If you go, there will be trouble...

You stand up and grab your own coat. "Um... I, uh..." you begin to say, fumbling for an excuse, before deciding "screw it" and just heading out the door to follow her.

Emily is waiting, right outside and to the left of the door. Without warning, she grabs your arm and drags the two of you across the hall, into an empty classroom. She shuts the door behind her, grabs a chair, and sits down in it, blocking the doorway. "Sit down," she orders, her voice hard as steel. You grab another chair and sit down, facing her.

"Okay," she begins, breathing a bit heavily. "What the hell just happened? And don't tell me that it was some sort of ventriloquist bullshit or anything like that. I distinctly heard you say 'you dropped your pen', in my head. There was no sound, and your lips didn't move." She leans in a bit, still looking straight into your eyes. "You did some sort of telepathic shit. I don't know how, but you did, and that's impossible. That's some X-Files shit right there."

"I... that wasn't my intention," you begin. "I mean, the second time it was, but the first time--"

"What 'first time'?" she asks, and you realize that she still thinks she imagined the part about you saying it was hot. Well, no getting out of it now.

You sigh, and say, "The first time is when you heard me say it's so hot that you should remove your underwear."

Her brow knits at that one. "God damn it," she growls, "I knew I heard you." She sits there, fuming for a few seconds, until -- amazingly -- an amused smile spreads across her face. "Not exactly the smoothest line, you know," she teases. Oh, thank god, she isn't gonna kill me, you think. Not yet, anyway. "Okay," she continues, her face serious again. "So, tell me, how did you do it?"

You roll up your left shirt sleeves, exposing the Manipulator to her, and she leans in a bit further, studying it. You can't help but notice the vast expanses of soft skin, the long cleft between her breasts as she bends down, and you shake your head slightly, trying to focus on the moment. She regards the device with skepticism, but mixed with a definite tinge of fascination. "That thing looks like something out of Star Trek," she says. "You're telling me that costume piece let you transmit your thoughts to me?"

You shake your head. "It's definitely real, believe me," you reply, "and that's... not what it's supposed to do." You clear your throat, unsure of how she's gonna take what you say next. "It's... supposed to influence people's minds. Like, I think something that I want them to do or believe, and it happens." At this, her eyes narrow a bit, and she looks back into your eyes.

"Ohhhhh," she breathes, realization setting in. "I get it now." She lets out a little snerk which you find strangely endearing. "Come on, {if female == true}hun{else}man{endif}, you didn't think I was showing off enough already? Just had to go for more, did you?" You can tell she's definitely a bit annoyed at what you tried to do, but her annoyance is tempered by amusement -- as well as continued fascination over the device.

"I'm sorry," you reply, "I--"

But she cuts you off. "Are you?" she asks, smirking. "Are you really? Or are you just sorry you got caught?" You have no answer to that, and your mouth hangs open slightly. Shit, you think, I honestly don't know. Does that make me a bad person? Emily is very visibly entertained by your discomfort. Still smirking, she continues, "Well, for whatever reason, your little toy didn't work on me, but I definitely heard what you were trying to do."

"Yeah, that's the first time that's happened," you say, puzzled.

"First time?" she repeats, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhhhh... yeah," you reply, somewhat sheepishly, and look down at the floor. "I've used it... a handful of times."

"Get anything good out of it?" she prods, and you quickly look back up at her, a bit surprised at her reaction. She seems bemused, and... maybe a little excited by the prospect?

{if smita_panty_flash==false}"Well... I got Miss Kincaid to undo her top blouse button."

She whistles at that. "Wow, that's quite a feat. From what I hear, Kincaid is awfully straight-laced." You're not exactly sure if she's being sarcastic or not, but you're just happy she's not angry.

"I didn't mean to," you continue.{else}"Well... uh... I accidentally got a girl to flash me her panties."

She smiles widely at that. "Accidentally, huh? Suuuuure."

"I'm serious," you continue.{endif} "The thing tended to go off every time I had a stray thought while looking at someone... but soon after that, it received some sort of 'update', and now I have to specifically 'think' a sentence to use it."

