“Good morning, Jamie,” Ivy said, forgoing the usual ‘Miss’ – she wanted to set a casual tone. Play closer to her true self, instead of Headmaster Drovelia. Not entirely, of course, but laxer by a degree or two. 

“Headmaster Drovelia,” Jamie said, still sweating – and trying to play it off. “H-How nice to see you. I hadn’t expected this meeting.”

“No. I suppose you wouldn’t have.”

Jamie glanced at the door, still being guarded by Amy. Amy gave her a bright, cheerful smile at the look, but, for obvious reasons, it didn’t much reassure her.

“Your schedule is clear for the next hour, yes?” Ivy asked.

“Until lunch,” she mumbled, looking like she intensely wished that weren’t the fact, if only so it meant she wasn’t trapped here with Ivy. “How can I help you, Headmaster?”

Ivy smiled, because wasn’t that the question? 

“First, please relax,” Ivy said, amusement lacing her voice – Jamie’s breathing had visibly picked up, and she looked on the edge of fleeing. “I think you’re misinterpreting the intent of this meeting.”

“W-Whatever you’ve heard,” she stuttered, “I swear on my life it’s been exaggerated, if not entirely false. I’ve never –”

“Now, now,” Ivy said. “Let’s not start this with lies.”

Jamie almost looked like she was going to keep protesting, but at Ivy’s look, the words dried up.

“Besides,” Ivy said. “It’s very admirable.”

Jamie took a breath in, then paused, furrowed her eyebrows.

“What?” she asked.

“Admirable,” Ivy repeated. “How much you’ve gotten away with.”

She paled, then rallied herself to launch into a refutal – to insist she hadn’t ‘gotten away’ with anything. But Ivy stopped her with a silencing wave of her hand, which Jamie obeyed immediately. Having a reputation like Iverius’s really was useful.

“I mean that genuinely,” Ivy said. “Have you ever slept with one of your students?”

“O-Of course not!”

“A shame,” Ivy tsked. “I’d been hoping to ask you for advice on how to pull it off.”

It took a second or the words to register, and when they did, Jamie’s face went blank, the gears in her head locking up in confusion.

Like Ivy’d said, she had no intentions of being subtle. She had immunity simply by reputation. Who she was, and who Jamie was. Ivy could say the most absurd things – implicate herself however she wanted – and Jamie would never be able to convince anyone it was true.

“Can you repeat that?” Jamie finally said. “I think I misheard –”

“I’m trying to fuck one of these girls,” Ivy said plainly. “Hopefully before the week is up. After all, what’s the point of being Headmaster, of having power in general, if I can’t abuse it?”

“Ah,” Jamie said, placing a hand on her desk to support herself. “I see. I heard right.” Her weight went further onto her desk, and Ivy stepped forward to support her. “J-Just a moment, please,” she said faintly.

She supposed it was a shocking announcement. That one of the world’s most renowned war heroes, and the just-instated Headmaster, was so shameless about her desires.

“I’ve already had the board relax the uniform policy, but admittedly not by much,” Ivy said. “Below the knees, now, instead of ankle-depth. The girls wont have to try so hard to play your bonus-points game … just hike it up a few inches, and there you go. It’ll also make upskirt photos possible, if you find yourself inclined.”

“Uh,” Jamie only said.

Ivy gave her a moment to collect herself; eventually, she leaned back off her desk, could support her weight again.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

Ivy shrugged. “A few reasons. You’ve truthfully never slept with one?”

“I haven’t …”

“I’ll be helping you with that, then, in due time.” Ivy pursed her lips. “I’m allowed to act with a little less discretion, thanks to my position. Again, for all you’ve accomplished as a simple instructor, who has no such immunity, I’m very impressed.”

“I-I insist I haven’t done anything like what you’re implying, Headmaster …” With her composure returned, so had her denials. “My relationship with my students is strictly professional.”

