Retirement Panic

I returned to the office the conventional way. When I got back the chaos had mostly died down. Merianne had apologized to the customer (quite politely and quite against her will; I had never seen her apologize for anything before), which had defused the whole situation, which had had the domino effect of calming down everyone else. Lost morning aside, we were basically back to normal.

When I got back, I had the receptionist announce that there would be a company meeting at 2:30. This wouldn't normally be in my purview (I am only in charge of a small group, not the whole company), but I had everyone pay that no mind. I could see Merianne stiffen across the office as the announcement was made; she was the only one who knew how odd my calling a meeting was, and this further demonstration of my seeming ability to get away with things (combined with how no one thought her dress or body were strange). She was near a panic attack, but I was keeping her just short of it. The staff crowded into the lunchroom, where we generally held meetings of this type; I made it so they would accept as everything I said.

I quickly scanned the room. Mark and Merianne were standing next to each other, although they didn't know I had had them do so. Several of the men were admiring her, but of course no one talked to her (despite making her behave after I changed her, i hadn't changed anyone's opinion of her yet, so 'raging bitch, do not approach' was still in effect as far as they were concerned).

"Thank you all for coming on such short notice," I began when when everyone had arrived. People were milling around, grabbing the snacks I had made appear. "I promise this won't be a long meeting, and I promise that it's nothing but good news." This drew a general sigh of relief; most people thought this was about the trouble from this morning. "First, you're probably all aware that there has been a growing bond between Mark Vincent and Merianne O'Connor, despite their discretion." Merianne suddenly realized what I had meant earlier (stuck up, nasty and didn't care about others, not stupid) and gaped at me in horror, her head whipping back and forth between me and Mark. I had expected her to react badly, so Power ensured that everyone else saw nothing but ecstatic bliss on her face. I did have to adjust their opinion of her a bit now; to avoid making radical changes I just left the old Merianne in their memory and had them never worry about her again, and effectively made the new Merianne a different person to them, and prevented making the connection between the two. "It's my pleasure and honor to announce that Mark and Merianne will be getting married."

There was applause and shouts of congratulations. Everyone remembered Merianne, Mark's bride to be, as the kindest, gentlest, most loving woman they had ever met, and they were thrilled that she and Mark had finally got together. Mark was beaming and shaking hands with those nearby. Merianne was staring at me in horror. She wanted to scream out a rejection, but all she could do was stare at the engagement ring that had suddenly appeared on her finger; everyone else saw her showing it off to them. "I'm sure you'll understand that Mark is going to be a very busy guy... You might even say he's going to have his hands full," I added, drawing sniggers from those around him. "And so he has reluctantly announced his retirement, effective immediately. We're all going to miss him, after all he's done to build this agency. Let's give him and Merianne our best wishes!" I concluded, and started an applause round.

More applause, and more congratulations directed at the happy couple (as they saw it). I held up my hands for quiet; and things died down after a minute. "Just one more thing: Please join me in congratulating the new CEO of our agency, Michelle Hawks, I said with a flourish. This drew wild applause too. Michelle was liked and respected by everyone in the agency; I think if she hadn't taken over it would have caused a huge fight as people tried to give her the job. I stepped aside as Michelle came forward to speak, the usual thanks, big shoes to fill, looking the future, etc. Plan complete: Merianne taken care of, Mark happily off to retirement, agency stabilized.

With the speeches over, the meeting officially broke up, and everyone crowded around the happy couple to say their farewells (I had arranged a limo outside to take them home, which Merianne had already moved into. When I managed to get through the crowd to them, I shook Mark's hand. "I'll bet when Merianne said yes, it was the greatest moment in your life." His face lit up with joy and then he laughed at the memory I had given him. "I'll say. We were at Flavio's, and I was so excited when I put the ring on her finger that I dropped it in her ice cream." I had seen that in a movie and though ti would be a nice touch. Then I turned to his not so happy fiance. She was reluctantly holding Mark's hand and looking down at the floor, but the assistant art director talking to her saw her animatedly responding to her congratulations. I leaned over to whisper something to her, a final thing to rub it in, but before I could, she started to cry, although only I could see it. I had planned to make her the perfect wife for Mark, my made up personae being actualized, doing everything to make him happy, sexually and otherwise, but inside knowing that she had been **** into it, and hating every minute of it, for the first six months. She had put me and everyone though a lot, and I thought that would be a fir punishment. Then I'd make the persona real so she could live the rest of her life happily with Mark. But her misery was too deep; I peaked in her mind and saw her contemplating suicide. I hadn't considered just how bad this was from her point of view. I changed her immediately: she was now truly the kindest, gentlest soul, her marriage to Mark was something she had dreamed about and worked toward ever since she had joined the agency three years before. She was ecstatically happy to be marrying her (suddenly 30 and very attractive and virile) fiance. I didn't erase Mark's first marriage or change anything about his past (he would just have an unusual amount of life experience for being 30 and an oddly early retirement no one would find strange and that would be well funded). Mark had no kids from his first marriage. I'm sure he and Merianne would have no trouble making some on their honeymoon if they wanted to.

I finished up with Mark and Merianne and stayed and chatted with the happy couple until they left (also to make sure I had done a good job with Merianne; I owed it to her to make sure everything was fine after I hurt her so badly) taking off to their new lives in the limo the agency had provided. I returned to my office and locked the door. I needed to decompress. What I had done to Merianne was bad and what I had almost done was worse. Sure, technically I was mind controlling a bunch so I couldn't talk too much, but 'make them happy and love it' (and show them a good time) and 'make then unable to control their own bodies, internally screaming while they do things they don't want' is a huge difference. It was one I wouldn't have thought before today I had trouble distinguishing. Yes, I was mad with Merianne and yes I was making her over to give her to Mark, but what I had almost done sickened. Even if I had fixed it after 6 months as I planned, she didn't deserve it just for being a somewhat bad person and inconveniencing people a bit. I should have changed her mind at the diner. I swore to myself them to never ever do something like this to another person, no matter how pissed I was at them. I considered getting rid of my powers, but instead I just promised to make sure I never did anything like this again.

Based on "My Reward" by Azil