And left.

Though, just before he did, he took one last look back at Stacy's sleeping body. It had only been a few minutes at most, so as expected, she showed no change. She'd probably be out more than long enough for him to do what he needed to do. Perfect.

He locked the door and swung his keys around his finger for a moment before stuffing it back in his pocket. He felt up the gorgeous golden watch he had put there too, just as an unnecessary reminder that it was there. In his other hand was a piece of paper, the only other useful thing he brought with him. On it was transcribed the various commands he had given to Stacy while she was under. He wasn't planning on giving Ashtrae the specifics of what had happened, but he figured if she was going to be a beneficiary in all this, she should be caught up on what he did without her.

As he walked down the hall to the elevator, he reviewed the skeleton of a plan he had whipped up. The plan was lacking in details at the moment, but those could be decided on the fly with ease. Alright then, he thought to himself, from the top.

1. Get Ash in on this. She has motive and know-how, two things we'll need in spades. Coercing her might be difficult, but I'm certain that she'll jump at the opportunity. This kind of thing only comes around once a lifetime, after all. Fill her in on all the gaps and get whatever information she can give.
2. Come back to Stacy. If she's up, she better be clean and ready for whatever we have planned. If she isn't, or if she decided to be defiant and leave the floor like that, we make her get up and clean it.
3. Then, we do whatever we must to make sure that she won't just go back to the usual the moment we turn our backs. Gotta be careful not to change her too much though, or everyone'll get suspicious. Once Stacy's conditioned enough, it'll probably be somewhere around 21:00, so we'll close the day there.
4. Today's Friday, so no school tomorrow. We, or at least I, can continue training her from as soon as she gets up. I'd like to have her on a slow burn throughout the day, so when she comes back from wherever the group takes her, she's a wreck and easy to fuck with.
5. Ideally, we could do something a little different for each one, but I'd be fine just rinsing and repeating for the other 3. I'm thinking we'll do Prinsillia, then Emmy, then Becky, but let's see what Ash has to say first.

He got on the elevator, and a few moments later, came out a floor below. He took note of how different the place looked compared to the one a ceiling above. He rarely had reason to really take more than a passing glance, but he had a feeling he'd be better off smelling the roses than rushing around. Coincidentally, the tacky carpet he stood on had a rosebush pattern, which he never really noticed before. His floor had sunflowers, and he knew the third had tulips from a few snippets of dialouge from Emmy.

The same Emmy Dioré who was leaning on the wall with her arms crossed halfway down the hallway, right between him and his destination. He knew she lived on the top floor, and that the 4 had already parted for the day, so as far as he knew, she had no need to be there. Of course, he just had to stop and ask: "What are you doing here?"

She responded at first not with words, but by opening her eyes to glare at him, pushing herself off the wall, and walking down the hallway towards him. Most other days, he would've moved to the side or tried to go past her, but today was not like most other days. He stood his ground, making direct eye contact as she walked past him. She stopped when she was just far enough past him that they could no longer hold the staring contest, and finally, she spoke. She didn't give him an answer (though he expected about as much), but instead gave a question of her own.

"Do you see your shadow?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I'm sorry, what?" he retorted. She repeated, still turnt away, "Do. You. See. Your. Shadow." He looked around to see if anyone else was hearing this nonsense, until he decided to look down, and saw both his and her shadow. But, he decided just giving an honest answer would be lame, especially for a question anyone with eyes could've answered. So, he gave an answer equally as absurd as the question.

"Nobody can see their own shadow, Mrs. Dioré. Don't you know that? Same reason you don't see your nose and your lips." The train of logic wasn't entirely faulty, no one sees their nose or lips until they go out of their way to try. But that very clearly did not apply to shadows. But Mack began to wonder if she was really gullible enough to believe it when she very audibly gulped and remained suspiciously silent for suspiciously long. He became fairly certain when she uncrossed her arms and walked away a noticeable bit faster than was really necessary.

Mack shrugged and walked over to Ashtrae's dorm, paying no mind to Emmy. He could ask all about whenever he really felt like it. For now, he had better things to do.