Round 1 - Day 1 - Bickering and a workout.

Becky was watching the rest as they undressed for the workout. She had less of an inclination to join in showing herself. She might be more shapely, but she still had her love handles, her huge breasts, as well as her thick ass and thighs. Yes, sure, Will had a bit of a beer belly, but Chris and Jesse had little fat. Jessica was lean with small, perky breasts. This contrasted even more with Missy’s slightly larger breasts that were still perky and a toned butt that made her curves more apparent and appealing. Not to mention she was the smallest of the group. Chris had told her to get swim clothes and a change if she wanted to join them as well during the swimming. Yet another hurdle; luckily, she had swim clothes that should do fine.

Seen master naked: First time bonus +1 (Becky, Missy, The Jessies, and William)

Show master your naked body: First time bonus +1 (Missy, The Jessies, and William)

Show other contestant your naked body: First time bonus +1 (Missy, The Jessies, and William)

“So let me double-check before we leave. William, the Jessies and Missy will join naked, Becky will join clothed, and Ryan will do his own thing for the duration?” Everyone nodded. “Cool, and everybody can swim?” Chris asked, assuming people had learned this skill at one point or another. Will raised his hand. “Then you have a choice: do you want me to teach you how to swim or jog along the side of the lake?” The coach remained silent, mulling over the options. Chris started a soft jog so everyone could keep up and in the hope his date for today could catch up after being stunned for a moment.

Chris guided the group to a large lake with a beach on one side and steeper sides with reeds around it in several places, as well as markers that the water level shifted over time in their placement. After Becky had undressed, leaving only her swimsuit, a black one-piece with an attached skirt, Chris announced. “So I am going to set a timer for 30 minutes; swim as much as you can during it; afterwards we will go for a jog around the hiking trail with some bodyweight exercises in between.”

“You and Ryan made it seem like this was going to be hard,” William said, cocky, pointedly at Missy.

“You haven’t started yet, Will. You don’t know how much of a drill sergeant Chris can be.” Missy said, and Jesse affirmed. That spooked both Will and Becky. “I know how many reps you do. You think you can keep up with him? Good luck.”

“Okay, William, we will start you on trying to float. You pick, but my advice is to do it lying on your back first.” Chris interrupted the people trying to scare the noob at swimming. “Or, if you prefer jogging start jogging.” He forced the choice but clearly favoured the last.

Will didn’t have the guts to try and learn it then and there. As a result, he was the only one on the shore running laps whilst the rest were swimming laps in the lake. Chris was surprisingly speedy, but the moment he stopped swimming, he sank. Why would a person sink in water? Didn’t humans float naturally? Becky and Will thought to themselves. This did not take away from the spectacle of him doing two laps for every one the others did. Missy wasn’t slow, nor were the Jessies; this was a good pace. The most impressive part is he kept it up for the entire 30 minutes; Missy and the Jessies had slowed after 20, and Becky took a break for a few minutes.

“Good, now that the warm-up is done, time for the jog up the mountain.” He said with a cheer most wouldn’t have expected from how much he had done.

“You can’t be serious, right?” Becky said. “We just swam for 30 minutes. Give us a break.” Will was glad and smiled in victory; he knew he couldn't keep up if they didn’t take a break.

“Sure, those who want to take a break take a break. I will do a lap around the lake with whoever wants to join me.” This was clear provocation to have Will admit he couldn’t keep up. The prideful coach didn’t want to admit he couldn’t and, as such, joined Chris on the jog. Chris was kind enough to let him set the pace. “So how do you like the camping experience and, maybe more important for now, the grass, sticks and rocks under your feet as you exercise?”

“Why pretend you are giving me a chance? You are pushing me super hard.” Will accused him, anger already present in his voice.

“Am I? Also, that is not my question, but it may be a more important one. I am not pretending to give you a chance; I am actually doing so. Missy and Ryan warned you how hard it would be. You could have said stop at any point. You don’t trust me to accept it. I gave you an out, and you chose to join me for this jog around the lake. I have no idea if you remember what Syl said yesterday, but I will say this: trust is a two-way street. I haven't been able to earn it from you, but I haven’t been hostile. I haven’t pushed you harder than anyone else. YOU chose these things.” Chris explained maybe blunter than he might have wanted.

“But if I lose the bet, I wouldn’t get the 10 BP you are holding onto.” The crux of the issue was finally laid bare by the coach.

“Who said I couldn’t decide to give it to you anyway? You fail, you fail. Is a statement of fact; it is also a question of whether you think someone will be there to catch you. This reaction is ‘no, I don’t trust someone to catch me. I have to save myself.’ Not a great thing to see or be on the receiving end of. Also, like I express, that 10BP isn’t for something you NEED; it is for a WANT. If you needed it for a transformation or an upgrade, I am sure we would help you out, but both the Jessies and I considered it frivolous.” The frustration dripped with each word Chris spoke. “You act like I am not trusting you. I am trying to take small steps. I trust you to know your limits, to know how to prioritise your own health over income. I saw my mom work herself to the bone to keep us afloat. I don’t want that from any partner. Income, money, wealth over health is not a deal I am happy with if I can prevent it.” Having said those last words, Chris picked up the pace.

