University of Mind Control
Part 1.4
continuation of 1 2 3
Jenna followed close behind Morgana as they walked into the auditorium. There were already about a dozen students inside, despite them being deliberately early, and they were… Well, a succubus roommate may have been one of the less stranger choices, looking at the assembled beings. There were a few who looked fairly human at a glance, but there was also a girl made out of literal flames, another who was definitely a centaur, and someone covered entirely in dark fur.
She tried not to stare as she and Morgana took seats near the back of the group. What did the flame-girl’s voice sound like? A voice box made out of flames didn’t seem reasonable. Wait, did any of them even speak English? Though, Morgana did, and it seemed unlikely that they’d have exactly the same language despite being from different worlds and possibly universes. So… magic translation?
Jenna pushed down the sudden need to go to the library immediately. There’d be time, and besides she didn’t even have a list of questions to research yet. Or, she did, but it would be about a thousand pages long and would take her decades to actually research, so she figured she should figure out a little more specifically what she wanted to know.
More students filed into the theatre, and they didn’t get any less strange. There were a few small girls who were dwarves or gnomes or something like that, a humanoid dragon (she had a tail!!), and several beauty-beyond-this-world types, at least one of whom had pointed ears. Sairin slithered in eventually, and Jenna couldn’t stop from shrinking down a little in her seat and looking away. She didn’t know if the snake girl had noticed her, and she tried to seem small and unimportant, but she just couldn’t stop looking at all the variety. Not to mention the fashion! It was all so much.
Jenna didn’t have long, though, before a woman stepped onto the stage, and everyone went silent. She didn’t make a gesture - she didn’t need to. Her mere presence seemed to fill the room to the brim, power rolling off her in waves. Her dress was white and almost Roman, or maybe Greek, Jenna thought, and her auburn hair was done up in curls piled atop her head. She was stunning.
It was the woman’s eyes, though, that caught Jenna’s attention most. They were grey like mist, and even at this distance Jenna felt drawn into them, fascinated by the subtlest shifts in color.
Mind control, Jenna reminded herself firmly. Stop that.
The woman smiled and spoke, her voice like soft velvet. “Welcome, students, to the University of Mind Control. I am Headmistress Hypna, and will be serving as your teacher for the introductory hypnosis class. It is my great honor to be the first to congratulate you for joining the ranks of this wonderful institution, and I hope you will not mind if I go over a few boring details while you’re here as well.”
Jenna nearly snorted. She was pretty sure Hypna could read the entire Iliad, in Ancient Greek, and they wouldn’t be bored for a moment. The woman was… well, mesmerizing.
“So, a few ground rules. Mostly around mind control, of course.” Hypna smiled. “Attempting to control other students is permissible and encouraged everywhere except classes, the library, and the dining hall. However, at least until finals come around, at the end of each week only one student will be allowed to keep their thrall and the rest will be freed. The winning student may not be the same in two consecutive weeks, but is otherwise at the teachers’ discretion.”
Does consensual control count? Jenna wondered. Would be annoying to re-condition someone every week...
She shook her head, refocusing on what Hypna was saying. “...you would immediately graduate with honors, but I would not recommend it nonetheless. Generations of UMC students have never yet enslaved a teacher, and some certainly have tried, to their detriment.”
Yeah, okay, let’s avoid that.
“Should you wish less risky targets, however, those exist aplenty. You will notice that outside the boundaries of the campus there is a sizeable neighbourhood, composed of a slice of a town from each of your worlds. The townsfolk have been adjusted such that they won’t find their situation strange, and you are free to play with them as much as you wish.”
Hypna smiled, and Jenna’s stomach flipped automatically. Stupid mind control making everyone gorgeous.
“You have your schedules already, and I’m sure you’re all starved, so that’s about all you need to know right now. Questions?”
That was short. Jenna had about a million questions, but managed to restrain them - she was unnoticed for now, and she wanted to stay that way.
“Bit hard to tell in some places, but from what I can see it looks like we’re all pretty female,” someone in front of her said gruffly, though Jenna could only see the top of a head with silver hair in a french braid. One of the small ones, probably, but she couldn’t remember them all well enough to identify further.
“That is indeed the case, Miss Larkat,” the headmistress said with a smile. “In fact, you are all not only femme creatures, whatever that means on your world, but also attracted to the same. It makes for a much more interesting year.”
Before Jenna had time to process that, Hypna continued, “If there are no more questions, the dining hall is open as of now. See you in class!” And with that, she disappeared offstage.
“Well,” Morgana said. “Now that the boring bits are done, dinner?”
They had not been boring bits to Jenna, but Morgana did know a lot more about the school. “Sure, why not. Let’s go meet the classmates who’ll spend all year trying to enslave us.”