica muttered uncertainly, dazed but conflicted, seemingly completely unaware that I already was.

"Yes." I agreed, "You want to spend more time with me. You like spending time with me. And you want to let me use you to figure out my power." She seemed to shudder, though from what, I couldn't tell. "You know I wouldn't try to make you do anything bad, like Killgrave did, since you trust me."

Jessica nodded, looking out of it, but less conflicted.

"You want to be honest with me, don't you Jessica?" That one sank in without much resistance. "Do you want to help me figure this power out?"

Her eyes clear and sharp, she watched me, considering it. Eventually she sighed, poured another shot and gulped it down. "... Yeah. I'll help. But no funny business, alright?"

"Sure. I wouldn't do anything you don't want me to." I deliberately tried not to notice that my cock was painfully hard.

Activating my omni, I saw my lunch was about over, but I'd been planning on skipping lectures anyway. "You got time now?"

The raven-haired detective drummed her fingers against the desk nervously for a second, but nodded. "Yeah. No new case, so unless the cops want to pull me in for questioning again..."

What had I learned so far? Well. My power didn't work much like Killgrave's. It was in the sound waves, not a virus. It wasn't always on, only when I focused or slipped up. And it seemed to impact people's thought processes instead of just taking control.

Mrs. Thompson hadn't wanted to stab herself, so my power telling her to stop had been effective and quick-working. But Killgrave's order to keep doing it had still overridden mine when we were at roughly the same power.

And Killgrave had refused to stop using his power. It went against every grain of his personality, I guess, so my orders to stop had been basically useless - it just gave him a few seconds pause.

But... And this was crucial. As far as I could tell, my power didn't linger inside someone when I used it. It hit their thought process, scrambled it up, and after it was done they either accepted the suggestion as their own idea or rejected it.

So the key seemed to be pushing boundaries bit-by-bit. Or reinforcing the same message over and over until they accepted it, but that sort of brute **** method, even if it worked... It felt a bit dangerous.

So the best way to go was probably pushing slowly, reinforcing acceptance, and then pushing again.

By the time we were done eating, Jessica's hesitation to help me experiment with my power was gone. She'd already accepted that she trusted me, and that she didn't think I'd hurt her.

So I reinforced two things: helping me would protect others from getting harmed accidentally, and I wouldn't do anything she didn't want me to.

"... So anything I do to you must be something you want, right Jessica?" I'd laid the groundwork, and she only looked mildly conflicted. "You trust that I'd only use my control in ways you would approve of. So any changes you might notice must be things you approve of."

"Yeah. That tracks, I guess..." She admitted, blinking back to full consciousness. "So what do you want to try first?"

"I figure we could try to help you at the same time." I ventured.

Despite every suggestion I'd been hammering her with, Jessica looked skeptical, quirking an eyebrow and waiting for me to continue.