William was left with his own thoughts. Why are those BP worth so much to me? Why did I prioritise them over my health? Will he wait for me with them? Why didn’t I trust him? His pace slowed to a calm walk to let him process the thoughts, to give him time.

Jesse floated in the water near the shore and asked, “How come you two are suddenly much more pliable for things outside of your scope?”

“One sport never was one. Two Chris was correct; we both know we can’t avoid each other if I want to make it out as the same person. Last night showed me… That the way I was going about doing things was wrong.” Missy said before spitting on the floor. “Why did that leave such a bad taste in my mouth?”

Becky leaned in and whispered, “Good girl.” No explanation, just trust that this was necessary. She continued speaking at a normal volume. “I am not out of my comfort zone. It is a workout I work out at the gym all the time; it is just outside now. If I had dared to be naked like you guys, yeah, that would be outside my comfort zone.”

“You could still join us in being naked.” Jesse half-jokingly mentioned.

“No, I am ugly; no one wants to see me like that.” The self-conscious woman balled herself up as if to protect her vital organs.

“You aren’t ugly. Chris explicitly mentioned he liked girls with a bit more to them yesterday. So I have no idea where you got that idea from.” Jessica said, hoping to comfort her.

“I didn’t have to worry much about him looking at skinny chicks and dudes. He always had more of an eye for the women with a bit more give. And they were often too awkward, like you are now. They didn’t dare to make a move.” Missy admitted much to her own chagrin. She was, however, again rewarded with a whisper of two sweet words.

“What are you two whispering about, and don’t make me grab Missy’s leash to find out; I would much prefer it if you said it honestly.” Jesse forced in only to get an angry look from Jessica.

“Promise not to tell anyone else?” Becky asked shyly. The Jessies nodded before the shy woman responded. “Ryan bought a transformation for Missy, and now she has a set of trigger words. I would prefer it if they don’t get leaked, so I am whispering them to reinforce behaviour I think is good.”

“So speaking her mind in a non-hostile manner?” Jessica asked, trying to piece together what the actual result would be.

“I think so. It is hard to know what she is thinking, or what the transformation considers the behaviour I am trying to reinforce by simply stating the words. However, I have to trust I am picking the correct moment without fucking up.” Becky admitted to her lack of knowledge.

“Still good plan if it works. You two did a smart thing. Is Chris on board with this?” Jesse asked, knowing how anti-manipulation he was during last dinner.

“Missy got points due to Chris’s enthusiasm in the use of the trigger. It allows him to make her gain arousal to the point of orgasm. We have put a command in place to prevent it from being sexual from anyone but Chris.” Becky explained, leading to more questions.

“Why not include William?” Jesse asked the duo. Instead of answering, Becky looked at Missy.

Missy grumbled something under her breath. “I have no idea, but it isn’t important why she wanted that. She will explain it when she is ready. I am going out on a limb, but the fact that Will shut her up and didn’t let her talk until she texted me. Contrasted by Chris being mad about overextensive commands, might have something to do with it.” Becky said, and the Jessies agreed to this reasoning.

Chris slowed down from his sprint as he saw the group sitting in the field. Ember followed him and looked at his face. [Hey, calm down or you are going to scare them.]

“Jessie must have seen me pissed plenty; same goes for Missy, but yeah, you are correct. Becky hasn’t seen me like this in ages. He is just so dense.” Chris thought out loud.

[And you aren’t dense sometimes?]

“Yes, am I being dense now though?” The frustration at being accused was present in his voice but with enough self-knowledge to know it might be true.

[Yes kind off… no not really… Differently… You two are talking next to each other to some extent. I agree that he is not showing trust. You are also disregarding how much that stuff means to him. You are dense about the importance of things to him. He is just dense about your intentions. Do you get what I am trying to say?] This was more than the ball of fire was used to in interpersonal relationships.

“Sure, I could have been kinder about stuff,” Chris said, followed by a deep sigh. “Thanks for… Being a neutral-ish observer. You can keep up easily, by the way.” He pointed out as a half-question.

[No air resistance, no friction and something I could best explain as a rubber band to you helps a lot.]

As they arrived, Chris said, “No need to get up yet; drink some more. We need to wait for William. He needs to take some more time.” Jessica looked at him almost accusingly. “Do you think I did something to him or provoked this situation?”

“I have been facing you the entire time since you turned the corner. I saw how worked up you were and that you calmed down as you spoke out loud. Thanks, Ember, for talking him down. He isn’t pleasant when he is like that.” Jessica pointed out.

[You are welcome.]

“You assume too much.” Chris defended himself.

“And thou dost protest too much. Seriously, I know you fought. I have no idea what the content was. Care to talk about it?” Jessica tried to press for more information.

“No,” the grown-ass man replied like a little kid. He got in this mood sometimes where his stubbornness won over his more rationalising tendencies.

“Sure, did Ember get the worst out, or do you need to let more out?” Jessica said with a worried expression.

“Yeahh, the worst is gone. I know I need to be civil in a moment, even if he is a dumbass.” Chris finally admitted.

“That's all. Ohh, here I thought he got your lunch money.” Jessica mentioned, causing the group as a whole to laugh. “If you ever feel like you want to talk about it, you know Jesse and I will listen, right? We haven’t developed this relationship yet, but that is a yet.” The female half of the Jessies affirmed.