Afternoon planning

William had returned to the group, which was all effectively leaning in some form on top of Chris. To his surprise, he saw something he had never expected to see. Becky was naked. How the rest had convinced the shy girl to drop the bathing suit had been a mystery to him. The answer was peer pressure. “Sooo, what is the plan? It is almost lunchtime. Sorry about having you wait so long.” He said more as a matter of fact than an excuse.

“Honestly, either we do 30 minutes of bodyweight exercises, and we head back, or we do a long hike around the place and visit the remaining facilities. We can make sure food is delivered here.” Looking at the map, Chris was shocked that next to the canteen was now a community centre. “Which, since we started, has expanded by one.”

“Is everyone okay with that hike?” William asked, trying to be diplomatic.

Jesse broke the idea. “One, this is supposed to be your date, so you have the last say together with Chris. Two, do you think he would force us to do that?”

“Yes, he has been quite forceful until now,” Will responded.

Jessica chuckled before Jesse said, “That is him telling you to get off your ass and do shit. That is him going I don’t know what to do, but I need to move. If he wants to force something, he doesn’t ask. He doesn’t give you the option to say no, and if you say no and he thinks it is better if you do that, he will try to drag you along.”

“But that transformation.” Will declared.

“No one listens to him when he is thinking and planning. He has to force things. Also, that isn't listening to him. It is him forcing his opinion. He said, ‘Shall we do xyz,’ so you don’t end up with a loss or a transformation you don’t like. You were protesting why you shouldn’t get it for free instead of seeing the middle ground he was trying to find. He might be a dick with how he is doing it, but he isn’t trying to push you harder than us.” Jesse looked at the rest.

“But he said that it was a prize and that if I lost, I lost.” The coach kept making a similar argument he had tried to use against Chris.

“If you had asked me, I could have told you that it was likely teasing from Chris,” Becky interjected. “You didn’t ask. He was bad with people as a kid and tried to motivate people in sometimes counterproductive ways. Like now.” She ended with a glare up at Chris.

“You mean that?” William said with a confident nod. Becky confirmed. “What happens if I pick option three, neither?”

“I will suggest to the other people that they do a 30-minute workout whilst I am sitting here talking to you so Becky also has a proper pillow,” Chris said.

“What about the BP?” The coach looked at Chris with a large question mark above his head.

“Honestly, you can have it, but you lost BP on a bet this morning, didn’t you? So you would be even. Doing the hike would net you another 10 BP. That is why I originally included it.” Chris said, looking up at the sky.

“Wait, you planned to get me more BP than we had discussed but didn’t say shit.” Will looked at him in shock.

“I am not dumb. I see how everyone is struggling, wanting for things. I want to see the best in each of you.” The two people Chris had arguably fought the most with here had saucers for eyes at the surprise. “That doesn’t mean I trust you or that I like you. It just means that I want people I interact with not to get hurt because of dumb decisions. Not just theirs, but also my own. I invested in getting the dumb navigation app to make it easier for us to complete this task. But am I asking for BP back? No, there is no use in it. I get to keep the thing and will benefit from it later. Planning a tactical route when actually doing an outside workout is key. Do things you normally would do anyway; it saves you time.” The man explained.

“Then why start with the damm swim?” The coach questioned.

“I wanted people actually to have to train their muscles to some extent, and it is a low joint force workout while also working a lot of different muscles. Cardio afterwards is good. Extra muscle is also fine. It is a flexible start if you want to do a whole-body workout. That is just personal experience though.” Chris explained, ending with a shrug.

“Missy, tell me how strict Chris has been.” Will decided the person who was least likely to be partisan to Chris on this question.

“He went soooooo easy. Normally he would set a lap goal. Which he did for himself but didn’t for any of us or you. When the two of you jogged away, he matched your pace. Didn’t you notice how fast he left you? Because when he approached here, he was going at least double your pace. He learned a lot since I last sported with him.” Missy said.

“A buddy of mine asked me to help him lose weight, and he told me to chill… Repeatedly, but each time I got better.” Chris replied.

“Wait… You implied in your original thing you would set the pace, but you didn’t… You didn’t dictate reps. You didn’t steer except what… Dammit, am I blind? First yesterday with Missy, then Heather, now this?” Will started beating himself up.

“Don’t worry if it makes you feel better. Here, have the BP.” Chris said, transferring 10 BP. “That doesn’t solve your BP issues. I hope it at least allows you to think less clouded.”

“Wait, why would you?” The look of shock on the coach’s face was once again evident.

“Why not? Didn’t you hear Syl earlier? My stipend is low because I shouldn’t want for anything by default. I am spending more than they expected, and on whom or what am I spending it?” Chris asked in response.

“But that was the Jessies.” Will protested.

“I also donated to Ryan already. He tried to help Missy with his upgrade. Whether it worked yet in the long run, we will need to see. I have no issue helping you get to where you need to if you are willing to put in the effort. You were looking for freebies earlier. I didn’t care for that. Later I learned you screwed over Missy, and that ticked me off… I wonder if I would have reacted differently if you hadn’t. Becky also did dumb shit, but at least she showed actual remorse and not an ohh oops like I often feel I get from you.” Chris replied.

The comment about Will’s excuses hit Will in a sore spot. “Why do you have to criticise me all the time and not look at your own actions? You weirdo. You get brought to a sex show and indulge in it immediately.”

Insulted master: -2 VP (William)

“I have reflected. I have said I should have communicated better earlier when we were alone. I have said I should not have taunted you, but I also need us to get moving, to do things to get you points. I am moving fast because I am afraid that if I slow down or stop, I will be responsible for a fate worse than death. I haven’t tried to press past anyone's boundaries. If I have, tell me! This is indeed a weird sex show, but it can turn you into a cumfountain if it wants, like some fucked up ‘Manneke Piss’.” Chris said.

“Is that the thing that mattered to me?” Will asked.

“No, you wanted your BP and a blind trust from me. I told you that the last wasn’t on the table. I didn’t feel comfortable with that. The first was also something I wasn’t going to give you whilst I felt you were throwing a tantrum. Missy has somehow gotten worse, and I am afraid I am going to need to put my foot down more often. I can imagine Heather will also do the same. I might have grouped the three of you together due to the lack of trust. Do you think that was wrong, though? Should I have given you what you wanted at that moment?” Chris reflected the question to Will. Not fully, but the crux of it at least. What would have happened if he had given him what mattered, especially material things?

“... I … I… Argh, get us lunch here if you can manage it, and we do the hike in the afternoon.” Will didn’t know how to respond. Chris was right. It was safer not to move and take a moment to think things through before giving in, in that instance. It was super annoying that it contrasted with Chris’s move fast and break things behaviour elsewhere.

It didn’t take long for another air elemental to arrive with a large stack of boxes. A stack of three was wrapped in a red-and-white checkered piece of cloth. [The three in the blanket are yours, Chris. The rest can pick from the boxes what they want.] The air elemental said.

[Thanks, First-Flap-of-a-Butterfly’s-wings], Ember said before bobbing as if they were waving.

“Indeed, thank you for your great service,” Chris said.