Velvet - A Calibeen Story (Complete!)

[littleTomás]

4 hours ago, Wannatripbaby said:

The perfect example of "be careful what you wish for. XD

Also! I just realized the next session of my D&D campaign actually has similarities to this stories premise! A town where, instead of just locking up criminals, they use drugs and hypnosis to essentially lobotomize them. It's gonna be real fun if one of my PCs gets caught doing something they shouldn't. XD

Sounds like it should be a fun D&D session!

I love the whole pacifier and library thing. Velvet can’t sort through the library without a pacifier and thus can’t eliminate the need for a pacifier because it talks a pacifier to find a pacifier. Or anything for that matter.

[Bonsai]

I’m trying to imagine a situation where Colette is forced to drink a bottle of special milk while still in doctor uniform (no diaper) and Velvet can choose whether to care for her or ignore what’s going to happen, whether to do some fancy hypnosis on her or abstain from tricks.

[Sophie ♥]

On 1/15/2020 at 12:00 PM, littleTomás said:

I love the whole pacifier and library thing. Velvet can’t sort through the library without a pacifier and thus can’t eliminate the need for a pacifier because it talks a pacifier to find a pacifier. Or anything for that matter.

Isn't it exciting!   I love Velvet's library sooo much.

On 1/15/2020 at 3:02 PM, Bonsai said:

I’m trying to imagine a situation where Colette is forced to drink a bottle of special milk while still in doctor uniform (no diaper) and Velvet can choose whether to care for her or ignore what’s going to happen, whether to do some fancy hypnosis on her or abstain from tricks.

UM FANFICTION???/ PLEASE WRITE!

[Sophie ♥]

34.) Her Priorities

Three days.  I sat with my back to the wall in the oversized playroom and watched the doors.  Colette's.  Marlow's.  Side by side.  Marlow was obviously using me to get at Colette.  Colette, on the other hand, had standards.  Standards made her weak, but they were also what made me like her.  I shuffled side to side in my fresh, dry diaper and closed my eyes.  I had to find my library again and get rid of this stupid oral fixation.

"Wan’ play?" Annie, the predictable stalwart, grinned her affable little smile, her teeth had been awful when she got here, but her smile had been given life somewhere along the way - probably by her benefactor-cum-warden, Dr. Marlow - and she now smiled the most pretty pearly gestures.

"No thanks Annie.  I actually need some peace and quiet, so could you make sure no one bothers me for a few minutes?" Annie took it as an official guard posting or something, running around to everyone in the room and telling all the other girls that I was not to be bothered.  I rolled my eyes and closed them again.  Library.  Books.  Focusing.  Ah, here we go.  And by the time I opened my eyes again, Colette was standing at the door to her office watching me.

"You know, you do that to make it through here, but you're never going to make it through here while you keep doing that."

"Doing what, Colette?"

"That's Doctor to you, Marlow."

"I'm sure. Are you excited for this afternoon?"

"For you to leave?"

He chuckled and shook his head with a happy wave of his hand, sipped his coffee, and continued. "For the surprise inspection from the Round Table. Oh Colette, I -do- hope all your ducks are in a row, because mine certainly are."

Marlow closed the door behind him and Colette sighed, checking her watch.  Half an hour until breakfast.

"Velvet.  My office."

I got up off the floor and waddled across the room.  I swear, these diapers felt thicker and thicker. When we were alone, I decided to direct the line of inquiry to her. "So, surprise inspection.  Sounds fun."

"Sounds like a game to me. Marlow says he knows something, but won't say what. For him to bring an inspection down but to know about it? That's no surprise; he arranged it, Velvet. He's going to show off Annie." And our project was... well, it was my turn to chew on something; the arm of my glasses, nervously chittering between my teeth. "That or there was a funding change, an administration shuffle... maybe..." She pointed at Velvet. “Maybe there's a shake up in the Round Table. Something is happening...."

"Yeah, very interesting." I was already bored of the conversation.  I didn't care about the politics of this place.  Then again, I was playing the game now. "Marlow offered me a position on his team.  If I get you fired, he'll release me early." Obviously it was a lie, but I was curious how paranoid Colette truly was.

