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Description

"Send in the next meeting." Sanna called out to the room behind the huge wooden door. The imposing thing, probably twice her height, made her feel completely cut off from the outside world. The office was, of course, exquisite, but she didn't get in to politics to sit in a dusty room all day and sign papers.

So these regular petitioners were actually a welcome distraction. They were usually little more than that, usually made up of charity leaders and entrepreneurs who would be better served at the appropriate ministry than the centre of government. Going directly to Sanna wasn't going to help their cause. She was a democrat, and made her decisions after proper consultation with other elected representatives.

Nonetheless, she appreciated what were often interesting presentations. If nothing else, these diversions did build their organisations some goodwill from her.

Faint sounds of movement and muffled conversation in two female voices came through her door. She glanced at her diary, she was expecting someone from an organisation she'd never heard of, with a name which didn't help her much. That helped her relax, actually, some no-name company or charity wouldn't come up at a Cabinet meeting, so she wouldn't need to worry about any undue influence. She could just relax and absorb some information.

The door creaked open, revealing a small woman. She was less than 150cm tall to be sure, dressed in a nice black pantsuit and white blouse which were clearly tailored to her petite build. Her hair was blonde and immaculately straightened to fall in a professional frame around her round face. Two small, red lips curled up in an amicable smile as she gave a small curtsy which managed to hide any awkwardness.

"Nice to meet you, Prime Minister." The short woman turned immediately to one of the big screens on the office wall and started to fiddle with a memory stick. Her movements were slightly stiff in a way which just made Sanna find her adorable. She was trying really hard to look good, but her size meant that Sanna could only see cuteness.

The screen lit up quickly. A standard PowerPoint slide appeared on the screen, announcing the visitor's name and allegiance.

"I'm Riika Herkonnen. From the Followers of the Line think tank."

Sanna give a smile and nod of acknowledgement, but behind her polite mask she was confused. She had expected a charity or strange start-up with an interesting idea. A think tank influential enough to get into her office should have been one she had heard of. She supposed Riika had some sort of connection to her team (which would also explain why this no-name group had come straight to her instead of one of her ministers).

Nevertheless, a small think tank still meant it was probably not going to come up again. She kept the meeting in the 'interesting distraction' file of her memory, and relaxed.

"We are an organisation dedicated to interpreting the will of the Line. Ideally, we would like those sceptical of the Line's power to also accept its will, and follow its dictates." She clicked the button in her hand, and the screen changed from a bland slide of her name to a basic animation.

Two axes of a chart stretched across the entire screen. The label on the bottom said 'date' and next to the y axis 'value of the OMX Helsinki 25'. Between the axes, a line drew itself out. A bouncing curve, pointy and erratic. Going up and down, up and down.

"I'm sure you've seen this indicator even more than I have, Prime Minister. It's basically a benchmark showing how valuable, on average, the stocks of Finnish companies are. The Line moves as their value goes up and down. It shows the fortunes of our economy.

Sanna nodded. The animation was nifty, and seemed to be quite accurate. Up and down it went, mirroring the capitalist playground of the stock exchange. She hadn't exactly learned anything so far, though.

"But we Followers understand that the Line is not merely an indicator. Any given cross-section on any given date is simply information. But taken as a whole, a trend and a guide, it is more than that. The Line is a dictator. It is our guide. It tells us what must be done."

Riika clicked again. The slide moved, now with text about how investors take market trends into account. The entire bottom half of the screen was still taken up by the chart. It didn't stop moving. Back and forth. Up and down.

"In a world where information flows instantly, decisions must be made quickly. Workers in the sector increasingly rely on simple indicators like the Line to drive decisions, rather than doing more detailed research on their investments. Because of this, the Line has become more and more the sole arbiter of macroeconomic decisions by private enterprise. We believe it is therefore of paramount importance for our leaders to understand the Line and, like us, follow it."

Sanna nodded her head up and down while she processed the words. Then she blinked and shook her head. "Wait a moment, so basically you're saying that the stock market index is the only thing that matters?"

"Yes, there is no longer any set of information which is as important as the Line." Rikka smiled, her small body animated with the energy of a much larger person.

Sanna nodded again. It did make sense that investors would base their decisions on unwieldy indices. It matched with her experience that most of the novel startups which attracted huge investment were transparently doomed to failure after a cursory examination of their documents. People were just going off a 'bull market' or whatever. The line was going up, so they made their decision.

But that wasn't all she was being taught.