"Hmmm," she says, looking back at the Manipulator. "I guess that's a good thing, or half the school would be in an orgy by now." Her voice seems a little dreamy, as though her mind is excitedly running through the possibilities. But she quickly snaps out of her brief reverie, and looks back at you. "Look, Sam," she begins, and pauses for a second, considering what to say next, "I guess I can't blame you for wanting more of a peek of me. In a weird way, I'm flattered... but I wish you'd just talked to me instead."

"I couldn't!" you stammer in response. "I... never know what to say. It comes out all jumbled."

"You don't seem to have that problem online," she points out. Your eyes widen a bit, and she smiles widely at that, again delighting in shocking you. "You're {if female==true}Hitomi80{else}Dryden80{endif} on IRC, right?"

"How do you know that?" you blurt out, realizing too late that you just answered her question.

"Heh, it wasn't difficult," she says. "I've been hanging out in #anime for a while now -- longer than you, I think. All it took was a reverse DNS lookup, and then a bit of social engineering with the local ISP. It's not like there are a lot of folks in this town who have a dialup connection running nearly 24/7." You are massively impressed, and also a bit disturbed that your online identity could be uncovered so easily. "The point is," she continues, "on there you're witty, charming, funny, and interesting. You can be that way out here too, you just have to have a little faith in yourself."

Now it's your turn to lean in. "But..." you almost whisper, "what if I get it wrong? What if people don't like me? What if they make fun of me?"

She shrugs. "Then fuck 'em," she answers. "Believe it or not, being yourself -- unapologetically yourself -- is the best way to go. Some people won't like that; that's fine. You're never going to be perfect, you're never going to please everyone, and there will always be assholes out there trying to cut you down." She puts her hand on your knee, and you're a bit amazed at how this conversation has somehow morphed into a therapy session. "I know this is all much easier said than done. It took me a lot of time to be comfortable with who I am, but ever since I said 'fuck it' my life has been about ten times better."

She's hitting a lot of deep topics for you, and you almost feel like crying, but you hold it in. "I'm sorry," she says, noting your obvious discomfort. Unlike before, when she was teasing you, she seems genuinely apologetic.

"No," you reply softly, "it's okay. And thanks... you're right. I don't know if I can change overnight, but I'll try."

She smiles. "You don't have to change overnight. Just think about your own feelings, and why you do what you do." Then, to your mild surprise, she looks back up at the device and smiles. "And if that doesn't work, you have that thing."

"W...what?" you respond, confused. After talking a bunch about being yourself, she tells you to use a device that changes who other people are? "What do you mean?" you continue.

"{if female == true}Honey{else}Dude{endif}, you're a horny teenager. I'm not gonna be able to stop you from using that thing -- nobody is. And, well, to be honest... I'm a bit envious of you."

"Envious?" you repeat.

"Yeah!" she confirms. "Come on, you can literally make anybody do anything you want. Who wouldn't be tempted to play with that sort of power? I know there are a few people I'd be catching a sneak peek at if I had the opportunity..." You see her blush slightly, and it's utterly adorable. "As long as you don't, like, permanently damage somebody, I say, go for it. Just make sure to give me all the juicy details."{if smita_mlevel == 1} You decide it's not a good time to tell her you've already accidentally made a complete stranger think she and you are a couple.{endif}

She stands up, and kicks the chair back over towards the desks. "Come on," she says, "we should get back to class." You stand up and begin to follow her, but before she heads out the door, she stops, and faces you once more. "Oh, one more thing," she says. Grabbing the hem of her shirt, she quickly pulls it up, grabbing the cups of her bra with it. Her generous, alabaster breasts fall free, tiny, rosy nipples adornng each one. It's only a second or two before she covers back up, but as far as you're concerned, time stops as you etch the image into your brain.

She giggles a bit at your wide eyes, once again taking delight in your shock. "That's what you were looking for, right?" she grins. Then she turns back and saunters off, leaving you to wait a few seconds until {if female == true}you catch your breath{else}the sudden stiffness in your pants settles down{endif}.