"Is this what I looked like when you guys used the thingy on me?" Rachel was staring at Janet in awe as she leaned over the counter, supported by her elbows.
Violet looked up from the diary at Rachel's questioning. "Pretty much, yeah."
After a pause, Rachel added, "I bet I was cuter."
Violet let out a bemused puff of air before returning to the diary. She skimmed through Rachel's entries one last time, collecting her thoughts before she engaged with Janet. The stool she was in was beginning to grow uncomfortable, prompting her to periodically change her position. She wished she had taken things upstairs, but the tablet was already set up on the counter with Janet staring mindlessly at it. Her comfort could wait.
"So... you're going to change her? Like you changed me?" Rachel asked, turning towards Violet. She shifted her weight to her other leg, her toned ass giving a slight jiggle in her leggings.
"Do you have a problem with that?" She studied Rachel carefully, wondering how she would respond. It would not do well to have Rachel reacting negatively to what she was going to do with Janet, and she didn't want to waste time correcting any complications.
"Nuh uh. You made me so happy, just like I'm sure you'll do to Janet. I could never have a problem with that." Violet visibly relaxed in her stool. "Can... I make some changes to her? Please?" She put forth her best puppy dog eyes, hoping to assist in showing Janet just how wonderful Violet was. After the unpleasantness earlier, Rachel just wanted Janet to be as happy as she was.
Violet closed the diary and set it on the counter. "No, I already have plans for her." She focused on Janet, the girl sitting silently across from her. The tablet lit up her tranquil face, the colors dancing across her features in the dimly lit store.
Rachel stood up, taking a few steps back with a slight pout. She quickly chastised herself, knowing better than to be upset about anything Violet did. She knew best, after all.
"Janet, can you hear me?" Violet didn't have to wait long for Janet's intoned response. "Right then, here's how this is going to go down. When I wake you up, I'm going to be asking you some questions, and then you're going to answer them for me, to the best of your ability, as truthfully as possible. You will also obey any command I give you. Do you understand?"
"Yes..."
"Good. Go ahead and turn the program off and then wake up." Violet drummed her fingers on the counter as she waited. The quick strikes of her nails on the glass seemed to accentuate the temporarily still atmosphere.
Janet reached up and began tapping at the keyboard. The colors stopped as life returned to her face. She looked around the room as everything came into focus and awareness crept back in. Eventually her gaze settled on Violet as she narrowed her eyes.
"Welcome back to the world of the living!" Violet waved her arm in presentation. "We have some things to go through, and I'd rather not do them with you acting like a mono-toned zombie."
Janet took a moment to assess her situation. She didn't feel any different, still her usual self. Was she supposed to? She had no frame of reference. She never honestly talked to Rachel about how it felt when she used the device on her. Her body grew tense at the uncertainty of it all. It didn't help that she was already tired of Violet's exuberance. "What did you do to me?" she asked in a hushed but angry voice.
"Not much... yet... but I'm not sure I particularly like that tone of yours. Apologize. Now."
"I'm sorry," Janet blurted out, before clenching her jaw shut with a shocked expression. The words had tumbled out of her mouth without her intention. She had never experienced such a force before. It was nothing but jarring. She was reminded of her first test on Rachel, and how she freaked out. Only now could Janet understand the reaction that Rachel had shown at that time. The memory did not sit well with her.
"Goodie, seems that works. Just as a reminder, you're still in the same situation as before." She nodded her head towards Rachel. "So let's not go getting any ideas. For now, why don't you go ahead and remove your password to the tablet, and set it up for me to put one in of my own. And don't forget to take away any other methods that would allow you access." Violet turned the tablet to the side so she could watch as Janet got to work, making sure she didn't try anything. Just to be safe.
Windows opened and closed as Janet typed and clicked away. When finished, she sat back in the stool, gesturing to Violet that it was her turn.
Violet grabbed the tablet and turned it towards her. "No peaking, now." She waited for Janet to look away before she entered her own password. Slowly typing it out with only her index fingers, she kept glanced between the screen and the keyboard as she hunted for the correct letters. When done, she turned the tablet off before logging back in to verify that it worked correctly. Satisfied, she turned the machine off, closing it up and laying it face down on the counter.
"Great. Now that that's out of the way, are you ready for twenty questions?" Violet tented her fingers as she eyed Janet attentively.
"Yes," Janet begrudgingly responded, annoyed at her impulse to answer. She kept her gaze to the side, holding her head in her hand, her elbow planted on the counter.
"Are you going to continue to be grumpy this whole time?" Annoyance crept into Violet's voice.
"Yes." She sighed. "If you don't like it, why not just make me like princess positivity over there?" A trace of regret fell upon Janet for referring to Rachel in such a manner. It wasn't her fault she was acting the way she was.