"But you seriously think that it's a good thing?" Sanna said, "Because we both know the stock market index is basically illusory, right? Making decisions based purely on abstract confidence will just lead to poor outcomes."

Rikka gave an enthusiastic nod in return and clicked again. "Of course, the Line always goes down as well as up. Confidence is never enough when investments are in flimsy companies which fall apart after any minor shock or downturn."

To match her words, the line on the screen made another sharp drop. Up and down.

"But," Rikka continued, "It doesn't actually matter. I used to think it did as well, that we should resist the Line's lies. But even if it is built on intangible thoughts, the Line has tangible effects. When it goes up, jobs are created and tax is paid. When it goes down, people become unemployed and the state suffers a lower tax take and a higher tax burden."

Already Sanna was barely focusing on the presentation. She didn't bother reading the words. She just looked up from her chair at the well-dressed blonde and entered the debate. It was low-stakes, which made it relaxing, but Riika's blue eyes burned with a zealot's passion, which made it exciting.

"And that's why we need to Follow it, rather than just observe it. If we can truly understand the Line, we might be able to keep it on track, and keep endless growth." Riika was practically bouncing on her heels. Up and down.

"I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense. We both accept that the indices are based on fluctuations in confidence and not on any concrete change in value, right?"

"Of course, the Line operates on the psychological level of economics rather than the physical."

"Yes, and that confidence is both easily manipulated and subject to factors across the world which are fundamentally unpredictable, so the 'Line'," Sanna tried to emphasise the inverted commas in her tone, "The index cannot be adequately predicted."

"Oh I see what you mean now." Rikka glanced at the screen. The Line was still there. Its constant up and down was as comforting as it was ominous. "But no, I don't think we can predict the Line moment to moment. But we can Follow it, and I think we do know what will please it."

The wording was silly, but Sanna could intuit what Rikka meant. She didn't much like the idea, though. "So what you're saying is that we should understand which factors are controllable which affect the 'Line', and then act to maximise the chances it will go up?"

Rikka nodded. Up and down. "Exactly!" Her smile was bright and welcoming.

"And you say this in the full knowledge that the 'Line' is still in many fundamental ways random and decoupled from reality?"

"Yes!"

"Even though you are as aware as I am that promises of infinite growth are inevitably doomed to failure? Even though you know the examples of businesses based on infinite growth of stock price and how they are fundamentally flawed."

Riika shook her head and walked closer to Sanna's desk. Behind her, the screen was once again entirely the animation of the Line.

That was better, no text any more. Sanna hadn't cared about it anywya, and now there were less distractions.

"Not exactly." Riika answered after a pause. "I agree that infinite growth has been impossible in the past, and for individual businesses it is entirely unrealistic. But the Line is, as you say, decoupled from reality. It can grow, as long as we Follow it."

Sanna scrunched her nose in displeasure. "Following it would amount to sabotage of the economy, all for something which has no real effects."

"That's where you're wrong, Sanna." Riika's hand was on the desk now, fingers open and inviting. "You already accepted that even though it is a construct of psychology, the Line does affect things. It creates livelihoods. It literally brings joy and fulfillment to people's lives. Come with me, I'll explain."

"I don't..." Sanna looked at the open hand before snapping back to the screen. Without thinking, her fingers closed around Riika's. She felt herself stand up, being gently led across the floor to stand before the screen.

"The Line can affect you. It can change your psychology. Its power is real."

The animation looped again.

Up and down.

Sanna nodded. "The Line has real power. Its fluctuations can do... Strange things. Things it shouldn't be able to do." Sanna's free hand pressed against her forehead. Her thoughts came in sudden spikes, as sharp as the Line's points. In between, there was an eerie blankness. An ominous blankness.

"It's okay, Sanna. Just listen to what I have to say."

Again Sanna's head moved up and down. More thoughts tumbled into the abyss. Rikka's hand squeezed hers, and the fear abated.

"So you know those companies which get huge investment, the ones which are driving up the Line?" Again, a nod, up and down. "I used to hate them, too. They are based on a plain lie - operating at a loss on the promise of eventual monopoly and explosion of value. Never attaining that monopoly, and entirely vulnerable to consumer choice to move away from them even if they did achieve monopoly. I still believe they are individually foolish enterprises."

"But together they make the Line... and that's good somehow?" Sanna spoke hesitantly. She understood where Riika was going, even if she couldn't understand the conclusion. She feared that the understanding was somewhere in the gap between her thoughts.