“I suppose it’s fair you’re doubting me,” Ivy said, sighing. “Maybe you think this a play for a confession – and your subsequent firing. I can remedy that.” She supposed Jamie would’ve been fired ages ago if something like this had been enough to draw admissions of guilt out, even if the shock-factor of it being Iverius had made her composure shakier than it otherwise would’ve been.

“Here,” Ivy said, pulling out her phone – a curious thing, similar to the ones back home, with similar functionalities, but not quite identical – and holding it out for Jamie to see. “I installed a camera in one of the showers. I’ve been collecting pictures. Take a look.”

Ivy started flickering through a number of students in compromising positions, stopping when she reached one of the muscular, brown-haired tomboy she’d gained a particular fondness for spying on. “Do you know who this is? I’m afraid I don’t have names to faces, yet.”

“Miss Thao,” Jamie said faintly, eyes locked on the freeze-frame of the naked girl lathering herself up with shampoo.

Ivy pinched and zoomed. “Look how neatly she keeps her pubic hair trimmed,” she mused. “It’s so cute, isn’t it? I think I have a crush.”

Jamie stared at the zoomed-in shot of Miss Thao’s crotch: the cute, neat landing strip of dark hair. Jamie seemed a mix between aroused and utterly disbelieving; and some of the dizziness was starting to return.

“I’m – I’m not someone who …”

“Come now,” Ivy said. “{You can’t possibly think this is a ploy, still?}”

There was just a hint of a reaction – a slight tensing in her shoulders. Ivy’d gotten better with her practice on Amy, but was hardly some savant when it came to inserting commands into another’s mind. Still, with the bizarrity of the situation, and with the evidence Ivy had provided, the command was in-line enough with reality that Jamie didn’t realize what had happened – that her thought process had been, while not hijacked, coaxed in a direction Ivy had chosen.

The last bits of suspicion drained away.

“No,” Jamie said quietly. “I suppose it can’t be … even as a trap, these photos would be so illegal …”

“I’m glad we’ve established that.” Ivy put her phone away. “So. Out of curiosity, did Miss Thao ever participate in these games of yours?”

Jamie shook her head.

“A shame,” Ivy said. “I shouldn’t be surprised, since she didn’t seem the type. But I suppose the work it’ll take to get in her pants only makes the payoff better, won’t it?”

“I s-suppose that’s true, Headmaster.” She shook her head. “I still don’t understand why you’re telling me this. Even if I believe in your … goals.”

“Because you’re going to help me,” Ivy said casually. “See, Ravenwood is much too stuffy for my liking. And there’s no way to fix that but incrementally, by grinding away at all that annoying modesty. Your part,” Ivy emphasized, “is to keep doing what you’re doing – but more. To grow in scope. To be more daring.”

“I can’t –”

“Get away with more? Oh, you can, Miss Travens. You have my protection now, remember? That counts for a lot.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Still didn’t look convinced. Ivy gave her a second to collect her thoughts; it was, fairly, a lot to take in.

“More … in what ways?” she asked.

“However you choose,” Ivy said with a shrug. “Just be bolder. The more these girl’s minds are on sex – forcibly, by your actions – the less they’ll be jarred by my policy changes. And the more policy changes, the more openings you’ll have.”

“Policy … changes?”

Ivy’s lips quirked. “You’ll see soon enough. I think you’ll be quite fond of them.” Ivy turned to leave. “I just wanted to give you warning. We’ll speak further once you’ve had time to digest. {For now, just do your part, Jamie}. {And don’t disappoint.} ”

“I’ll try not to, Headmaster …”

Ivy stopped at the door and paused. 

“Oh, and one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Roxy Telen. Her first-year final was marked suspiciously high.”

“Yes, Headmaster,” she said cautiously – and her tone answered Ivy’s question.

“What did they look like?” Ivy asked, amused.

A silence. 

“None, Headmaster … she didn’t wear any.”

Ivy laughed. She’d had a suspicion.

“Have a nice day, Jamie.”