"Hah. Hah, he promised you know? Oh Velvet, I'm glad you're not an idiot." I was pacing, though, because there was... some reason, something, for him to bring them down here for. What was it? What had he done? I wished in retrospect that I'd been more calm and focused, that I'd thought things through.  Maybe if I had, Velvet would have been safe.

Three more days, I reminded myself.  I reminded Colette too, when she seemed interested enough to listen to me.  She was worried.  I was goal-oriented.  I was best utilized working on the automated hypnosis project, even if only for half an hour before breakfast.  But after sitting down and starting an analysis of variables, she sat down next to me. "Need your pacifier?" "Nope." She gave me a curious look.  Sure enough, I seemed to be focusing fine without it.

"Do you wanna tell me about that trick you did? Because we're going to come across others with your talents in the future, Velvet, and we can't have them undoing what we do here." Not many people were as talented as Velvet, though, to be quite fair about it.

"I have no idea what you're going on about.  But you're distracting me." I put a few numbers into a simulation and checked the frame rate on a video file.  I need to find more scholarly articles supporting this... "Don't you have something else you could be obsessing over?"

"I don't know, Velvet, maybe I'm wrong to be taking an interest in my quite remarkable patient, no? Now stop playing coy; it took you no time at all to undo what I did to you, and I need to know how you did it. Because I'm very good at what I do, as you well know." And deep breath. "And if you're better, I need to learn how."

"Hm.  You must not be as good as you say you are," I said flatly and went back to working on the laptop.  She snapped it closed and I sighed. "You're being really petty about this.  Isn't Annie more important?"

"You were meditating, right?  This morning?"

"You ask a lot of questions that aren't helping Annie."

"And you waste a lot of time protecting your fragile pride and ego, so determined to seem mysterious and in total control.  I’m your friend, but you keep me at arm’s length. Why is that? A stroke of luck is the reason you're with me and not Marlow, a numbers game, and I'm a world apart and treat you with respect. So show me a little, won't you?" It was oddly like a parent talking to a teenager…

"Yes, let me explain to you how I evade your subpar TV drama hypnosis so you can regress me into a pants-shitting baby."

"Technically you already do that."

I glared at Colette and got up on my feet. "You know what, if you don't want to work on this project today, fine.  I'm going to get breakfast."

------------------------

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[Wannatripbaby]

*tisk* Colette should've known that line of questioning wouldn't yield any results. She's got 51 weeks to work on Velvet, but only 3 days to work on Annie, which she needs Velvet for. They had a truce and she broke the spirit of that truce when she ambushed Velvet and hypnotized him. And again when she slammed the laptop closed, effectively saying "I don't care about our alliance, how did you beat me!?"

I think she's in for a hard lesson about cooperation and just how much she needs her little psychotic friend.

[diaperpt]

I don't know... I see this as two people who are naturally 'enemies' of each other, both knowing they need the cooperation of the other both to gain their own ends of which keeping Marlow at bay is only one.

On one level, it's about ego and power, but it is Velvet's struggle to remain not just out of diapers but in her previous identity vs Colette keeping not only her job but also the responsibility she feels to the girls in and entering the system to maintain the "idealism" of the program (in any ethical sense, reprehensible, but in a story like this fascinating).

[Bonsai]

Colette seems to suffer pressure much more than Velvet and easily get emotional. And I guess Velvet doesn’t need much more than a tiny crack to exploit so to eventually get the upper hand on her Doctor.

[Sophie ♥]

5 hours ago, Bonsai said:

Colette seems to suffer pressure much more than Velvet and easily get emotional. And I guess Velvet doesn’t need much more than a tiny crack to exploit so to eventually get the upper hand on her Doctor.

This is quite true.  Since Colette isn't basically a sociopath like Velvet, the stress of her job and her emotions can often get the best of her.

[littleTomás]

1 hour ago, Sophie ♥ said:

This is quite true.  Since Colette isn't basically a sociopath like Velvet, the stress of her job and her emotions can often get the best of her.

Colette needs to be more careful around Velvet. She needs to maintain her distance because Velvet will exploit any weakness she can find.

[Sophie ♥]

35.) Her Floor Show

The morning went by like any other; after breakfast, the two of us studied wordlessly in my office. Like Velvet and I were... fighting? I resolved after that I'd smooth things over after lunch. But at the end of lunch the double doors that left the wing were pushed opened and seven men, and two women, entered the would-be creche to observe the patients. Then a voice broke the quiet chatter, pens went down, clipboards to sides, and Marlow began to talk.

