Erica, the girl in the apartment next door

It doesn't take take you long to figure out who you want to try the Ruby's power on first: Erica, your friend who lived in the apartment next to yours. She was about the same age as you, pretty attractive, and with this being her day off she should be home right now. And most importantly, if this ends up not working after all you should be able to pass it off as a joke without freaking her out too bad.

You climb out of bed and start getting dressed. As you put on your shirt, you think about how supposedly other people aren't supposed to be able to see the Ruby while you are wearing it. Deciding to test that out, you pull the amulet out of your collar and let it hang over your chest, making sure it would be impossible to miss. If Erica noticed it at all, you would know for a fact it doesn't work.

You make a quick stop in the bathroom to brush your teeth and make yourself look at least somewhat presentable, then grab your keys and wallet and head out the door. You walk the short distance down the hall to Erica's door and knock on it. It isn't long before Erica opens the door. She is dressed casually in t-shirt and sweats, clearly prepared to enjoy a lazy day at home.

"Hey Dylan, what's up?" she asks, brushing her brown bangs out of her eyes to get a better look at you.

"Not much, just a little bored," you reply, "You mind if I hang out here for a bit?"

"Sure, but I'm not sure how entertaining I'll be," Erica said, opening the door further to let you in, "As you can see, I only just woke up."

"Yeah, me too," you say, walking into her apartment and taking a look around. It's a little messy, but given that she wasn't expecting company you aren't too shocked about that.

"Do you want some coffee?" she asks, closing the door and locking it before walking past you to the kitchen, "I just finished making a pot."

"That sounds good to me," you reply. At this point, you're pretty certain that Erica doesn't see the amulet around your neck, as if she had she definitely would have said something by now. As is, she hasn't even glanced down at the ruby. You're feeling more certain that this is legit, but you wanted to test out its power with something small before going all out with it.

You sit down at the small dining table as Erica grabs two mugs from the cupboard and goes over to the coffee maker. Watching her pour the coffee into them, you get an idea of what would be a good first test. You wait until she is starting to walk towards you, then focus on enforcing your will on her and say out loud, "Your hair is now blonde."

Even before anything happened, you knew that it worked. When you said that, your voice felt different, more powerful than it should be. Still, you waited for the moment of truth. And you weren't disappointed, as her brown hair quickly starts lightening up. Before she's even at the table, Erika has gone from a brunette to a blonde, all because of what you said.

"Here you go," she says, setting one of the mugs down in front of you. But as she bends forward, her hair hangs down around the sides of her face, causing her eyes to look at it in confusion. She sets down the other mug next to yours, then takes a lock of her shoulder-length hair and holds it in front of her face. Her eyes go wide as she notices the difference, "What the fuck? What happened to my hair?"

Well, that was enough confirmation for you to know that this wasn't just all in your head. Thinking quickly, you say, "Your hair is brown," and within a second her hair is back to its usual color. Erica seems to notice the change too, blinking in shock at the hair in her hand. You then play dumb and ask, "What, what's wrong with it? Or are you just now noticing your bedhead?"

"No, it's not that," she says worriedly, "My hair, it... this is going to sound really crazy, but it was blonde a second ago! You didn't see it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," you say, blowing on your coffee, "Your hair looks the same color as it always does to me."

"Yeah, it is now, but..." Erica stammers, before sighing and saying, "N-Nevermind. I must be more groggy than I realized. Maybe I'll stop talking crazy once I've had some coffee."

She picks up her cup again and makes her way to the seat across from you. As Erica sits down and gets comfortable, you think about what to do next with your new gift. Now that you're certain of how much power you have at your disposal, you want to try to make a more drastic change to her. But what?