Nat slowly woke up. She had been napping. Her head lay on the soft pillow of Red's stomach, her bum on the warm, hard ground. There was an odd taste in her mouth and a warm feeling in her chest.

Jon was sitting nearby, watching. Red was asleep, judging by her gentle breathing.

"Did all that...?" she asked quietly.

Jon nodded. "Really happen? Yes."

Nat carefully got to her feet. "What are you doing to us?" Even to her own ears, she sounded more curious than upset.

"I'm just having fun, I promise. Nothing more sinister than that."

"I think your fun is kind of sinister," Nat said, taking a couple steps towards Jon. "You understand that I don't really have a problem with that."

Jon chuckled. "I need to clean up the suggestions left in all your heads. Especially Red's." He looked up at the sky. "It's probably about two hours from sunset, so suppertime."

"Where are Mac and Kaz?"

Jon waved down the trail. "Kaz was sleeping in her tent, last I saw. Mac came up and saw the two of your napping, and I sent her back to her tent to do the same."

Nat nodded. "So... is it me next, or Mac?"

Jon reached out and touched Nat's nose.

"M-me?"

"You'd rather I pick on Mac next?"

"No!" Nat answered far too quickly and far too loudly. Loud enough that Red groaned and shifted. "No!" Nat whispered. "I want my turn!"

Jon laughed. "Oh, don't worry, you'll get it. And after our discussions that you probably don't remember, I'm convinced I know what it will be."

"No spoilers!"

The two of them laughed. Red stirred again and sat up, her expression confused. She looked over at Nat and Jon, and her confusion seemed to grow, as if her mind was trying to reconcile an impossibility. Jon merely nodded.

"Red, do you walk in your sleep?"

Nat watched in awe as her friend's confusion faded into a serene, soft gaze. She knew that before long, those words would be directed at her, again, and she'd have that same sort of shift and slip into that same sort of trance. Her head would spin just like Red's was at that moment, and the fog would cover her thoughts... Lost in fantasy, she hardly heard the voice in her ear, hardly realized when she had fallen to her knees. Nat barely noticed Jon removing his shorts, or that Red had walked up beside her and was similarly on her knees. She wasn't sure if it was a fantasy or not, then, when she started kissing Jon's left leg as Red was kissing the right. He was warm, his skin was salty, and he was already hard when Red descended on his cock as Nat was kissing his chest. She wound up straddling his knee, his arms around her, kissing his mouth fiercely, as Red sucked him off, and through the whole moment, Nat's thoughts were swirling through a fog that kept her constantly wondering if it was actually happening or if she was just imagining it, and that curiosity itself about the moment wound up part of the deepening spiral that seemed to go straight from her mind down between her legs. The more she tried to find her way through the mist in her thoughts, the more turned on she got.

When he tensed up and pulled away from the kiss to take a breath, she had to breathe as well, and as he came in Red's mouth, she orgasmed there on his leg. Neither of them were quiet, and Nat suspected that Red was mostly silent only because she had her mouth full.

Jon looked very satisfied as the two women stood, both still deep in his spell. "I have followed Red around all afternoon. I needed that release." He got to his feet. "Let's go get cleaned up. We'll wake up the other two and get your minds set straight, and then have dinner."

Nat nodded, and she saw Red doing the same, and the three of them walked down the trail, naked but for their footwear.

With every bite of chicken-mandarin salad, the fog seemed to lift, just a little. By the time she'd cleaned her plate, Nat was thinking clearly again.

She looked around. It seemed the other three were in a similar state, slowly coming around as they ate their meal, Jon's magic releasing them bit by bit. The sorcerer or whatever he was was standing nearby, watching, smiling, dressed as he had been when they met, looking very satisfied with himself.

"That was an excellent meal, Red, thank you," Jon said.

Red smiled, still looking a bit dazed. "My pleasure," she replied.

"And I should have cleared the fantasy out of your heads," Jon continued. "Everything should be back to where it was this morning. Mentally, anyway."

"What... was all that?" Mac asked.

"Red?"

"I was..." Red began, putting down her plate and standing up, pacing a bit as she spoke. "I was the only real person in a VR simulation. You were all realistic—incredibly realistic—3D models. I... I don't think that technology could actually ever exist? I dunno. It was amazing, though. I could access the program and change the, uh, parameters? I could update you in real time. Pause you in place. Change your personalities. It was..." She shook her head. "Like I said. Only word I can think of for it is 'amazing.'"

Nat nodded. "And I'm next, Jon says." She tried not to sound like she was anticipating it too much.

Jon cleared his throat. "And if I want to implement my plan, I'm going to need the whole evening to set everything up. Nat, you're longest, you're last, and you're joining me in the main tent, so of the rest of you, who's first?"

The women looked at each other. Kaz raised her hand. "Nat and Mac usually do the dishes, and Red was pretty much under your control the whole day... that leaves me."

"Sounds good." Jon put his own dish down near the stove. "Do you want to go up to the cliff or down to the beach?"

"Up," Kaz said without hesitation.

"I'll go next," Red offered. "Then Mac?"

Mac nodded. "Gives me and Nat enough time to clean things."

"Then shall we?" Jon offered an arm to Kaz, who took it with a grin. The two of them headed up the trail.

Mac and Red shared a look. "So..." Mac began, sounding a bit hesitant. "Have you changed your opinion?"

Red swallowed. "I think I have," she admitted. "I'm just not sure what I think about that change."

"And he didn't—"

"Not that I know of. I mean... it's possible that he changed my opinion and then changed the way I remember that change, but, I dunno..." Red shrugged. "That doesn't really seem like him, if that makes sense. You know?"

"I think I do," Mac replied. "He has a weird sense of honour. Maybe it's fair play? Whatever it is, I get the sense that if he'd changed you like that, he would let you know that he'd changed you like that."

Red looked over at Nat. "You're quiet. Not just for you, either. Something up?"

Nat shook her head. "Just, y'know, taking it all in. It's a lot. And something so special for me that it's gonna take all evening to set up. I'm really excited and nervous and I don't wanna screw it up for everyone and I'm having a great time and I just want it to go on forever, y'know?"

Mac's expression darkened. "I'm sure he could make it go on forever, if you really wanted."

"Don't tempt me," Nat replied. "But I mean, can you imagine? What he did for Red, and for Kaz... but like, every day?"

"There's also what you do for him."

Red cut in. "For some of us, I think that's a pro, not a con."

Nat put on her best innocent smile. It sure was. "Speaking of doing things for people, Mac, should we get those dishes done up?"

"Water's almost ready. Let's get to it."