Rachel took it in stride, not even aware that it was used as an insult. After all, how could being positive be a bad thing? She wished Violet would hurry up and change Janet, she didn't like seeing her friend like this.
"I suppose I could, but that doesn't work for what I need of you. For now, I just want to know more about the device. All I have to go by is what's in this diary, and from my experiments with Rachel." She turned around to face Rachel, causing the girl to straighten up and flush at the attention. "Though I have to say I did a pretty good job for not knowing what I was doing."
"That's dangerous!" came Janet's outburst, her hand slapping the glass. The reaction startled Violet as she spun quickly back around. "What if you did something permanent to her? What if she can't be changed back?!" Her voice was loud and full of concern.
Violet thought about the accusation, but decided not to argue it. If Janet was worried about what the device could do to a person, all the more reason for her to figure out as much as possible, for her own goals. "Which is why I'm trying to learn more about it. So, for starters... why?"
"Why, what?" Janet followed with slight trepidation. Violet had become rather serious ever since waking her up, and she didn't know what to make of it. She had never seen the other woman be anything but teasingly cruel, and this change unsettled her.
"Why'd you make the device? Why'd you use it on Rachel, and then make her forget about it? Tell me everything."
Janet met Violet's gaze as her words came spilling out. "Ever since I saw Melanie... I wanted to be with her. She was so beautiful, so perfect. It was all I could think about. But I was a nobody. I had no chance with her. Not through normal methods at least. I figured... maybe there was another way to get what I wanted, to obtain my dream."
"If I could just... change her. Make her think about me the way I thought about her. I needed to know more. I was already good with programming and tinkering, so I started taking some psychology courses, hoping I could merge the two. Through much trial and error, and months of work, that's the end result." Janet pointed at the tablet.
"Rachel, though... she was just someone to test the program on." Janet glanced over at Rachel, waiting patiently a few steps to the side with her ever-present smile. It looked genuine, reminding Janet of Rachel's normal carefree self, but she knew it was nothing more than an imitation. A mockery, even. "She trusted me. I betrayed that trust for my own selfish goal." Janet looked down at the counter. The reality of her actions finally dawning on her as she was forced to speak her truth, to hear it out loud from her own mouth. She paused briefly as it all sunk in.
"She... seemed to take to the programming well. A bit too well. I was concerned about her. I chalked it up to her imagination letting her take things further. She always had such an imagination." Janet began fidgeting with her hands. She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot that she was talking to Violet. "I knew I should have stopped it then. Told myself I would. I had all I needed for the test. The device worked, and I could use what I had learned to be more careful with Melanie. Yet... I liked doing things to Rachel, so I kept making more changes. I didn't want to admit that I was enjoying it, so when it came time to use the program on Melanie... I just removed Rachel from the equation. At least... I thought I did. Shortly after that... you showed up." Janet clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm.
She glanced up at Violet, sorrow in her eyes. She expected to see the girl laughing at her, bemused by her tale. She was surprised by what she could have sworn was a look of understanding. "Happy now?" Janet added with a huff, averting her gaze.
"You said earlier that you were nothing like me," Violet began solemnly. "You may not want to admit to it, but I think we're more similar than you may realize."
Janet remained silent, unmoving.
Violet let the silence play out for a time before she continued with her interrogation. She started by going through Rachel's diary line by line, having Janet explain what she could about what was written. Violet was enraptured when Janet explained the details of what she did with Rachel and her toothbrush.
Janet grew visibly tense as they got to the part of Rachel's confession of love for her.
"She mentioned a Ms. Gilio," Violet said, pointing to the line in the diary even though Janet wasn't looking, "but that's where her entries end. Go over that."
"Likely I made her forget everything from that day before she wrote it down in her diary. Ms. Gilio was her teacher, but she also had Melanie as her student. That was my way in. It was Rachel's idea, even. She and I used the program on Ms. Gilio, and then the next day I had the teacher use it on Melanie. Just before that is when I made Rachel forget everything."
"So, all you did was have the teacher use the device on Melanie? Nothing else?" Violet asked with slight incredulity.
Janet sank into the stool, lowering her head. "I... also had her seduce Rachel and then eat her out."
Violet burst out laughing, eliciting a harsh glare from Janet. "Sorry, sorry." She waved her off. "Hoo boy," she began, trying to compose herself. "That is... quite the tale. Wow. Is there anything this device of yours can't do? Are there any limitations, that sort of thing?" she inquired with a wave of her hand.
"There could be, but I haven't come across any as of yet." Growing tired at the interrogation, she quickly followed up with a question of her own. "Are we about done? I'd like to know what you plan on doing with us."