"Oh my darling Annie, would you please come up here. Velvet, too, if you please. Everybody else, please pay attention, won't you?"

Two meals of solid food.  No milk.  Then this gaggle of nicely dressed business-men and women.  The inspection.  I had two concrete options here: 1.) I use my position to convince the group that this place is evil and I go to prison for the rest of my life.  Or 2.) I convince them it's a great place and I'm close to rehabilitation, which might get me out earlier.  So when Marlow called Annie and I up to meet his entourage, I decided to go with the latter.  And the best way to do that was to mimic Annie.

"Ladies and Gentleman of the Round Table, I'd like to introduce you to Annie - as you can see, Annie is healthy, obedient, happy, and most importantly - harmless. Say hello, Annie." The girl waved, sucking her thumb with the other hand.

"Now, of course, as rightly suggested in our last communique, Annie doesn't represent a viable end product result for our system here; she'll never re-offend, but she is also... docile. In need of care. And that burden is no more insignificant than that of the present day detention system. But..." Annie burped quietly and covered her mouth cutely. "What if Annie were to not be an end goal, but a start to our process? We've spoken at great length about phases here in the project, but it's to this date been a concept unexplored beyond talk. Introduction is phase one, graduation is phase three. But what if there were to be a... phase zero? A state where all patients were administered a serum to bring them to Annie's level, so all growth is both expedient and predictable?"

Phases?  What was he talking about?  Did Colette ever mention anything about phases?  I looked over at her as she came out of her office with a clipboard in her hands, but she wouldn't make eye contact.  Probably for the best.  But one of the men of the committee spoke up.

"Annie has been with us for nearly a year.  She hasn't shown marked improvement in months.  Yet you want to revert every new entry to this state?  It's ridiculous and unnecessary."

I watched Marlow's smile fade.

"Edward, you of all people should know the importance of purpose, of drive. This project isn't kitted out to work with Annie; we assume violent and resistant men, we spend hours, days, months, fighting through reluctance with brute force. Annie isn't an end-point; she's a beginning. You cannot deny that with the right environment; a cultured, cultivated learning environment, like... like a school; patients like Annie could thrive. Not learning to be someone they're not, but learning to be someone they now are.” He pushed up his glasses with a confident smile.

"Dr. Marlow, you produced Annie only through reckless endangerment of a patient," I began. “Do not try to fool the Round Table with tales of triumph, even if you could replicate the results of Annie - however unethical - it would take so long as to render the endeavor fruitless."

Ohhhh drama in the Weird Adult Baby Girl Conversion Center!  This was actually kind of exciting, and it seemed like the other girls thought so as well, peeking over couches and trying to listen in.

"Dr. Clement, please," one of the men said to silence Colette.  She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, clipboard tight against her shirt.  Restraint was not her strong suit.  But what did she expect, attacking another doctor on staff like that?

"The facts are simple," one of the women said. "So far, we have had minor infractions from all inmates, even early in their conversion.  Our punishment and reward system works.  Our degradation system works.  Until there's a need, I see no reason to subject anyone else to a state such as Annie's when no one can seem to fix it." This was not directed at only Marlow, but Colette as well.

"You don't fix Annie by punishing her, by leaving her with these inmates, these... these projects, Margaret. She's a blank slate; you don't fix her, you teach her. You put her into an environment to learn and she will grow; you can't turn nails into flowers; but the iron from the nail can nourish the seed." He produced something from his hand; a capped needle.

"Let me introduce you to Velvet Duke; she's a newer inmate. Mass murderer, certified genius to be certain; she plays this game but makes no progress. Her goal is control, not recovery, her end-game is to preserve herself and not to rehabilitate. She's even manipulated poor Dr. Clement here; check the good doctors requisition logs if you don't believe me. She's convinced Dr. Clement that she can work with her. A patient. An inmate. A criminal." He held the needle up for the group to see. "I can fix this."

"We will investigate this matter," the woman said to Dr. Marlow with more seriousness than I'd ever heard.  Did everyone hate him, or just everyone I'd met? "That is why we are conducting this inspection, after all.  But you will not use experimental procedures on inmates without full Committee approval.  Or you will no longer have a position here." Maybe this place wasn't so corrupt after all, I thought.

