The dean just wants to help.

Thanks to my earlier forethought, all I have to do in roll my finger slightly and I push the red button on the Random Remote. I glance down to make sure I got it to work, and sure enough, I see the roulette spinning. Now all I need is a bit of luck. Although, if I'm being honest, I'm feeling pretty good about my odds. As long as I don't turn Dean Sanders into a sadist or something (an option I assume is possible since I've already seen "Masochist"), it would be hard to make my situation more difficult. Even if she ends up with something weird like Daisy's "Cow" identity, that doesn't really hurt me.

"Now, surely you understand the problematic situation you've put me in, Mr. Anderson," the dean continues. "I feel that I must take some action or I risk something like this happening to a more... respectable staff member."

I have to stop myself from chuckling at that. She's trying so hard to be delicate, but I can clearly tell she's fighting the urge to say something even more degrading about Dr. Powell. But whatever I do, I absolutely CANNOT let her know that I find what she's saying amusing. That would be a **** sentence.

Anyway, I think that should be enough time on the remote. Time to see what I've just done to this woman. I glance back down at my lap.

- SELECTED TAR-

"Mr. Anderson, please look at me when I'm talking to you."

My eyes instantly shoot back up to the dean as I feel a chill run down my spine. Yikes. She did not sound happy. It's probably a bad idea to try that again. But I didn't get a good look at the screen, so I have no idea what identity she ended up with. And if I don't get a chance to look soon, I'll also miss her first attribute.

"I assume you are taking this situation seriously. You need to understand that doing something like this could have significant consequences," she continues.

"I understand that, Ma'am. I apologize."

"Then perhaps you can tell me what you think I should do about this..."

Great. I hate when people ask the person in trouble what they think their punishment should be. It always feels like such a trap. And to make matters worse, there's no way I can get away with looking at the remote at this point. What am I supposed to do now? I can't try to spin this situation in my favor if I don't know what her new attribute is. There's no way to predict how she'll react to anything I say...

Well, I have to say something. My best bet is to try to probe her a bit until I notice her do something out of character. Unfortunately, I only just met her, so I haven't had time to get a full understanding of who she is. Hopefully the change will be something obvious.

"Don't you think this is somewhat unfair?" I start by asking.

"Oh? How so?"

"How can you compare how I treat Dr... how I treat Shannon compared to other staff members? Clearly we both understand that that's not an equal comparison. You can't assume how I address her will have an effect on how I address anyone else."

Yes, I know. That was a risky play, but if I can push the dean's respect for Dr. Powell even further down, I might be able to soften any blow she deals to me by then end of this. And considering I already tried the remote, I'm clearly willing to take risks right now.

"Well... I suppose that is a fair enough point. But what exactly am I supposed to do with Shannon's complaint? If I just choose to ignore what she's told me, it sets a bad precedent. I don't want this incident to get out and cause other staff member to be disrespected with the assumption that I will turn a blind eye to them too."

It worked! She called Dr. Powell "Shannon" after hearing me say it! I don't want to push it too far, but with the right word choice, I might make it out of this in one piece.

"How would this incident get out? You obviously have no intention of informing others of this, and I wouldn't want to risk being back here by saying anything. Do you think Shannon will tell other people about this? Who's going to disrespect another teacher because of something she said?"

"I... I guess I never thought about it. Outside of being a decent historian, not much of what she says has any real value, so I suppose no one will care if they hear about this from her. But still, I feel obligated to at least do something..."

Wow. Not where I was expecting her to go with that, but I'll take it. The fact that Sanders now thinks that Dr. Powell has basically nothing to offer outside of being a good teacher is kind of hilarious. But again, I don't want to throw everything I've worked for away just because I'm amused. Besides, she still feels like I need to face some sort of consequence.

"Come on... You know this isn't worth the effort. Concerning ourselves with what that woman has to say is just a waste of our time. Can't you do something to drop this ridiculous case?"

Another risk, but if it actually works, I could legitimately walk out of this room totally unscathed.

Suddenly, that's when I notice it. It's subtle, but it's definitely there. I hit something. The slight hesitation, the look in her eyes, the clear want for... well, I'm not quite sure. But I'm confident that something I just said spoke to her attribute.

"Do you... want me to find a way to drop the case?"

A silence hangs in the air after those words leave her mouth. She sits quietly behind her desk, looking deeply into my eyes. She is clearly waiting to hear what I'm going to say. I still don't have a good understanding of what's going on, but I can tell I might be about to get somewhere. For now, I'll just be honest and see where that gets me.

"If you think you can, then yes. You have no idea how much I would prefer it if the whole report just disappeared."

There's another long pause where the two of us just stare at each other. Sanders takes a brief moment to think to herself, as if doing mental calculations. I'm left waiting way longer than I'm comfortable with before she finally speaks again.

"I can handle that. I'll get it done as soon as possible."

Wait... seriously? Just like that? I have no idea what's going on right now, but I'm not sure I should complain. After being uncertain of what to do next, I notice that the dean has already started typing something on her computer.

"Does that mean we're finished?"

"Unless you need something else, yes," she responds promptly without looking away from her screen.

Not knowing what to do, I slowly rise from my chair and walk to the door. The dean does nothing to stop me as I move, so I take that to mean that I'm in the clear. Right as I'm about to walk out, I turn back to her.

"Thank you, Ma'am. I really appreciate it."

This time, she stops what she's doing and looks at me. When our eyes lock, she smiles sweetly, something that I definitely was not expecting. This is the first time I've seen this woman smile. I have to admit, it feels nice to see.

"You're very welcome! And please, there's no need to refer to me so formally. Feel free to call me Helen. If there's anything else you need from me, please don't hesitate to let me know."

And just like that, she's back to whatever she's working on. Talk about a wild way for this meeting to end. I really need to see what exactly is going on. With that in mind, I finally exit Helen's office. Woah, that felt weird. It's going to take some time to get used to referring to her by her first name.

As soon as I close the door behind me, a let out a deep sigh that I've had pent-up for a while. I'm so glad that's over. And to think I somehow ended up getting off scot-free. I guess I have Helen's attribute to thank for that, whatever it is. That's almost certainly what helped me get over that last little hill. Speaking of which, I should check out what she ended up with. I point the remote at the door and lock-on to her, bringing up her profile.

- SELECTED TARGET: HELEN SANDERS -

Identity: Personal Assistant

Attributes:

RIGHT AWAY, SIR

The target will start to see the user as their boss and will feel an increasing need to complete tasks given to them by the user. Eventually, completing tasks given by the user will take precedence over other things in the target's life, such as existing work or obligations.

Oh, I think I understand. It one of those "eager-to-please secretary" situations. I can certainty get behind that. Especially when the secretary that's eager to please me is the sexy dean of the school I go to. And with how scarily efficient Helen seems already, I can't deny that she would make for a fantastic, if not drastically overqualified assistant. That being said, I will have to be extra careful with this one. I don't want to draw unwanted attention by making Helen stop doing her actual job. I could see this identity being somewhat of a double-edged sword in that way.

Also, that explains the sudden shift in tone at the end of that meeting. Once I made it clear I wanted her to get rid of this case, she felt the desire to actually do it. And since I was starting to convince her that the whole thing was absurd in the first place, I was able to get her to agree despite her only just receiving that attribute. Even if I do have to be careful with this identity in particular in the future, I can't complain about it helping me out this time.

Even though that whole ordeal is finally over, it will probably still take a little time to fully calm down from the rush of adrenaline I have right now. I'll get there eventually, I just need a breather. For now though, I can get out of here knowing that I no longer have that weight dangling over me.