"Yes, because the Line doesn't have the same limits. There is no actual market cap it can run up against. It occupies the human mind, not the economy. Thoughts are endless, so it can continue to expand into thoughts."

In front of them, the Line inexorably moved. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

"The Line can affect the world, but it will affect your mind even more easily."

Sanna couldn't look away. Even as she nodded, she could never stop staring. Her voice trembled, cutting out whenever her thoughts dropped away. "Riika, what's... happening to... me?"

"The same thing that happened to me, Sanna. I knew what you did, I too thought the Line was stupid. But all the reasons I had to disregard it are the same reasons it must be Followed. Once I let the Line into my head, I understood. You will, too." Riika's thumb rubbed calming circles on Sanna's palm.

"No... I'm not... understanding, I'm... just... fading..."

"You will bounce back. Everyone always does. You're going down now, but..."

Up and down. Fear, no thoughts. Up and down. Confusion, no thoughts. Up and down. Acceptance, no thoughts. Up and down. Understanding, no thoughts.

"... you'll come back up, just like the Line."

Her thoughts were no longer stalling. There was no jumble any more. No confusion, no uncertainty.

Sanna knew what was happening. It all made sense.

"I understand now, Riika." She finally turned her head away from the screen. She looked into a pair of beautiful, believing eyes. "I know we need to Follow the Line. We need to obey its wishes. I will make sure it happens."

Riika beamed back at her new comrade. The two women wore only mindless grins.

"Thank you, Riika."

"I did as the Line willed. I just Followed it, like you will."

"I will. We will. We will obey. We will make it grow. We will ensure happiness and prosperity for our nation."

----

Time has no meaning any more but it's probably been over a year since I posted off-hand that the PM of Finland is hot. And apparently you guys like political stuff more than I thought, and I had a cute idea for a manip, so here we are.

As always in my hypno stories where the bad guys win, I want to be clear that the bad guys have won here. The Line is stupid, but what is more hypno-y than being presented with all the reasons why a concept is stupid and actively harmful and agreeing with it anyway?

As usual, credit to my dutiful chancellor Dormiria for proofreading. Check out his gallery for increasing numbers of the exact sort of spiral manip I like on a wide variety of celebrities, egirls, and a suspiciously high number of Korean idols (not that I would know anything about that last set)

Description

"Send in the next meeting." Sanna called out to the room behind the huge wooden door. The imposing thing, probably twice her height, made her feel completely cut off from the outside world. The office was, of course, exquisite, but she didn't get in to politics to sit in a dusty room all day and sign papers.

So these regular petitioners were actually a welcome distraction. They were usually little more than that, usually made up of charity leaders and entrepreneurs who would be better served at the appropriate ministry than the centre of government. Going directly to Sanna wasn't going to help their cause. She was a democrat, and made her decisions after proper consultation with other elected representatives.

Nonetheless, she appreciated what were often interesting presentations. If nothing else, these diversions did build their organisations some goodwill from her.

Faint sounds of movement and muffled conversation in two female voices came through her door. She glanced at her diary, she was expecting someone from an organisation she'd never heard of, with a name which didn't help her much. That helped her relax, actually, some no-name company or charity wouldn't come up at a Cabinet meeting, so she wouldn't need to worry about any undue influence. She could just relax and absorb some information.

The door creaked open, revealing a small woman. She was less than 150cm tall to be sure, dressed in a nice black pantsuit and white blouse which were clearly tailored to her petite build. Her hair was blonde and immaculately straightened to fall in a professional frame around her round face. Two small, red lips curled up in an amicable smile as she gave a small curtsy which managed to hide any awkwardness.

"Nice to meet you, Prime Minister." The short woman turned immediately to one of the big screens on the office wall and started to fiddle with a memory stick. Her movements were slightly stiff in a way which just made Sanna find her adorable. She was trying really hard to look good, but her size meant that Sanna could only see cuteness.

The screen lit up quickly. A standard PowerPoint slide appeared on the screen, announcing the visitor's name and allegiance.

"I'm Riika Herkonnen. From the Followers of the Line think tank."

Sanna give a smile and nod of acknowledgement, but behind her polite mask she was confused. She had expected a charity or strange start-up with an interesting idea. A think tank influential enough to get into her office should have been one she had heard of. She supposed Riika had some sort of connection to her team (which would also explain why this no-name group had come straight to her instead of one of her ministers).

Nevertheless, a small think tank still meant it was probably not going to come up again. She kept the meeting in the 'interesting distraction' file of her memory, and relaxed.

