Note: Thanks to everyone for their feedback! It's very much welcome! Also, read the first story from this series (The Ring Of Power: Enter) before going on to this one, so you don't get too lost. It will take you only a moment.
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Well, where was I now? Ah, yes! I had woken up the next morning, a little more relaxed and calm. For a minute I was worried about having to look my friend Mary in the eye, and feel as if I betrayed her trust. I mean, the previous night, I accidentally saw her masturbating in the shower, and I was turned on. I then put that debate on the back burner in my mind as I realized that my friend wasn't home. I assumed she went to the campus library to continue on with her papers and studying. As I served myself some cereal, I began to wonder about what happened, with Mary and also this new ring I have.
It was such an odd dilemma for me. I mean, my folks gave me strong morals, which I try to follow as much as I can. but, nowadays, it's hard to follow them to the letter. These ideals wouldn't have let me do what I did last night, so I tried to justify it, so I can focus on testing this ring of mine, and see if it's real or not. I mean, she did have the door open slightly, and I didn't do anything to further expose that opening. Also, she wasn't aware of my observing her at all, so she didn't know at all what happened. The big one though was that I didn't look with the intention of spying. Honestly, I was investigating a strange noise, and that's what I did do. I found out the noise was that of my roommate fingering herself fiercely in self-pleasure. I did care for her deeply and she was so beautiful, but I did respect boundaries. I never made unwanted advances to her, for fear of ruining our friendship. I decided to keep this incident quiet, so to keep our friendship intact.
This realization brought a smile to my face, as I ate the first spoon full of cereal, with a bit of a smirk. I started to browse around the apartment a little bit, like I always do when I eat, then my attention went to my figurine display case. Several original Star Wars toys, an unopened Skelator from Masters Of The Universe, a couple of Transformers and Thundercats, opened and unopened, and my favorite one, the unopened first edition He-man doll still in it's box. These were my oldest figures that were unopened, and the rest of the opened ones were encased in individual glass cases, like you would find a collectable baseball encased in. having those things custom made were among the best investments I ever made I felt, at the time. Then, I drew my attention to another investment, the ring.
When I finished my breakfast, I went to get the little booklet that came with the ring. Instructions for using it indeed. I already knew it was waterproof, could be removed from my finger whenever I needed, it wouldn't go bad, occasionally cleanings would do nicely, and no need for recharge of any kind. After further reading, it said that it worked in either of two ways desired. In either the cliche' style of placing someone in a trance, "you are getting sleepy" , and placing commands in the person when they fall into that sleep-like trance. The other way, was that you point the ring at an intended target and state your command directly, and they follow through. This also included saying "sleep" as you point the ring at them, to put them in that trance state automatically so they could receive commands you want to give, and "awake" to return to normal awake being. "Stop" will halt anyone in a hypnotic trance or not with ease, and even erase unwanted commands depending on desire, which the ring will supposedly know. You can make people forget memories or remember false ones, but they must be specific in giving the command. It can place commands in people that are asleep, but it can't command them to wake up. the ring could also overstep language barriers, and works on any age old enough to speak. There's more it could do, but more on that later.
I showered, got dressed, and headed out to work. I did mention I worked in retail, but now the specifics about it. It's a clothing store in the mall, for men and women, called FASHION CENTRAL. It was mostly shirts and pants, but we had a few shoes, accessories, and undergarments. There were quite a few of us there at this place. An odd mix of characters have come and gone, while I have stayed in the store for almost three years. I'm now a single step away from being a full manager. This will happen after one of my managers, Sarah, goes back to school on the coast, full time. There was four of us closing that day. let's start with Sarah.
Sarah. She's in her mid 20's, long brown hair, brown eyes, wears contacts, and has a shoe shopping obsession. Every other day, she's buying more shoes, and asking how they look. She's nice, but a bit unknowingly condescending towards people at first, to ones she don't know. She's dating this big guy on and off, which I know nothing about except his name is Scott. I think she's a racial mix of some sort. I know there's some African American in her, but the other part is either White or Hispanic in my guess, but don't quote me on that. She was the secondary manager on duty today. She's very pretty, and got a hot body in a petite frame. her tits are clearly too big for her body, but despite her small frame, she still has a full enough body to match her large bust somewhat. We sometimes talk, she's OK enough of a person, but not the kind of person I'd normally hang out with in my normal social life. If her personality were tweaked slightly, then she'd be very cool, someone I'd might ask out, if Scott didn't kick my ass or if Peter doesn't beat me to it.
