Seeking help

You're starting to see a pattern but you don't know for sure what's going on. It almost certainly has something to do with the effects of your mind control ring. Unfortunately, it doesn't come with a user manual and you don't know its origins. Fortunately, since your family is in the antiques and rare items business, you can think of someone who might be able to shed light on the rings. His name is Robert Wilkins. He's a history professor at a nearby private college and a family friend that your father used to always go to for help with identifying and appraising certain items that came through your family's auction house.

It's late morning and you figure professor Wilkins will be at work, so you teleport to the college he teaches at to go find him. You don't have his contact information, but it's easy for you to pretend to be a lost student and ask around for directions to his class.

When you find the right classroom, it looks like he has just concluded a class as students are streaming out of the room. You step aside and let them leave, letting your eyes linger on a couple of the more attractive female students, although you remind yourself why you're here.

When the students are gone, you poke your head into the classroom to see the familiar figure of professor Wilkins, hunched over his desk in his plaid jacket with elbow patches. He's actually in his 60s and his hair is balding and grey, but his face looks youthful. You clear your throat to get his attention.

"Office hours are this afternoon," professor Wilkins says, looking down at some papers.

"Maybe you can make an exception for an old friend?" you say.

Professor Wilkins looks up when he hears your voice, recognizing you. "John! Long time no see! Come on in!" he exclaims, getting up to greet you with a hearty laugh and firm handshake. You 2 exchange some small talk before you get to the subject you came here to talk to him about.

"So, I actually came here for your help," you say.

"Sure! What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was curious if you knew anything about magic rings, specifically ones that grant wearers the ability of mind control," you say.

Professor Wilkins looks at your hand. Although you didn't say you were wearing 1 of such things, the 5 rings on your hand is hard to miss. He doesn't ask you about the rings. "Well... there are certainly quite a few things you can find in history books about rings of power do bestow wearers with all kinds of abilities. Mind control does come up quite a bit in Arabian lore."

"Interesting. Anything in specific? Any side effects or unforeseen consequences?"

Professor Wilkins chuckles. "Oh, sure. That's what more lores exist for, to teach people valuable lessons. Every good thing has a bad thing to balance it out. In some of the lores, the ability of mind control is not that straightforward. Often it means unintended outcomes and unlocking of inhibitions."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, simply put, mind control is not easy to control. Hypothetically, with such a power, you can tell someone to do something they wouldn't normally do, and they would do it. But, in doing so, their subconscious mind needs to rationalize the action, so it then makes that thing something that they would do. For example, if you command a nun to kill someone, then her mind is going to normalize that behavior and killing becomes acceptable to her."

"Interesting..." you say, thinking about what the professor said. It makes sense and you can see how your using of the mind control ring to make people have sex could loosen their inhibitions even if that's not what you command.

"So, is this hypothetical, or is there something you would like to share?" professor Wilkins asks, nodding in the direction of the rings on your hand.