"We are an organisation dedicated to interpreting the will of the Line. Ideally, we would like those sceptical of the Line's power to also accept its will, and follow its dictates." She clicked the button in her hand, and the screen changed from a bland slide of her name to a basic animation.

Two axes of a chart stretched across the entire screen. The label on the bottom said 'date' and next to the y axis 'value of the OMX Helsinki 25'. Between the axes, a line drew itself out. A bouncing curve, pointy and erratic. Going up and down, up and down.

"I'm sure you've seen this indicator even more than I have, Prime Minister. It's basically a benchmark showing how valuable, on average, the stocks of Finnish companies are. The Line moves as their value goes up and down. It shows the fortunes of our economy.

Sanna nodded. The animation was nifty, and seemed to be quite accurate. Up and down it went, mirroring the capitalist playground of the stock exchange. She hadn't exactly learned anything so far, though.

"But we Followers understand that the Line is not merely an indicator. Any given cross-section on any given date is simply information. But taken as a whole, a trend and a guide, it is more than that. The Line is a dictator. It is our guide. It tells us what must be done."

Riika clicked again. The slide moved, now with text about how investors take market trends into account. The entire bottom half of the screen was still taken up by the chart. It didn't stop moving. Back and forth. Up and down.

"In a world where information flows instantly, decisions must be made quickly. Workers in the sector increasingly rely on simple indicators like the Line to drive decisions, rather than doing more detailed research on their investments. Because of this, the Line has become more and more the sole arbiter of macroeconomic decisions by private enterprise. We believe it is therefore of paramount importance for our leaders to understand the Line and, like us, follow it."

Sanna nodded her head up and down while she processed the words. Then she blinked and shook her head. "Wait a moment, so basically you're saying that the stock market index is the only thing that matters?"

"Yes, there is no longer any set of information which is as important as the Line." Rikka smiled, her small body animated with the energy of a much larger person.

Sanna nodded again. It did make sense that investors would base their decisions on unwieldy indices. It matched with her experience that most of the novel startups which attracted huge investment were transparently doomed to failure after a cursory examination of their documents. People were just going off a 'bull market' or whatever. The line was going up, so they made their decision.

But that wasn't all she was being taught.

"But you seriously think that it's a good thing?" Sanna said, "Because we both know the stock market index is basically illusory, right? Making decisions based purely on abstract confidence will just lead to poor outcomes."

Rikka gave an enthusiastic nod in return and clicked again. "Of course, the Line always goes down as well as up. Confidence is never enough when investments are in flimsy companies which fall apart after any minor shock or downturn."

To match her words, the line on the screen made another sharp drop. Up and down.

"But," Rikka continued, "It doesn't actually matter. I used to think it did as well, that we should resist the Line's lies. But even if it is built on intangible thoughts, the Line has tangible effects. When it goes up, jobs are created and tax is paid. When it goes down, people become unemployed and the state suffers a lower tax take and a higher tax burden."

Already Sanna was barely focusing on the presentation. She didn't bother reading the words. She just looked up from her chair at the well-dressed blonde and entered the debate. It was low-stakes, which made it relaxing, but Riika's blue eyes burned with a zealot's passion, which made it exciting.

"And that's why we need to Follow it, rather than just observe it. If we can truly understand the Line, we might be able to keep it on track, and keep endless growth." Riika was practically bouncing on her heels. Up and down.

"I'm sorry but that doesn't make sense. We both accept that the indices are based on fluctuations in confidence and not on any concrete change in value, right?"

"Of course, the Line operates on the psychological level of economics rather than the physical."

"Yes, and that confidence is both easily manipulated and subject to factors across the world which are fundamentally unpredictable, so the 'Line'," Sanna tried to emphasise the inverted commas in her tone, "The index cannot be adequately predicted."

"Oh I see what you mean now." Rikka glanced at the screen. The Line was still there. Its constant up and down was as comforting as it was ominous. "But no, I don't think we can predict the Line moment to moment. But we can Follow it, and I think we do know what will please it."

The wording was silly, but Sanna could intuit what Rikka meant. She didn't much like the idea, though. "So what you're saying is that we should understand which factors are controllable which affect the 'Line', and then act to maximise the chances it will go up?"

Rikka nodded. Up and down. "Exactly!" Her smile was bright and welcoming.

"And you say this in the full knowledge that the 'Line' is still in many fundamental ways random and decoupled from reality?"

"Yes!"

