Suspicious Minds

"I still don't understand how anyone other than me could have given a command that had an effect on my girl" Carl fretted, as Kelly transformed Haley into a bullfrog right in front of him.

He and Martin were playing a test run of Spell Fighter while trying to get to the bottom of exactly what had happened, or at least been attempted, the previous evening.

"Has anyone other than me ever tried to give you any commands, Kelly?" Martin asked.

"I don't think so" the still human of the two competitors shrugged.

"You didn't get any weird compulsions to go to your Aunt Maisie's place at like, ten to one last night?" Carl asked.

"Kelly, answer that question completely honestly" Martin commanded.

"No, I don't remember anything like that at all" she replied, Philip's suggestion to use a secondary command to make her forget her late night excursion having saved the day, for now at least "Aren't you going to turn her back?"

Kelly gestured down at the plump amphibian on the floor next to her that seemed to be croaking for the attention of the others.

"Oh yes, of course!" Martin remembered as he hit some buttons on his controller.

Kelly waved her arms theatrically again and the frog morphed back into a fully human, albeit naked, Haley. Somehow, the concept of secondary commands still wasn't registering for either Martin or Carl.

"Ugh, I hate this game already" Haley complained as she rose from an undignified squatting position to her feet and wiped carpet lint from her hands.

"Can someone have two Masters? Is that even possible?" Martin continued to ponder "And how would Emily fit into any of this? She's not even male"

"Neither is Tina" Carl reminded his friend "But there is something very weird about that whole relationship. I mean, Emily is from England and has barely been here a week. Even if we disregard gender in this instance, how did Tina end up being her master?"

"I noticed something else that was weird, Master" Haley felt compelled by loyalty to speak up "At one point while they were over yesterday, Tina asked Emily to grab her a beer from your fridge and Emily said she shouldn't be drinking while they were still playing"

"So?" Martin responded "That seems entirely logical. Why risk breaking her winning streak and getting stripped because Tina's reflexes had been dulled?"

"Because she said her name first. So technically it was a command. How could she refuse?"

"Shit, great catch Haley!" Carl commended "So basically there is no way Tina is her master. Something seriously sketchy is going on here. I wonder if Philip and Tammy are in on it?"

"We need to try and dig for information at the meal tonight. But subtly. And Kelly, don't talk about this conversation to anyone outside this room, okay?"

"I won't master" Kelly promised.

"Carl, shouldn't you give Haley the same command?" Martin urged.

"I don't have to" Carl smiled dotingly at his favourite girl "I know I can trust her"

---

"Tomorrow or Saturday?" Jessie repeated down the phone "Obviously that's great news, but is there any way you could fast track it and send him home first thing tomorrow morning? Or even this evening?....Right, I get that. Is there really no possibility of me speaking to him now? Right, okay, well then let me know I guess"

It was currently Thursday. Tomorrow was the deadline she had been trying not to think about. If Craig hadn't returned from his hospital stay to reverse the nudity command by then, Jessie was either going to have to attend college naked for a day or be expelled from it. The only single reason she was choosing the former over the latter was because she knew that, by the weekend at the latest, he would be back. That would mean he could cast a perception altering command to make everyone believe she had never been naked in class, effectively causing them to forget her day of abject humiliation. But that still didn't mean she wanted to live it first.

And yet, part of Jessie almost wished Craig would stay away for longer. She was currently spending all of her time with Andrew and enjoying every moment of it. He had managed to smooth things over with Tammy and dismiss their heavy petting a couple of days ago as drunken silliness rather than anything more, and out of respect for Jessie's favourite cousin they had decided to keep things as strictly friends only. But she realised even that would likely have to end once Craig returned. In fact, all it would take was one jealous command from her master and she might never want to speak to Andrew again.

She was also frustrated at being sidelined from all the social activities that were taking place at the moment, like the meal her other cousins were attending that evening. It wasn't that she was hoping to be turned into a Street Fighter character when Craig returned, though that was starting to seem like a real possibility. But she and her cousins had always done everything together, and now it felt like she was on the sidelines constantly.

It made her friendship with Andrew all the more valuable in the here and now. She decided she would enjoy that while it lasted, and try not to worry too much about what might or might not happen over the next few days.