Chapter 4

Once re-cleaned up, Jack discovered he was famished. And no wonder, he thought, with all this sex in one day? She's going to kill me!

As there was little food in the apartment except for Jack's now seriously depleted peanut butter and jelly, they decided they might like to brave the world outside the apartment for an early dinner, as it was now late afternoon.

Jack quickly determined that there were a couple of things that needed his attention, first. Most pressing was the problem that, when he went to get dressed he discovered his clothes didn't fit anymore, or at least none of his pants did. All the waists were now several inches too big. The same went for his underwear. His shirts would be ok, perhaps a little big around his now-smaller abdomen, but he still needed their size for his broad shoulders and chest.

He temporarily solved this issue by putting on a pair of boxers and a pair of shorts which had previously been a bit snug, and then cinching them up with a belt. The belt was now in its smallest hole, and would also need to be replaced. Over his shorts he wore a long polo shirt which he didn't tuck in. It was long enough to conceal his bunched-up waistband until replacements could be purchased.

That done, he addressed the second issue: the practical considerations of taking a distractingly-still-naked-for-the-moment Genie out in public. He began by asking, "Can you function ok out there? Do you need any instruction or anything? It's a whole lot different now than it was in ancient Persia or wherever."

"I will be fine, Jack. Part of my formation here included becoming adapted to the current culture."

"Ok. Can you clothe yourself, you know, other than with those see-through thingies you had on before, or do I need to go get you something?"

"Yes, I can do that. Genies servants have certain... 'maintenance abilities' you would probably call them, beyond their specific abilities. Clothing myself is one of these."

"Oh you do, do you? And why haven't you mentioned these before?"

"Well, with all due respect, Jack, you keep getting sidetracked from our discussions of my abilities."

"Uh, huh. And that's all my fault, is it?"

"Of course, Jack. It can't possibly be your Genie's fault. She is only doing as you wish," she replied with an air of virtuous innocence as she batted her eyelashes at him, an air that disintegrated into gales of laughter a few seconds later as his fingers attacked her ribs. He noticed how extremely ticklish she was, and stored that information away for later use.

He tormented her sides another moment before relenting. "Ok, my innocent little Genie, let's get you clothed and on the road before I get sidetracked yet again."

After a quick magical mini fashion show of casual clothing and underwear that threatened to sidetrack him all by itself, Jack settled on a pair of Daisy Dukes denim shorts and an ivory form-fitting ribbed V-neck T-shirt over white G-string panties and matching white bra. She made a face at this last, but he wasn't quite ready to parade her around braless yet, so told her to just make it as comfortable as possible.

Once they finally made it into his small SUV, Jack quickly discovered that 'adapted to the current culture' didn't mean accustomed to it. She knew what the vehicle was, and what everything in it was for, but that didn't keep her from pressing every button in the car, giggling like a kid. Jack jerked to a halt halfway out of the parking space and laughed indulgently as she played. Once it looked like she had satisfied her curiosity over anything that might cause them to wreck if pushed, pulled, or turned at the wrong time, he continued out of the parking lot. Just to be safe, though, he suggested that she find some music she liked on the radio. That occupied her complete attention for almost ten minutes.

Once she had finally settled on a station - his favorite new-rock station, he noted with pleased and slightly suspicious amusement - her fascination turned to the world outside the little SUV. Again, she knew what everything was, but that didn't stop her from "Oooing" and "Ahhing" over everything like a bumpkin tourist.

Jack had wanted to take them somewhere nice for dinner, but due to his clothing situation he had changed their destination to an area mall, a trendy one with a variety of clothing stores and a surprisingly varied and high-quality food court. As it was late Saturday afternoon, traffic was fairly light until they got close to the mall and became caught up in the dinner, shopping and movie traffic. Once their progress slowed to a crawl and her exclamations were only infrequent, Jack decided to get back to some of his questions.

"Ok, so tell me more about these 'maintenance abilities'."

She refocused her attention on him, or most of it at any rate, and answered, "They are abilities given to any Genie servant, regardless of his or her specialist abilities, to provide basic needs for both Genie and Master."

"Basic needs such as?"