"I believe I only need majority approval. That would be five, if I recall?" He held the needle up and approached the group. "Agent N2721. Refer to your inboxes; I've sent you the required paperwork before arrival. Successful tests have been carried out; the agent was synthesized to act on the precise neural pathways we mapped out in Annie’s scans. Her brain isn't damaged, as you will see; but like a record needle she skipped to an earlier state, and to no ill effect.  Go on and read, if you doubt my authenticity."

"Dr. Marlow," the woman said slowly. "We ask you return to your offices.  We will discuss this matter in private."

But Marlow was up on his soap box.  It was strange, watching these two - Colette and Marlow - vie for power in an institution where ultimately, they had none.  They were... sort of pathetic.  Finally, another man spoke up with frustration.

"Marlow, the vote was cast.  Three to six, against.  Your science is sound, but we have no reason to use something like this.  Stop making a fool of yourself." Maybe it was that last bit that hit home.  Marlow actually stopped talking and put away the needle.

"Interview her." He nodded. Not to me, though, not to the board. But to Velvet. "Interview Velvet Duke. And then tell me how your coins fall." He pushed on a turned heel and retired to his office.

------------------------

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[Wannatripbaby]

Huh. That went... well? But I fear it's only the calm before the storm. An interview with Velvet Duke? This will almost certainly end poorly. O_O

[Bonsai]

Could it be that Marlow and Colette are only faking to be one against the other, just to roleplay nice-and-nasty-cop on Velvet? ?

....naaaah ?

[Sophie ♥]

10 minutes ago, Bonsai said:

Could it be that Marlow and Colette are only faking to be one against the other, just to roleplay nice-and-nasty-cop on Velvet?

Wow that plotline might be too smart even for ME!  

1 hour ago, Wannatripbaby said:

An interview with Velvet Duke? This will almost certainly end poorly. O_O

Whaaat?  No way.  Velvet is the most cooperative, kindhearted, innocent girl in the whole world.

[diaperpt]

4 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

An interview with Velvet Duke? This will almost certainly end poorly. O_O

At least the immediate threat of Marlow is gone. Now to see just how the interview with Velvet will go.

3 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

Velvet is the most cooperative, kindhearted, innocent girl in the whole world.

Riiiight, Sophie. ?Yes, Wannatrip, it will certainly be interesting to us, but 'ending poorly' from whose point of view? Frankly I'm not sure but it seems clear that Velvet can probably only control parts of her transition to that cooperative, kindhearted, innocent girl she certainly is NOT yet. Velvet is not going back to who 'he' was before 'his' arrival, as Velvet seems reluctant to go instead to a conventional prison for life. But then, we'll see...

Fun, fun, fun!

 

[littleTomás]

This just got extra, extra interesting!

[Sophie ♥]

36.) Her Interview

I had three people doing my interview, though everyone else only had one.  One of the three was the woman who shot down Marlow.  The other two hadn't spoken during the outburst in the common area.

"What is your name?" the woman asked me.

"Velvet Duke, ma'am." She wrote something down.

"Velvet Duke, what is your birth name." It was a contentious question; Annie wouldn't be able to answer that apart from 'Annie Miss!' and nonetheless it was expected that all inmates here renounce their prior names for graduation, but at her early stage of admission here by comparison, Velvet would also be equally expected to instinctively reply with her former name.

I looked at the woman nervously, then at the two men on her right and her left. "I... I'm not supposed to say it," I muttered, looking down at my feet. "Last time I got in trouble, and... and I don't really want to get in trouble again." I avoided eye contact, careful to play the role perfectly.  Shy.  Nervous.  A little scared.

"Velvet Duke, this is not a disciplinary committee, nor a hearing of the sort. You will answer the questions presented honestly and to the best of your abilities, without fear of current retribution." The woman recited, almost... with boredom in her tone of voice. Like she didn't want to be here. "Please tell me what your crime was, Miss Duke."

"Um... well I killed twelve people.  Because I was trying to get revenge.  But I didn't really get revenge - I just hurt more people..." I sighed and kicked my feet.  I didn't feel bad about it, not really.  But I'd always been the perfect actor.

