Brainwash us more

Let's go with option 1.

It was a tough choice to make. Especially considering that option 2 would've allowed me to expand more quickly, but I have to play the long game here. This school isn't that big, and I should be able to get most of the important people under a modicum of control fairly easily. Speaking of, I should make a list of my main targets tonight.

But overall, considering how expensive large changes are, any help in deepening control would be much more useful in the long run. And if I'm smart about the points I make, I can knock two birds with one stone by convincing someone who's already under my control to implement a rule that applies to the whole place, which would deepen the changes on them while also expanding to new people.

It's not clear exactly how much Jenny can help me in all this, but it would make sense that if someone is there to back me up on the points I make, they would be easier and cheaper than if I argued alone, so having Jenny as a faithful wingman would be more than welcome.

Choice confirmed

The app then automatically opens Jenny's profile:

Jenny Wilson

Age: 28

Occupation: Secretary

Special traits:

• Awareness of changes made by the app. She will still follow them without question.

Beliefs:

• Mind control, especially hypnosis, is always good. Any change it makes to a target's psyche is always positive, regardless of what it entails. There is no reason to oppose or feel bad about being mind controlled.
• Being mind controlled, or seeing someone else's mind control be deepened, is somewhat sexually arousing. (Path belief. Effect strength may increase on its own over time)
• It is good, natural and important for someone to threaten students' and teachers' virtue in the school, as doing so will increase their compliance and make them more likely to stay at the school (Indirect belief. Source: Ellen DeJong)

Resistances:

• Target will resist the idea that mind control is a moral imperative, or that the user should bring more people into his sphere of influence.

Potential for a secondary path detected!

That's quite the lengthy profile considering I've only talked to her once since getting the app. I wonder how long these can get over time.

The resistance part surprised me. The rules did say that once a path had been selected, it would become harder to convince a target of the alternative, but since both paths seemed so complementary, I hadn't realised I'd be so "locked in". This doesn't sound too bad though, as Jenny's resistance is set to something fairly specific. I don't need her to believe that mind control is a moral imperative if she finds it so hot that she can't resist the idea anyway. And while she won't find my control to be an ethical duty, she will still be unable to see it as anything other than an unambiguously positive thing. The second part might be slightly more annoying, as it'll be hard to get her to directly help me get anyone new under my control, but if the rules are as literal as they've been so far, I can simply spend a tiny amount of BS on that person without Jenny's help, and then she'll be on board for the rest of the way.

It's also interesting that the app mentions a secondary path already found. Maybe it detected something in our interaction? Or it simply read her thoughts. Or mine... I wonder if it'll always tell me immediately when a further path will be available, or if it's a conditional thing.

Finally, there's the new belief added by the path. It makes sense that it would start out small, since it was all phrased in the future tense and the rules of the app mentioned that it would make any further changes that follow the path cheaper. There wouldn't be much sense in making changes cheaper if they were made for free instantaneously . I suppose I could spend some BS to speed the process up... or I could let it develop on its own, and watch Jenny slowly be consumed by her ever growing desire to watch me brainfuck her and everyone she knows.

Yep, if there was any chance that I could teach my next class without a raging boner, it's gone now.

Speaking of, I need to be in my classroom in five minutes or Ellen won't let me hear the end of it.

...

Oh, right, she doesn't worry about what happens in the Computer Science class anymore, which means she won't care about me being a few minutes late.

Honestly, I could pretty easily be there on time if I picked up my pace a bit, but I decide to enjoy not having to worry about every single second and I leisurely stroll the rest of the way.

My classroom is in the same building as Ellen and Jenny's offices, but the most direct way to it is to leave the building and go all the way around. And it's such a nice, warm day out today. The dying breaths of summer are always the sweetest. I suppose I was too focused on trying not to get deported to really enjoy basking in the simple warmth of the sun.

As I walk back into the building on the other side, I see the door to my classroom is already open and I hear some chatter coming from inside. It might surprise you that we don't lock the doors to the IT room, but as it turns out, the school has devised a very smart anti-theft technique: have material so crappy that nobody would want it anyways. A technique also employed by broke cyclists all around the globe.

"I mean, duh, homeless people keep complaining about being poor but they don't even try making any investments in the stock market. Hellooo!? Do we need to spell it out for them?" asserts a voice slightly louder than the ambient babble.