"Well in my case, the primary ability is protection for both of us from dangers both magical and mundane. Beyond that, for you it would allow me to supply the basic needs for life: food, water, shelter, etc."

"So how does your clothing fit into this?"

"Well, in both my original time and this, a Genie servant flaunting his or her existence in the wrong surroundings could draw unwanted attention to both Genie and Master. It is often better to blend in rather than having to use more heavy-handed methods of protection."

"'Heavy-handed'? So just what can you do to protect us?"

"Pretty much anything necessary. My full powers are available without restriction when it comes to protecting you, then myself."

"So, what would happen if, say, when this light turns green and we pass through the intersection, an out-of-control fuel truck coming the other way slams into us at 60 miles an hour?"

"Pretty much what you would expect, except that you and I would walk away without a scratch, unless you wished otherwise."

"Wow. You can react that fast, huh."

She smiled, "It isn't so much a fast reaction as an 'always on' sort of thing."

"Wow." He blinked several times. "Uh, good to know. Wouldn't that kind of blow the whole 'blending in' thing, though, two people walking away unscathed from a giant fireball?"

"Yes, some other methods would have to be employed at that point if we wanted to stay anonymous."

"Such as?"

"That would pretty be up to you, Jack, and how you would want to come out of it. As I said, though, all restrictions are off when it comes to protecting us, and protecting us includes protecting our anonymity if you so wish it."

"Wow."

"You said that already, Jack," she smiled.

"Yeah." He drove on for a bit. "So couldn't you have just supplied me with some clothes that fit, then?"

"Only if needed for your protection or survival. It's expected that the Master provides his or her own mundane needs normally. The same goes for the food and shelter I mentioned."

"Ok, I understand... I think. So, if I need clothing or food, I can get it by needing it for my survival, creatively including it as an indirect effect of a sexual wish, or driving to the store and buying it. Sound about right?"

"Pretty much, yes."

"Same goes for the DVD player?"

"Yes, if you can contrive some way to need a DVD player for protection."

"Otherwise I just need to get good at finding creative ways to include stuff like that in erotic wishes, eh?"

"If you wish, Jack. As I said before, I cannot help you make such wishes," she paused, "however, I can tell you that you have already made such a wish today."

"I have?" he asked, surprised.

She simply nodded.

"How?"

She smiled and shook her head.

"But you haven't given me anything material at all, today."

"No, but I have granted you a wish that wasn't sex-related except in context."

He racked his brain, thinking back over the wishes he had made so far. "Let's see, everything this morning was pretty much pure sex. Then we moved into the bedroom... making the bed, maybe? That's the only wish I can think of that wasn't purely sexual until the clothing stuff, and you have already explained that."

"Yes, that's it, Jack."

"But... we were going to have sex on the bed and I wanted it comfortable, so how isn't that sexually related?"

"It that context, it was. It was setting the mood, the environment, that you wanted. That I can do. If we were simply standing around and you wished for me to make your unmade bed using my power, without any sexual connotation to it, that I could not do."

He grinned, "Unless making the bed was vital to my general protection and wellbeing?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, if making the bed protected you in some way, then I could also use my powers to do it."

"Ok, but otherwise if I said something like, 'I wish for you to always keep my apartment clean and neat', you couldn't do that, right?"

"No, not with my power. If you wish me to spend some of my time physically keeping your apartment clean, I will happily do so, although I would need to learn how to do it correctly by hand."

"No! No, I don't want to turn you into my housekeeper, although it may be a duty we share if I can't figure out a way..." he tapered off, lost in thought. Then, "What if I say, 'I wish that our apartment was always clean and neat to make our time spent there together that much more pleasurable, and give us that much more time for sex'?"

She looked at him intently for a moment, then said as a tear formed in her eye, "yes, just barely, but it will do, and..." she stopped.

"What? And why are you crying again?"

"Um. Well, that was very nicely put, and you said... 'our apartment'."

"Oh. I guess I did." Man, this was moving way fast. How did he feel about that? He figured he should be freaked. He had only known this girl since this morning after all, but he wasn't. It felt right.

He smiled, took her hand at the next stoplight, and said formally, "I wish that our apartment was always clean and neat to make our time spent there together that much more pleasurable."