It seemed only the woman talked, but the men wrote just as many notes as she did - maybe more. Like she tested the waters, and they recorded the results. "Would you repeat your actions again, Miss Duke, in the same circumstances presented?"

I shook my head. "No, not really.  I mean, I'm still upset, but it didn't really change anything did it?  And now I'm stuck here..." Then I smiled a little.  A fake smile.  An intentionally fake-looking smile. "But a year isn't so bad!  Better than going to jail for the rest of my life.  And I do look kinda cute in dresses..."

There was a scratching of pens on paper for a few terse minutes before the next question came. "How do you feel about the doctors who have attended to you in this facility, Miss Duke?" An open question, really - how did she feel about Colette and Marlow? How did she feel about them as doctors? How did she feel they treated her. What did she think about this? Any number of questions it could have been.

"They aren't very nice," I said flatly, almost annoyed. "Colette keeps changing my food and stuff and I feel like she's just trying to mess with me!  Like, because the bottles make things so much easier, and the solid food makes me have to..." I hesitated, blushing, and shyly looked down. "N-nevermind.  Um.  Marlow's not any better.  He's just a jerk to everyone.  And I think he picks on me even though I'm not his patient."

No emotional response from any of the three board members. Nods. Scratching pens. Another question. "How do you feel about Annie?" Another question with a lot of variable questions and answers, where the answer she chose to provide could give more answers than the words themselves.

Annie.  That was a topic I could get passionate about.  Fake passion, but real opinions! "It's so careless!  I'm a hypnotherapist you know?  Or I was.  And it's your responsibility to make sure you don't break people like that!  Ugh, I can't believe Marlow's so..." I needed the perfect word. "Inexperienced.  And now Annie has to suffer?"

"You feel that Annie is suffering? Even now she seemed perfectly placated by just the thumb between her lips, didn't she? Is that suffering, Miss Duke? Perhaps you could explain your position further."

"That's like saying we should give people lobotomies again because they seemed happier.  But she has no opportunity.  And she can't grow!  She can't be a better person!  Isn't this place about being a better person?" I pouted and settled down into the bed, crossing my arms over my chest in mock frustration. "Whatever, I dun even care..."

"And as a therapist, you feel qualified to state that Annie has an inability to grow? How do you feel about a change in environment, as Dr. Marlow suggested? An environment of nurtured learning, instead of structured deconstruction. Miss Duke, how do you feel Annie would respond to such stimuli?" An oddly specific question.

"Oh... um..." I looked at the woman with a bit of surprise.  I didn't expect a question like that.  It seemed less like they were evaluating me and more like they wanted my opinion... was that a part of the game? "I guess... if you can't fix her... you could probably help her learn to grow up the way she did the first time." I nodded slightly. "So maybe school or something might be good?  I dunno..."

"And do you feel that is a viable option for rehabilitation, Miss Duke? Do you feel it fair? Would you be willing to undergo such a progress, do you think it a just method of process?" While the woman’s questions may have seemed obtuse, specific, overly focused, and caught on details, there was obviously a reason she was asking them - Velvet was controlled to a flawless level; but her profile indicted her pride to be a weakness.

Well, I'd never thought about it before. "Could you do all that in a year?" I was slipping a little.  Curiosity was getting the better of me and acting was falling second.  Hmm... "I mean, maybe it would work, but it feels like it would take... well, a lifetime, right?  That's sort of stupid..."

"It could be allowed to take the time needed, one would think. Those who take to the program would be able to graduate sooner, and those who need some extra time could have the time they needed. More senior students would provide mentoring to the new intakes, and there would be no chance of insincerity as all students would start on the same equal starting block; regressed to a state like Annie." This didn't mean for a moment that the woman supported Marlow’s idea, but the logic seemed... seductive, to Velvet.

Yeah, she'd roped me in.  I needed to know more. "What's the process now?  You guys said there were three phases?" "A first phase to break down.  A second to repair.  And a third to reassemble." "Okay, so you already do the breaking down, right?  And it makes cases like Ayla, who is a total success.  So why do you need this new thing?  Why make more Annies when you aren't even sure you can fix her?  The only case I could see it being used is... I dunno.  A threat?  But none of us are really threatening anymore." Except me.  I left that out.