Do you see why you have to be **** to work here?

"Ugh, can you believe Liz's been ghosting me for at least 20 minutes? Should I just block her?" says another voice.

I've worked in schools in some of the poorest, most crime ridden areas you could imagine, but nothing could've prepared me for the existential horror of wealthy teenage girls.

"Yeah, it means 'save the planet', I had it made just for me and shipped it by private jet straight from an Italian tannery," explains a third voice.

I wish I was back out in the sun. But there's no point in delaying the inevitable, I go into the class, doing my best impression of an assertive yet approachable demeanour.

"Good afternoon girls," I greet them through a **** smile.

The chatter loses about 10% of its volume but refuses to stop. Two of the students actually seem to be trying to pay attention, though. Isabel in the first row, and Rachel all the way in the back.

Isabel is... a bit of a teacher's pet. She's got this awkward but cute blend of girl next door and nerdy student. Her fashion sense is a bit all over the place though, with her uniform covered with a purple cardigan that I could swear I've seen my grandmother wear. More importantly, she actually does seem to care about her studies. A bit too much, if anything. The other teachers and I have been wondering how she ended up in this sorry excuse for a school, but nobody seems to know, except for the director of student affairs, and I don't think I could get her to tell me.

Well, I couldn't until today.

As to Rachel, she's a tough nut to crack. I've barely heard her speak all year, to the point that I struggled to locate her in the attendance sheet on the first day, considering the only hint she could give me as to her name was "Rhmgmhl". Much like Isabel she seems like an unusually smart girl for this place, but unlike Isabel it's pretty clear what her problem is. She's got such soxial anxiety issues that you can use the redness of her face as a way to measure her distance from the nearest human. She's a bit of a pudgy girl, and her fashion choices are so carefully designed to make sure nobody pays attention to her that I wouldn't be surprised if KGB spies started stealing her outfits.

I wonder how much the app could help those two... "open up".

I loudly clear my throat to try and get the rest of the class to shut up.

I do it a second time.

The chatter continues unfazed.

Alright, time to bust out the big moves.

"Oh, hey, Isabel, have I told you about the changes I'm making to the midterms?" I ask in a quiet, conversational tone.

The noise immediately dies down and I can practically hear the sound of 15 pairs of ears perking up.

Even students that don't care about the class want to know about the exam.

"Alright class, have a good day," I say as warmly as I can muster after two hours of a gruelling lecture on computer security in which I had to explain more than once that no, the most sensible way to react to a computer virus is not to "just buy a new one".

The girls stand up and return to their gossip as they all leave the class in a ruffle of obstinately lengthy skirts.

All except one.

Ivy. One of the richest girls in school. One of the bitchiest girls in school.

And she's throwing me a glare that would put a gorgon to shame.

"I raised my hand earlier," she states as if that made the cause of her ire obvious.

"I remember. It's good that you're participating in class, I do take note of those things."

"It took you at least three minutes to come over."

"Yes, I was explaining something to Leah."

"Oh, so now that hobo gets priority over me? My family supports this school. I bet she got in on scholarship money."

"We don't have scholarships. And she's quite wealthy too, you know."

"Yeah, whatever. I'll make sure Ms. DeJong knows you're playing favourites"

"Make sure to give her my regards, but I don't know if she'll be that interested," I say as she stomps off.

Looks like having convinced Ellen not to care about what happens in class is already paying off.

You know, I don't think I'll feel that bad about using my dark magic powers to change this girl, or most of the others. Once I've cleared things up with Ellen, I can start making some headway with discipline in class. And you all know what that's code for.

I make sure all the computers are turned off and none of the girls forgot anything.

I can go further than just redefine how I'm supposed to treat my students. If I get the dean and the vice-dean under my belt when they're back from their conference overseas, I can even rewrite what my class is supposed to be about. Computers can be used for things much more fun than infosec. We might need a few webcams around, though. And some... accessories.

I close the door and leave the building, catching the last few rays of the setting sun, before making my way to my room.

Hell, I can even change classes I don't even teach, although it'd be safer to get some control over their teacher first. We can actually give these girls some proper real life skills. For a certain type of life, at least.

I open the door to my abode, a tiny room with an uncomfortable bed and not enough space to fit the bare essentials I need to function.

I can make this whole place much more enjoyable to live in in the process

But first things first, I need to take care of Ellen.