Her eyes flashed, and then she almost leapt into his lap to hug him. "Thank you, Jack. Thank you Master." Then she sat back in her seat and wiped another tear away.

He cleared his throat. "You're welcome, but be careful doing that in the car, or we'll need that protection power of yours sooner than we thought."

"Yes, Jack," she said happily as they turned into the mall's entrance.

It was a warm late Saturday afternoon in early May, so as usual the young folks, from middle schoolers to students from the several surrounding colleges, had pretty much taken over the mall. Except for the traffic, Jack enjoyed coming to the mall at this time, especially this time of the year, as good looking girls that had apparently been hibernating all winter suddenly exploded from the woodwork, showing lots of already-tanned skin as they celebrated release from the recent cold weather.

Although this enjoyment wasn't quite the same now due to the fact that no one he saw could hold a candle to Genie, he still enjoyed ogling all the nubile bodies, helped in no small way by Genie's active encouragement. She would point out particularly attractive girls as part of her continuing exploration of her new world. Jack had to eventually ask her to be a little more discrete after she said, "Look at her, her breasts are lovely!" loud enough for the girl in question to hear. At least the girl looked flattered. So much for keeping a low profile.

What he was unaccustomed to was the frequent return looks he got. He was not used to his new appearance yet. He wasn't surprised at all by the looks Genie got from all the guys, though. He was briefly jealous, until he reminded himself that he had absolutely nothing to worry about. After that he was proud of all the lustful looks she got from the guys, and the jealous, wistful, and even occasionally lustful looks she got from the girls. Genie seemed a bit embarrassed at all the attention, but when Jack told her to just enjoy it, she did.

As they continued to walk toward the food court, Jack found himself wanting on several occasions to make comments of his own that might embarrass himself or the subject in question, so he asked, "Is there any way we can communicate silently?"

Tingle. Yes Jack, she said in his head. He jumped.

"What the hell was that?"

That was me communicating with you silently, dummy, uh, master. She said as she looked around innocently at all the new sights.

"And just how do I reply silently?" he asked quietly, as his one-sided conversation was getting some odd looks.

Just think at me what you want to say. I'll hear it.

Like this?

Yes.

Cool!

I'm glad you like it, Jack.

Now I can tell you without anyone hearing that you will pay for that dummy remark.

Master knows best.

Uh, huh. What say we go get something to eat?

That sounds wonderful.

You know, you didn't mention food for yourself when you were talking about basic needs earlier. Don't you have to eat?

It is not required for me to exist, but is a great help in maintaining a physical body, and especially if I ever carry a child.

Ah. Well, we're at the food court. What would you like to try?

She wound up making several circuits of the food court, reading each menu, looking at the pictures of the various dishes, enjoying the smells, and accepting any samples that various establishments handed out. She finally stopped in front of a Chinese counter.

She said out loud, as the order taker was in earshot, "I think I would like to try something from here, but I don't know what. Will you pick for me?"

"I'll tell you what, I'll pick two of my favorite dishes, one spicy and one not, and we can split them both."

"That sounds great, Jack."

Jack ordered Kung Pao chicken with fried rice, Mu Shu Pork with extra pancakes and plum sauce, two egg rolls, and two large cokes. The food was ready quickly, and he had Genie grab forks, lots of napkins, and, at her request, chopsticks. She had seen them being used in the pictures of Chinese dishes. Luckily Jack was fairly proficient with them, otherwise he figured they would still be eating this meal for breakfast.

They made their way to an empty spot near the middle of the court and Jack took everything off of their trays and arranged it on the table.

"Ok, this is Kung Pao chicken. It's pretty spicy, especially these little red peppers. You aren't even supposed to eat those." He stabbed a small piece of chicken with his fork and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes widened as she chewed. "Well? Too spicy?"

"No. It's delicious! What about that?" she pointed to the other dish.

This is Mu Shu pork; it's a little more complicated." He grabbed one of the wraps, slathered some of the plum sauce on it, scooped on some of the pork, and rolled it up carefully. Then he offered it to her to take a bite before taking one of his own.

"Mmmm, that's wonderful too. Teach me how to use these, please, Jack," she said, holding up the chopsticks.