"There'll always be outliers, Miss Duke. A system that assumes succession on 80% of cases leaves a large margin of error, wouldn't you agree? A system to normalize the intakes to Annies ensures a 100% Ayla success rate." The woman’s voice was stable, serene; Velvet had broken rank and dropped her facade, but the two men never stopped taking notes.

"That's assuming you can turn Annie into Ayla.  Which, so far, you haven't been able to do." It was probably then that I realized how far off script I'd gone.  Fuck. "Anyway, I think it's risky.  But I'm not in charge.  My opinion doesn't really matter." I sat back on the bed and crossed my arms defensively.

"You're a patient here, Miss Duke, not an administrator. You think like the latter while presenting a facade of the former. The results of this interview are clear, and we will convene now. You may go." The three of them had all taken notes, and the three of them had all come to the same conclusion, without conferring with one another: hot tempered as he may be, Dr. Marlow was right about one thing: Velvet Duke could not be controlled or corrected under the current system.

------------------------

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[Wannatripbaby]

1 hour ago, Sophie ♥ said:

hot tempered as he may be, Dr. Marlow was right about one thing: Velvet Duke could not be controlled or corrected under the current system.

Oh. Oh dear! This is very bad for our Velvet! O_O They're asking all these questions because they're gonna turn her into another Annie!

Grammar Patrol:

1 hour ago, Sophie ♥ said:

"They aren't very nice," I said flatly, almost annoyed

That line of dialogue wasn't in Bold like the rest.

1 hour ago, Sophie ♥ said:

And do you feel that a viable option for rehabilitation, Miss Duke?

*That's/That Is

 

[diaperpt]

Yes, I agree w Wannatrip. I think things are not going to go as Velvet had hoped. 

4 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

"Velvet Duke, this is not a disciplinary committee, nor a hearing of the sort.

Even as I read this, I wondered what the woman meant by "a hearing of the sort." It does now seem that it was a probe of Velvet in order to evaluate the next step for her. Originally I'd seen the plot going to Velvet 'fixing' Annie and the program benefitting through the process Velvet would use, but then Velvet's defenses being defeated and her slipping into the program fully.

Having read several of the stories following in the time sequence of the facility, I recognize that the program develops a great deal and so guessing how it gets there is an interesting game!

[littleTomás]

4 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

Dr. Marlow was right about one thing: Velvet Duke could not be controlled or corrected under the current system.

It’s not really about the infighting between the two doctors, but about Velvet. Interesting ?

[Bonsai]

It’s hard for a genius to avoid showing interest in her former professional field. If she only had tried to do the interview as if slightly under the effect of milk and of other deconstructing tools...

[Sophie ♥]

On 1/19/2020 at 8:40 AM, Wannatripbaby said:

Grammar Patrol:

Fixed!

[Sophie ♥]

37.) Her Success

After the impromptu interview with Annie and I, my deadline had been relaxed.  They were giving Marlow another week before showing her off again, and he was working on some big new project.  But Colette and I were working on our own too.  Annie was absolutely no help; I couldn't find a way to tear down her walls.  So  what do you do when you can't tear something down?  You go around it.  With enough stimuli, I could pass through undetected.  I just had to get inside her head.

But with the new deadline, my schedule changed as well.  Bottles as normal.  Appointments were on schedule.  But even at the end of two weeks, Colette hadn't been able to get a single hypno session to stick.  The bottles messed with my continence, the shots messed with my moods, but my mind was as sharp as a tack.  As far as she was concerned, she was failing.  And she'd continue to fail.

"Okay... I think I'm done." It was well past lights out.  I'd been spending late evenings in her office.  Marlow would have been suspicious if he ever seemed to be around anymore.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, Velvet." For anything we exposed Dr. Marlow on, there was every possibility of him shining a spotlight on my Velvet project and them seeing just how... underdeveloped her conditioning was. She was outplaying me, she was somehow one step ahead.