Peter. My best friend here at work. he's 30, short black hair, brown eyes, he's white, and also works at the CD store down the hall when he's not here. He's been here about a year, he's the easiest of the coworkers to get along with. very nice and smart guy. It's no secret to everyone that he's got a big ass crush on Sarah. The ironic thing is that he and her man Scott have become great friends since Scott came here to spend some time with Sarah. He is a big buff of comic books, video games, and jazz music. An odd mix, but to each their own. We hang out quite a bit at work, sometimes goof off, but we're a great team. He was afraid of heights big time, so much so that he never did process shipment in the stock room, which involved climbing up ladders placing stock items away. he also was trying to quite smoking, and always chewed that gum and wore those patches. he's the fastest typer on the staff, so if you get his register at Christmas time, you'll be having a short wait. he's saving to go out to Hollywood and become a writer and closer to his family in California. he's also very funny, but doesn't do jokes at other people's expense, which makes him unique nowadays. he was on register that day, as I was his back-up plan. it was cool, because we got to talk, unless we had shipment to process, or the area manager was visitng.
Myself, of course. And then there is Veronica. one of the sexiest latinas this side of J.Lo's seat. She's She has a slight tan to her skin, lower than shoulder length hair, she's about my height, and has hazel colored contacts which she always wears so I don't know her natural eye color at all. She's about She is the human chatterbox, but she doesn't annoy you with her talking. she knows when to stop, but still quite the story teller. she's got a full body and ass so nice to look at every guy at work snuck a peek whenever we got the chance. she's the main manger here, this is her store. she is quite a nice person, but was no-nonsense when it came to business. no real complaints at all from any coworkers, her personality was great. she was a flirt with some of the mall and store regular shoppers though.
I was on with these three people that day, to close the store that night. It was a slow day for sales, and we didn't have much in the way of new things to place in the stock room, so we just kind of hung out most of the day. Sarah and Veronica were in the back room, having some take-out and talking about whatever, while me and Peter were out on the sales floor. Peter was out there on register, while I was sweeping the floor. As I was done with the shoe section, I decided to play my card and see if this ring was the real deal, or just another 50 cent trinket you get at supermarket vending machines. I headed over to the register, as Peter was finishing up a purchase for a couple of preteens. As they left, I made my move, but Peter saw me, and spoke.
"Hey, Tom" said Peter.
"Hey, man" I said back.
"What's with that ring of yours? It looks a little too Liberace for you" he said back.
"This is a magic ring, my friend" i told him.
"Is that right? Does it tell your mood?" he replied with a sly attitude.
I smiled and just replied back. "no, but I need to test it out to see what I can do. If it works I can help cure your smoking problem, or even your fear of heights."
His look then changed, as he spoke. "My neighbor psychologist couldn't do either of those things for me, I doubt your class ring there can do that for me."
"Let me try at break. I may be able to help you out. I'll treat you to lunch if you want, if you let me give it a try," i told him.
He let out a big sigh, and said "yeah, Tom, sure. Give it a try. I'll lay an egg and fly if it works."
He was always so skeptical, and it got on my nerves, so I decided to just try it out and get a little bit of instant gratification of a different kind. I stepped away from the register, aimed my ring at him, and said "trance"
He just stopped still, with his arms down. His eyes were closed slightly, and he didn't look he could see me, as I moved in front of him. I snapped my fingers and he didn't reply or flinch. I then spoke to him , "can you hear me?"
"Yes," he said in a dazed but clear voice.
"OK, now when you come out of this state, you will act and talk like a chicken. Do you understand?" i told him.
"Yes," he said.
"Awake" i told him and he returned to normal. He looked a little disoriented at first, and then the moment of truth. He started clucking, and moving his arms up and down folded, and simulated pecking, just like chickens do. he then ran across to the other side of the store, in this chicken mode. It was the funniest thing I ever seen. "buck-buck-buck-cluck-cluck-buck-buck-cluck!" was all that was coming out of his mouth, like those restaurant ads with new chicken sandwiches. I was on the floor laughing, and then I realized he was in the shirt section. Luckily the store was empty, so I went after him. I intercepted him, in the corner, and then told him to "stop".