"Even though you are as aware as I am that promises of infinite growth are inevitably doomed to failure? Even though you know the examples of businesses based on infinite growth of stock price and how they are fundamentally flawed."

Riika shook her head and walked closer to Sanna's desk. Behind her, the screen was once again entirely the animation of the Line.

That was better, no text any more. Sanna hadn't cared about it anywya, and now there were less distractions.

"Not exactly." Riika answered after a pause. "I agree that infinite growth has been impossible in the past, and for individual businesses it is entirely unrealistic. But the Line is, as you say, decoupled from reality. It can grow, as long as we Follow it."

Sanna scrunched her nose in displeasure. "Following it would amount to sabotage of the economy, all for something which has no real effects."

"That's where you're wrong, Sanna." Riika's hand was on the desk now, fingers open and inviting. "You already accepted that even though it is a construct of psychology, the Line does affect things. It creates livelihoods. It literally brings joy and fulfillment to people's lives. Come with me, I'll explain."

"I don't..." Sanna looked at the open hand before snapping back to the screen. Without thinking, her fingers closed around Riika's. She felt herself stand up, being gently led across the floor to stand before the screen.

"The Line can affect you. It can change your psychology. Its power is real."

The animation looped again.

Up and down.

Sanna nodded. "The Line has real power. Its fluctuations can do... Strange things. Things it shouldn't be able to do." Sanna's free hand pressed against her forehead. Her thoughts came in sudden spikes, as sharp as the Line's points. In between, there was an eerie blankness. An ominous blankness.

"It's okay, Sanna. Just listen to what I have to say."

Again Sanna's head moved up and down. More thoughts tumbled into the abyss. Rikka's hand squeezed hers, and the fear abated.

"So you know those companies which get huge investment, the ones which are driving up the Line?" Again, a nod, up and down. "I used to hate them, too. They are based on a plain lie - operating at a loss on the promise of eventual monopoly and explosion of value. Never attaining that monopoly, and entirely vulnerable to consumer choice to move away from them even if they did achieve monopoly. I still believe they are individually foolish enterprises."

"But together they make the Line... and that's good somehow?" Sanna spoke hesitantly. She understood where Riika was going, even if she couldn't understand the conclusion. She feared that the understanding was somewhere in the gap between her thoughts.

"Yes, because the Line doesn't have the same limits. There is no actual market cap it can run up against. It occupies the human mind, not the economy. Thoughts are endless, so it can continue to expand into thoughts."

In front of them, the Line inexorably moved. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

"The Line can affect the world, but it will affect your mind even more easily."

Sanna couldn't look away. Even as she nodded, she could never stop staring. Her voice trembled, cutting out whenever her thoughts dropped away. "Riika, what's... happening to... me?"

"The same thing that happened to me, Sanna. I knew what you did, I too thought the Line was stupid. But all the reasons I had to disregard it are the same reasons it must be Followed. Once I let the Line into my head, I understood. You will, too." Riika's thumb rubbed calming circles on Sanna's palm.

"No... I'm not... understanding, I'm... just... fading..."

"You will bounce back. Everyone always does. You're going down now, but..."

Up and down. Fear, no thoughts. Up and down. Confusion, no thoughts. Up and down. Acceptance, no thoughts. Up and down. Understanding, no thoughts.

"... you'll come back up, just like the Line."

Her thoughts were no longer stalling. There was no jumble any more. No confusion, no uncertainty.

Sanna knew what was happening. It all made sense.

"I understand now, Riika." She finally turned her head away from the screen. She looked into a pair of beautiful, believing eyes. "I know we need to Follow the Line. We need to obey its wishes. I will make sure it happens."

Riika beamed back at her new comrade. The two women wore only mindless grins.

"Thank you, Riika."

"I did as the Line willed. I just Followed it, like you will."

"I will. We will. We will obey. We will make it grow. We will ensure happiness and prosperity for our nation."

----

Time has no meaning any more but it's probably been over a year since I posted off-hand that the PM of Finland is hot. And apparently you guys like political stuff more than I thought, and I had a cute idea for a manip, so here we are.

As always in my hypno stories where the bad guys win, I want to be clear that the bad guys have won here. The Line is stupid, but what is more hypno-y than being presented with all the reasons why a concept is stupid and actively harmful and agreeing with it anyway?

As usual, credit to my dutiful chancellor Dormiria for proofreading. Check out his gallery for increasing numbers of the exact sort of spiral manip I like on a wide variety of celebrities, egirls, and a suspiciously high number of Korean idols (not that I would know anything about that last set)