"Mm.  No, it'll work." I'd done the calculations a thousand times over.  The headset in my hands was heavier than I thought.  High end quality headphones and a screen for VR therapy.  A lot of duct tape and technical adjustments.  I was never handy with electronics - most nights were spent watching videos online.  The result?  A frame rate that vacillated between slightly too high and much too high.  Earphones that used inverse waves to cancel unwanted noise with slight echo for a non-digital distraction.  But the brilliance was in the program itself.  The images, the way the screens flashed... even if you closed your eyes, the lights would flicker through your eyelids.  The inescapable static, compounding at just the right rate.  And then my voice, my Empathetic Voice.  Trance was inevitable.  It wasn't full automation - I'd have to record every program separately!  But it would induce an irresistible trance, and Colette could take it from there.  The hard part was done.

"I'm not talking about the headset, I'm not talking about our project. I'm talking about you, Velvet." I rubbed the bridge of my nose and let out a long and deep exhale, trying to find the right words. "You're my KPI in all of this, and when Marlow tries to undermine our work - and he will - he'll point out my relative lack of progress when it comes to you. Every time I make inroads, you undo them."

"Yep, because I'm not your little hypnodoll." I adjusted the headset and slid it on over my face.  It wasn't plugged in, but the lights went out and the room went quiet.  Then I took it off again.  Yeah, it should fit Annie... "Listen Colette.  I'm faking it just fine out there.  And I'm helping you become a legend in here.  In fifty more weeks, I'm getting out and you can be on TIME's front page.  Or whatever magazine sponsors fucked crimes against humanity like this place."

Usually her sense of snarky humor would have been enough to elicit a smile out of me, but I was too lost in thought over this one. I needed to know how she was doing it, how she was undermining me. "What if I run into someone else as brilliant as you are?" Maybe her ego could be the key here. "What's your trick, how are you doing it?"

"Oh, well since you put it that way." I rolled my eyes and put the headset down on her desk.  My diaper was wet.  My eyes were heavy.  I hadn't been getting more than four hours of sleep a night all week.  I was ready to crash... "Just try the headset on Annie.  I bet it'll work."

When had our dynamic shifted? When did I lose the power of authority over her? She was so cocky, so confident, so obtusely... arrogant. And it was actually making me a little angry, and more than a little annoyed, because it wasn't right for her to act this way when the only reason she wasn't another Annie was because of my protection. She motioned again to the headset and I exhaled deeply. She was studying me, analyzing me. Trying to figure out my feelings, obviously. I could play things close to the chest, too
.
I had my hand on the door when she called my name.  Ugh, I figured she'd try to pull something like this... "Listen, if you want to waste what little sleep I'm already getting on more failed hypnosis, then fine.  But if I'm passing out at the breakfast table, Marlow's going to get suspicious.  It's your call." I looked at her with boredom, exhausted, lost to the tediousness of this.  All week, she insisted on running our hypnosis sessions.  They never worked.  She needed to give up and stop wasting our time.

"I'll cut you a deal, then." Honestly, deals were something I could try and tempt Velvet with, because the brilliant little girl that she was, she was still easily drawn in by the notion of getting power and control back and deals meant leverage. "Tell me about your process. Tell me about your... temple, or your garden, or whatever other point of reference you make in your head to undo what I do."

"Wow, you are desperate, hm?" Outright asking.  That's sure a new tactic.  But I wasn't an idiot.  If she ever figured out how I kept breaking her hypnotisms, then I wouldn't be able to break them again. "Goodnight Colette." "Goodnight," she said flatly, full of annoyance.  But her irritation didn't bother me.  For now, she needed me.

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[littleTomás]

Our little sycophant Velvet is about to be in deep trouble if her library is ever discovered. Then the books will fly off the shelves, lol.

[Wannatripbaby]

Things seem to be going exceedingly well for Velvet.

This cannot last.

Grammar Patrol

11 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

Mm.  No, it'll work." I'd done the calculations a thousand times over.

Forgot to make the dialogue Bold.

11 hours ago, Sophie ♥ said:

She motioned again the headset and I exhaled deeply.

*to

[diaperpt]

I agree to a great extent with both littleTomás and Wannatripbaby. Velvet seems to be under the illusion that she will somehow get through a full year with her former self intact and leave Mt. Calibeen largely unchanged. That cannot and will not happen. I don't think she'll lose all her abilities, but this facility can't afford to let things go as they are now. Either Colette or Marlowe will eventually crack through Velvet's defenses or something will happen to force her to reevaluate what winning and losing might look like to her. 

I wonder if the next chapter won't be titled "Her Failure".